The Schildknechts :: Las Vegas Maternity Photography
While in Vegas I had the opportunity to second shoot a maternity session with the amazing Leigh Caraccioli. Leigh is a fellow Dayton photographer and {SNAP} member. We headed out to the beautiful Red Rock and couldn’t have asked for better weather. The Schildknechts, Vegas locals, thought is was cold, but being from Ohio it felt amazing. Check out this beautiful view!
The Schildknect Family consisted of Tom, Amy & their son James. Children photoshoots can sometimes be an adventure. James turned out to love the camera, he was the perfect little man to work with! Such a cuttie!
Amy had most fabulous idea ever for a marternity shoot, a henna tattoo! It turned out to be such a beautiful piece of art and it made for some very cool photos.
Thank you Leigh for this awesome opportunity and thank you Schildknechts for being an amazing family to work with! Congrats on your new memember of the family!
.Mindy
WPPI 2010 :: Las Vegas
This was our first trip to Vegas. We were prepared. We each had a little roll of quarters with us, intent on using these to build our future. I mean, we were going to win big, right?
As it turns out, we’re back in Ohio, and I’m staring at two unopened rolls of quarters sitting on my desk. We never even touched them. Unless the quarter has magically gained value for no apparent reason, we didn’t win a thing. But on the bright side, we didn’t lose anything either.
We may not have “won” anything while we were away, but we certainly gained a semi-truck worth of ideas and concepts. WPPI (which stands for “Wedding and Portrait Photographers International”) was so incredible. The conference was held at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and we stayed in the ‘West Wing’ which as it turns out is at the complete other end of the hotel from the Convention Center. And this isn’t a normal hotel. We’re talking 20 minutes of walking one way every day at 8:00 am. But I’m not complaining… it was a great place to stay.
The convention was part classes part trade show. One word can be used to describe the trade show floor: OVERWHELMING. SO many products from so many great companies. We made stops by some of our favorites including Canon, Mpex and WHCC. What we didn’t expect was to fall in love with Finao and their albums. Just wait until you see these bad boys in person. They’re going to blow you away! We also got a bunch of crap from a bunch of companies everywhere we went. Something like this:
We seriously learned so much great stuff from some amazing photographers. Kevin Kubota, Jasmine Star, Doug Gordon, Kirk Voclain to name a few. That’s quite the list. They were all fantastic, but there was one class in particular that really made our jaws drop: Justin and Mary Marantz. Ugh, I don’t even know what to say to describe how awesome they are. Our business will certainly never be the same.
The whole trip was amazing, and it was a great place to network with other photographers from all over the place. There are so many great photographers that we follow online and it was great to finally meet most of them!
After almost a week of non-stop on the go “conferencing” (hence why we still have our quarters), we took Wednesday night and did the tourist thing. We walked up and down the Vegas strip with our good friends Shannon and David Perlow of Locke Innovations. It’s quite a sight at night.
The Flowerman!
We are a featured vendor on The Flowerman blog! The Flowerman is a local flower shop that allows their clients to design their own arrangements with the help of seasoned designers. We’ve shot three Flowerman weddings, so they’ve graciously offered to give us a little publicity.
Check them out for your wedding!
Twenty Five and Counting
Friends, yesterday was my twenty fifth birthday. It’s probably the first birthday where it’s really hit me how old I’m getting. I’m actually an adult? Maybe, but I’m gonna keep acting like a kid. I don’t want to be an old man. Not yet.
Of course, 25 comes with it’s perks. I can now rent a car without paying extra for the “underage” fee. And I’m told my insurance premiums on my car will go down. Which could be awesome because they dropped when I was 21 too.
I want to thank all my friends who helped celebrate the big day with a little trip to our favorite birthday restaurant, Red Robin. I know I’m getting old, because there were four kids under the age of five at my birthday party. All of our friends have babies, some of them start Kindergarden soon. NUTS.
Also, I’m pretty sure no one actually goes to Red Robin unless their celebrating a birthday. The waiters and waitresses must have sung the special birthday song four times while we were there. And I can almost guarantee I was the oldest person celebrating a birthday there… which leads back to the first point, I’m still a kid inside. And I hope I feel that way for a long time.
Year One
This week is officially our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We’re facing this next year head on and we’re excited about the opportunities that lay ahead. As part of this anniversary celebration, we’ve been doing a little bit of housekeeping and have spiced up our brand a little bit. We’ve dropped my first name from all of our branding, in an effort to show that Mindy is just as much a part of this little operation as I am.
You can also now follow us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/braunphotography) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/braun_photo). This is a new Facebook page, so for those of you who are “fans” on the current Cameron Braun Photography, please come over and be fans on the new page as well.
As part of this new branding, we’re also making a new commitment to providing the most complete experience for our clients. We’re constantly searching for great new products for you, and we’ve found a few things that we’re working on that we know you’re going to love. As part of this we’ve decided to attend this years WPPI conference in Las Vegas. We’ve been members of WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Professionals International) for almost a year now, but the conference is new for us. It’s a week of classes taught by some of the most respected photographers around the country. There’s also a huge trade show where we’ll be able to look at samples of new products to enhance your experience with us. We’re super pumped about it, especially since Mindy and I have never been to Vegas.
We also got new business cards printed this week. Next time you see us, ask for one. You’ll like to look at it. You’ll like to touch it. You’ll like to smell it… okay, maybe not the smell thing, but they’re covered in glossy damask sweetness!
Thoughts on This Past Year and the Future
2010 is year two here at Braun Photography. Our official one year anniversary is coming up later this month, and with it we’re re-thinking, re-imagining, and re-positioning. A lot of changes are on the way, and we’re sure that you’re going to love them.
This whole thing started because I was tired of my job. I was working at an advertising agency here in Dayton, working for clients who didn’t want to spend the money to do things the right way. It was tiring, and I was bored. I began to pray and ask God to show me the next step for my life.
I didn’t expect Him to answer in such a direct and unexpected way.
In January of 2009 I was laid off. A result of our poor economy sure, but even more so a result of a poorly run company. Here was my answer. I wanted a change, and boy, did I get it. At the time I didn’t know what to do or where our future was going to take us. I have a degree in Graphic Design, and so I started doing freelance design. Little by little the idea crept into my head that I could use this opportunity to do something I’ve always loved and start taking more pictures.
Mindy was such a huge support, I definitely could not have started this without her. Now we’re a team, and we shoot everything together. She’s blossoming into a very talented photographer, and a wedding would be nearly impossible to do without her. As a result of this, you may have noticed throughout the year that we started dropping my first name for our watermarks and started referring to ourselves as simply “Braun Photography.”
Starting later this month we’re going to be transitioning into a new branding package for our little operation here. We’re jumping headfirst into this brand, with a commitment to showing people that we’re a team. It’s not just me anymore. We’re in the process of developing a new look that will hopefully show off the fact that we’re a husband and wife photog team. It’s got more color. Less grey. The current branding is very cold, very masculine. We’re warming things up and bit, and hopefully we’ll appeal more to our target market, the brides who’s weddings we capture.
Keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks, and please be patient with us as we make this transition. We’ve got a new Facebook page coming, a new Twitter name we’ll be using, and a new website URL. We’ll be providing more details, but we appreciate your support now as much as ever. We certainly couldn’t do it without all of you.
Here’s a little taste of what’s coming:
