Hey Girl, Nice Shot

Textures For You

When I was in Portland I started to take more pictures of textures that I came across to incorporate into my photography.  And because you've all been so nice and supportive, I'm sharing my 10 new textures with you.

These are all images from all over Portland so I'm calling them the Portland Texture Mix.  Everything from bark on a tree to rusty metal. 

Here's a picture I took on my vacation of friends Brandon and Jenn (thanks for modeling).

And here's the version with two of the textures from this set and a vignette added...

So fun.  You can download a zip file with all 10 textures here:

Download PortlandTextures_1.zip | Download PortlandTextures_2.zip

Please be nice and don't resell my textures.  Also, please don't package them up and rehost them as if they were your own.  Thanks!

ETA: Here are the thumbnails of the textures so you see what you are getting in the downloads...

Because you asked...

Um, yeah, this is WAY off topic but I've had a couple of questions about where we went when we were in Portland so here's the rundown...

Hotel: Hotel Monaco.  It was awesome with Starbucks coffee and Tazo tea service in the morning, cocktail hour at 5pm, and a beautiful room.  Walking to lots of great shopping and food.

Thursday we arrived later than we had planned and just grabbed a quick lunch at the Italian place Pazzo around the corner from our hotel.  I had the chicken panini and it was pretty good and I liked the sweet potato fries it came with.  Our friends seemed to like their pasta dishes too.

Dinner Thursday was at the Portland version of El Gaucho.  When we lived in Seattle (which now seems like a million years ago although it was only about 7 years), we frequented the Seattle El Gaucho where you could get an awesome table side Caesar salad, Chateaubriand for two, and a chocolately dessert to get us through the night.  Those same items were on the menu although the salad was not as good as I remembered (but still yummy).  We added the Lobster Mashed Potatoes to our table which were sooo yummy.  I would not have thought of making a lobster gravy but when eating to excess, that was a nice touch.  Thankfully I didn't see the bill for our feast but I'm sure glad this was on our list.

Friday we had big plans for breakfast...Mother's Bistro.  The friends that we were traveling with had been many times before and another friends had told us to be sure not to miss breakfast there.  I was so glad we were in the sunny bright dining room right next to the window so we could take in the sights.  I had the Stuffed Frittata and Jay had the Crunch French Toast...both of which were yummy and hearty portions.

After breakfast we drove around a little bit then we visited the Japanese Garden.  I could have stayed there all day.  It was around 50 degrees so walking around was comfortable.  Not much was blooming yet but the quiet of the winter look was actually pretty relaxing for me.  If I were visiting in the summer I would definitely add some time to my schedule to check out the International Rose Garden which is right next to the entrance to the Japanese Garden.

We walked around some and visited Powell's Bookstore among some other stores.  We visited Henry's Tavern for beers before heading out to find a sushi place for lunch.  Henry's, by the way, has a very cool ice strip around the bar that you can rest your beer on to keep it icy cold.  Neato!  We asked for a sushi recommendation from just about everyone who would listen and went out in search of Sinju which is located across the street from Jamison Square on Washington.  We don't get to eat very much sushi here in the suburbs of Houston so it was a very nice treat and we definitely stuffed ourselves with two rounds of sushi plus some really yummy plum wine.

If you are wondering where to find the windows where I took the pictures (one with the shutters and one with my friend sitting up in it) it was the walls of an old building that are now around a parking lot on the corner of NW 10th and NW Johnson.  It looked like it could be a great little area for portraits!  For something fun...check out this location with Google Maps and click on the street view option to see the actual intersection!!!

After some rest time in our rooms we were ready to make our way to dinner.    Our first stop was the Bo Restobar where we had a cocktail.  Our drinks were not well made and the demographic of the bar was kind of all over the place (everything from the 70 year old woman having a cocktail to the guy with cats printed on his coat).  After that we headed to the Tugboat Brewing company where we did enjoy some yummy beers and a bowl of olives.  We like olives. 

We finally made it to our dinner spot....Park Kitchen.  We enjoyed chatting with Jaime, the bar manager while we waited for our table to be ready.  Let me start with YUM!  Our waitress (Holly?) was awesome and every time she described a dish we wanted to eat it!  She should totally write the copy for the menus!  We just couldn't decide so we went for the Chef's Tasting instead.  I can tell you the absolute standout was the Pork Loin over cornbread stuffing.  We were all trying to get that one last bite as we shared all the dishes.  We were the last diners in the place and when Holly switched us off to another server it was a seamless transition.  Actually, that guy was so funny talking to us that our faces actually hurt when we left from laughing so much (sorry, I don't know his name though).  And I'm a little fuzzy on the details but SOMEONE recommended we check out Screen Door for breakfast...which we did...see below.

Our big plan for Saturday was to head out to the beach but we knew we wanted to check out The Screen Door for breakfast first.  We were up pretty early since we never really got used to the time difference so we drove around looking at neighborhoods while we waited for the restaurant to open (not till 9!!!).  We arrived at the opening and stood in line for a table but only waited a few minutes to be seated. They had both a standard brunch menu and a large list of "specials" which looked more seasonal (and fantastic).  It was actually a little overwhelming because there seemed to be so many choices.  I decided to go with the Corned Beef Hash which was topped with spinach and a creamy mustard sauce.  I'm a savory breakfast kind of girl so it was great for me.  Jay had the chicken and waffles.  It is really hard to describe...imagine three fried chicken breasts with a spicy seasoning stacked on top of a sweet potato waffle and pinned together using a steak knife instead of a toothpick.  Yum!  Our one friend had biscuits and gravy (everyday for breakfast) and claimed it was the best he had in they city.  And the french toast looked more like a dessert so no complaints there.  And don't forget the Praline Bacon which was YUMMY!!! 

After that meal we really wanted to take naps but the beach was calling so we made the drive to Cannon Beach.  The day was beautiful so we walked and walked to walk off that breakfast. It was great driving through the mountains and seeing snow, and suddenly the ocean is in front of you!  After all that walking we headed to Bill's Tavern for lunch.  Our friends had eaten great meals there before but we did not have a stellar meal this time.  The beer was good but we had to send our friend's soup back twice because it was not hot.  I will say I did enjoy my tuna melt.    We hit the candy store on the way home (where I got Jay a peanut butter cup the size of his fist because I could) and made the drive back over the mountains.

Our last real meal in Portland was at Ten 01.   Erica, the sommelier, knew the husband of the third couple so I think she took extra good care of us.  My meal was fantastic.  I had sweet onion-cauliflower soup for my appetizer which was a creamy soup topped with spicy lamb sausage, almonds and golden raisins.  I really liked it.  And to carry through the theme I had the roasted lamb chops for my dinner which were cooked perfectly and came with goat cheese gnocchi.  Having eaten in Portland for a few days we noticed three ingredients that were really popular....goat cheese, meyer lemons, and beets.  One of our friends had the heirloom beet salad and she let me try a taste.  All I can say is....where does one buy heirloom beets because I would eat that every day!  The pastry chef was on fire that night too because we had some fantastic desserts including Chocolate Whiskey Cake, Olive Oil Beingets, and a peanut butter and jelly creme brulee (which was awesome).  We did have a service slowdown between apps and dinner but I hardly noticed because I had so many different wines in front of me.  :-)

Back in Town

Well, I'm back home after an awesome vacation to Portland OR.  If you have not yet been and are looking for a fun get-a-way, head that way.  We were so lucky with fantastic weather the entire time we were there.  It was fun to get away from portrait photography for a few days (although the couple we traveled with humored me and let me take a few pictures of them here and there).  You can see my personal pictures on Flickr if you'd like to see what there was to see.  The Japanese Gardens were so relaxing and beautiful, and large!  And the drive to Cannon Beach was totally worth it.  We drove up into mountains, got to see snow for the first time in years, and then all of a sudden, the ocean is in front of us!

Living in the suburbs of Houston, I forget sometimes how cool it is to live in an urban environment where we could just walk to almost everything!

While I was there I took a TON of texture photos...rusty metal, mossy concrete, sand and more so as soon as I get them cleaned up I'll be offering them for free downloads to add to your tool set.

Not as Easy as it Looked...

I really like newborn photo sessions.  I love all the little bits and pieces and knowing that they are only going to be that small for a REALLY short time.  Up until now most of my sessions centered around JUST the baby and that was a-okay with me.  But last week I went to the Bellies and Babies workshop an a big part of it was a segment showing us 5 standard poses for newborns - all of which were relationship poses with one or both parents.  And as luck would have it a mom called me to schedule a session for her two week old so the stars seemed aligned.

Now, I took lots of notes, studied them before my session, and tried to remember what we saw during the workshop.  Seriously, Sandy Puc made it look so easy!  She just zip zip zip and tada,  beautiful relationship style family pictures.  I, however, will need some practice because I was having a hard time making the poses look comfortable.  So, I'll definitely need to work on that.

That is not to say the whole thing was a wash.  I did get some lovely pictures - it was just not the easy breezy session I had hoped for.  Here's one I liked.  I was standing on my posing basket to give me some height.

And the really good news is we got some killer individual pictures of the baby...I can't wait to redo my newborn gallery.

I'm signing off the the weekend.  I'm taking the weekend off for a trip with my dear husband...our first together without the kids!

What were you?

Before I started my business, but after I started my family, I would meet lots of other stay at home moms at play dates, or exercise class and we'd become friends over playdoh.  Eventually the question always came up, "What did you do before you had kids?".

Now that I've been in business for almost a year and the business is growing very nicely, I'll sometimes get asked by other photographers that are also just starting out..."what did you do before you had photography?". 
The quick answer....for about 10 years I was a web developer, trainer, and technical project manager. 

Is any of this really shocking?  In many ways my previous career path put me in a great position for owning my own business.  My management experience has helped me setup my business, my web developer background has made it easier for me to create and maintain an online identity, and the trainer...well, that taught me patience!  Also, since web development was such a fast moving industry, I was constantly learning and that is exactly how I feel about photography too!  I'm looking forward to taking my next class (The Secret Workshop - Austin, hooray), I just attended the Bellies and Babies workshop (which I'll get to put into practice later today), and I read constantly as I work to improve both my photography skills and business skills! 

I worked for a long time as a contractor and I got used to thinking about my time in terms of $$ so I don't consider any work I do to be "free".  This one is important because I think many new photographers don't include the hours they work accurately into their pricing...they figure if they work a few hours at night it doesn't really cost them anything...where as I think, this should work out to $x to make it worth it.  My time is not free and yours shouldn't be either.  Put an hourly rate on what you do and then look again at what you are charging...are you REALLY charging enough (and if you are charging $12 for an 8x10 the answer is VERY likely no!). 

So this begs the question....what did you do before photography (if such a thing existed)?

Counting Ponies

It was 2:45 am and I was wide awake.  Before bed the night before I had written down a list of all things I need to get done each day for the next week and a half.  It was a little overwhelming.  On days like this I frequently wake up between 2-3 and have trouble going back to sleep.  Usually I find it is best to just get up, knock one thing off my list, then go back to bed.  So tonight, I'm counting ponies, not sheep.

Saturday I took pictures at a Princess Pony Birthday Party.  So I had lots of pony pictures and most of them were individual pictures of the kids from the party riding the ponies.  I had offered to the mom to show her a picture of each kid and if she wanted to I could give her a discount rate on 4x6s if she just wanted to order one of each kid for their thank you cards...which she thought was a great idea.

Now, normally it takes me a while to proof because I like to fine tune each image but in this case, I only did adjustments in lightroom to enhance the color of each image and I used lightroom to also create the proof site that I can send to the mom to OK the prints.  This needed to be a down and dirty activity because I wasn't going to make the same money on these prints as on a the portraits or even other birthday party pictures.  And because I needed to turn around time to be much faster due to the urgency to get the prints made for thank you notes.

Some days I wonder if I should stop offering the birthday party packages. I know I don't charge enough for the actual time it takes me.  But, I have found it is a great way to network for clients, and I almost always have decent add-on sales from the party.  There is one circle of friends whom I've taken pictures of four of their birthday parties - it seems now I'm in their network and I expect that'll pay off! 

So there you have it..a random thought at 3:25 am.  Back to sleep for me...counting ponies.

Bellies and Babies

What were you doing late Tuesday night?  I was busy attending the Houston segment of the Bellies and Babies tour!  I couldn't wait to see what Sandy "Sam" Puc had to say about maternity and newborn photography.  It was well worth the $69 admission fee.  The discount coupons alone more than made made up for the cost.

I loved the newborn segment.  Most of the newborn sessions I've photographed have been individual photos like the one above.  Very little relationship style photography.  I really didn't know how to pose mom and dad with the newborn.  So now I feel that I can confidently do so.  If you feel that posing is something you need help with...this will certainly send you in the right direction.

I found that the maternity portion was lacking but since I really don't see myself doing much in the way of maternity sessions that isn't a problem for me.  It was a very short segment and essentially the message was "each pregnant woman requires individual consideration" rather than their being standard poses for maternity.

The business portion was interesting.  It certainly validated my current path marketing efforts. 

So, if you are looking to kick start your maternity and newborn segments this is an excellent value.  And look for next year's children's seminars at a city near you!

An added bonsu was getting to meet a bunch of other photographer friends from the I Love Photography board at a pre-workshop meetup.  Including a fan of this site (hi Claire!).

Office Hours

I recently had a question from Terra:

Do you set specific "OFFICE HOURS" within which to do the business side of your business, or do you just answer the phone whenever it rings, squeeze in work time here and there among the busy-ness of life, etc.?

I have to admit, this is something I definitely have trouble with.  I do have a nanny three days a week which is when I do the majority of my work.  I only schedule sessions for times I have child care...I do not try to do a session with my kids in tow.  I want to make sure I can give my client my full attention and I know that I cannot do that if I had my kids with me.  I've heard some photographers talk about being able to have a session with their kids (and I'm talking young children) but I personally cannot imagine.

For phone calls, I do have an 800 number that I have setup with certain "office hours" which are based on the hours that I regularly have a nanny scheduled.  During those hours the calls will ring through to my cell and home phone numbers so I can connect.  However, during the non-office hours the callers go directly to voice mail.  This system seems to be working pretty well.  I use Ring Central for my 800 number and I've been happy with the service and found it pretty easy to setup.

Now, email is a whole other issue.  Because I can read and respond to email even when I have my kids running around.  I can read and respond to email at night when I'm watching TV.  I can read and respond to email when I wake up in the middle of the night.  Not surprisingly, I'm having a much harder time dealing with the time I spend on email.  I'm anxious when I'm away for too long. 

Part of me really wants to limit my work time to the hours I have a nanny but I have found that it is unlikely that I can get everything done in that time.  I have started trying harder to have what I call "housewife" days where I do some sort of activity with the kids, maybe do some laundry and dishes during naptime, and even make dinner.  But those are the exceptions rather than the rule.  I'm much more likely to fill in all the spaces of time with work.  Not a great balance but I'm trying to figure out what will work best for me and not leave me stressed out about things that are left undone.  There is always more to do than the time I have but that is a good thing.