JAYS Photography in Columbus, Ohio with Jay and Kelly Brown

From time to time I will be posting examples of other photographers who I have connected with in one way or another. Some from association meetings, some from connections through the internet. Recently I blogged about Allison Ballinger of Cross B Photography in Stephenville, Texas. What I have noticed is that some have a zeal for God that overflows into their work. I am completely impressed with Allsion’s ABOUT page which unapologetically shares her commitment to Jesus Christ and how it influences her life and photography.

Today I want to introduce you the Jay and Kelly Brown of J.A.Y.S. Photography in Columbus, Ohio. They are wedding photographers in Columbus. When you go to their front page, then enter, go to there ABOUT page and see how their relationship with Jesus Christ colors their lives and attitudes about life. They are passionate about photography and about people. I know from my conversations with Kelly that she is very devoted to her clients and getting the best possible images from their special day.

I wanted you to get a small taste of the talent of this pair. After looking as these few images, please go explore their flash web site and their blog to get to know them better.

They include an engagement portrait session in their wedding packages. Kelly tells me that this is an important opportunity for her and Jay to get to know their clients so that they have a good working relationship on the wedding day.

Kelly also does senior portraits, children and family photography in the Columbus area. Jay and Kelly focus on wedding photography and do weddings in Columbus and will also do destination weddings.

This post appears on my web site and blog, Peter DeMott Photography.com. It also appears on my personal facebook page and my business fan page on facebook. There are several ways to follow me or this blog. You can friend me on facebook. You can subscribe to my web site using the subscribe box at the top right of my home page. You can follow me on Twitter, pdemottphoto. I enjoy sharing about photographers and photography and will continue to bring you hopefully interesting post that will help you get to know me better, be inspired, and learn more about photography.

Becoming a photographer, being a photographer, learning about photography

Recently I received an email update from F-Stop Beyond: THE EXPERIENCE. I have been subscribing to his email newsletter for several years. This one captured my interest in that it had an offering. For $29 he would send me a pdf about blogging for my business AND a audio file about pricing professional services (it is a mp-3 of a coaching session about pricing). In addition for a short time anyone who purchased this small package, the entire amount would be sent to Haiti Relief. I am listening to the audio file right now as I create this post.

I like to provide my photographer friends with resources from time to time in this blog.

Today I am listing a couple of podcasts that I receive through iTunes. I listen to these when I am driving places or when I am mucking out stalls or working out in the gym. They offer inspiration and knowledge.

If you do not have an ipod, the smaller units are very inexpensive and many of the more current phones include M-p3 players in them that can be synced to the iTunes podcasts that you subscribe to. THESE ARE ALL FREE PODCASTS! If you don’t want to be able to listen as you go, you can also listen directly from your computer, no problem.

Here is short list:

One of Ron Dawson’s web sites: F-Stop Beyound.TV

On iTunes look up these podcasts (Open iTunes and search under podcasts, then click on the subscribe button):

F-Stop Beyond: THE EXPERIENCE

F-Stop Beyond / Shows 1-99

Rangefinder Radio

Pictage Podcast

I also listen to podcasts about internet marketing, and some general photography podcasts.

So check them out and enjoy.

This post is posted on my website and blog. It will be in my notes on facebook and on my wall at Peter DeMott Photography of facebook.

Marketing photography web site for my photographer friends

I just found this and found it very interesting and informative. I wish it had an email subscription option though.

http://skipsphotonetwork.com/

Allison Ballinger of Cross B Photography in Stephenville Texas

I really enjoy my photographer friends all over the country and the world, but I have to say that Allison is quite an inspiration both in her testimony and in her photography. Just today she sent me this link which tells of her predicament and how the client handled the situation.

A Story Worth Sharing….and a new outlook for the year 2010

As you look through her web site and blog you will see incredible talent and lovely portraits of seniors, engaged couples, horses and their owners, families and more. And everything that she does she says is an expression of thanksgiving for what God had done in here life

About Allison Ballinger

Allison is a gifted photographer with a heart of gold. Her ability to communicate with her words in this blog also touches my heart. May the Lord continue to bless you with clients that will give you opportunity to bless them with the “opportunity to provide you with top quality images and designs to promote your horses and have priceless memories of your family to last a lifetime.”

I can only encourage families, seniors, and horse breeders and owners to take full advantage of the talent that you have their in Texas with Allison Ballinger of Cross B Photography.

Surviving as a professional photographer in a down economy

As a professional photographer, I always want to be growing in two ways.

First is to always be improving my photography. In light of that there are several things that I do. I participate in monthly training through PPSO (Professional Photographers of SW Ohio). I am a member of PPO (Professional Photographers of Ohio) and I go to the annual convention in the spring. At the convention I participate in every seminar that I can get my hands on. I also have a subscription to PhotoVision which is a collection of video presentations for professional photographers (Also a bi-montlhly DVD mailed to my home). Communication with other photographers through Facebook and photography forums, email and the telephone is important and I also have several Podcasts that I regularly listen to. Through these involvements I am always sharpening the product and the experience that I provide to my clients.

One thing that I just discovered, I think I saw it on a Twitter Tweet from another photographer, is the Jeff Smith books blog. This particular blog has an email subscription option (something that I always do – I don’t have to login, go searching for a web site or blog, it just shows up in my email box) so I signed up. He just published yet another book for professional photographers, this one on Senior Portraits. Yesterday I went on Amazon and purchased that book and another.

But this brings me to the other way that I think that I and other professional photographers must keep growing. That is to understand your market and current trends that effect your business. Each of the sources that I mentioned regarding improving my photography above also provide education about marketing and advertising professional photography.

Jeff Smith books blog had this post today. In it he was talking about not just surviving, but learning to do well in our current economic climate. It involved changing things up a bit on his senior portrait marketing and packages to eliminate some of the guilt and fear that people are experiencing about spending money. Here is a portion of what he said:

As business people we have to be smarter in this economy. While excessive spending is currently out of fashion, spending on memorable moments with the ones we love is viewed by Americans as perfectly fine. With our seniors, we are marketing more for the mother being included in the session and making it a “lady’s day out” experience. If it’s as much (or so the senior would think) about mom as it is the senior, the seniors doesn’t feel guilty when moms wants to buy the largest package, a wall portrait or additional wallets.

In this changing economy, many seniors that used to expect senior portraits at a premium studio as just a part of their senior year and now having to ask for senior portraits as gifts for birthdays or Christmas. The good new is when a senior is willing to give up a birthday gift for senior portraits the guilt of spending more is lessened. Again this just means as a business we change our marketing strategies to thrive in this economy as well as the next, because when it comes the economy nothing lasts forever!

Just as it is important to always be willing to learn new things with regard to the quality of your imagery, it is important to be willing to learn new ways to package and market your photography to meet the needs and wants of your clients. If you are a photographer friend, I would encourage you to go and sign-up for Jeff Smith’s blog and continue your learning (and being willing to learn) each day.

This blog post appears on my web site: Peter DeMott Photography. It will also appear on Twitter and Facebook on my personal page and my business page. You can follow me using the subscription option or by friending or becoming a fan on Facebook.

Environmental Family Portraits at Christmas

Patty and I and our family had a lovely time with Pam and Andy and their family Christmas day. In the morning we opened presents at home with our kids here in the Dayton area, then we drove to the Cleveland area first to visit my wife’s parents who are currently both in the hospital. After our visit, we went to Pam and Andy’s (Pam is my wife Patty’s older sister) for a beautiful visit and dinner. But, before dinner they had asked if I would bring my camera and take some family portraits for them.

I think the hint of Christmas is a wonderful way to be in the mood for Christmas year round. Since the portraits were taken in their own home, they will also have a more special meaning. I also took some in their formal family room without Christmas decorations showing.

I showed them a stretched canvas print that I had made for one of my senior high school student portraits so they could see what it might look like as a canvas print. It can make portraits like these into wonderful works of art. I also like to show samples so that people can understand size a little better. The canvas print that I showed them was 16×24 which is a nice starter size for framed display on a wall. It is very common for people to think that an 8×10 or 11×14 is a large wall portrait, but those are considered more for desk and bookcase display and usually look very small once held up to a wall. I even lend various sized print samples to people to allow them to hold them up where they intend of making their display so that they can see how various sizes appear. It is not something that you can do from memory. It’s kind of like bringing paint samples back from the store to hold up against various pieces of furniture to make sure they compliment what you already have.

This is Pam and Andy.

This is their lovely family.

The other images from the session can be seen here: Pam & Andy Family Portraits

HELP PORTRAIT Dayton was fun and a great learning experience for all involved

December 19th was the date for HELP PORTRAIT Dayton. As this was the first time for Dayton and the rest of the country, we had no idea of how many people might show up. Would we be completely overwhelmed? Would there be people waiting out the doors or would we be very slow. As it turned out, we were very slow until after 12 noon. So after three backdrops and light set-ups were in place, and tested we sat about for a while wondering what to do.

After about an hour, we just started to play. First we took a group shot with someone’s fisheye lens:

This is everyone that was there at the time including helpers, photographers, make-up and friends.

I took some more portraits for fun trying out the light set-up and thinking about what I would need to set up the same sort of portrait lighting set up in my country barn studio in the future. We had a white seamless paper background and two black backgrounds. At about noon people started coming in for portrait sessions. First one family, then a couple more and then several more. We all had great fun creating and GIVING the portraits away with no payment expected whatsoever.  One father grabbed Jordan Begley as he was about the leave, “Hey, I want to thank you folks for doing this, this is our first family portrait….we’ve never had one and this means a lot.”  Jordan came over and shared his conversation with me saying that the oldest boy in the family was 9 and he was so surprised and touched by the conversation.

Well as it turned out we had about, I think 50+ people representing 6-8 different families and since we were by no means swamped, we were able to come up with variations and sub-group portraits of each family. But, the originator of this event suggested that we not publish actual families from the event to respect their privacy.

The following images are portraits of photographers and friends helping at the event before actual families started showing up. The beginnings of some good friendships were started and everyone helped everyone else try out various lighting set-ups and learn more about photography together. Some of us were outside of our comfort zones and it was a great experience for all. THANKS everyone who helped and for all the sharing of knowledge at the event.

The Difference Between Video and Photographs

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, F Stop Beyond by Host Ron Dawson, and I heard a photographer talking about the difference between video and still images in a way that really caught my attention. The photographer asked, “How many times do you typically watch a movie?” The answer is usually ONCE. If you are really intrigued, you might watch a movie several times, but that would be more unusual than the standard answer of ONCE.

Now, when you look at an intriguing or exciting photograph, how many times might you look at that? 10, 20, 100 times perhaps. If it is a portrait of someone you love you may look at it every day of your life and appreciate it each time you see it. The photographer talked about how photography CREATES AN ENDURING MOMENT. Wow, an enduring moment. What an outstanding way to describe a photographer’s challenge. I’m not just “Capturing an image” or “capturing a moment in time” as many digital photographers describe what they do. As a photographer your goal is to create an enduring moment.

This reminds me of a photograph I took some years back. It was a picture of the finish of the last day of a trek across the state of Michigan on horseback. The riders started at a camp that touched lake Michigan then when they completed a week of 50 mile endurance rides across the state it ended at Lake Huron. The tradition at the finish was to go into the lake with your horse to celebrate the ride. It was great fun to watch as many of the horses had never encountered waves before. One rider’s helper during the week was a grandmother and she was encouraged to join into the fun by coming into the lake with horse and the rider. Two other people helped her to get out into the water (she was very unsteady in the light surf) where the rider was standing with her horse. When they got to the rider for only a moment, they all joined hands and raised there hands in celebration of the accomplishment. I captured that joyous moment in a spectacular photograph.

Several months later, I had an opportunity to watch video recaps of the week including this spectacular moment. Only it was not that spectacular in the streaming moments in video. That spectacular moment was there and gone and there were other moments to view. The power of the moment disappeared in video. It was a small blip and then it was gone. Now I know how to describe what I do with photography.

As a photographer I create ENDURING MOMENTS which can be enjoyed again and again and again by viewers. This is of course not a criticism of motion pictures or video, but it is a significant difference for sure.

Do you have an example of an ENDURING MOMENT; a photograph that can be appreciated over and over and over again?