Daily archives "December 10, 2009"

So, Julia (and Marla)

We first met Julia during the 2009 Most Beautiful Baby Contest (by the way, the 2010 Most Beautiful Baby Contest starts on January 15!), and she won second place.  ‘Vibrant personality’ comes to mind when I think about Julia.  She’s just so full of life, has a very definitive personality, and a smile that just cannot be ignored… or, as Diana put it “would melt a snowman.”

So, she was back last week, with her mom (Marla) and we once again were graced by her fun-loving nature.  Early on, Marla asked us to create a couple of images from Julia’s new-found love of dance.  Since Marla was also a dancer in her teen years, we did a few fun things and some very meaningful ones (to both).  But I had an idea in mind that really kind of took me by storm.  It was to create a kind of contrast in the size and difference in “ability” from someone who has many years experience, and someone who’s just starting out.  This is what we came up with.

Yes, those are Marla’s legs. 🙂
Of course, they (Marla and her mother, Tabatha) also wanted some Christmas photos.  Julia had other plans… she wanted to do what she wanted to do (as most 3-year olds do).  But we managed to get a few happy images of her… this was one of their favorites.
 
This is a really great family.  I enjoy seeing them, even if just out and about.
Merry Christmas, Miss Julia (you too, Marla and Tabatha)!

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Culture Schlock

This is, for all intents and purposes, a method by which I can introduce myself in this forum.

Ever work for corporate?  Yeah.  Answering to “the man” and thinking that you can probably do a better job of running the company than this idiot?  Yeah.  Me, too.

Well, now I am “the man,” (and Diana’s is “the woman,” lest we leave that out of my little missive) but I’m not keen on running the company without help.  The level of decision-making in any company has everything to do with how well the rest of the company both agrees with your decisions and follows policies you set.  But I digress (I do this a lot, but bear with me).

What I have learned in my years of running a business, the business of photography, cannot be summed up in a nutshell or a few terse paragraphs.  It would take a book… at least.  But I’m not in a writing mood.  Instead, I’m kind of a blogger at heart.  I love explaining things, mostly in a classroom environment.

But here’s something you cannot get from a book, classroom or even buy owning a business for a couple of years.  It’s the importance of treating people fairly, openly and honestly.  Don’t pretend you care… you must actually care.  Don’t pretend to want the best possible product and service… you must commit yourself to that goal for each and every client.  And that takes years of work… a true commitment to your own values, even if you have to change those values to match the goal.

The bottom line here is that I am truly committed to my craft, my clients, and my outlook on education.  I’m way beyond the schlock of corporate politics… it doesn’t exist here.  I have the last nine years of this being my only job to thank for that.

More of what I have to say will continue my thoughts on how this blog will evolve.

But know this one thing… you will not be uninformed.