248.790.7317
Here we are with another round of awesome seniors from the currently-graduating class of 2013! This has been a fantastic class and these young ladies and gentlemen continue to validate for us why we’ve chosen to do what we do. Each one has been a pleasure to photograph and to get to know! As their near-futures start to come into focus we look forward to following their post-high school careers! Enjoy!
Let me explain…. We have photographed plenty of little ones. Newborns, toddlers, kids – and we love all of our little Frameables. Often when we tell parents that our sessions are two hours they react by saying “there is no way my child will sit and pose for two hours”, and we reply saying “that’s why we need two hours!” Sometimes toddlers need a little time to get comfortable, and for newborns in particular we block off 3 hours and try not to schedule anything right after just in case we need more time. With newborns very often there are feedings that need to happen, diapers that need to be changed, and sometimes we need to wait it out while baby falls asleep so we can take photos while they are sleeping. It’s not a perfect step by step choreography, but that’s okay – it doesn’t have to be. We almost always get what we need even if the good stuff doesn’t start to happen right away…
Having said all that, there was one child that we photographed three years ago that we always remember as being so extraordinarily easy to work with as a newborn – we were able to get a ton of perfect shots and it didn’t take long at all. Well, she just came back as a three year old with her 9 day old sister and sure enough, she did an incredible job again – this time with baby sis and the baby was amazing too! These parents are 2 for 2! Like the title of this post says – PERFECT CHILDREN!!! We love love love these photos… and hope you enjoy them too! 🙂
We have been photographing these cute siblings for a couple years now and they are growing up so fast! They are at the age where they are pushing some of mommy’s buttons which all of us who are parents can relate to. Lucky for us we have plenty of tricks to deal with this – for example this time we sent mom down the hall to get smoothies so we could have some time alone with the kids in the studio, and sure enough they settled right in for some fantastic shots! So adorable, and these two clearly enjoy each other! Enjoy! 🙂
We have had the immense pleasure of photographing one particular little girl who is super cute, super smart and full of personality since she was still in utero, and now we introduce to you (actually as you’ll see below she is helping to introduce to you) her newborn baby brother! She was so well behaved for this session, she did a fantastic job with her new brother, and she was so excited!
This was such a fun session, and meanwhile just look at all of that blond hair on the little man! He slept for much of the session which is very helpful for newborns – he was only 9 days old! Enjoy!
So how do you answer the question of how to become a photographer? Let’s start by saying that you obviously cannot become a photographer from a blog post. However I’ve gathered a few resources that combined together will give you a good guide for getting started whether you are just interested in photography as a hobby or if you want to become a real pro. It’s certainly not the last thing you should read to become a photographer or a complete guide, but this post along with the links provided will be a good first thing to read.
Inspiration
Find out what inspires you and pursue it. With photography there are plenty of ways to discover this. One way is to simply take pictures. LOTS of pictures. Odds are you have a camera – even for now if it’s just the camera on your phone. Take pictures every day and find out what moves you. Another is to look at pictures. This link is to the inspiration category at the Photo Argus – these posts of images are designed to inspire and there is some wonderful content here. Here is the inspiration category at PetaPixel. You should also read and follow these five steps by Scott Bourne, one of our go-to experts in the field – and find other articles like these. Think in these terms and follow your dream!
Equipment
Keep in mind it’s not the camera that makes great photos – the photographer does. But having said that, once again here is a fantastic article by Scott Bourne on what you should think about in considering a new camera. As for where to buy one, just check out a local camera store and buy local where possible! If you are in New York City you should visit B & H which is the Taj Mahal of camera stores – the place is incredible and downright inspiring just being there. They also provide fantastic help over the phone AND they provide free shipping on equipment. Once you’ve invested in a camera take the time to learn your way around your camera. As you gain experience make sure you are taking the time to learn technique, lighting, post processing and the tools that go with all of it.
Business
If you want to be a pro you MUST learn the photography business. Photography can obviously be rewarding even if you are just doing it for fun. But if you want it to be your career then you need to really understand what makes it profitable, what makes it sustainable, what makes it rewarding, what makes it special. Go to conventions, sign up for seminars, read books, hire an accountant. Take the time to connect with other photographers, hone in on your specialty, find your niche and become the very best at it. Learn how to use social media as a brand. Learn how not to use social media as a brand. This list goes on and on – there is so much to it. It takes years to perfect your craft, learn the business and build a real studio but it can be done – after all, we are doing it…. and notice I didn’t say we did it – it’s an ongoing process – we are still learning every day.
If you are a photographer what advice would you give to someone starting out? If you are starting out, share with us why you want to be a photographer – what inspired you?
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Frameable Faces Photography
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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!
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Ally & Doug can be reached at the studio at tel:248-790-7317 or emailed at mailto:info@frameablefaces.com
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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?
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This year’s third annual spokesmodel party was a blast! It’s definitely one of our favorite days of the year and the culmination of the planning, photographing, and getting to know our newest team! Some of them we’ve known for years and some we’re just getting to know. We’ve become very fond of each and every one of these seniors-to-be and to have them all at the studio wearing their Frameable Faces T-Shirts and hanging together is as good as it gets for us!
Our awesome team!
Just like last year we began the festivities with the debut of the new spokesmodel video with behind the scenes clips from the photo sessions and even a fun outtake at the end:
We then had dinner, and this year we had it catered by Pine Lake Market in Keego Harbor – the food was fantastic! Then in keeping with tradition we ate Just Baked cupcakes. Soooo good.
Our Just Baked Cupcakes!
Then we took some photos. Everyone had picked up their t-shirts and spokesmodel cards which were laid out on the table when they arrived, and we took some team pictures first.
Frameable Faces Spokesmodel Swag!
Then it was everyone’s turn to do individual shots for the mural that goes in our window for the upcoming year which is always a lot of fun. Look for that in about a month in our window and on Facebook. There are actually some traditions within the murals emerging – like who will be the “jumpy girl”, who will be eating a Just Baked cupcake, which boy will be flexing his muscles, and who will do something that has not been done before?
All in all it was a great night and as we’ve said before, a great group of kids.
We received an unexpected visit from one of our seniors from the class of 2011! Fahad is quite the entrepreneur and he was the first senior we photographed with an SUV and it was a very cool session! Fahad is quite a go getter – a very entrepreneurial young man and we thought we would catch up with him in our latest “Frameable Flashback”!
Frameable Faces: Fahad you have a lot going on these days – what’s been happening?
Fahad: I am going to school full time & running three businesses. A fundraising company, home health care and a coffee business.
Frameable Faces: What are your goals for the future?
Fahad: My goals for the future are to get my MBA before I turn 24 and own 10 businesses before I turn 26.
Frameable Faces: What do you remember about your Frameable Faces photo session?
Fahad: I remember doing the photo shoot by the lake. It was a lot of fun! I loved the fact that Ally worked with me throughout everything. She did the shots I was happy with even though it took us a while. I would recommend Frameable Faces to all of my friends!
I had always been aware of Marty’s Cookies (they’ve been baking cookies locally in Metro Detroit for over 30 years) but for whatever reason I hadn’t been very familiar with the product, at least not more so than any other cookies. Cookies are clearly a weakness of mine and I’ve tried many good ones, so when we had the opportunity to photograph some Marty’s Cookies for their new website I was excited – It’s a pretty common occurrence when you photograph food that you get to try some.
Peanut Butter Cookie
Wow
You could accuse me of just talking these up to help plug a client – that’s fine. I don’t care. I’m going to say it anyway – these cookies are some of the better ones I’ve ever had. I’m sure along the way I’ve had some amazing homemade family recipe cookies that are truly special, and I can’t think of which were the best off the top of my head but I’d put these up against most cookies anywhere. I think my three favorite were the peanut butter, the butter pecan, and the chocolate chocolate chip (which are not usually my favorite), but here’s the kicker – not only were the cookies outstanding but the banana bread was way more than I bargained for. I’m pretty critical of banana bread/cake since my mom made it a lot when I was little and it was my favorite. I’ve always been disappointed by commercially baked banana bread – it never tastes like home. However I have to say this banana bread was darn close. Totally legit – moist, flavorful fantastic banana bread. I’m now a believer and I highly recommend this stuff. Just sayin’…
Banana Bread
Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Butter Pecan
Here come the guys….! These two young men complete our roster of spokesmodels from the upcoming class of 2014. We are really impressed with both of them and they both happen to be North Farmington Raiders just like us! Pretty soon we will have all 12 spokesmodels together to create our new mural for the window of the studio which is always a lot of fun for us. These two sessions were both fantastic! Enjoy!
Noah
Danny
This post is not about professional photography or social media, or running a small business, but I feel it’s appropriate. We capture images here – that’s what we do day in and day out, and most of what we do is a celebration of life and relationships. After the horrific images that came from the Boston Marathon a couple days ago I got to thinking about that city, the resilience it is showing and how important our cities are. I haven’t been to Boston but I still have some thoughts that I just wanted to put out there – thoughts on our cities in general with Boston as a backdrop. We are all thinking about Boston now like we all thought about New York, D.C. and flight 93 after 9/11, and like we all thought about New Orleans after Katrina and any of the other tragedies that have touched us all. As Americans we wrap our arms around a city that has been hurt and we feel for those who were injured and grieve for those who died.
Love for Boston
We have never been to Boston as I said so we can’t rave about it first hand, but we are aware of what an awesome city it is. It is definitely on our list of places to visit someday. It has been noted and emphasized that many people – first responders and ordinary citizens alike rushed in to help after the bombs went off by the finish line on Monday. Locals were helping out-of-towners who may have been trying to connect with family members amid the confusion. Boston, just as other cities have, has given us yet another great example to follow…
Love for other cities
I hope by saying this I’m not minimizing the tragedy since that’s not my intent, but I think we should take this opportunity to remind ourselves that we should love all our cities, and subsequently (as cheesy as it may sound), each other. We should reinforce the sense of community that our cities give us – a mass of humanity all functioning together in a huge and complex living breathing machine. A gigantic display of life and relationships. This might be obvious but when you visit a city take the time to enjoy what is unique about that city – if you go to Philly for example eat a cheesesteak sandwich (even if it’s a veggie version) and check out the history – the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall… Take photos of the skyline. Soak it in. Take the time to strike up conversations with strangers and let them know you are visiting their city and how much you love it.
Love for your own city
Over our Spring Break a couple weeks ago we did not go out of town. We stayed home and worked that week, but we did take one day to do a Detroit “staycation” day where we ate breakfast at Toast in Ferndale, went to the Detroit Historical Museum, drove around Belle Isle, took in an iMax movie in Dearborn, ate dinner at Slow’s BBQ in Corktown, and finished up with dessert back in Ferndale at Treat Dreams. A celebration of Detroit food and history. We love Detroit.
It’s easy to love our snow peaked mountains, our national parks and our beaches with their natural beauty, but in times like these let’s be thankful for our mighty cities too. Let’s work together to make them great. Here are a few (amateur) snapshots from some past visits to other cities…
Independence Hall in Philadelphia – 1989
I always thought this shot I took in 1986 of the Washington Monument was cool…
Snapping our reflection in Cloud Gate – the Chicago “Bean”
Family snapshot from the top of the Empire State Building – New York City 2010
Boston is wounded, but Boston is tough and Boston will get through this senseless act. Boston, the rest of the country is sending their thoughts and wishes your way. I know we certainly are, and we will be adding pictures of your resilient and beautiful city to our collection someday when we come to eat your food, learn your history, and meet your people.