The Blog | Adventures and advice from an euphoric wedding photographer.

Passion, Love & Happiness. I'm on a journey to capture these emotions from people who radiate their inner beauty and joy into my lens. I photograph because I adore weddings, a spontaneous lifestyle and meeting amazing individuals who will change my life. I hope that next unique someone is you.

Decisions Catering is Sponsoring Our Class! | Silver Springs, NY

March 21, 2011

I’m excited to promote Decisions Catering of Silver Springs, NY as the lunch sponsor for the How to Take Kick-Butt Portraits for the Rookie Photographer class. Decisions Deli features homemade soups & side salads, grilled panini sandwiches, wood-fired hamburgers, pizza, wings, subs, Friday fish fries and homemade cookies. Check out their website at www.decisionscatering.com to view their exceptional wedding displays!

Haven’t registered yet for the class? Don’t wait, spaces are limited! Register now!

Posted In: For Photographers, Vendors

Tags: catering - silver springs

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Woo hoo! I’m teaching a beginner photography class!

March 14, 2011

Registration at http://www.visuallydeelicious.com/educate will be available on Wednesday!

Posted In: For Photographers

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FAQ: How do you become a legit photography business?

September 15, 2010

The answer to this question is based on two factors: legal business structure and presence.

First off, let me state the obvious that I’m not a lawyer and by no means am I giving legal advice. If you have access to a lawyer, then I highly suggest discussing how to start a business with him or her. If you don’t have a lawyer and you’re serious about starting a photography business, then go out and get one. Ok lecturing is over, let’s talk reality. I was in business for over 5 years before I hired a lawyer so I understand finding someone you can trust and having the funds to seek out legal advice isn’t always something new entrepreneurs can tackle easily. But speaking from experience, if you make legal mistakes such as not properly setting up a business structure correctly, your errors can cost you more than if you had hired a lawyer.

Laws for starting a business vary by state so I would start by visiting your state’s small business development center. If you’re located in New York, you can view their website at: www.nyssbdc.org. Of course, a major biggie in starting a business is being identified with the IRS so you can be properly taxed. Visit the IRS website and read as much as you can on the business section to load up on your lingo at: www.irs.gov. Lastly, don’t forget that your county may also have rules and regulations that you must follow as well so visit your local County Clerk for details. When I started years ago, my first step was filing for a DBA (Doing Business As) at the County Clerk’s office.

If this is your first time starting a business, look for free or low cost entrepreneur classes in your area. I attended a 6-week course free of charge taught by a college business professor which covered everything from identifying your target market to understanding the difference between a sole-proprietor and LLC. To find information on such classes, contact your local Chamber of Commerce or County Business Development Center as they’re always looking to help new businesses sprout and prosper.

Lastly, make sure you hire an accountant who explains every question you ask clearly and don’t be afraid to contact them when you start your business, not when taxes are due. They may have suggestions on types of business structures appropriate for your situation and inform you of specific taxes that need to be paid before the common date of April 15th.

Phew! Sounds like a lot of work and research, but if you’re serious about starting a business, you need to take the time to understand what is involved so you don’t get hit with unexpected surprises in the future.

Ok, putting aside the legal aspect of it, let’s discuss what happens when you’re hired for your first job. Yay! As I stated in my previous faq, if you’re interested in becoming a professional photographer, I suggest shadowing a mentor or second shooting at a wedding for free before expecting to be paid for your time. With that said, let’s pretend you have a nice portfolio of images you’ve photographed of friends for free or obtained while working with another photographer and you’ve landed your first session. You show up to your session and your client thinks you’ve done this a million times, how do you portray professionalism? Two words….act confident. Of course, if you’ve shadowed with a mentor and are familiar with the situation, you shouldn’t be too nervous…but we all experience butterflies in our stomach on our first solo gig. The trick is to never show your fear. People hire photographers for their ability to take control of a situation, produce a piece of art, and leave the client feeling positive from the experience. If you’re an experienced photographer, this comes almost naturally with time, but if you’re a newbie, don’t run to your closest crying after your first session because we have all felt that feeling of panic at some point in our initial careers.

A few pointers to portray professionalism at your sessions:

1. Don’t randomly apologize. For example…..“I’m sorry, I need a minute to figure out my camera.” Or “I’m sorry this session is taking so long.” Or how about “I’m sorry the weather isn’t good today.” I speak from experience, that sometimes when nerves set in, you tend to apologize for silly things but to the client you just sound like you’re apologetic for doing a bad job.

2. Talk to your clients constantly. I’ll be the first to admit as someone who doesn’t multitask well, this isn’t an easy feat, but it’s super important. It’s rare to get subjects who are comfortable in front of the camera so start your jabbering and they’ll appreciate your banter.

3. Lastly, dress professional. If you’re thinking of photographing weddings, this means no jeans. First impressions are everything, especially in business.

If you follow the pointers above and produce quality work, word will quickly spread about how awesome you are, just don’t forget to send me a signed photograph before you become super duper famous!

Thanks for submitting your questions and I look forward to sharing more in the future. Best of luck!

Posted In: For Photographers

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FAQ: How did you get started in photography? I don’t know where to begin!

September 06, 2010

Well I can tell you it wasn’t love at first site. I didn’t grow up with a camera swinging from my neck professing my love of photos. In fact, it was quite the opposite. My mother photographed weddings and seniors quite frequently when I was a kid. My parents transformed our basement into a studio space, but to me it was the ultimate slumber party venue to whisper about boys.

It wasn’t until the digital camera hit markets in my late teens that I took up an interest in photography. My first real camera was a Nikon Coolpix 990 and to this day I still think that camera’s swivel design totally rocks. Instant image feedback and unlimited exposures peaked my interest, but because I was a computer geek I loved the fact I could tweak the photos with all sorts of tacky post-processing techniques. I mostly photographed my dogs and nature….but really just my dogs.

I attended college for medical studies, but took a photography class to escape my science schedule. (Maybe it should have been a clue?) We were required to shoot with film SLRs so I borrowed my mom’s Olympus which came with a detachable lens. Holy cow was that cool! But try as I might…I hated film. I disliked buying it, processing it and printing it. I learned the basic principles and how to shoot in manual, but as soon as class was over, I ran back to my digital camera on AV mode. Manual mode required too much thinking!

(Trying to be creative for an assignment due within a few hours. Oops.)

For Christmas in 2004, I flipped out when I opened a new Canon Rebel from my husband. It was the first amateur priced digital SLR sold and I owned one! Oh my goodness, I loved that camera and I took it everywhere, but it still was a toy. I never dreamed of pursuing photography as a profession, I mean how could I make a living off of photographing my cute pooches?

My mother loves telling this part of the story. In fact, I know she’s giggling with delight right now as she reads that sentence. In 2006, my mom approached me and asked if I was interested in second shooting a wedding with her. “NO WAY!” I said immediately. Weddings were not my gig. Nope. Nope. Nope. But I think you can guess what happened….I did go to the wedding and I loved it. After three years of accompanying my mother to wedding events, I took over her business in 2009 and renamed it Visually Deelicious.

(My favorite images at the time of my first wedding)

(We all start somewhere…haha)

If you are a newbie looking to dive into wedding or portrait photography, I suggest the following:

1. Buy a digital SLR camera. It doesn’t have to be high class…if you’re on a budget drive down to Wal-Mart and buy the cheapest SLR camera they offer or scope out craigslist for a used camera. You can probably snag a great camera for less than $300. The point is to practice with a camera that offers manual settings and a detachable lens.

2. Speaking of practice….practice a lot. Take your camera everywhere and don’t be afraid to shoot a ton of images! Wedding photographers need to be savvy in various locations and lighting conditions which only comes from experience.

3. Don’t be afraid to delete your images. I remember holding onto every digital file I shot whether beautiful or blurry. Learn from your mistakes then delete! Storing images can become expensive and there’s no reason to keep the image that would have been awesome if it was in focus. It’s not so get rid of it!

4. Lastly, if you’re serious about becoming a wedding photographer, find someone you can second shoot with and experience the crazy day in all its glory. As a newbie, don’t expect to get paid and be aware you will need to bring all your own equipment, but don’t be afraid to ask a local photographer or someone you admire if you can tag along for a wedding or portrait session.

Hey, writing this post was quite enjoyable! I hope this info has been helpful, feel free to ask me questions at any time.

Posted In: For Photographers

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Workin’ The Off-Camera Flash

May 20, 2010

This one time at photo camp…

Well I’m not really allowed to divulge the secrets, so I’ll just show you a little of what we learned. The topic focused on off-camera lighting, a technique I absolutely love. Sure I admire natural light and still use it when I’m feelin’ it, but I just really dig dramatic lighting shots….and it ain’t easy!

This first shot was practicing the use of flash to look like natural light. I think her eyes are beautiful in this portrait, especially the catch lights, and yet it doesn’t look like artificial light.

Then we headed outside, thankfully on one of the days it didn’t snow! Our goal was to light a subject while maintaining a deep blue saturated background. I love blue skies!

This is my new buddy, Blake who was rocking it with his superman pose. This was in bright sunlight and yet the use of off-camera flash makes it look like dusk and much more intense. He’s such a natural… By the way, Blake’s wife, Danielle, decorates some beautiful wedding cakes so check out her website for inspiration!

Then the sun really began to shine, so what were we to do? Over power it with flash so the subject looked natural without ugly sun splotches on their face. Here’s Roberto (who by the way sports the most amazing upside down glasses I’ve ever seen when not in front of the camera, he seriously makes me wish I had poor eyesight) striking a perfect pose under our softbox. Afraid of direct sun shoots? Never again!

And of course I can’t forget Phil! I think this was the only time I didn’t see a smile on his face, but we both thought this photo made him look intense. Oh yeah!

It’s only been a week and yet I miss that goofy group of photogs snapping away in the middle of beautiful nowhere. If you’re interested in a fantastic value for photography training, check out Treehaven’s website and seriously, just book it!

Posted In: For Photographers

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