We’ve moved! Our new blog can be found here!

Over the weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to go back to Knoxville and take mug shots of one of my good college friends. She was a fellow art student of mine and we had a ton of fun reconnecting and taking some pictures. Unfortunately it was raining the majority of the day, but luckily a local coffee shop Remedy Coffee let us in and take some shots there. Great folks, great coffee. Check out some of the pictures below!

What are some of your rainy day solutions? 

I often get clients asking “what should I wear?” when talking about their portrait shoot. When I’m asked this I usually tell them a few things.

First I tell them that the time is theirs but typically in a 60-90 minute session you usually don’t want to have more than 1 or 2 wardrobe changes because it then really cuts into the shooting time.

Secondly, I tell them to feel free to bring multiple outfits and show them to me (or email them to me in advance) and I will give my honest opinion about what I think will look better in the pictures.

Finally, I tell them to only bring or wear something that they absolutely love and are comfortable in. I believe that it is way more important to have you e comfortable in what you are wearing then to wear something that you think will look good for the camera. I am all about you wearing things that look good on camera, but to me it is way more important that you are relaxed and natural than wearing a shirt you think looks good but are self-conscious about it. When you are confident in what you are wearing, it makes my job easier because that confidence shows in the pictures.

So when wondering what to bring or wear to a shoot, keep in mind that you want your wardrobe to compliment the pictures, not be the main focus of the pictures. You are the main focus, and you will look better if you are confident in what you are wearing.

What are some of your favorite things to wear?

Let’s be honest for a second. When all is said and done, you pay a lot of money for a piece of photo paper with a picture on it. The fact is that you probably have all the resources to get that photo yourself. You probably have a camera (maybe even a nice DSLR), you probably have a printer, photo paper, and ink. So why pay someone a lot of money for, what is now becoming a digital file, when you can do it yourself for a fraction of the cost? Well to answer that let me tell you a story.

Legend has it that a wealthy businessman came up to Picasso on the street asking for a portrait. Since Picasso wasn’t doing anything too terribly important and he had his supplies with him he agreed. A few minutes go by, Picasso finishes up the wealthy businessman’s portrait, hands it to him, then asks for $500.00. 

“$500.00!” the man exclaimed, “but it only took you less than 10 minutes to create”

Picasso responded “actually it has taken me a lifetime”.

I have no clue if the above story is actually true, probably not, but the lesson to be taken from it is a good one. Just because someone is in a creative field it doesn’t mean that you can ask them to work for free. I would never ask an accountant to do my taxes for free, or a businessman to give his product away for free, or a restaurant to me food for free, nor would I even want them to. We live in America, where if you work or provide a service you should get paid for it. So why do so many people expect photographers, artists, graphic designers, etc. to give away their services for free. I went to school for photography and have a bachelor of fine art in media art. Those aren’t free. I have spent literally thousands of dollars for my equipment and backup equipment. Every month I spend money to keep my website up, market myself, and your typical business expenses. I spend countless hours improving and perfecting my craft, even if I don’t have clients to shoot. What we do, although available to everyone to do, takes time, money, talent, and more money. Yes you can take your camera and take pictures, or pick up your pencil and make a drawing, but professionals are just that, professionals and their work should be something more talented than you could create on your own.

So please don’t ask us for free work. It may seem like we are being stingy but we aren’t, every picture we take has cost us money and time to create. So just because we put something up on Facebook or flickr, or google images, does not mean it is free for you to use or print. Those pictures do cost money.

Below is a video that f-stoppers created that is worth your time to watch. Also here is a link to an interesting flickr picture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmueller/6643032477/in/photostream

What are your thoughts?

Over the Holidays I had the privilege to cover Olivia and Dustin’s beautiful wedding. They were a ton of fun to work with, and they really put their own touch on the wedding. You could tell that it was uniquely their wedding. Below is a preview of some of their photographs.

Let me know what you think.

I hope that you all had a fantastic holiday!

On Christmas eve the Hicks household was packed with many grandkids, parents, and probably a few animals. I was lucky enough for them to invite me in to capture a few portraits for them. Check them out below.

What are some of your favorite Holiday picture ops?

As a lot of you probably know, I used to be in the church world. This past week, the church that I previously worked for asked me to come in and take some portraits for their website. I still have another shoot scheduled, but here are some of their head preacher guy, a phenomenal speaker. Enjoy!

last

• 
• 
• 
• 

next

What were some of your day jobs before Photography?

I get a lot of people asking me how I got my start in the photography business. Well the simple truth is this. I just went out and created something. It’s as simple as that. I woke up early one morning before I had to get into work, drove 2 hours to the mountains, captured some sunrise pictures, then went into work. After work I then posted some images onto Facebook and within a week two people contacted me to shoot their wedding. People sometimes don’t believe that it was that simple, but it was.

I think that so many time aspiring photographers don’t want to put the work into getting clients. They feel like people should come to them. Don’t people know how talented they are.

So many wanna be photographers sit in front of their computer learning techniques and looking at photographs, but never get out and create something on their own.

This week make an effort to go out and create something. Whether it is still life, nature, portrait, fine art, documentary, etc. It doesn’t really matter what it is, what matters is that you are creating. From there the work will come. Promise

Post links to what you created this week below!

Wedding season may be over, but engagement season is just beginning. Yes, with only one more wedding before the end of the year, I have switched gears to booking for next year and catching up on some much needed organizing and projects. The good news is that if you just got engaged, my prices won’t go up until the first of the year, and I will honor whatever price list I send you. So contact me soon to lock in 2011 prices.

In other news, I am running a special all this month that numerous people are taking advantage of. $85.00 will get you a 60 minute portrait session with a disc of 25 edited high res images. A GREAT deal, one that I would probably take myself if there was a way to do. How is that human cloning coming along??? Anywho, it would make a great present, or even senior portrait session. Let me know!

okay okay, I know that I have not posted in forever and a day. For that I am truly sorry, and would like to say that it won’t happen again. Even though it might, I will do my best to update and post regularly.

One of the reasons for my lack of posting is this:

I have been slammed with editing and catching up. But good news is here! I am finally caught up which allows me to get other much needed things done.

Below is a portfolio video that I have been meaning to make, but haven’t had the time until now. Enjoy!