Recently I’ve had a lot of people ask me if their images are all going to look like the ones that I put on the blog or facebook. While in a way the answer is yes, it’s also no. I thought I would do a blog to help people see and understand the differences between color corrected, edited, and blogged images.

Most photographers nowadays  give out a disk of images with their wedding packages. This disk of images includes normally over 1000 images. In most cases photographers take over 3000 images at a wedding and narrow it down to the best images and then give a disk of images to the clients with those best images. It’s a tediously long process and just sorting through the images takes quite a bit of time. I want to share with my clients as well as anyone else who is interested the process that we go through during a wedding.

Color Correction

Our typical wedding has anywhere from 3,000-5,000 images taken. We will sit and sort down those images to the best 800-1200 images depending on the length of the day. From those chosen we color correct every image, meaning that we look at every single image and make sure that the image looks great and if printed will print beautifully. We look at color, exposure, blacks, contract, etc. We also color correct most of the images in color and don’t do many black and white images in the main gallery, which means 95% of the images that are first seen will ALL be in color.  The reason is because once you color correct an image to black and white and export the jpg for the final gallery you can not go back and turn that image to color, but if you keep the image as color you can then turn it to black and white if necessary.  We do create a favorites folder for all of our clients that will have duplicate images from their main gallery with some of our favorite images turned black and white, so that they do have a mix of these images. Below are a couple of examples of before and after of color correcting.

You can see that there is a difference between the image on the left (straight out of the camera) and the image on the right (which has been color corrected).

We color correct every image and this is what our clients will receive on the disk. They are great to print off and will look amazing as 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10 prints.

Editing

Editing of images is something that we do in our final process of printing and album design. Every print, canvas, or album that comes out of our studio get’s a little more looking at to make sure that everything looks great. At this point we don’t need to adjust color, exposure, or any of those basic things because they’ve already been done in the color correcting phase, however, we do look at the picture to see if there are any blemishes that should be removed, fly away hairs, or other things that might need special attention. Because we hand our clients over 1000 images we can’t “edit” every single image we hand out, which is why we only work on those “favorite” images that the client has ordered.

You can see an example below of the difference between a “color corrected” image and an “edited” image. Roll over the image to view the “edited” image. Notice you’ll have to look closely as we only do minimal work such as softening and editing some blemishes. Normally there isn’t much of a difference as the color correction is the most important part of the process.

Roll off and on the image to see the difference. You’ll notice that there isn’t much of a difference.

Blogged/Facebooked images

This is the part where most people get confused. They see the images on our blog and facebook and then see the entire disk of images and wonder why we haven’t’ “edited” all the images and why all their images don’t look like the images on the blog.

Once we have color corrected the images from a wedding we go through and pick out our favorites that we want to highlight. Usually the editing of the images is pretty much the same as in the original images, but sometimes here we will add Black and White images, or maybe a different color process.

Once we have chosen our favorites we create a folder of favorites that will go on the clients DVD and then we facebook and blog the images.

The Facebook/Blog images have one more step before we publish them, we send them through an action that sharpens the image. This only is used for images that we put on the web, because if we did this sharpen to images that were printed they wouldn’t print well and they would be too sharp. So, the images on our blog and facebook do look differently than the hi-res images that are used for print because of the sharpen on the images. We also don’t “edit” the blog/facebook images, they are straight out of color correction and then sharpened for our blog/facebook.

Below is an example of an image that has been color corrected but not sharpened and then one that has been color corrected and then sharpened.

To see this a different way just roll off and on this image below and you can see the difference.

So, the only real difference in the hi-res images that we give our clients and the blogged images we show them is a sharpen action. We color correct the same for all the images and in the end everything looks great!

I’d love to hear thoughts on this and questions. Feel free to comment and I’ll reply through either facebook or our blog.

Posted by Kimberly Jarman

I’m a workaholic… I admit it fully. I LOVE to work. However, I’m learning that in order to have balance in life and enjoy life you have to have boundaries.

I’ve talked to a lot of business owners, mostly moms, who all have the same thing in common. We are a little overwhelmed. Running a business takes a lot of time and a lot out of you and being a mom does the same thing. It’s hard figuring out how to do both and be good at both.

Being a business owner demands time. Clients want things right away. Work is always there. Your email is always calling your name. Your phones are (hopefully) always ringing. Everyone wants something from you at all times. It’s natural to want to be the best at what you do, and many times that means taking care of everything right when it comes in and working non stop in order to make everyone happy. I’ve always done this. I’ve worked all day and through the night and tried to get my to do list down so I can enjoy life, but it never really goes down. It’s always there lingering over me.

Being a mom demands time. My daughter wakes up at 5 or 6 every morning. During the night she might wake up a couple of times as well. When she wakes up she wants me, no one else, me. She wants to play. She wants to eat. She wants to go to the potty. She wants my full attention, nothing else will do, and when she doesn’t get it I see it in her eyes and I’m overwhelmed with emotions.

I’ve been in business for 8 years now. At first it was just me and my husband and I put my entire life into the business. I spent time with my clients and my husband but no one else saw any of me. I worked from home so I was ALWAYS working. My cell phone was my business phone so clients could reach me at all hours of the day and night, and they did. I always answered my email and I got a lot of business. It felt really good actually. I’m driven by that.

After a few years I started to get burned out. My husband wanted more time with me and I never saw family or friends. My friends only saw me if they wanted me to take pictures of them. Pretty sad, but true.

My husband would call me from work and say he was on his way home and I would quickly jump into the shower (sometimes), other times he would walk home to me still in my pajamas working away. My friends would call to go to lunch and I still hadn’t showered so I had to say no. I would wake up at 7:00 and start work and not put the computer down until I went to bed.

I decided I needed to start setting boundaries. I needed to be normal and like everyone else. I envied people who had 9-5 jobs. They came home after work and shut off their mind to all things work related. Then when they got into work the next day they would start up again. Although I knew life would never be fully like that, I wanted something like that.

I started by getting my own studio. A place to go to work each day. I would have to get up, shower, get dressed, and interact with other humans. I was excited. It was a step. I switched my cell phone number to a land line and when I was at work I worked, when I was at home I mostly didn’t work (in all reality I still did, but i tried to limit it).

When I became pregnant with my daughter I knew life was going to change. I did not want to be the mother who never saw her daughter, and when I did see her was on the phone, emailing, and only working. I wanted to be a mom that gave her full attention. I decided to set more boundaries and truly only work from the office so that when I got home she had my full attention.

Many people have asked me how to you balance work and being a mom. There really isn’t a good answer I don’t think. I do know that I’ve tried to make my job like a normal job; I take her to school each day, go to work, and then when I get home I get to be a mom. If I need to work more I do it once she’s gone to bed. I don’t get to be a “stay at home mom”. My business doesn’t allow for that and I choose not to go that route. I wanted her to have fun and learn while I was working and I didn’t want to just stick her in front of a television to babysit her while I was working at home. (Now don’t get me wrong… sometimes I need her to watch a movie while I get some work done and it does happen, but I didn’t want that every day.)

Each day being a business owner and a mother is a struggle. My clients demand a lot out of me and I expect that. I want to give them everything fast and perfect. That’s how I work, but I also really want to be a good mom and give my daughter as much of me as I can.

Over the last 8 years I’ve been working on setting boundaries. This isn’t something I’m perfect at. I give in and break down a lot, but I’m trying hard. When I keep the boundaries I’ve set my life is more balanced and I’m happier. When I don’t, I get overwhelmed and my clients, family, and friends don’t get the best of me. I have a family who needs me, not just part of me, but all of me. I have friends that I would like to hang out with. I have books I want to read, places I want to go, things I want to see, and if I work ALL the time I won’t get to enjoy those things and in the end I think I will become a bitter woman.

I thought I would write up this post and share from my heart. I hope it helps some of you out there to know that you are not alone and we all struggle with this. I also wanted to share some of the boundaries I’ve set (and try hard to stand by).

1)  Set office hours. I have set times that I come into work. I work Tuesday – Friday from about 10:00 – 5:00. Lately I’ve included Monday’s in there as well, but really try to take one day off a week for me and Kailee.

2) Have a set phone line, that is not your cell phone. My life changed when I made my business line an actual land line. I knew that the phone calls to my cell were most likely friends and family and when I was getting an inquiry or client call it was coming through my land line. It also allowed me to leave work at the office and enjoy dinner with my family, knowing I wouldn’t have interruptions. I’m the kind of person that if the phone rings and I think there is an emergency or something that has to be done, I will answer it no matter what and that is frustrating to friends and family if you are trying to spend quality time.

3) Set Certain Days for Shoots. I realized that when clients called I would automatically work around the days that were good for them to shoot. While, this is important, it is also hard to have a life. If you are randomly shooting on every night of the week how can you have any commitments to things that you want to do? I ended up giving up all my sports teams that I was playing on, my small group, any fellowship with friends, and my life. It was depressing actually. Now, I shoot and meet with clients on Wednesday – Friday. Monday is my day to meet with my small group, who have become very dear friends and something I look forward to every week. They keep me going and lift me up. Tuesdays I take my daughter to swim lessons and then we go out on a date. My clients know that I can shoot on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday and normally are ok with that.

A random pictures of my little girl at her swim lesson. Needed times!!   (we need some type of pictures in this post)!

4) Don’t work on the weekends unless it’s a wedding. There are only 52 weekends in a year. That’s 52 weekends that I have to spend with my family if I’m not working. Since I work all week long and so does my husband, that’s really only 52 weekends that I have with them. I am a wedding photographer and shoot 20-25 weddings a year. Weddings are always on weekends, so that leaves me with about 25 weekends a year that I have to spend with my family. I don’t shoot portrait sessions or meet with clients on the weekends anymore. I can’t do it. I have to spend that time with my family because my life is going by way to fast and my daughter is going to be 3 soon and I have no clue where the last 3 years went. That’s a boundary I have to keep.

5) Don’t work on Sundays (except for a very few weddings). This is pretty much the same as above, but I need to push this a little more. Since most of my weddings are on Saturdays and my husband is an accountant (meaning during tax season he works on Saturdays) most of the time Sunday’s are our only days together as a family. While I will shoot weddings on Sundays (there are very few) I have committed this year to not shoot or meet with clients on Sundays. I know that a lot of my Bride and Grooms are from out of state and only come into town on the weekends and I know that everyone works on the week and can sometimes only meet on the weekend, but I promise you want me to be a balanced person and when i do decide to come and shoot on Sundays and leave my family, I’m a mess. I’m not fully there and all I’m thinking about is my baby girl and my husband, who I never see, so it’s best just to say no. Luckily with technology there are other ways to meet with clients and I can always skype or do a conference call, or facetime, or a number of ways to get to know you. I understand it’s not the same, but it’s something and can work!! I’ve done it before!

6)  Answer phone and emails during business hours. While you will still find me checking email ALL the time on my phone and ipad, I really try to only answer emails while I’m in the studio, unless it’s an emergency. As much as I love the iphone and that technology is at my fingertips, it’s also a horrible thing. My poor husband gets to watch my mood change all the time, especially when we go on dates and I quickly check email to find out something isn’t right or a client needs something right away. My thoughts go from him, directly to work, and I’m a mess all night. I like to fix things and I’ve just screwed up a perfectly good night because i checked my email when I was supposed to be enjoying my night. There really isn’t anything I can do about it until the next day anyway, so I’m working on finding that balance of putting down technology when I’m with my family and then picking it up again the next day. Man it’s a learning curve.

I’m sure there are more, but this is getting to be very long and you are all going to stop reading soon, if you already haven’t.

It’s been good setting boundaries. I’ve been able to spend time with my beautiful baby girl. I’ve been able to see and enjoy my husband. I’ve been able to spend more time with family and friends (not as much as I would like, but I’m trying still). I’ve also been able to be more fresh for my clients so that I’m not as burned out and can do a good job.

Lately, I’ve realized that although I’m working on the boundary things I’m not great at it. I still cave in and I still so things I say I’m not going to do. It’s my nature and I know that it will probably keep on happening, but for the sake of life, family, God, and everything else, I’m going to work hard to create a good balance between work and family. It has to be done.

I know it’s hard for clients and vendors to grasp that one sometimes and I might loose out on some business, but I promise I will be a happier and much more rounded person if I become more balanced.

I became a photographer because I love taking pictures. I became a wife because I love my husband. I became a mother because I love my daughter. I want to continue to love life at it’s fullest and that means setting boundaries to keep life enjoyable and manageable.

Life is short. It goes by so fast. Make sure that you are spending time with the people you love and not getting pushed around. For those photographers or business owners out there who are dealing with this as well. Keep your guns. Stay strong. Find a way to get some of your life back to normalcy!

Thanks everyone! Have a great week!!!

Kimberly Jarman:)

A couple of weeks ago  Jennifer Bowen and I did our Create Better Images photography workshops. We had such a great turn out and had a wonderful time getting to know all of our attendees.

We started on Thursday with our Beginners workshop and taught a lot of people who had just gotten new cameras for Christmas how to take them off of the little green box and start shooting to get great pictures. From the feedback we got everyone learned a ton and, although their heads were spinning, they left with some great tips and ways to take better pictures. I didn’t take a ton of pictures of our beginner class because I always forget to actually stop and take pictures, but here is a cute one of all the attendees trying to figure out their cameras.

If you are new to photography and really just want to learn how to use your camera better, our beginners workshop is perfect for you!

Intermediate Workshop

On Saturday we taught our intermediate workshop which is 7 hours of jam packed learning and a hands on photo shoot. We had a great turnout, about 15 attendees, and were able to give hands on learning and training to all of them. We spent the first half of the workshop inside my studio learning about what makes a great picture, how to work with clients, how to get the most out of your clients, and showed them photographs that Jen and I have taken and how we actually accomplished them.

We then headed outside with our models, a cute family and an adorable couple. I stood back and got some fun shots of the attendees. I think everyone was having a great time.

At the end of the night we went back into the studio, pulled out our laptops and talked about Lightroom and post processing.

We had people leaving saying it was the best money they have ever spent… it makes us so happy!

Here are a few shots that I got of the crew and the models!

Thanks to all of our attendees and our great models! What a fun workshop!!

It’s true, Email is going to be the death of me. I promise it is. You are going to find me one day flattened out somewhere by the weight of all things email.

I’m sitting here today working on emails and realizing that it’s never ending and I truly need an entire week to do nothing but email. As I was doing this I thought I needed a  little break and should blog about my email sorrows. So, that being said, here is finally a blog from me, Kimberly Jarman, on something other than pictures:)

Email. What was life like before email? Do you remember? It seems like so long ago, but I do remember somewhat.

I remember that I used to write letters. I had pen pals, well maybe not pen pals, but boys that I had met at summer camp and became “friends” with. We would write back and forth to each other every week or so and sometimes the letters would be 15 pages long. I think once email came around that’s when those letters stopped.

I remember that I would call friends and chat with them for hours. Now my best friends don’t hear from me on the phone.

I remember that I would read a book. I would sit down and read a book for hours. I would light candles, turn on music, and lay on my couch and read. (now I listen to audio books while I work).

Oh the good ole days when there weren’t cell phones, iphones, email, blogs, internet, email… back when life was slower.

Please don’t get me wrong. Now that I have it I will never go without it. I LOVE my iphone more than most probably do. I LOVE the newest tech gadget. I LOVE email. I HATE talking on the phone. I LOVE the technical advances that all this has brought, I just can’t keep up with it all and sometimes I wish I could go back to the days when it was a little less chaotic.

Now my life consists of 50-100 emails a day on top of running a business, working on client projects, answering phones, being a wife, being a mom, being a boss, and random other acts that must be accomplished through the day. It’s amazing how much life changes in such small periods of time.

I’m fully admitting to all of you that, while I do run a succesful business and try to offer the best customer service, i’m horrible at email. I really try. I try to answer every email as soon as I get it, but it weighs me down, I take a break, and then they are still there shouting respond, respond, respond… I want an answer right now…. come on, answer me!!! So, right now i’ve been answering emails for 5 hours. That’s all i’ve done, is sit down and answer emails from the top to the bottom. Sadly, as I answer one and file it away another one appears and then I answer that and another one appears again! I’m getting through them slowly, but surely. I will do it!!

So, now that you’ve read all of this you are wondering, ok Kim, what is your point? Why did you blog on email and why did I just sit here and read it? Well, that is a great question. The answer is…. I just wanted to blog on it.. no reason really. I just wanted you to know that i’m trying to get to all my emails, but i’m not the super girl who can answer EVERY email within 24 hours. It might take me a couple of days. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you and I don’t care about you, it means that I have a lot of emails and i’m trying to get to them all:) I also wanted to blog because I know i’m not alone. I’m not alone!!! I know that there are some of you super stars who are amazing at email and are organized and perfect and I give you total props. Please help me!!! I know that there are others out there who are like me and are suffocating by the email… know that you aren’t alone!!!

One day, when I find a solution I will blog again on email and how I conquered my inbox. Until then feel free to email me… but know that it might take a little while and I do still love you!!!

Until then, please enjoy a beautiful image of my inbox… and yes… that does say 1287 messages unread – it doesn’t mean they are all unread, just marked as unread… but now you get the point… it’s gonna be the death of me:)

Over the last 7 years I’ve learned a lot. A lot about life, business, and photography. I started my business while I was a senior in college. I used my grant money from my last semester to buy a camera and a laptop and then created my own website. I got my name out there, took a lot of workshops, was mentored by some of the best in the country and just pushed through. I had never 2nd shot a wedding before and I just jumped head in. My business grew every year and in the last 7 years I now have a beautiful studio,  3 associate photographers, an amazing office manager and 2 interns. It’s been kind of amazing but a lot of work.

It doesn’t happen over night and you have to be willing to work hard. I’ve learned and trained with some of the best photographers and business people, and it has changed my life and business.

There are a lot of photographers out there right now who have a dream to own a business and to be successful, but they want it all to happen fast, they aren’t willing to invest into their business or their equipment or work to make their dreams happen.

I’ve had the chance to train and mentor a few up and coming photographers and I value those who want to grow and become better. I love seeing how well they are succeeding and many of them have become good friends.

Sadly, I don’t have time to do a lot of mentoring and haven’t offered one on one sessions because of that. A lot of people have asked and I know the demand is out there, so I decided that if I’m going to do one it’s going to be for a great cause.

Many of you have heard about our Silent Auction that is happening this week to raise money for my cousin Christy. She has MS and it has completely affected her life. I want to raise money to find a cure, so we are auctioning off a lot of items this week in hopes of raising $3000.

My donation to the auction is a personal One on One mentor session for a day with me. Like, I said, I don’t do these often because we just don’t have time. This mentor session will be fully up to what you want to learn. We can go over photography, business, accounting, shooting, lighting, etc. We can do a mock photoshoot and I can walk you through things. Pretty much this day will go as you want. I’m dedicating it to your learning.

The bidding is starting at $300 and in all reality this is over a $1500 value, so I’m really hoping that there will be a good bidding war and that those of you who have always wanted to grown in your photography and business will take this as a great investment and opportunity… so come on, head over to the auction site and bid like mad!!! The more money you spend the more secrets I will share with you!!!!!!

Thanks everyone:)

Today I drove around town for about 2 hours looking for locations to photograph this Thursday for an engagement session. It’s a normal thing for me to do this. I enjoy it and it really helps me see locations differently and get some unique and fun places to shoot. While I was driving I was thinking about how many hours I have spent driving around the valley and how it has been so great finding little holes in the walls to shoot. I hate shooting at the same location over and over again.

Finding locations to shoot isn’t always easy. I live in an area where there is not a lot of green grass; we have plenty of  cactus and desert areas, but almost everywhere you turn it is  private property and pavement. It kinda sucks that there aren’t a lot of rolling green hills around here and I love it when I get to go to locations like that, but even then I scout. I’m always trying to find something unique and different.

I get a lot of emails from photographers asking me where I took so and so’s pictures and sometimes they ask for EXACT locations.. Many times I just email back and tell them that they need to find locations for themselves. Of course I will give general areas, but I really don’t feel like it helps photographers grow if i tell them EXACTLY where to shoot. Most of my best pictures come from walking or driving around for hours to find the PERFECT location. I see the shot before I even pick up my camera and know generally what I am going to do there. Even on a shoot i’m scouting and looking for different areas and light. It’s what makes photography exciting and creative.

I truly believe in scouting and finding your own locations. I feel it will make you a better photographer and also make your clients feel good knowing that you worked hard to find them the perfect location. Take the time to drive around. Look at places differently than you have before. Think outside of the box and have fun coming up with places that you normally wouldn’t shoot. Don’t rely on other photographers to tell you where to go, but hunt it out for yourself.

That being said, be respectful. We don’t want to be walking all over people’s private property and ruining beautiful locations. Photographers have a bad name in some locations because they have not respected the areas that they are shooting. Get permission and build relationships with people.

Lastly, if a photographer isn’t willing to share with you where they are shooting at, don’t get upset, get creative. Go hunt it out for yourself and you might just find the coolest new location. Thank them for making you think out of the box and making you a better photographer.

If you ever see an aimless crazy driver pulling off to the side and holding her cell phone out window to take a shot of nothing, it might be me….. so feel free to wave, honk, and try to figure out what I’m seeing!!

From time to time I get people who email me and ask me questions about photography, how I started, what equipment I use, how to do certain things, and just general things.

I decided that it would benefit more people if I went ahead and shared my answers on the blog. Hopefully this will inspire more people.

If you ever have a question please feel free to shoot me an email… it might take a little time to respond, but I will get to you, I promise!!

Cori emailed me a little while back and is an aspiring photographer. She had a great question that I thought I would share with everyone.

1. When you discovered this was something that you wanted to do, what did you do or what steps did you take? How did you get started? Did you start out with a studio and such or did you just photograph people until you began to get enough money to make it a business? Who are the people I should start talking to if this is something I am serious about?

Photography has always been something I loved as well. In High School my grandfather let me use a brand new 35 mm camera he had just bought. We were on a trip to Oregon and all I did is take pictures. I LOVED IT and was addicted. Later on he gave me the camera and told me to make good use out of it! I took a few classes in college and learned the basics of photography. I loved photographing people and just started grabbing friends to go out and do photo shoots. After awhile people knew I liked photography and some of my friends who were getting married asked me to be the photographer at their wedding. I was scared to death to do it, but I agreed. I did 4 or 5 weddings for friends and the last two I did got me addicted. I was in-between jobs at the time and was having a hard time finding something else to do, so I decided what the heck, lets go for it and start my own company. I had nothing to loose because I was finishing up college and about to get married. I figured that I would try it out and if nothing came out of it I would look harder for another job.

Well word spread and I got a few clients, then a few more, then a lot more. I had already booked 30 weddings in my first year; people wanted something different for their wedding, not the traditional posed pictures; they loved what they saw.

My story is similar to others that I have talked to, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith to see what will happen. My best advice is to take that leap with professionalism and quality. I made sure that I had a wonderful website and I had great work to show people. The more work I was able to do the bigger my portfolio got. I went into my photography with the mindset that it was a business and I ran it as such.

For some people it is harder to take this leap because there are other things holding you back, such as providing for a family or even just yourself. My suggestion is to do photography on the side for awhile, still create a professional business and work hard. Once you realize that you can provide through photography make the jump.

I did not start out in an actual studio. I worked out of my house for 4 years and just recently got a studio. Studio’s are a big expense, so you need to make sure that you are really going to stick it out and do well before you jump into a studio space.

Talk to people that you know or respect and ask them for advice. Show your work to professionals and ask for critiques; however, be willing to take constructive criticism and learn from what people tell you. There is always more that you can learn, no matter what stage your photography is at.

Stay tuned for more Question and Answer time with Kimberly Jarman!

From time to time I get people who email me and ask me questions about photography, how I started, what equipment I use, how to do certain things, and just general things.

I decided that it would benefit more people if I went ahead and shared my answers on the blog. Hopefully this will inspire more people.

If you ever have a question please feel free to shoot me an email… it might take a little time to respond, but I will get to you, I promise!!

Cori emailed me a little while back and is an aspiring photographer. She had a great question that I thought I would share with everyone.

1. When you discovered this was something that you wanted to do, what did you do or what steps did you take? How did you get started? Did you start out with a studio and such or did you just photograph people until you began to get enough money to make it a business? Who are the people I should start talking to if this is something I am serious about?

Photography has always been something I loved as well. In High School my grandfather let me use a brand new 35 mm camera he had just bought. We were on a trip to Oregon and all I did is take pictures. I LOVED IT and was addicted. Later on he gave me the camera and told me to make good use out of it! I took a few classes in college and learned the basics of photography. I loved photographing people and just started grabbing friends to go out and do photo shoots. After awhile people knew I liked photography and some of my friends who were getting married asked me to be the photographer at their wedding. I was scared to death to do it, but I agreed. I did 4 or 5 weddings for friends and the last two I did got me addicted. I was in-between jobs at the time and was having a hard time finding something else to do, so I decided what the heck, lets go for it and start my own company. I had nothing to loose because I was finishing up college and about to get married. I figured that I would try it out and if nothing came out of it I would look harder for another job.

Well word spread and I got a few clients, then a few more, then a lot more. I had already booked 30 weddings in my first year; people wanted something different for their wedding, not the traditional posed pictures; they loved what they saw.

My story is similar to others that I have talked to, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith to see what will happen. My best advice is to take that leap with professionalism and quality. I made sure that I had a wonderful website and I had great work to show people. The more work I was able to do the bigger my portfolio got. I went into my photography with the mindset that it was a business and I ran it as such.

For some people it is harder to take this leap because there are other things holding you back, such as providing for a family or even just yourself. My suggestion is to do photography on the side for awhile, still create a professional business and work hard. Once you realize that you can provide through photography make the jump.

I did not start out in an actual studio. I worked out of my house for 4 years and just recently got a studio. Studio’s are a big expense, so you need to make sure that you are really going to stick it out and do well before you jump into a studio space.

Talk to people that you know or respect and ask them for advice. Show your work to professionals and ask for critiques; however, be willing to take constructive criticism and learn from what people tell you. There is always more that you can learn, no matter what stage your photography is at.

Stay tuned for more Question and Answer time with Kimberly Jarman!