Vistaphotography

   Hi, I’m Jeff and my studio is Vistaphotography. You might be asking what a kids portrait party is? It’s where I (Vistaphotography) will come out to the home of the hostess and either set up in the house or weather permitting, set up a large tent in the yard as my studio. All the hostesses does, is have their friends bring their children over for a play date and then they bring them one by one to my “studio” for a portrait session.
The client (or hostess) holding the “party”  will provide refreshments and mail out invitations (which I supply) to their friends and the hostess will receive credits based on number of sessions booked with up to 15% of the total amount of the purchases made by their friends being used towards their own kids portraits.  The number of friends that schedule a party of their own on that day also contributes a credit to the hostesses account.

Now if you say that this sounds like a Tupperware party then you’d be correct. It’s an effort for me to get my work out in front of parents so they can see their favorite subject, their kids…

I had read about this party idea in a PPA,  (Professional Photographers of America) magazine and I went and called the photographer in North Carolina  who was profiled in the magazine. She told me all about the process she goes through. She has been running her studio for 21 years so I figured I would try this.

Lessons learned… There is a reason that the NC photog told me only one child in a session! Because if the kids aren’t in a mood to sit still, then it becomes play time and they will not stay in frame.  I had some good shots depending on the mood and age of the kids. I would say based on one outing that you should strive for a single child so you can give them your undivided attention. 

  If you have a parent saying they only want a shot of the siblings together…  I would say to tell the parent that you will try and if the shots work, great! If not then tell them that you will come to their home and reshoot in a familiar environment where they may relax and take some direction.

Because if you can’t get the kids to stay together then it will be real hard. I plan to try this with the mother who was up first with her two boys and told me straight out that she can never get a good shot of them together. I got some good (not great) shots when I focused on one or the other but not both in the same frame.  I guess Photoshop is always an option.

Jeff Folger
www.vistaphotos.net

(If any photographers out there want to try this and want to purchase all the forms and information sheets that I’ve created then drop me a line and I’ll give you my paypal account to deposit to and I’ll send you a PDF package.)

  I (Vistaphotography) was down in Salem yesterday looking to work on perfecting my firework technique.  Here is an article link to the Salem News online describing the days events. I find that even after years of practice, getting good fireworks shots are one of the harder things to capture but with practice (roughly once a year) I’m getting the hang of it.    As always people like to get a good seat early so in an attempt to also get a good vantage point I arrived a little after 3PM. Already there were tarps spread here and there (similar to a dog marking his territory), a fireworks watcher will lay down a blanket to mark their spot.

Lisa wasn’t feeling well so I was alone all afternoon… with several hundred others mind you… I was lucky though and a park ranger stopped to talk and was nice enough to mind my camera for me while I answered a call of nature (the downside of doing this alone).
As the afternoon wore on and the threat of rain diminished, more and more people began to fill in and by 9PM there must have been 6-10 thousand people filling the park in front of the Customs house next to the Salem Friendship. Several bands played and over by Capn’s restaurant they had a DJ for the kids. It was a little tough hearing the DJ on one side of me and the band testing their gear on the other side of the park.
It was a little chilly but the weather was near perfect for fireworks. As you can see I tried to include the masts of the Friendship in my shots and I think most of them came out pretty good.

I have these shots up on my website vistaphotos under fireworks. If you are going to “borrow” one I do require that you link back to me as a minimum (it’s only fair) and if you would like a very high quality shot for your wall visit my site and check my photography out. (There are also some nice shots from Marblehead’s fireworks also)

Jeff

  Shooting weddings and tattoos at Danversport Yacht Club.

Sorry for the hiatus but wordpress has been acting up… I don’t know if it was the software or my server or gremlins.     Anyway 

I had the pleasure of photographing a gorgeous bride and her beau at the Prestigious Danversport yacht Club in Danvers Ma. The bride, Erin hired Vistaphotography last year and I got with them back in late march/early April to meet at the venue when it was pretty cool so I never saw any of her tattoos.
I walked in to the prep room after her bridesmaids told me, she was properly attired and I saw the tattoo covering her upper chest.  As you can see from this angle it covers much of her and it’s not the only one in evidence.

She isn’t the first bride to display tattoos at a wedding but this amount were the most I’d seen at a wedding. It doesn’t really affect how I shoot so it doesn’t really matter and anything that makes a wedding stand out in my mind is a good thing.

I think they didn’t really understand why I wanted them to do certain things such as this shot at the railing overlooking the harbor. I yelled at her to (I was down on the rocks trying not fall in) pretend that she was in the movie “Titanic” and on the bow of the ship.  When she understood what I wanted, she got into the spirit of the play acting and with Lisa shooting from behind them and me from my angle, I think you’ll agree that the shots came out very nice.    To me the biggest part of getting special pictures is getting the bride and groom to relax while you are snapping away.  The second they can forget that you are there, is the second you had better be ready to capture a magic moment.
They relaxed a few times this evening and according to them I faded into the background noise and they hardly noticed me the rest of the evening.  Lisa and I got the usual detail shots and cake and first dance and the results are good. But it’s those moments when I manage to get a couple to just be themselves and ignore me that I can capture the magic that is the basis for their coming together. I can capture their feeling for each other and preserve them forever..

Jeff

Downtime?? You may be wondering how I could be having downtime… Well mostly this is in reference to my webhost. Maybe you noticed that my site and blogs were down for the past three days.. and then maybe not. But I know those that advertise with me were calling wondering when their ads would run again for free??

This picture is the way I really prefer my downtime to be… Contemplating the ocean waves brushing up against the sand at my feet and the sun just rising over the horizon.
Yes that is my idea of downtime… Not relocating my website to a new webhost, backing up my website and uploading it to the new server and then rebuilding my databases… Oh what fun… I hope you enjoy the picture….

My next issue will be of a wedding at the Danversport Yacht Club from last weekend…