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Full Of Joy Photography bio picture

Welcome to Full of Joy Photography

Welcome to Full of Joy Photography where our specialty is photographing Joyful people.

Lindsey Vavra owns and operates her boutique studio located in Harlingen, TX.  Lindsey's passion for the art of photography started when she had her first child.  She remembers taking her old 35mm camera and snapping away constantly to preserve that memory.  She has since studied through the New York Institute of Photography and continues to attend many workshops and seminars taught by prestigious photographers.  In 2005, Lindsey started her business out of her passion for creating art and life long memories through photography.

Lindsey is a wife and mother of two awesome little boys ages 8 and 4.  She understands deeply how important it is to capture those memories of your precious little ones before they grow and the sweetest moments have passed.  Lindsey's passion is to capture precious memories for you while providing a Joyful experience.  We promise to cherish these fleeting moments with you.

Hugs to you all!

"Let those also who love Your name be Joyful in You" -
Psalm 5:11

Miss A {By:Lindsey & JJ Vavra/Brownsville,TX Professional Photographers}

Wow!  I am humbled and grateful by the amazing new families that we have had the privilege to work with these past couple of weeks.  I am constantly being reminded how blessed we our to have our photography business.  Our lives would not be as cheerful and full had we never been able to meet our clients.  We have made so many long lasting friendships…

SO BLESSED!!!!!

Here is one of our recent  blessings, Miss A.

This precious 2 year old was so much fun and so friendly.  JJ and I would have gladly taken her home with us and called her our own.

Here is a sneak peek from her session.  It was sure hard to pick.

Thank you Momma M for letting us capture memories for you!  It was truly a pleasure!  We hope you love all your images!

Labor Day Already!?!

Wow wee!  Can you believe how fast 2011 is flying?  I’m not one to wish time away, but as a working mommy I know that Christmas will be here before we know it.  I’m so not ready, not at all!

The reason for this post is to inform those of you who check our site regularly and those of you who have been inquiring about sessions, what is coming next with Full of Joy.

Tuesday, September 6th:  We will have our new pricing information and fall regular and mini session schedule available.  September and October are almost full; so if you are interested in a fall/winter session please contact me next week.

Here is a little information on what to except with our new pricing and scheduling for clients new and old:

JJ and I have been working since we went to the awesome Texas School in May, on new pricing and terms that will be SET in STONE to give everyone a “JOYFUL EXPERINCE”.   We have LEARNED so much to better serve our clients!

BOOKING A SESSION:

To book a session there will be a $300 retainer fee that will be due at the time of booking.

Why the retainer fee?

JJ and I had several of our favorite clients book prime dates last year and then cancel on us last minute, which was lost income for our business and time another client could have used. JJ and I fully understand that there are unavoidable situations that may occur and we will be flexible to reschedule an appointment due to illness or extreme weather etc…

ORDER SESSION and ORDER CREDITS:

Within one week of your session you will be required to have a one-hour ordering session where we will show you our favorite images from your session,  then you will pick out your favorite images and we will help you with your order.   This will be the first time you will see any of your images and it will be so much fun!

If you place your order during your ordering session you will receive up to $200 order credit!!, plus have access to special packages where you can save even more.  Think of it, you have already paid $300 and $200 of that could be used for your own prints! If you cannot decide at the ordering session or choose not to participate in the ordering session, your images will be hosted on our online gallery where you will have 7 days to place your order and receive your $100 order credit.

Clients must place orders within 30 days to be able to place an order directly though us.  If no order has been placed within 30 days, images will be hosted on an online ordering service and all order credits and current pricing is void.

We will only guarantee images will be on the ordering service for 60 days.

Why the ordering session and time limits?

I cannot say this enough “we have LEARNED so much this year”.  We have heard nothing but wonderful things from other photographers and their clients about how great an ordering session is.  For the client, it helps you make quick decisions without you feeling like you are bothering us, lets you have an opportunity to see all the products we offer and gives us a chance to show you what images will look like on your wall, so you don’t have to guess.  Some clients say they need the extra push and they are grateful for it. For us as the photographer it makes us better service providers and saves us lots of wasted time emailing crops and ideas that never really help as much as it would in person.

We truly value all of our clients and we feel like the ordering session will help us give you the attention you deserve by letting us focus on one client at a time.  We have no desire to work with bunch of clients at once.  We would rather work with one client at a time and build a true relationship.  You are investing your hard earned money with us to give you great artwork to put up on your walls.  I would want the extra attention to detail, wouldn’t you?

ALSO- sadly over the years we have many clients wait MONTHS/YEARS to place their orders and finally place them at our busiest times of year, which is not fair to our current clients.  It sometimes makes it confusing and time consuming having to go back in archives looking for photos and trying to remember everything that was requested back when the shoot took place.  With all the late orders I have made mistakes and had hurt feelings and I don’t want to disappoint anybody.  I love y’all!

WE need this system to ensure a speedy turn around time for everyone!

Again- this will allow each you to have GREAT INDIVIUAL ATTENTION that you deserve and allow you to ALWAYS know what to expect next.

REFERRAL SYSTEM:

We finally have a system in place to give you, our beloved and loyal clients/followers, the credit you deserve.

For every session that is booked because of your referral, you will receive either a $50 Full of Joy Gift Card or a $15 Visa Gift Card.

When your friend fills out their information sheet there is a spot where they will be able to give us the referring person’s name and contact information.

And starting September 6th, you will receive a set of referral cards with your order that has a image from your session on them!  Yay!

Why a Referral System?

Because you deserve it! And it is time to give credit where credit is due!  We would be nothing with out you!

LOYAL CLIENTS:

For those of you who have been with us for years and whom we dearly love may be wondering if all of this new information applies to you.?

Yes, it does. You will have to fill out forms that you never have before, you will have to wait to see your images at an ordering session, you will have a new price list, you will have to order your images within the allotted time period and you will have to pay the retainer fee to book your session. BUT– your order credit will be higher and you will be offered special percentages off and discounts!!!! We promise to be good to you and we are SO thankful for your years of support!

WE ARE TRULY MAKING THESE CHANGES TO IMPROVE OUR SERVICE TO YOU AND TO MAKE WORKING TOGETHER A JOYFUL EXPERINECE.  THERE IS SO MUCH PAIN, STRESS AND CRAZINESS IN THE WORLD AND WE TRULY WISH NOT TO BE APART OF IT.

WE ARE SO LOOKING FORWARD TO FULL OF JOY PHOTOGRAPHY FINALLY BECOMING WHAT OUR MISSION STATEMENT IS AND ALL ABOUT “FOCUSING ON THE JOY IN LIFE”.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

The best way to contact me.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to let all of you know that best way to contact me for appoinments and  for information is through email: lindsey@fullofjoyphotography.com AND by phone 956-536-1094.

Please do not use Facebook as a contact tool .We are happy to post images on Facebook and enjoy fun comments, but it is very easy for ME to miss messages and posts on Facebook given all the venues that I use for looking at facebook. And if you ever do not hear back from us within 24hrs, that means we must not have received your message, so please try again.  We have NO desire to ignore anyone!

My office hours vary due to the nature of my profession and are not 8-5pm.  I do not answer calls on the weekends or after 4pm Monday-Friday, but please leave a message and I will get back to you the next business day.  I  shoot sessions and meet with clients 6 days a week at various times of day, so again, if I do not answer please understand that I am with a client or spending much needed time with my family and I will get back to you.

ANOTHER note…………

ALL of our new policies,procedures, schedule and price list will be available September 5th!  WE are SO excited for the changes!

PLEASE come to the site on the 5th to see our FALL schedule.  September only has a few more sessions available and October is filling up fast!  We will be offering three different types of mini sessions this fall, so stay tuned!

We look forward to working with you all soon!

October 6, 2011 - 1:21 pm Priscilla Velazquez - Hello Lindsey, Your messages were uplifting and I'd like you to know that I was in the same predicament this past year. Over stressed with work and just not being able to balance life and work. Things are better now. Had to make adjustments. The last time we took family pictures was maybe 4 years ago and it was at a quick place at the mall. Sad huh!! My husband and I have 4 wonderful children that are growing up fast. We really want to take some great family photos. Could use your help. We have never done professional photos before. Not sure how this works so I'll wait on your instructions! Thank you in advance, Priscilla PS. Natalie Cervantes, from Harlingen, referred me to you. Loved her family photos!!

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Fun at the beach{By:Lindsey & JJ Vavra/ South Padre Island-Professional Photographers}

Here is the other half of kiddos from a fun beach session.

This brother and sister sure loved each other.  They were so sweet and cute together.  Little sister reminded me SO much of our little Colin.  Her brother and cousins followed her around like she was the leader of the pack.  So cute!

We LOVED working with ALL of the kiddos!

Big giggles!

LOVE this….

Just having fun.  Someone was fighting smiling for us….can you guess who??? What a doll.

OH gee…I think this is my favorite of these two…it was sure hard to decide.

Cousins!  What a fun and sweet group of kids!

These little pumpkins did not let me capture too many shots of their sweet faces and smiles.  Might be the age :) But I sure love this image and their cute little curls.

Again, I LOVE these too!

Thank you all for letting us have some fun with you!

Okay, I had to post another…..

Beautiful Girls{By:Lindsey & JJ Vavra/South Padre Island Professional Photographers}

Here is some images from a group beach session.  These girls and their mommy are absolutely beautiful.

J.J. and I sure had fun chasing these kiddos and their cousins around.  I will post images with the cousins soon, but for now here are the girls.

I think this one is my favorite.  I love the connection!

Love these too!

So sweet!

Three smiles :)

Mommy and her girls.

I just had to share….another favorite of mine.  Look at those golden locks.

August 14, 2011 - 1:23 am Cary Woodall - Thank you Lindsey! These pictures are wonderful, what special memories you captured.

August 16, 2011 - 12:19 am Lindsey Vavra - You are so welcome! It was such a pleasure to meet and work with you! You have a PRECIOUS family!

Miley{By:JJ & Lindsey Vavra/McAllen, TX Professional Photographers}

Here are a few faves from Miss Miley’s newborn session.  We just love shooting babies!

I will post more soon!

Full belly….

The shot mommy was hoping to have…..so very sweet.

So very sleepy….

My very first “baby blanket bowl” ……not as hard as I thought it would be but not easy either!

Snuggly!

All dressed up with no where to go :)

August 9, 2012 - 5:50 pm Bellanira Flores - Hello! My baby is turning 1yr so my husband and I wanted to take pictures with our baby we want to make his first year memorable since he is the first one! Can you tell me the packages you have ir how much you charge per 1hr Thanks Bella Flores

S Family {By:JJ & Lindsey Vavra/ South Padre Island, TX Professional Photographers}

JJ and I had an amazing time with this precious family.   I could have spent all day following them around capturing their sweet expressions!  The funny thing with this session is that the little ones REALLY started warming up and having fun an hour into it, when everyone else had melted…haha.

It was truly a great time!

S Family- thank you for letting allowing us to be a small part of  your lives!  We hope you love the memories we captured for you!

Blessings,

Lindsey and JJ

Having fun!

All because two people fell in love……

Little A- what a beauty!  She is a sweetheart!   She really enjoyed just doing her own thing.  I personally think once kids reach a certain age the best shots are the ones they do not know you are taking.

I played with image, so it does not match the rest.  The S Family is from Austin and thier best friend is an amazing professional photographer, Heather Walker Photography and she uses a tinting on some of her images that S family likes, so I tried to give it a shot.  I’m learning!  I do love this image and the relationship between daddy and daughter.  Little C did not want to get her feet in the sand, so she was held most of the session.  I love it!

Wee!!!!

Mr. C just wanted to chase the seagulls…..

We were all so worried about not getting any great shots of Ms. C, since she did not what to get down at first, so of cource she ended up with the most shots and some of the best ones.  Too funny!

Miss C and mommy!  Love this.  What I loved most about this mommy is that she was not afraid to get dirty and run around with her kids.  You can tell she is an amazing mommy.  She ran around with Mr. C just to get him to laugh and even made the comment “I’m sure I look terrible, but I don’t care”.  That is true love!   She of course looked great…I just could not decided which was my favorite image of them, so I will have to have her pick.

I love this shot!

So very sweet!

I love this one too!

July 21, 2011 - 7:47 pm Sara Schmidt - I can't wait to see the rest! This is such a teaser. You did a great job and I so appreciate your energy and enthusiasm during the shoot. Y'all were great!

July 22, 2011 - 5:33 pm Lindsey Vavra - Thank you! We will send you the link by the end of the weekend!

July 25, 2011 - 3:00 am Heather Walker - Beautiful work Lindsey! I love these, and the rest of your work! The first family shot is my favorite! Just stunning!

August 19, 2011 - 1:51 am Lindsey Vavra - Thank you Heather! I am your new biggest fan! Thank you for the kind words!