New weekly post! {Be Successful with Erin & Lacey}
Hello and welcome to ‘Be Successful’! Every Saturday we will tackle some of the nitty gritty topics from the world of photography and business ownership! We have a long list of subjects to cover – from how to properly expose an image to how to develop business branding. BUT we need YOUR help!!! In order to make this section even more amazing than death-by-chocolate-cake-a-la-mode, we want to hear from YOU!
What are your biggest challenges? What questions do you have? What scenarios would you like to see illustrated and explained? We want feedback! (Pretty please with a cherry on top…with sprinkles…)
We want this section of the blog to be highly interactive. Feel free to ask questions regarding post topics. We’ll monitor the comments and will respond with answers. Consider it a weekly virtual workshop designed especially for YOU!
That’s the blog description, now here’s a little bit about us:
Hey y’all. I’m Lacey Rabalais. I’m a wife, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. I’m a child of God first and I am so glad to be a part of this group.
I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I am an extreme LSU football and baseball fan. Purple and gold through and through. I graduated from LSU in 2009 with an Animal Science degree as I thought I was on the path to veterinary school. Well I was working there in the small animal ICU as a tech and God had another plan for my life. I was a vet tech for 11 years.
In January 2013, I turned it all in. I had been working nights and shift work for years. I was turning into a grumpy person and not spending time doing what I loved most. While I was a vet tech I had been doing photography on the side. I started shooting nature stuff and sold prints but quickly got bored.
In 2008 I shot my first wedding. I was in love. I now shoot weddings, seniors, and pets. I’m so glad that I’m finally getting to do what matters most…live a better Christ-like life, be a better wife and serve my husband, and devote my time to my photography business.
Along with all that…..I love my dogs (Rosie & Lavette). I’m obsessed with anchors and nautical things. I’m a proud former US Navy wife. I’m super southern; love sweet tea, Louisiana, hunting, fishing, LSU.
Happy Saturday my Delight girlfriends! I’m Erin Kass and I will be your tour guide through the land called Photographic Technology – at least that’s the degree written on my diploma but it definitely doesn’t sound anywhere NEAR as much fun as it is!
God created me to be a photographer. Even at 3 years old I would wait patiently for butterflies to land on flowers so I could take their picture. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school with a black and white darkroom and photo classes. It was love at first photo assignment (after I got over the initial shock and confusion of figuring out what the heck an f-stop is) and I practically lived in the dark room my junior and senior years. I then went on to Daytona State College where I completed my photo degree in 2001.
In 2004 I became a Navy wife and moved from my hometown in FL to Hampton Roads, VA where we currently live. We have 2 pug dog-children named Lilo and Stitch…yes after the Disney characters. Hubby and I watched the original movie on our first date (ready 1, 2, 3…’awwwwwww’)
Up until the past year, photography has actually been more on the back burner in my life. God has had other plans and He’s taken me through different seasons since graduating college. I am SO excited to finally be able to focus (ha ha) my life on what God called me to be!
I am also SUPER excited that I get to spend my Saturdays with all of you! Can’t wait to see where this journey takes us!
yay! I am so excited for this series. I just got my new t3i on Wednesday (after upgrading from my dad’s rebel xs) and I am in love. my questions would be , how to start getting your name out there? and tips for building a portfolio?
so excited about this Erin & Lacey! thank you so much (in advance!) for being willing to share your passion & knowledge!
So this will be your super nitty gritty question of the week but here goes>> after calibrating my computer screen, making sure I’m exporting images in sRGB or AdobeRGB colorspace and doing everything I can think of in between, my images are still looking faded, desaturated & off color when I send them into print. (I edit on a MacBookPro & have printed from Mpix, Winkflash & Costco for personal stuff). Thoughts about what I might be doing wrong?
And a second question to follow that, I’m setting up SHOOTPROOF which means I’ll finally be offering prints (instead of just DVDs!) to clients from a professional lab– what is the lowdown for ROES (what it is, what it does) and will it help fix my color problems?
Thanks so much!
Thanks Emily and Marcia for your comments! Emily, I have a couple ideas for what might be happening but I’m going to research it further and will get back to you. And Marcia, those are perfect questions! The answers are on our lists of topics to cover so we will move them to the top!
First step in the process is to start thinking about what and who you love to photograph. Think about what makes you feel fully alive when you’re shooting (weddings, family portraits, children, etc) and the type of person you relate to/enjoy working with. More to come in the future, but that’s a little tidbit to get you started ;).
-Erin
I think you two are fabulous and thank you for this. I can’t wait to see how much I can learn from you. Thanks so much!! I’m in the process of earning a certification for some online courses in photography. I think it’s really depressing that most of the true photography is over. Seems like a lot of people are going way overboard with photo shop editing. You can’t seem to get a real picture these days, to many ways to manipulate your photo to make it perfect instead of doing it right the moment you capture that shot. Anyway I am trying to get my name out there. I am a great nature scenic and wildlife photographer already at heart, but now I want to start portrait photography and I’m just so nervous about it I really need a practice model. I’ll be taking some photos of a cousin getting ready for her wedding at the beg of July and I can’t wait, I am so grateful that she is trusting me to capture this special moment for her. At the same time I am nervous and afraid what if I just can’t get the exposure right, am I going to go blank and forget everything I’ve learned etc. Anyway I usually go out on Saturdays to go hiking with the hubby and of course take natural photos along the way, but I will try to make it on your blog on Sats.