May 2012 - Frameable Faces Photography

One of the themes we’ve tried to instill in our studio is that of community. We see Frameable Faces not just as the studio you can visit at the Orchard Mall, but as all of us – especially our clients who really are the Frameable Faces (or #Frameables as we like to tweet them). As our blog evolves and grows we thought it would be a splendid idea to get more of you involved and so the “Quest for Guests” idea was born! We would like to open this up just to Frameables (our clients) for starters and see where it goes, but the idea is to have someone write a guest post for our blog. There are a couple of basic parameters involved:

1. The article does not have to be about Frameable Faces nor does it need to be photography related – it can be but it doesn’t have to be.

2. The article should provide some value whether it’s informative, or simply entertaining. We prefer not to go overly heavy or serious. If you have your own blog or business we definitely want to highlight that! But here’s the key – don’t make the post a commercial or sales pitch for your business. Write an article that will help people – demonstrate your expertise with some helpful tips. If you have a blog of your own which is simply your outlet for your thoughts then give us a couple of your thoughts or even a good story. If you are a fan of our blog, don’t have a business of your own or a blog but feel you have something to add to the conversation feel free to do that too!

3. The article should ideally be 500-800 words and include at least one related image (if you are struggling with the image part let us know and we can help you). Also include a short 2-3 sentence bio, a bio image (125×125 pixels is a good guide but we can help you with that too), a good title for your post, and links you want us to include (website, fb, twitter etc.).

4. Send your article in an email to doug@frameablefaces.com. We’ll scan it for typos etc. and let you know if there are any minor changes before we post it. Keep in mind that dependent on the number of posts we receive and/or the subject matter we can’t guarantee that your post will be published. We hope you understand.

We are excited to see where this goes and we hope the Frameables will get to know each other a little better! We hope you will enjoy reading a guest post and that you will comment and join in!

Music plays a huge role here at Frameable Faces. As for me I’ve been a music fanatic my whole life. I grew up with brothers who were 10 and 8 years older than me so I was headbanging to Kiss, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin when I was 5. I evolved and played the cello in my high school orchestra, and now I sing in a rock band. I listen to everything from hip/hop to jazz to classical and having a photography studio gives me a lab in which to actively practice my music snobbery on a daily basis and so I will share with you now a few ways which music plays a role at our studio. You are SO lucky to have access to these pearls…. hahaha…

Music Soothes The Savage Beast

For newborn sessions we turn the heat up, the lights down low, we lock the door to keep the studio exclusive to new mommy and baby (newborns come to the studio in the first two weeks after birth) and play classical music. While the theory about classical music somehow helping along the cognitive development of babies has been debunked, it can still help to soothe and make baby happy. A google search turned up this article from 2010 on the topic. Very often we start off with something simple like Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and then we move on from there.

Music For Inspiration

Music is a very powerful tool to create a mood, and it helps to have a wide repertoire of musical knowledge so you can match the right genre for a haute session or a family session or a high school senior session, although the high school seniors usually know what they like and sometimes a website like Accuradio can come in handy if you don’t own the latest pop hits.

Music For Commercial Purposes

Here is where you need to be careful and follow the rules. We still see many new photographers who are starting out who use copyrighted music on their websites without permission which is a no-no. We have permission to use the song on our website, and when it comes to our promotional videos and slideshows that we actually sell as products we pay for the use of royalty-free music. You can find clips of wonderful professional music for your videos written especially for different kinds of sessions with services like Triple Scoop, Emotion, and Animoto.

Music For Everything Else

Music is always playing here. Even if there isn’t a session going on there is music playing just to edit or blog to. As I’m writing this I’m listening to Marty Willson-Piper – guitarist for The Church and one of my favorite artists. Good soothing jangly alternative rock. People expect to hear good music when they come here and it’s part of our culture. It’s fun! We like to share what we are listening to with the occasional tweet, and we even have a Pinterest board that focuses on the music we play here.

What is your favorite music to listen to and for what activities?