So if I was remiss in my posts before, I'm completely delinquent now!
Not entirely without reason though. For those who are fans on my Facebook page, you know that I've been completely revamping my website. Whereas in the past I had my site in one corner of the internet, my blog here and other facets in other corners, I've switched things over to a new host that gives me some more capabilities and the ability to keep everything together in one place.

The address is the same, www.andreanorbergphotography.com and it has a bunch of new work and a blog that's attached to the actual site. So this site will no longer be updated from this point. Thanks for visiting this blog though and I hope you'll join me over at the other one, where I will try to get into the swing of regular updates again!

Here's one last updated image from one of the last sets of business portraits I did with Jayme. We'll see you on the other side, so to speak! :)
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I had the good fortune to meet Monica at one of RWN's mixers in the summer of 2013 - we got to chatting a bit and I decided she was pretty cool. In subsequent meetings, I learned that she had a need for some new images for her business and I was only too happy to oblige when she asked if I'd be able to help her out. We did the shoot in her office yesterday and these are a couple unedited previews.

Having been rather under the weather the last while, I ventured out in the weather that EVERYONE is under the other night for a creative shoot in studio.

Hey, remember those Angel images I showed you a little while back? Well here's what we got out of it...

One thing I learned in one misguided summer working at a maternity store, there are ALWAYS babies being born in the Regina area. And just recently the Qu'Appelle Health Region did not renew contracts for photographers going into Regina maternity units. Feeling left out? Andrea Norberg Photography can help! Newborn Photography in studio is a quiet, calm way to capture beautiful images of your new bundle of joy without feeling rushed to get the images done before moving on to the next baby.

To book your session or for more details, email [email protected]!

So I've not had a lot of chance to write the last little while. I've been a bit busy trying to revamp some things, working on a scanning project for a client and being caught with the cold that's going around. Certainly, none is helped by mother nature doing... whatever exactly it is she's doing these days.

But this past weekend I had a chance to do some portraits for the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association's Opera Competition, held at the Mackenzie Art Gallery! Once again we had some limited space to work with, but we made it work!

So I watched a video the other day that fairly adequately illustrates why we photographers are not, in fact, supposed to be working for free. I've had many conversations with people about it and as a group we're often trying to defend our business as A BUSINESS.

One of the best bits I've come up with over the years is simply that when you are about to ask a photographer to work for free or for much less than they normally would, ask yourself this question; "Would I do my job for free or for less than I normally would?" This is particularly true when people stop you and say "Well, I know someone else who will do it for cheaper." This frequently is followed up with the reasoning that the other person is just getting started or that they have another full time job or just through pure lack of business acumen. And not to say that I observe the other photographers in the market, find the most expensive and match their prices. My overhead might be lower than theirs based on the printers I use and the product lines I offer. Certainly as in any business you are free as a customer to shop around for a better deal. However, when comparison shopping, it is not fair to a photographer to ask them to lower their price for you.

As a professional, I spent 2 years, in school, training to do this. And not to say there aren't some fantastic self-taught photographers out there, but I'm just saying I did not just buy a camera and put a shingle up saying "I'm a professional."

Also unlike some photographers out there, I have a studio space that I use. That means I have rent to pay. Each and every single month. The landlord doesn't care if I haven't had enough gigs to cover this, I still have to come up with the money somehow.

I also have lights that I use. Lights that, like the studio, cost money. They can break down and if that happens, I have to replace them. So when you see that my prices might be more than the random person who has a full time job (see: Other or Primary Revenue Stream) doing something else, does only available light photography and will give you everything on a CD and is doing it just because they love it? It's not that I don't love it. But I am trying to do it for a living. And if it's not in your price range, that's fair. But please don't throw other people's prices at me as though I'm just trying to be greedy.

I'm not saying that I never have or never will work for free. I have occasionally done shoots for organizations (generally non-profit in variety) that I feel are worthy (such as when I did Juke Box Mania for Regina Family Services last September). And maybe I'm preaching to the choir here. Maybe you, reading this blog, are a big fan! And if so, thank you! I'm still going to link to the video I mentioned earlier that perhaps you, as the fan, could pass on to others where as Levar Burton would say, "... but you don't have to take my word for it."

If you have a few moments have a look here. It's a pretty good video, though I will say I think she doesn't have an understanding as to how our health care system works. But in general... it's sound.

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend!

Recently, I was pleased to get an inquiry from my friend Tom, a fellow chorister from back in the day whom I hadn't seen in a long while. He was needing some business portraits for his work as a financial advisor and I was only too happy to help out and visit with a friend.

Sadly, I didn't get to meet Kreia until she was over a month old! But we still managed to get in a very quick shoot with this little one.

So it's that time again! In that The Halcyon Chamber Choir has a concert coming up and so I've been doing some shooting for the concert poster design. The concert theme is "Whisper". I had a couple concepts floating around in my cranium. Which do you like best?