New Fun Toys

We have had a crazy start to the new year. Reggie is healing well and we are busy busy busy with client meetings. We have met several wonderful couples and are looking forward to working with them on their big days!

With a crazy year ahead Randy and I decided that we needed some more post-processing and organizational power. Currently we both have Mac laptops and have been working from those for the business. We decided that a desktop was essential to have a "home base" of operation. After drooling over iMacs for quite a few years now we got one!  Being the total gadget (Mac) geeks that we are we had to document the unboxing of our new baby for the world to see!

Before we could set it up Randy had to prepare the surface.  Luckily I already had a desk that was under utilized so we were able to use it! I love it when we can use something we already have instead of buying something new!

 Here it is, in a new shiny box!

 

 

Here is my (Michelle) artsy version of the iMac box.  Is it just me, or does there seem to be a heavenly light coming down from above?

The wireless keyboard and mouse were the first thing out of the box

Its just so small and cute!

Taking it out of the box was hard!  Its so HUGE!

This was just like Christmas, only BIGGER!

Its just so new and shiny!

First order of business...Farmville! (yes I am an addict and looking for counseling)

Seriously, this will save us loads of time and headaches trying to figure out who has what on their computers!  We are looking forward to our first engagement session of 2010 in a couple weeks.  Tomorrow morning we are heading out on a photo safari to scout out some locations.  Anyone have ideas for cool winter spots around town?

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season!  Here are some photos that we took for our Christmas card.  The original idea was that we'd take a photo of us with all the pets.  We quickly realized that they were not going to cooperate...at all.

After we got home from visiting family, we let the dogs out in the back yard, like always.  What we didn't know was that one of our critical fence reinforcements failed while we were gone, leaving a gaping opening next to the gate.  Reggie, of course, took full advantage of this opportunity and took off to explore Dubuque.  We hunted for him for about an hour and eventually gave up.  Since he had his tags on, we hoped that someone would find him and call.  Sure enough, 2 hours after he disappeared, someone called.  He was found 3 miles away, down by the river wall, and he'd been hit by a car.  He was pretty banged up, but was lucky that his injuries were limited to his legs and feet, rather than his head and body.  One leg was ripped open, with a lot of tendon damage.  After a night at the vet, he's doing much better.

Ashley and Troy's Wedding

September 5, 2009

Ashley and Troy had their ceremony at Summit Congregational Church and their reception at Lombardi's Ballroom.  Ashley and her Dad had the most amazing father-daughter dance...they started off with a traditional slow dance and then switched over to a fast-paced swing dance.  They were really moving!  Congratulations Ashley and Troy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capesius Family Session

The Capesius Family stopped by to get some photos taken of their newborn baby girl, Briella Marie,  and to have a few family portraits taken.  I'm working on getting them into final form now so they can get their brag cards and greeting cards ASAP!

 

Competitive Edge - Be Nice

We had meetings with two couples this weekend and both of them told us horror stories about other photographers.  One couple told us that the photographer didn't say hardly anything at their first meeting and just sat across the table watching them while they looked at the price list...how creepy!  And a common story we're hearing is that photographers are dictating terms when it comes to the wedding day!  The most common issue is that many photographers won't photograph a wedding if the bride and groom don't want to see each other until the ceremony.  Really?  We even heard a story about a photographer kicking the parents of the bride out of the first pew, proclaiming, "no you can't sit there, that's my pew."  That same photographer had an assistant who wore low-rise jeans to the (very formal) wedding and had butt crack issues.  She even asked a bride's maid to pull up her jeans for her...eww.

Michelle and I found these stories very troubling and have vowed never to make those mistakes with our clients.  First and foremost, photography is about customer service.  Believe it or not, providing good customer service isn't that hard.

Rule number one: You're hiring us, we're not hiring you.  In other words, the bride and groom (and family) get to decide what their wedding day will be like, not us.  We're happy to provide tips and advice for the best photography results, but we never issue demands.  Also, we're friendly, easy to talk to, and we take some time to get to know you while we're talking business.  We want to understand your personalities so that it shows through in your wedding pictures.  We also want you to be comfortable with us so that you're relaxed and having fun in your photographs.

Rule number two: Offer products that our clients want.  The most asked about product that we offer is a Master DVD with copyright release.  I know this is a controversial issue in the photography world and offering such a product may cut into a studio's bottom line.  However, if you're like me, my personal photo library has 16,000+ images from nearly every period of my life (I've converted a lot of old family negatives, thanks Mom).  To have a big gaping hole in my digital library on my wedding day just wouldn't have worked for me.  Nearly all of our packages come with a Master DVD with copyright release.  All of our packages are 100% flexible.  Need another hour of coverage?  Add it on!  Want a different size album?  No problem!  Did you see a product that another photographer offered?  Let us know, we can probably get it for you.

Rule number three: Be professional on the wedding day (and every other time we interact with clients).  We dress appropriately, we're flexible, and we realize that we are some of the very few people that will be with you for nearly every part of your wedding day.  That's a pretty important thing to remember since a bossy, demanding photographer can ruin the entire day.  We love weddings and have genuinely had a lot of fun at every wedding we've photographed.  We're photographers because we love the job, and it shows.

I'm sure there are some things I forgot, but these three rules are very important to us.

With each couple we meet with, I'm realizing more and more that our attitude and our demeanor with our clients is our single most valuable asset, and it gives us a big competitive edge.  So, if the characteristics I described above are what you're looking for in a photographer, come see us!

Photoshop Fun!

Well friends, we have had a busy week.  Tuesday in at Kids, Inc was a blast!  We will have a sneak peek at those pictures soon, but I wanted to share with you my latest creation in Photoshop.  This is from Matt and Maria's engagement session a couple weeks ago.

Enjoy!

Back to School

Hey all!  Michelle here writing a quick note this morning to let you all know what we've been up to lately.  We are finished with Matt and Maria's engagement pictures and they are now online!

This morning we are getting ready for pictures at Kids, Inc in Cedar Rapids.  We got everything set up last night and had a great model in Dora the doll. :)  Randy and I are really excited to take these school pictures.  We have been scouring the internet for pose ideas and have some really great ones picked out!

Stay tuned for pictures and more news!