Photo Alli

Launching my paper airplane

I just got back from a photo convention in Nashville where I learned much and reevaluated even more.  I knew I needed change for Photo Alli and wanted to step out of my box and grow somehow.  I went from class to class feeling like the main thing everyone tried to teach me was how to be more like them and why they, as a photographer, were so successful.  I kept waiting for my "a-ha" moment that just wasn't coming - and then I walked into a class taught by Jeff and Allison Rodgers.  They gave me such a powerful visual metaphor that I wanted to share with you...

In a crowded ballroom filled with hundreds of photographers, Allison asked for everyone to take out a blank piece of paper and build a paper airplane.  My very first instinct was to sit this little exercise out and just watch as everyone built their airplanes.  What was I going to get by folding up a silly piece of paper?  This very thought could have been the single instant I could have missed out on my "a-ha" moment.  So I reluctantly got out the paper and started to build.  Feeling totally silly and thinking I was doing it wrong - I built the most uneven, makeshift airplane I knew how to do.  Then, Allison asked us to hold them up and on the count of three to launch our planes.  One.... Two.... Three....  airplanes went flying everywhere... some taking off and some taking a total nose dive.  I didn't even watch mine and how it did - I was too busy looking at everyone else's plane.  

Are you seeing where this lesson for me was going?

The incredible point she made was - just get out there and build your paper airplane.  If it nose dives - AWESOME - you know what to do and try for the next time.  If it soars - AWESOME - that was great design!  If you spend your time looking around at how others are doing their airplanes you will miss out on your own chance to learn from your mistakes.    

That said, I am going to redo my airplane.  Be on the lookout for changes and new products coming to Photo Alli.  I believe this airplane just might soar!  ;)

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Twenty ten

I made it through the Christmas rush and am gracefully settling into my quiet January.  So quiet that I have been forced to stay inside and hibernate from these crazy freezing temperatures we've been having.  Thankfully, I have a trip planned to attend Imaging USA in Nashville and I hope it could help jump start my ideas and plans for Photo Alli in 2010.  I am an idea person and have all these things swirling in this brain of mine that I want to tackle.  Just don't know where to begin.  Might as well kick start it with a convention, right?  If you are going, send me an email and I'd love to meet up.  

So, if you can believe it, I am so behind in blogging that I have to go clear back to September to keep you fresh and updated with "new" photo sessions.  Shocker.  ;)  Something is really wrong when I share pictures that have full leaves on the trees and complete fall weather in them as I sit here and stare out my window of bare trees, snow covered streets, schools closed for ice, and temperatures predicted in the negative.  I have blogging issues I think.  But here they are....  and they happen to be of the family who I have photographed for 5 years in a row.  SO good to see them and SO thankful for them since now they even make the trek all the way from Tulsa to still have me capture them and keep up the tradition.  How lucky am I and how cute are they??? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

All is merry and bright

Merry Christmas Eve!  I have been soaking in all the Christmas songs this season that have played over and over on the radio and through my Pandora station.  Song after song the lyrics are like comfort food to me this time of year.  They remind me of my childhood, my kids and family, and my blessings.  My "tidings of comfort and joy".  

I may not be much of a baker, I am a pitiful cook, I am one of those last-minute shoppers, and I am clueless when it comes to buying presents. However, in the midst of all the Christmas hustle and bustle all I know is I got to observe love, togetherness, selflessness, and gratefulness this season.  That beats any cookie I could bake. A very Merry Christmas from my family to yours. 

"So hang your stockings and say your prayers, cuz Santa Clause comes tonight."

 

 
 

Did you ever think...

.... I'd come back to the blog world?  Call it what you will, but from September til about mid December I go into what I like to call my "photo cave", or I've even been known to call it my "photo coma".  I have advice for all those out there that want to do this for a living - there is so much to it than just pushing the button on the camera.  ;)  heeheehee.  That said, we got some great stuff this holiday season and the weather was overall wonderful.  We had several swine flu cancellations this season, which was something new, but were able to reschedule smoothly and all is healthy and well.  

I don't even know where to begin to share sessions.  Let's just hope I pick it up and blog more often in January.  New Years resolution, maybe?  My list is getting longer with resolutions.  yikes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you B family!  It was great to meet you and to also have a workshop.  So fun!  SUCH cutie boys.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hidden treasure

Picking out the location for each shoot can quite often be a head-scratcher for me.  My mind constantly "sees" places to shoot and since I like to customize each session based on who I am photographing and what they had in mind - then the process of elimination begins. Do you want trees and green, urban and architectural, or bright, playful and colorful?  I rarely like to go to the same places - it can get stagnant and unoriginal for me.  I will shoot somewhere several times and then it is time for me to find a new challenge, see and explore something new.  

Some places I see may not be the friendliest spots for the clients with new walkers, or the clients with big groups, as these spots may have high traffic or visibility or too much hiking involved.  So each time a session comes around we have to come up with what they had in mind and what works for their particular needs.  So I ask questions to each client, "do you know someone with land, a barn, cool fence?", "is your family home or yard somewhere you would want to cherish or capture?", "what is something that your family enjoys doing together?".  These questions help me to customize the location.  

Some clients come to me knowing exactly what they want and exactly where they want to shoot.  This senior told me of this location and I just trusted her and went to where she led me.  We are talking deep woods, back road, total sticks of Arkansas location.  I would have never found this gem of a spot had I not asked the question of where she had in mind.  Many people leave it to me, but my jaw drops when I am led to a spot like this.  Diamond in the rough.......  Thx HM for your great eye!