First Session at the New Studio

We had our first portrait session at the new studio. It went great, the extra room made everything so much more comfortable. We were able to really stretch out and we ended up spending a lot more time in the studio than we planned and didn't have near as much sunlight for outdoor portraits as we had hoped. We were only using the studio temporarily, we're still not 100% done so we haven't moved the majority of our gear down there yet. The major stuff is done, we're mostly just finishing up a few odds and ends and waxing the floors. We are shooting for September 4th as our first official day, so if you want to get a portrait and help us break in our wonderful new space give us a call now.

Portraits the Hard Way!

I've seen portraits taken in what appears to be the local high school locker room several times and they've always looked really great. I recently got my first opportunity to photograph a high school senior in his locker room and it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. The metal of the lockers were quite reflective and the open portions where equipment hangs had terrible shadows inside, not to mention every little thing sitting around the room cast shadows a mile long. I got plenty of great shots, but the whole shoot was much more challenging than I ever would have imagined. I got home and did some research and realized a lot of the shots I've seen were done with lockers that looked nothing like the ones in the locker room! I'm so naive, but these shots were faked! The lockers were never used, they're just props for portraits. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, when you're in your studio, you get to control the light and everything that goes in front of the camera. You can spray anti-reflective coating on the lockers if you want, but I think doing it in an actual locker room is great, the shots have that ring of truth, that every senior wants for their portraits.

Availability Update

I don't think we'll be able to schedule any more senior portrait sessions this month. The response for the coupon has been great and we're pretty much booked up for the rest of August. If you call now and schedule your session in August we can honor the 25% off. Even if you have your session in December, just make sure to schedule this month. September is pretty late for senior portraits, but if you haven't had yours take yet, it's as good a month as any, and so far it's wide open. Give us a call to schedule your session.

New Senior Portrait Location

I found a really neat area to take some great outdoor portraits. Along South River Road, the State Hospital has a back entrance. The entrance is flanked with two large curved walls and two tower kind of things with arched openings. There are almost limitless posing opportunities here, and on either side of these large walls are amazing low rock heap walls. We planned on stopping here for a senior portrait recently, but the area was so great we almost used up all of the sun posing on and around the walls.

Congratulations Jack and Jackie

I didn't even know the Madam Carrol did weddings! Shows what I know, it was a really amazing day. Hot of course, but the lower deck was air conditioned and both sides are top to bottom windows so the view was just wonderful. I can't remember the last time I had such an enjoyable time at a wedding. It was a blast and I'm so happy I was able to be a part of it.

Studio Opening

I believe we are going to be open for business at our new studio on September 3rd. We have made a lot of progress the last few weeks and the construction crew is done with all of the heavy lifting. They just need to install some floor tiles and bathroom fixtures and I just need to paint one more wall and do some serious cleaning. Now that moving day is so close I'm starting to realize the hard part wasn't renovating a 1500 square foot building, it's going to be very painful to move all of the photo props and backdrops I have across town. You can only load so many bar stools into a pickup truck in one trip.

Availability Update: We've booked about 6 senior portrait sessions this month due to our advertisement in the Pharos Tribune. We can probably handle about 6 more, so if you're still shopping for senior portraits give us a call at our studio or email us at info @ buckportraitstudio.com and we'll see how we can help you.

Congratulations to Nicole and Davin!

It was a pleasure to be a part of Nicole and Davin's special day. It was a really beautiful ceremony, and I can't recall a more elegant reception. I really had a lot of fun and that's considering I had almost no voice at all. All I can say is it's a good thing I was able to find an assistant on short notice to help with the posing because I was almost worthless the whole day. That is if you consider the guy pressing the shutter release worthless. I guess that's up for debate. Congratulations you guys, here's to a lifetime of happiness.

The sign is up!

The sign is now hanging on the side of my new studio at 719 Spear St, but I'm sorry to say we're not open yet. We've still got a lot of construction going on inside and since we're doing all of the work ourselves to keep costs down it's creeping along at a snails pace. I know there are lots of people ready to book studio appointments, I'm really sorry to be unable to help you, but I would love to book a location shoot for anyone that wants one. We can go to France Park or the dam at Riverside Park and do pretty much anything you want. The studio is coming along though, it shouldn't be more than another couple of months and we'll be fully open ready to take care of all of your photographic needs. Stay tuned for more news.

Senior Portraits

We're really pleased to be offering our first ever coupon for photography services. Starting August 1st, there will be a coupon for 25% any senior portrait package. We've got plenty of evening slots open between now and the end of summer so if you're still not sure what you're looking for in your senior portraits give us a call and we'll see what kinds of locations we can come up with.

Low Low Low

Could the river get any lower? I don't see how, but as bad as I feel for the fishes it's pretty cool going out on the river bed and taking portraits. There's a huge area at Little Turtle with lots of great places to pose. Then of course the area around the dam at Riverside has lots of limestone to walk around on. The closer you can get to the damn the cooler the shot. If you can stand the heat of a scorching summer sun and want to take some fun portraits in the river give us a call at our studio today to book a senior session.

Laura and Daniel

Congratulations to Laura and Daniel Kasamis. They had a beautiful wedding at the Indianapolis Art Center. The art all around and gorgeous gardens set a very artistic theme for the day and their portraits all turned out wonderfully. We all had a blast wandering around the campus looking at sculptures and taking pictures. It was a little scary on the Monon Trail, the cyclists come through there pretty darn fast and it's easy to become distracted with a camera in my hands, glad no one in the wedding party got run over by a 10-speed. Congratulations to Laura and Daniel, it was a pleasure photographing your wedding.

Wedding Season is here!

We're right in the middle of the summer wedding season, things are crazy. We're jumping back and forth from wedding to wedding taking pictures and designing albums. We've got plenty of time during the week for senior sessions though, if you're graduating next year give us a call to set up your portrait session.

We're still months away from being ready at our studio, lots and lots of painting to do and it's hard to find time to paint when you're doing some much shooting. It's a good problem to have of course, but if you're holding out for a session at the studio you're probably better off just scheduling something on location now.

Congratulations Jasmine and Jeremy!

Jasmine and Jeremy Binkerd had a very lovely ceremony at River of Life Christian Church in Logansport. It was a very early wedding and the reception started around lunch time, but it's been a long time since I've been to such a fun reception. After 2 solid hours of dancing I was exhausted from just watching those guys.

New Phone Number!

In preparation for opening our studio downtown we have set up our telephone at that location. You can contact us there at 574.722.3333. The address of the studio is 719 Spencer Street, it's the old Logansport Lumber building just behind Shepler Construction on Eerie Avenue.

New Album Format

We're very pleased to be able to offer a new size and shape of coffee table book to display your wedding images in. We can now design and print 10" x 10" albums. This changes the feel of the album as this format is shorter and wider so each 2 page spread is almost panoramic. The best part is we can duplicate your entire book into a miniature 5" x 5" version as well. So if you want to give one to each member of your wedding party or your grandparents you can do this without spending a small fortune. Give us a call to check out our new 10x10 and 5x5 samples.

Availability Update!

We are currently fully booked for the 2007 wedding season. We limit the number of weddings we do to ensure quality. If you have a nonstandard wedding date later in the year or are getting married on a nonstandard day, Friday or Sunday, send us an email to check the availability and we'll see what we can do. At this time we only have a couple of 2008 weddings and they are very early in the year, but the summer wedding dates generally are spoken for by the end of January so reserve your date now!

We have lots of evening slots during the week available for senior portraits. I know summer hasn't even arrived yet, but wouldn't it be great to get it over with and have your entire summer to enjoy the fun and sun? Give us a call today to schedule your senior portraits.

Studio Location

Buck Portrait Studio has found a permanent studio location near downtown Logansport. It's a very good location with a ton of floor space. There will be much much more room in the shooting area to try lots of new things that were never possible in my home studio. Stay tuned for more information especially when we will be opening at that location.

Congratulations Kelli and Anthony

Kelli and Anthony had a beautiful ceremony in Wabash, Indiana. It was really great to share their special day with them. They also put together one of the most organized and focused wedding parties I've ever seen. We had about 45 minutes extra at the end of the day that we ended up using to take some extra outdoor shots of Kelli and Anthony. That's really a great thing, but I probably won't get that opportunity again any time soon. All in all it was a great day to be a photographer, and from what I could see it was pretty good for the newlyweds as well! Congratulations you two!

Online Proofing

I'm very pleased to be able to offer a brand new online proofing service to all of my clients. I've always offered online proofing, but there has never been any way to place the order through the web. The days of writing your order down on a scratch pad and emailing me a list of pictures are over. You can now view your images, choose the sizes of enlargements you want to buy, place the order, and pay by credit card! This is pretty much an all in one package for all of my clients. If you would like to see a recent shoot of yours in the new system give me a call and I can set it up. I've uploaded every shoot for April and May already, just visit http://buckportraitstudio.com/preview to see yours.

Formal Wedding Portraits

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.