Little Children's Ministry

Had a great day photographing everyone at Little Children's Ministry yesterday. Everyone did really really well, there were a few children last time that were quite shy that did a complete 180, and smile as big as they could. That was really great to see, and aside from the fact that a full 50% of the kids had runny noses the pictures turned out great. Don't worry parents, the runny noses will be taken care of in your enlargements, it just means a little bit more work for me.

LAA 2009 Photography Show

Ok, the show has been hung, it looks amazing. There is some really awesome work this year. I have a couple of favorites that I saw while hanging, but it's anyone's guess how the judging will go. The judges are both arriving today, Angie at 10am, and John and 2pm. They'll get me their scores and I'll punch them in tonight, so we'll be able to start working on the documentation for the show tomorrow and of course writing the checks!

I also wanted to announce the Photography Show Facebook page. We'll be able to post pictures of the winners, talk about the winning images, and keep track of important dates. This will also be a great way to keep people updated on rule changes as there are probably going to be some major changes in 2010.

So if you're interested in the LAA's annual photography show, click the link and become a fan:

LAA Photography Show Facebook

Facebook Fans

Thanks a ton to all of my fans over on Facebook. I'm up to 36 fans in a week. That's not too bad at all. I think all of my new customers from last week signed up which is just awesome. I'm loving the feedback that I'm getting on my work and the updates I'm giving. Based on this reaction I'm going to keep it going, but I have no plans for stopping this blog any time soon. They both seem to serve their purpose. If you want to become my fan on Facebook just click the link and hit the "Become Fan" button at the top.

Facebook

2009 Wedding Highlights

Here are some of my favorite shots from my 2009 weddings. It was a really great year, I had more fun this year than any other year since I started. I met a lot of really great couples and I hope they'll be customers for life, especially once the little ones start arriving. Congratulations to all of my 2009 newlyweds!

Teresa and Chris' Wedding

I hate to always mention the weather in conjunction with my work, so I'll keep it short this time. The weather was gorgeous! This was a Saturday for the record books, the only thing better than working on a day like that is not working on a day like that. The wedding itself was very nice and both sides of the wedding party was a lot of fun. I had a really good time and I could tell everyone else was having a blast. The reception was a riot, the DJ was playing a custom playlist hand picked by the groom, tons of classic 70's pop, Glenn Campbell and Gordon Lightfoot to name a few. I'm not sure if it was the playlist or what, but the dance floor was filled the whole night. Everyone from flower girls on up to grandmothers was out on the floor rocking it. That's the best thing to see at a reception, it's very disappointing when no one dances and it can make a wonderful day end on sort of a flat note. I also need to mention, I've never been to Culver Cove before, and this place was amazing. It's a bit of a drive, but totally worth it, I wish more couples from this area would use that facility for their receptions. Congratulations you guys, I wish you all the best.

Free Wallets!

Got your attention didn't I. I'm very excited to announce the introduction of Free Wallet prints. If you choose, you may order up to 10 sheets of wallets from your order and get them absolutely free. The catch? Of course there is a catch, I will include my logo on the front of all free wallets. These wallets will serve as promotional pieces for me, getting my name out to your family and friends. These wallets are available to all of my current high school seniors, they're already turned on in your online proofing store, just select the images you want and add them to your cart. I'll add them to your order and you can hand them out at school. You save money and I get a little bit of added publicity. Win/win!

Justin's Portraits

Justin gave us some trouble this weekend now that he is fully mobile he is a hard little guy to keep in front of the camera. We tried all of the regular tricks and nothing kept in up there, well, the duct tape worked, but it made him mad and his face got all red. Of course the adults ultimately won, we got plenty of really cute shots of him, it just took a little bit longer than normal. Next time we need to figure out how to properly motivate him, chocolate perhaps? No, probably cold hard cash...

Facebook Page

Ok, I finally did it. I set up a Facebook page for the studio. This should be an interesting experiment if nothing else. Check it out at:

Face Book Page

Add yourself as a fan, the more the merrier!

Liz's Senior Portraits

We had a really great session last night for Liz's senior portraits. We got a really good variety of shots in just 2 locations. We started at her church and got some really nice shots in front of the stone work and cross at the front of the sanctuary. Then we swung over to the high school where she posed on the long Logansport High School sign. We drove around to the little cabin and then eventually walked into the Berry Patch. We did stay a little too long at the High School because by the time we go to the railroad bridge, the sun was completely behind the trees. I think in most cases the extra darkness would have been an issue, but the moodiness really worked for these shots. Liz's choice of top, the vintage guitar, and her expressions really worked well with the darkness, it gave these shots a really edgy feel. I even like the single strand of hair across her eye in this shot.

2009 LAA Photography Show

The LAA's annual Photography Show is fast approaching. Photographs will be received on Friday October 2nd from 11:30am to 5:30pm and Saturday October 3rd from 9am until noon. We are very lucky to have two excellent judges this year, John Parker of Weddings by Parker and Angie Turnpaugh from the Pharos Tribune. I hope everyone is planning on entering,it's always a good time at the reception talking to the other photographers in the area.

Busy Week

This has been a really busy week. Had a photo shoot every night except Friday and I spent all day Friday placing enlargement orders. I think this is the last portrait that needed to be uploaded to the gallery. Super cute Scott's 3 month portrait. We were chugging along very nicely, mom brought 3 outfits and we were ready to put on the second one when he fell fast asleep. We ended up scratching outfit 2, and moving straight on to outfit 3 which as luck would have it was pajamas. So that worked out pretty well.

New purchase option

I'm very excited to now be offering single pose packages. If you are needing several units of the same pose you can order one of 3 packages and save 10, 20, or 30%. You still get to choose the sizes you want, you can mix and match whatever works best for you, so if you need 5 8x10's you can save 20%, if you need 5 sheets of wallets, and 5 sheets of 5x7's you can save 30%. It's a really great feature and you can mix and match these packages into your order anyway you want, and if you just don't want to buy several prints of the same pose just order the units ala carte, my normal volume discounts still apply so either way you can save on the order that fits your needs exactly.

The packages themselves are Small, which includes 3 units of your choice for $30, Medium which includes 5 for $45, and Large which is the best value with 10 units of your choice for only $80.

If you have any questions about these great new packages don't hesitate to email me, I'd love to go over it in more detail with anyone who is interested.

Jordyn's Senior Portraits Part 2

We had much better luck with the weather for our outdoor session last night. We spent around an hour out at the golf course and aside from a couple of errant golf balls it went really well. We got some really nice shots including this one up in a really funky pine tree. There were of course issues with sap, I think Jordyn got it on her shirt and pants, and after I touched a branch I couldn't put my camera down, but it was well worth it to get such great shots.

Kelley's Senior Portraits

We had a great time doing Kelley's Senior Portraits last night. We started out at a family friend's house where we posed in and around her gardens. It was a long drive, but well worth it because this was a photographer's dream. Tons of color, lots of depth, plants at all heights, low, middle and high. The only problem was the mosquitoes. They were thick, at one point there were so many on my lens that I couldn't hold my camera up. Unfortunately, Kelly got bit a couple of times so it's going to mean a bit more Photoshop, but that's also worth it for the gorgeous gardens we got to photograph in.

Reduced Proofing Prices

I'm very very please to announce that due to a recent reduction in the prices I pay per image for my online proofing I'm making 2 exciting changes to my prices. First off, I'm lowering my High School Senior sitting fee to $100. The cost of my online proofing was one of the main reasons I raised my price to $125 and I'm really happy to be able to lower now.

Secondly, I'm going to double the amount of proofing included in all of my wedding packages. Instead of 90 days, I'm going to make it a full 6 months. This will give all of my happy new couples a couple of months to look and enjoy the pictures, and then a couple more months to get serious and place their orders. 90 days just never seemed to be enough and almost every bride ended up paying more for a couple of extra months. Those days should be behind us now.

Jordyn's Senior Portraits

We got rained out last week for Jordyn's portrait session. We had planned to go out to the Logansport Country Club but it was just a really soggy dreary day. This is only the second time I've had to postpone a session this year so I'm not going to complain too much about it. We used the time wisely though and got some really excellent studio portraits. Here is one of my favorites, super simple, just standing in front of a backdrop, but it's a really really strong portrait. I think we're going to get some really good stuff for the next session, so stay tuned and I'll be sure to post one from her outdoor set as well.

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.

I really have had more than just this 1 session this week but it's been so busy I just haven't had any time for uploading new shots to my gallery or blogging. I'll try to get caught up on my newest photo shoots this week but for now this is John. We had a really great session on Friday. I was really worried about the heat it was just awful at 6pm when we started at the studio, but by 7pm when we were ready to roll to the outdoor location there was this great breeze that took the edge off the heat. As long as we kept to the shade, which of course I always do just for exposure purposes, it was almost perfectly pleasant. It was certainly not too hot to be out in photographing so we were able to spend another hour or so getting more shots along the river. I really had a good time and as time went on I could tell John was starting to really get into the posing. It always makes me really happy to not only create great portraits for people, but when they have a good time with the process it's the ultimate experience and it's what I strive to do for every client. I was really really glad to see John having a blast.

Ashley and Michael's Wedding

Don't you just love this shot? Ashley mentioned this idea she had almost as soon as we started doing the photography on Saturday. I didn't understand exactly what she meant until we got outside and saw the long row of evergreens. This turned out really cool. I'm always happy when my clients bring their own ideas to photo shoots, you get a much fuller selection of images when there are multiple people being creative. And creativity is obviously one of Ashley and Michael's strong points, the ceremony was very traditional, but the reception was, I guess the word is "off the hook." They entered the reception to an ESPN style roll call ending in bursting through a paper ring with their initials on it. They had a very elaborate 3 part first dance starting out traditional, turning into a line dance, and finally ending up as a hip hop number. And of course, they kicked the night off right by singing the first karoake song. It was a good time that's for sure.

Amy and Travis' Wedding

I don't say this very often, but I wish I would have been a guest at this wedding and not the photographer. Everything was just gorgeous, the tent, the landscaping, the decorations, it was all really beautiful. The service was very lovely, and then it was obvious the affection that all of the guests showed for this couple throughout the entire night. I followed them around for 2 hours after the ceremony capturing their interactions with their guests. Finally Travis turned to me and said, "Did you get something to eat yet?" And I replied, "No, I'll eat when you eat." He said they were on their way to the buffet right then so I followed them around for another hour and they were still talking to friends and family and having a great time. I finally saw Amy get a plate of food around 9pm, but I don't think she ever had the chance to eat it. They were having so much fun, they forgot to eat. Now that's what I call a wedding.