Spring has sprung..

Although it didn't seem as though we had a Winter, and the threat of a final frost is always around in March, I think we are in for a long Summer with a very short Spring. Late last Fall I started to design the back yard into " Studio" areas. When I was in Carthage I had done the same thing with different areas in town which gave me exclusivity with my imagery. In doing this I kind will serve several different purposes.

I like to create environments for shooting that are multifunctional, meaning that as the days light changes, so does the look of the area in which I'm shooting. This also will work with the season. By pre-planning the "lighting " look, I can create a formal studio lighting outdoors and not be stuck with a bunch of accessory reflectors and an assistant that doesn't understand the look I'm going for. I can also "Style" the look for the area through different textures and colors. The yard is being terraced so I will have different levels to use giving me more angles to take advantage of. This is going to be fun, and really expand my capabilities for creating images exclusive to me. Just looking at the images it will be readily apparent  that it came from me.

A recent session

Sorry I've been so silent-business has been keeping me away. I had a fabulous Executive Portrait session last week with two of my clients. They are a couple that are in closely related businesses. He is a Headhunter fulfilling Executive positions around the country, and she is a resume writer of amazing skill. She is publishing a book on achieving success within the job market and needed a portrait for the cover, and he needed an update on his professional portrait.

Because of the old say concerning first impressions, it is very important to put the best foot forward so to speak. We successfully did this with these portraits. I was approached several months ago by an individual that was in charge of a seminar concerning job hunting and it was explained to me that IF I would show up with my camera lights and background I could probably shoot 20 individuals at $ 10.00 a head. For the ten bucks that were expecting a retouched head shot file, and I could net $ 200.00 !!
I promptly turned the offer down for several reasons. The primary reason was time/money/quality.

In the session I had with the couple above, we took basically three "looks". One session individually,
and one session together for a total of three sets of images. The total number of shots taken were 78.
From the 78 images, there were 16 that had possibilities and of those there were 6 that were very good and three that reached the top of the ladder.

I retouched the three and delivered the images to my clients. The time factor was close to four hours and the billing was between $ 300. and 400. dollars. To deliver these portraits for any less than this would be senseless. The software necessary, equipment cost, and time are what compile the costing of this type of event. My clients realize that their imagery IS a first impression so they come to me first. I appreciate their knowledge of marketing and desire to stand out above the crowd. It was a really fun shoot.