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.

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!

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?

Sorry, today was insanely busy! One of the reasons is a shoot I did with Alex, who looked positively angelic! More on this at a later date, and I promise I will get more Vegas up tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's one grab from tonight's shoot with the lovely Alex.

Annnd once again I've been away. Though this time, physically, actually away in a far away land, a land called "Las Vegas".

One more image from a different set of Business Portraits (this time the group from SaskCulture) I will post some images from my escape from the Ice Planet of Hoth tomorrow. In the meantime - the Creative Kids Gang!

So the last few days I've had a flurry of stuff to do, including a couple of business-type sessions. A couple of unedited previews for you! Two different styles, can you guess which one was shot on location and which was shot in studio? (Once again, I apologize if the colour doesn't look quite as amazing as it does when I'm editing... Weebly has some ideas of their own vis-a-vis colour spaces apparently...)

And I'm just here to document it...

Should I ever start documenting (besides in oral reports to friends) how my Father is insane... no one will believe me. They'll all say I'm using too much hyperbole.

Anyway. Quilling. Quilling paper is another of Mom's little hobbies which, as you can see, involves taking very fine strips of coloured paper, and rooooolling them, then sometimes pinching them on one side in order to create shapes with them. Yet another thing for which I would NEVER have the patience to complete once I'd started.

I'm back! Sorry, again, for the long break. But my goal is to try to turn that around and get back into the swing of things, hopefully having new things to post at least a couple of times a week.

In the meantime - here's something I shot just this afternoon.

While every craft requires a certain amount of patience, and trial and error type stuff, there are different types. My mother toils. For hours and hours she toils away with crafts in her little room. Most require small detail handiwork that I do not especially have the right type of patience for. I will go out on the road, pull over and set up through clouds of mosquitoes (to an extent) to wait for a sunset near a bog (WHY DO I ALWAYS END UP NEAR A BOG?!) but she does these little crafts that involve either folding and/or cutting of small pieces of paper, or gluing small things to other small things.

These are just some of what she produces. Note that they are all different and, as hand-made crafts go, they are all slightly different. I don't know how long it takes from start to finish but... man.

Yay! We got Hart in for a picture!!
So as is tradition, continuing with the theme of celebrations, Halcyon had a little get-together last night for our little Christmas party. Celebrating being done a heavy concert season, jobs well done and the chance to relax and enjoy each other's company for a change. Plus, as there are several new members in the choir this year, we made a point to play some get-to-know-you games while we were at it. It was tons of fun, and I even set up a little photobooth. Too bad some people took off too fast to make use of it! Plus, as our space ended up being somewhat co-opted, I had to work in a tiny hallway so I didn't have a lot of room to work. But we still had a lot of fun and here are just a few examples of some of my favourites...

It seems to me that this whole social media network is not unlike the London Underground that Josh's family visited together - it's huge and complicated and scary (or at least it was to a small-city girl like myself!). Finding my way through London, just this past fall, was a daunting task to be sure. I felt lost at every turn and winded too (well, only once, upon trying to exit a turn-style where I didn't realize you were supposed to surrender your ticket when leaving. I got that metal arm to the gut but good!).

But scary as it was, I did manage to get where I was going. And I am confident that I will get there, somehow, with all the social media sites I'm on too. And if you're like me, and the whole thing makes your palms go clammy and beads of sweat form on your brow, you might want to seek out the help of Brandi Good, of BLG Business Solutions. Brandi has an excellent article here about navigating through social media sites and knowing which might be important to you and how sometimes _less_ is more.

If you are looking for professional images to use for your web presence though, I can totally help you with that! Just fire me a note at [email protected] to set up an appointment - we can tailor the photos to best represent you and your business! Or, if you're looking for family photos? We'll work together to make images that best show you as you are at this moment in your life, whether you've just returned from overseas, or there are other big events going on in your life!