Tag Archives: Doug Cohen

Senior Photo Awesomeness Abounded With Arielle!

by
No Comments

Yes senior photo awesomeness abounded with Arielle!  Her session was epic and we didn’t want it to end!  We are so hyped for the class of 2016 and what better way to officially kick off this class than with a North Farmington Raider, and a sweet, beautiful, smart and funny one at that!  Not to mention we’ve known Arielle for some time and she’s a friend of our daughter’s so we were looking forward to this session and knew it would be special.

Chilly but still near perfect morning…

As of this writing the session was supposed to happen the day before yesterday but we were rained out which has happened several times lately.  Yesterday the weather was cooperative and it was overcast with diffused light which is very easy to work with.  It could have been about 5 degrees warmer when we arrived at Quarton Lake in Birmingham but it was still fine.  Oh, and yes this session was yesterday.  This is extremely rare but Ally is actually caught up on sessions at the moment (kind of the calm before the senior storm) so the benefit of getting in early and having a fantastic session is that Ally dug right into the files and pulled out 4 right away for sneak peeks!  So let’s get to it…!

Awesomeness Abounded

So pretty!  Arielle just looks so happy and relaxed in the photo above.

Awesomeness Abounded With Arielle…

Here’s another one from the location part of the session with the water in the background:

Awesomeness Abounded

I know right?

Now let’s take a look at our behind the scenes vine from the day:

We also broadcasted a portion of the session live on Periscope so if you want to watch the replay of the broadcast you can see that below!

Back to the Studio

At this point it was time to head back to the studio to do Arielle’s yearbook headshot and a few photos on the black background.  And, you guessed it, more awesomeness abounded with Arielle!  Ha!  First she rocked our signature “black and blowy” pose:

Awesomeness Abounded

We’ll stay with one more highlight for now on the black background with a just a simple pretty smile.

Awesomeness Abounded

So there it is – the first official senior session of the class of 2016, and yes awesomeness abounded – with Arielle leading the way!  We hope you enjoyed the highlights of our day with her!

Nine MORE Types of Periscope Chatters! Survival Tips For Scopers!

by
No Comments

For those of you who saw our previous Periscope “survival guide” blog posts and corresponding broadcasts, if you have been on Periscope since you probably know that there are way more than 13 or 14 types of chatters and scopers…

Nine More Types

We here in the Frameable Faces research department have identified NINE more types of chatters and we broadcasted our findings live to a bloodthirsty (and nervous) Periscope audience.  We now bring you the YouTube replay of that broadcast along with a list of the chatters we covered.  Here is the replay…

Nine More Types Of Chatters…

  1. The Hijacker – the hijacker will try to take the controls of your broadcast and steer it to a destination of their own choosing.  Often shouting in ALL CAPS they will try to promote their website / blog / dog – whatever.  Very spammy and potentially blockworthy if they refuse to back off…  In a promote-your-scope type of broadcast it’s okay but that’s the only place where it’s appropriate.  Side chatters can sometimes combine to unknowingly tread into this dangerous territory.
  2. The Brown Noser – somewhat self explanatory…  the scoper who the brown noser is brown nosing is a GENIUS and every point they make is revelatory…… to the brown noser.  Yes it’s okay to be a fan and thank your favorite scopers for their insights, but sheesh – sometimes it’s like Beatles fans on the Ed Sullivan show…
  3. The Security Guard – the security guard is there to keep potential trolls in line in your scope.  They will put smackdowns on inappropriate comments and alert you to whom you should block if you missed it.  The security guard can actually be a welcome chatter in your room as long as they aren’t too aggressive and start scaring the other chatters.
  4. The Aggressive Gamer – often the aggressive gamer is secretly using an external keyboard for faster typing giving them a huge advantage in Periscope games where the first correct answer is the winner.  Often these chatters will just start throwing random answers up on the screen as soon as a category is announced before the question is even asked.  Thankfully most Perigame show hosts are on to this and won’t award a win until they at least ask the question…
  5. The Cryptic Chatter – the cryptic chatter can cause chaos on a broadcast by confusing the heck out of the scoper with comments that usually relate to something said at least 30 seconds before and they put zero context in their comment like “Oh yeah sometimes for sure” or “Exactly – I HATE that”.  You must call out the cryptic chatter with a passive aggressive remark to let them know not-so-subtly that you have no idea what the heck they are talking about.  The problem as a scoper is the extra second you take to decipher the cryptic comment keeps you a half step behind the next comment that actually contributes to the conversation.
  6. The Brand Newbie – we hug the brand newbie, we embrace the brand newbie.  The Periscope community is a welcoming community of early adopters and when you see a brand newbie who tentatively enters a room with an egghead profile you should be nice to them.
  7. The Eggspert – no one likes an eggspert.  The problem with the eggspert is they have no credibility – they show up in a room and start commenting in an authoritative way like they have a ton of knowledge, and yet they can’t figure out one of the first rules and that is to get a profile avatar – a photo, a logo – something other than an egg.  It is perfectly okay for all chatters in the room to shame the eggspert.  NOTE:  Credit goes to Periscope star @MalinMOcean who coined the term “eggspert” in our broadcast when we referred to this chatter as the “no-credibility chatter”.
  8. The Spillover Commenter – this chatter breaks their comments up into multiple comment bubbles, often because they can’t boil it down to the three lines allowed in the app.  This is usually a problem because the second part of the comment comes too long after the first part which can confuse the scoper and make the second part of the comment look like the work of a cryptic chatter.
  9. The Fat Finger – autocorrect is the bane of the fat finger’s existence.  Whether due to carelessness, hurried commenting, or actual fat fingers, the fat finger chatter is often put into embarrassing situations by comments gone horribly wrong…  we’ve ALL been there.

So there you go – nine more types of chatters for you to be aware of!  Here are the links to the previous posts, and there is at least one more to come!

13 Types Of Periscope Chatters – A Survival Guide For Scopers!

13 Types Of Periscope Scopers – A Survival Guide For Chatters!

**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography
**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography is a small biz retail mom & pop shop of Doug&Ally Cohen located in the Orchard Mall in West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States Of America!
************************************************
Ally & Doug can be reached at the studio at tel:248-790-7317 or emailed at mailto:info@frameablefaces.com
************************************************
Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/frameablefaces
Facebook: http://facebook.com/frameablefaces
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frameablefaces
YouTube: https://youtube.com/frameablefaces
Instagram: https://instagram.com/frameablefaces
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/frameablefaces
***************************************­*******
Being “Frameable” is an attitude, a community, a way of life – a life you would want to celebrate and display on your walls for all to see!  Tell us… ARE YOU FRAMEABLE?
**********************************************
Join the Frameable Faces Community – sign up for our email newsletter for the best of the week in the Frameable Faces World!  Click here!

The Third Time Was A Charm AND On Point(e) for Rachel!

by
No Comments

The third time was indeed a charm and it was “on point” – literally – for Rachel!  If at first you don’t succeed try try again and the same goes for if you get rained out.  We were rained out twice for Rachel’s senior photos so when the weather cooperated in perfect fashion the third time we were quite pleased.

As for being “on point”, Rachel is an accomplished ballerina so she brought her pointe shoes with her and hence we had a session that was both “on point” and on pointe!  Rachel is a really sweet and soft spoken girl, she was a joy to be with, and so was her mom who joined us on the session!  Most of the focus was on location for Rachel’s session so that’s what we will highlight here.  Let’s start with a nice casual photo of a relaxed Rachel:

Third Time

Love that shot and we had just the slightest breeze giving Rachel’s hair a little lift – beautiful!

Third Time And On Pointe…

Now let’s take a look at a couple photos that combined dance with our beautiful setting, starting with Rachel on pointe on a tree stump!

Third Time

Such a unique photo and definitely a first for us!  Love it!

Let’s now take a look at our fun behind the scenes vine of our day with Rachel:

Next let’s look at a take on a “sleeping swan” pose.

Third Time

So pretty!

Okay now we’ll move over to the waterfalls as a backdrop for Rachel in a pretty dress to conclude our highlights!

Third Time

So now you see what we mean when we say Rachel’s session was not only on pointe but on point too!  The third time was definitely a charm for this girl and we’re certainly glad it was.  We hope you enjoyed the highlights from her session!

 

 

The 13 Types Of Periscope Scopers – A Survival Guide For Chatters!

by
2 Comments

You may have read our post about the 13 types of Periscope chatters and you may have seen the ensuing broadcast about it on Periscope which was an epic laughfest for all involved.  For that one I wrote the article first and then we did the broadcast.

Periscope Scopers

Ally and Doug probably being one of the 13…

Well the reception to that broadcast was so fantastic it inevitably required a sequel, and this time we did it in reverse.  I made a few notes, put together a slide show and we did another broadcast once again with Ally providing the demonstrations.  So now here is the companion blog post.  Now that we exposed all the different types of chatters we encounter on Periscope, let’s turn the tables on the scopers!  Here’s the actual broadcast and the breakdown of the 13 below.

The 13 Types Of Periscope Scopers…

  1. The Too Close For Comfort Scoper – this scoper isn’t going to be satisfied until you have become completely acquainted with their nose hair, teeth and eyebrows – or as some chatters pointed out in the broadcast, the pores in their skin.
  2. The Distracted By Comments Scoper – this scoper will literally try to start the same sentence 23 straight times and won’t be able to do it because they just can’t stop answering all the comments.  Always a challenge since you want to be social and talk to your viewers, but sheesh – get on with it man!!!  This scoper may also graduate to being a juggler – more on that later.
  3. The Multitasker – in the scope I referred to this one as the “JUST Missed Your Comment Scoper” but I realized this scoper isn’t paying attention to the screen because they are multitasking.  They often will ask a question and then get distracted by something else going on and then come back to the screen to catch your 3 line typed out question just as it’s fading into extinction and they’ll only get the first line before it’s gone…
  4. The Bad Lighter – this scoper is scoping in the dark while asking you your opinion on something that’s impossible to see because, well, they’re scoping IN THE DARK.
  5. The Earthquake – tons of turbulence here…  in the broadcast you’ll see that everyone was getting dizzy and nauseous because the scoper is unaware of how important it is to try to steady their smartphone.  Watch, I’ll end up feeling bad about this one if someone is scoping during an actual earthquake.
  6. The Shy Scoper – curious that someone would download this app and start scoping if they don’t want to be seen, but some scopers are nervous and they scope the floor or the wall while talking to you…  Or maybe they haven’t figured out how to double tap their screen yet.
  7. The Thankful Scoper – these people are SO happy that people have showed up to their scope!  They will gush and jump for joy when people show up, and sometimes a certain special scoper will pop in that will make them lose their mind completely.
  8. The Beggar – a potentially annoying scoper to be sure, the beggar will campaign for hearts, shares, follows, tweets, and invites.  They will find any number of creative ways to get you to tap your screen – they are completely addicted.
  9. The Overscoper – as you can see a couple people got nervous when this slide popped up in the broadcast.  Periscope can be addictive in nature, and overscoping can be dangerous to building a following especially  for those chatters who haven’t changed their notification settings and have their iPhone doing that “hello” whistle at them courtesy of the overscoper 10-20 times per day…
  10. The Unable To Gauge What’s Actually Exciting Scoper – as a side note I’m pretty disgusted with myself for misspelling “gauge” in the slide deck for the broadcast on this one…  In any event, this scoper sees a squirrel in a park and thinks it’s going to be ratings gold.  Most people have encountered squirrels.  Seeing someone else encounter one by watching it happen on your iPhone isn’t quite that exciting.  You don’t need to scope the squirrel.
  11. The Off-Topic Scoper – pretty self explanatory.  This scoper will entitle their scope “5 Things To Do In Detroit” and end up scoping about, well, a squirrel, or maybe Game Of Thrones.  Sometimes this is partly the fault of the Off-Topic chatter who throws the scoper off-topic.
  12. The Juggler – the juggler sometimes starts out as a “distracted by comments scoper”.  The juggler tries to keep three or more separate conversations with three different chatters going at the same time.  It never goes well and this inevitably can lead to injury.
  13. The Long Goodbye Scoper – this scoper says they HAVE to go.  They are signing off, but wait – they can’t leave while hearts are still flowing, comments are still going, and chatters are still showing.  These people are often closet beggars.  These goodbyes seem to go on forever and sometimes something is said that restarts and extends the scope which proves that the scoper really had nothing else to do in the first place.
  14. The Unprepared Scoper – note the title indicates that there are 13 scopers for this post, but in order to demonstrate the importance of scope preparedness we snuck in this 14th scoper which proves the point.  Prepare for your scope so you aren’t scrambling in the middle of a scope to find something else you meant to cover and can’t find.  This can be uncomfortable for all involved.

So there you have it!  The 13 Types of Periscope Scopers!  There are plenty more where they came from and I’m sure this will be good for at least a couple more scopes of categories of chatters and scopers, so stay tuned….

**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography
**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography is a small biz retail mom & pop shop of Doug&Ally Cohen located in the Orchard Mall in West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States Of America!
************************************************
Ally & Doug can be reached at the studio at tel:248-790-7317 or emailed at mailto:info@frameablefaces.com
************************************************
Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/frameablefaces
Facebook: http://facebook.com/frameablefaces
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frameablefaces
YouTube: https://youtube.com/frameablefaces
Instagram: https://instagram.com/frameablefaces
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/frameablefaces
***************************************­*******
Being “Frameable” is an attitude, a community, a way of life – a life you would want to celebrate and display on your walls for all to see!  Tell us… ARE YOU FRAMEABLE?
**********************************************
Join the Frameable Faces Community – sign up for our email newsletter for the best of the week in the Frameable Faces World!  Click here!

 

 

The 5th Annual Senior Spokesmodel Party With The Class of 2016!

by
No Comments

If you have walked by our studio then you have seen the long white mural of high school senior spokesmodels that graces our window.  Maybe you’ve noticed that we change it up every year with our new crew, and we take those photos at our annual get together with our team when we PAR-TAY at the studio!

Spokesmodel party time!

We gathered at the studio with our peeps and as we always do, we brought in food from the Pine Lake Market who does a fantastic job of catering (ask for Nick).  We even had a birthday cake for Caitlin since it was her birthday on the day of the party!  This year we incorporated a couple new platforms that we weren’t using last year like Periscope and we broadcasted our crew introducing themselves – take a look:

Squad goals…

Next we premiered the new Spokesmodel Video which is a big highlight for us every year.  This represents months of photographing these awesome kids who we get very close to, and we are very proud of this…

The video includes this collage that we also worked on this Spring – because just (Frameable) FACE it – the class of 2016 is a B16 DEAL!!!

Spokesmodel Party

Next it was time to take the pictures for the mural which is always a lot of fun, and we posted a little behind the scenes vine as we usually do for sessions, but this time we managed to get a glance at all of them posing!  Take a look…

A Celebration of Murals…

Since this was our fifth mural we thought it would be fun to celebrate that milestone on Instagram – check it out:

Spokesmodel Party

And let’s give the new one its own spotlight – it’s about to get its own spot in our window where you’ll be able to come by and see it in all its glory!!!

Spokesmodel Party

So there you have it – another great new team to represent our studio as we roll into a new season of seniors!  WE CAN’T WAIT!!!

The 13 Types Of Periscope Chatters – A Survival Guide For Scopers!

by
2 Comments

So Periscope comes along and it’s super cool.  We all have visions of reaching an audience in an exciting new way and connecting with new friends, being entertained and seeing the world like we’ve never seen it before.  We download the app, we start to follow some scopers, we tell our friends and we start scoping……..and then they show up.  The scope chatters who tune in and, well…. make it interesting.  Just to clarify for the purposes of this survival guide for scopers, the scopers are the people broadcasting, and the chatters are the folks tuning in to watch and “chat” (type comments to the scoper and each other).

Survival Guide

Doug and Ally checking out Sock Cop and Cathy Hackl on Periscope

Scoping can be stressful, it can lead to post traumatic scope disorder, and it’s largely the fault of these 13 types of scope chatters (and here’s a clue – we’re all guilty of being at least one if not several of these at some point).  So without further adieu I bring you:

the 13 types of chatters – a survival guide

  1. The First Comment Chatter – the first comment chatter is quick on the draw and that’s their M.O. – when they see a scope notification they pounce and furiously start typing to get their comment in before the others start scrolling.
  2. The Chatty Cathy – the Chatty Cathy is usually just so excited to be on a scope – their exuberance is often activated by a simple acknowledgement of the Chatty Cathy.  If you say hi back to a Chatty Cathy the flood gates will open and they Won’t.  Stop.  Commenting.  Relatively harmless because they are generally extremely happy people, but they can still make you a little crazy.
  3. The Troll – yes this is obvious.  Not new to social media by any stretch, the troll will usually ask a female scoper to see her boobs, or like my troll yesterday they may just stop by to tell you that they “just crapped their pants”.  Trolls are not cool, but luckily there is a relatively easy remedy for handling trolls and that is to simply block them.
  4. The Topic Trumper – the topic trumper loves the opportunity to show off their vast reservoir of knowledge by jumping into your room to spill the beans on the tip you are about to reveal.  While this may allow the topic trumper a fleeting moment of self validation, it usually doesn’t make them look so good to the other viewers/chatters.
  5. The Drop In Chatter – the drop in chatter is extremely busy.  They have a ton going on and they are probably busy with multiple million dollar generating projects or maybe they just have 5 kids but they still find the time to drop in and say hello even if they can only stay for a minute.  The drop in chatter can actually be a welcome guest, but habitual drop ins can lead to being classified as a scope hopper.
  6. The Scope Hopper – the scope hopper is a mysterious character.  Also known as “ghosting”, they like to hop around from one scope to the next, sometimes staying just long enough to make a hit and run comment.  They may genuinely want to just see what is going on around Periscope or their motives may be more sinister – they may just want to be seen or make the scoper think they are interested in their scopes when they really aren’t.  This can lead to the scope hop of shame.  6a. The Scope Hop Of Shame – just a footnote to the the scope hopper, this happens when two hoppers by coincidence hop into two consecutive scopes at the same time and discover that they are both indeed scope hopping.  The best thing to do in this case if you are one of the busted hoppers is to form an alliance with the other hopper and swear this unfortunate incident to secrecy.
  7. The Social Butterfly – the social butterfly loves to say hi to everybody in your room.  Actually a welcome chatter, the social butterfly brings all the chatters together and fosters a sense of community in your scope.  The only danger is when the social butterfly moves into the more serious and dangerous category of being a side chatter.
  8. The Side Chatter – the side chatter will recognize a friend in the scope and start an entire unrelated side conversation that sometimes goes way too long.  This can be very disruptive to the flow of comments that are actually on topic, can badly confuse the scoper, and might actually squeeze relevant comments off the screen too quickly for the scoper to respond.  This is a borderline double troll result that can sink your scope and in extreme cases may even be a premeditated conspiracy to destroy your scope.
  9. The Off-Topic Chatter – this chatter will come into your chat entitled “3 tips for sharing scopes on YouTube” and notice that you’re from New York and tell you about a restaurant they ate at in New York…. because they once lived in New Jersey about 90 minutes from…. New York so they didn’t get to New York too…. often but one time when they went they did go to said restaurant…. are you a Giant fan?
  10. The Attention Seeker – this chatter usually gets stressed when the room is very crowded and will repeatedly use 30 emojis and/or ALL CAPS in their comments to get noticed.  You may need to acknowledge the attention seeker to quiet them temporarily.
  11. The Slightly Awkward Chatter – this chatter isn’t quite a troll but makes comments that make everyone feel just slightly uncomfortable – just not enough to warrant a block.  No one has found an adequate solution yet for these people.
  12. The Lurker – the lurker never comments.  They kind of just sit in the corner and stare and their presence can be a bit unsettling.  Don’t let them bother you.
  13. The Interrupter – very often a scope begins with welcomes and introductions and even a little bit of chatting which is great.  Hearts and engagement throughout are the hallmarks of a successful scope.  But at some point the scoper might have some valuable information they want to get across.  The interrupter doesn’t understand that.  Just when the room goes quiet and the scoper gets on a roll the interrupter will ask a question that may have already been covered or they are jumping ahead.  This is very stressful for the other chatters in the room and if left unchecked can extend a scope to unbearable lengths causing a chatter exodus.  You can give the interrupter one free pass if you like, but it’s best just to ask them to DM you on twitter afterwards.

So there you have it!  Be aware of these chatters, learn to recognize them and keep this survival guide close and you should be okay!  Feel free to add to this list if there are any I’ve missed…

**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography
**********************************************
Frameable Faces Photography is a small biz retail mom & pop shop of Doug&Ally Cohen located in the Orchard Mall in West Bloomfield, Michigan, United States Of America!
************************************************
Ally & Doug can be reached at the studio at tel:248-790-7317 or emailed at mailto:info@frameablefaces.com
************************************************
Snapchat: http://snapchat.com/add/frameablefaces
Facebook: http://facebook.com/frameablefaces
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frameablefaces
YouTube: https://youtube.com/frameablefaces
Instagram: https://instagram.com/frameablefaces
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/frameablefaces
***************************************­*******
Being “Frameable” is an attitude, a community, a way of life – a life you would want to celebrate and display on your walls for all to see!  Tell us… ARE YOU FRAMEABLE?
**********************************************
Join the Frameable Faces Community – sign up for our email newsletter for the best of the week in the Frameable Faces World!  Click here!

 

 

An Urban Senior Photo Junket With Jon In Birmingham!

by
No Comments

A junket is defined as “an extravagant trip or celebration, in particular one enjoyed by a government official at public expense”.  Well, our urban junket with Jon was a celebration for sure – even if it wasn’t official government business!    Birmingham has some of our favorite spots and even though we sometimes contrast Pontiac and Birmingham as “grungy vs. cosmopolitan” we can still find some gritty locales in Birmingham too.

Meanwhile Jon is a great kid – the weather was a little windy and chilly but he handled it like a pro.  We’ve known Jon’s family for a few years now but we hadn’t really spent much time with him before his session, and we found him to be a really nice guy!  So let’s get to some photos shall we?

A Senior Photo Junket With Jon…

We met up together in Birmingham and started shooting, and the first photo we are sharing is with a background that we often present in black and white – it just works…

Senior Photo Junket

Cool right?

Now let’s switch to full color as we explore some alleyways…

Senior Photo Junket

Now let’s take a fun behind the scenes look at the day with this vine that we posted:

Fun right?  Now let’s take another view of the alleyway segment of the session before we switch it up again with this full length photo of the whole scene…

Senior Photo Junket

At this point we made a location switch and headed to a secluded area where we knew we could get this photo through a fence.  We do this once in a while and it always makes for a dramatic image.  What do you think?

Senior Photo Junket

Love that one, and it’s a good one to finish on for now!  We hope you enjoyed our urban senior photo junket with Jon!  We certainly had fun on location with him!

Doug’s Rant – Image Quality ISN’T Everything On Instagram (and more)

by
No Comments

Yes it’s that time again… time to RANT.  I have 4 basic topics to cover so let’s get to it.

Rosh Sillars tweeted the link to an article about Instagram this morning written by Andrew Hutchinson for Social Media Today which I thought was good.  You should read it.  Now while I do NOT disagree completely with the idea that image quality is everything for certain strategies on Instagram, I do disagree with this as an overall statement.  So those of you who know me will know that I feel the need to respectfully present the counterpoint in the spirit of healthy debate.

Three reasons image quality isn’t required on instagram:

  1. Think about the name of the app – INSTAgram.  The “Insta” in Instagram implies an instant and spontaneous sharing of photos made right from your iPhone.  Granted you can post images that aren’t taken with your iPhone but the app is clearly designed with that in mind with the basic camera and editing interface in the app.  Many brands post professionally crafted and edited images on Instagram with a ton of attention to detail to the author’s point and it works for them.  But sometimes when you capture something fun and immediate you might not have it set up for perfection, and that’s actually what can make an Instagram perfect.  I would take it a step further and say that even as a photography studio our strategy on Instagram is typically not to show off our finished work here but to rather bring people behind the scenes and have fun, which leads me to number two…

    Image quality

    NOT a professional photo!

  2. Instagram is social.  Perfect art might not always be.  A collage or a funny incident can tell a story or start a conversation – an interesting one.  A perfect photo can too I suppose, but when you go to an exhibition or art museum they don’t hang a white board with a marker under the display for people to engage and leave comments.  Tell a story and have fun with your followers and don’t always worry about the quality of the photo.  To borrow something that Mark Shaw (one of my favorite Periscopers) might say, it’s not Autogram – don’t just broadcast perfection at people to show top quality.  Now don’t post total garbage either, but keep the focus on being fun and social.
  3. There is a ceiling on how awesome your images can be for your following because of the platform.  Many people are looking at these images on an iPhone.  Is that really the best way to see a professional photo?  It’s not a bad way per se, it’s just not the best way.  An EZ Bake oven isn’t the best way to bake a top notch cake, but it could be the most fun cake of your life if you do it with a child.  Our clients come to our studio to get images to hang as their centerpiece on a wall – not just to look at on their iPhone.  So once again – don’t always worry about the quality.  You typically can’t show off the very best of a quality photo on an iPhone.

Okay moving on…

Why I Don’t Like Email Lists

This is another one I go against the grain on.  I do not like email lists.  I’ve never sent out regular email newsletters or tried to build an email list of clients.  I’m not saying they don’t work, I’m just not interested in sending emails to clients.  Email has been around since well before social media existed, but it’s done on a computer or some other electronic device so it’s not as old school as say, junk mail, so let’s call it “post-old school”.  I suspect it works largely as a numbers game – not because getting another email is sooooo awesome.

Will YouTube come back for brands?

I’ve been posting more video to YouTube since I started Periscoping.  I like to repurpose some of my scopes and upload some of my tips to our YouTube channel.  It has led me to hang out on YouTube with a renewed sense of purpose as a brand, and I’ve connected with people on Periscope who are doing the same.  When I went back to the channels and brands I had subscribed to before I saw that many of them hadn’t posted anything in months, but I think this could change…  Just my guess – this is one where I’m just wondering aloud.  This is a whole other topic in itself on ways to effectively build your brand on YouTube which I’m exploring in new ways now.  I’ll keep you posted.  What are your thoughts on this?  Do you subscribe to channels and organize your YouTube channel with playlists?  As an individual?  As a brand?  Are you social there?  Subscribe to our channel and let’s connect!

Image Quality

Yes I’m slightly addicted to Periscope

Of course it comes back to the game-changing monster that is Periscope.  I wrote a post for MCP Actions about 5 very specific ways you can use Periscope for your photography studio… and I also wrote a post here about what you need to know about Periscope (so far) back in April.  At this point I’m totally hooked – I’ve built some great relationships in ways I never did before on any other platform.  I notice however that many people still don’t know what it is yet and haven’t given it a try, so I think I’ll be writing another post soon about what you can accomplish with Periscope.  The people who aren’t early adopters might want to know what the “why” is…  While I’m at it I may write one about who you should follow there.

That’s it for now – I’d love to hear your comments on this whether you agree or not.  Thanks for reading and join me on Periscope where we can discuss these further!

Frameable Flashbacks! – Our Very First Intern Kim!

by
No Comments

It has been a while since we have done a Frameable Flashback – kind of our version of “Where are they now?” with our former seniors!  The best part of photographing high school seniors for us is the relationships we have with them which continue to grow after they graduate.  It’s a thrill to follow their accomplishments and with several of our 2011 seniors graduating this Spring it’s time to check in with a couple of them and see what they are up to.

Meeting Quiet Shy Kim…

When Kim Savin first came to the studio for her senior consultation she was painfully shy!  She barely said a word!  Her fun personality started to come through a little by the time we went on location to Cranbrook where she attended (the only time you can photograph a senior at Cranbrook is if they attend there).  She had a great session and here is a highlight:

Intern Kim

Corrupting Intern Kim – hehe….

We were pleasantly surprised when we got a call in the Spring of Kim’s senior year asking if we would take her on as an intern as part of a school sponsored senior project, and Kim spent three weeks here at the studio with us.  We’ve always joked that we took such a sweet, demure, and innocent girl and totally corrupted her!  She was awesome to have around the studio and we’ve stayed in touch with her ever since – following her life at Vanderbilt and overseas in Spain.  She even made us paella once!

Present Day Hanging Out With Friend Kim!

So here we are 4 years later and she’s graduating college which is really hard to believe…  that flew by!  She visited us yesterday and true to form (she never knows what she’s in for when she stops by) we put her on the spot for a Frameable Flashback!

Intern Kim

Frameable Faces:  So tell us what you’re up to these days Kim?

Kim:  I graduated from Vanderbilt University a couple weeks ago. I’m home now for a few weeks and then I’m moving back to Nashville. In Nashville, I’m going to spend my days working at the Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt doing psychology research, and my nights and weekends taking advantage of Nashville’s live music scene and continuing to sample all of the barbecue the South has to offer.

Frameable Faces:  That is amazing!  And what about the future?  What are your plans?

Kim:  I hope to work for a few years and then do some traveling before going to graduate school for clinical psychology. In the long term I want to be a research psychologist, ideally at a university in a lively city with my family, warm weather, and a Spanish-speaking community that I could work with.

Frameable Faces:  Tell us – what was the most memorable part of your Frameable Faces experience?

Kim:  The most memorable part of my Frameable Faces experience was interning here for a few weeks at the end of my senior year of high school.  Not only did I learn so much about “mall life” and the photography business, but you and Ally also taught me a few life lessons, often involving some colorful new vocabulary.   It was so much fun for me to intern at Frameable Faces and I always look forward to coming back to visit! 🙂

We will always look forward to it too!  We are so proud of and excited for Kim and this new chapter in her life!

Photographing The Fantastic Family Of An Old Friend!

by
No Comments

Here we are with back-to-back family sessions on back-to-back days with back-to-back blog posts!!!  Say that five times fast…  Meanwhile this is another fantastic one and in both cases we’ve known the dad of the family outside of the studio so we were excited when they called us to photograph their families.  Ally has known Larry from yesterday’s post for a couple years, but I have known Mike from today’s post for about……..40 YEARS!

Going back a ways…

Yes Mike and I go back almost to the beginning to Forest Elementary School and Rolling Oaks / Wedgewood Commons which was the greatest neighborhood, and it was the greatest time to grow up there.  It’s always a little surreal to have someone’s family here that you go that far back with.  Meanwhile Mike has done really well in the family department – his wife is a sweetheart and his boys are great!  So let’s get to the photos!

Fantastic Family

Everything has been blooming which makes for great location shots and the weather held up nicely – we had a mix of clouds to contend with here and there which made for some light changes but we were prepared!

Next we have a great shot of the boys!  Birmingham is nice because you have access to green and brick for a little of both…

Fantastic Family

Studs!

Okay let’s take a look at our behind the scenes vine of the day – possibly the most epic vine from a family session we’ve ever posted!

Note the #AbbeyRoad hashtag.  Haha!

Fantastic Family

So maybe we played in the street a little….  it was totally blocked off so we can assure you no laws were broken nor clients harmed in the making of this next image.

Fantastic Family

One more shot as we bring it back to a nice moment between the happy couple…

Fantastic Family

So there it is!  A fantastic family indeed!  We hope you enjoyed the highlights from our morning with them!