The hand in the air just makes me laugh… lots of other good faces too.
This type of shot has become my “Thing” for each leaving shot.
Archive for September, 2009
I find myself often almost caught by the tide of the popular ideas.
I used to say certain things… that I want to be able to say again with 100% certainty.
With the new wave of business centric thought in photography…
I don’t want to get caught up and forget the things that helped me get to where I am.
That’s not to say I don’t appreciate philosophizing about the business of photography
I watched a presentation by a very successful photographer David Jay but he also stressed.
“If you truly make your business about helping other people you’ll always have alot of work”
I would like to be another witness to that statement.
Things I used to say and stances I used to keep…
Which I re-affirm to keep
I used to say with 100% assurance the following:
“I make my wedding photography and wedding packages the way I would want it, if I were getting married”
I’m gonna make sure this is still the case…
I will fight the fad to make packages it in such a way to make the most money possible and be tricky and suck the unknowledgeable in.
Yes i suppose this could be a blatant affront to those charging low amounts for their photography but walking away with a grip of cash in the end because they charge for everything.
I don’t want to be salesman and I’m lucky enough my business is going well enough I don’t have to be. I don’t want to have to sell and up-sell and squeeze every last drop out of their wallets.
Don’t charge by hour -
I could go off about the trickery in marketing the whole by hour costs seems to be. But I do understand it’s benefits in some cases.
I’ve seen the scenario cause problems in too many cases… well I should say I’ve heard to many horror stories.
I wouldn’t want an hourly person at my wedding… so therefore I’m not gonna be that person.
Another good reason is since everyone else charges hourly in Utah (and many other states) it sets me apart
Don’t push people into buying more -
I don’t like being sold something I wasn’t really after. I’m susceptible to doing it… I’m a spend thrift and am often a sucker…
but it feels so dirty afterwards I feel like they took advantage of me. I don’t want to be that person someone looks back at and says I love the product but in a way I kinda feel like I got tooken advantage of.
Don’t make it all about money.
Hurray for my first ever in the corn fields picture. haha
It’s funny how we often go somewhere to take pictures where the look is iconic and yet you take pictures with a background that you didn’t even think about.
A background that looked like it could have been from anywhere.
It’s as if you go to the Beach to take pictures and yet it doesn’t look like the beach at all… no water, no sand, no glorious sunset or surfers. haha
I often go to a shopping center called Riverwoods and walk away with mostly nature pictures of a pond and a bunch of trees with no shops or buildings in site.
(Thought I’d add the picture in color too)
Seems like most of the time we go out of our way to go to some amazing place and our favorite pics are of the person in front of a wall… or maybe even with just the sky.
I could have shot this corn picture in any number of locations closer to me in tons of corn fields in my city.
Well on one hand it seems funny we put so much emphasis on location to the couples and even sometimes pay lots of money.
But there’s a lot of reason behind it and some of that is perception.
I really didn’t mean to write a schpeil on locations and even though I and many others have lots to say… I thought I’d mention that this time I took a picture that totally matched the name.
I went to wheeler farm and took pictures of the couple in the corn fields… never mind the fields were relitively tiny and a small portion of the location… but it was the first time for me and I thought their glamorous and stylish look would be a perfect juxtposition.
Here are a couple other pictures that did fit them very well.
I suppose going to a city park in the farm format and taking pictures of a old truck could be an example of my previous discussion.
On that note I was happy that my assistant pointed out the existence of the truck.
This was definetly part of wheeler farm and the look… so this does prove why a nice place with lots of options and well maintained is a good fit.
Think about the dress too… a nicely kept lawn is a good thing to keep a white dress clean… but if not… have them hold the dress. Could be fun.
This picture really could have been any any clump of trees
This following picture is a great example of a “this could have been anywhere shot”
We were taking pictures of the truck and there was a bridge i was being pointed to but I just loved how the light was hitting this little section of trees.
Trees that could have been anywhere but I just felt like it would have matched them and their look and the way I was feeling. So …. bammm
Schedule is set – Now booking
This should be the best year ever of my free charity shoot… I’m excited get ready to schedule your spot (starting tomorrow/Friday)
If you’re interested please read through the full blog before asking questions, if not simply enjoy the pictures at the end. 
Everyone should be just about this excited for this opportunity!
How to Book a time for the charity shoot?
Booking will officially start tomorrow (Friday)
Send an email to scheduling@jarviedigital.com
see the online calender for openings – Click here and go to OCTOBER 5th through 10th
we are taking pre-bookings for those that participated in my survey last week.
And my interns have a days head-start to invite their friends to the shoots for the days they’re in charge of.
There should be plenty of spots available up to 60 canyon spots and more than enough Studio time.
I will help with scheduling but I am not in charge of scheduling.
If you send the email it will get to the right place… maybe even doing a comment on the post will work… but no guarantee.
To double check you are official make sure your name is on the online calender.
The schedule is now set
Every day mon-friday 10am-1:30pm = Studio shoots in North Lehi
- CANYONS = Fall Colors
- Monday 3-7pm = Little Cottonwood canyon
- White pine trailhead parking lot – it’s 5.5 miles into the canyon -.5 miles before snowbird
- Here’s a link to the google map
- Tuesday 3-7pm = American Fork Canyon (At the summit parking lot area)
- Wednesday 3-7pm = Big Cottonwood Canyon (Silver lake area)
- Thursday 3-7pm = Provo Canyon (Sundance/Alpine loop area)
- Saturday 3-7pm = Provo Canyon (Sundance/Alpine loop area spot #2)
- Monday 3-7pm = Little Cottonwood canyon
This is Carissa and Jake
How Carissa became my first Intern
Carissa wrote me last winter asking to be an intern… at that time I thought it was out there and wasn’t really willing to commit to one person when I was having someone different come assist on each photo shoot. And i didn’t really see the place for an intern.
She was going to school in Indiana and was from Park City but wouldn’t be around until summer.
When school was over she came on a couple of shoots and then I had her come work on pictures… she got better and better and I was ready to make the plunge to let someone take over on the selecting and rating of my pictures.
She only had fridays and saturdays which were often days I was gone out of the state doing weddings but nevertheless I saw her progress a ton and get pretty darn good.
We made her a Blog and a Website
Now she’s back at college and won’t be back until May and then getting married in June here in Utah.
In the meanwhile I now have 3 interns to replace all of her great work.
She saw all my tricks and yet still had me go and do her engagement pictures… i guess that’s a pretty good compliment.
So for the above picture I had to play around and do something different on the edit.
I loved the crazy skies that day… thanks to wendy who came to assist on the shoot…
(the new intern assisting on the shoot for the old intern… i love it)
I had this one edited a little more regular… but I figured she wouldn’t mind another copy with a version more dynamic
Doing a virtual copy is a great thing in my opinion a lot of the times you can spend a while making a crazy looking pic and yet what they really wanted was a normal-er looking one. Let them see both… plus that lets them see the work you put into it… it didn’t just come out of the camera like that.
It was fun shooting with another photographer friend David Terry who Carissa asked to come along.
He was able to pose them a lot of the time and I would just steal the shots haha…
On the other hand I posed a bunch of them and I’m sure David enjoyed that.
The sky looked great that day and the old barn that carissa picked out was awesome.
Still don’t know if I like the phone post or not.
I love when people pick their own spots…
- they’re more special to them (emotional connection)
- I usually get to shoot somewhere new (add to repertoire)
- My creative juices come out more when it’s somewhere brand new
- If it doesn’t work it wasn’t my fault… haha
Yes a FREE photo shoot from yours truly…
Hard to believe this is the 3rd year of my yearly tradition of shooting pictures for FREE
But I’m excited to do it again and have some new changes to spice it up a ton!
I’m going back to my roots like the first year and doing a Fall Colors theme.
Last year I did a week long of studio shoots and I’ll also offer that during the week as well.
So here’s the deal for those who don’t know.
I do quick shoots all week long for FREE … which for no financial gain on my part.
My way of saying thanks to my friends. Thus the charitable part.
The Charity
But last year I started a new tradition of taking donations which were given to a charitable organization.
The organization will be FFHE (Family to Family Humanitarian Expeditions)
It does a lot of great work in Mexico for families in need and also affects the lives of those that go on the expeditions
Check them Out http://ffhe.org/
I also end up donating a week to shoot for this organization in Mexico.
Here’s some pics from the expedition from last year.
i will note that some of the cost will go towards some equipment needed for the shoots
Survey
In any case… this post is to announce that the event will be held from Oct 5th to the 10th
We are not scheduling quite yet but you can help to give us get that together.
The theme is FALL COLORS + Studio
Which canyon would you prefer (we’ll do all of them just need to see demand)
- Provo (Sundance) Canyon
- American Fork Canyon
- Little Cottonwood Canyon
- Big Cottonwood Canyon
- Other Canyon
- Studio
Which Day
Monday through Saturday
What time
10-2 (Studio) or 3-7 (Canyon)
Minimum donation
I’ve found over the years that those paying nothing do not seem to appreciate the offer
Plus it goes to a good cause.
So would everyone be willing to donate a minimum of $30
This is not only a charity for a good cause this is a charity for YOU so I don’t want to exclude those that can’t.
So the questions are is $30 acceptable and secondly what would a short shoot be worth Donating for you?
FAQ
I will do another post when i get a few minutes and announce how to sign up for a shoot spot.
They will fill up fast and I will let those doing the survey get first choice
Send survey to accounts@jarviedigital.com or just respond here.
I will also post pictures of previous years.
One quick note is that I won’t be doing any wedding shoots for Free and the time periods will be somewhat limited to fit everyone in.
Last years many people showed up to do family shoots, roommate pictures, individual shoots, model pictures,
BE Creative!! I wan’t this to be fun… it’s your chance to do shoots you wouldn’t have done if you had to pay $500 to get done.
I took these pictures July 3rd
Thought I’d post them to be seen… better late than never.
It’s a sign of all those from later in July and August to be posted some time soon.
See More after the Break (more…)
The second monthly UPES will be help tonight at 6pm at the Draper Pictureline store.
Directions: Exit on 123rd south in Draper …. Go West a little over a block and turn lft (south)
177 W. 123000 S. Draper Utah
Time: 6pm – 7:30
Please sign up on the FLICKR group
-
- You will be able to keep tabs of all the future showdowns
- See that month’s theme
- And sign up to compete
REVIEW
Last month we had a great showing and we were able to learn a lot to Iron out the wrinkles in the setup of the day.
It should go much more smoothly and faster tonight.
I hope to see you all there
BENEFIT
You will be benefited to learn lots of editing techniques by 8-10 photographers as they spend 20-30 minutes editing a set of pictures (everyone gets the same pictures.)
We will then review all of the different versions of each picture and the spectators will vote on their favorites
We will be able to crown the champion and spend a few moments on each winning picture.
Champion
Last Month David Daniels took home the “crown” and he’ll be there tonight to defend his title.
We will also ask him to show off some of his editing for a short presentation.
More info about the Event – after the jump
So this is part of the story of my jump into Photography as a career.
A big part of that was this couple.
I had no intentions to doing paid jobs.
I had bought the D70 with no intentions of making money.
Megan asked if I’d do their engagements… I looked at it as something fun to do.
If they didn’t turn out I told them (and we both understood) that a Real photographer could easily do them.
I can’t even remember which picture they originally chose on this shoot.
The photo shoot was in March of 2005 if I remember right.
Below was the result… above is picture i just re-edited yesterday. (A treat for the couple)
(Above) – In fact this is better than the original edit… i think I edited the above one a year ago.
Would be interesting to see all 3 versions I’ve edited.
The first editing program i had 5 years ago was photoshop elements
(ABOVE) – As you can see I’ve re-edited a bunch from the shoot.
Like i have my whole career I’ve always taken TONS of pictures.
THEN OTHERS CAME ALONG
Their wedding was 4 years ago. Wow how the time passes.
When other friends found out and saw what I had done for this couple they started to jump on the band wagon.
I had some natural ability, i was easy to get along with.
But probably the most exciting thing was that I cost almost nothing… haha
$300-400 i think was the first couple weddings. (I offered to do the wedding for this couple for free of course)
I stayed under $1000 for a while
EDITING
Looking back my way of interacting with the clients hasn’t changed too much.
I think it started off great since I took pictures of so many people I was very comfortable with first.
I was able to continue that for the years down the line. As I just learned to make the subjects my friends while I took the pictures… so i could goof off and have fun and connect with them.
I don’t think I would have even considered the picture below years ago…
But the re-edited one above looks rather fun edited.
Looks almost as if I had just taken this picture.
I’m also glad I had a great looking couple to start off with… i think that made things easier.
I didn’t feel pressured to come up with tons of ideas. They knew it was my first time… they approached me!
Dang JPGs are so much harder to edit… this took a while because on JPGs the colors are so closely connected… you can’t seem to edit the contrast and blacks without screwing up the colors.
I’m still not completely satisfied with the tones but am liking the trees in the background.
TO THE WHITE FAMILY
Megan if you’re reading this, the originals of these new ones are online if you’d like to save them and have them.
Also I’ll be doing another Charity Shoot this fall… you’re invited… it’s on me!
OTHER OLD JOBS
I bet it would be interesting to go through and edit the pictures from my old jobs!
Probably a little fun…. but in the end I’m sure I don’t have the time.
There’s a business prospect in there somewhere… haha
WHAT DOES IT SAY
What should I think that many of the brides I’ve taken pictures of have actually turned to pursuing photography as a profession or at least a involved hobby.
I think it’s pretty fun.
MORE HISTORY
I hope to write a few more posts reviewing the past… i think it’s fun.
Was it helpful?
Any questions about the first couple jobs or that part of the history.
Many know the rest of the story of how I started getting into photography… I’ll get to that. When things around JarvieDigital start to slow down.
