Twin Cities Photographer

See You on the Flipside

2008-08-06T09:28:00.003-05:00

I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I don't have a heckuva lot to say. I'm a terrible "word" blogger. I'll be hanging up this blog and resurrecting the 'ol photoblog. I won't be bringing the archives of "Visual Gratification" back. Nobody wants to see that again! (But just in case you do, they're still on Flickr.) It'll just be a stream of photos I like with no other goal in mind. Some will be from client sessions, a lot will probably be of my own family and friends. Whatever tickles my fancy, but I hope they will be interesting.

I'll keep the URL the same and the feed should automatically update, so I'm hoping not to lose the 3 readers I've managed to keep.(Hi Mom! Kidding...my mom is paranoid the internets are out to get her, so she stays off.)

I prefer to stick to the photos and let them speak for themselves. So, expect to see a no-frills photoblog popping up shortly with some nice, big, pretty pics for your viewing pleasure. I promise it'll be updated more often than this (I know, I aim high).

I'd love for you to stop by.

Bigger is Better

2008-07-15T12:27:00.002-05:00

Along with the new site design, I've also updated my pricing. But before you think "Ugh, here he goes again raising his rates again," take a look. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I've actually lowered my print prices considerably.

I've become a firm believer that photos are meant to be seen large and in print. My wife and I are currently undergoing a reprinting of most of our wall prints to make them bigger. So far, I'm loving the results. Plus, the kids love seeing a headshot on the wall that's bigger than their own head!

I truly think that most consumers of portrait photography are timid when it comes to buying large prints for their wall. I know because I used to be one of them. Part of this is price, which is why I've dropped the prices on them. But I also think that people don't see large prints very often, so they can't appreciate them in all their glory.

So, I now offer my digital collections in 3 packages, all of which include at least one large print or canvas. Take a peek for yourselves!

Brushing the Dust Off

2008-07-15T12:16:00.002-05:00

Long time, no blog huh?

After a couple years, I figured my Web site needed some freshening up. I've redesigned the site to reflect the simple, straightforward design that I've always aimed for. The old design was meant to be simple, but I've tired of it after a couple years and it still had more visual computer "bling" than I wanted. I'm a simple guy, really.

If you haven't been around in a while, head over and take a look. Let me know what you think.

Children's Self Portraits

2008-03-17T05:48:00.000-05:00

I think I could begin to offer a new service where kids take their own photos. What began as a way to get my kids to keep their attention while they sat on a stool turned into some of the nicest portraits of my kids I've gotten in a long time.

I wanted a couple simple headshots of my kids, so I set up a stool, some lighting, a camera on a tripod and a black background. Owen actually did pretty well giving me the shots I was looking for, but I wanted to keep going and he wasn't interested any more. I had a cable release on the camera so I could take the shot while looking at him outside of the viewfinder. He asked to push the button. The camera was very close to him, so the cable reached his lap with no problem. I gave him the trigger and he started firing away, mugging for the lens. Unfortunately, most of his shots have half-closed eyelids as he anticipated the flash. But I got a couple gems out of the set.

Leah, on the other hand didn't want anything to do with my portrait session from the beginning. But once she saw Owen having fun with the remote, she wanted a piece of the action. Even though she only fired off a small handful of images, she made some quality self portraits. These two I put together, represent the Leah we know in so many ways. Looking into those huge brown eyes reveals the girl we know so well, adding to it the fact that she was posing for herself makes it all the more magical. Coupled with the photo on the right, revealing her spontaniety and playfulness, make these a couple images we'll treasure forever.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

Katie

2008-03-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

My sister came to visit this weekend with her daughter, Katie. Saturday evening, I was showing off a newly printed 9x12 portfolio book of mine. My sister commented that there were no photos of Katie in there. It was then that it dawned on all of us that I'd never done a photo session with Katie, who is now 7 years old. They live about 3 hours away, so I don't see them all that often. We decided we better set up a shoot the next morning before Grandma came over.

After the inevitable cleaning of the basement room I have to do before each photo shoot, I set up my portable backdrop and invited the kids down. It went very well. Katie was a great little subject and I think we got a lot of great shots that my sister will be happy to have in her home. Not to mention the great shot of the 3 cousins here that will certainly need to be sent out to all the grandparents!

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

Why Choose a Custom Photographer?

2008-03-02T12:43:00.001-06:00

Many people I encounter wonder why my prices are so much higher than their local chain studio, where often you can be in and out the door with prints in hand for under $100.

The short answer is there is a difference between what you get from each. I truly believe almost everyone can see the difference in the final product. However, there are people who may not value the difference between a chain studio and a custom photographer. I don't try to persuade those people to use a custom photographer, because ultimately they will always feel like they paid too much.

Many custom photographers will justify their prices with the high cost of running their business. It's true that there are many costs of running a photography business including equipment, back-up equipment, supplies and taxes. However, those costs exist with your local chain studio as well; so I don't believe it's a valid argument.

It comes down to the custom photographer's investments in their own business to create a professional persona. With their investment in education, expertise, and time making and delivering the final product, a solid reputation is developed and maintained; a reputation of creating photography with a level of personalization, quality, and service not possible at a chain studio.

Personalization
At your local chain studio, you walk in, choose a backdrop and sit in front of the camera and smile. Or worse, you bring your child to the studio and hope they smile and look at the camera. It's the same routine for the person before you and it will be the same for the next. This works well for a high-volume situation like a yearbook photo, but when you want a photo that depicts who you are or who your child is, a custom photographer is a better choice for you.

Children are most comfortable in their own home, yard, or at their favorite park. Your photos will turn out exponentially better when your child is genuinely happy and comfortable; not to mention the beauty of the resulting photos, which incorporate the natural light and surroundings. Family photos will benefit from these same principles.

Not only are you getting your child's or your own personality in your photos, you are getting something unique to the photographer. Their work has a style that shows through their composition, post-processing and subject interaction that is carried throughout their work. You have the liberty of shopping for a photographer that has a style that you're drawn to. In a chain studio, the only style that comes through is from the choice of props and backdrop. The person behind the lens is just a button pusher.

Quality
Custom photographers have control over every aspect of their product. They have nobody to answer to but themselves. From the camera, lens and lighting used for capture, to the computer, monitor and software used for post-production, to the lab used for color calibrated output. Their reputation is attached to each product they sell, whether it's a framed print, canvas, coffee table book, or even an image file. You can bet that they will do their best to make sure everything comes out top-notch in the quality department.

Service
The custom portrait photographer is in this business because they love photography and they love working with people. They provide a service tailored to you. With on-location portraiture, they come to the location of your choice (even your own house!). Many sessions will yield more than one meeting with the photographer, whether it’s a consultation, proof viewing, ordering session, or product delivery. Most of the time, the list of products and services is only limited by your own imagination. These are services designed to make customers and subjects comfortable and to get the most out of the experience.

There will always be an occasion to visit your local chain studio for a quick and cheap portrait, but when you want to truly capture a time in your child's life and invest in a keepsake that you can treasure for generations to come, think about investing in a session with a custom portrait photographer. We live in exciting times where digital photography has opened the playing field for professional photography to the masses. As a customer, you've never had so many choices and options available to you. Choose one that fits you!

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here. My products and services can be viewed here.

Sunday at the Warehouse

2008-02-27T18:57:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to get together with a few other photographers at a warehouse studio with a couple models. It was valuable experience for me; if nothing else but to know what it's like to be a paparazzo! Since we only ended up with two of the four or five models that were anticipated, the ratio of photographers to models was a bit unbalanced. I knew a good pose was struck when I felt under attack by a barrage of "shutter fire." I came out with fewer keepers than I hoped for, but I found it's a little difficult to share a shoot with several other photographers. A good portrait needs the connection of subject to photographer, and those were not as plentiful as I could have made them.

Nonetheless, it was a great time. I met a couple people in person for the first time that I've known online for a while. Getting "the shot" was not so much the objective as it was a chance for all of us photographers to geek out a bit and talk shop. It was also fun to see how others set up their shots and to share my ideas. If I were to do it again, I think I'd take a slightly different approach to get a little more one-on-one time with the models.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

The Annual Report

2008-02-15T14:57:00.003-06:00

It's been so long since I've posted. The truth is, I haven't done a lot of shooting that is blog material. Winters in the Northland leave many portrait photographers (especially those that like to shoot outdoors) pretty uninspired. I'm one of them. I'm looking forward to spring when I can get back out and take advantage the beautiful backdrops the St. Croix Valley provides me!

I have done a little bit of shooting recently, however, of the commercial kind. Every once in a while, I get a phone call to do a photo shoot that is a bit out of my target market (or a lot). This was one of them. Thankfully, this one came about 5 days before the shoot needed to take place, so I didn't have to be nervous for too long. It's not that the subject matter was out of my comfort zone, but the pressure to deliver was. Family and children sessions are lighthearted, fun and generally pretty pressure-free. But stick a CEO and a VP together and you're using up a couple people's very expensive time. This leaves little room for error.

Thankfully, the shoot went off without a hitch. The guys were very easy to work with and the session was short and sweet. I managed to find a helpful assistant who worked for happy hour prices (Thanks, Dan!) and my equipment didn't fail me. And best of all, the customer seemed to be happy with their photos.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

What to put on the wall?

2008-01-14T20:06:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, it's quite handy having a photographer in the house when it comes to shooting our childrens' birthday photos :) However, it can also be a curse.

Leah sat down yesterday for her 4 -year photos. She was a wonderful subject. In fact she was probably the best she's done for me in a studio setting (my basement). She took direction perfectly and didn't even fuss about any of it. Bribery is a wonderful thing! I think it also shows that she really is beginning to grow up. It gives me pride and saddens me at the same time.

Krisha bought this little green dress a while ago with the intention of using it for this session. Looking at it, I envisioned a vintage looking portrait. I feel like I executed it quite well. I think the lighting might have been a little harder than it should have been, but it still worked well. The texture was an afterthought that I think really makes the images special.

As usual, the more we look at our favorites from the session, the more they grow on us. Each one speaks to each of us a little differently, so it's hard to agree on which one to put up. At least it's good knowing we'll always have them all to look back on.

If you're interested in some more of my candidates, they're here on my Flickr stream.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

The Baby Tuxedo

2007-12-23T17:00:00.000-06:00

We had a great session over the weekend with some wonderful repeat clients. I had the luxury of knowing the setting I'd be shooting in since I'd been to their home before. And I knew I'd have plenty of beautiful options to choose from. In fact everything fell into place quite nicely and I ended up shooting the whole session in natural light and the interior lights. The fresh snowfall definitely helped brighten up the place through the windows.

However, I had no idea that little Wyatt would be sitting with a little red toy piano sporting a tuxedo! A photographer couldn't think up any better props!

I'm still working through this session, but I had to put up a sneak peek for the family to see. These two popped out right away as a couple of my favorites from the day.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

This Guy Gets It

2007-12-19T07:30:00.000-06:00

Michael Stewart, over at Foto-Tech demonstrated what HDR should really look like.

The Home Stretch

2007-12-16T19:37:00.000-06:00

One more work-week to go, then it's a nice pair of looong weekends for me! Our annual Christmas card went out last week, so I'm in the clear to reveal it here. I, for one, love it. I like to think each year our card gets better and so far, I think we're on a winning streak.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

Anders

2007-12-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

We had a nice session a couple weekends ago with a great family I've known since I was a kid. The silhouette shot here worked out nicely, though I had grander plans for the scene. I actually wanted to shoot the whole family in front on the French doors keeping the background scene exposed nicely. However, I wasn't on top of my lighting and in the interest of keeping the session moving along, I aborted the plan and just shot a few candids in front of it. It turned out to be one of my favorites. Plans don't always work out the way you want when there are kids getting restless and crabby. But things usually work out in the end.

Anders had a cute tongue thing going that his parents insisted was brand new. It's funny how a photo session can bring out behavior in kids the parents weren't aware of. Thankfully for me, it's all been good behavior so far. Most parents say that their child hates having their photo taken, but they are speaking from experience going into studios, where the kids are not comfortable. I'm seeing more and more what a great difference it makes letting them be in their own space.

So, even though I walk in and tear apart people's living spaces and rearrange furniture, it's all for the better I promise!

A few other of my favorites from this session can be seen in my Flickr stream here.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

New and Improved!

2007-12-10T07:09:00.000-06:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that until recently, I was labeling my high-resolution CDs with a magic marker. It's about as non-professional as I could get.

That has changed since I added a new CD writer with LightScribe to my arsenal. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but I like the results! The label is etched, in way, on the CD with the laser of the CD writer. The possibilities are now endless! My clients will now get a beautiful, personalized CD with their Digital Collections.

My Products and Services can be viewed here.

The Christmas Card Session

2007-12-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

As promised, I can't show the photo we used for the Christmas card until after everyone receives theirs. But I can show you the one I like best for purposes other than the card. This shot was from the same session. I think it's adorable, but then again, they always are. They're my children after all :)

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

Lauren & Tanner (again!)

2007-11-27T19:49:00.000-06:00

You may remember not long ago, I did a shoot of Tanner as a newborn. I was fortunate enough to do another session with him and his sister for some Christmas pictures last weekend. They turned out great as you can see here. I broke out the white seamless for some clean looking shots.

I also used the always popular jumping motivation to get Lauren going (not that she needed it; she was a wonderful model). Tanner started out as a great model when we got several great shots of him. After that he decided it was time to be done and just didn't want to lay back down in the little wooden sleigh. I can't say I blamed him ;)

For a few more select shots from this session, see my Flickr stream here.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

The Girl Who Wouldn't Smile

2007-11-20T19:58:00.001-06:00

The girl who wouldn't smile! Tongue in cheek of course. This is a sneak peek of a session I just did last weekend.

I was told by Grandma that we'd have a bit of a challenge getting this little girl to cooperate for some family photos. Well, we proved them wrong! She loved posing with everyone. We even got a nice handful of smiles out of her.

This was my first session with them and it proved to be a success. Their past experience in photo studios was that it was a big challenge to get their little girl to pose and smile. It's always a tough situation to put a child through. However, when the photo studio comes to your living room, kids will tend to be much more comfortable and open up more easily.

This certainly proved to be the case here! Great session.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

Christmas Cards

2007-11-16T18:18:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again! It's time to start thinking about Christmas cards. My wife and I were never much for sending out Christmas cards. But that changed when we had kids. We make a point to take a nice photo of the kids for our annual card. Krisha and I are starting to throw around a few ideas for this year. But don't look here for it until after it hit mailboxes. I don't want to spoil the fun.

Here's a little recap of how we've been doing so far. I like to think I'm getting a little better every year. Of course, Krisha certainly is; she's in charge of the graphical creativity.

2005
(Leah, almost 2, and Owen, three weeks old)

2006

Canvas Gallery Wraps

2007-11-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

I've offered canvas gallery wrap prints for most the time I've been in business. Unfortunately, they have not been very visible to my customers. I've lacked samples or even photos on my site.

My house has had two beautiful 11x14 gallery wraps hanging on the wall for a few months now and I finally took the time to snap a couple photographs of them. They come completely ready to hang! Printed in archival quality inks, brown paper backing, a mounted claw and rubber bumpers attached to the bottom corners, they are truly high-quality works of art.

The units pictured here are 1-1/8" deep, but at size 16x20 and larger, a deep 2-1/2" frame makes for an even more substantial piece of work to display in your home! Custom background artwork shown here is available, but not necessary. Without it, the whole photo will wrap around the edges. For that reason, not all photos will translate directly to a gallery wrap. The composition and crop of a photo must be considered, but we can make anything work one way or another in a way that creates an eye-catching heirloom.

You may further protect your gallery wrap from scuffs and scratches with an optional coating. This can be helpful if the wraps are going to be handled at all. The coating will not affect the image.

Prices start at ~~$125~~ $95 for an 8x10 gallery wrap. Advanced retouching is $25 per hour, with a 1 hour minimum. Most custom artwork (like you see here) can be worked-up in one hour. Please note I can only sell gallery wraps using photos made by Andy Cosgrove Photography.

What the Duck

2007-11-08T10:07:00.000-06:00

I'm guessing almost everyone who dabbles in photography has already heard and seen this online cartoon strip, What the Duck. It's quite hilarious. Just when I think I'm up on the current online photo culture, I come across something like this which has been around for a while now. I scoured the archives and hand-picked a bunch of my favorites.

Workshop

2007-11-04T12:17:00.000-06:00

Always looking to improve, especially in my studio portraiture, I attended a workshop yesterday put on by TJ Asher Photography Studios. The photo here is of TJ himself and was a quick set up at the start of the lighting portion of the day.

It was attended by 8 people at his studio in Minneapolis and I had a great time. Some of the material was pretty basic, but we were still able to get into multiple light setups and I learned some key theories behind posing a classic portrait that I felt was very valuable. I plan to apply some of it to my work immediately.

This was TJ's first workshop, and though he admitted to being quite nervous about it, I think he did a fantastic job. I hope that he considers a more advanced course where we can dive into even more lighting and posing work.

A Haircut and and some Cross Processing

2007-11-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

My two readers of this blog are going to think that it's an all Owen, all the time blog since he has dominated headlines of late. I guess my little man is just the photogenic one of the family lately. And the truth is, I don't have a recent session to share, so Owen is what you get!

Last weekend, we took Owen in for his first haircut. Naturally, I brought my camera. And I'm glad I did! The barber shop had some really nice light, that, coupled with my 50/1.4 made some really nice shots of the brave little guy getting his blond locks cut off.

I like this photo a lot, but wanted to give it a little different look. I'm not sure the cross processing treatment is quite fitting for this particular photo, but I kind of like it. I also applied a touch of additional grain (which probably isn't visible at the posted size). There's a part of me that is trying to develop a bit of a technical style and this experiment is part of the process.

And, just for the technically interested, this photo is shot at 1/640 sec. @ f/2, ISO 800.

How to Decide?

2007-10-30T06:56:00.000-05:00

I take photos of my children all the time (sometimes my wife will say not enough). However, not every photo is from a planned photo shoot where we dress the kids up and either go to a special location or set up my portable studio in the basement. When we do, we have to go through a proof viewing just like any of my customers. It's times like these I can really empathize with parents when it comes to the daunting task of choosing which photos of their child is the cutest.

Fortunately, my customers don't have to make that decision. This year I added the high-resolution CD to my business model. It's not something that all children and family photographers like to do. In fact, I would venture to guess that the majority of them do not. I can certainly understand why. I was in that camp as recently as 6 months ago. It's not easy to hand over the "digital negatives" to somebody, virtually shutting off any future revenue from that photo shoot.

The digital era has changed photography in countless ways. Who am I to fight that force? I hardly remember what it was like to use film; and I was certainly not in business while I used it. Consumers are now more savvy when it comes to photography and expect more for their money with digital. If they're going to spend upwards of several hundred dollars, they want more than a couple gift prints from a session that yielded a dozen or more beautiful photos of their child or family. And they don't want to have to go back to the photographer to access the negatives to make another print.

Back to Owen's latest photo session. After grabbing the three photos from the last post, we went through them again and this photo jumped right out at me. (As did several more, but I won't bore you with the rest of them.) It's not necessarily the type of photo you'd put on your desk so most parents wouldn't even consider buying a print of it. But it has a sense of wonder to it. I can't help but think it belongs on a movie poster or something. It's these second-look favorites that many people would not be able to appreciate if it wasn't printed. But when they are provided a CD of images, it's left there to discover later and can be treasured forever. That's the beauty of digital.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.
My products and services page is here.

Owen @ Two

2007-10-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

My son is turning two years old next week. We're a little early getting him into daddy's "studio," but I felt inspired to break out the 9 foot roll of white seamless paper I bought a while back. I thought I would have to trim down at least a foot or two, but it fit in the basement using the new portable background stand I got with it. It was a challenge getting my lighting to do what I wanted, since I lost one of my wireless triggers. I made it work with what I had, but I now have a shopping list to work on.

Below is the start of a storyboard that Krisha will finish off with a small graphical and text element. It's going to be printed as a 10x20" and framed and likely put up in Owen's room. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

As always, my full portfolio can be viewed here.

I'm Famous!

2007-10-25T07:40:00.000-05:00

Imagine my surprise when a museum wanted to hang my "Train Track Texture" photo.

I'm kidding. This is just one of those cool Web 2.0 tricks. You can do try it too, just head over to http://www.dumpr.net/museumr.php to give it a try!