Struggling

Well I have been struggling with getting my business up and started.  Not so much getting in started but deciding how to do what I want to do.  I love taking pictures, most of you know that by now.  I have been having such a great time learning about my new camera, learning more about lenses and practicing different editing techniques.  That is the easy part to me.  Deciding prices, how to do scheduling, contracts and so on is the hard part.  So here are some of my ramblings if you care to join me...

The topic is digital files...

Yes I love taking pictures of old barns.  That is the Tetons behind this one.

I take pictures, or rather portraits, so people can display them with pride and cherish the memories that they bring.  I hope they enjoy the time they have with me and the fun it is when you get the portraits back and see the moments that I caught on film (figuratively now that everything is digital).  So that brings me to the point that everything IS digital now.  I have an external hard drive that is completely full of pictures that I have taken over the years.  I have downloaded those pictures online so if something ever happened to my hard drive, they would be protected.  But now matter how amazing those snapshots are, they are still stuck there on my hard drive an I have to hook it up to my computer or TV to browse through them and relive the memories of when they were made.

My sweet Jon, as he looks on my computer

I also have a ton of great snapshots of my kids that are framed and either hang on my wall or are brought out by seasons to sit on my tables and mantle.  But I have a portrait that proudly hangs by my front door so it is seen by everyone who enters the house.  This one PRIZE that I have is a portrait that we had done when the boys were about 7 and 5 (they are now 18 and 16).   It was purchased on canvas and is framed.  Why is that my prize?  Because it's NOT a snapshot, we look great, we are all together and it looks like art work.  Sure I have some church directory family photos hanging on the "photo wall" upstairs but they are not even close to my PRIZE downstairs.

Love this one of Daniel at a track meet

I want to create PRIZES.  I don't want to create digital files that fill up a CD or a flash drive or a folder on your computer.  I want my "art work" to hang on your wall so you can see it every day and remember that time in you life with joy.  It might be when your baby was a newborn, or you little girl turned 2 or when your son graduated.  Maybe it's just a place marker in the wonderful life you are living now.

That is what I want to do with my business.  Now how to make that happen!

I've been Christened!

I have been christened as a newborn photographer.  I had my very first newborn portrait session on Monday afternoon with the very beautiful Ava.  Mom and Dad, Ashley and Blake, brought her to my house for our session. 

When I told my husband Bryan that I was going to be doing some sessions here in the house I expected him to object.  After all, I was planning on using the office, turned exercise room, turned storage room as my studio.  He surprised me by being just fine with it.  Come to find out he didn't mind having people come to the house because he knew I would give it an extra good cleaning!   Some women might be upset by his attitude but I know my strengths and they are not in the area of housekeeping!

Back to Ava's session.  I did some major rearranging in the "workout" room, moving the elliptical machine, a desk and a set of book shelves to make room to take photos of Ava.  The room has a wall of windows and I thought the light would be great for her natural light photos.  We have bamboo flooring and I thought that would be great in some of the pictures.

Ava arrived wide awake and curious despite Ashley and Blake's best efforts.  We undressed her in the nice, overly warm room and did our best to get her to go to sleep.  I finally gave up and attempted some shots with her awake.  They did not come out as well as I would have hoped but here is one. 

 

 

After this she began fussing again so I picked her up and tried to comfort her.  So here comes the christening part...but it's not what you are thinking exactly.  In my estimation there are three ways I could have gotten christen.  I got number 2, literally.  She gave me a hand full of ...well, number 2!  After a quick clothing change on MY part, we continued on.  She felt better afterwards and went on to an almost peaceful sleep and we got several good shots before she woke back up.  Here is just one of them.

 

 

So thank you Ava, Ashley and Blake for letting me share this "special" moment with you.  Got a great laugh out of it.  Thanks Cindy Landrum for arranging for our session.  I will have your portraits ready next week! 

 

Now it's off to Arlington for Special Olympics Texas Summer Games...Go Golden Triangle Champs!

Crazy Busy Weekend

As I get closer to my "Grand Opening"  I hope I am getting a taste of the future.  It was a crazy busy weekend with 3 shoots, a field trip and a Saturday night girl's get away trip thrown in.  I am furiously trying to edit photos from 4 shoots and have my first newborn shoot today.  We leave on Thursday for Special Olympics Texas Summer Games in Arlington, TX and will be gone all weekend.  Life is crazy right now but I love it.

Here are a few shots from my session with Ana.  She is my neighbor and since she was born 2 years ago we have talked about doing portraits but finally got around to doing it. 

Ana was having nothing to do with me on Friday.  She was so sweet but I was interrupting her playtime with Mom.  She loved the blocks and bubbles and fortunately I was able to get some sweet action shots of her.

She has the most beautiful eyes.

 

 I have always wanted to try this so Becky kindly helped me out!

 

Beautiful girls

I m slowly going through the images of Katelynn and Olivia.  Each time I open one up I am amazed at their beauty.  I have know Katelynn since she was 2 and was there at Olivia's birth.  I have always recognized their physical beauty but when they are before me on the screen I am blown away.

 

 

I have to tell a funny on Olivia.  After the session we went to eat dinner at Dairy Queen.  While we were there I told the girls I needed to come up with a name for my photography business.  Without a delay Olivia said "I think it should be called 'The Photographer in the World' business".  I told her I was NOT the best photographer in the world so I couldn't call myself that.  She said "Well you should call your business 'A Very Good Photographer' business.  No one is the best, because THAT is an OPINION!"  I didn't know that they taught that in Kindergarten!  Precious little girl.

Here are a couple more shots.

 

 

Something new

Today I picked up my new-to-me camera, a Canon 5d Mark II.  It's a lot of camera and I am so excited to get it.  I have SO much to learn on it, along with continuing to learn the art of photography.  So after watching a couple of videos online about the basic controls/functions of the camera, I ventured out with my friend Aliceson's girls to take some shots.  Of course I had to bring my suitcase full of props, just in case.  Here are a couple of shots from this evening.

 This morning I passed this field and it was full of pink "buttercups" and the yellow flowers that turn toward the sun.   I texted Aliceson and said I HAD to take the girls pictures today!  Of course last time I planned to use this field, they mowed it the day before I scheduled the shoot.  When we returned this evening the yellow flowers had closed up for the night but the buttercups were just smiling at us!

Katelynn has beautiful eyes.  I love this shot of her. 

As I have time to work on the other photos I will post more.  I have 2 photo sessions this weekend, followed by a trip to the Special Olympic Texas Summer games in Arlington.  Going to be a busy week!

Expectations

Today I got to share the results of my first maternity portrait session with the expectant mom.  She is due any time now but looks beautiful, even if she doesn't feel that way. 

I have to say that I was more than a little nervous when we had our session.  Sarah is the first person that I have done a session with that I haven't known before hand.  So after meeting Sarah, her mom Tammy, and her 4 year old son Kingston, I got to tell her to show me her belly!!  (Ok, not immediately.  I saved it to the end of the session.)  She and her family were patient with me and endured my frequent pauses to adjust my camera settings, props, etc.

I absolutely loved getting to capture sweet moments between Kingston and Sarah.  This boy LOVES his momma!  And he loves his new baby sister Kaya, for now!

   

So today I got to show them the final product and they were pleased. I was pleased they were pleased!!  The best part is, I get to go back in a few weeks and meet Kaya and take newborn portraits of her!

Here are a few more of my favorite shots from our session.  Let me know what you think.

What's in a name?

Welcome to Jamie Oliphint Photography, or whatever the current name of my business/blog is.  I am busy trying to figure out so many things right now.  The one thing I do know is that I love to hear the click of my camera shutter and I love seeing the reaction when I show someone a wonderful picture of themselves or their loved ones.  Now the question is how to make that happen more often!  So first off, aside from the portfolio building sessions I am booking, I have to come up with a name for this new business of mine. 

Photomom was my first attempt at a name.  It really describes who I have been for the past 12 or so years.  I have been fortunate to stay home with my children from the time Daniel was in preschool and I have taken tons of photos during those years.  Not only photos of my kids, but also of their friends and schoolmates.  When Facebook came around, I had a natural avenue to share these pictures.  Now that my boys are in High School, I am Facebook friends with many of their classmates and their classmates parents, just so they can access the sports photos I have taken.  I am able to give them a gift each time I post an photo of their accomplishments.

The amazing Alexus Henry

But is Photomom who I want to be as I move into the portrait photography business?  I don't think so.   Like so many other photographers, I would love to use my name as my business.  Unfortunately most people can't say my last name, much less spell it correctly.  So Jamie Oliphint Photography is my interim name until I find one that is:

 

1. Unique
2. Memorable
3. Descriptive of who I am
4. Easy to spell

 

So any suggestions would be appreciated.  A few thoughts I have had involve the use of my maiden name, Ivy.  Guess I could be Blue Ivy...oh wait, Beyoncé already took that one (wow!  Beyoncé is in spell checker).  I want to stay away from the words "creative" and "memories", they are way too overused in the photography field. 

 

Thanks for joining me on this journey, hopefully it will be a long one!