National Camera Day

Courtesy of: SnapKnot

Dance

Seanna completed a big event last week ... she attended dance camp at Paula's Dance Academy.  As a 3 year old, she was among the youngest there, but we've been hearing from her that she wanted to take dance lessons for well over a year now, so it was time to try things out.

Getting Ready to Head to Dance Camp

I will admit, the first day I was pretty sure that we should have waited to try dance classes.  My normally out-going child was shy and very clingy ... I literally had to hide so that she couldn't see me.  She still left the dance floor at one point and didn't want to go back out there because she "couldn't dance."  Basically, she couldn't do what the other girls were doing as well as they were so she just gave up and didn't want to try.  Following the first break (at which point she informed me to "go away"), she was much more out-going but was all over the place!  Yikes!  Here's the thing, though, I don't know what or if there was a refund policy with the dance camp, but I felt like it was important for Seanna to beginning learning that you've got to stick with things that you commit to do.  If she hadn't wanted to do dance classes any more after the dance camp was done, that would have been fine, but she needed to keep working at it and trying to learn during that week.

The second day, I didn't stick around much since she seemed to do better the first day when she didn't know that I was there and since Cayleigh was along.  So, Cayleigh and I had a fun play date with my husband's cousin and her 2 little girls.  Seanna was definitely less shy before class, though!  I think that maybe it helped having her little sister to show off for :).

I stayed and watched from the parent's area on the 3rd day ... what a difference!  She still didn't have everything down, but she was trying and was getting many of the dance moves.  The recital was the last day.  I think Seanna definitely had a bit of stage fright/shyness as she did much better the day before when she was just in class and didn't have an audience, but, you know what?  That's part of the learning experience ... learning that it's ok to not be perfect as long as you give it your best.

Watching the other girls show off what they learned during the week

Dancing all on her own for the other girls during circle time ... what a change in confidence in just 4 days!

Here's the video from Seanna's recital:

It may be just coincidence, but I have noticed that just from those 4 short days of dance Seanna has learned to have more confidence and to keep working at things that are hard or that she may not be able to do right away.  Of course, that's something that my husband has long talked about being an important lesson learned from sports (when done the right way).  You see, it's not always about winning or being the best but learning that hard work and doing your best bring great rewards.  I'm pretty sure that we'll be doing dance again.  Seanna will probably not get all of the moves right every time, but she is learning important lessons and is having fun.

Fall 2014 Update and Information for Photographers Setting Their Pricing

I blogged this post for my business blog but it's worth cross-posting ...

This summer has been a time of reflection for me with the direction in which my photography business needs to go in order to continue to be sustainable.  I am extremely grateful for all of the clients who have helped me build Whispering Pines Photography and hope to continue serving your photography needs on into the future.  That said, I am realizing that in order to continue, I need to ensure that my pricing is such that I am not doing a disservice to my family by taking time away from them and from my legal work to pursue my photography.  Because of this, I took a long, hard look at my pricing and costs of doing business.  I decided to outline some of the process that I went through here because I know that there are quite a few other photographers out there doing the same thing and maybe this will help them in determining the pricing for their business as well.  One caveat for other photographers out there, I am fortunate in that I do not have to do photography as a full-time, cover all of my living expenses, job.  There may come a time when Whispering Pines Photography is a full-time business, but I have more flexibility in my pricing than full-time photographers.  Also, even with this reflection, there are certain benchmarks in pricing that I do not want to pass because of the market in which I want to make photography available.

• First realization – I was spending hours upon hours preparing for shoots, going to and photographing shoots, and editing the results and was charging very little for that because of the goal that I would make up the difference in photo product sales.  What I found is that a large majority of the clients that I was getting would only spend maybe $50 in photo product sales.  When I keep the mark-up on my photo products low, that $50 means that I maybe make $10 off of the photo product sales; not much for covering operating expenses or for making even a part-time living off of photography. 
• Second realization – I used to try to take every photo session that inquired and spent all of my time running around doing sessions, even if I had to slash my fees to do so.  When things slowed down some over the winter, I realized that I had gotten completely away from the purpose of my photography business allowing me to help my family make some extra money to pay bills while also allowing me time with my family.  Running a photography business takes time, it’s not just showing up to shoot a session and then copying the images to a disc and being done (if that’s all you’re doing, you are doing yourself and your clients a disservice).  It’s doing legal work on your business; billing, accounting, and paying expenses; web management; education to improve your skills; marketing; editing; the list goes on and on … if you’re running your business right, then only about 10% of your time is actual shooting (i.e. what most clients see as the billable part of your business) time while the remaining 90% is spent on the less fun business management side.
• Third realization – I have found that as I’ve started trying to move my fees closer to what I need to make to run a sustainable business and have stayed with presenting things as these are my fees and the client can choose to hire me or to walk away that I have actually gotten more inquiries and bookings.  Know your expenses, know your worth and have the confidence to charge what you need to charge in order to run a sustainable business.  You may not get every client, but the clients will come and will respect you as a legitimate business more when you treat yourself as such.

So, what all did I look at in light of these realizations?  The first thing I did was run my average expenses or costs of doing business (CODB) through a calculator provided by the American Society of Media Photographers.  Because many of my expenses are either shared or covered elsewhere (mortgage/rent, phone, internet, etc…) I was able to put in lower amounts.  Using this calculator, I was able to break down the amount for the CODB that needed to be accounted for with each session in order to be sustainable.  I then sat down with a legal pad and calculated how much time on average that I spend with each session … some sessions will be more time, some less.  The breakdown looked something like this:

Lifestyle Sessions – Time Spent:

• 3-4 hours before the session meeting with the client and planning the session (this includes the pre-session meeting, time spent online and going through past sessions to plan out poses, etc…)
• 3-4 hours for the session (this includes drive time, set-up and break-down of any props, actual shooting time, etc… for an average shoot of 1-2 hours – depending on how long it takes to get the needed number of images)
• 6-7 hours for editing, ordering session, and ordering from the lab (this number is probably low, but should be supplemented by any photo product orders)
• So, for the average 1-2 hour lifestyle session, I am spending close to 15 hours from start to finish to make the session happen.

Weddings – Time Spent (for a 4 hour wedding package):

• 6-8 hours before (includes prep for both the wedding and the engagement session, which would be the same as for lifestyle sessions but would also include a final planning meeting a few weeks before the wedding to go over the timeline, etc… for the day and a likely site visit to plan for lighting, where to stand during the ceremony, etc…)
• 10 hours for the engagement session and wedding 
• 15-18 hours for editing, ordering session, and ordering from the lab.
• So, for the average 4 hour wedding (with a 1-2 hour engagement session), I am spending an average of close to 35 hours from start to finish.

In doing these calculations, I quickly realized that to make close to the same amount per hour (before expenses are taken into account) as I do with my day job, I would either have to charge a significantly higher amount that I would feel comfortable charging my clients or would have to take on more sessions/weddings in a month than I want to book.  So, the question then became how much do I need to charge to make this a part-time business worth spending some time on?  In other words, what do I need to make in order to feel like this is worth doing (as opposed to closing down as a business and just doing photography for my family and as the occasional friend needs help)?  Needing the time to come up with this answer is why I decided at the beginning of the summer to leave my pricing as is until the (unofficial) end of summer – when school generally starts back – to allow me time to think through and calculate things.  The numbers below are the result.  While I realize that there are clients out there who may not wish to pay the new fees for my photography services, I also trust that there are many out there who appreciate the art and hard work that goes into running a photography business and who will also appreciate knowing what a hard process this was for me to come to the fees that I need to charge in order to continue running a sustainable business.

A few other things to note before I give you the new price list …

• One way that I can keep my expenses lower is to only edit the photographs that my clients will ultimately purchase.  So, with my lifestyle sessions after this price list goes into effect, I will be offering same-day ordering sessions.  How this will work is that we will do the session and then we’ll take a break for an hour or so while I upload the session photos to my computer and prepare them for viewing.  Only the photographs that you order that day will be edited and presented online for viewing.  The rest will be kept for 3 months and then discarded.  If you choose to not do a same-day ordering session, then you will see/receive on your disc “photographer’s choice” of images.  Weddings will not have the same-day ordering policy as all images are edited and included.  Your ordering session date will be put on the calendar for a date after the photographs are edited.
• Another way that I can keep expenses lower is to reduce travel time for sessions.  So, a 10% discount will be offered for sessions that are held at my location or when you “bring a friend” to your session (multiple bookings at the same location on the same day). 
• There will be referral credits offered.  The exact amounts of these will depend on the number of referrals, type of booking, etc… but be sure to refer your friends and to tell them to let me know who referred you so that I can make sure that you get the referral credit.
• Lastly, be sure to sign up to receive my e-newsletter each month to see news, photography tips, and to receive exclusive discounts and offers

Fall 2014 Price List (Effective 8/15/14)

Lifestyle Sessions - $200.00          

• This package will cover a 1-2 hour session (length of session will vary depending on how long it takes to acquire the necessary number of photographs) – or, 1-2 outfits, up to 10 people, and 1 location.  You will receive up to 30 high-resolution, edited images sized for printing on a digital images disc and a $50 print credit.  Your (purchased) session images will also be re-sized for social media and posted on my facebook page with permission for you to share, make profile picture, etc... If you choose to not include the print credit, the fee will be $150.00, but you will not receive the print discounts that I will offer when print credits are purchased. You may also add to the print credit.

For other photographers out there, my breakdown ended up being that if I charged $10 per hour (which is extremely low) for the 15 hours, then that made the session $150.  With the results of the expenses calculator, my average expenses would be $50 per session.  So, just to cover that, makes the session $200, which is more than I wanted to charge for just the session and digital images.  I was able to reduce the hours on editing, ordering session, etc… some by switching to same-day ordering, and then I made a few other adjustments to keep pricing in line with the fees that I felt comfortable charging.

Weddings - $500.00

• This package will cover a 1-2 hour engagement session and up to 4 hours of wedding day coverage.  You will receive up to 25 high-resolution, fully edited images sized for printing on a digital images disc from your engagement session and all of your edited images from the wedding day on a customized wood USB drive as well as a hard-cover photo album.  Your (purchased) engagement session images and your choice of up to 25 wedding day images will also be re-sized for social media and posted on my facebook page with permission for you to share, make profile picture, etc... You will also receive a $100 print credit which can be completely applied to either the engagement session or wedding or split between the two.  As with lifestyle sessions, you can choose to not include the print credit but you will not receive the print discounts.  You may also add to the print credit.

For other photographers out there, the breakdown was much the same as for the lifestyle sessions except for the fact that I needed to leave the editing, ordering session, etc… time pretty much as is.  I also needed to account for the added product expenses of the customized wood USB drive and the hard cover album.  I could have possibly reduced expenses further by eliminating the engagement session (which many of you may be considering just have as an “extra” that can be purchased) but I feel that the engagement session time is important for making sure that the couple and I are comfortable working with each other, know what poses work well before the day of the wedding, etc… so I offer it as a standard part of my wedding packages.

I know that I did not have to include the full breakdown of the process here in this post but my hope is that maybe this will help other photographers who are trying to come up with how to set their fees.  There are many elements to pricing that are easy to overlook when you first go into business as a photographer, so hopefully this will provide a guide.  Every photographer’s expenses and work-flow is going to be different, so please don’t copy what I did exactly because you will be doing yourself a disservice.  Instead, sit down with a pen or pencil, some paper, and a calculator and work through your expenses and business goals to come up with what works for you.

Fun In the Park

Catching up on blogging!  It's been a busy week with Seanna's dance classes, so I've gotten behind on stuff that requires me to be at the computer.

Last Friday, the girls and I went up to the park for a picnic.  I'd been promising Seanna a picnic all week, so when the weather cooperated, we headed up there (even if it was a bit warm for my preferences).  This is the first time this year that we've been up to the park; usually we just play outside at home, so park days are a special treat.  For the girls, this was 2 weeks in a row of special treats since their Aunt Carol took them the week before.

Seanna, of course, had to climb, run, jump, and play.

Cayleigh was pretty happy with climbing up the slide.

Mom's take the time out to spend with your kids when they're little.  Careers and other goals will always be there, but your kids are only little once.  Things like going to the park are so easy to put off (believe me, I know) but they take so little time and bring so much joy to your kids.

Cayleigh decided that her lunch wasn't as fun as stealing mommy's sandwich and then taking it with her to the swing, lol!

Seanna was thrilled with her picnic ... of course she'd been wanting one for a while.  The picnic even won out over playing; that doesn't happen very often!

She did find the time, however, to be the cool big sister who pushed her sister in the swing.

And demanded that mommy get in the other swing as well (it's hard to shoot a picture when you're moving, lol!)

I don't know what the future holds for my kids but I'm glad that we're creating these memories right now for them to look back on when they're older.

All the Colors of the Rainbow

I guess my brain is still in whirlwind mode, lol!  I completely forgot to tell you about the rainbow from Thursday night!  We ended up with some rain Thursday evening at feeding time (luckily we had gotten all but one of the bags of horse feed that we were unloading into the shed before the rain started and got that one in pretty quickly).  As the rain was moving in and then during the rain I kept commenting on how gorgeous the light was despite the weather.  So, I guess it shouldn't have been surprising that a rainbow (a double) graced us with its presence.

Double Rainbow

 Above is about the brightest that the double rainbow ever got.  With how high up in the sky it was, it's a wonder that it showed up enough to even be captured here.

I kept moving further and further back in the field to try to get the whole rainbow in one picture but I do believe that the rainbow kept getting bigger!  Anyways, I finally took multiple shots of different parts of the rainbow and created a panoramic image in photoshop by combining those images.

Panorama of a rainbow

This last image isn't of the rainbow but certainly shows the gorgeous light (more pictures to edit from this night remain!).

Sunset after the rain

Whirlwind Weekend

Wow, what a whirlwind the past 4 days have been!  Most of the time life is fairly calm and there's not much to tell, but it's nice to maybe be settling back into a bit of a routine again.

Thursday, the girls and I went down to Chattanooga to pick some stuff up for my husband's office.  One the way there, I noticed that the check engine light blinked on and off a few times.  At that point, I didn't have a cell phone signal, so I had to keep going until I got into Chattanooga and then I called Russell.  We weren't sure what was going on, but he had me check the oil since when it's low the check engine light will sometimes come on and it had been a while since the oil was changed.  Sure enough, it was low.  Thanks to the help of one of our friends at the office I was picking stuff up at, we put some more oil in and off we went heading for home.

(can you sense that there's more to this story?)

Just as I got to where I had no cell phone signal (we have no signal for about 30-40 minutes of the hour long drive), the check engine light comes back on and my car starts having trouble getting up to speed going up the mountain.  It continued to get progressively worse, yikes!  I should add that once you're up that mountain, there's nowhere to stop that would have a phone until Dunlap, which is about the halfway point of the drive.  So, I spent to next 20 minutes or so going "Please, dear Jesus, just let us make it to Dunlap!"  We made it, somehow, and my mother-in-law and our local tow truck driver came down to rescue me; thanks in large part to the kind gentleman who let me use his cell phone when Walmart's phones wouldn't work for the number that I needed to call.  End result?  My car is dying a slow death as the transmission starts to go out.  It's still driveable right now, but it's definitely only a local vehicle now.

Thoughts from this.  First, always make sure that you have a comfortable pair of shoes, waters, a stroller, etc... in your vehicle.  If we had not made it to Dunlap, I was going to be in a pickle because I did not have on good shoes for walking a long ways and, although I had my moby wrap with me, that would not have made much difference if the girls and I had needed to walk for miles to get help.  Second, always make sure someone knows where you're going and when to expect you, especially when driving through an area with no cell phone signal.  Luckily, I had told Russell when to expect a call (it just was a longer time than normal because we were suppose to stop in Dunlap at the produce stand), so a search party would have been sent, eventually.  Third, there is a problem when, due to the accessibility of cell phones, there are no longer any pay phones to really speak of but to make a call in a situation like I was in was very difficult and stressful, and would have ultimately been unsuccessful if I had to only rely on Walmart, because I could not make a long distance call from there and they were in a different area code than me (we live in one time zone/area code and cross into another on the way to Chattanooga).  Oh yeah, fourth, if you see a frazzled mother of young children trying to use a store's phone or something to get help because of car trouble, be sure to be a guardian angel like the gentleman who let me use his phone.  Thank goodness he was also standing there at the customer service desk!

Needless to say, I got nothing that I planned to do done on Thursday because I ended up gone all day!  Playing catch-up, still.

Friday was less stressful, thank goodness.  My sweet hubby took the day off from work and we went out and milled around for my birthday, dodging heavy rains as we went.  I think that my sister-in-law tired my girls out, too, both apparently fell asleep on their own pretty quickly after their 2 hour park adventure, lol!

Saturday was a whirlwind of photo session, working with our horses, and catching up in the garden along with a full day of gardening yesterday.   But, we are finally just about caught up on weeding after all the rain! Hopefully our garden will continue producing well; our cabbage and lettuce certainly has done well, now we are just waiting on the summer harvest to be ready.  Btw, every kid needs a garden, just saying.  Our girls can't do much in the garden yet but they are learning so much from the time out there.  I also think that every kid needs a pet.  Seanna is already learning responsibility where she is in charge of feeding Kitty each morning.

Bit of a different post, today, I know, maybe the whirlwind will slow down some, right?  Probably not, though, because then it wouldn't fit with our busy lives!

National Friendship Day

So, apparently it's National Friendship Day, which I find quite humorous considering that I had already planned this blog post before I knew that.  Friendship, what a simple yet difficult concept.

Over the weekend, I got to visit with a new friend who is quickly becoming an indispensable friend.  Our friendship started because our husband's were best friends in college (and continue to be), but it has moved past that point.  My husband and I were talking about it on the way home from seeing them Saturday evening, and I got to thinking about what has made such in difference in that relationship as opposed to other friendships that I have tried to start.

Ultimately, I realized that Alex and I are just comfortable around each other and able to be ourselves.  We talked, didn't hide our feelings about the different subjects, and chased my girls; all while the guys went on about cars and whatever else they normally talk about.  So, my thoughts on things...

First, it is very nice to be able to sit down with a friend who just naturally jumps right in there with my girls.  The first thing Alex did was actually reach out for Cayleigh as we walked in so that she could hold her and get to know her (it took Cayleigh a few minutes to leave mommy, though, she was in a mood from having just woken up).  Later, the conversation flowed naturally from us talking (we talked about everything it seemed and nothing, because we didn't really get into any major "deep" conversations, but we just talked) to us playing with the girls or answering their questions.  I think a lot of times it's hard to be a mom with 2 toddlers and enjoy friendships because, for me at least, I can't just ignore the "mom" part, which is often hard for friends with no kids to understand.  With Alex, I was able to be both.  So, what's the take-away to this part?  A good friendship needs a basis of accepting and being comfortable with who each other is and joining together to blossom in that part of each other's lives.

Second, the night was so enjoyable because we didn't try to hide our true feelings or thoughts on what we talked about.  Our world is built on the superficial.  Very few people are the same to your face as they really are when they are not around.  Because of that, when you talk, it's hard to know how they really feel.  I think that's why so few people really end up with lasting relationships now-days, because friendships built on facades can only last for a short time.  The thought occurred to me that life is often like a masquerade; we put on this costume of who we are for the world to see.  The danger of that, though, is that the mask must come off at some point, and then what are we left with?

Best Friends from a photoshoot in February ...
these 2 are hilarious to watch!

Are you keeping a mask on or opening up to a friend?  On National Friendship Day, maybe it's time to sit down and think about which relationships are real and to put some time into strengthening those friendships.  If none of your friendships are real, what are the hurdles that you need to overcome?

Why I Don't Mind Grain In Photos

Before digital photography became the norm, grain in photos was a common and accepted result.  Don't get me wrong, you still wanted sharp, clear photos, but grain was understood to be part of the process with film.  Now, in the digital age, things seem to have gone completely in the opposite direction to the point where any grain is considered a bad thing.

Now I'll be the first to admit that crystal clear images with no grain can be quite impressive and there are certainly moments when that style or result is best.  But, you are limiting yourself if you refuse to ever allow any grain into your photos.

First, there are many moments that you might miss.  Let's face it, there are times when you cannot or do not want to use a flash but the lighting requires you to increase your ISO, resulting in grain.  I don't know about you, but I'd rather capture that moment with some grain than miss it completely.  Above are 2 perfect examples, with either shot, using a flash would have interrupted the moments.  Then, of course, there are times such as sporting events when a flash would either interfere with the safety of the event or maybe slows the camera down enough that you would miss the action that you're trying to capture.  And, let's face it, sporting event locations are not the best lighting in the world.  A perfect example of that situation can be seen in my blog post from the Zumba for MARC event.  In my visit to one of the zumba classes prior to the event, I found that the flash just got in the way, but I needed enough light to allow me to keep my shutter speeds faster.  So, I increased my aperture as much as possible (which is actually a smaller number) and then increased the ISO until I was letting in enough light.  One thing that you will notice in all of these situations is that the photo should still be sharp; grain is not an excuse for blurry, out of focus, photos, but that there is more texture.

Which leads to another reason for grain.  It adds texture, which can give so much character to a photograph.
Honestly, I don't think the above photographs would be as good without the grain.  The texture that it added gives the photos life and an in this moment quality.

Everyone has different shooting styles but I'm glad that I have using grain in my arsenal as a tool.  There are moments and shots when I love it, others when I hate it, but overall it is a very useful artistic tactic.

What do you think?