anybody. everybody.

right now you could drive down to your local best buy and buy the latest and greatest digital SLR camera. heck, you could probably even go down to the target or walmart. the new technology for cameras is literally right at our fingertips… and if you have a $1,00+ dollars this latest and greatest technology can be yours. and by golly, you can even call yourself a photographer now with your fancy digital SLR camera.

while that’s great and all, it is killing and completely over saturating the photography business.

now anybody can call themselves a photographer. you have a fancy digital SLR, you must be a photographer. even that soccer mom over there can be a photographer. because all photography must be is pointing a camera at something… snapping a picture and maybe popping it into an online editing site and voila– your a photographer! and if someone notices your ok maybe you can charge someone to do a portrait session. make $50.00. then they tell their friends and you can make some more money. then you have mediocre pictures saturating the market and good photographers that charge a little more are no longer getting any work because their prices are “too high” even if their work is ten times better than the soccer mom’s.

so, what if you are a good photographer not getting any work because your prices are “too high”? your work is good. you have experience. you take the time to make everything look the best it can. but, jane over there runs her pictures through a batch process with some downloaded process of the internet and charges $400 for an entire wedding day. what do you do then, good photographer? do you compromise your work and your ethics to meet the demands of the people? do you lower your standards just to make a quick buck?

honestly, i don’t have the answers for that.

because here is what i know. i have worked hard in my photography business. i strive for excellence in my work. i edit every single photo by hand. without the handy use of a batch process or some downloaded process. everything you see on my photos is my own work… not a copy of someone else’s. i want my pictures to look great. and i am far from the best, but i am good. and i don’t normally say that because i don’t like to sound braggy and have never felt comfortable saying i am good at something. but my work and time is worth something. it is worth more than $400.00. but what am i to do when people see pictures that are mediocre and expect the same low prices for work that is beyond exceptional?

it is a hard place to be in… even major photographers far better than myself are dealing with this.

today Jeremy Cowart tweeted:

“Just talked to a client who I hadn’t heard from in a while. They said it’s due to the fact that “everyone now has a 5D and can play around”.

“That’s the sad state where photography is coming to. Everyone is now a photographer. I’m now officially hearing it from my own clients.”

“HUGE response to my tweets regarding my client. Obviously it’s a tough time for everyone. Vision is more important than ever.”

our market is over saturated. and it kinda sucks. anybody and everybody is a “photographer” now. and how do you stand out and still make money with out compromising in that?

*sigh*

pictures.

[4 days!]

LEGEN…

wait for it…

DARY!

i was laying in bed about to fall asleep from an extra long day when i realized, “i have to make a post”!

as a photographer, i like to capture unique pictures. and in wedding photography, i like to get to do whatever takes to get awesomely creative shots. i have had grooms men jump over me to get a cool overhead shot and today climbed up a shaky latter to the top of a church roof to get some pictures of the groomsmen. they will definitely not be your standard wedding pictures.

pictures tomorrow. sleep today. goodnight.

[the church]

[5 days!]

little victories.

i had this whole post written out…

but i decided that a simple

“grin and bear it”

will suffice for today’s post. you gotta fake it until you believe sometimes just to make it through a day.

[6 days!]

too. much. to. do.

Friday:

• rehearsal at 4:00 in Murfreesboro
• twilight trivia [don't judge] in Antioch with Elizabeth around 6:30
• then hopefully bedtime because….

Saturday:

• be at church at 9:00 in Murfreesboro to start my day of wedding photography
• 2:30 ceremony begins, followed by reception which will last until 6ish
• drive back to Nashville
• potentially go to Dale’s Dad’s cookout?
• will be need lots of sleep

Sunday:

• wake up too early
• go to Titans game at 12:00
• possibly attend a Thanksgiving meal with friends in Murfreesboro
• home
• will be needing even more sleep

Monday:

• parent/teacher conferences starting at 8:00am
• crazy moms
• more crazy moms
• home
• editing photographs
• will be needing sleep!

Tuesday:

• trying to get too much done before Lead teacher leaves for a conference for 3 days
• editing, editing, editing

Wednesday:

• potentially 2 birthday parties for students?
• Lead teacher gone
• lots of art projects
• editing editing editing

Thursday:

• i don’t even care because at midnight I am going to see NEW MOON! which means a fun filled afternoon watching Twilight, eating, and spending time with friends and finally the moment we waited for! NEW MOON!

Friday:

• will be waaaayyyy tired, but it will be oh so worth it!

There you have it… my week at a glance. Probably crap you didn’t even want to know, but now you do. Congrats!

[7 days!]

cause they’re gonna wash away

whenever i order new photo equipment it is like christmas when it arrives. i ordered a new lens and a gary fong diffuser. i love my new lens. it has a great range of 28-135mm. i think this will be a great addition. i’m also really impressed with the gary fong diffuser. i was a little hesitant to buy it; one: because it is expensive for a diffuser; two: because i wasn’t sure if there was just a lot of hype around how well it worked. and, for my testing at home, it seems 100x better than the little diffuser i just stick on my flash. the gary fong diffuser lessens harsh shadows and creates a really nice glow.

this was taken with a direct flash:

you can see the harsh shadows caused by the flash… not pretty. there is also isn’t a nice glow… it is just a pretty harsh image.

this was taken with the gary fong diffuser:

nice glow… softer shadows. and did i mention the only light in the room was from our tv? it was really dark. the diffuser acts as its own little light box. it looks like an overhead light was on.

we also had some fun with sophia and took some pictures:

she loves her squeaky ball so much she decided to do some dancing:

[see it larger]

haha! love it!

Hey!

If you are on Facebook, (who’s not?!), I would greatly appreciate if you would be a fan of my photography! Thank you so much!

wedding photographers can be ridiculously lazy…

and you the client, may be paying too much.

ok. so it really bothers me when a photographer runs all their images through batch processing in photoshop. yeah, so it may get your wedding proofs done in a day, but is your client really getting what they paid for? did they pay you thousands of dollars to not pay attention to each photograph and make it look wonderful? your time is not that valuable my friend that you should run all your clients photos through batch processing. your client deserves for each individual photo to be edited. it may take some time, but the final result will be better than all your photos being identical in post processing. it is lazy. i don’t care if you have a wedding every freaking day to shoot. hold yourself and your product to a higher standard of excellence.

urg!

and IF you are going to be lazy don’t charge so much. you don’t need 2000 dollars to show up, take average pictures and not even edit them individually. lame lame lame.

passion.

i needed to read this more than i can express.

i’m drooling.

over a lens. anyone feeling generous? reallllly generous?

because i am in love. 

but really. *sigh* that lens, is amazing. the “l series” and that range! oooo! i think i would put that lens on and never take it off. 

it is so tempting to buy. but, i need to buy another computer. my little macbook just isn’t cutting it with all the photos i have to edit. 

sad sad day. 

dear lens, you will be mine one day. you will.