Shutterfest! | Kathy Weigman Photography - Appleton Portrait and Sports Photographer
Wow! My head is spinning from all the learning and information from Shutterfest last week in St. Louis. First of all, let me try to explain Shutterfest is. Bring together 2000 photographers, 200 models, some of the best instructors in the country, an amazing setting, lots of vendors with awesome products and that's Shutterfest! The photography conference was held at Union Station Hotel which is an amazing venue.
I went to the event with 3 other photographers from the Fox Valley. We left early Monday morning and arrived in St. Louis at 3:00. We checked into our room, got registered for Shutterfest and then headed out to explore the city.
We ventured downtown toward the arch but decided to head back for dinner and to meet up with other photographers for a nighttime arch shoot. We shot the Arch from across the river on the IL side. The sunset was marred by too many clouds, but the night skyline was beautiful!
We had to find a place to watch the Wisconsin - Duke game. We had hoped for a better outcome. Oh well......... we all headed back to the hotel to go to sleep, only I couldn't sleep. After watching tv, laying in the dark, checking facebook, and watching Netflix I got up at 6:00 to start my day! A Diet Coke and I was good to go!
The days were filled with different classes about marketing, mastering your online brand, and building referrals. My hands on classes were Extreme Sports Photography with Melanie Anderson and Pricing and Packaging with Sal Cincotta. I'm SO excited to offer more unique sports photography to my seniors and I'll be offering collections this year instead of just a la carte products! The models we had for our class were great!
That night, we decided to try to find a model and use our off camera lighting to do some shots. This is one of the shots I got that night with Joshua & Bayleigh. They were super to work with!
Thankfully, this night I was able to fall asleep. Since being sick on Easter and all the travelling, I really needed the rest! The next morning we were up bright and early again to start our classes. I was thrilled to be going to a photoshop class about compositing with Dave Cross. I've watched tons of tutorials on photoshop by him. I learned about a great organization program called 17 hats, listened to another speaker about workflow and how to speed things up. My last class for the day was with Jeff Poole & Lori Unruh about Senior Portraits with a Punch. Finding the right location and looking for things and angles that make for an interesting portrait. Again, we were blessed with some great models to shoot. Dalton was great to work with!
After dinner the storms had ended so we headed out to the area next to the hotel to do some night shooting. The 4 of us had a blast and laughed so hard at the things we were doing. Light painting, long exposures and a few selfies.
After that I thought we were going to head in to the party, but we decided to head to the Arch instead! It took us forever to figure out how to get there because of the construction, but we finally ended up parking in a church driveway and walking there. The spot lights go off at midnight, but we had lots of available light. Such a beautiful place!
Well, that's the end of the conference, but it's not the end of my adventure! Instead of heading straight back to Appleton, we decided to spend a day in St. Louis and then travel home by following the Mississippi River. Stay tuned for my next blog entry where I'll let you know the rest of the adventure!
More Learning! | Kathy Weigman Photography, Appleton Sports & Portrait Photography
I'm SO excited to be heading to St. Louis in a few weeks to attend a photography convention! I'm signed up for classes, have already connected with other photographers and I'm getting my list together of what I want to bring with me. It's a great opportunity for me to learn from some of the best instructors in the photography business.
I'll be taking classes on Extreme Sports Photography, Senior Portrait Photography, Using Photoshop for Compositing (using multiple photos to make one amazing photo), Off Camera Lighting, Gels, Marketing, Branding, Referrals and Workflow. In between, I'll be getting out with other photographers to shoot and network and, if there's time, sleep and eat!
The first night there, we're going to be doing a cityscape shoot at the Arch. Then, there's the print competition with critique. I've even entered one of my senior portraits from last summer. YIKES! But, I figure it's a great way to learn. There were so many great shots that it was hard to choose one. I finally decided on this shot of Brittany. I used off camera flash and the sky had great clouds in the background. Like all my seniors, Brittany was delightful. She's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside!
Once the conference is finished, I'm staying in St. Louis for another day, with 2 other photography friends, and then heading home along the Mississippi River to see what we can find. It's going to be so much fun and I can't wait to use all the new techniques with my senior portrait
sessions this summer.
Now is the time to start thinking about what you want for your session. If you book your session for May or June, you can save 25% off your session fee! Send me an email [email protected] or give me a call 920-733-3425 to get more information.
Why I Offer Prints instead of Digitals | Kathy Weigman Photography - Appleton Portrait Photographer
I just read an article today that talks about the fact that many of this generation will not leave any pictures for their kids and grandkids. We take more pictures than ever before with the invention of smart phones, tablets and digital cameras, but we are printing less and less. These great photos end up in our phones, on our hard drives or on a CD. The bad thing about this - all of these fail. Phones break, hard drives crash and CDs become corrupt. A photo in an album, in a frame or even in a box will last forever. PRINT YOUR PHOTOS!
When you're looking for a photographer, don't limit yourself - check out the ones who offer prints. I want you to have heirloom portraits that will be around for years to come. When is the last time that you went into someone's home and they had a silver CD framed and on the wall? Digitals are meant for sharing, but portraits are meant for hanging and sharing for many years to come.
Check out the article http://t.today.com/money/why-your-digital-photos-might-die-your-grandkids-see-them-1D80395921
I'm starting to schedule senior portraits and family portraits for this spring and summer. If you'd like information on sessions and pricing, please give me a call at 920-733-3425 or email me at [email protected]
Sports & Activity Posters | Kathy Weigman Photography - Appleton Sports Photographer
Looking for a great way to promote your sports team or club? Lots of area teams and clubs are working with me to design a fun poster to do just that! In the last two weeks, I've worked with the Xavier Girls Basketball Team and the Varsity Mock Trial Team from Xavier. Both sessions were so much fun and the results were awesome!
The girls decided on a theme that incorporated fog. I'm definitely up for that! I arrived at Xavier with my friend, Jennifer, and we set up our background and lighting and then decided how the girls would be posed. Bring in the fog machine........and a tiny glitch. Fog machines may set off smoke alarms and with a Christmas Stars performance going on in the theatre we decided that would not be a good thing to have fire alarms going off and have to clear the theatre. Plan B. We photographed the girls, they went to practice, we went to lunch, then came back and used the theatre, with the help of Jim R. to photograph the fog. "You can just photoshop the fog in, right?" Of course I can..... I think......maybe. After some trial and error, we got the lighting right and the fog and I was able to make a composite picture of the girls and the fog!
Bring on the Mock Trial Team! They had a really cute idea with a play on the words, You've Been Served. I love it! We want to photograph the team in the gym and practice doesn't start until 4:00 so we've got about 15 minutes. Oh my! Not to worry. I set up my lights at center court right on the X, then get the team members positioned. Only problem is, we have basketball players to our left and basketball players to our right. Talk about photo bombs! The coaches helped us keep them away so we got out shots in and turned out a great poster for them!
A few weeks before that, the NHM Hockey Team wanted a poster done to advertise for their upcoming season. They decided they wanted to go with a theme that showcased hard work. We had talked about getting a dump truck or some sort of work truck, but that wasn't able to happen. We met in the parking lot of the Ice Arena, and right in the middle of the parking lot was an electric truck! We took advantage of our good luck and used the truck as the backdrop to the picture! There's even a team logo on the bucket of the truck :)
Fall is a GREAT time for Family Portraits
What a great way to document your life! Have a family portrait taken and get prints! Some people keep telling me that they want to have a family portrait done. When the kids get a little older..... when I lose 10 more pounds.... when I get my hair colored.... when I have enough money..... when I have the time to get everyone together..... when I can coordinate clothes for everyone..... and the list goes on. When is the perfect time to have a family portrait done? NOW! Don't wait for another day. Life is precious, and your children will love to have a portrait of you with them. Call today to schedule your appointment. 920-733-3425
