New Opportunities

     This month I have been trying to find more opportunities for my business.  I have made an Etsy account, which here is the link https://www.etsy.com/shop/UniquePrintingAllie?ref=hdr_shop_menu to see it.  I did an art show at the end of last month, which went well.  I just wish I was better at marketing my self.  I have talked to two marketing people and I have the social media such as: LinkenIn, Facebook Page, Blog, Twitter, and Instagram.  I am just one person, so I have to work extremely hard to get my name out there.  I wish there were ways of making it all come together.  People say they like what I do, but it is the buying of my work that I feel is not happening.  

     Enough about trying to get my name out in the world.  I took photographs of my nephew at his birthday party and he was just so handsome and especially funny while he was eating his cake.  I really enjoyed watching him smashing his cake and getting the icing in his cake.  Everything about his birthday was special and the theme and decorations were perfect.  

     I was just so thrilled and honored that my sister-in-law trusted me enough to take the photographs at my nephew's first birthday.  I am so glad I will be able to take more pictures as he grows up and be able to capture his smile and all his emotions on this journey.  Photographing my nephew makes for great opportunities.

Inspiration

     This week I have been trying to find more inspiration, since I am one of those people who really enjoys to travel.  I haven't had time to travel as much as I would like since I wanted to babysit some this summer to earn money for my photography.  It has been very rewarding to get to know the two kids over the summer.  Although, I have been to several different places with my family on our trips and I have done some traveling on my own.  I have just felt the need lately to go somewhere outside of my hometown even if it is for a day or two.  I sometimes get inspired the most by seeing new things and traveling.

    When getting ready for my upcoming art show I was looking back through my photographs that I had taken over the past year.  I realized they were all from different hikes that I have taken in the mountains and the last time I went to the beach in February.  I then began to think when will be the next time I am going to the lake or beach.  This month I have been taking photographs of my nephew who turned one and I started editing his pictures.  I also have been working hard to finish getting ready for this art show, while trying to work out.

    How do I find my inspiration to keep going?  I think of how I saw my nephew walk on his birthday.  I have the some of the best supporters like my friends and family.  My dog who even though she wants to protect me can be scared of the tiniest thing, like wall ball slams.  I think of the little things, because my family helps me.  They inspire me and they believe in me.  It is seeing how my friends child was shy around me and then she wanted to hold my the whole time I was visiting.  Inspiration is all around me and sometimes I just have to find it.    

    Here are two of the mixed media photography pieces I will be showing in the art show.      

"Hole in One"

"Afternoon Mist"

Talking to Others

In college, we had this assignment where we had to come up with at least 10 questions to ask a photographer in the field we would hope to one day follow.  My dream job was and still is today to be a travel photographer, but that will take some time to achieve that goal.  I am not giving up on that quest just yet.  We had to find 10 photographers to email and I had two responses from photographers which I thought was great!  After talking to one of the photographers named Alison Wright who does work with National Geographic; I decide to read her book.  Her book called Learning to Breathe: One Woman's Journey of Spirit and Survival made me want to travel even more.  I decided to try and use what I had heard from our conversation on a trip I was going on with my family to see if I could capture the culture and the people while taking photographs.

These three pictures are probably my favorite from my trip, but I tried to do some things that were out of the ordinary for me which included trying to talk to the tour guides.  I tried to immerse myself more into the culture by researching the area and asking questions.  This was a way for me to expand my photography technique.

Recently, I have been talking to some other photographers and this week I will be able to talk to him about his travel photography experience.  I am looking forward to know what he does and hear his take on trying to bring everything about a culture together within a photograph.  I am hoping by talking to these photographers I will be able to apply it to my own photography.

As always keep following Allie Ray Photography on Facebook for more updates.

Finding a Balance

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how glad I am that I started my own business.  There are many reasons for this, but just to name a few they are: I get to set my own schedule; I am able to enjoy the printing techniques I learned in college; and I am able to spend time with my family and dog.  My dog is a rescue dog, so she will always feel very anxious when I go on errands and when I get back she is very excited.  She requires a lot of TLC.

The hard thing is with this economy I have not SPREAD THE WORD as much as I would have liked.  I have been using a Facebook page, twitter, Instagram, sending e-mails, and spreading the word by talking about my work.  I even sent out postcards to people over the holidays.  I have been doing things to keep busy such as making slideshows for my cousin's wedding, which somehow I keep getting asked to do that for every family wedding (I guess I am better at using computers than I thought).  Other things I do to earn money are helping out my family which can be a good and a bad thing.  It is a good thing, because I want them to know I am there for them so they will help me.  The bad part is when I actually need some time to do work they think I can automatically do it.  The thing is I want to be helpful and do things for my family, but how can I also do that and SPREAD THE WORD?  Right now, I am trying to find a balance so I have decided to babysit, which in itself is good money and you can be a good role model for kids.

I have all these ideas for my work, but how am I going to be able to pursue them without getting my name out there?  I use social media and I talk about my work.  My family talks about my work.  What else can I do to become an established photographer in 2014?

This is a custom photograph sent to me by a family member that I gave to another family member for a birthday present. This was put on wood block with silver leaf on the background. 

This photograph I took of a family friend's dog Punkin. Punkin's picture was put on wood block with silver leaf on the background. 

To find out other works I have done follow Allie Ray Photography on Facebook or find me on Instagram!

Thank you! Help Spread the Word!

Always Learning

Once you start photography you begin learning about other photographers.  It has now been a year since I have graduated college and while in college I learned about the history of photography.  I learned about the well known photographers, but now as I have started my own business I have begun learning about the competition or the other photographers in the area.  Everyone of them has strengths and weaknesses.  Like every new business owner you always want to hold your head high and just learn everything you can.  Practice as much as you can, so that is why I bring my camera with me everywhere I go.  I might just be going to the beach to get some sun or on a hike with the family, but you never know what might just be something that you can sell.  All I can say for now is never stop learning.

Starting a New Business

One thing I never thought I would do right when I graduated college was start my own business.  I do enjoy every part of it, but it has taught me a lot about myself as a person.  I have learned I need to step out of the shell I am hiding underneath and say, 'Hey guess what world I started a business!'  Meaning I need to be willing to talk about myself and what I am doing.  Growing up as this shy girl means I have to be willing to step up and talk to these people who are friends of mine and tell them what I do.  Now, what exactly do I do?  Great question.  I do multi-media art work using my photography.  I make digital skins and when I showed my mom what they looked like she said, 'they look like saran wrap.'  I put gold leaf or silver leaf on wood blocks and when I put the digital skin on top of the wood block I sometimes feel it gives the photograph an antique look.  Since starting my business I have some of my pieces that I do multiple images of at Seibels a local store where I live and I also have doing custom work.  I even have been taking photographs of houses for real estate agencies to give as gifts.  Not only am I enjoying what I am doing, but I am also able to print regular prints out on paper.  I feel like this is only the beginning.  I know that I have just started, but I am happy where I am doing what I love.

These are few of the pieces I have been working on for the past couple of months.  I have enjoyed being able to travel to take some of these pictures.  I think the best part of starting this business is that when I get a time where I am not as busy I am to still go out and take pictures for my work.  Good luck to everyone who is starting their careers in the business world.

Photographing Children

As a photographer, I have noticed different things when other photographers try to get a child to sit still or just what some of my classmates do to get a child to sit still. At school, you had a certain amount of time to get a project finished. I remember one of classmates saying 'she had bribed her niece with candy.' (The project was photographing people.) When I was an intern for a professional photographer two summers ago I noticed she did lot with trying to get the kids to use their imagination. I think about this a lot especially since when photographing a child you have to realize they can not sit still for a long period of time without either wanting to talk or run around and play. Now, as I am writing this, because I have taken some pictures of children lately and my favorite pictures of them so far have been when they are being themselves. They are just so natural at that point. You see them with a true smile on their face and not looking at their parents or the photographer wanting a treat or hoping they will be done soon. For instance, these two girls were able to dress up and run around in the yard while I took their pictures. How fun is that?

Isn't that the kind of thing you want to be doing with your sister when a photographer comes?