For Photogs

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My boyfriend, Ben & I, also have a personal blog where we talk about photography and our photography related adventures, check it out : benoline.com

We are also planning to join business some time in 2012, here is the beginning of our business blog together as Austin wedding photographers.
ShootQ is by far the best system to use for contracts, invoices, and everything I need to keep my business organized!

Do you need help right now?

I may need more photographers this year, but I hire photographers that want to work for me to help my business not to learn from me and most importantly, know how to work their camera- I also prefer Canon users :) Please DO NOT contact me if you are not available 95% of Saturdays.

If you are interested in working for me, please send me a direct e-mail (not through the contact form) [SweetCarolinePhoto (at) gmail.com] with a complete list of gear, experience, and a link to a website/portfolio.

I do my best to at least respond to everyone but sometimes I’m just too darn busy.

What’s your workflow like?

I have recently switched to LR3 for all of my edits.

What education do you have?

I am a nerd. I started photography classes my sophomore year of high school, I graduated in 3 years then went to Texas State University to receive a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts for photography, of which I received in 3.5 years. I loved school and it put me miles ahead of most people trying to start a photography business.

More info on how I got started into weddings gigs at this blog post.

What equipment do you use?

I use my 50mm 1.2 A LOT. I currently own:
(ALL Canon)
5d markII
5d markI
70-200mm 2.8L IS
135mm f2L
100mm f2.8 macro
85mm f1.8
50mm f1.2 (and f1.4 for back-up)
45mm 2.8 Tilt Shift
24mm 1.4L II
pocket wizards (3) flex tt5 and mini tt1
580exII
(2) 430exII
430ex
(not Canon)
Shootsac <3
black rapid R-strap
stands & umbrellas
Sennheiser Lapal mic system
Zoom H4n audio recorder

How do you light your images?

I’m pretty consistent, I use off-camera flash a lot because it’s rare that the lighting is juuuust right…. but sometimes it is and it’s awesome. I do pretty standard stuff with the flash for the most part, usually just to fill some times I get a little more creative during receptions, the 135 lens flare with back lighting is pretty awesome.

What kind of website do you have?

Customized wordpress blog designed by Nubby Twiglet

If you’d just like to ask me a question I’m more likely to answer here.

Some other questions photographers have asked :

For a relatively new photographer how would you reccommend them getting their name out there?

I’d have to say networking with photographers is a big one… work for other people so you have work to blog, blog a lot of relative content to get your google rank up, and facebook ads worked really well for me when I first started out- facebook is great to use when you start to shoot weddings of your own as well. I normally don’t work with photographers until I have known them for 6+ months, so keep that in mind when contacting other photographers.

Best business decision you’ve made thus far?

Networking with other photographers, no doubt.

When did you feel successful (as a business)? How long did it take after getting your business off the ground?Or do you still not feel successful (enough)?

Sometimes I feel successful sometimes I don’t.
I think I’ve done an amazing job getting started out in the business, I started to feel somewhat successful when I got into the same price range as the photographers I really respected in the area.
I don’t feel successful when I realize nobody knows who I am or probably ever will in this industry but that’s just how it is. In the end, I’m extremely happy and making money doing what I love – that is success enough for me.

Are you a Neil Diamond fan? Is that what inspired the business name?

I grew up around the song because my parents loved it so it only made sense for me to make that my business name… plus I didn’t think my last named Flowed very well for a photography business.

Do you feel that your style(s) of processing you images is “timeless”. Do you think people will still find it impressive in 5, 10 or 20 years? Do you keep that in mind while processing?

I’ve been getting more simple with my editing, I feel like it’s classic enough :)

What makes you happy?

Happy brides, my kitties, my boyfriend, and cheetos (but only the puffs).
as well as many other little things :)

Do you do individual adjustments/retouching to all or most of your photos, or is it mostly batch processing? My PP workflow is one (of the many) areas I need to work on. Any tips on speeding things up?

All of my photos get a basic color/contrast/exposure adjustment, I do a lot of ‘syncing’ in LR3.
A tip would be to make an action or preset for everything.

Have you thought about who would photograph your wedding (if you get married)?

Hah, oh yes… many people have crossed my mind including Ryan Brenizer and Ben Chrisman… Right now I’m a huge fan of Jeff Newsom.

I wanted to ask if there are any workshops you would recommend for photography in general and those dealing with lighting.

I actually have never been to a workshop before so I really don’t have any to recommend. I will be going to one in the next couple weeks though actually- Jeff Newsom’s. I learned most of my lighting skills from networking and 2nd shooting with other photographers and also quite a bit from Flickr forums. So I would say researching online and networking are essential. If you want to attend a workshop do research on it before hand, I typically don’t recommend going to a photographer’s first workshop. One of my favorite photogs/a friend does one in NYC a few times a year at a very reasonable price : Ryan Brenizer.