Yep, I’m proudly one of those who refuse to travel the “Happy Holidays” route. It’s Merry Christmas, it’s Happy Hanakkah/Chanukah, it’s Feliz Navidad!

This has been a wonderful year of growth, learning, and excitement. I have made many new friends this year, and deepened the bonds with many I already had. To each and every one of you, you have been an absolute joy and delight in my life, and thank you for allowing me the time with your children, your pets, your families! Thank you for inviting me to be witness to new beginnings as you exchanged vows, and for some of you, thank you for the honor of inclusion as you’ve laid to rest some treasured souls in your lives.

I wish you and your families happiness and joy on this special Christmas day. May the lights of your Menorahs shine brightly, may the star in your sky shine brightly while the bells of your church and/or cathedral ring loudly with songs of this beautiful season!

nina

So I asked myself, after viewing this link for the Carlsberg beer company (which is rather humorous, but disturbing because I think many would opt not to take those theater seats, and shame on them to boot!), What Would You Do? (WWYD)  I’m always up for an adventure, and recognize we all put our pants on one leg at a time… regardless of whether we wear boots & jeans, biker leathers, tutus, or uniforms, we’re all humans.  With a crowd like the one in the link – I’d definitely go in and sit down.

The whole “What would you do” thing continues, however…  What would you do when   you’ve topped out at the 100% mark of frustration?  What would you do when you feel overwhelmed?   Well, I had an over the top day Wednesday.  And, just when I’d “had it”, the p hone rang.

Answering the phone allowed the window of opportunity to open, and I climbed out. No, not literally, just figuratively.   Sometimes we need, when our brains are at their limit, a break.  A situation arose that provided an opportunity to go up one of my favorite logging roads in the Olympic Mtns.  Now this might sound pretty boring, but only to those who have not explored these roads. (BTW – NEVER GO WITHOUT A MAP!!!!!! And, you can purchase a map of the roads at the ranger station on 101)

So, you don’t just haul off and go up those roads alone.  Y ou are MILES AND MILES from ANYONE and ANYTHING, and you never know if you’re up there alone, or who (what) else might be there too…   Furthermore, if you leave your vehicle, and are injured – uh, what then, Mr./Ms. Solo Traveler?    And this is the reason I went… to satisfy my own desire to head up there in a snow storm, and also to be the extra for a friend. His wife was ill, they get their tree there every  year, and he wanted someone to ride along.  So, I did.  We went to cut Christmas trees.

About the 3200 ft level, it was near white out, and the winds were howling, and shaking the truck we were in.  It was brrrrr cold, but more because of that yawning wind that was sweeping over the tops of the mountains.  I am firmly convinced my destiny is to have a house up in that type of country some day. It was glorious (to me, anyway).  Traversing the roads, we made it around to the back side of Mt. Turner, I think it was (looking at the map), and it was as if there were no storm.  The sun was trying to peek through, the foliage was a vibrant green, and there were stunning displays of orange and gold leaves.   It was a visual feast.   I didn’t create many photographs, but I think a few were very nice.   It exercised the “non-people” side of my image making brain. :O)  It was relaxing, refreshing, and invigorating.  I’m glad I went.

I think the important thing to note here, is not to allow yourself to become frustrated when things pile up.  The old adage “How do you eat an elephant?  Well, easy!  One bite at a time!” has come into my head more than a few times as of late.   I’m eating this elephant sized pile of work on my desk one bite at a time… The carrot to moving forward is that I can reward myself with more camera time!

nina

Hidden treasure along the logging roads of the Olympics

This past Veteran’s Day, I enjoyed a rare privilege!   I was invited to the Mason home in Kingston for a fun fun fun pet portrait session.

One of the Mason family, Murphy, an adorable Japanese Chin, has the honor of living with one of our Country’s Veterans, and Murphy was nice enough to pose for a striking portrait for his dog mom & dad!  This little guy is one of the most laid back little fellas I’ve ever seen!

Murphy

The fun didn’t stop with Murphy… ohhh far from it!   Even though it was cold, windy, and we had a non-stop drizzling rain, there were three VERY patient Great Danes waiting for their portraits too!

Named after Muskateers, there was Aramis(L), D’Artagnum (Center), and Porthos (R), I found these handsome guys to be amazing animals, very gentle and loving!  However, I have to admit…I sure wouldn’t want one of these guys surprising me in the night as I slipped over a fence! haha!

Three of the Musketeers

My pal Gavin (of Seim Studios in Eastern Washington) asked me to beta test some Lightroom3 presets he’s marketing. Now, I am a tried and true lover of B&W images, and these presets ROCK.  If you’re a photography enthusiast, you really should tune in to Gavin’s PROSHOW web forum! And, while you’re feeling the photo processing loooove, you can find those nifty Silvershadows 2 Lightroom presets on his site. For the Danes, I selected the “Old Holga II” preset to create this rich monotone print of the guys. The coats of these animals are amazing, and I love how the tones in their fur is brought out.

Back to the trip to the Mason home, oh my goodness, I am sooooooooo excited to be heading BACK in the VERY near future (waiting on the weather)!  Easily one of THE most beautiful properties I’ve visited in a while. I am so in love with their pond. (you can see a sliver of it in the background behind the dogs). 

The tranquil view of that pond from the back porch, with the ducks, cattails, reflections… yowza, I’m just sayin’ that if it were in MY backyard, I’d be on the porch like Ma Kettle, and getting NOTHING done. Luckily, I’ll be heading back for portraits of two very handsome horses. Unfortunately, Mother Nature spoiled our afternoon, it was too wet & nasty to take the lights out into the pasture. I have to applaud “The Muskateers” for being awfully patient sitting in the drizzle during their portrait.  I forgot just how cold you can get lying on the ground in the rain… It was totally worth being cold and icky, these guys are STUNNING! I don’t know any photographer who isn’t willing to do just about anything for the perfect image.

Yesterday  I was gifted the honor of conducting a bittersweet session.  My dear friend and his lovely wife have a fabulous dog.  Levi is an old man now, having lived a beautiful life with family.   Unfortunately, Levi is in the fall season of life, with only a matter of days for ear and belly rubs, puppy smooches, and the unspoken, mental exchange humans and dogs have.  Our pets, especially dogs and horses, have a connection with us on such a deep level, they often surpass the role of mere “pet”, instead, they are (and rightly so) considered family.

Levi, I hope your dad enjoys the photos, it has been a great privilege to meet you, and also to know your whole family.

You’re only a dog, old fellow;

a dog, and you’ve had your day;

but never a friend of my friends

has been truer than you always.

                           ~Julian Stearns Cutler

I had a potential client inquire about my prices, and the justification for my prices.   In other words, “How come you charge so much for pictures?”

It’s important for me to state that I do NOT  find this type of question offensive or insulting.  Some might, but I actually welcome this question.  It is important that I help educate my clients when they ask a question.  Rarely do we ask questions that we don’t really want to have answered, and quite often we want answers, but won’t ask the questions…  I want my clients to realize and recognize that I don’t just yank a magic number from the air and say “X”.

Frankly, the cost is not exorbitant, however, they are not free, or anywhere close to free.  I am not in the business of selling photographic paper.  I sell a service, a skillset, just like a lawyer.  Your legal support doesn’t base his/her pricing on the cost of the nifty legal size notebooks used in the files… I am certainly not a lawyer, but you get my drift…   My portrait pricing pays for many many things.

What goes into pricing?  Well, there are many factors, and I find that many small business owners sometimes fall prey to the belief that a home based office/studio is “free”.  Quite the contrary.  Insurance coverage, equipment, updates for equipment, software and software updates, computers, gasoline, printing, time spent in post-production (editing), time spent ordering supplies, time spent sending the images to the lab, time spent packaging images, time on the phone with clients, the list goes on and on….  While it would be easy to think “Oh, that takes NO time to do… “  You’ll soon find yourself with numerous tasks that, individually, really don’t take much time… bundle them together, and you’ve quickly lost an afternoon, or movie time in the family room with everyone else, or dinner.  It’s imperative you count every minute spent on business, otherwise you’re losing money – losing it FAST.   After a wedding, where I’ve normally invested 6-8 (or more) hours working (not counting the load up, advance prep, trip to/from or the engagement session), I come home and download the images.  Then the images are backed up to a safe external drive and DVD.  The next step, I cull the images… toss/keep/toss/keep/toss/keep   Once that step has been done, the next task is to begin retouching images.  Once the retouches have been completed, then I create the slideshow.  Next its time for the client presentation.  Then comes the order, send to/from the lab, check the order, package, deliver, and whatever other tasks I’ve probably omitted.   Once all is said/done, there’s usually about 60 – 75 hours invested in a wedding.  If I charged 1000.00 for a wedding, then I make 13.33 an hour.  Oh wait, I have to pay an assistant… make that 7.33…  Oops, that’s only for the hours.  What about the gas to go to/from?  What about batteries for the flashes?  It’s REALLY easy to find  yourself in the negatives if you don’t put forth the necessary effort to price accordingly.

These above steps aren’t applicable only to weddings, they are applicable to ANY session.  What the client sees is only a fraction, the proverbial tip of the iceberg to what really happens behind the scenes.    Because I take the profession seriously, I maintain abreast of current trends, technical information for hardware, software, cameras, processing, lighting, posing, post-processing.  The beauty of photography (and sometimes a curse) is you can master the basics, but there’s always something new to learn.  Education is not inexpensive.  A class at the community college is roughly 400.00 – without books.  A week at an intense school for professional photographers (12 hour days) – with lodging and meals, about 1200.00.  Education isn’t cheap, but boy is it powerful.  It’s the necessity for a photographer to stay ahead of the curve, to set themselves apart from the rest of the herd.

Next time you raise your eyebrows over the cost of a print, think about the details.  It’s like a cake.  A wedding cake is EXPENSIVE… flour is cheap, so is sugar…  But the manpower to pull it together into a beautiful concoction doesn’t just “happen”.  It takes skill, education, talent, and effort.  A portrait is like a wedding cake.  Paper is sort of inexpensive, but the ingredients required to turn the paper into a treasured image is not inexpensive.

To expect a photographer to hand off images on a CD is like asking Nordstrom’s or Macy’s or JC Penney’s to just let you fill up just  one shopping cart for free.  Out the door goes a lot of revenue.  Quality photographers are business people.  They have a bottom line, a profit margin, and bills to pay just like an accountant, a lawyer, a mechanic, or a pet store.   Photographers who have a glorified hobby are a dime a dozen, and unfortunately, many advertise as “professionals”, and have no clue of what portraiture entails.  Additionally, many (I would hazard a guess to say most) are not insured. Professionalism carries with it a level of pride as a craftsman/woman, a desire to continue perfecting an art, respect for an industry/trade and respect/responsibility towards clients.

I’ve found, that normally, we get what we pay for… A teacher of mine told me there are three things available in business:

Price      Quantity     Quality

Of those three, we can have two.  Do  you forgo quality in lieu of price and quantity?  Do you forgo quantity in lieu of price and quality?   There’s something to think about in that statement…  Last but not least, normally, anything of value is not free…

A critical aspect of business is: Relationships.  By the time you’re “done” at a Big Box store studio, you could have gone to a local portrait photographer and had an elegant portrait created by someone who cares about you, your children, your family.  An individual who sees you as more than a client.   When the auto-mated session is done at the store, you’re more than likely in the hands of someone who has only had in-store training as a photographer.  Actually, a button pusher, they are not photographers.   When they’re finished, then  you’re handed off to the sales folk.   And when sales has finished with you,  time to sit and wait for their machine to print out a big set of images.  You don’t have the options of canvas, or hand painted, linen papers or textures.  Nope, you have a cheap piece of photo paper that’s the equivalent of what you’ll buy for your home photo printer.  Many times you’ll walk out with a bag full of images, often far more than  you need, just to get something you really wanted.    Take the time to call several studios.  Interview your photographer just like you would anyone else you’d hire.   Most will happily meet you for coffee, or invite you to the studio for coffee.  Any photographer worth his/her salt will provide a no-cost consultation session, to share the costs, payment options, etc.  You’ll know what to wear, you’ll know where to go (studio/location), you’ll know in advance how much you’ll be spending, and the payment plans offered.  And lastly, you’ll leave with a new friend, someone your family will spend time with over the coming years.

Not everyone can afford above the Wally World price line.   There’s no sin, no shame in that…   But consider… How much do you spend each day on coffee, or cigarettes, scratch ‘n win tickets, where do YOU waste money?

We all waste it.. just figure out where.  Family portraits are usually made every four years on average.  Smoke less, develop a taste for drip coffee, skip the gambling or the movie rental here/there.  Before you realize what’s happened, you’ll have set aside what you need for that “WOW” factor portrait.  The one you hang in your home, and everyone is drawn to upon entering, like moths to a flame.  Even if  you only do it once, that’s find.  Do it for your children.  Do it for your parents.  Do it for your spouse.

I’m not rolling in dough, far from it… but I am saving.  I have scheduled someone to photograph my adult children next month.  He’s the perfect person for my boys, and my daughter.  I don’t care what it costs, I don’t care if I have to make payments.  I know the work he does… it is timeless, elegant, and something I will treasure forever.  I know my children will also treasure the images of their siblings (eventually… lol).

Today, I included a capture made last week at school, of the chapel at Fort Worden, in Port Townsend.  I love this little chapel, I think it is especially lovely in the evening, with the windows aglow, there’s a sense of mystery and wonder.