Thursday, August 28, 2008

School is in session!

Whoo Hoo!

I'm sure everyone is excited! The kids get to quit complaining about how bored they are, how they hate doing chores, and how there's nothing to do. The parents now don't have to worry so much about what the kids are going to be occupied with during that 8 hour block of time from bus trip to bus trip. And, those of us who are teachers get to remember how tiring it is at the end of the school day after baking with 25 kids in an 85 degree classroom all day, trying to stay sharp, guide minds, and avoid disasters! It's all worth it when we get those smiles, high-fives, and hugs from the little ones.

I've been having a great time lately. I've been very fortunate to be doing several photo sessions a week and feel very blessed by the support of these clients. I also finished up a pair of paintings recently, but haven't gotten them photographed yet. I hope to do that this weekend.

I hope everyone has a good school year!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

New photo pricing policy

Hi folks,


Since many of you are either shopping for photos, or have had yours done recently in the past year or two, I'm very interested in getting your feedback on my new pricing policy. I was recently contacted by a mother of triplets who wanted to have senior photos done but didn't want to pay for three separate sessions (I can empathize), and I also had a few clients who were interested in seeing more than just the 10 or 24 proofs that I had been offering. With this in mind, I changed the Extended Session to the following:

* Session Fee: $400 ($300 if you opt for the MR/15 Discount)
* No charge for multiple subjects.
* Up to 3 hours of shooting time
* 10 Proofs (my favorites) fully retouched after the shoot and
delivered as 4 x 6" printed proofs, web sized on a CD for MySpace,
Facebook, etc. These are provided as samples of the retouching
services I provide.
* A folder of Unedited Proofs (watermarked: not for public display)
provided on the CD from which you may choose. These can easily
number over 100 images from a 3 hour session.
* Prints may be ordered from either group of Proofs.
* Any Unedited Proof will be fully retouched upon my receiving a
print order for that image.
* If you opt for the MR/15 Discount, you will receive 15% off the
normal print prices.


The Regular Session is essentially the same, the difference being only a shorter one hour session at $200 ($100 with MR/15 Discount) and obviously fewer images in the Unedited Proofs folder to choose from.

Let me know what you think!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Cool Shadow Dancing

MB Hopkins, artist with the Dayton Daily News, sent me this link and I think it's really cool. Check it out:


Agh!! My town is dying fast!!!!

Oh No!!!

Forbes.com has announced that my town, Dayton, Ohio, is among the leaders in the march to the dust bowl!! Down the tubes! Kaput! Ugh! Ack! Eek! Boy, I'm scared now!

They say "Where's it worst? Ohio, according to our analysis, which racked up four of the 10 cities on our list: Youngstown, Canton, Dayton and Cleveland. The runner-up is Michigan, with two cities--Detroit and Flint--making the ranking." The story is available at http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas-fastest-dying-cities.html

You know what's interesting? Our real standard of living here is really good. The whole "housing boom" of the early 2000s never happened here. You can get a 3000 square foot house in a great neighborhood with awesome schools located conveniently within 5 miles of a major shopping area, lots of good restaurants, services, parks, highways, etc. for a little over $200,000, not the $700K it might cost on the coasts. Wages are a little less here, but things are cheaper. We've got great parks like John Bryan State Park and Clifton Gorge 20 minutes away. We've got the Dayton Dragons and Downtown 15 minutes away. I can get to either Columbus or Cincinnati in an hour's drive. There's an outlet center 30 minutes away.

You know what the worst thing about living here is? Listening to all the whining and complaining in the media convincing us how horrible everything is! Seriously, things aren't so bad. Sure, the GM plant in Kettering (home of Rob Dyrdek, a friend of my family since the days we called him "Little Rob") is going to close, but THEY MAKE SUV'S THERE. Shock! Come on GM! Re-tool the plant for an affordable, fuel efficient car and you'll be able to keep it open! GM is so stupid. They just keep making their trucks, SUVs, Hummers and such bigger and bigger and now they're shocked when the demand is dropping off because of fuel prices. Um, what? Something's wrong with making huge vehicles that barely fit in parking spaces and get and EPA estimated 12 mpg city (Cadillac Escalade)??? My huge van (I can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood in it and close the rear gate with no problem) gets 20 mpg city. I think GM should've seen this coming. People on Wall Street have been talking about the possiblility of $100 oil for a loooong time. Now that it's a fact, there's no reason to be shocked.

Hey, rant over. I'll sum up by just saying Dayton is a nice place, with lots of great people and neighborhoods which you can afford to live well in. Don't believe the hype.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Dare Greatly

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whos face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." --Theodore Roosevelt

In other words, dream big and try hard!