Your Chance to Enjoy the Tropical Lifestyle

Ever imagine what it would be like to live in Florida and experience those beautiful surroundings 24/7? Here is your opportunity! We just listed our home for sale by owner. You can get a sneak peek inside by viewing some of the photos of our 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage tropical paradise.

You can view more photos and  house information on Zillow.

Imagine yourself poolside or enjoying the backyard...

If the winters up north have gotten to you, this is a gorgeous 

property that would also make a wonderful second home.

Contact owners at 321-243-3051.

At $249,900, this one won’t last long!

The Shoot, The Vision and then, that Smile

The day began with a simple shoot objective: to build a portfolio of modeling images for Ashley with a fashion feel to them. The morning was foggy and overcast so I was excited to see what we would get. The first shot was meant to be a test. In fact, Ashley said she wasn’t even aware that I was ready to shoot photos. I love the calmness and mystique. I believe that Ashley took on the mood of her surroundings and it showed in throughout this modeling shoot.

You can view the entire Modeling in Melbourne gallery of images from this shoot on my facebook page.

The vision: to capture some high-fashion images with a variety of moods and poses taking advantage of the props that mother nature was providing naturally admist the backdrop of the river and train trestle. The trestle was the perfect location. The colors and textures contrasted with the background, but beautifully complimented Ashley’s hair and skin which lead to some beautiful shots.

After a serious of very striking, moody poses, I coaxed out of her a smile, and I knew at the moment I clicked this shutter that it would be one of my portrait favorites. As photographers, we see smiles of all kinds, some cheesy, forced and even some over the top ones, but when a true natural one is captured it is pure magic. After taking a series of such serious shots all morning, this smiling one stood out even more! That is why I couldn’t resist entering this image into the iHeartFaces.com Smile Photo Challenge contest. You can check it out or enter your own submission on their site.

Drowning in Pictures!

On Monday, I did a double photo session with our youngest daughter, Kylie, who is about to start her senior year. She is also a spokesmodel for my photography business, Cheri Wenger Design Photography so we did a DREAM session...twice the photos, twice the fun!

She and I are both not morning people so I wasn’t sure how waking at 6 am was gonna correlate into getting ANY good pictures, but I think you will agree that we did more than alright! She started off with a cute silky sundress to have a slightly more formal look with plans to change into shorts & a tee.

Living in Melbourne, FL provides awesome opportunities to shoot photos at the beach. We just couldn’t make the true sunrise at 5:30...no way, no how that would happen with either of us! We did some in the water, but she didn’t want to get too wet since we were just getting started. We played with bubbles. Note: it really helps to have an assistant for that shot so they can direct the bubbles while you snap away! We managed to get a photo or two, but I am gonna try that again, like planned, in her shorts and colorful t-shirt, which by the way, we never got to shoot. We'll save that for another more fun and playful photo session.

Hey, you don’t know what a success this really was. We didn’t have even one squabble AND despite sweating our tutus off, there were plenty of smiles and great shots. Now, we took a break at Starbucks for breakfast and some passionfruit lemonades to revive ourselves! Here are some of the shots taken by the Indian River along with a few from the beach session.  

You know, I have always said that I am an evening person and my daughter is just like me, in more ways than one! She comes alive in pictures and I just seem to have more creative ideas for shots, angles and lighting. No, this couldn't have anything to do with staying up late working on design stuff for my business! As you can see by all these photos, I am in picture and editing overload, but lovin' every minute of it! The handheld ponytail shots at sunset are my mommy faves, and hers too!

If you want to see the complete gallery of photos from the a.m. and sunset photo sessions, check out my  facebook page or go to my Cheri Wenger Design Photography website and you will see them as two of the featured galleries. Be sure to leave me a guest book message on my website and to hit the like button on my facebook page! Thanks.

Photo Website Launch & Spokesmodel Search

Today marks the big day...the launch of my long awaited photography website. Eventually, I hope to have a custom designed website which will join together all of my creative worlds, but this new site is so exciting from a photographer’s standpoint. Here, you can find out more about me, my photo services, and check out examples of my portfolio.

Once you visit the homepage, you will see a slideshow of photos featuring babies, children, teens, couples & families. One unique aspect to my photography business is my not-so-secret weapon, my design & creative skills! As an artist, I bring my creative eye when composing photos, looking for colorful and interesting backgrounds, locations and perspectives. My extensive background in photoshop adds to my editing capabilities as well as the option to offer my customers custom portrait art combining design techniques with their photos. See examples of some art portraits on this page of my site.

I also use some of my own stock photography images to create photo art, both of which will be available for purchase as prints on my site. Be patient with me as I work on building to the stock photography library!

INTRODUCING OUR FIRST ANNUAL SENIOR SPOKESMODEL SEARCH CONTEST

Do you know a local high school senior who is outgoing, comfortable in front of the camera and enthusiastic when it comes to talking about things that they like? Encourage them to enter our Spokesmodel Contest. Note that we will be doing another contest for Juniors in the Spring 2013!

Click here to go to our Contest Website page.

If you pop by the photography website, be sure to leave me a message 

and let me know what you think of it, and which are your favorite photos!

To keep updated on my latest shoots and happenings at 

Cheri Wenger Design Photography, hit the like button on my facebook page.

You can click on the FB button link at the bottom of my website or click here.

Against All Odds

I am blessed to live in the Space Coast area of Florida, where the beaches and dunes are preserved for Turtle Nesting. This little hatchling was battling both the waves and the odds to survive his return to the sea. He was turned around and getting pounded by waves near the shore, when he encountered some little rescuers who scooted him out further beyond the crashing waves. If you have ever watched a mother turtle nesting, it is an amazing experience, and one I will never forget. Out of hundreds of eggs, only a couple of hatchlings actually survive to adulthood. Many don’t make it past the first few days of life. There are some days that I can relate to the hatchling where the odds seemed so stacked against me and the obstacles seem too large to overcome. Ever had a day like that?

Within the first few months of living in Florida, we experienced four hurricanes, ironically, the first one starting on Friday the 13th, August 2004. Was that a message? Many friends asked if we regretted our move here, but we pointed to the many upsides of living where we do...and we still love it here. Recently, we were impacted by Tropical Storm Fay. Entering from the west coast, who would have thought she would have left such an impact on our tiny east coast town...flooding, tornado warnings and almost 30" of rain — half of our yearly amount in just 3 days, and miraculously we remained dry and with power! (We're hoping it stays that way!) Who would have expected Fay to cancel 4 of the first 5 days of school; she was merely a Tropical Storm who parked herself over Melbourne, FL. So if you never knew where I lived before, I am sure from the news, you have now at least heard of Melbourne.

Although our hurricane season doesn’t end until November, nothing compares to watching a turtle nesting, seeing the shuttle launch on the Fourth of July, taking a walk on the beach whenever time allows, not being confined all winter long, spontaneous shell hunting and feeling even closer to God while watching another beautiful sunrise. So the next time you feel like that little hatchling, embrace all the good that surrounds you, and you too, will survive the worst.