Portraits, portraits, portraits

Soooooooooooooo excited about my new project. I did a few shoots during the past few weekends to get some photographs for my portrait portfolio. I am planning a big session tomorrow with my daughter Abby & son Conor. It will be a great challenge and I have some great ideas about it. Bear with me for a few shots on this site over the next few days. I also have some plans with my hairdresser, again more about thsi will follow shortly!

Inspirations

I love searching the internet for blogs of photographers who I admire. It's a great way to learn some new things as well. Yesterday, I stumbled upon a photographer whose work I absolutely adore. Her name is Maria Murray, she is based in the UK (www.mariamurray.co.uk). She does wedding and portrait photography.I was particularly interested in her portrait photography. She gave shape to ideas which I had in mind but was not sure on how to realise them. She does quite some portrait shoots outdoors and that's where my interest came in. As I mentioned in a previous blog, I would like to do some natural-lighting portrait photography but was not sure if there would be a market for it. Well, looking at her photographs, I am sure there must be. The only thing missing for me at the moment is a portfolio. In the near future I will start looking for some volunteers to pose for me, and who do not mind to have their photographs published ... Watch this space!

Coffee-table books

My next big thing is a well-designed, personalised and unique wedding album. I am a big fan of the new style coffee table books. They are so versatile and allow for a lot of creativity. Every page in the photobook is a work of art: all the material that I use for the photobooks would have been part of the wedding. For example, for one wedding, which took part in Castle Leslie, co Monaghan, I used the wallpaper in the hotel as a background for the photos in the album. Another great advantage of the photobooks is, that it is so easy to use text in it as well. I can scan everything, from menus to invitations or parts of speeches, it all adds to the personal character of the album. The result of it all is, a collection of mementos of the big day. An album that people will really look into, rather than the polite leaf-through.
Although, traditional albums do not offer all the items mentioned above, they are unique in their own way, they have a classy look, and maybe their simplicity defines their exclusivity.

Three years on ...

This is my first attempt to start a blog. Trying to tell about my life as a photographer for Janssen-photography (http://www.janssen-photography.ie/ ) and all the things that keep me going.
Here I am, starting my third year as a wedding photographer. Looking back it is amazing how much you learn in these few years.
Over this time-frame, I have taken on a few principles. Most of all to use as little artificial lighting as possible. It keeps the photograph so real. I am currently looking into starting naturally-lit portrait photography. I think it is amazing and so much better than the flash photographs. The only thing that is stopping me is to find out if the market is ready for it. Do people still want the studio pictures, because it looks more professional, in their eyes?
Another thing that would be one of my key principles is that the customer is king. Isn't this the main objective for companies these days to keep going during a recession. I used to have some restrictions in the agreements I set up for my customers, but now I urge them to discuss any other wishes that they may have ... Well next time more ...