Tag Archive for: Pittsburgh

A Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer’s Goals for 2011: Part Two

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OK, I started blogging about my goals as a Pittsburgh wedding photographer yesterday and the post got to be too long to read in one setting. So I broke it up and this is part two of my goals for 2011. If you haven’t read the first part of this blog and think you might be interested, check it out here. It’ll probably make more sense in chronological order, if it makes sense at all! If you find you’ve read through both posts and have something you want to say, please do—I’d love to hear from you. Here are my running lists for business operation and equipment purchases:

Business:
Create a standard workflow outline
Create a tracking spreadsheet
Create a consultation checklist
Have a focus group meet about branding
Plan a charity event: family portraits, portraits in the park…
Offer an internship (opportunity for students to gain experience while helping with lights and gear)
Re-organize office space

I’ve developed a workflow for weddings and portrait sessions and it’s worked pretty well so far, but I think I can be smarter about my workflow and I want to come up with a standard workflow so that it’s easy to track between multiple projects at the same time. It’s amazing how anxiety creeps in when I’m working on lots of different projects and how it dissipates once I put everything on paper so I can see the big picture and know that my deadlines are achievable.

Yep, I know I’m behind in tracking leads and the clients who hire me. It’s just smart for marketing purposes and business planning, so I’m going to do that too. I’m going to break out an Excel spreadsheet and get to it.

When I have consultations with clients, there are so many things I need to communicate and I like my clients to be able to take control because they know what they need to know to tell if I’m their photographer, so it’s up to me to respond to their questions and provide an overview of Captivating Imagery’s services. So often I leave a meeting thinking, “oh, I should have told them about this or that…” What I think I’ll do to solve that problem is create a consultation checklist to memorize or bring with me so I know I’m covering all the bases.

I’m going to put together a focus group of upcoming and recent brides and we’ll get together over dinner and discuss what they want in their wedding photography experience and I’ll present a few concepts and get their reaction. If you’re interested in helping out with this, let me know and I’ll be sure to send you an invite.

Ok, I’ve been wanting to do a charity event or a fundraiser for a good cause. And I have grandiose ideas, but at the moment, not enough resources. So I’m going to start small and offer a family portrait day for families with no strings attached. This will be open to any family and it will be simple, one look for each family, and a disc to take away with permission to print their portrait for personal use. I will spread the word trough my church and local non-profits. I just feel a need to give back and serve others in Jesus’ name to help share His love and expand His kingdom. I’m so grateful at how He has blessed me and my family and I need to start somewhere by using the gifts He has given me. So stay tuned for an announcement about this event on my blog and feel free to tell friends. This could be a blessing for someone you know and I’m sure it will be encouraging for all involved.

Over the last season, I’ve been blessed to find a fabulous second shooter. It is so wonderful to know that I’ll be going into this coming season with a great photographer who is fun to work with. And on the other end of the spectrum, a couple of very helpful photography students have come along to help with lights and other gear in order to gain some experience and learn more about wedding photography. I’m hoping to keep that door open and would love to hear from any budding photographers who are looking to gain some experience.

And while I’m at it with these goals for 2011, I think I’ll need to re-organize my office. I think I can be more efficient and need to change the way I have my office set up. Plus, I want it to be a fun place to be since I spend a lot of time here. It’s funny how this is not an office job per se, but it comes with a whole lot of office work.

Equipment:
Get a new camera body, mid-range zoom lens, a couple of speedlights and light modifiers

Ok, last and definitely not least—I need some new equipment. I keep thinking to myself, “after this purchase, I’ll be all done for a while.” Ha! That’s never true as long as I don’t become complacent. I’ve learned a lot this past wedding season and I look forward to what the next season holds. I’ve got a lot of ideas and now I need to equip my business so I can take it to the next level.

If you’ve made it this far into this lengthy post, you must have some interest in running a photography business. If so, leave a comment and let me know if you have any ideas or questions. I’d love to get a conversation going.

Pittsburgh North Shore Engagement Photography Session

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The North Shore of Pittsburgh is one of my favorite places to photograph people – especially engaged couples. It’s fun to walk along the river’s edge and get to know the couples I’m photographing. This session is from a while back—sometime in the late spring and the couple, Jasmine and Ryan were married this past July at the Pittsburgh Aviary. It was fun working with them and their outdoor wedding was a blast. Their wedding colors were white, black and red and Jasmine incorporated the color theme into their engagement session as well.

Engaged to be married in Pittsburgh

Jasmine and a friend of hers recently started their own wedding planning business. It’s called Something Blue. Their web site isn’t up yet, but I have a feeling it’s going to be great. To start, I just love the name of their business. If you’re looking for a wedding planner, you can email her at somethingbluepgh@yahoo.com. I hope we’ll have an opportunity to work together again!

Engagement session in Pittsburgh

Jasmine and Ryan were fun-loving and you’d be hard-pressed to find them when they’re not smiling.

Pittsburgh couple photography

We went to the fountain by Hyde Park steak house and there were so many kids playing there. And of course, they were all very curious about what was going on with the adults in the fountain.

From here, we could smell the food from the Bettis Grille and it was so tempting!

engaged couple in Pittsburgh photo

And back to Hyde Park, couldn’t get away from delicious smells of steak wafting through the air. I remember it well because it smelled so good! I definitely want to check it out sometime.

Pittsburgh engagement photographers on the North Shore

Anyway, this was a fabulous session with two beautiful people in the city I’m proud to call home.

Katie and John’s Pittsburgh Wedding Photography Album

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It’s been a while since I photographed Katie and John’s Pittsburgh wedding and since I designed their wedding album, but I’m going to be spending the next few weeks blogging about things that I didn’t have time to get to this summer and fall. I’ve been busy working on albums and this is the first wedding of the summer, so it’s a good place for me to start.

Katie and John’s wedding was tons of fun. I shot it with Gene Yuger of Photorise Photography. In fact, when I get contacts about dates that I’m already booked for, Gene is one of the first photographers I recommend. He photographed my wedding and I can say from experience, that he’s fun to have around on your wedding day—not to mention the amazing images he creates. So anyway, some of the images in this album are by Gene as photographing a wedding is really a two-person job.

Pittsburgh wedding photographers album
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Pittsburgh Senior Portrait Session at SteelGate Studio

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Here is a recent senior portrait session in Pittsburgh.  Jordan is getting ready to graduate from high school and move onto college. He’s a charismatic guy and I can tell he’ll do well with whatever he chooses. It’s fun working with people at this age because there’s so much life ahead of them and yet they’re coming the close of a chapter where they’ve spent so long defining who they are and want to be. Kind of like getting to the top of that first hill in a roller coaster, it’s a slow ascent, but in no time the pace accelerates and life as you know comes undone. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic, but when I look back at how my transition to college went, I feel there is a hint of truth to that analogy. Anyway, back to Jordan, who was tons of fun to work with and totally comfortable in his own skin.

This is one of my favorites. I think he can really pull off the serious look.

senior portrait photography in Pittsburgh
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Bio Excercise by a Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

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A friend of mine, and fellow photographer, sent me a fun exercise today to help with marketing my Pittsburgh wedding photography business. The point of these simple questions with no punctuation, just words, is to encourage honest answers without thinking too much. I plan to use this information as I draft up some goals for 2011, but I thought it might be fun to share.

why photography

because it helps to remember

why weddings

because I’m girlie and I like them

why portraits

I like to help people look their best and feel confident

who are you

a woman who lives in Pittsburgh and wants to serve God, family, and enjoy life

favorite things (no nouns)

dancing, singing, laughing, eating, traveling, helping, sharing

favorite food

mexican

how did you get here (with a camera in your hand)

i’ve always enjoyed being creative – used to create mini musicals with my cousins, dance recitals with my barbies, once I had a camera,     that was just as fun

first picture you remember taking

a self portrait

what’s next

I want to keep making photos and I want to do something with my skills that helps others – maybe organize a non-profit for photographers     who happen to go on mission trips to educate people about poverty or other issues and also to help promote missions

what’s behind

a bumpy road and loving family and friends who’ve helped me along