Congratulations to our Inspiring Image of the Week winner, Sara Hadenfeldt Photography for this super sweet newborn image. Thank you so much for allowing us to share it with our readers!
Be sure to follow Sara on Facebook to see more of her inspiring photography!
Our Inspiring Interview for this week features the fabulous Works of Love Photography by April Marquardt based out of Las Vegas, NV. You can follow more of her gorgeous work by liking her over on Facebook! Please meet April…
A few words from April: Hi! I am April the creator and owner of Works of Love Photography in Las Vegas, Nevada. I specialize in maternity, newborn and child photography, but newborn photography is my passion. I started photographing newborns in the beginning of 2007 and instantly became fascinated with photographing newborns, probably because I recently had my first baby myself. I opened my business several months after that. I was in business for several years in Columbus, Ohio but relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada in late 2010. I took over a year off after being swamped with business in Ohio and becoming pregnant with my third child. I decided to reopen my business in early 2012 after realizing how much I missed photographing babies. I use primarily natural light, but I also use studio lights, especially for maternity images and images with parents. I love doing photography for the creativity that it allows me to express, and to make others happy.
1. If there was one thing you would want us to know about you, what would it be?
I love listening to kids music (not cheesy kids music) but the music on Kids Place Live on Sirius Radio. My husband introduced it to me to listen to in the car with the kids, but I find myself listening to it all the time when I’m in the car by myself too!
2. Share with us your favorite image and why.
My favorite image is actually not a newborn image, but one I took of my middle daughter while visiting family in Michigan. One thing I was tremendously sad about moving to Las Vegas was the fact that there are no fields of flowers here. I was in heaven taking her picture in Michigan because I found the perfect field of flowers (which wasn’t too hard since flowers are everywhere there) in the golden sun of the evening to photograph her.
3. What inspired you to be a photographer?
I hate to say this, but it was my children. I was on an online mommy group where there were several other ladies who enjoyed photography. As soon as I saw the amazing images they could take with an SLR camera, I knew I wanted to do the same. I had no intention of ever going into business, but here I am today 5 years later.
4. How long was the transition from hobbyist to paid professional and how long have you officially been taking paid clients?
It was about eight months. I have officially been in business for the last five years (with one year off taking official clients in the five years). I didn’t really get to the point where I was satisfied with my work until late 2009.
5. What type of session do you look forward to the most (maternity, newborn, child, family, senior, wedding, engagement, etc) and why?
By far I enjoy newborn sessions the most. I love planning them, coming up with new design ideas, seeing one of my ideas come to fruition, and of course snuggling a newborn baby. I am extremely detail-oriented and newborn photography fits my personality perfectly.
6. On average, how many sessions do you have a month?
Three to four. I have a day job as a physician, so I can’t do too many. I used to do more but I was going insane and it was very hard on my family so I cut back.
7. What has been your most memorable session and why?
Probably the newborn session I had with my son. I got to take as long as I wanted and I was at the skill level I wanted to be, and I could try out every idea I had in mind (since of course there was no time limit!)
8. Are you formally taught or self taught? And what has been the best source of information along this journey (workshop, online forums, classroom, mentor, etc)?
I am completely self taught, having never attended a workshop. Online forums did help though. The single biggest help however was through friends who shared my love of photography. It took me years of practice though to get to the level where I wanted my newborn photography to be. I am my own worst critic, and I constantly critique myself and expect myself to be the best that I can be.
9. What has been the biggest source of inspiration in your work?
My children, hands down. I don’t think I would have ever gotten into this business if it hadn’t been for my kids.
Nikon. 50 mm f1.4 for newborns, but I love the bokeh of the 135 f2 when I am doing any type of outdoor session.
11. RAW or jpg and why?
RAW since it provides more control.
12. Do you use Lightroom, Photoshop, both or other?
Both.
13. What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a new photographer looking to start their own business?
Really think about it hard. It is a very tough business to go into in this day and age. It is a tremendous amount of work, and unless you budget your time, you can be working at it all the time.
14. What is your favorite and least favorite part of owning your own photography business?
My favorite by far is delivering a completed gallery to a client and being able to see just how happy it makes them. My least favorite part has been starting over in a brand new market. I had an extremely successful business in Columbus, Ohio, but I moved across the country to Las Vegas, Nevada. Not only was it a change in climate and landscape that I had to deal with, but starting over without a client base that I had built over the years is not fun at all. I constantly get inquiries for people wanting an inexpensive disk, and these people fail to appreciate the difference in quality between me and someone less experienced and don’t understand why I charge what I do.
15. Who is the most inspirational photographer in your life?
Probably Anne Geddes. She has been the most inspirational newborn photographer I have ever “known”. Of course the many talented newborn photographers such as Baby as Art, Kelley Ryden/Tracey Raver, Mindy Harris, Andrea Joki (who I was thrilled to meet when she took my family portraits), and Kristen Cook to name a few. There really is a lot of talent out there, and I am amazed all the time about the new talent coming out!
16. Do you see yourself as a photographer many years down the road?
I hope so, but I often wonder as my children get older if I will still like photographing young babies. I’d like to think so!
17. And finally, please briefly describe your photography style for our readers.
Timeless, classic, and organic. You won’t see me use a giant flowered headband in my images, and my favorite color is cream. I want my images to be in style now and 20 years from now!
A few fun questions:
1. what is your favorite food? I love tuna and avocado sushi made fresh from Kroger!
2. what is your favorite beverage? Water is the only thing I ever drink as I pretty much hate everything else!
3. your favorite item of clothing? My robe. I love getting into it at the end of a long day.
4. your go to pair of shoes? My Ugg sandals.
5. what is one word you catch yourself saying too often? “No”. To my kids usually!
We are really excited to introduce everybody to Rebecca Koegel of CreatePro Legal Forms! Over the past few weeks LSI has been putting a lot of focus on teaching our members and followers more about the business side of industry. I was really excited when Rebecca emailed us to introduce herself and her product so I began picking her brain about her background (to help verify the accuracy her knowledge) and about the legalities behind legal forms etc. I was so excited about what I was hearing that I really wanted to do an interview with her to share all this information with all of you!
So, without further ado… Hello Rebecca! Can you tell our followers here a little bit about yourself?
Hi! Thanks for having me! Sure, I am a lawyer, a photographer, a mom (to an almost 3-year-old little boy), and a wife (to name a few). Clearly, I like to be busy! I’m super analytical but also very passionate and emotional. After many years of being unhappy with my career path, I recently made some big changes, I finally have my dream job and I’m loving it!
Ok, Can you tell us a little bit more about your legal background?
After receiving a B.A. in art history, I went to law school to study art and museum law and cultural property. Over the past 8.5 years I’ve practiced at two large international law firms, at first practicing general commercial litigation (lawsuits) and then moving to the corporate transactional group, where I practiced general corporate work, mergers and acquisitions (where companies buy and sell each other). I left the large firm in January to focus on my photography business and to open my own law firm, specializing in small business start up and general corporate work (like corporate/LLC formation and maintenance, contract review/drafting, guidance w/ business licenses, etc.) for creative professionals.
Can you give us some details about your new product “CreatePro Legal Forms“? Including all the types of forms you offer…
CreatePro = Creative + Professional. I feel so strongly that people should be able to make a living doing what they love, following their passions, that I wanted to provide a product that could help them do just that. I currently offer a Wedding Agreement, Portrait Agreement (that includes optional wording to make it usable with a Baby Plan), Birth Photography Agreement, Event Agreement, Second Shooter Independent Contractor Agreement, High School Senior Agreement, Model Release and Print Release. I’ll be adding other forms as time goes on and I’ll also be adding forms for other creative professionals, such as graphic designers, videographers, event planners, web developers, etc. Each form is downloadable in a Microsoft Word format, is easy to read, and comes with extensive instructions and directions for how to fill out the blanks and the brackets. The forms are fully customizable so that, with little effort, the form will mirror exactly how each photographer runs their business. The forms also provide provisions that help photographers make decisions about how they should run their business. The forms can be branded with a photographer’s own logo and design elements, or the text can be cut and pasted into a photographer’s own branded templates.
Are they valid from state-to-state?
Yes, contracts and most provisions found therein are mostly standard from state-to-state because two people can pretty much agree to any terms they want (with some exceptions, one being that a contract to commit a crime is not valid and unenforceable). Copyright law is federal law so it applies to everyone in the country the same. However, there are certain things that vary from state-to-state, and that includes law on liability (provisions in contracts that attempt to extinguish or limit one’s liability are called exculpatory clauses). In Florida, exculpatory clauses are generally disfavored but will be upheld in court if written a certain way and if it includes specific language. Most of the portrait and wedding agreements I’ve seen floating around do not contain the required language, leaving the photographer open to liability. While I cannot state that I guarantee (for my own liability reasons) that the liability provisions are iron clad for everyone in every state, I feel very comfortable saying that a photographer is more likely to be protected using my forms than the others I’ve seen floating around (especially because I don’t think the majority of those forms were written by lawyers). Moreover, if you are going to hire a lawyer, it’s cost effective to purchase these forms and then have a local lawyer review those provisions than to hire a lawyer to draft a contract from scratch, especially if that lawyer (which is most likely the case) knows nothing about the photography industry or what should even be in the contract to begin with.
Can you give us some thought provoking examples of accidents that can happen and why a photographer should use the legal forms to help protect themselves?
My first blog post actually discusses photographers potential liability at length. The first thing that comes to mind is a client’s personal injury due to a photographer’s negligence. Now, it’s true that someone losing images from a wedding due to theft or camera malfunction or the like would also result in the client claiming damages and the photographer being liable. However, when it comes to portrait photography, it seems that the place where photographers are at the biggest risk of financial loss, is through the personal injury of a client during the session (because if you lose images, you could technically re-do a family shoot, or even a newborn shoot, whereas wedding images are irreplaceable). Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that newborn safety has been a huge topic of discussion as of late. A myriad of things can go wrong during a newborn session that could result in photographer liability, including the following examples: baby gets overheated or burned from the space heater or heating pad; baby falls off prop, out of sling, etc. and breaks a bone or gets a concussion; or the baby’s umbilical cord gets pulled from getting caught on a blanket while inside a bucket and starts bleeding and later gets infected. During a maternity session, mom-to-be falls and gets hurt walking in a field, requiring bed rest. During a family shoot, a little girl gets bitten by a snake and requires medical attention. The list goes on.
Some of these things might seem to be extreme, but what’s not to say that any one of them couldn’t or wouldn’t happen? Why leave it up to chance? If you don’t have a signed contract addressing liability (and addressing it properly as discussed above), then there’s absolutely nothing protecting you and a judgment against you for damages based on personal injury could be devastating to your business and personal finances.
Why should someone use your forms over typing up their own?
Lawyers are by nature risk adverse. Part of a lawyer’s job is to sit down and think about everything that can go wrong in a situation or business relationship and then determine the best way to protect their client if something does actually go wrong. I wrote these forms from that perspective. They are extensive and detailed and I included everything I could think of (and that I’ve heard being discussed in photography circles) that might come up during the course of a photographer-client relationship. If you’re JSO in business then you might not be familiar with what policy decisions you should make regarding how you run your business and what provisions should go in the contract. If you’ve been in the industry for a while, you might have missed something or not have it worded properly. But in either case, unless you’re a lawyer or had a lawyer review your contracts, you cannot be guaranteed that it is fully encompassing and that you are actually protected in case something happens. The overwhelming majority of small businesses seek out a lawyer’s advice prior to going into business and a photography business should be no different.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview for us Rebecca! There is such a strong need for your new offerings here and we are so thankful to have come across you. I look forward to continuing to pick your brain personally and be able to work with you on future posts!
Rebecca has been kind enough to provide us with a discount code a perk for LSI members. Please visit this thread at the forum to take advantage of that! Be sure to like the CreatePRO Legal Forms Facebook page as well!
DISCLAIMER: This is not legal advice, just a general discussion of legal and business issues for educational purposes.
We would like to thank Jinky Art and itty bitty actions for giving our fans the most amazing opportunities with this giveaway! We’ve honestly heard more positive reviews about these actions and presets then any other product similar. We are so proud and look forward to be able feature them here at LSI!
Now, without further delay we are excited to announce that Samantha Ireland has won the $1,999 Jinky Art workshop seat with her 3rd bonus entry purchasing the itty bitty baby presets! Congratulations Samantha, we know that you will have the experience of a lifetime!
In closing, we’d like to share a limited selection of our favorite images uploaded that utilized itty bitty products!
Baby Dust Action
Love Action
Sweet 3 Preset
Hush from the Baby Set
Pop & Hush from the Baby Presets
San Francisco from the Delightful Set
Lovely from the Sweet Set
Punchy Crunchy, Light Pop, & Lolly
Sweet Sunflower 2 & Zip B*W Standard
Blue Shoe String
To purchase any of these actions please visit the itty bitty store. If you didn’t win the workshop seat and would still like the opportunity to purchase a spot then please visit the Jinky Art store. Lastly, we strongly encourage you to take a look at Barb Uil’s premium blog post here at LSI to learn more about her fun personality and amazing imagery!