Day 17: A day in the life of a photographer

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Well Um... I kind of lost a few more days! But I am thinking that may happen to a lot of people who come to New Orleans. Ha! Actually it has really been fun but we have been busy every minute of the day. We have seen some amazing photographers from all over the world. Most of my favorite photographers seem to all come from Australia. However, they do photography very differently there. They literally spend all day doing photography. They are dressed early in the morning and run all over the city taking pictures with the whole bridal party up until the ceremony. Of course that makes for some amazing pictures.
Although that is not practical in the US I have been doing a little of the same thing with my Mr. & Mrs. sessions the day after the wedding. Since the groom still has his tux we go out the next day in the late afternoon and run all over the city and take amazing pictures that you just don't have time for on the big day. Something to think about my brides! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing them. You can substitute them for any of the portraits in my packages such as engagements or bridals or just add it on to a package.
But back to New Orleans! All I can say is WOW. I had been here MANY times for New Years and even the Sugar Bowl twice in college but let's just say I only saw the dark side of New Orleans. Yesterday and today after we finished the trade shows, (I will show more on that later) we ran all over town taking pictures. So it wasn't a lot of bridal photography but it was SO much fun. I have about 85 favorites that obviously I can post all but I will TRY to narrow it down for you. ha ha! Oh and I started out with 516 images, then I got it down to 443 I would keep then down to 85 for the blog so it is killing me to only post these few. And I have MORE in my camera that I shot today that I haven't even processed! I think my favorite part of all shooting here is all the amazing color. If you want your bridal or engagement session down here I am ALL about coming back so bring it on!
Oh and as far as I can say about some of these... Well photographers get a little nutty when we get together. We will pretty much shoot anything and act out whatever for effect.
Laissez le bon rouleau des temps! Diane

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Day 13: A day in the life of a photographer...

Well so much for my blogging every day goal. I have missed two days but I have a really good excuse. I think… ; ) Being a photographer obviously we are artistic people. We see the world in colors and composition. We can see all the different angles, look at things from a different perspective and dream in a creative way. Well that and TAXES just don't mix. So for the last two days I have spent going through every credit card statement, every bank statement, every PayPal transaction (the biggest nightmare) and making sure the balance in Quickbooks actually equals what the statements say. One of my beautiful past brides is helping me with my taxes this year so I had to clean it up for her first. When we sat down she said, "So how many hours did you spend doing this?" Um (and I was only half finished) 19 hours. Keep in mind that was in 2 days and only HALF done. But I can say I am finally finished and a lot less grumpy so I can re-join the world! (At least until I start working on our personal taxes. Ugh.
So here I am so many thousand feet in the sky (they didn't tell us so I don't know whether to say 2,000 or 10,000) on my way to New Orleans for my FAVORITE convention all year, Imaging USA. I love it because there are classes all day long every hour. They do different tracks of classes based on the type of photography you specialize. Of course I usually do the wedding photography track and the portrait photography track. But stay away from the sports photography and school photography tracks. Although one year it was pretty funny, they had a class that was really late at night (around 8pm) and let me tell you, you are pretty wiped by that time. But it was billed as a night photography class that sounded REALLY COOL. So my friend Julie and I go in all excited to learn about new ways to shoot night photography. We are a little late but we quietly join the back row. It was actually a VERY small class. He was polite and introduced himself and asked us what was our type of photography training which of course we said wedding photography as that was the bulk of our business. WELL… This was a police officer forensic photography night time class. HILARIOUS. First the guy didn't know much about photography, it was all about what to shoot to show evidence not actually how to shoot your camera at night. The poor man! He kept trying to relate it back to wedding photography for us to help us feel involved and we kept trying to figure out how we were going to sneak out of this SMALL class and not hurt his feelings. We were so tired that the idea of spending another hour in this class just seemed too brutal. Just suffice it to say we got out and went to have a nice dinner. So the lesson for this trip? Look at each photographers website before we attend his or her class to make sure they are REALLY a photographer. ha ha!
I should have some fun pics to post after this trip though! Oh and the picture below is from my smart phone not my good camera since is up in the luggage rack above my head. I didn't want to drive my fellow passengers crazy. ; )
As they say in New Orleans, Laissez le bon rouleau des temps. ( Let the good times roll! ) Diane Don't judge me... taking with my less than good smart phone. ; )

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Day 13: A day in the life of a photographer...

Well so much for my blogging every day goal. I have missed two days but I have a really good excuse. I think… ; ) Being a photographer obviously we are artistic people. We see the world in colors and composition. We can see all the different angles, look at things from a different perspective and dream in a creative way. Well that and TAXES just don't mix. So for the last two days I have spent going through every credit card statement, every bank statement, every PayPal transaction (the biggest nightmare) and making sure the balance in Quickbooks actually equals what the statements say. One of my beautiful past brides is helping me with my taxes this year so I had to clean it up for her first. When we sat down she said, "So how many hours did you spend doing this?" Um (and I was only half finished) 19 hours. Keep in mind that was in 2 days and only HALF done. But I can say I am finally finished and a lot less grumpy so I can re-join the world! (At least until I start working on our personal taxes. Ugh.
So here I am so many thousand feet in the sky (they didn't tell us so I don't know whether to say 2,000 or 10,000) on my way to New Orleans for my FAVORITE convention all year, Imaging USA. I love it because there are classes all day long every hour. They do different tracks of classes based on the type of photography you specialize. Of course I usually do the wedding photography track and the portrait photography track. But stay away from the sports photography and school photography tracks. Although one year it was pretty funny, they had a class that was really late at night (around 8pm) and let me tell you, you are pretty wiped by that time. But it was billed as a night photography class that sounded REALLY COOL. So my friend Julie and I go in all excited to learn about new ways to shoot night photography. We are a little late but we quietly join the back row. It was actually a VERY small class. He was polite and introduced himself and asked us what was our type of photography training which of course we said wedding photography as that was the bulk of our business. WELL… This was a police officer forensic photography night time class. HILARIOUS. First the guy didn't know much about photography, it was all about what to shoot to show evidence not actually how to shoot your camera at night. The poor man! He kept trying to relate it back to wedding photography for us to help us feel involved and we kept trying to figure out how we were going to sneak out of this SMALL class and not hurt his feelings. We were so tired that the idea of spending another hour in this class just seemed too brutal. Just suffice it to say we got out and went to have a nice dinner. So the lesson for this trip? Look at each photographers website before we attend his or her class to make sure they are REALLY a photographer. ha ha!
I should have some fun pics to post after this trip though! Oh and the picture below is from my smart phone not my good camera since is up in the luggage rack above my head. I didn't want to drive my fellow passengers crazy. ; )
As they say in New Orleans, Laissez le bon rouleau des temps. ( Let the good times roll! ) Diane Don't judge me... taking with my less than good smart phone. ; )

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Day 10: A day in the life of a photographer

Reality check here!  No time for blogging but I am keeping my commitment!   Slammed today.  Still have 2 shoots to process, a bridal consult tomorrow and a maternity shoot and sadly I wasted most of the day fixing problems with the website.  It's just reality when you own your own business.  You are the IT person, website person, accounting person and so much more.  Yes I have other photographers but staff not so much...  It seems when I am so busy and I am finally ready to hire someone, I don't have the time to interview and sift through the people not to mention train them.   Just life I guess!  Someday...  See below for Gillian's post.  She is showcasing some of her favorites from this year's weddings she shot.  So she is pulling up the slack for me! Enjoy it!  She rocks!  To see more of her work just go to Gillian's Portfoliounder galleries or just click here.  : )

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Day 9: A day in the life of a Photographer

Sick of me yet? ha!  Well today was less than exceptional to report but has a funny part and a NOT SO FUNNY part at the end.  It was filled mostly with errand running and working on my website.
I did manage to fit in a massage with my MOST fabulous massage therapist and business guru at Absolute Body Balance. I have been going to her for probably 11 years now.  She has become a good friend and advisor over the years.  She is absolutely brilliant.  She has fabulous ideas, great technical knowledge and is a successful business owner.  My sessions with her  I should probably pay her triple for taking care of my body, mind and business!  I highly recommend her business. All of her massage therapists are incredible!
After that it was a short trip to the post office and camera store for some much needed supplies.  I spent too much as usual.  If on a budget the camera store for me is an evil place!  ;  )  But I can say Tony the owner ofSoutheastern Camera is AWESOME!  They have the highest integrity and are very knowledgeable. It is the ONLY place I shop in Raleigh and I have tried many places over the last 11 years.
Thanks to Tony I did stumble upon a FABULOUS store. A&B Store Fixtures of Raleigh on Capital blvd.  I was looking for one of those long poles that you use in a retail store to pull clothes off the top of displays.  I saw one of Tony's employees using one so I immediately went to Tony and said "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT? I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!"  Being a short person I figured it would be great for helping me change my backdrops quickly.  So I go in and this place is definitely designed to sell to retail stores. There are all kinds of crazy mannequins everywhere.  It was kind of creepy at first feeling like people were all around you, staring at you.  But after about 5 minutes you get used to it and barely notice them.  Pretty funny though. I was looking at a display that I was considering buying when one of the mannequins moved. I about jumped out of my skin!  Well, I guess I got so used to those mannequins that I didn't even notice it was a REAL person next to me!   ha ha!  I think I scared him as much as he scared me.
A couple more errands then finally home.  The not so funny thing?  I found out I did about 150 transactions incorrectly on my website.  Oh JOY!  So I get to undo those 150 then spend another couple hours or more RE-DOING that same 150.  I won't bore you with the details but I am guessing about 4-5 hours of work ahead of me on that one and I still have my cute little baby photography shoot to finish.  Alas...
Here are some of the cute things I bought at the retail supply store! Aren't they adorable?  I am considering selling bird cage veils and rings etc. out of the studio.  Any thoughts on that would be MUCH appreciated? A want or no?
Below are some of the fun things I bought today! Sometimes I wonder if I ever REALLY make any money or if I just support a really expensive habit???
Diane

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Day 8: A day in the life of a Photographer

Awe... Sunday. The day of rest. This is usually the day I back up my files from my wedding photography but in the winter there are not a lot of winter weddings. Although if you know someone who wants a snow wedding send them my way! I have been dying to do a wedding shoot in the snow. I think that would be so awesome even if my fingers would be stuck to the camera buttons. So today I spend most of the day working on my website. You would be shocked at all the things you have to do to keep your website working for you between getting reviews, blogging, updating content, reviewing your google analytics to see where your customers are coming from and how to better reflect that in your marketing goals. There is so much unseen to do that clients aren't even aware of when the consider your service. I didn't even pick up my camera today so since I have no images to post I thought I would post this video from a training class I took a couple of years ago for fun. I am going to a big photography convention next week in New Orleans which I can't WAIT to go. I am going with my best friend and fellow photographer Julie. You will see her in here shooting and planking as well and a new friend we met there when we went Trista (another fabulous photographer). This year it will be Julie and myself and two more fabulous photographers I have had the privilege to work with over the years. Liz who is one of my lead photographers and Amanda who was a lead photographer with me and started her own business a couple of years ago. Should be a FUN week!

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Day 7: A Day in the life of a Photographer

Ok. So I really don't know what happened to day 6. In truth I cheated a little and started the day before New Years in the hope that if I got behind it would leave me some wiggle room to take a day off. Not really sure what day that was but somewhere I lost not just one day but two! I noticed it last night when I posted Day 5 and saw it was January 6th. That probably sums up my life right there. Moving so fast I never see half of it happen!
My big event for the day was a baby photography session, technically an infant session but the baby was 7 weeks old so growing out of it quickly. Typically I like to do these in the first two weeks. Mostly because babies sleep about 18-22 hours of the day in the first 2 weeks plus the LOOK more like an infant. And I'm not kidding about those 22 hours. If you haven't had a baby you can ask your pediatrician. It is true. So getting those sweet sleeping baby shots does require some finesse but it makes my job a lot easier.
Well little Baby B being 7 weeks old is a lot like most 6-7 week olds, newly discovering their environments, being able to see more than only a couple inches from their face they notice a whole new world out there and they don't want to miss ANY Of it. Funny... I just had another little one in not too long ago that was exactly the same way. Although we did get her to sleep it didn't last long. She was just loving seeing the new faces and colors. She never once cried no matter how many times we put her to sleep only to have her pop her little eyes open again. Just a perfect little angel.
Ok so I am off to process the pics or at least a couple of them so I can stay on top of this blog! I may have created a monster here. I will update this entry with the pictures when I can at least scan through them enough to pick my top two or three.  (ha ha!) Just finished. I guess I am incapable of not being an overachiever.

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Day 5: A day in the life of a photogapher

This will be a pretty short blog post.  Unfortunately I have a cold and am not much up for writing.  One of the tough things about being in business for yourself.  No one does your job when you are out or sick.  But of course the perks are you make your own hours, decide which jobs you will or won't take but mostly live your passion.  The negatives of course my biggest, DOING TAXES, filing, burning disks, IT responsibilities and the list goes on and on.  For now I had a fabulous morning at the Art Museum. I went with my girls to see the Rembrandt exhibit.  He is one of my favorite painters because he understood light so well.  He made beautiful use on how it fell upon his subjects.  Sadly no photography was allow at all.  But here is a link to the Art Museum. If you go you will see exactly what I mean.  Most of this collection is a collection of his famous portraits.  http://ncartmuseum.org/exhibitions/rembrandt/  And some amazing work you can tell he did just for himself.  After viewing Rembrandt I went over to the new part of the museum which allows full photography even with flash although I used natural light the whole time.  It is so beautiful in the museum. They did such an amazing job designing it.  Here were some of my favorite works that I WAS allowed to photograph.

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Day 2: A day in the life of a photographer

Well today has been a blur of updating my website with search engines, trying to catch up on shoots that I have yet to have blogged and trying to fit in a little family time taking down the tree.    And lastly my final 20 images left to process from my Boudoir shoot. Wish I could post those! Man she was beautiful!  Boudoirs take a lot of work since let's face it, NO ONE is perfect.  No, not even those models on the cover magazines.  Even behind those there is a talented photographer cinching in her waist, uplifting her chest, minimizing her hips, smoothing the skin and giving those eyes even more pop.  SERIOUSLY!  I always worried my girls my get a skewed sense of marriage and weddings watching Mommy do weddings all the time but at least they will have a realistic body image.  They KNOW what can be done and that not everyone is perfect.  My oldest sometimes sits over my shoulders and says, "Mommy, you need to fix her chin." or something to that effect (no I don't let her see boudoirs even though we don't shoot anything you wouldn't see on the beach.)  So after all this I am left with Christmas boxes left to be put in the attic but all my blog posts at least in the DRAFT portion.  Here is a quick snapshot of the posts to come!

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Boylen Art Walk

I love the Boylen Art Walk.  If you haven't been you ABSOLUTELY must go once.  It comes at the perfect time of year.  The first week in December so all those people that it is impossible to buy for or they have everything... this is the place to get their gifts!  There are so many talented artists and such unique work.  I was almost sad to be participating because I didn't get to walk around and check them out myself.  But it was fun.  I had several clients happen that I had shot their weddings before I got the studio so it was fun to show them how much we have grown as a company.  And even one of the Mom's from my daughter's preschool came by the studio.  And then there were all the new and wonderful people I met.  I almost got to shoot a wedding in Germany, until we figured out I was booked for another wedding the day after theirs.  I don't think I could have quite made it back that fast! Oh well... another day and time.  So mark your calendars for next year!  Here are just a few samples of the fine art photography I showcased that day.  But next year I think I will be selling photoboxes, albums and more of the other fun things we as brides and family like to buy to showcase our own photography!  Hope to see you next year!

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New Year's Goal: A day in the life of a photographer

The new year is upon us and with it goals and aspirations of the future.  For me one of my goals was created from a challenge.  I subscribe to a web blogging site that set the challenge for its bloggers to pick a topic and blog about it for 365 days.  Well the first challenge is I don't consider myself a blogger.  I am a photographer! And if truth be told I hate blogging.  My guess is the reason I don't like it is because I am not very good at it.  I just see the world in pictures, through the cameras eye not the written word.  So what better way to get better at it than to do it every day.  I just hope it doesn't become a FRIGHTFULLY dull blog. I will try to make sure I include some pictures just in case!  And to your good fortune some of my other VERY talented photographers will be blogging too!  So be on the look out for some of their amazing work.

We are coming upon a photographers downtime of the year, at least for those of us in the wedding and portrait side of photography.  Most people want to get married the spring, summer or fall and even close to Christmas but  January and February are really pretty slow.  It is the same with portrait photography.  The Christmas cards have been sent, the grass isn't green and none of us are sporting that fabulous tan we had in the summer.   So what DOES a photographer do during those down months.  Well we might have an occasional wedding or two , definitely albums to design, and babies come at their own time regardless of how convenient or inconvenient it may be for us.  But mostly I spend my time on marking, TAXES (HATE IT!) and going to conventions etc.  Again I hope this blog doesn't become frightfully dull from it's onset.

So Happy New Year to you all and look for a lot more blogging from this wedding and portrait photographer!!

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Cute Baby T

Just posted my latest 1 yr old shoot.  What a cutie! See the blog for all my favorite images. http://dianemckinney.com/blog

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Infant Baby T Images are on the blog!

Such a cutie. Click here to see all my favorites on the blog. http://dianemckinneybaby.com

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Sassy Sister Shoot

I have been meaning to post these for a while. Cute sister shoot. They haven't had their picture done professionally since they were little.  LOVED IT! Check out the blog for more... http://dianemckinney.com/blog

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