Recently I’ve started to take a lot more individual portraits at the engagement (and other) shoots.

Figure they (and parents and friends) would appreciate them.
The parents can put them on their wall next to their senior pictures and they can even use them on facebook if they like.

Why not… just takes a few seconds… kick the fiance out and see their personality by themselves not in their comfort zone with their love.

Then I’m able to tag them as such and in SmugMug make a smart gallery that will pull all these shots into one album… like so

SEE FULL GALLERY

I edit and upload in batches (First batch will have 61 – look for more later)

Am I starting to like B&W more or is it just because the feel and the lighting and the mood of the day seemed to be better stated in B&W??

His name is Walter

I lovingly refer to him as “Walter the Horse”

I think he was the highlight of the second day of shooting for the 3rd annual charity shoot.

Walter deserves his own blog post

(I’ll even throw in some pics of his chauffeurs)

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)

Friday is a wedding and only studio shots will be available that day.

Scheduling will be done in 20 minute blocks and if you have a large group or unique need we suggest getting 2 blocks of 20 minutes
As explained later in this post the 20 minutes could end up being more.

Who is invited

Essentially everyone – this was designed for my friends and fans of JarvieDigital on facebook (And also for friends of my interns Paola, Wendy and Heidi)

Types of photo shoots we’re hoping for

Modeling, Children, family, married couples, high school senior, head shots (actors, corporate), roommate pictures, individuals, pets, musicians, dancers, sports, other creative things
Personally I am specially interested in models, seniors and other unique shoots I might want more of in my portfolio.

Types of photo shoots excluded

Wedding related shoots
(there are too many people hoping for spots to give these to wedding shoots who will be getting photography done whether or not it’s at the charity shoot, plus 20 minutes doesn’t really cut it)

The setup

Multiple photographers

I will be present at every photo-shoot and will take pictures at every shoot.

Each day is being scheduled and organized by a different one of my Interns (Paola, Wendy and Heidi)
They’ll also be in charge of answering many of the questions

There will an estimated 40-50 photo shoots in one week so there is no way I can answer all of them and still continue to go on with my life and my work.

Shooting = Liberal 2o minutes

What will happen at most shoots is you’ll show up and we’ll start taking some pictures when the time is up one of the photographers will switch to the next event and start taking pictures and there is a high likely hood one of the photographers can stay behind to keep taking some pictures.

So more than likely you get more than 20 minutes of pictures for a 20 minute block.

On several days there will be other people assisting and other Guest Photographers which increases the amount of time and therefore pictures that will be happening

Who the photographers will be

• • ME – i’ll be there at every shoot
  • Heidi – see her website and blog - for sure on Tues and Wednesday (possibly others)
  • Wendy – see her website and blog – For sure Monday and Saturday (and 1 or 2 others)
  • Paola – for sure Thursday and Tuesday

Guest photographers (Still making special invitations)

• • Tara Winsor – her website and blog (likely Tuesday and Wednesday)
  • Jeremy Hall – his blog (Tuesday)

Comparison = If it weren’t free

Granted these are time limited which in my normal shoots i Never do… but I thought I’d share some comparisons for what you’ll get for free from me.
And I understand that these are not the average costs across the state.

• Family shoots are usually: $500 (often 100-300 in many other places)
• Modeling : starting at abt $500
• Senior shoots : starting at abt $400

About the Charity part

Though this is a charitable event of me being kind to my friends it is also a way for you to be giving to a charitable organization.
This year like last year it will be Family to Family Humanitarian Expeditions (FFHE) – check my previous post about them for more info

Or go to their website FFHE.org

Viewing donations made last year and the demand that there will be this year we’d like to ask that you donate a minimum of $30 to FFHE
Full disclosure is that some of the funds will go to getting a couple of devices needed to do these shoots.

If you wonder what is an appropriate amount to donate please consider what you would have spent to get these taken if it were not a FREE shoot.
But understand this is also about us being charitable to YOU our friends, so if $30 is all you can donate we welcome you with arms wide open.

FAQ

How do we get the pictures?

They’ll all be online on a system called SmugMug
They’ll be free to rt click and save and use on things like emails, computer backgrounds and specially facebook or blogs

Prints should be done through the smugmug system which will be connected to BayPhoto one of the top 2 highest rated quality labs in the country.
Since it is a free shoot and there will be so many groups we won’t be sending out a disc
Again the cost of prints will go towards the cost of putting on the event and donations to the Charitable foundation FFHE

Again we do encourage you to use the pictures for free on blogs and facebook and all your electronic systems.
But to answer your possible question: print rights are not given with this particular free photo shoot. You can ask about the possibility if it’s important to you.

When do we get the exact location (Parking spot)

I will work on connecting a map to the calender section or here on the blog post next week.
For now knowing the canyon will have to suffice

What if we have a big group?

You’ll want to set aside more time and grab possibly 2 blocks of time.
You might also have to realize you might not get all the shots you want.

How long to get the pictures back?

To answer the main question yes they will be ready for your Christmas and thanksgiving cards

But in reality it could take a couple weeks depending on the backup

Though I’m not the only one editing these pictures I will be gone out of the country the following week

Who’s editing the pictures

Any pictures taken by me or my interns will be reviewed by myself and I will edit many of them but there will be many of us doing the editing so there is no way to know for sure.
Pictures taken by guest photographers will probably need to come from them and we’ll play that by ear.

How to book a time slot?

Please re-read the beginning of the email. Go to online calender for openings

EXAMPLES

Just a couple from the first two years

FIRST YEAR (Fall) 2007 I only did about 12 shoots that first year

LAST YEAR (Studio) Over 30 shoots in one week

UPDATE: The owner sold the house 2 days before I was to move in… can’t blame him I suppose… it was a great rental price but way overpriced to buy, so good for him if he was able to sell it.

But now I’m looking for a new place… and if possible even another option for another PHOTO HOUSE

So I ran across this house for lease and went to look at it and take some pictures.

see full gallery here

It was perfect!
But a little bit too spendy for just me and my lonely self.

So…. I had an idea

Planning

I’ve been talking with the owner about leasing it and then renting out the other 4 bedrooms.
He’s down… now I just need to see the interest for renters.

The Idea

The coolest photog house and hangout in Utah

A place for photographers to live, eat, breath photography

As a place to live or as a place to have an office/studio

Indoor studios, outdoor locations, rooms to rent, office space, place to live and have photo related events

To live in the house it would probably need to be single folk like myself.

WHERE

It is a very secluded house that happens to be very near Everything

See it up-close on Google Maps

It’s located in Lehi, Utah

2.0 miles from American Fork/Lehi shopping area on state st.
Including countless restaurants, Walmart, Costco, you name it!
All are under 2.5 miles away

2.2 miles from freeway on-ramp to I-15

12 miles to Salt Lake county (Draper, Bangerter hwy)

13.3 miles to University ave in Orem

30 miles to downtown SLC

Very close to tons of photographic locations in Utah county.
(The house comes with a list of all of these locations… haha )

The best indoor lighting possible

There are 20ft+ vaulted ceilings with a wall of big windows
Both of the bottom rows have a built in diffuser because of the style of shades.
And we can set up another room as a dark studio for when it’s not night.

Big studio and Workshop room

You can fit any amount of studio lighting equipment in this huge front room.

As an added benefit I have a decent amount of studio equipment that would just be there for anyone to use.
Those coming in would be encouraged but not forced to share lighting equipment.

We’ll work out fair scheduling for the front room and other studio set-ups.
We’ll limit the number of people so it’s never too crowded.

Even as is you could almost have 3-4 studio setups going on in the house, not counting right outside on large porch.

And as you can see you can even get lighting stuff high up because of the open 3rd floor.

With chairs we can easily get in 40 maybe up to 60 people in this front room.

Quite a few locations on the property to take pictures

It is situated on 1.2 acres of heavily wooded land.

Much more than 1 acre
There is endless open land next to it, that is not open to development and therefore free to go roam around and take pictures.
Some of it is rather dense but I’m sure we can work on upkeep of the trails.

Great lighting.
The trees provide a great amount of shade and make it so sunset hits much earlier.
But it is on a hill so you just go up a bit higher to a less wooded patch for later sunlight.

There is a pond, lots of grass area and small waterfall area and more great photo options on the neighbor’s side that the owner says we should have great access too.

May i take a moment to mention the driveway has a heating element in part of it to keep it easier to drive in winter.

The huge porch balcony overlook and views

Sad I didn’t really get good pics of the porch and how it’s a perfect place for outdoor gatherings and BBQs
I suppose we just trust me.
But here are a couple of pics.

The other side of the porch/balcony is much much more open

Large kitchen to support large gatherings

Downstairs

Downstairs is completely open in my book… 3 rooms and another large family room.

This is another large open room for either darker studio or big screen TV etc

There are 3 Rooms Open to rent down here for either Office space or bedrooms.

Each has large closets and are roughly 15×10 with one being slightly larger

2 Master Suites

I’ll be kicking it in one of the suites

The larger suite is upstairs and a little more set apart from others. It is for rent.
It has a big bathroom, big closet and even has a balcony and a fireplace of it’s own.

OPTIONS

1. Living + Photography

Live there and use it as a base of operations for your photography, full access.

2. Living or Office/Photography

You’re either not a photographer and just want to rent a room.
Or you live somewhere else but want a room for an office/studio

In either case you’ll be using it less than someone living there And doing photography.

3. Photography

If you’d like to have it as a place to have a studio set up but don’t need a separate room.

Considering you’re using the house much less the cost will be much less.
But it also depends on how much you intend to use the house/studios/land

If you’re interested send me a message or call me

A couple possible questions

Heating?

there are 4 fireplaces throughout the house to cut down on the need of the furnace.
Including a pellet stove that warms things up real good.

Upkeep?

We’ll be looking into someone to come help keep the place clean for a small shared charge and to upkeep the grounds.

The plan is also to have an ATV to keep the long driveway clean.

Parking?

Parking right next to house can be tight with a lot of people.
There is a 3 car garage.

There is also Tons of parking located at the top of the drive that requires a short walk downhill.

The location can even support large workshops with 40 or so people.

Cost?

As listed in the “Options” above it will depend on usage and if and what room you want to rent.

A deposit is required.

What will monthly costs be used for?

Rental of rooms is to help pay the lease, utilities, high speed Internet, Cleaning of house and upkeep on land.

I will also use some of the flow to compensate for buying extra studio equipment, ATV, office furniture, chairs for workshops, and other furnishings

When?

I’d like to see this going by early September of this year.

Do you have to be a photographer?

No.
The preference is yes. But I’ll take what I can get.

FULL GALLERY

‘

My goal is often to mix great art, making someone look good and showing off who someone is.

This of all the pics is Kambria’s smile to me. The real one.

I can be lazy i know this… and most others know this.
OK so I’m a tad lazy sometimes and that’s what leads to a lot of this style.
I know how to do a bunch of things with lighting… but i don’t often do it.
I stick to easy lighting situations and simple techniques.

But there’s a reason…
thing is my style doesn’t really allow for some of this fancy stuff.
It’s a whole experience being around me… I usually want happy faces and good experiences.
Or for them to feel like they can be creative.

I set up the shot… i picked the background… i got the camera set. But she did the moves.
I told her “look here”… or “look to your right” – she picked the rest… and i thought she did good. And since she did it herself… it’s much more likely to be something that is who she is.

My style??
Well I’d like to think that what I offer is a very fluid interaction and that people so often feel very very comfortable around me.
Even those that aren’t into pictures… they become into it. Or at least have a non-painful time.

My style is bringing out their style…. facilitating their ability to come up with ideas and make them their own.

This leads to more pictures.
Sure i could pose them and put their head and hands right in the perfect spot… but each time i do that we just lost 10 more pictures… at least.

Sure I personally have a distinct way of shooting and a look to my pictures… and I have poses that i fall back on. But each time they get to put a flare on those… as i get to put my own flare on concepts I’ve done before.

Quantity
So, i suppose i go for the quantity approach.
People love that i take lots of pictures in so many styles and views.
They certainly get their bang for their buck when they walk away with 100+ good pictures of themselves.
And it also increases the odds of ones they absolutely love.
See the thing is we might have an idea in our mind and work super hard to make that spot and that lighting perfect. But it doesn’t always assure that is what the client loves the most.
So often they love the moment. They love their expression, they love the memories associated with that moment. Or perhaps they just like another spot a bit more. They might prefer a picture of a lesser quality than the one you made look imaculate. And it just takes exploring and playing around to find that spot.

It’s so interesting to see what someone likes in the end and finding out why they like it.

This girl loved these little piglets… she’s going to love these series of pictures.

What We Do
If i’m with a couple we walk around from spot to spot.
I never stay in one place for long.
I take pictures of the spot in as many directions and angles as there are good shots.
I try out standing, leaning, sitting and sometimes laying, or a sit-lean.

Here’s the most unlikely place. Next to the bathroom with a gate in the back.
It’s a white cement block wall… nothing special.
But it’s her expression. Finding something she was comfortable doing.
They aren’t always comfortable posing as they stand.
But doing this pose I could tell was way easier… which means relaxing and getting the expression we were wanting.
I have them look at me and then eachother… I have them interact and try out many poses until we find one that both looks good, they feel comfortable with and shows off who they are.

That’s my favorite compliment… “this is totally me” meaning I took a picture that showed what they felt or who they are.

Sure we create art and sometimes it’s not true to life… but I never said I was against that.
In fact I love doing juxtaposition. Making a really happy smiley girl be serious. Or making said picture be a really moody picture.

Many Moods… of which ONE is happiness
Our lives are pretty complex and we have lots of moods… I don’t think the only mood we should ever see in a picture is Happy. But I also know that’s a really good one to take decent percentage of.
There are many people that believe the only good picture is a happy picture. I understand, but those are the same people that won’t watch anything but a comedy… and they miss out on so much.

Allow them to put their own flare and personality into Your Pictures.

Oh and specially grab those candid moments. The moment after you pose them and they think they’re done.
The moment when THEY truly come out and stop acting and start doing.

Speaking of acting…
Making them do over the top kinds of stuff is often a great thing. Because when you extend them to that level then they’ll be more comfortable when they go back down to a simpler level.

After sitting on a bunch of old tires… i’m sure they thought that anything could go.

Heck we posed in front of pigs…

Doesn’t mean we can’t tell them when something is off.

I’m not opposed to letting them know when somethign looks bad.
So often people don’t know what to do with their hands. So i give them ideas.

I needed to direct him to put that hand somewhere… try the thumb in pocket… good enough.
That other arm… that was tricky. I reajusted it many times… at different angles it was even harder… he just wasn’t comfortable wherever it was placed.
But this one wasn’t too bad.
The focus should still be the expressions in my opinion. We don’t want the other things to take away attention from that.

Connection between eachother

Connection with the viewers

Or Both

Which one you want is up to you i guess… well, not just you… but the client.

Then there are sometimes you don’t have to worry about their faces and you can just do the details and more expressive shots.

Like i said earlier… sometimes people love seeing pictures of themselves looking like who they ARE NOT.

Or they might not like them at all

But you can try and find out.

What we personally like

Sometimes we take the pictures we personally like.
Because we need more to show off. haha

But I liked a few of these enough and had some time and felt motivated.

So here I go

To see like 100 more pictures of the same 1 block radius of Lehi go to the full gallery online

This was done in Lehi.
I was first told of the location by one of my favorite fellow photographers Suzanne

I took pictures of a couple at Thanksgiving Point on Monday.
When the couple I was taking pictures of left to go to a surprise party I stayed with the golf cart and drove around the gardens taking copious amounts of pictures.
And I have made a gallery.

As usual I tried to capture many aspects and areas of the place I was in. With an eye towards future plans of the Envision Project. This time I was using my new GPS system.
Not all the pictures were that good (I wasn’t trying to make them all perfect) But some pictures did turn out better than the others.

This is a gallery of some of the better images. I used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to create the gallery (Like usual) but this time I found that the layout was much better as an .html layout that the typical flash layout that I choose.

There are 27 Images in this Gallery