Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Scheduling, Lightroom, and Other Frustrations

I made up a schedule, even put it on my Google calendar so that it would give me little pop ups to remind me what I'm supposed to do next.  That's wonderful when you can stick to it.  I however I am not so great at sticking to it.

I'm supposed to start my "work" day at 10 AM.  I'm not a morning person and knew this so I wanted to make sure I was well awake by the time I was supposed to start.  The first thing I am supposed to do is make connections for my Artfire shop.  I do great at that! I like to talk and I figure the more I'm posting on twitter and the artfire message boards the more I'm putting my stuff out there.  Only problem is I don't like to stop so I end up spending well more than an hour each morning doing that and start wondering why no one is responding to me.  Yeah I know they are off creating things.

Then is the ever important lunch hour, which I never actually eat during.  I set it at that time though so I could watch Young and The Restless. lol  What I end up doing is watching the show while checking Facebook, email, twitter, the message boards and here to see if anyone has commented.  I know get a life right. lol

After that fun time I'm supposed to actually work on photos.  I pulled my card, almost full, started to transfer all those hundreds of photos off my card and on to my working hard drive.  Only I messed up and created short cuts so I had to start over.  At least while that was happening I started some laundry.

Finally got my photos on my working drive and imported into lightroom only to have lightroom dump all my camera information so instead of the bright vibrant photos I ended up with blah and boring photos.  It sucks and no one seems to know why.  We are looking into it though, I find lightroom faster than photoshop for developing my shots.  We are doing the rule out all the variables.  Right now my husband is putting one of my cards onto his computer to see what happens there.  I put another load of laundry in too! 


After working on my photos I'm supposed to up load some to artfire.  Since I didn't get my photos done I didn't upload any.  Hard to sell art prints when you aren't uploading any.  I did make another business card though. 

What do you guys think of this one?

I finally changed my anti-virus while typing this blog. 

(Note: what I actually did is in bold not a lot accomplished today)



Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Answering 25 Questions to Make Me A Better Photographer

I found these questions in an article online. I thought the best way to make myself accountable to my goals is to answer them right here so all the world can see it.


1. What’s holding you back from starting your photography business?  Nothing!  I'm out there but probably not as out there as I could be.  I don't have business cards or brochures out anywhere locally.  That's what I need to do.
2. What steps would it take to go from part time to full time? I would need to have a steady stream of clients, enough to make as much as I do with my regular job if not more.  I would have to be making enough to sock some away for retirement like automatically comes out of my check.
3. How many clients have you made happy this week? Well it's Monday so I haven't made anyone happy.  I'm dropping off a CD tomorrow of graduation photos that I took.
4. What makes your photography different from other photographers in your niche? I allow the person(s) being photographed personality to come out.  In my opinion that's really what needs to happen.  The photograph should look like the person.  I don't like the stiff looking portraits that are prevalent in my area.  I like more model shoot feeling, where the person moves and the photographer just snaps away, maybe a little music playing to help them relax..  If someone is unsure what to do then of course I'll help them but I don't want to bend them into a position that isn't natural for them.
5. What do you love more than anything?  I love seeing people sharing the photos I have taken of them.  When they are happy enough to share those photos with their friends and family then I know that I've done something right.


6. If you could do something all day long, and not have to worry about money, what would you do? If money wasn't an issue, I'd spend all day buying new lens and maybe even a new camera body.  I'd fill two bags full of some great glass so I had no limitations.
7. What would your perfect client look like? What type of photography would they be interested in? How much would they spend? I don't have a picture of the perfect client.  I'm not a looks based person so I guess that's why.  They would be interested in photography from an art point of view.  Things taken on a different plane then normal photography.  They would spend about $150.00 total.  If I was booking three shoots a week that would be perfect.
8. What photographer do you most admire? What steps could you take to make them your mentor, and follow in their footsteps? I admire lots of different photographers.  When I find one that I like I try to find them on twitter and ask as many questions as I can.  Sometimes they are willing to answer the questions and sometimes they aren't.  I just roll with it.
9. You’ve taken a great picture. What would make it better? A shallower depth of field, more bokah in the background.
10. What words could you use to tell your customers how special they are to you? I don't think words as much as actions will tell your customers that they are special.  Listening to what they want and then doing your best to provide it will go a lot farther than words.  Also treating them like they are the only customer goes a long ways.
11. What words do you want to hear from your customers when they talk about your photography? Amazing, thank you, I love it
12. What’s your favorite store? Why? How can you bring their ideas into your own business? Wolfe's Camera store in downtown Topeka.  I love that you see the same people in there each time you go in.  They are willing to help you in any way that they can.  I like the personal service.  By keeping my photography to just myself and my husband then people will get that personal service.
13. What does your ideal workday look like? There is a photo shoot booked with a great family or a senior wanting knock senior photos.  After an amazing shoot, I go back dump my cards on to my computer and start sifting through the photos.
14. What does your ideal workweek look like? 3 - 5 photo shoots and 3 proof sessions.
15. If you knew you only had 10 years left to live, how much action would you take to make your photography dreams a reality? 10 years is long enough to put any goal in action.  I wouldn't quit my day job yet but would spend a lot more of my "free" time focus on my photography.
16. What’s more important, being a great photographer, or having a successful studio? Being a great photographer because a successful studio will follow.
17. What could you do this week that would bring you closer to your goals? Don’t have goals? What could you do this week to set your goals? I don't have goals yet! But I think answering this questions is certainly putting things into focus for me.
18. What do your friends think of your idea of having a full time photography studio? Are they holding you back? My friends are the people that are knocking down my door for me to take their photos so they are absolutely encouraging me!
19. What group or place could you visit this week to bring in one new client? I need to make brochures and business cards first, right now I'm going with word of mouth.
20. What could you do to make sure you are on track to make your photography dreams a reality? By answering these questions and posting them to my blog for the world to see I'm adding a level of accountability that I didn't have before.
21. What are you doing differently today than you did one month ago? One year ago? One month ago I barely had a web presence today I have 125 fans on Facebook and an Artfire account for my art photography.  One year ago I wasn't doing anything with my photography.
22. What do you want to be doing differently one year from now? A year from now I want to be out shooting portraits on an almost daily basis, not sitting at home answering questions to make myself better.
23. Where could you find an extra 30 minutes today to do something towards making your photography dreams a reality? I could cut 30 minutes from my playing video games. :-)
24. In 5 years, how do you see yourself spending your perfect day? In 5 years my perfect day would be taking some great shots in my own studio.
25. When you die, what do you want to be remembered for? I want to be remembered for making a difference in someone's life.

Monday, May 24, 2010

The D Family

I had such a great time taking these family shots just before Christmas.  We had to wait for the snow to melt and decent weather day but I think they came out great!  The spot they picked was just wonderful though!  Then even brought the family dog along.



That tree behind them is one of the coolest trees I've ever seen!


This is one of my artist renderings.  I had been waiting for the right picture do it on.  It makes me think of a Levi's commercial.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A Glimpse Into The Past #2



This photo is of the old Buildex plant outside of Ottawa, KS.  There is a whole concrete plant just sitting there rusting out.  I found the Buildex website the other day.  They are still in business but have relocated their plant.  This one just sits there waiting for someone to fire it up again.

Friday, May 21, 2010

I Heart Faces Friday Fix-It

This week I decided to participate in I Heart Faces Friday Fix-It.  I did it all in light room.

Before:


After:


The first thing I did was adjust the white balance.  I left it in auto mode because they looked fairly good and I knew I could go back and adjust it more if I needed to.  Then I upped the vibrance to 17 and saturation to 26. I did a little luminance smoothing to take a little of the noise out.  Then I went in with an adjustment brush and brightened her eyes.  I also used a adjustment brush to to darken and desaturate the background slightly. It still needed something so I cropped the photo to an 8x10.  Finally I added a vignette to further cut the background down and draw the eye to the baby's face.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A glimpse into the past - Day 1

So I've started a series of photos about the past.  They all are of things that were once used a lot and are now tossed aside or only used to show the historic value of them.  The first photo has been shown on the blog but I'm going to show it again and tell the story behind the shot. Each photo will take you directly to the artfire listing for purchase.  All photographs in this series will sale for $35.00


A train and elevator were once the source of many things.  A train brought goods, family and friends, and provided a way to transport goods and travel.  Grain elevators were once a social hot spot.  The elevators were always near the train depot.  This train now serves as a traveling history attraction.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Thankful

I'm thankful that this week I have no photo sessions scheduled and no client meetings.  It's a first that's for sure.  Why you ask?  Well I made a bet with twelve second graders that if they read 500 books they could pick a color and I would dye my hair that color for the last week of school.  Well they did it.  Tonight I'll dye it purple and proudly wear it for the next week.

Possible Business Card

Let me know what you all think.


Well.....

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Announcements

Tonight at 7:00 PM, 7:30 PM, 8:00 PM, 8:30PM there will be some great deals announced via our Twitter account.  Be sure to be following http://twitter.com/shieldsphotos to grab these great deals.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Calling All Seniors

Need your senior photos done this summer?  Want your senior photos to look like you?  Give us a call!!  We are currently booking summer senior portrait sessions.  If you schedule your appointment before June 1, your shoot can happen any time during the summer, you'll get a free album of 25 of your favorite photos!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Destiny Senior Photos



I had so much fun doing Destiny's senior photos last fall.





Like what you see?  Give us a call to schedule your senior photos NOW!
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