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Frameable Faces and Politics In this election season politics dominate our airwaves as well as our social media feeds. In my view it’s generally not a good idea for a business to share their political opinions. We’ve seen many examples of businesses doing this and the controversy that follows. Chick-fil-A is a recent high profile example that comes to mind and I also found an interesting article that examines the politics of retailers and the potential impact on their brands.

Frameable Faces and Politics?

If anyone is curious who I’m voting for and why I suppose you could call me privately and I might be willing to discuss my views. While I have definite opinions I will not be making any public statements of support nor any attacks on either President Obama or Governor Romney. I believe Frameable Faces is a place where people should come to celebrate. If we have success as a studio it is going to be because of the relationships we build and the faces we capture with photography – it’s certainly not going to be based on our politics. This should be a place for #frameables of any color, creed, orientation or affiliation. I can’t stand the partisanship and the politics as they are happening, but I still love our system overall. It’s flawed to be sure but in the photography business we spend a lot of time studying faces, and just as human imperfections are part of what make people lovable and unique the same can be said for our system of government. At the end of the day one candidate will win and one will lose based on who we (the people) say. It’s America and I love it. The loser will concede and we’ll move on. There will likely be no military coup or revolution.

Keep the election in perspective

So here is my political statement – it’s actually a history lesson… I am a huge student of American history and for those of you who don’t know much about the history of our politics, if you think the partisanship and the ugly side of recent elections are getting worse and it makes you feel the country is going in a bad direction I have news for you – this is NOTHING. Picture Joe Biden and Paul Ryan challenging each other to a fight – or a duel with pistols for example – don’t forget something like that actually happened. The man on your 10 dollar bill? That’s Alexander Hamilton, a founding father who was killed in a duel by former Vice President Aaron Burr just across the river from Manhattan. The whole decade of the 1790’s was fueled by bitter rivalries within the government and intense partisanship between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Washington felt Jefferson betrayed him. Adams and Jefferson went from friends to enemies (they reconciled in their later years). The elections of 1824 and 1828 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were so explosive they are almost hard to believe… Lincoln’s election in 1860 was a catalyst for an awful war between North and South. A deal was made to put Rutherford B. Hayes in office after the 1880 election after messy and confusing results. The 1912 election saw Teddy Roosevelt turn on his dear friend William Howard Taft, storm out of the Republican convention, form his own party and hold his own convention which essentially had the effect of handing the presidency to Woodrow Wilson. Partisan politics and negative campaigning is certainly nothing new.

Life will go on

My message is for everyone to keep a little perspective going into this election, and while I understand having strong feelings about your convictions I don’t think it is wise to mix your business with your politics. I’ll vote how I’ll vote and I’m not going to fan the flames of anger by using the platform of our business and this blog to try to impose my views on others. Regardless of the results of the election the sun will still rise on Wednesday morning. Republican and Democratic officials will still be working together to help the victims of superstorm Sandy on the East coast. I’ll wake up and have breakfast with my kids and get them to school, and Ally and I will open up the studio of our dreams and take more pictures. And, as all Americans should, I’ll wish the best to our president regardless of which man wins the election.

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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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Class of 2013 Frameables! Part 2

October 25, 2012

by Doug Cohen

2 Comments

Back in September we posted some Class of 2013 Frameables and promised that there would be more to come, so as promised here is Part 2!!! What a great year this has been and the fall colors of Michigan have been beautiful! We have enjoyed each senior who has come through our doors – more great sessions, great stories, great friendships being built. Our sometimes-rogue reflector “Reflecto” has even been moved to start tweeting largely because of the fun he’s had on the senior sessions (although he probably won’t admit it).

Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this new round of photos of these inspiring young Frameables!

Senior Pictures, Frameable Faces Photography Frameable Faces Photography, West Bloomfield Photographer, Senior Pictures Frameable Faces Photography, Senior Pictures, Metro Detroit Photographer Frameable Faces, West Bloomfield Photographer, Photography Senior Pictures, West Bloomfield Photographer, Frameable Faces Photography

Frameable Faces For Seniors! “Behind the Scenes” – Picking Up Proofs

October 15, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – we LOVE our seniors! Photographing seniors is one of the most enjoyable things we do. Ally and I both enjoyed high school and we attended North Farmington High School together. While we knew each other and I was only one class ahead of her, we did not date until after college (it’s actually a fun story). Because we went to high school together and only live a few minutes away from where we grew up we’ve always been able to relate to each other’s high school experience and it’s never really that far away. Maybe that’s why we enjoy high school photos so much!

We thought it would be helpful to give some details here about our process for taking senior pictures for those considering our studio, and we’ve included a fun behind-the-scenes video of a senior picking up her proofs. This can also give you some ideas for what you may want to look for in a studio for senior pictures if you don’t live in the Metro Detroit area. There are 5 main steps in our process of a senior photo session:

Consultation. We always meet ahead of time with our seniors and usually a parent so that we can get to know each other. We talk about the upcoming session and plan it out based on the senior’s vision for the pictures. We discuss style, location, clothing, colors, hair, makeup (for the girls), life, school, plans for after high school and whatever else is on their mind.
Photo session. 3 hours of anything goes – often starting with a yearbook headshot and then moving along to fire, water, trees, meadows, alleyways, buildings, pets, friends…. and almost every session has a story. From a small twister hitting the mall during a shoot to a cat hunting down a chipmunk right in front of us in a park, lots of crazy stuff can happen and often does! We have a ton of fun during our sessions – lots of laughs.
Sneak peeks. We usually post a couple images from the session on facebook (with a model release OF COURSE – be wary of photographers who will post your image for their commercial purposes without permission), sometimes a behind-the-scenes shot from the session on Instagram as well as the occasional tweet. We really enjoy seeing all the love that our seniors get from their friends with likes, favorites, comments and tweets online about the pictures from their session.
Proof pick up. This is always really exciting – lots of anticipation to see the images which depending on the season can be anywhere from 2 – 4 weeks after the session. Our seniors get a physical proof book which they get to keep and we present these to them with an in-person slide show set to music on the big screen in the studio. It’s a very special two minutes for everyone. This is the part of the process we have highlighted here in this video clip of a proof pick up!

The 5th and final step is simply to place the order – wallets for friends, wall portraits for the family room, prints for the grandparents, pictures for the office, coffee table books for the living room… Plenty of options!

All in all it’s one of the best parts of our “job” – and it certainly doesn’t feel like a job at all.

“Life Began” With Facebook And Today Is My 5th Birthday!

October 3, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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October 3rd, 2007. A glorious day – it was the day I came into the world………of facebook. That makes today my 5th birthday and I am celebrating with this blog post. Facebook wasn’t my first exposure to social media but it was the site that changed everything for sure. Taking a little trip down memory lane I was able to see the days I became friends with my best friends from my previous uninformed, boring, non-connected life. The early days of facebook were truly baby steps for me – I didn’t have much of a filter, I started status updates with verbs as if my profile name of “Doug Cohen” had to be the beginning of my sentence. I did that for over a year – like this pearl of wisdom from 11/25/08:

Groundbreaking huh?

Traveling right along, today I relived two of the best moments of my life. On 12/16/09 my daughter who was 10 at the time made the winning basket in overtime to win in the championship game of her basketball league. I’ll never forget that moment and how excited she was and on 6/16/11 my son who was 9 at the time got his first two hits of the little league season after struggling quite a bit up until that point. I’ll never forget the smile on his face that evening and afterwards he was awarded “player of the game”. I see a couple of anniversary wishes from Ally and I to each other here and there and many other milestones, images and memories along the way.

As for Frameable Faces, we had a couple “groups” for a while but when the business profiles/pages were released we moved over to that format and the main Frameable Faces page was born on March 12, 2010…..

……. and its younger sibling, the Frameable Faces for Seniors! page was born 4 days later on March 16:

We have used facebook to expand our reach and build relationships as a studio, and personally we have used it to share good times (and bad) with friends and family. We’ve shouted out for some shoveling help when we were snowed in and had someone show up at our door in 10 minutes. We’ve told jokes, argued, debated, learned and even watched the children of our friends grow up. We’ve made new friends and rekindled relationships with old ones. It’s been a remarkable 5 years. What about you? Take some time to look through your timeline and see what you find. When did life begin on facebook for you? Tell us in the comments below!

The B Boys Being Boys!

July 13, 2012

by Doug Cohen

2 Comments

You’ve heard the saying “Boys will be boys”? These guys were no exception! But they were completely and totally adorable! Lots of laughs and LOTS of personality!

Mom was a bit worried that we wouldn’t “get anything good” from this session and she warned us before the session that the boys might give us a hard time. But since we’re complete “professionals,” we were able to get some awesome expressions! You know how we do it… silly words and of course screaming really loudly…You know…Totally professional! Ahhhh….the things we do for our clients! Ha!!!

Whole Lotta Love!

July 10, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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Family Portraits, Frameable Faces Photography

You may have noticed we (and other frameables) have fallen in love with this pose...

If you’ve ever met Doug, you’ll know that he’s a total music freak. There are very few people our age that can even come close to his eclectic tastes and can have the level of music knowledge to have a conversation about it. And then came these guys…..

When we met “M”, we knew that she was an exceptionally cool, down-to-earth girl. Then when we had the photo session and she came in with bags, yes BAGS, of clothes for her family, we knew she’d won Ally over. During the photo session, which was filled with laughter, cuteness, “boy” jokes and fun chit chat, we were able to capture some really great shots of these guys. Supremely photogenic takes on a whole new meaning with this family.

Child Photography, West Bloomfield Photographer

At the end of our time together, M was talking with Doug about music and she was totally holding her own with him! Y had to take the kids down the hall for some yummy Mickey Mouse pancakes, but it was pretty cool to hear M and Doug chatting about Joe Walsh – M is bit of a rock and roller! That’s why we’ve aptly named this post after a classic rock song – Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love!

Gotta love super awesome families that you just totally get!

And We Laughed, and Laughed, and Laughed….

July 5, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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What a fun family to be able to photograph! From the moment we met S, we knew it was going to be a fun one!

There are lots of fun stories that have come out of this session, and when we say that we laughed and laughed…we really did! C and S are some seriously amazing sisters with an amazing dad. Brilliant, beautiful and so freakin’ funny!!! This family kept Ally on her toes with their fun antics, awesome personalities and silliness. There were some definite “behind the scenes” images taken that C made Ally delete immediately, lots of emotions and a WHOLE LOTTA giggles! Even younger brother G got in on the laughs! And he was a total rockstar, too- flashed us some award-winning smiles and everything!! Little sister princess S was a total diva. She loved dressing up in the tutus and posing. And she’s not even 10 yet!!! Watch out, Daddy!

The M family was a definite joy to have in the studio! Probably one of our most fun sessions! Stop by if you’d like to see some of the outtakes from their session! We’ve got some really GREAT ones! Ha ha ha!!!!!! Just kidding! 😉

Family Fun, Brotherly Love!

June 21, 2012

by Doug Cohen

2 Comments

We ordered up a perfect day for this session with a family we’ve known for a long long time, and it was a blast! The boys had a lot of fun clowning around (which provided for some hilarious outtakes) and we had so much fun photographing them. We were actually the first people to randomly bump into them on an Ann Arbor sidewalk minutes after they got engaged years ago, and now they are a complete family!

What Pulp Fiction Can Teach Us About Internet “Trolls”

June 9, 2012

by Doug Cohen

1 Comment

I am all about practicing proper etiquette online. I am also all about being truthful. Somewhere in between I find it can get a little blurry.

Trolls

There has been much written about “trolls” – the Wikipedia definition of a troll is as follows:

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,^[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response^[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

I have yet to see any trolls on this blog (hope I didn’t just jinx it), but I find the above description to be a little subjective. “Extraneous or off-topic messages” intended to provoke are obviously inappropriate, but I wonder about the “inflammatory” messages. Is posting a different opinion automatically a bad thing as long as you aren’t being mean or blatantly offensive? Certainly people could view that as inflammatory, but can’t debate be healthy as opposed to everyone just agreeing and patting each other on the back? Besides, intent is hard to measure and someone could get upset and have an emotional response even though no offense was intended or expected… People blog, post, and tweet expecting and hoping for responses, so shouldn’t they be prepared for different viewpoints? It reminds me of a scene in Pulp Fiction where Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega are having dinner at Jack Rabbit Slim’s (you can actually read the entire script here– pretty cool):

                                  VINCENT
                       Actually, there's something I've
                       wanted to ask you about, but you
                       seem like a nice person, and I
                       didn't want to offend you.

                                  MIA
                       Oooohhhh, this doesn't sound like
                       mindless, boring, getting-to-know-
                       you chit-chat.  This sounds like
                       you actually have something to say.

                                  VINCENT
                       Only if you promise not to get
                       offended.

                                  MIA
                       You can't promise something like
                       that.  I have no idea what you're
                       gonna ask.  You could ask me what
                       you're gonna ask me, and my natural
                       response could be to be offended.
                       Then, through no fault of my own, I
                       woulda broken my promise.

Who is really the troll?

As far as I’m concerned just follow a few rules and use discretion and you should generally be okay. I’ve gotten better at this as I’ve gotten older – I’ve grown up (a little) and owning a business that is really a people business has given me new and varied perspectives. Besides, representing a brand online forces you to exercise restraint and diplomacy.

1) Be nice to people

2) Choose your words carefully knowing that a typed message can be interpreted differently than when you say it out loud.

3) Be careful talking about religion or politics and maybe think twice about bringing it up at all in a public forum – strangers will likely attack you.

4) Remember 1,2, and 3 but – don’t be scared to share your thoughts. If someone attacks you for a thoughtful comment that doesn’t fall exactly into line with the opinion of the blogger and his/her minions then who is really the troll? A blogger who bullies people into fear of reprisals if they disagree is a blogger you may not want to follow.

What about you? Have you been attacked by a troll? Have you been accused of being one?

“G” Was This Family Photo Session Fun!

June 7, 2012

by Doug Cohen

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We met the G family relatively recently when their oldest son became friends with our little guy. The boys became friends and then we followed suit pretty quickly afterwards!

It’s been kind of a whirlwind, really. You know how there are people who once you connect with them, it’s like you’ve always known them and been friends with them? Yeah, that’s us and these guys! R had mentioned that she’d really like a nice new updated family photo and some nice ones of the boys together. She was a little bit worried that since we’ve become so close, the boys wouldn’t take it seriously and do it the way that she’d like. BUT, truth be told, the boys totally rocked it and I’m pretty sure they had fun doing it, too! We were able to capture some amazing real, natural smiles, some sweet tender moments and had a little bit of fun mixed up in there, too.

This is one of the reasons we love our job. The look on R’s face when we showed her some of these images was priceless. These guys really do have a heart of gold! <3