I am often asked about my photography and what makes me so different form others.  My answer always contains an explanation of the experience my clients will have with me.  I do not consider myself to be a sit here look and smile type of photographer - but one that spends the required time to capture the essence ones family. I believe that I capture fleeting moments in time that help to tell your families story for generations to come.

It is hard to put a value on the work that I do and put its worth into perspective for many - but I did find a site that helped me put some words to my thoughts.  Over the course of next few weeks, I will share with you some of these sediments written by Marianne Drenthe found on Professional Child Photographer.  Here is the first of many - explaining “What Is Custom Photography”

“What custom photography ultimately is all about is choice and experience (as in THE experience). Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted 1:1 attention without worry of the next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio. A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the good images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities. Often the images are fully edited images-color corrected with blemishes and undereye circles removed. Custom photographers are also known as boutique studios, offering a range of products and unparalleled service. Think Lexus vs. Hyundai, think Nordstrom vs. WalMart.

Custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience. Custom photography truly is not for everyone, it requires a level of commitment, investment in time  and money, forethought and planning on the part of the subject/client and requires a larger time commitment for the photographer as well.

Clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their families’ memories have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized.  These more discerning clients have been known to budget and allot time for a custom photography session.  Many clients opt for it to be a once a year special experience, some opt to have custom photography sessions done to record their child’s stages in life.  Having said this, it is clear that custom photography is not in everyone’s budget,  it is something that most families save for to splurge on from time to time to memorialize their children as they really are (not posed and primped in the cookie cutter studio setting). 

There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client.  The luxury of great service, better choices and a supberb end product.  The result of all this are heirloom quality images.  The time invested at the session is only a small portion of time involved in this process.

Custom photography has been likened to purchasing a fine vehicle.  To get to point B from A let’s face it, even a bus ride would suffice.  If you want to luxuriate in a finely appointed vehicle, customizing your own experience by listening to smooth jazz while sitting in a climate controlled setting adjusted purely for your comfort in a body hugging leather interior, perhaps that Lexus you so desire is your cup of tea.  Custom photography is much the same cup of tea.  It is the Lexus of the photography world.  It is where the intangibles make the experience truly wonderful and the images themselves make the investment of money and time truly worthwhile.   

Custom photography can be broken down into even more levels.  There are on location, studio, mixed studio/on location, specialty location and destination type photographers.  The beauty of custom photography is in the choices and in the luxury of thoses options.  The customized service level you are sure to experience will be amazing.  The knowledge that your final images are the result of someone caring about those moments so much that they take extra time ensuring that the artwork you receive is good enough to stand by with their name on it.  That level of quality and commitment  is all but lost in the age of “mass produced,” “mass marketed,” corporate “everyone is a number”.  Custom photography is based on being unique to you.  How great an experience would be,  to be able to sit back and allow a photographer to do this highly custom work for images that you will most likely cherish for a lifetime?

Keep in mind more than anything that the Lexus will never appreciate in value the way your portraits will.  The portrait art you become invested in from your custom photographer will no doubt increase in value and become more priceless as the years pass.”

This is what the magic of Custom photography will capture - what do you think this mother will feel every time she looks at the image of her little girls like this.

Miss me?  Well I feel so bad that I have been ignoring my blog - I have been drowning in work.  

Last weekend was really great and the talented Chris Lee was so generous to come out and film us just so that we could share some of our craziness with you all.  Just sit back and enjoy and keep checking back for more details.

Are you a professional photographer who just isn’t satisfied with your current sales or wanting to know how to make your images rival those in magazines? Have you ever felt like you needed a little boost in your life from other peers in your industry to bring your work to the next level?   Do you often feel overwhelmed with information and do not know how to organize it in your brain? …Into your life?

Are you in a FUNK????!!!!  Well…..GET THA FUNK OUT!!!!

 
A team of professional photographers (Joanne Distaso, Gina Lee, Julie Weaver and me) together have joined forces and talent in developing a life-changing workshop designed to inspire you and get your groove back on the fast track!  Come on….Get tha funk out!!!!

We are currently fine tuning tha workshop this weekend and will have dates released by next week! Stay tuned next week for some funky-licious bloggin’ about this killer opportunity!

Turn of the FLASH! Yeah you got that - since when did artificial lighting become the source of making people look better?  Natural light is were it is at. 

Try finding your best source of natural light and take advantage of it, move to a spot with open shade or near a window and go for it.  I find that by using natural light my images do not look as flat as flashed out photos.  

As much as I love natural light, I find it equally as important to avoid direct sunlight. Besides being extremely harsh lighting - direct sunlight just does not make for the most flattering pictures.  Take sometime out and play with your camera - take a few pictures with the flash, then turn off your flash and snap away again (do you see the difference?)  Unless you are photographing at night or in a dimly lit room, try putting away your flash and keep it natural.

Ok time for part 2 of how to take better pictures.  One of the most common mistakes we all make while taking photos is to say the words “say cheese”,  ”look here”,  ”smile” or “no not that goofy look”.  Trust me, I know that these are hard habits to break, but are important to forget if you want to take better pictures.  This leads me to my second rule of taking better pictures - Engagement.Think of the things that your kids do that just warm your heart and make smile - you know, the silly jokes they tell and the way the giggle after, the new tricks they just have to show you, they way they look at you when they are sad or even the peaceful look they have when the sleep.  Those are all real life moments that deserve to be captured without forced smiles or false emotion, instead engage your child in conversation or even activities they love to do.  Capture then as who they are and what they love to do - those are the images that will truly make you see who they are and bring back warm memories years down the line.  If you have a child that loves to do summersaults - take a picture of that, if you have a child that wrinkles her nose whenever you serve broccoli- take a picture of that, if your child loves to make funny faces, act like you are in a photo booth - and take a picture of that.  Photos no longer have to be images of everyone blindly staring into the camera with fake smiles waiting for you to get it over with - they can be fun and engaging.  Get down on the floor and play with your child or even climb the money bars with them as you take pictures and you will see how much easier those smiles and laughter comes - and if they don’t, that ok too.  Remember life is beautiful - capture it!