Here’s a pair of twins from a couple weeks back. I guess they don’t all react the way we think they will! Ha. I thought it was a really great image to add to the collection.
Here’s a solo shot.
Here’s another one from today of, you guessed it, Eleanor. I have my biases.
Here’s one of Brynn.
Here’s the last one from yesterday:
For 3 months straight Daughter Eleanor would not stop talking about wanting a Purple Bike from Santa. Well, Santa delivered. Here’s a clip. Apparently the bike’s a little wobbly on carpet, we’ll see how it does on pavement. I’ll work on posting updates as I’m sure you’ll all be waiting! I wish all of you a happy, safe, and fruitful new year!
We need to work on the whole singing thing. . . Hand licking we have down. . .
I was messing around with some flowers after a shoot today and starting working on this image. I thought it was interesting and worth sharing. 
The studio is ever-changing. I’ll try and post updates. Here’s are some shots of the gallery. There are a bunch of new prints on the wall. Drop us a line if you ever want to see them in person. I put my crazy face in there to put a few of these to scale. There are a couple new canvas wraps as well. We wrap those in-house. Quite a task. The one of the little girl is 38″x60″. We can go bigger!
Here’s my latest installment of “Little Girls with Flowers”. This young lady was in the studio a few days ago and brought a different perspective to the project. I have more to edit and will post as I go. 
Here is a pair of sisters. I posted a few images of them earlier, but I’m really pleased with how this came out. Beautiful girls.
I just finished a new article. I thought it was worth post here. As always, this is straight off the hard drive without the aid of a editor! Pardon the typos and rambling that will assuredly be polished at some point in time!
“More Money, More YouTube, More Sleep”
It’s a little strange writing ahead of a deadline. To the same end, know that a great deal of the Christmas music we all enjoy is recorded at the peak of Summer when the holidays are the last thing on our minds. Be that as it may, deadlines are there for a reason and I’m having a tough time thinking about the New Year even though it’s closer than any of us want to admit.
Like most studio owners, I have a pattern to my business. Photography is seasonal and it’s good to keep a schedule and plan ahead. Winter is the time of year for cleaning, reworking the storefront, updating the website, reorganizing, and making changes to the price list. When things are a little more manageable, it’s a lot easier to think of change. It’s also a lot easier to get away with it! Personally, I like stand back and see new prints on the walls, fresh paint, and indulge in “look at all the possibilities!” thinking. What we don’t really like to admit is that change can be a little scary.
What if it doesn’t work? What if this “drives people away”?
There’s no answer to that other than part of what makes great businesses great is risk and trust in intuition. It’s also the ability to adapt quickly when we make a mistake. Interestingly enough, Walt Disney (thanks to Rick Trummer for getting the ball rolling on this research), P.T. Barnum, Henry Ford, Abraham Lincoln, Milton Hershey, and of course Donald Trump all went bankrupt on their way to the top. It’s a strange time for photographers and although I don’t wish financial hardship on anyone, know that for the previous people these struggles were only a bump in the road for their greater vision. They all knew where they wanted to go, how to get their, and how not to let anything get in their way.
About 11 months ago I came up with 3 simple goals for my life that I really took to heart. They sound amusing and simple in light of the preceding paragraph, but perhaps they may help you put things into perspective while working on your business for next year. These goals are simple, yet there’s perhaps a bit more to it:
More Money, More YouTube, More Sleep
The first one is pretty obvious. More Money? Who doesn’t want that? The simple fact is, we can’t make dreams a reality for our clients if we don’t stay in business. Pretty basic right? It is interesting to see how many people try to work our prices down in a way that infringes on our ability to stick around. I am fond of saying “everyone wants greatness while bankrupting you in the process”. True enough. The fact is, if you are creating fabulous work, you should be receiving fabulous compensation. If you are not, you will soon begin to compromise your vision and make changes that work against what you set out to do in the first place. They say that money is the root of all evil, and while there may be a bit of truth to that, it’s also the root of why you went into business in the first place.
More YouTube? Seriously. Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m a YouTube Junkie. I’m fond of surfing YouTube for new music, crazy videos, and a stress reliever from paperwork and editing. I’m not alone! YouTube is more of a symbol of the second reason most of us went into business.
To enjoy life.
Ah, the days of thinking that we would have more time to enjoy life when we started our own gig. Glorious. Then the cold realization that we would be working 3 times harder and for less money. Well, something like that. It’s important to take a breath here and there and have hobbies. Making time for YouTube, travel, or any other thing we enjoy should be a goal of anybody. If we lose the joy in what we do, we are truly sunk. Like money, when there is no joy, it’s over.
More Sleep? Ah, sleep rules. There, it’s been said. I know that I always say that losing sleep is one of the greatest keys to a successful business. Fair enough. We are, however, carbon based life forms. Carbon needs to rejuvenate. Sleep is part of how we keep ourselves healthy and alive. This may sound a little strange, but I’m also a believer that the worst kind of sleep is sleep that is not earned. There is nothing better than sleeping knowing that things are in check, the studio is doing it’s thing, and we’ve done everything we needed to get done during the day. Having a strong business plan and well established goals is the best way to good nights sleep. More security means more sleep. Business planning is also one of the best ways of earning a good night of rest. It’s also important to stay healthy. If our health starts slipping, our business will follow soon after.
Ah, there is it. My wish for me and my wish for you. It’s nothing fancy, nothing extravagant, and nothing too difficult to attain. Be bold and be brave. So, while you are working on that let me wish you a happy, prosperous, and fruitful December 3rd. . .I mean. . .New Year!
All the best!
I’ve been offering a workshop titled “Taking the Mystery Out of Color and Workflow” at Calumet Photographic and my studio. It is difficult to come up with notes and Keynote slides for a workshop that is so computer intensive, but I’ve put together a few slides and posted them here to aid in the note taking process. Please feel free to offer suggestions on what other notes could be added to make this workshop even better. Thanks to those who have attended. I look forward to offering even more classes and educational materials soon! Come back often for news and reports.
http://indigophotographic.com/blog/classnotes/workflow/
Here’s the opening slideshow just for kicks: