Monday, August 30, 2010

As September Creeps In




Hello and WOW...... Fall already...... OK we have a few weeks left but September will hit us in 48 hours.
As we start to wind down the summer fun and transition into the fall season now is the time to prepare for the upcoming indoor guests and impending holidays. What a great time to unveil and share a new wall family portrait.

I'm putting together a "Moab/Arches" trip for any families or couples wanting to meet me in Utah and capture their annual family images in one of God's Amazing National Parks. Contact me for more details. This is going to be a great time.


This past couple weeks has been crazy. My husband finished his Masters degree at Regis University, so we are celebrating this awesome accomplishment. I will plan an official celebration in December with commencements so stay tuned for more details.


September 9th is Excalibur's 9th birthday so to celebrate all these 9's I'm offering a special gift with every finished print order, the catch to this tell me, tell me you heard of the special gift.
So enjoy your week, start planning your Fall Activities and lets "Make Your Memories Happen".
Keep Seeing the Light.


Sunday, August 22, 2010

August 2010 comes to a close

As August comes to a close, I want to touch on a couple items that have been brought up to me over the past few weeks.

1) NO, it is not the end of Senior Season. If you haven't captured your senior images yet it is not to late, remember, graduation is usually in May which is several months away. So we still have time to capture your session and seniors can earn their personal DVD slide show of their Senior Adventure ask me how. Each school has their own deadline for yearbook submissions. Some schools have deadlines in September, others in October, November and I even have a few seniors that have schools with February 2011 deadlines. I cannot change the deadlines of your school so the yearbook images may or may not be included. Please do not let this determine if you are having your senior pictures captured, its not about a yearbook its about your senior year and Katherine Payne Photography offers the absolute best Senior Adventures around. Even the standard session is an adventure, so give a call and see how we can add to your Senior year with an exclusive Katherine Payne Photography Senior Adventure. Right now, the session fee is crazy affordable if you pre-invest $200 towards your finished images, your session fee is $50. Yes I said $50. If you don't think that is affordable, please drop me a note, I want to hear from you. Even if you went to the Mall Photography Outlets, you won't see them taking you on an Adventure with "REAL" natural backgrounds, not paper or muslin. Now I'm not going to just give it away, you must ask me for the promotion and pay a minimum of $200 towards your finished images by the day of your session. Seniors also earn free wallets. (If you are redeeming a Senior Rep Referral Card, talk about a good day, your session is free when you pre-invest.)

2) NO, not all my images are being uploaded to facebook or myspace. If you really care to know and if you have questions about this, please feel free to contact me personally and I will be happy to share with you all the reasons why you only see limited images and limited clients on my facebook page or the Katherine Payne Photography facebook site. Its not personal its business.

So enjoy the brief sneak peek at Brittany's senior session which we spent the entire day together and captured 4 times the number of images you see in this clip.

Take Care and keep seeing the light.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Voices of Reality Show - Internet TV Programming

Hello again,

On August 13, 2010, I was a guest on the Voices of Reality Internet TV Program
http://www.voicesofreality.com/
representing Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. With me Lindsay Hannagan from HQ and two of my very special Mom's and friends; Rachel Hall and Brianna Campbell spoke with our host: Kasha Fauscett. Please visit the site to replay the feed. It has 3 parts:


Part 1: http://www.livestream.com/voiceofreality/video?clipId=pla_fbbce2ed-df5a-424c-925a-547abfe2e2dd&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Part 2:
http://www.livestream.com/voiceofreality/video?clipId=pla_91ea4cfe-9173-42fe-8493-6c0d4ba28ad8&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
Part 3:
http://www.livestream.com/voiceofreality/video?clipId=pla_c70e01f6-17b6-4735-b0df-cb1151deaca3&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

This was our first experiencing working with Voices of Reality and meeting the staff/crew and Kasha. I feel we were able to share the mission of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. Please feel free to contact me personally if you have questions or if you would like to get involved in the program as a volunteer.

This Friday's program with Kasha is about Teen Suicide and she will be joined by a couple of Moms who lost their daughters to suicide. Please visit the video of Brianna who's Mom will be talking with Kasha this Friday, August 20, 2010:
http://photos.clearmountainproductions.com/Videos/Brianna/12727987_e55tq#916591788_vVfEP

Please tune in this Friday at http://www.voicesofreality.com/ to help support this local Colorado group.

Voices of Reality have graciously agreed to partner and work with me and the Denver Group for the upcoming Help-Portrait event on December 4th so I am thrilled to make yet another wonderful connection with a great group from Colorado.

Keep seeing the light.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Profound Thoughts


Sharing some profound thoughts. Sometimes as a professional photographer I get asked a variety of questions, requests and also demands. As I mentor young and upcoming photographers I am met with similar questions and because of this, I am going to share some of my thoughts on a few business thoughts. I am confident that for the most part Photographers are Artists and they want people to enjoy, love and ultimately want their images, so much so that some photographers are known for giving away their images either free or at little cost. Now this isn’t a bad idea if you want to be a hobbyist photographer, and advance some of your skills. However; there is a stigma that comes along with not charging for your work and like it or not you may find yourself in a position which will feel like forever as being known as the “Cheap picture person, photographer, artist, creator (you pick the title, it still is the free or cheap photographer at the end of the day)”. It is extremely hard, if not sometimes impossible, to break out of the stereotype of giving away your images without any regard to your talent once that opinion is set in concrete. That doesn’t even touch on the issue of giving away your digital files to be modified or compromised, that is simply a slap in your face. It takes time to learn and perfect your craft, it takes money to purchase quality professional cameras and lenses (and yes you can purchase a digital SLR and set it to AUTO and shoot in JPG, but that doesn’t make you a professional photographer or an artist) it also takes money to continue your ever growing education, supporting professional organizations in the industry such as PPA, WPPI, etc. (I’ll only add one thought to think about, do you go to a doctor that isn’t board certified or doesn’t hold a license to practice medicine?). Ultimately the “Free/Cheap” photographer is damaging the Professional Industry and not only leaving a forever scar on their potential professional future but the overall integrity of quality portraiture and professional images. I could spend so much time on this that it could bore the frost off of a frozen steak but I’m not going to. My point is simple, you get what you pay for, the experience and ultimate final images are forever and I prefer to think of myself as an image maker and story teller, not a picture taker. Be proud of what you are getting, the piece of art which is being created personally for you of you or your family is not to be taken lightly, it is an heirloom in the works. If you go to an auto dealer, don’t expect your car purchased at “Bullwinkle’s Used Car” to roll out like a new Cadillac Escalade. It just doesn’t work that way. My clients do not go to auto dealers and say “show me the cheapest thing you have on the lot”, they educate themselves in what they are looking for and shop appropriately. Have you ever thought of going to a quality auto dealer and if they have a “cheaper model”, do you not want to ask “WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT”.
Now on the flip side of that coin, I’ll tell you I do want people to love my work and ultimately I make many avenues available so that Katherine Payne Photography is affordable even when it doesn’t appear to be possible. Between my promotions and referral programs, my return clients find updating their wall portraits a matter of routine. I do offer web share/digital files so my clients can share their personal images on Facebook or MySpace or their personal blogs with limited restrictions. I am also willing to sell my digital files on an individual image basis if that is something my client is looking for. I’ve kept an open door to listening to all possible questions and sometimes the answer is yes, so I guess in closing, the best advice I can give is if you want it, need it or desire it, you must first ask for it. My crystal ball doesn’t read the minds of potential clients so make the call, start the dialogue and start a lasting relationship capturing your images and writing your stories.
Look forward to hearing from you!
Best Regards Always
Katherine