kara-you were an absolutely gorgeous bride, i’m so glad i got to be a part of your wedding in this way!

my cute mama jo who helps me on shoots sometimes…love you mama!

EIA -project & property management

MHB -construction

David C. Medford, DDS- family dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics

first up is the magnolia center/ the marquee- the marquee is also a beautiful wedding venue, and it just happens to be right across the street from the studio!

erin paige boyle was the food stylist for this shoot, she does amazing work. this girl has got some yummy food tricks up her sleeves for sure.

if you guys haven’t been to sambuca uptown, or sambuca 360 you need to go. they have amazing food, and both have a great atmosphere!

and announcing a new product line for h.e.p.a!…………our new Monogram Canvas Collection!

1. how did you get into photography, and how many years have you been shooting?

i’ve been shooting now for almost 10 years. i started out by taking some photography classes in college (pre- digital photography) and proceeded to assist and work for any photographer who would have me. i worked with wedding, commercial, portrait, and fashion photographers. thank you to those who allowed me to stumble my way through helping you! i would still drag the bags of some of my favorite photographers just to get a glimpse at the way they approach things.

2. what ps actions do you use?

i use 90% of my own actions, and the other 10% is made up of totally rad actions- oh snap! and a kubota- warm bw action. i greatly enjoy building my own actions from nothing ( for ex: i don’t use purchased actions to build my actions) and find it to be crucial in bringing my vision for an image to completion. but i do feel like purchased actions serve our community well, and at times can really take imagery to the next level. the only thing i think we should be careful of is not relying on our actions to make a good image.

i have some other thoughts about actions, so maybe i’ll share them in the next photographers post.

3. what equipment do you use?

i’m all canon baby! i shoot with the 5d and use many different canon L series lenses. i have the most wonderful think tank gear bag that is designed specifically for traveling, and fits perfectly in the overhead bins of airplanes. love love love this bag!

4. how many years have you been in business?

we are in our 4th year! so excited about that, and i can’t believe it’s gone by so quickly.

5. do you sell your high res files to your clients?

hang onto your seat folks, i have some strong feelings about high res files or “digital negatives” . we do sell them to our wedding clients because we think people like to have them for archival purposes. however, we don’t offer them to portrait clients. i’m not saying that we wouldn’t consider it but it would have to be super special circumstances.

here are my thoughts on why we don’t offer the disc:

i came from the film days when many people didn’t give away their negatives, it just wasn’t a common thing to do in the photography business.  i had the opportunity to learn the business side of print fulfillment, and i got to experience first hand actually working with clients and building relationships with them. so much of this experience drives the way i feel about giving a disc to clients. i’m blessed to have clients who trust me, and trust my vision for the session from start to finish. they want my help in choosing enlargements and what we call “story walls” or a series of images. it’s more then them wanting to print the photos for themselves. they want to purchase artwork of their loved ones for their walls, and we just so happen to specialize in this. i’ve also worked in a professional printing lab (shout out to cbc!) where i learned color and density correcting in depth, so i apply this knowledge to my editing of images.  for me, to hand the disc off would feel like i would be ignoring all that i’ve worked so hard to learn. and i enjoy editing and working with my clients just as much as i love to photograph them! so i would be sad to send the disc away with them .  and it kind of makes me squirm at the thought of professional photos being printed at wal-mart. not that there is anything wrong with wal-mart, but it is not a pro lab, and the colors could come back wonky and then heather essian portrait arts might appear to be a wonky photography biz.  we definitely lose potential clients from time to time for not selling the disc, but we realize that we can’t be all things to all people and we had to make business policies for our sanity. in all honesty we are so blessed to have loyal clients who don’t question this, and these clients are very supportive of our decision.

*muah* to our amazing clients!!

my last and final thought; and i promise to step off the soap box after this is: for me photographer=print fulfiller, i can’t do one without the other. i enjoy the entire process way too much. we own a photography business to make a profit and we don’t profit from our session fees alone, we’ve got expensive equipment and studio space to pay for each month which means we would be out of business at this point if we gave away the disc. yipes.

with all of that said, i do think that there is a place and a market for photographers who sell the disc, i just feel that they need to charge appropriately for the disc for their own benefit. we put long hours into our jobs working hard which takes us away from our spouses and children.  therefore,  hopefully we make more then minimum wage for doing so.

*if you’re not sure of what to charge for the disc or prints you can check out easy as pie pricing strategy for photographers. this will be some of the best money you could spend on your business. don’t be afraid to invest in your business.

6. do you have any employees?

i do not, i’m actually my husband’s employee. no, i kid, i kid. but he works with me full time running the business while i focus on the creative stuff! i’m so thankful to have him and don’t know what i would do without him. he really is the pulse of our business.  if done legally, employees for small businesses can be extremely costly (another reason to charge appropriately for your services) because employee tax is quite high. and hopefully you want to run an ethical business.

7. do you have a studio space? and do you think it’s necessary for a photography business?

we do have a studio space right on magnolia street in the near southside of fort worth. i don’t think it is necessary to have a studio space as a photographer. as photographers we are so lucky to have a business that can be run out of our home with minimal overhead. i say we keep it that way as long as we can. the goal in any business should be to try and keep overhead as low as possible (per my husbands advice). i think it really depends on the business. jim and i prayed long hours about our studio space and felt lead to move forward with it.  personally for us, we would not have moved forward without a complete peace because it was quite scary. the studio space has been such a blessing for us, and i still get giggly when i walk in the door! i just want to scoop up all my girly damask fabric and furniture and kiss it!

8. do you have workshops for photographers?

i about fell over when i read this email. what? me have a workshop? this is something i would love to do one day in the future.  however, i’m not quite sure i have the following to do so, but whatever God has in store for us, i’m game!

**if you have a question please send it over- better yet, add your question to the comments section of this post. i want to get to know you all better! i’m happy to help if i can. please don’t be alarmed if it takes a few days for me to get back to you, it will probably mean i’m deep in editing or design work.**

and just for fun, considering i’ve still not shared many europe photos from over a year ago…here is a favorite of mine.

Cinque Terre, Italy

*this was the real light folks! not much ps work done at all on this image. yes, i would like to move to italy. i guess i’ll settle for photographing weddings there instead any italy brides out there…call me.

thank you preston, jessica and your wonderful families! we so enjoyed getting to be a part of your special day!

jessica is the owner of hot poppy couture here in fort worth. they’ve got some seriously cute clothing…and amazing decor complete with vintage mannequin heads and gold stripes- fabulous. go check them out!

this is blush, a swanky night club in the wynn hotel. how cool are these lamps that change color??

what’s vegas without a tough bouncer dude with a mohawk?

jessica’s gorgeous dress from bliss bridal salon in fort worth

i can never just do one shoe shot, and one ring shot…especially not if the shoes are these chanel pumps.

getting my stylin’ on i’m pretty sure preston was wishing i would hurry up at this point…poor guy had to deal with 3 days of having a camera in his face.

***i got to design a wedding announcement for jessica and preston that i can’t wait to share with you all, so stay tuned!***

my  *g o r g e o u s * cousin, kara. more to come from her session very soon.

this image will be displayed as a 24×30 canvas gallery wrap…it will definitely be a show stopper at the wedding!

whitney is the sister to tessa from this awesome family session…

i was feeling a little creative while editing this photo above, i like the way it turned out…but what do you think?

her grandmother’s pretty clutch

when?

jan 9th and 13th

what does it include?

a studio session, an awesome keepsake box with a custom designed metallic canvas image, 8 mounted 5×7’s that will go in the box… and maybe a little bit of bubbly the day of

do i have to wear lingerie?

this session is all about you and whatever you’re comfortable with…you can show up in your husbands button down shirt if you want.  you decide!

*invite your girlfriends to come and do their session with you!

the fabulous taylor with complete look makeup will be available for makeup this day as well! she’s awesome, and i highly recommend professional makeup for this session…false eyelashes are the best!

please email us at heather@heatheressian.com for more information, at that time we will also send you a slide show of some of our recent glam sessions!

BRIDES TO BE: this is also a great opportunity to give your groom a wedding gift. i think that would count as a pretty unforgettable wedding gift.