The fireworks 4th of July fireworks  once again fly over Marblehead and yet again gives justification to their being selected as Coastal Magazines #1 fireworks display on the east coast. and as usual I’m back out there looking for a new vantage point to capture the fireworks.  This is a shot from Fort Beach just below Fort Sewall. and more can be seen here.

The location is a quaint sea town that has grown up on the sea trade over the years and here Independence Day continues to take on an important meaning.

Fort Sewall’s (the row of flares on the left) most important moment in history was on Sunday, April 3, 1814 when the U.S. Navy’s Constitution, being chased by two British frigates, escaped into Marblehead Harbor under the protection of the fort’s guns.

Here in this picture you can see Fort Sewall on the left point of land with the flares glowing.

The flares are part of Marblehead’s Harbor Illumination where the town hands out flares for residents to put along any of their properties that have water frontage.  Then, Glover’s regiment fires a canon to let everyone on the harbor know that it’s time to light their flares all at the same time.  It makes everyone jump at least a foot and no one has any doubts that a canon was just fired…

This is quite the sight to see and you can make yourself very comfortable up in Crocker Park because they have bands playing up till the fireworks starts and then afterward the music continues, all as part of the Marblehead Festival of the Arts. But! get there early and bring your blanket to get a good spot.

I’ve captured the Marblehead fireworks for a few years now and more shots from this year and years past can be seen by clicking here.

Here is a link to the to the Marblehead Festival of the Arts web page if you want to read more about this event.

I’m an admin for Yankee Magazine’s New England Photography and if you would like to join our fan page feel free to visit us at www.facebook.com/NewEnglandPhotography.

If you have any questions about photography or want to post your own view of New England we like to see shutterbugs of all abilities, so stop in and show us your view of New England.

Jeff Folger
Vistaphotography On Facebook
Yankee Magazine fall Blog
Yankee Magazine’s New England Photography

I am Vistaphotography or Vistaphotography is me?
Where does our business personality and our personal selves diverge? or do they just converge?
Do we ever in this technologically spinning world, split from what we are in our online social networks to what we are in person to our “real” friends?

I’m in the process of creating all the layers of my Facebook group/page/profile. The group is my business profile and the page of my profile is more of the same with business notices and the profile (what I created first) is more of me of a personal level, than my business.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to leverage more advertising with less dollars… Just like everyone else I’m trying to do more with less in this economy.

I’m on Twitter @ Vistaphotos and all of these things are supposed to drive traffic to my website which showcases my photographic work. What do you think? Do these social networks work to help small business? or are they a waste of time???
Over on Mpix.com which is a photography online print service, I joined in on their photo forum where photographers of all ability get together to talk about.. what else? Photography!
I talked to another photographer on the forum who just started a Facebook page and she said with in days she had 3-4 portriat sessions set up and a request for a wedding consult.
So I’m pushing myself in this direction to let people know that I exist in the blog/social net work ethereal sphere that we call the Internet…
HEY! need a photographer?

Jeff Folger
Vistaphotography
Vistaphotos.net

It’s been a busy week and I somehow didn’t make the time to finish up my story on my time in New Orleans last week! So Vistaphotography went on the road to New Orleans…
I’m sure most of you are well aware of how hard it is when you are traveling for business and trying to find time to explore for yourself. I was slapped in the face with this fact when I went down with my wife’s Company (FinCo Management) for the NADA convention in New Orleans. I had every intention of getting out of the convention center but I found myself wandering and taking pictures inside.

The 57 Chevy was as cherry as they come and struck a counter point to all the Dodge Challengers that were around the floor. I saw my first “Saleen”! And I struck up a conversation (as I like to do…) with the sales rep there. He must have thought I was someone important because I he gave me a promo CD with pictures of the car and press releases… I have to admit that I think most of my simple pics from right there on the floor were better than their photos from inside a garage. I would say these were done low budget and in a hurry since the lighting was minimal and I would say it was what was on hand so they could get the pics out onto CDs and into the hands of dealers. I was just using the glaring lights of the overhead spot lights that was there. This caused specular highlights for my shots (I didn’t have a flash on my camera), but I think mine really show off the car better.

Of course mine have people walking around and getting in the shot but with a car this good looking you don’t really notice them.
There weren’t too many dealers in attendance at this convention and the general feeling was that dealer attendance was down almost 50%. The day I left, I went by the registration booth where they had bags that dealers would get when they signed in. There where hundreds if not thousands of these bags stacked up waiting for the dealers to show up.
Dealers are also watching their $$ this year and the downturn in the economy is spreading out like ripples on a pond.
Our not buying cars affect the dealers and this in turn affects all the companies that sell their products to the dealers. So I guess we should all get out there and buy a new car!
Here are other pictures from the show.

   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. [SinglePic not found]
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 [SinglePic not found] 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. [SinglePic not found]

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…
[SinglePic not found] 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.  [SinglePic not found]  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.)