Last weekend Andy and I had a booth at a local Home & Garden Expo at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial.  It was put on by the Grosse Pointe Board of Realtors. We decided to use this event as an opportunity to let the local community know that we are available for kids & pet photography in addition to weddings.  While weddings are 95% of what we do, and something we truly feel passionate about, we also enjoy doing portrait sessions and would like to start doing more.

We slaved over this booth!  We didn’t find out that we’d be in the show until about 10 days before, and we had very little (okay, nothing!) in way of childrens samples ready, because of our focus on weddings.  So we were pretty busy going through our image library, selecting images, ordering prints, and oh yeah, designing and creating a booth.  Andy really kicked butt on this!   I have to admit, I was a little worried, but it looked great. We (okay, Andy) built the wall from scratch with raw lumber and assembled it the day before the show.  (The wall color is actually the same as our office – we finally found a use for that extra gallon of paint we never opened!)

We also decided to re-invent ourselves with some new marketing materials geared towards family photography. Here’s a peak at our new kids business cards:

I love how bright and cheery these are.    We also used the image above for our largest canvas sample, and the photos above don’t even do it justice, it looks like the canvas is glowing.  I’m really glad we decided to go big on that one.  (For anyone wondering, the canvas was a 30×40 and the square images were 20×20 stand-outs.)

To wrap up, here are some of the spreads from the orange album that’s featured in that first image above.  Typically with wedding/engagement albums, I like to keep the style very clean and simple, with very little embellishment, but for children’s albums, I think it’s fun to add some bold splashes of color.  I also love, love, LOVE these orange albums we offer.  They have a soft, lovely texture and the orange cover just pops. We’ve ordered a couple of these books as samples in the past and end up selling them to clients instead, so now we finally have one that we can keep.  :)  (They are also available in colors other than orange, if that’s not your thing, I just dig the orange.)

Here are a couple sample spreads from the book:

So yeah, that’s what we were pre-occupied with last week.  For any of you wondering how our portrait photography works, here’s the deal.  We do things a little differently than a typical chain portrait photography business.  All of our portraits are done on location, where your kids (or pets!) feel the most comfortable.  Before the photo shoot, we’ll get together and come up with a concept for your session and determine what kind of display or wall art will work best in your home.  Then, after the shoot, we’ll meet again for your ordering session.  This can either be done in your home, or at our studio in Birmingham.  Our process is a little more involved, but we feel like the extra services are a great benefit to our clients and make it possible for us to create something very unique that will work well in your home.

For availability, or to schedule a session, give us a call at 313.915.2302 or use the contact form right here.

We are offering free portrait sessions to local families for a limited time. If you are interested, use the contact form above and leave us your name and address and we’ll send you a coupon for a free session, along with some more info about our lifestyle photography sessions.

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to take a second and talk a bit about some news and changes on the horizon for 2010.  It’s all good stuff, I promise!  :)

2010 Weddings:

• We are about 75% of the way towards making our 2010 booking goal.  We may or may not accept additional wedding bookings after we hit that number – it will mostly depend on how busy we are in a given month.  I don’t want to freak anyone out, because we still have PLENTY of great dates available in just about every month (though June 2010 is just about maxed out).  My point is, if you are at all interested in working with us, even if you think it’s too early to meet with anyone, drop us a line and say hi.  We accept bookings up to 18 months in advance.  And we are always happy to chat with anyone, any time, so don’t be shy.  :)

Friday Availability (aka THE BIG NEWS!)

• We’ve always aimed at running our business pretty transparently, so I’ve made no secret of the fact that I still have a full time job in addition to running West Park Photography with Andy.  While West Park is doing great, we are not yet at the point where I can kiss the security of a steady paycheck and health benefits away.  BUT as of January 1, I am now working just 4 days a week so I can devote more time to West Park.   And let me just say, WHOOOOO HOOOOO!  This will be great, in so many ways, both for my sanity, and for our clients.
• So, as of right now, we are available for consults, meetings, and portrait & boudoir sessions any time on Fridays.   As January/February are typically slower months for us, I will be spending a lot of this new “free” time getting our 2009 clients squared away with their albums.  But as it gets warmer, look out!  I want to be doing a lot of portrait sessions.  So if you are interested, get in touch!

Client Stuff:

• Our priority for the next few months until wedding season starts up will be album design. If you booked a package that included an album credit, you are already in our design queue.  If you did NOT have an album in your package, but want one, now is the time to get in touch so we can get rolling on that.  We are working on putting some tools in place to take some of the mystery out of album ordering – the choices are overwhelming, I know!
• I’ve been ordering some yummy sample albums for our studio.  They will be arriving in the next 4-6 weeks and I will blog about them as they come in.  But if you are local and want to take a peak in person, let me know!
• If we haven’t done your e-session yet, we will be in touch soon.  Ideally we’d like to do your session at least 8 weeks before your wedding so we have plenty of time to edit your images and get any prints/albums to you before the wedding.  We’d like to see our June-August brides in April-May, ideally. June will be very busy with us, so if you are a fall bride, plan on July or August, if you can’t see us in the spring.

• If you need Save the Dates (cards or magnets), Thank You cards, or guestbooks, we can do all of the above.  Just let us know what you are interested in.
  
  

Wow, that was a lot of stuff!  Stay tuned, because I’ll be announcing our portrait specials soon!

Anyway, we shot a fabulous wedding this past Friday aboard the Ovation Yacht and the word A-MAZING doesn’t even begin to sum it up.  Excellent, attentive staff, unbelievable food, and magnificent views of the Detroit and Windsor riverfront.  It was absolutely glorious.  It didn’t hurt that our couple looked like they should be celebrities and our bride ROCKED a gown identical to the one worn by Caroline Kennedy, with red shoes that made you drool just looking at them.   Whew!  I just had to gush about it for a second.  But now I’m moving on to the point of this post…..I know, you were thinking I didn’t have one, did you?  (I honestly can’t blame you, this is turning into a caffeine-induced tangent-laden mess, but I am getting there, I promise.)

A-hem. Our Vimeo Channel.

If you’ve been a very loyal blog reader you may have noticed that we used to post slideshows on our blog, and lately, I’ve been very remiss in including them.  My wedding posts tend to be so full of images that by the time I finish posting and writing about them, I just plain forget that we have a slideshow too.  Starting this spring, we’ve done things a little differently.  We’ve upgraded our slideshow software to a new product that lets us create HD slideshows, and also gives us the ability to create DVDs.  The new software also lets us use multiple songs and that in turn makes it very easy to add lots of images.  LOTS of images.  Our slideshows are now ridiculously long.  In the best possible way. 

In case you are wondering, the slideshows are a highlight from the wedding day – meaning these are not ALL the proofs our couples receive (not even close) but it is a good approximation of a “full wedding” in case you are a prospective client and want to see what a full day wedding looks like.  (Which is something I strongly recommend anyone shopping for photography to ask about.)

Because it literally takes hours (and sometimes days) to upload all the proofs from an event onto our proofing site, the slideshow is the first thing our clients see.  And now, because we are putting HD versions on Vimeo, you can actually click on the full screen button and see BIG pictures.  So far our new slideshows have been a hit with our clients.  And if you want a DVD copy added to your package, we now have the ability to do that.

So be sure to check out our Vimeo Channel if you’d like to see more of our work from this year!

We’ve also been busying editing our last few weddings, and we will have two three new ones to show you shortly.  And like last year, we accepted another last minute booking – this time for an intimate backyard wedding – which was honestly was an absolute joy to photograph.  On top of this, we’ve been busy fulfilling print orders, creating albums, and networking with wedding industry professionals.  So whew, yeah…busy summer.  In fact I am in SHOCK that August is already upon us.  Where did summer go?  Our vegetable garden has transformed into an unruly mess, so I have proof of the passage of time, but seriously, it feels like the last 3 months went by in a blink.

In addition to a lot of busy work, we’ve also been continuing to invest in our gear.  We are always evaluating our needs and seeing what we can invest in to bring the best value to our clients.  In addition to upgrading to the Canon 5D Mk II earlier this year, we’ve recently acquired some fun new lenses.  But I’ll save that post for another day. 

Of course I have to include a photo, so here is one I snapped recently at the Grosse Pointe Board of Realtors Art & Garden Tour.  We photographed all the gardens and I met a dog that looks EXACTLY like Abby.  Which is kind of a rare thing because Abby has very unusual coloring for a labrador.  We also were treated to a lot of inspiration on how to transform our own yard.  If only we had the time for it.  Would anyone  like some severely overgrown arborvitaes?  Come and see me, ok? 

At any rate, it affords me the opportunity, finally, to gush about our open house we had last week at The Event Studio.

We were absolutely in awe of all the wonderful people who came out, despite the rain, and visited last Thursday. It truly went beyond all expectations and we were amazed. I can’t get too much farther into this post without expressing our heartfelt thanks to Lindsey Nartker, who was the brains behind the entire operation. Lindsey transformed the studio, which is already pretty awesome looking, into an even more magical looking space.

We were helped along with some of Lindsey’s favorite vendors, including Dooby Design Group, which was responsible for the fabulous signage and the menus featured on the table above. Outside, two tents were erected at the last minute (booo, rain!) to protect the yummy desserts area. Our friends at Motor City Cafe provided a selection of mouth-watering Italian desserts, and we also had a frost-your-own-cupcake station by Sweet & Savory Bakeshop. As if that wasn’t enough there was also a smores station set up with these adorable cast iron marshmallow toasters, and tucked into the hallway inside was a candy bar.

Another special thanks goes out to New Creations by Kate, for providing the flowers that decorated the entire space, indoors and out.

It was great to catch up with some of our clients who were kind enough to join us. There number of visitors we had was overwhelming, so I sincerely apologize that we didn’t get to talk to some of you as much as we wanted (Meredith!). It really meant a lot of to us that so many people turned out and we’d like to thank everyone who was there. At times it’s hard to believe this is all really happening to us. I didn’t by any stretch of imagination envision us having a studio space any time soon, so if I looked like a deer in the headlights, it’s only because at times this seems so surreal to me. We feel so fortunate to have made such great friends with other local vendors and look forward to meeting more people, prospective clients and vendors alike, as we get busier.

Overall the night was a HUGE success and we were so pleased with everything. Thanks again to wedding planner extrodinaire Lindsey, who started off with a great vision and made it a reality.

Thanks also to the following vendors who contributed to making our event a big hit!

Affordable Elegance Chair Covers and Linen
The Linen Heros at Chair Covers and Linen
Special Events Rental
Doobie Design Group
Sweet and Savory Bake Shop
Motor City Cafe
New Creations LLC
Imago Salon and Spa
Brides MI

I promised something BIG, remember?  We are proud to announce that we have a new, elegant, and delightful meeting space for our clients, right in downtown Birmingham, MI!  We have joined forces with some other wonderful Michigan wedding vendors to present The Event Studio.  Lindsey Nartker, of Lindsey Nartker Designs approached us in March with the idea and we were thrilled to say yes!   We are joined by florist New Creations by Kate, Lockwood Media (videographer), and our friends at Croft & Campell Photography.

Prospective clients can now meet with us in a great location to see our latest product samples & albums, view slideshows of our work, and discuss all the details for their events.   Current clients will visit to view their proofs, order their albums, and have their final event consults with us before the big day.

You may notice a few empty picture frames on the walls – I was so excited that I just had to get some photos, even before things were 100% finished.  We will be adding our photographs, canvases, and custom enlargements to the walls over the next few weeks!

We feel that having a dedicated office space is a great added value to our clients.   This will make it so much easier for our clients to  get to know us in a relaxed setting where the focus is on them, and not the noise of the latte machine in a busy coffeehouse. 

This is just the beginning of what we are working on.  Over the next few weeks we will be implementing some more changes, including a new logo, improved blog site, the launch of our boutique children’s photography line, and more!   So if things look different around here, you were warned!

A BIG HUGE THANKS goes out again to Lindsey Nartker, who did SO much work to make this space functional, elegant, and beautiful.  Everything you see here is all her.  If you are looking for a wedding coordinator, we are proud to recommend her – she’s stylish, innovative, and down-to-earth.

Another BIG HUGE THANKS goes out to all of our clients, past and present, who helped us get to this point.  Some of you have been our biggest cheerleaders as our business continues to grow and we know we are here because of you!

The Event Studio will be planning an open house event in the next few week and we hope you can  join us!  Keep watching the blog for more details.