thesaltedimage.com

I am an affiliate with Photography Concentrate for one reason.  I really love their products. They offer a ton of awesome info for free and to purchase at their website, Photography Concentrate.

Several days ago I was able to download their newest offering, Simple Wedding Photography. This is a 200 page e-book covering everything you can imagine about running a wedding photography business. From how to set up and shoot common wedding day situations to workflow, post-production, products, pricing and accounting. This book seriously covers it all. If you are new to the wedding business, have been second shooting or have numerous weddings under your belt, this book will be a great resource.

Here is what they have to say:

• First up you’ll get a 200 page beautifully designed PDF, filled with practical information you can use.
• Written in a casual, “real speak” manner, like a conversation with your photographer friend!
• Packed with over 220 photos to help you see the concepts in action.
• Includes diagrams and examples to make ideas easy to understand
• Can be viewed on any computer, and your iPad for a super enjoyable learning experience
• Unique interactive navigation makes it not just a book, but a valuable reference to use over and over again

They are offering the book for 40% at $23.97. Which is a ridiculously low price for all the info you are going to receive.

While you are ordering their book be sure to check out the rest of their site. They have lots of great articles on many subjects from how to photographers can overcome shyness to building better album templates.  If you haven’t been to their site it is definelty one to check out thanks to their extensive library of freebies, useful articles and easy to understand tutorials.

So go check them out, you can thank me later!

Excuses, excuses…

I have not posted a new blog post in three months. My reason: in that space of time we have moved from our home into temporary (a hotel room for 10 days and now a furnished apartment for a bit longer) homes while we wait for our biggest and final move in October to San Antonio. We will move soon after our new baby’s arrival in the next couple days (or hours). Things have been slightly stressful to say the least and blogging has fallen off my to do list. Completely.

Now that I am in a week or two of hurry-up-and-wait downtime, I thought I would try to catch up on sessions and posts that I have wanted to share.

Several months ago, I was finally able to attend Zach Arias’s One Light workshop. I wanted to attend this workshop for a couple years and had read tons of reviews about it. I had very high expectations for it and it did not disappoint.

There are definitely some workshops I have attended that I seriously wish I had saved my money on but I was 100% satisfied with the One Light Workshop.

The workshop is an intensive “One-day” event that focuses on getting you comfortable with using one off camera light.  Zach has a wealth of info to deliver in and is adept at making it easy to understand.  His main focus was on getting us unafraid of our lights and he also delved into post-production, working with clients, equipment, exposure, modifiers, location scouting, and work flow. I think the format of his workshop was the best I have been to yet. He kept the class small enough to break us down into groups that were not “paparazzi like” when it came to shooting the provided models. There was plenty of time to cover material in lecture and then he would take us out and show us how to do it. He would then follow-up by making each and every one of us do it. He used that same format through out the day and by 10pm we were exhausted but educated and confident to go out in small groups and try our newly learned techniqueson our own.

Other things I loved about this workshop, First off he referenced “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, so he had me at “May the Force be with you”. He is a very humble and down to earth guy. There was not one-ounce of pretension or smugness to him. That was such a breath of fresh air in this somewhat “Look at me! Look at me!” industry. It was also nice to hear his philosophy and thoughts about buying what you can afford with the money you earn, buying only what you need, and not relying on credit cards. Amen to that.

Another plus was that he provided all the lighting equipment and gear needed for the class, which saved me the hassle of getting light stands and umbrellas on a flight.

Unlike other workshops where the food is extravagant and the meals are long, Zach feed us pizza and sandwiches and gave us xeroxed copies of his power point presentation. I appreciated this because it made the workshop affordable. Although the expensive food is nice, I would rather eat food for mere mortals and save some cash. He also maximized our time by keeping the breaks short and teaching until close to 2am the following morning. He calls this a one-day workshop but technically it was closer to 17 hours of instruction. This was more instruction than I have received in two-day workshops I have attended (but half the price). He answered each and every question I asked (and yes, I had a long list), and didn’t stop until all questions were exhausted.

Every attendee had a chance to work with three different light modifiers. Umbrellas…

Soft boxes (ok, honestly I don’t remember what if this was an umbrella or a soft box)…

And my new favorite, Gridspots…

Here is Zach getting down and dirty while using a grid spot. I have to admit the gridspot is now one of my favorite lighting 

If you have any interest in off-camera lighting or want to broaden your skills as a photographer then save up your pennies and go to this workshop. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Several weeks after the course, I was able to watch Zach once again through Creative Live, an on-line learning site for photographers and creative types. His course is focused on  ”what you need to know to be a professional working photographer”. He covers business, natural light, strobe + ambient, client interaction and posing guidelines. You can check out and purchase the course here.

I’m just hoping that he’ll come out with a “Two Light workshop”.

In April I had the opportunity to attend Zack Arias’s OneLight Workshop in Phoenix (I will post more on that later). The day after the workshop Jen, my good friend and photographer, set up a senior session for us to practice our new skills on. Our thought for this was that the info would “stick” better if we put it into use immediately.

We had a great time with Taryn and she was such a fun and happy Senior to work with. I think she has the best smile!

Thanks Jen and Taryn!

The theme for this weeks project was “blue” and although I could see it in all it’s azure splendor in my mind the end result was not quite what I had envisioned.  The sky would not cooperate so you see, I am not at fault. I was hoping for some deep-blue, cloudless, skies to fill the space behind my husband and daughter but alas this is as blue as the last couple days would bring…

The good news is the sky keeps getting bluer and the air warmer. Spring is just around the corner and I am so excited to begin spring sessions!

I do have other things to blog about besides this project. Maybe the below 0 temperatures and snow are diminishing my resolve to blog more often. Who wants to sit in front of a computer when you could be sitting in front of the fire. With hot chocolate. And fuzzy slippers.

I thought this weeks theme of “Warmth” was a perfect juxtaposition for the reality of the frigid tempertures outside.

I took a more figurative view on warmth with my two kids cuddled up together (and yes, bribes were offered).

I usually do not use many actions but I wanted to warm this picture up quite a bit and I used several actions from Peta Mazey’s Childs Play Actions set.

I am hopeful that the worst of the weather is over and spring will be here soon. I am booking up for March and April so if you would like to do a session get in touch with me soon to reserve a spot.

Now go check out Vikki’s blog to see her take on “warmth”…

I decided back in November that January would be my month off from shooting sessions so that I could focus on the business aspects of The Salted Image. I am quite happy to admit that I am 100% caught up on past sessions and I am ready for the new year and the big changes that I have in store .

If you have been to any photography blogs or forums, then no doubt you have seen a “Project 52″ post. This is when photographers purpose to shoot and post an image each week from a pre-decided theme or category. Well several photographers and I decided we didn’t want to be left out of the madness and are starting our Project 52 a bit late. The First theme was “Self Portrait”. Not fun. I think most photographers prefer to be behind the camera and I the most. The experience has made me a bit more empathetic and compassionate to my clients!

My initial concept was to balance a stack of books  on my head in a witty and quirky manner but alas, my balance is not that good and focus is HARD when you are not behind the camera!

I gave up on the balancing after one try and decided to balance my head on the book instead. Here is  the image I disliked the least…

The next was Dustin’s favorite and I will admit that it took all my self control to not liquefy the heck out of it…

Now go check out the ridiculously gorgeous Vikki’s images and feel free to join in the fun with some self-portraits of your own!

I seriously need to come up with another name for these types of sessions. Trash the Dress does not suit them. Maybe, Bridals After the Wedding Session or One Last Chance Before You Get Your Dress Preserved and Packaged Session.

I have been wanting to go to the the Lighthouse in Palo Duro Canyon with a bride ever since I  did the hike a year ago. When I approached the newly married Anna about it not only was she excited and enthusiastic but also totally willing to tackle any obstacles to make it happen.

Her uber-cool husband Ryon had the honor of rucking her 9-million pound dress the almost three miles to our location.

Dustin hiked down to the bottom to get the epic landscape shot while I stayed up top. Yes, Dustin did the harder work but I got pretty close to the edge, that should count for something…

Can you guess which is Dustin’s and which is mine?

I have been forcing myself to shoot outside of my comfort zone and these pictures are proof of that. Direct sunlight on a white dress leads to blown out spots and loss of detail but I still think the images were worth it. Sometimes my rebelliousness shocks me.

Looking back I probably should have re-schedued this shoot. I knew I would have to leave the location at a certain time and I knew that time would be right in the middle of the most beautiful light of the day. but I was eager to finally get to the location. We had a blast but my mind keeps thinking about the pictures that got away. The ones I never took because of our hasty time line.

See wasn’t the light pretty?!

I lamented about our missed pictures on the hike back and Ryon assured me several times that we  got some great pictures. He reminded me to think about what I had and not what I didn’t have. Darn him. It is really hard t o pout when you are walking next to someone who refuses to dwell on the negative. Grrrr.

So this is my last picture of the night. The light was gorgeous and I was in denial that I had to stop shooting. Dustin scolded me about putting the camera away so I could walk instead of breaking my neck while capturing the perfect shot.

Best thing about this session is that Anna and Ryon are going to join us again for a couples session in another awesome location. I so can’t wait and you better bet that I will have things worked out so that I can be there in the “good light”!

Anna and Ryon we loved hanging out with you! Thanks for all your hard work and for being so easy going. You seriously rock. Next time we owe you drinks.

For the year 2010, I have been privileged and blessed to attend several photography workshops. I have learned so much about the technical and business side of photography and feel that each workshop  has pushed me, in different ways, closer to where I want to be with The Salted Image. The latest workshop I attended was Amy Wenzels in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was especially interested in learning from her because she specializes in Senior Girls (my favorite!) and children (I could use some help, OK-a lot of help!). Her two day workshop covered tons of information on running a business successfully, and shooting and processing awesome pictures. Amy is a very sweet and friendly women who was more then willing to share all her techniques and “secrets”.

On one of the days we were treated to watching Amy photograph  and lead us through one of her sessions. It is always very interesting and educational for me to watch how other photographers handle a photo shoot and Amy was no exemption to this. Here are some of my captures from the day…

Now the models were awesome and it was great to watch a talented photographer like Amy work her mojo. All that being said I am not in love with these pictures because they look too much like pictures taken at a photography workshop. Of course they are pictures taken at a photography workshop and maybe I am the only one who can tell but it bugs me all the same.

The models were all cute and gorgeous (as it was appropriate).

The senior girls were working it big time.

So yes, If you are looking to grow in leaps and bounds then take a workshop!  Amy’s workshop would be a great fit for those new to the business and/or looking to enhance their skills fashion-style senior photography and children.

I am not sure why it has taken me so long to write this post. It has been sitting as an unpublished draft on my blog for close to two weeks, really I am amazed that I finally pushed the “publish” button!

I think my hesitation comes from the fact that I tend to freeze up when given too many choices (don’t take me to Subway please!).
At the end of February I attended my first photography workshop. The “Life as Art Workshop” was taught by Nichole Van and it was worth every penny. I do believe Nichole has ruined workshops for me from now on as she has set the bar very, VERY, high.
If you are just beginning in your business or have a couple years under your belt then I would highly recommend this workshop.
The amount of information she packed into three days made me feel like I had a piano strapped to my head. Processing it all is going to take awhile. There are a ton of things I want to do differently and figuring them all out is making my head want to explode!

Not only was it a great workshop,  full of information, resources, and tons of goodies to take home but I also left with some great new friends (enter “Awwwww” here). Not to mention that I won the roommate lotto with Karyn. Karyn is a fellow Texan transplant and a total peach. You can check out her site at In Bloom Photography.

Here are some images from our mass photo shoot…

It was such a great experience and if you have come upon this blog post while researching Nichole Van’s workshop I encourage you to 100% go! You wont regret it!

So now I have a lot of choices to make and maybe, just maybe I can break out of my deer in the headlights stance and start moving on all the ideas I have. I can’t wait to get started!