New Logo!

After considerably too much time, it is FINALLY time to show everyone my new logo! I am now trying to incorporate my logo into any and every thing that has to do with my business. You'll notice some changes on my blog, website, and about everything else that I have had previously to make things current and cohesive.

Branding is really important now days. You want people to look at any part of your business and get a feel for who you are. The number one way to do this is with a logo. Your logo should communicate who you are, what kind of work you are presenting, and it should appeal to your target market.

I tried to make my own logo for MONTHS. Somehow, the right one always escaped me. Finally after more hours than I care to admit I hired a friend of mine, Arno Enzerink, to design my logo. Let me tell you one thing graphic designers deserve every penny they earn. They have to do a lot of revisions! At least in my case. I am still amazed that I spent all this time and couldn't come up with anything, but Arno could come up with my logo after a few questions and a few weeks. Amazing.... just goes to show you I am not a graphic designer.

Thanks again Arno!

We all need a little help

I didn't know if I was going to get one of these in this week! This week has been CRAZY! I have been preparing for a show and a job possibility. The job possibility ended up being an offer. I was hired by Morrie's automotive group, along with two other photographers, to photograph all the cars in their inventory and then once that is finished continue to photograph all the cars new cars that come in. What a relief it is, to have reliable work in the present climate. I'm really thankful.

For all you other photographers out there, I would have never gotten this job without networking! I was recommended for the job by Jason Gallus, another photographer in the area and for that I will be forever grateful! Also I've always been somebody who is more than willing to help out a friend or colleague, it was amazing to have him take time out of his busy schedule to help the myriad of questions I've been shooting his way since I've been home. All this does, is reinforce my attitude about helping out people who come to me.

One more notch...

As all of you just found out, I have been working on logos, watermarks, and all the other things that go into branding yourself. This has been a LONG arduous journey that is almost at a close and I am so happy to have it finished. I'll talk more about that later though...

Last weekend, I went back to my Grandparents farm. Normally when I am there all I do is eat, maybe that is pretty much still what happened but, this time I did manage to take a few pictures. Two of these images I actually left a crab dinner to take. I wish I could control when the sun rises and sets!

What is a family eating a crab dinner for in the middle of a MN winter?? It's an excuse to get together!! I love this tradition, maybe someday we'll come up with one that doesn't revolve around food, but until then I am always happy to head to my grandparent's house to gain a couple of pounds. :)

Snow Day!!!

I don't know how many of you know this but, I am from Minnesota. Go figure that here in the North we get some major snow. For the most part this year has been exceedingly light in that department but, Thursday we finally get a storm. I had been kind of complaining about how I haven't been shooting as much as I would have liked so well everyone else was busy trying to avoid the weather, I called my friend Kim and we went out to embrace it. It was great to get out shooting again. Here are some of my favorites!

Working on a series

This is part three in the RMSP series. After we got down to classwork one of the first big assignments that we received was to build a slideshow. It had to contain 25 images. That is a lot of images when you are looking for quality!! I worked on a couple of prospects and actually built two different slideshows. This is a series on plantlife. I don't think that they were expecting a perfect slideshow from anyone, all they really wanted to see was that you were willing to spend the time on a personal project. As photographers, we have to be working on projects as much as possible. I can always go out and take one picture but, being able to put them together into a cohesive theme or story is ESSENTIAL. Instead of selling one picture, I can sell a series of four or five for a lot more money. Also when a client gets more options they are usually happier. This group of images really doesn't have any story or narrative since we weren't required to do that but, if you can do that it always helps!

A Quick Update

So last night at the ASMP meeting, I found out the results of the 8x10 Juried Exhibition and I am extremely happy to say that my lighthouse image now named "Coastal Dream" won one of the three awards of merit! I was very excited to have my work accepted let alone win. There were a lot of great images and I am honored that the judges thought mine stood out enough to win.

All of the images will be shown at West Photo 21 University Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413. The show begins on March 20th and runs a month. Stop by and see!

The price of comfort....29.99

I don't know about anybody else but, my laptop gets really hot. I actually worry about it. I mean all of my other equipment fails, sooner or later I know my laptop will also. I just picked up a Belkin cooling pad and I really like it.

I grudgingly purchased a cooling pad and I have to say I am SO happy with it. I don't have temperature readings so there is no precise measurements here but, I bet it has dropped my computers running temperature by 15-20 degrees. I just wanted to share with you. Belkin also makes some other models. I just got the cheap one. Have a look if your legs or palms are burning in the future.