San Francisco BNI – Ace Networking Chapter Presentation

This week I had the opportunity to present to my San Francisco BNI Chapter about my photography business. Since I rarely speak to a group of people about the specifics of my business I was a bit nervous.  I decided to split the 10 minute presentation into two sections – the first was a bit about me and my work and the second was about picking a print size for a specific wall.  Next time I talk I’ll focus more on the education side rather then my story but since I’m new to the group I thought it was important to give the other 25 or so members at the meeting some back ground about myself.  I talked being in business since 2009 and how I focus on the relationships between people and apply that approach to weddings, families and even business headshots.  I highlighted my 5 star yelp rating and how I am recommended on most San Francisco parent groups like Mission Parents, Noe Valley Parents, Nopa Parents and the Golden Gate Mother’s Group.  But I figured my work was the best speaker for what I do so I showed them this:

The familiar face at the end is one of the members that I had photographed the day before.

For the second part of the presentation I did a demo of how I help clients size prints for their walls.  I wanted them to get a sense of the power that large prints have so showed them one of the 24″ x 36″ canvas prints of Lucius that I have hanging in my house.

 

Boy standing on boggie board at the beach in Capitola

 

Then I ran then through a short print sizing demo and showed them what a photo of Dale (the person I photographed) would look like in different sizes on a wall.  For the presentation I used a photo of his office but below is a sample from a stock gallery.

Sample portrait displayed in three sizes on a wall

I needed more time to show them all that can be done to really determine the best combination of photo and size but I think it was enough to give people the idea.  Overall all it was a great experience.  Always nice to have a challenge that is a little different then the normal day-to-day.

________________________

The BNI Ace Networking Chapter meets Thursday mornings at 7:15 at the Serrano Hotel – 405 Taylor St. (Near O’Farrell St) in San Francisco.  We are growing and looking for:

Florist
Aesthetician
Commercial Real Estate Leasing Agent/Sales Agent
Landscape Architect
Massage Therapist
Physical Therapist
Banker
Event Planner
Hair Stylist
Attorney – Bankruptcy

If you (or some one you know) do any of these professions and interested in taking a look at our group, then please give me a call.

 

 

 

Protected: Leila’s International Birthday Party

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Protected: Marina Children Center Trip to Crissy Field

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Learning Lighting and Directing from a 3 year Old

Lucius and I ventured out into the backyard to work in the garden and play a bit with my lighting.   I’ve been working on learning the art of off camera flash so that I can use them with my family, engagement and wedding clients.  San Francisco is blessed with an abundance of great light but it never hurts to have alternatives just in case things don’t go as planned.  I set up my flash and stand and photographed Lucius playing with his tools.  But after a bit, Lucius asked if he could use the camera.  This was definitely a lesson in directing.  As I tried to point out more serious tips about where I should stand and how I should look, Lucius said “no, no, no – do this” and preceded to make some sort of silly face.  I followed his direction and we had a great time and got some fun photographs.  Definitely a great way to learn the nuances of lighting and to access my inner-child.  Plus Lucius might have a career as a photographer some day.

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The Slye’s “Burn away from the Burn” Party

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When Jeff and Kristin Slye sent out the announcement for their party we new we had to be there.  They are two very good friends that have amazing friends and always throw a great shindig.  If have seen the masses of costume, water and tent filled vans and motor homes leaving headed to the desert in the past week, then you know its the annual Burning Man Party/festival/cultural happening.  Jeff and Kristin have spent many a year at Burning Man but this year they were staying home in San Francisco.  So in good fashion, they hosted a “Burn Away from the Burn” party complete with furry jackets, fire dancing and dust storms (aka hair drier driven flour).  Sue, Lucius and I put on our best Burning Man attire and we had a great time.  I wasn’t really intending on photographing the event but I’m glad I brought my camera along.  More importantly, I’m really glad I brought my flash (and wireless trigger).  I moved the flash around to a few different places and go some really interesting shots.  I love the shots of Lucius Hula hooping and Jake (their son) with his cool-guy cowboy hat.  Made me think that I should set up lights at parties with children to get more fun shadows, flares and contrasty shots.

Thanks as always Jeff and Kristin and hope your playa wasn’t too hard to clean up.

Weekly Workshop – Wide angle with Analise in the Mission

This week I wanted to accomplish two things – explore a neighborhood and work on my wide angle shots. I generally gravitate to highly cropped shots in my portraits. I like the connection with the camera/audience that cropped shops provide – especially when photographing families and children. But one always must try new things I forced myself to shoot wider and capture the surroundings. And I had the perfect subject. Little Analise is an explorer and living right of 24th st in the mission is an ideal location. Debbie (her mom) and I followed her as she went from store front to bubble gum machine to playground and back. It was all I could do to get ahead of her for a second, take a picture and then move on. Great fun for sure and we got some really nice results.

Thanks Debbie and Analise.

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Bloglink:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/2000

Caroline’s birthday and my one year anniversary

Wow, its been a year since Caroline’s last birthday.  She turned three and have a great party at the Fr Mason Art Center.  And while today was very important to her and her fabulous family  (Amy, Andrew and baby sister CeCe) for all the obvious reasons, it also has special meaning to me.   Caroline’s  party last year at Crissy Field was the first event I ever photographed as the official photographer.   I can absolutely remember calling Amy and being so nervous to ask if I could photograph the party.   I couldn’t believe she said yes and then sent out an email that said “our friend and professional photograper, Joey Chandler will be taking photos at the party”.    It’s definitely been quite a year.

Seeing Caroline’s friends and realizing that I have photos of almost everyone there was a treat. These families are now very much part of my life (I see their photos on my screen saver at least a few times a week) and its nice to know that a few of the photos I took are now part of their lives.

So thank you Caroline and Kvaal family.  Not only for being great in your own right but for also taking a chance on me.

Happy Birthday Caroline.  Thanks for inviting us – we had a great time.

Here are a few shots I took today – gotta love cupcakes and chocolate frosting:

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Caroline's Birthday - San Francisco Family Photographer, Joey Chandler

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Blog Link: http://jchandlerphotography.com/1788

Weekly Workshop 6 – Reflector and Asher

Yesterday I received my order for a “Lastolite 32″ Tri Grip Collapsable Triangular Reflector, Silver / White, with Built-in Holder.” Sounds cool and it is. It’s a silver and white reflector with a handle and its sooo very easy to use. I’ve seen Ed Pignol speak twice in the past two weeks and these are one of his tools for getting great exposure in his photography. I gave it a try and am very happy with the results.

Couple things that make it very nice:

*  Very satisfying “thwac” when you open it up. It goes from a little folded circle to large guitar-pick shaped reflector in less than a second.  Lucius (my son) loved opening and closing it.  You could hear Thwac-Fold, Thwac-Fold, Thwac-Fold for about 15 minutes in our house this afternoon.
*  Folds nicely first and every time – I was shocked that I got it back into the pouch so easily.
*  Handle makes using it a breeze – cannot figure out why there aren’t more of these.  Calumet – you gotta catch up.  Works fine for a single shooter (like I am mostly)
*  Great results – can’t say that it reflects light better than other reflectors but because it was so easy to use, I found myself using it throughout my shoot with little Asher.

I can definitely see myself using this again – especially with photographing children and families.  Will be a nice addition for working in the San Francisco Fog and in homes.

This week I worked with Asher and his mom Jennafer.  Asher has fabulous curls and its pretty clear that Jennafer won’t be cutting his hair anytime soon.  He is a great little guy – very determined to explore most everything.  And because he wasn’t so interested in staying still, the mobility of the Lastolite reflector was very helpful.  I could place it on his shadowed side or at his feet to add just a bit of light to his face and eyes.  Allowed me to snap a few shots before Asher moved on and then quickly reposition it.

I think it worked out really well.  Thanks Jennafer and Asher (and Daddy Paul who made a cameo).  Hope you enjoy the photos.

Blog link: http://jchandlerphotography.com/1770

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Lucius’s 3rd 3rd Birthday Party

Lucius’s birthday is actually at the beginning of the month. But with our social calendar filled with trips and other parties, celebrating his birthday with his San Francisco friends wasn’t an option until this weekend. Good news for him since this was actually his 3rd 3rd birthday party. Tough precedent to set since he has been receiving presents the entire month.

Sue arranged for a fabulous party at the Bay Area Discovery Museum with 30 or so of our closest friends. Pretty amazing how everyone has kids now and how big they are. I don’t know how Sue came up with the idea but she brought all the fixins for painted plotted pants and it was great to see everyone go to town with the pots, the paint and the dirt. Curious to see how many plants actually sprout in the upcoming months.

If you haven’t been, the BADM is a great place for families and children (they even have hool-a-hoops for moms). We were in their playroom for two hours and just as the cupcakes started playing havoc with the kids, we went out to their huge play/learning area. So great to see all the little ones explore. And now they have a taco truck. This replaces a shockingly bad cafe and makes for a perfect afternoon snack.

All in all a very good time. Thanks to everyone that came. And apologies in advance because I wasn’t able to get pictures of everyone. Should have hired a photographer.

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Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1730

Weekly Workshop 5 – Flash and White Balance

This week I met Elyse and her beautiful daughter Rose.  We were going to meet outside but a cold spring rain kept us inside.  Fortunately, they have a wonderful home in the inner Richmond of San Francisco so it wasn’t a problem at all.  I continued my work with on camera flash and added in a white balance challenge.  A few days back I saw Ed Pignol speak at a PPGBA meeting (Professional Photographers of the Greater Bay Area).  He said that a key aspect of his photography (which is amazing with a capital A), is fine tuning the white balance.  He was the first photographer I heard say that he uses the manual WB setting predominantly rather then the camera presets (Automatic, Sunny, florescent, cloudy, etc).  I had never done that so I thought I would give it a try.  I am always looking for ways to improving results while reducing my post processing time.

Hard to say if it was the great light, beautiful little girl. wonderful house or the white balance fine tuning that produced the results but overall I was really happy with this approach.  Does require for greater awareness of surroundings and settings but that is probably a good thing.  You can see the light got green in the shots from her room (with the horse) where the walls were green, a bit warmer with the hard wood floors, a little cooler/bluer when she was looking out the frontdoor glass.   Next step will be learning the manual settings for different colors.  One big bonus was that post processing was much easier. One color preset to pop the colors a bit and then just a little exposure correction. As a San Francisco Photographer, I think this will be really helpful for shooting in different houses and apartments. Light can be so crazy in San Francisco with the ever changing weather.  Getting great exposure no matter where the house is and no matter where the family is in that house, will be very helpful.

Thanks Elyse and Rose. Hope you enjoy the photos.

And if you want to hear Ed speak this week, come to the San Francisco Smugmug User group meeting.

Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1703

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