I love finding bargains!

One of my favorite things to do is bargain shop. Actually, I think it's become somewhat of an obsession, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering that I can easily find things at less than half of their original price. I'm going to brag a little bit about my obsession because honestly, I know how to shop.

Take my clothes for example - I can almost guarantee that every article of clothing in my closet was bought on the clearance rack. It's always the first place I hit when I'm shopping.When my friends tag along with me, they're always jealous that I have 2 bags full of new clothes, compared to their one pair of jeans and shirt which still costs more than what I purchased.

I wasn't always this way. Up until a few years ago, I looked down on the clearance racks. In my mind, the items were more than likely out of style or just not something I would wear. So, I would drop $120 on a new pair of jeans and wonder why "I never had anything to wear." Lets face it, clothes alone are not cheap and although those new pair of jeans were awesome, I just knew I couldn't continue to purchase everyday essentials at that price tag.

I happened to venture to Kohls one day in search of a gift for a bridal shower and I noticed a really cute summer dress on a clearance rack. As I browsed some more, I was amazed at what I found. That day, I bought that cute little dress, 4 tank tops, 2 pair of jeans and a few solid color winter sweaters for $57. And that's all it took for me to become a clearance rack junkie.

The same holds true with everything else I buy. I'm always in search of the best deals possible. The chair in the picture above is my newest prized-possession. And I got it for FREE!!! I've always liked these little white rockers and envisioned myself sitting on my front porch one day enjoying a nice summer evening in one. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw this bad boy sitting on the side of the road one night. I quickly turned my car around and was met by a women bringing her trash can to the end of her driveway. I was in awe when she said she was pitching it. "It's seen it's better days," she said, and was pleased to hear that I was taking it.

Obviously, it needs some minor work, like a fresh coat of paint and one of the boards needs replaced, but other than that, I can definitely see myself enjoying this on my front porch :)

New branding...Martha Stewart style

For some reason I've become very crafty lately. I don't if it's because I'm approaching my 30th, or if I saw a random infomercial on some craft-related item, but in any case, I've been making a lot of random "things" lately.

For years, I've been delivering my client's CD's and albums to them in just regular, plain gift bags. None of my logos were anywhere, CD covers were just a picture from that particular session...in a nutshell, it was a dull way of delivering my products. So I wanted to change it up and personalize it a bit more.

I looked into ordered pre-made bags with my logo on them, but after researching several different companies, I realized I was going to be paying about $200 minimum for a pack of 12 bags, or from some cheap-o company who offered a minimum order of 1,000 bags. I just wasn't happy with what I was finding, so that's when I got the idea to start making my own gift bags.

I went to Big Lots (love, love, love that store) and purchased a bundle of plain white bags for $10. I believe I got 24. Deal! Obviously I'll need more, but this was just a test run, and if it didn't work out the way I wanted it to, I didn't want to be stuck with 100 plain white bags.

After that, I purchased some plain card stock paper, regular Elmer's Glue and random ribbon colors and designs. Then, I put on my Martha Stewart pants and went to town. The logo on the front was just printed off of my printer, and the CD covers were also made on my computer.  It really only takes about 5 minutes to make a bag.

So, there it is....my newly branded gift bags for my clients. I couldn't be happier with them and so far, the feedback has been wonderful.

Just Fishin'

NOTE: If you are any sort of PETA person, you probably won't want to read this blog. 

While creating this post, the song "Just Fishin' by Trace Adkins automatically pops in my head :)

My Labor Day weekend kicked off Friday evening with a fantastic salmon fishing trip on Lake Michigan, thanks to Bud, who is not only my parents' neighbor, but also a family friend. This man truly knows his stuff. He's an avid outdoors-man and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't know how to properly filet a fish or see first hand what it takes to stuff a giraffe (yes, a giraffe! I had the honor of shooting some video for one of his past television shows and we went to a company that stuffed any animal you can imagine.)

This is the second time I've been out salmon fishing on the lake. On the first trip, we went in the morning. And if you know me, you know I'm not a morning person, so having to get up at 4 a.m. was a task, but I did it, and on that trip we caught three King Salmon. It was also my first time seeing a Lake Michigan sunrise!

This time around, we went in the evening, which my mom and I both agreed we liked better. Not that we didn't have fun on the morning trip, because we did, but this time we were awake enough to remember the adventure!

Friday was absolutely perfect on the lake. The temps were pretty scorching that day (high was 95, with heat index of 100-105), so being 5 1/2 miles off shore, on water that was almost as calm as could be, was a perfect way to avoid the sauna we felt onshore.

Not only was this another successful trip (with 4 salmon caught this time), but we got to see one of my absolute favorite things about living in this part of the country - a perfect Lake Michigan sunset :) And it was so much more beautiful being on the water.


Here's my momma and my step dad.

My boyfriend and I. It was his first time out. He didn't reel in a fish, but he sure did a heck of a job killing flies! No joke, we were getting attacked by flies. It was insane. Bud said it's because they're born on the lake.

My mom and I agreed to let Conrad reel the first catch in. Last time we were out, my mom and I were the only ones who caught fish. Thank goodness Bud knows what he's doing, because salmon fishing is NOTHING like regular fishing, where you have a bobber and a worm and you know you have a fish when the bobber goes under. We had a total of 9 poles on the lake, and some of them were as far as 475 feet out. Basically, you have to watch the poles and look for a difference in the way they are bobbing. I still don't have an eye for this. Maybe someday. 

Here's 2 of the 3 fish he reeled in. So proud :) 

Our captan filleting the fish right on board. 

My catch for the evening (yes, it was bigger than all 3 of Conrad's!)

Absolutely, without a doubt, my most favorite thing to photograph. Sunsets are so peaceful and mesmerizing.

It was completely dark when we came back in. Such an awesome feeling to be on one of the biggest lakes in the world at night time, when there is nothing surrounding you but the open waters and a moon-lite sky. 

On Sunday, we grilled our catches. We cooked them two different ways. For this one, we just wrapped a fillet in foil and covered it with EVOO, rosemary, butter, garlic powder and lemon wedges. Yummy!!

For the second batch, we smoked the fillets on a cedar plank and seasoned it with the same ingredients above. We all agreed this was the better way to go. The smokey taste was soooooo good! 

Hope everyone is having a relaxing, stress-free Labor Day weekend! 

FAQ: How to balance personal life with photography life

I got an email from a client-turned friend-turned amateur photographer this week that I thought would be great to share.

Why I all of the sudden feel like a business advisor is beyond me. But this is a question I get quite often, and since I'm feeling somewhat like a motivation speaker, I figured I'd share. 

**side note, I'm obviously NOT a motivation speaker by any means. What works for me may not work for everyone. It's just my advice.

She, like many others I know, is just getting her start in the photography industry and wanted to know how I balance my personal life with my business life. She said...

"I just never feel like I can get caught up. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I love the business I'm getting but I stay up for hours on end every night editing pictures and before I know it I'm 5 or more sessions behind, I have barely said two words to my husband this entire summer and I feel like I don't spend enough time with my kids at all. Any advice on how to balance my life? Did you feel this way in the beginning?"

Absolutely 100 % YES! I can relate to everything she's going through (well, minus the husband and kid part). I was entirely too busy for my own good, I became overwhelmed and I edited until the weee hours of the morning. Although this is a very rewarding industry to be in, sometimes you have to step back and look at the big picture. You can become so consumed in it that you will realize it has taken over your life. And it will if you don't have a game plan in store.   

At the beginning of the year, I set several goals for myself and my business. I won't list them all, but I'm proud to say that, so far, I've managed to hit every one of them :) And I'm only half-way through the 2011 season.

Brownie points for me! 

Two of the biggest personal goals were....

1. To not schedule more than two weddings a month.

2. Give myself a two-week break during the busiest time of the summer.

Although I'd love to take everything that comes my way (and trust me, it's been hard to tell people no, or have to book their session later than what they like), but I learned a few years ago that I just can't do it. I can't take every session, I can't shoot every day of the week and I can't book a wedding every single weekend. Don't get me wrong, I did it for the first three years, but I was aging myself 10 years by doing so and it became an impossible task. And I was single! And doing this full time! Yet I still surrounded myself by anything and everything photography related and, in the end, I had absolutely no personal life and I was a mess.

Hey, I'm a one-man show here, cut me some slack.

It's great to get so many requests for photo sessions, but I am a true believer in quality over quantity. I could book seven sessions in one weekend, but unless I have an entire office behind my back, helping with the culling, processing and editing of all the images, it's darn near impossible for me to provide the kind of work I want to for my clients because there aren't enough hours in a day - and at some point I need sleep. Even when I did this full time, I still found myself taking on way too much and, in the end, I wasn't happy with myself or the work I was providing (in a nutshell, it was a "fast editing process" and I didn't spend the amount of time I should have on the images I was offering).

Thus, I decided to take on less and also give myself a break half way through the season. And what a blessing it's been! 

My little vaca (although I can't really call it a vaca because my face is still buried in a computer at my other job)....so let me rephrase....my two-week vacation away from my photography business started this past weekend, and it will end Friday, August 12th. Although I didn't like the idea at first, I now see why it was oh-so important for me to do. 

This is the first summer in six years that I haven't felt overwhelmed, exhausted and/or completely stressed out. And I actually have somewhat of a life again! My clients have all gotten their products before deadlines, I've been able to pay more attention to detail when editing portraits and, in my eyes, my work has improved. This, to me, is they key to success. 

We all want to be successful in this highly-competitive, fast-growing industry, but you need to enter it knowing what you're doing and what you're getting into. As I've mentioned before, when I first started, I had no idea what I was doing. I had a funky, cool, awesomely expensive camera that took great pictures, therefore I thought I was a "professional photographer" and I started shooting everything that came my way. HA! Joke was on me.

Now that I've actually learned a few things over the years, I see the rewards it has provided to take on less. I'm happy, my clients are happy, my work is getting done ON TIME and I actually know what it feels like to sleep a full eight hours again.

I schedule no more than two sessions a weekend (or three, depending on the shoots). Or, if I have a wedding scheduled, I won't book any sessions that weekend. Occasionally, I will book sessions during the week, but I prefer not to. After I clock out of my full time job during the week, I usually come straight home and spend a good 4-5 hours in front of my computer editing. So the weekday evenings are devoted to nothing but editing. 


And if you're wondering, yes, I do have another full time job. I have to. I don't have a super rich husband who can support a house payment and pay for my health, dental and car insurance, and I definitely need bill-paying security in my off-seasons. But even if the day comes where I do have a wonderful husband who will allow me to do this full time again, I still wouldn't take on everything I did before. In fact, I'd take on the same amount of sessions I do now.

So that's that. As I said, quality over quantity. I can't stress it enough!! Unless you have an entire village working behind you, you enjoying sleepless nights or you don't mind turning gray 20 years before you should, don't feel obligated to take everything that comes your way. Yes, the money is great, but word-of-mouth is richer than any bank account I've ever seen, especially when you own your own business. And to me, my biggest payoff is a satisfied client. And trust me, I've had unsatisfied clients in the past due to the amount of time it took me to get their images to them and it's not a road you want to go down!  

Do your research, come into this industry with a game plan and you should have no problem succeeding.  

Why I don't shoot in extremely hot temps

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you're all staying cool and hydrated! I'm opting out of the hot temps and staying in the AC for the day to catch up on emails, blog posts and final editing from previous shoots. Which brought a topic up for discussion and I thought I'd share it here.

I had an outdoor photo shoot scheduled for this afternoon at 2 p.m., but with temps in the mid 90's, and a heat advisory issued, I knew I wasn't going to chance it. I've been keeping touch with my client since Friday afternoon (when I saw the projected forecast) and let them know I would make a decision the morning of (because we all know sometimes the forecast is not even close to being accurate). This morning, I decided to hold off a few weeks until the weather hopefully gets a bit cooler. My client was actually relieved by this and thanked me for not putting her family, and myself, in danger.

When I first started, I DID shoot in temps like this, only to be upset by the final outcome of my pictures. Not only were my clients completely drenched in sweat by the end of the session, but the overall shoot was just miserable - for both myself and the clients. We were constantly taking water breaks, always wiping sweat off of faces and, for girls, the humidity did a number on their hair (talk about a frizzy mess). For kids, they get very irritated within the first few minutes of the shoot because they are just too hot and uncomfortable. So, I made the decision about 3 years ago to halt shooting in temps above 90 degrees. I didn't think my clients would understand why, or I would get negative reactions because of it, but when I explain to them the cons of shooting in hot heat, they seem very understanding and grateful I'm not making them do it. At that time, I'll either postpone the shoot for later in the evening, when the temps are much cooler, or we'll reschedule for another day and hope the temps aren't as hot. I've also done a few early morning shoots in the past, which are great up until about 10 a.m.

Also, people don't always realize how much work goes into a photo shoot. You're constantly switching poses, moving around and, in a nutshell, you're outside in 90+ degree temps for almost 2 hours in most cases. It can definitely take a toll on your body. And about 1/2 hour into the sessions, I noticed my clients were very uncomfortable, which, in turn, showed in their images. It's just not a pleasant experience for anyone in heat like this.

For weddings it's obviously a different story, especially if it's an outdoor wedding. You really have no choice. But when it gets this hot, I've seen several couples throughout the years who offer an endless supply of water at their ceremony and those cool little fans so people can fan themselves. I've also seen the time of ceremonies cut in half when it's super hot. As for the formal shots, I'll find the most shaded area and let them know we will get through the pictures as fast as possible (which, in most cases, was about 15 minutes!) Or, if there is an indoor venue on site, I'll send the the family and the party indoors for the formals. That has worked wonders!

You're experience with me should be a pleasant one and your images should reflect the fun we had during your session. When shooting in heat like this, one of the only reminders clients will have was how hot it was, how bad they were sweating, and how uncomfortable they look in their pictures. That's not the goal I want to achieve and that's definitely not the experience I want to give my clients. Therefore, you will have no worries when it comes to heat like this!

And YES, photoshop can do wonders when it comes to ridding sweat off of faces and hiding sweat spots, but not when I have to do it to every single picture!! It makes the editing process 10 x's longer and I honestly don't like having to photshop my images that much. It takes away from the true meaning of the image.

Stay cool my friends!

Don't ditch those dull pics just yet

It's a given that you're going to have images during a session that just didn't turn out the way you wished they would have. If you're a photographer, you probably know what I'm talking about. You take what you think is a great image, everything looks like it should on camera, but when you get home and upload the image to your computer, you see that it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to. Whether the lighting was too dark or light, the picture was out of focus or color was just blah.

When I first started out, I would have deleted these images instantly. I wasn't the best editor back then and I really didn't think I could "fix" an image that didn't turn out the way I thought it should. But as time has gone on, I've learned to experiment with these not-so-good images and with just the right amout of editing, to my surprise, the "bad" photos often turn out to be some of my favorites.

Take the picture below for example. I left it SOC. I shot it yesterday at Tommy and Lauren's wedding. On camera, it looked perfect - the lighting seemed right, it look very clear and crisp and I just couldn't wait to edit it. But when I opened the image in my photo editing software, this is how it looked.....

Yikes!!! I was a a bit disappointed. As you'll notice, the right side of her face is way too dark (and I'm using the right and left as it's viewed in the image). And no matter how much I tried to lighten it up, it just didn't look natural. The natural light from the window to the left of this image highlighted one side of her face, but the other side was hidden from the light source.

So, I put my thinking cap on and started to play around with the image. After about 15 failed attempts with color, I converted it to black and white and right away, I knew I had something. The right side of her face became even darker in B&W and I LOVED the way her one eye popped. So I decided to make the focal point of this image just on left side of her. I also bumped up the exposure and brightness, added some contrast and added a slight sepia tone to it. I also added a texture to give it a more rustic feel. In the end, this was the result....

This is by far one of my favorite images. It took this picture and the whole story of it to a completely different level. To me, this captures the pure innocence of a child.

So the next time you come across an image that may be rather dull, play around with it a bit and see what you come up with. You may be surprised at what you find and you might have just saved one of the best images from being thrown in the recycle bin.

Have a great Sunday!

The invisible man

I saw this man one Sunday evening in St. Joe and I literally threw my car in reverse to capture this picture. Before I got out of my car, I took a moment just to put myself in this situation. As a photographer, I often do that. I purposely lose myself in a moment and let my brain process the surroundings and situations. It gives me a better idea of what kind of picture I'm looking for and what story I'm trying to capture. If you're not a photographer, that probably makes absolutely no sense. But that's how my mind works.

As I watched people pass by him, the reactions on their faces said it all. There were constant stares from some, laughter and jokes from others, and some people walked along as if he wasn't even there. It disgusted me. In my eyes, I saw a man on a chilly spring evening having his perfect moment. And I smiled. Because in this moment, as he stared over his priceless view of a Lake Michigan sunset, he proved to me once again that it's the little things in life that matter and too many of us take that for granted.

I will be the first to admit that I haven't always been the nicest person. I've been through my days of putting others down, and I've been put down. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of and I surely am not, nor will I ever be, a perfect angel. But as the years have gone by, I've taken every negative comment and every negative situation and turned it into something positive. I've learned to see things in a different perspective. I truly believe being a photographer has helped with this as well because when I'm behind my lens, I create positive outlooks on things others may see as negatives.

Most of us will never know what it's like to walk in this man's shoes. And instead of taking a step back and looking at the big picture, we're quick to judge and instantly feel as if he is nothing, when that is everything but the truth.

This man was born just like every one of us. He had a mother and he had a father. We'll never know if they are still around or if he ever had the chance to know them. He might have had toys, Christmas with family, his 7th Birthday party with cake, balloons, family and friends. Or he may not have had any of that. He probably went to elementary school, has a favorite movie, has fears and has dreams. He may have loved someone at some point in his life, or he may never know what love really feels like. He wanted to be somebody, but somewhere along the way, something happened. And now, this is where he is.

He doesn't have the luxury of sleeping in big beds with feathertop comforters and fluffy pillows. He doesn't know what it feels like to fall asleep with a loved one wrapped in his arms. And his alarm clock isn't an annoying loud buzzer. His alarm clock is reality.

The next time you think about judging him, or someone in his situation, think about what it's like on the other side. Because everything we take for granted, including that annoying alarm clock which wakes us up for the job we are fortunate to have, is everything he probably dreams about every day of his life.

To this day, I'm still kicking myself in the rear for not approaching this man. Even if it was just to say "hello" because that little word is probably something he doesn't hear a lot. I'll never know anything about this man, and I wish I did. He deserves to be heard and he deserves to know that there is someone out there who, even just for a minute, took the time to recognize his existence. But instead, he remains the invisible man.

Even though words were left unsaid, I drove away that evening feeling good about what I did. I documented a moment in his life that will probably never be captured again. And little does he know, he had a big impact on me.