and so the story goes

just got home from the Bees game tonight. getting ready for Good Things Utah tomorrow. bought the cutest red shoes with huge flowers from Nordy's today. sure those won't show on tv, but got to fill confident with new red shoes?!

so, the rest of the story goes like this...

The Fab Five (things that helped us turn a hobby into a business)

We use the greatest painting brush we have to create a masterpiece
We recognized quickly that we are artists with a new type of brush--the camera. Artists must study how art works, different techniques used, lighting, colors and textures. Great art takes time to develop. We have learned, studied and modeled after some of the best. I love Walden's mission statement, "We want to capture what only the heart can see with the quality only a few can produce." Marc and I learned that in a sitting, there is usually a "masterpiece" in the mix. Meaning, one split second where the lighting was right, the expression was perfect, the crop was beautiful. It is those "masterpieces" we are striving for and what ultimately the client wants too.

Never settle
Marc at a very young age played baseball. He was taught that second is never good enough--something I love in him. Marc spends countless hours reading books, praticing and contemplating how to get the perfect shot. Often times, we will sit down and critique a session. I will tell him what I like and don't like--next thing I know, he is back trying to figure how to perfect himself. I believe that Marc will continue to strive for the best because it is engrained in who he is. We continually are pushing ourselves and employees to be the best & most amazing. Nothing is more satisfying than pushing ourselves to master the beast--photography.

Recognize our strengths
Photography has such a wide variety of subjects from commercial to pet photography. We really have found that anyone can take a picture of a building, bride or baby. But, we are professionals and recognize inorder to get better, we have to be specific in our field. We have found our passion to be family & children photography. The other day, someone called and asked us to do some commercial photography. I told them that we are portrait photographers--that is our strength.

Build a business on portraits, not cds
If you let me, I would write a novel on this one particular subject--but I won't bore you to tears. Highlite Photography has built our business on portraits, not cds. To me, this is one of the key reasons we are where we are today. Our clients have always come to us to get amazing portraits--not pictures. Today, anyone can put a blog together, buy a camera and burn a cd--not everyone can produce a piece of photo art so precious to a client. We have found that our clients are seeking 1-3 images for their home with just a handful of pictures to give to family members. If we gave them a cd, chances are they would never do anything with the cd. We are truly giving our clients what they came to us for--something "only the heart can see with the quality only a few can produce."

Love.Love.Love
Marc and I truly love--we love each other, the people we serve and the talents we have been blessed with. It makes me so excited to see people come through our studio doors. Sometimes I want to get my tap shoes on, and just do a little dance for them. Portraits are happy moments. They capture people we love. I left social work many years ago to pursue a career in photography. I wanted to capture families that loved more, children that laughed harder and cried less and moments that could be bottled up and kept forever. We have found this through our camera lens--through portraits

god bless each and everyone of you our there trying to make a hobby a business.

difficult?

yes.

worth it?

yes.

ps--marc just came in and said, "Wouldn't it be easier to just post a picture than write a novel." I guess the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words" rings true. tomorrow-i will post only a picture.