Jessica & Jim Flower Farm Wedding - Loomis, CA

I've been rather slow at getting these up apparently, but better late than never right? It's always fun to have a little Christmas holiday flashback the next month! Anyways, last month I worked with Georgette again, and second shot a wedding with her at The Flower Farm in Loomis. I hadn't worked with her since that rainy day back in June, but it was great to see her again and use the skills I had learned over the months inbetween. Jessica & Jim were an excellent couple to work with, and not even the cold December weather could get them down on their fantastic wedding day. So much attention to detail was used in creating their winter themed wedding. The bride looked stunning in her beautiful lace and sparkle gown, paired with nothing less than a fabulous pair of cowboy boots to rock the night away! Thank you so much for having me work with you Georgette. I had a blast!
To see Georgette's blog post of the day, feel free to click here!
After we finished inside the reception area, we headed over to the town house where Jessica and her bridesmaids were getting ready for the ceremony.
Then, it was a quick stop over to a smaller house on the property to photograph Jim with a few of his groomsmen.
Jessica stepped in to her gorgeous gown surrounded by her friends and family, looking simply stunning. All of her bridemaids were so supportive helping her get her boots on after being laced up tight! Before we knew it, it was time to get married!
Georgette took the reins and rocked out the family formals as well as the bride & groom photos while the light began to fade. Once the sun was gone, it was time to take Jessica & Jim inside to start the party!
Working with Georgette at Jessica & Jim's wedding was a great way to end 2011 for me. I fell even more in love with working weddings after photographing this fantastic couple! Thanks again to Georgette for inviting me along to work with her. After rounding out 2011, I cannot wait to see what the rest of this year has in store for me!

A little bit about ME! - Northern California Wedding & Portrait Photographer

It's coming up on a year since I became an "official" business, and with that I felt it was time to do some changes. Of course, I've got the new product coming in, the new business cards, etc. etc. but after scrolling through my website the other day and reading my "about me" section, I felt it didn't really say much about ME! Sure, it had the long wordy back story of how I got in to the business, but nothing really about me as a person! It's been a little hard to work personal things in to the postings, but maybe that will be a goal for me for 2012. I want my viewers to feel like they know me, or know something about me that we might share in common! After an afternoon of revising and editing, I'm pleased to present to you the revamped "About Me" section of my website! You can view it as part of the site at http://www.photogbyem.com/ along with my revised investment page. I've got a few tricks up my sleeves to come next month for the one year "birthday" so hang tight and wait for some things that will be awesome!

photo credit: Ariana at Silver Daisies Studios. She's the bomb.

2012 New Product - moo cards

Since the rebranding began, I knew one of the first things I needed to get done quickly were new business cards. Spending a lot of time looking at my old cards and wondering how anyone managed to read them (really. they were pretty busy!) I wanted to create something clean and simple. At the same time, I wanted them to be fun and possibly even a conversation piece. After meeting up with some photographers in Vegas last year at WPPI 2011 and seeing their cards, I knew exactly what company I wanted to use.
These moo cards are great, in the sense that they are quite simaler to the idea of baseball trading cards. When I was younger, I had stacks and stacks of various trading cards, and having this "flash back" with my new product was so much fun! Each card has the same front with my contact information, but all of the backs are various photos that I chose to display.
Since I'm currently focusing on bringing in the Wedding/Engagement crowd, that was the theme I went for with my cards. I picked some of my favorite images from weddings and portrait sessions and made them the back of my cards! Just so you can see all the options, here are my favorite images, grouped together by category.
I'm so excited to take these with me to Vegas next month (about 25 days!) and share them with my friends from last year as well as the new people I meet. Of course, I will also be sharing them around locally, so If we run in to each other here in California or there in Las Vegas, don't forget to pick your favorite!

2012 New Product - Gallery Wrap Canvas

I know it has been pretty quiet around here since the new year rolled around, but believe me, there are some good things coming! I have a wedding I second shot last month with Georgette that I still need to blog, plus a few posts like this one that are super awesome annoucements! The first of my sample products came quite awhile ago, and I had to anxiously await the new year in order to show them off. These are my gallery wrap canvas samples that I will be able to show you awesome clients when it is time to order your prints and enlargements from your sessions.

Since the main focus of my business right now is in the direction of weddings and engagements, that's what my first set of samples are. Don't worry though! These are especially fantastic for family portrait sessions as well. The great thing about the canvas wraps is that your portraits are created to hang like a piece of art on your wall. No frames are needed!

If you hang out on pinterest at all like I do, there are tons of different ideas for wall hangings using different shapes and sizes of canvas wraps. Yes! Canvas collections are something I will be offering this year at ordering appointments, and can even help you mock up your photos to create the perfect canvas collection for your wall space.

Of course, I had to show off the backs of these things, just to show you how great they are made. Everything is pulled tight and steady with no loose edges or back pieces. These samples are all 16x20, and came with the hanger on the back attatched and ready to go on to a wall. Talk about no reason to leave them sitting around!

New Look & New Changes for 2012

It has been just over a week since I shared my new logo, and I’m so very excited to continue on bringing you the new and improved everything. It’s not just about looks, it’s all about making everything the best I can for YOU as clients and friends. I have a whole bunch of new sample products coming in the next few weeks, plus I will be back in Vegas next month for WPPI and will probably come home with even more new ideas, tips, tricks and things to share with all of you. So this post right here can be considered just the tip of the iceberg. I’ll start off by sharing a few of the main changes so I can figure out better which items should be laid out one post at a time.
Session Fees:
I had been asked for months by other professionals as to why I was underpricing myself so greatly as a photographer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give them a good answer. There has been an increasing interesting in my services, so effective this year, session fees have been raised to $125. This could cover anything from a small family of four, high school seniors, or a basic engagement session. Also, session fees no longer include the digital negatives in any format. I want to be able to make sure you are getting the exact quality you are paying for, and unfortunately image and print quality are lost when a professional printer is not used. As always, for better details on what session fees entail, please feel free to send me an email at photogbyem@gmail.com
Gift Certificates:
I have redesigned my gift certificates (and LOVE them, by the way) to make everything better for you! Originally, they were designed for a session fee plus 8x10 included, and you had that option and only that option to send as a gift. The way the gift certificates have been redesigned is that they are for whatever amount YOU would like to gift towards their session or product from it. The choice is in your hands, making it that much more personal!
Wedding Collections:
This year, I have created four fantastic wedding collections that include wedding coverage, product and engagement sessions. I wanted to make sure I was offering the best I could, as well as not throwing in too much "fluff" to confuse everyone. My collections are very basic and quick to the point. If you're getting married in 2012, send me an e-mail! I'd be more than happy to set up a meeting with you and send you a collection pricing sheet!
So here’s to a good 2012, and I cannot wait to share more with you soon :)