Availability Update!

We currently have no openings for portrait sessions until the first of next year. We apologize in advance to anyone still wanting Christmas portraits taken, but we are completely booked.

We still have plenty of openings for weddings next summer. Please call soon though, we generally book our entire wedding season in January.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful 2 day photo shoot at CVS Logansport this year. We ended up with about 700 images, so we probably had about 200 kids come through for portraits. The lines were always short though and most customers were walking out of the store with portraits in hand in about 20 minutes or so. This was our last public photo shoot of the year, we'll probably arrange an easter shoot with live bunnies. I'll post details as soon as I have them. Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was really relaxing for us, but now that it's over, the Holiday portrait season has kicked into full swing. We've got parties and events scheduled for every weekend through Christmas. We also have portraits scheduled for families pretty much all week long every week. There aren't a lot of openings, but if you're interested in having family portraits taken give us a call and we'll see if we can't find a time slot that works for you.

CVS CHristmas Shoot

We had a blast at the annual Christmas Fair in Peru last week. The freezing cold drizzle kept a lot of people home, but it was still a frantic 2 hours of posing children with Santa. We'll be doing the same thing at the CVS on 3rd Street in Logansport on December 2nd, and 3rd. We hope to you see you there!

2006 Wedding Season Sampler

Here are a few of my favorite shots from some of my 2006 weddings, overall it was a beautiful season, lots of happy couples, and tons of great memories.

Lead Times Extending

Lead times on all of my products are slowly expanding due to the upcoming holiday season. Enlargements including 4x8 Christmas Cards will take approximately 3 weeks for the next month or so and albums have been extended to 5 weeks. Once December gets here I expect the lead times to go out a little bit more, most likely another full week. If you have any orders you're hoping to have fulfilled by Christmas, your best bet is to get them turned in immediately, any delay could mean they won't arrive until the first of the year.

Christmas Portraits

We're really excited about this year's Christmas Portrait Season. We've got a ton of private parties that are providing portraits for all guests, and we've got lots of families scheduled for portraits, hopefully we'll get some snow and some brave families will want to head outside for a shot or two.

Of course we also have a public photo shoot coming up too. CVS in Logansport will be offering portraits with Santa all day on December 2nd, and 3rd. The prices will be very affordable, and the prints will be ready to take home before you leave the store. We hope to see you there.

New Pricing!

Buck Portrait Studio is very happy to announce that for the third straight year we will not be raising our print prices! We also have all new packages for weddings and seniors which offer huge savings over ala carte enlargements. So if you didn't get married last year, consider yourself lucky, 2007 is the year to save big with Buck Portrait Studio.

Wedding Season Over!

Well it was a frantic whirlwind of a wedding season again this year. Congratulations to all of the beautiful couples that allowed us to be a part of their special day. I had fun as always and together we made some really cool images.

Availability Update: We're probably not going to accept any more weddings for off season dates next year (Jan-Apr, and Sept-Dec) We've booked a handful of those, but we generally are busy with other projects during these time frames. We have many openings left for May, June, July, and August though so give us a call now to look through our sample albums and book your date. We are generally fully booked for the entire year by the end of January, so don't delay if you want to book your wedding with Buck Portrait Studio.

Creative Mats

Looking for a way to make a stunning piece of art from your portrait? Why not let us design a custom digital mat for you. We can do unlimited different sizes and shapes of mats. We can do letters and numbers making fun senior collages. Digital mats cost a fraction of what a traditional mat would cost and the unlimited colors and textures ensure you get a one of a kind piece of art.

LAA 2006 Contest Winners

Here are the winners of the Logansport Art Association's 2006 Photography Contest:

Professional:
Open B/W
1st #109 Annette Spear “Ashley”
Open Color
1st #110 Annette Spear “Kaitlyn”
HM #52 Wally Dibble “Dolly”
HM #49 Wally Dibble “Lady Slipper Orchid”

Non-Professional Color:
People
1st #44 Dixie Ben-net “Talented Toes”
HM #87 Janet Fawley “Big Blow”

Animals
1st #104 David Bowles “Lost Bouquet”
2nd #59 Ruth Reese “Columbine”
3rd #38 John Troxler “Eastern Meadowlark”
HM #78 Jack Burger “Turkey Feather”
HM #39 John Troxler “White Breasted Nuthatch”
HM #24 Rosalie Conlin “Majestic Garden”

Landscape
1st #4 Pat Herron “Disney Hall”
2nd #102 David Bowles “Frosty Morning”
3rd #19 Tom Morris, Jr. “Reflections”
HM #91 Rosanne Garver “Mellow Yellow”

Computer Aided
HM #5 Oksana Hontar-Franklin “In Morning”

Open
1st #40 John Troxler “Sunrisesteam”
2nd #74 Ryan Buck “Pencils”
HM #72 Ryan Buck “Paper”

Committee Award: #30 Stephen Rouch “Self-Portrait”
Youth Committee Award: #113 Kaitlyn Spear “Sadie”
Memory of Mary Bruck Award:
#102 David Bowles “Frosty Morning”
Photography Show Winners, cont.

Non-Professional B/W:
People
HM #126 Hayley Bickle “Shannon B”

Animals
HM #105 Jack G. Smith “Nesting Eagle”

Landscape
HM #119 Stacy Cox “Waterfall Wonder”

Youth Color (K-5):
Open
HM #114 Ashley Spears “Play Ball”

Computer Aided
HM #115 Ashley Spears “Red Shoes”

Youth Color (6-12):
Open
1st #84 Brogan Bahler “Untitled”
2nd #69 Brian Larimore “Serenity”
HM #116 April Pickens “Off Navy Pier”

Computer Aided
HM #63 Kristen Sims “Flip Flops”

Youth B/W (6-12):
1st #138 Sean Henderson “Escape”
2nd #140 Sean Henderson “Eternity”
3rd #130 Casey Hardebeck “Jesus”
HM #135 Evan Moore “Cousin Erica”
HM #137 Evan Moore “Painting Shack”
HM #64 Kristen Sims “Frog”
HM #148 Haley Santon “Little Princess”


Virginia Anne Lewis Award: #107 Amy Spear “Sunset”
Judge’s Award: #41 John Troxler “Running Bear”
Best of Show: #20 Tom Morris, Jr. “Water on a Lily”
Youth Best of Show: #143 Taylor Clark “Solarization”

Christmas Cards

We are pleased to be able to offer 4x8 Christmas cards just in time for the holidays. We don't have as many different designs as local photo labs might, but I think there is a design for everyone here. The cards come complete with envelopes in quantities of 12, for only .99 cents a piece. Schedule a portrait now and design your card so you have time to mail them out before it's too late.

Ryan's Bio

I've always been interested in capturing the world in new and exciting ways. Photography has always been an amazing way to take a rather boring landscape (Central Indiana) and make it beautiful. My early work includes rustic barns and dilapidated fences, themes that still find their way into my photography to this day. I've spent hundreds of hours driving around Indiana photographing everything that comes my way. Of the thousand or so rolls of film I've developed I've created some very unique works of art, and each time I see something that moves me, I wonder how I can make it better. I go back out and try again, trying a new lens, or changing a setting in my camera. This trial and error has been my best teacher.

Throughout my non-photographic career I've always found a way to be a photographer. While working for a small software company I photographed several yearly seminars learning a lot about flash photography along the way. While serving in the US Army Reserve I was my company's offical photographer. I documented every aspect of our training and published a monthly newsletter.

Like so many landscape photographers before me, my portraiture work started when I was asked to photograph a relative's wedding even though I had no idea what I was doing. The wedding went very smoothly, and I realized how difficult people photography was. The challenge of making artistic portraits that people love is what drives me every day. Since that first wedding I've gone completely digital and have invested countless hours (and dollars) to my studio. Instead of driving around looking for interesting trees to photograph I practice my studio lighting techinque on mundane objects like sea shells or colored pencils. Every day I learn something new and every portrait I take is a little bit better than the last.

Photo Competition Now Open!

I did fairly well this year against some pretty stiff competition in the Logansport Art Association's annual photography contest. I won second place in the open category, and also won an honorable mention. There were some really amazing pieces of artwork entered this year and I can't wait until next year. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11am to 6pm for anyone wanting to go see what Logansport's best photographers are capable. Don't forget to vote for your favorite shot to be the People's Choice winner.

CVS Fall Shoot a Success!

The photo shoot at CVS was a huge success and from the amazing turn out I guess going 10 months between photo shoots is too long! We'll try to schedule them more frequently through out the year. I hope everyone that came down to CVS loved their portraits, we certainly appreciate the support.

We're definitely doing a Christmas portrait this year with a real Santa Claus. The dates are set for December 2nd, and 3rd. We haven't designed the scene yet, but as soon as we get it roughed out, I'll post a digital image of it. I hope to see you all there.

Logansport Photo Contest

The Logansport Art Association's annual photography contest will be kicking off very soon. Entry deadlines are next weekend and the showing will begin the next week. You can view all of the entries for approximately 30 days. I will be entering a few of my most recent still lifes this year. They can be viewed online of course, but if you want to see some of my non portraiture work in beautiful full color head over to the LAA on Water Street in Logansport.

On-line Proofing

Buck Portrait Studio is now pleased to offer on-line proofing to all of our clients. We recently switched webhosts and the new service provides ample storage for storing portrait sessions on-line. We will store your proofs on-line for 90 days or as space permits. There is no on-line ordering, but this new service allows you to view your proofs at any computer with an internet connection without the need for the CD. This also allows you to show family and friends your proofs in the convenience of their own homes. To view your proofs on-line simply visit http://buckportraitstudio.com/YOURLASTNAME.

Fall Portraits at CVS

It's been about a year since I've set up a portrait session at the CVS on 3rd St in Logansport, but the photo lab has asked me to set something up this month for fall. We'll have a nice outdoor fall scene with a forest backdrop and leaves. The date is September 30th and we'll be shooting from 9am to 5pm. I do not have details on the packages that will be available, but as always your prints will be ready for you before you leave the store. Hope to see you there.

Fall portrait tips

It won't be long before all of the trees start changing colors. Outdoor fall portraits have beautiful warmth making the subjects seem extremely full of life. The best bet for putting together a great fall portrait is to choose solid print clothing in warmer colors. Browns oranges and dark reds work great, some yellow can also be thrown in. Try to avoid vibrant colors that might attract too much attention. The goal is for your faces to pop right out of the frame, but if you are wearing a plain white shirt, most likely the shirt will be the main focal point.

Bad Weather

I know there are places getting it worse than Central Indiana, but we've had a seriously bad stretch of weather these last couple of weeks. If you're wanting to schedule an outdoor portrait session but don't know when the weather will let up, don't worry, give us a call and we'll set something up. We don't charge for rescheduling any appointment, so don't let the weather stop you from reserving a session.

Difficult Lighting

There is a very good reason we bring 6 cases of lighting equipment around with us to every wedding. That reason is churches are dark, dark places. They may not seem like it with the huge stained glass windows and spot lights on the ceiling, but the human eye is much more sensitive to light than any digital camera. You walk in and see beautiful colored light streaming in from all directions, but the camera just sees dark. The picture above was taken in a fairly dark church with a barely light curtain hanging about 20 feet behind the bride and groom. It took 2 lights on the bride and groom, 2 lights on the curtain and an additional light on the altar to keep everything nice and bright for the camera. It took a lot of adjusting to get the lights just right, but as you can see, the results were well worth it.

Updated Packages

We've spent the last few weeks redesigning our packages based on feedback from previous clients. We've added another high school graduate packaged to give parents even more value. The large package includes 24 units and extra locations for only $270.

We've also made some minor changes to the wedding packages. We've added more 8x10's to each package and added a DVD slideshow to the Platinum package. We also adjusted the prices to reflect the new Asuka brand coffee table books. The Platinum package went from $1000, to $1300, but that's basically buy 1 book, get 2 free with the package, and it still includes 6 hours of shooting on your wedding day and 36 units of enlargements.

Senior Portrait Locations

Most seniors have a good idea of where they want their portraits taken. While some prefer a simple studio portrait, most want an exciting outdoor location which could include beautiful gardens, crashing water falls, or rusted out doors.

Here are some of the more popular ides for outdoor portraits around Logansport. If you don't see something that appeals to you, don't worry, we have plenty of other locations just contact us at our studios to talk about other ideas.

France Park - Tons of places to shoot at the bottom of the falls, the top of the falls, and all along the creek including 2 wooden bridges, and a few smaller water falls. Easy access to cliffs and both lakes.

Little Turtle Waterway - Park has benches, stairs, and walls that are great for posing on. Easy access to the river. There is a gazebo across the street, as well as a small fountain, and a few alley ways with rustic doors and stone work.

Riverside Park - Lots of landscaping, plus play ground equipment, river access, and of course the Carousel. Across the river the walking path has access to the dam, a long wooden bridge and tons of greenery for nice backgrounds.

Downtown - Downtown features several rustic alleys as well as areas with newly renovated architecture. There are benches, wrought iron gates, and plenty of landscaping to make great outdoor portraits. There is also easy access to the new park near the police station.

Availability Update!

We currently only have about 6 weekends open for the entire year 2007. We limit the number of weddings we do to ensure the highest quality for each bride and groom. If you would like to schedule a meeting to look through some of our wedding portfolios please don't hesitate to contact us at our studios.

Senior Portraits

We have plenty of open slots for Senior Portraits in August. Call today and and book a session and get an additional 10% off the Senior Portrait Package. That's an additional $18 off our already value priced package. Check out the pricing page to find out what's included in this package. Reference this article when booking your session to get the extra 10% off.

Now offering Asuka Books!

Buck Portrait Studio is pleased to now be offering Asuka Books coffee table style wedding albums. We've been looking at albums for well over a year now comparing quality, manufacturing time, shipping costs, and much more to find the album that is the best value for our customers. Asuka Books offer four different book styles including both hard and soft bound books in sizes up to 80 pages long! Call our studios today to setup a time to view our sample albums.

New Graduate Package!

To help busy High School Seniors make the difficult choice of what to order once they've had their portraits taken we've created a Senior Portrait Package. This package will save parents some money and give everyone the pictures they want including TONS of wallets to hand out to friends. For $180 you get a single location shoot with unlimited shots, poses, and changes of clothing. This package includes 1 8x10, 4 5x7's, 6 4x6's, 160 die cut wallets, and 2 more full units of your choice. Call our studio today for more information.

Church Lighting

Many brides ask us about our lighting preferences for the church during the ceremony. They want to make sure it's bright enough to get really great images. The answer we give most often is "It doesn't really matter." If it's dark we'll use a tripod at the back of the church, if it's bright we'll probably leave the tripod in the car. The bottom line is, it's your day, design your wedding any way you want, and let us worry about the technical details of making great photos. If you want it dark, go for it.

Wedding Day Rush

Everyone's wedding day is a blur. The emotions and stress pile up making what should be one of the most memorable days of your life somewhat hard to remember. That's why wedding photography is so important, it captures every detail of your special day and preserves it for the rest of your life.

Many times when planning the schedule for the wedding day, brides plan only the bare minimum for photography. Leaving their album with one or two poses of each portrait. My advice to all brides to be is give yourself another 15 minutes more than you think you need before you join the reception. Take a walk with your photographer and new husband and get some shots around the church. There are often times old stair cases, neat chairs, or beautiful gardens that can make truly memorable wedding portraits, but you won't ever know if you rush straight from the church to the reception.

DVD Slideshows now available!

Buck Portrait Studio is now pleased to offer Slideshows of your entire wedding day. We will burn every image shot on your special day along with a classical music sound track to a DVD that can be watched on the TV in your living room. Each DVD will cost $25.

2007 Pricing Updated!

I know, I know 2006 is only halfway over, but we are generally booked up for weddings between 6 and 12 months ahead of time. We just wanted to get the new pricing out there as soon as possible for next years brides and grooms. We've eliminated the ala carte pricing scheme in favor of 3 very modest packages. The smallest is basically the same as last years pricing but it includes 12 units of your choice at a discount off of full retail. The rest of the packages include additional prints and digital albums all at a discount off of the ala carte price for units. Ala carte units are of course still available above and beyond your package.

Check out the pricing page for more details on all three packages.

2007 Pricing

Summer Sun Tips!

It's that time of year when everyone wants to get a nice dark tan. It pays to be careful in the sun for more than just health reasons. If you have a portrait coming up don't get too dark and don't burn. Use a high SPF sunblock if you're going to be in the sun for at least two weeks before your portrait if not every time you're out. If you want to appear darker in your portrait without risking burning just plan on wearing light colored clothing. Nothing will make your skin seem darker than a nice white or off-white shirt.

If you do get burned and have a portrait scheduled some redness can be airbrushed out, but peeling and flaking probably won't be easy to remove. Your best bet is to reschedule and stay out of the sun for about two weeks. This will allow your burn to dissipate some and even out for a more natural look.

Also keep tan lines in mind when choosing your portrait outfits. Don't wear a strapless shirt if you've been tanning all summer long in a tank top.

Digital Albums!

The current trend in photography is printed digital albums. These deluxe albums, often called Coffee Table Albums, can contain hundreds of photos in very exciting layouts all bound together in an attractive cover.

Our digital albums feature a four color printing process on heavy duty glossy paper. When designing a new digital album we ask for your input for which images you want included. We do not charge by the image, so choose as many images as you want. We will design an album and submit a plain paper proof to you for your review. You can add and remove images, move them around and put everything in exactly the order you want. We start with 20 pages, which includes 9 two page layouts, and 2 one page layouts at the beginning and end. Additional 2 page layouts can be purchased for a minimal cost. Once we've finalized a design, it takes about a week for your book to be printed.

Check our webpage for current pricing.

Photo Proofs now available!

We've never offered photo proofs before, but recently our lab has made some changes that allow us to offer proofs of your shoot for $1.00 each. These proofs will be more of a final product though than a method for choosing enlargements. I will still provide either a plain paper proof book or low resolution CD at no charge, but if you want to buy a 4x6 of each shot you can now do that very economically.

Availability Update:

We currently are booked solid through the end of July. We have some spots available in August for Senior Portraits.

Wedding Tips!

Very few brides can fully appreciate the stress they'll be under when their big day arrives. The emotions present run the gamut from elation to fear. A great way to make the bride and groom feel at ease while posing for portraits is to make sure the sanctuary is cleared out. Only those people who will be appearing in portraits should be present. This allows the subjects to relax and not feel like their putting on a show for family and friends. This also keeps interaction between the subjects and their guests. A bride being talked to by someone in the first row tends to be looking at the first row instead of the camera. If possible ask the ushers to not allow guests back into the sanctuary during the after ceremony portrait session.

We generally shoot larger groups first, so we get your entire family first, allowing them to head to the reception when their shots are finished. Then we shoot the entire wedding party releasing first the ushers, then groomsmen and bridesmaids, then finally the best man and matron of honor. By the time we're ready to shoot just the bride and groom, few people are left to distract the bride and groom from looking great in their portraits.

Senior Portrait Tips

Here are some tips for ensuring your high school graduation portraits turn out amazing!

1. Bring examples of things you'd like to try in your portraits. Magazine clippings, year books, catalogues or anything else with examples of poses, styles, or effects. We can combine these ideas with our own and create a truly unique portrait that captures your personal style.

2. Give your hair time to grown in after a cut. Don't get a fresh cut the day before your portrait session, a minimum of 5 days is needed for the cut to look natural.

3. Makeup should be applied normally. Use a mirror as a guide, if it looks good in the mirror it will look fine on film.

4. Ask your optometrist to remove the lenses from your glasses if possible. Reflections are very common on glasses and can be very time consuming to remove. Avoiding this problem is the best way to ensure a great portrait.

5. Simple, solid outfits work best, especially in the studio. More formal attire is also very common in the studio. Outdoor poses work well with jeans or khakis and simple solid shirts, especially muted colors. Blue, green, tan, and many more work better than glaringly bright colors such as white, yellow or red.

Follow these tips and make sure to get a good night's rest and your graduation portraits will be something you'll be proud of for years to come.

Wedding Day Photo Schedules

For everyone whos wedding is coming up later in the year, here are some basic guidelines for the kind of time we'll need for each group of wedding participants. This should help brides schedule hair appointments and give grooms a time to stroll into the church. Each block of time can be done before or after the ceremony but most people are ready to relax after the ceremony so squeezing the entire portrait session in here tends to rush things and this can result in missed shots either intentionally or unintentionally. Either way, realizing a month later you didn't get an important shot to you is very disappointing.

Bride and her party: 30-45 minutes
Groom and his party: 15-20 minutes
Entire wedding party: 20-30 minutes
Bride and Groom alone: 15 minutes

These are the major areas I focus on at each wedding. The reception shots are not much of an issue as I just float around and capture things as they happen, trying to schedule things here would ruin all of the fun.

Equipment setup takes about 15 minutes, so once we set a time, I'll back it off a bit and have everything ready to go when the participants show up.

Wedding Season off to a great start!

The first two weddings of the year went down without a hitch. We had some scheduling issues pushing our shoot times back a bit, but it didn't cause us to miss any shots, so you can't complain about that. Check out the gallery at http://www.ryanbuck.com/photo to see the newest shots.

We invsted a lot of money since last year in portable lighting. Our new lights have increased power allowing much more realistic skin tones. Churches are notoriously dark and in most cases yellow, so the more bright white light you can throw at the bride and groom the better the portraits will be.

Availability Update:

We are currently fully booked on weddings for the rest of the year. We have several slots still open for 2007 however, so if you have a wedding next year please give us a call or drop us an email.

We are still accepting all other portrait assignments especially Senior Portraits. It's late in the year, but if you haven't had your gradutation portaits taken, we would love to sit down and talk with you about your ideas.