The first publication I picked up when we moved to Bucks County was the Bucks County Herald. I was enamored by the beautiful layout, the high-quality images and the insightful writing. And then I met Bridget and Joe Wingert one night at the Michener Museum and was even more awed. The Bucks County Herald and the entire staff are a reflection of Bridget and Joe’s personalities: intelligent, knowledgeable, kind, warm and welcoming. I am proud to be a part of the Bucks County Herald team!
While I was in Boston photographing Jennifer Clapp’s Modern Vintage Tablescape, I stopped by her favorite store Lekker Home, our Nesting Newbies Winter 2010 Hot Spot. Lekker, located in Boston’s trendy South End and owned by Natalie van Dijk Carpenter, houses some of the world’s most beautifully designed pieces from manufacturers such as Stelton, Royal Copenhagen, LSA, and Teroforma. For a pdf of the Lekker article, click here.
I recently photographed designer (and one of our former brides–see her wedding in Brides) Jennifer Rowland Clapp of H+Associates as she set a modern vintage tablescape for our Winter 2010 issue of Nesting Newbies Magazine.
Jennifer’s mission was to design a ‘tablescape’ that would be affordable and easy for readers to replicate in their own homes. Pulling from her fascination with contrasting styles, Jennifer paired modern tableware from Teroforma and LSA with antique chintz and Depression-era glass and silver unearthed from the cabinets of family members. The concept was to repurpose these old-fashioned items as decorative centerpieces framed by crisp, contemporary pieces. Click here for a pdf of the article.
As summer on the East Coast approaches, I can’t help but to dream about California beaches, especially after this great day in Santa Cruz with Lindsey & Matt. When Jung and I told Lindsey and Matt that we wanted them to take us somewhere special for their engagement session, they knew exactly where they wanted to go. Santa Cruz. Jung and I were excited to shoot in Santa Cruz since that was our family beach and we spent many warm and not-so-warm days there with friends and family. And we certainly felt as if we were spending a fabulously lazy day on the beach with Lindsey and Matt.
We began our day with a tasting at Pelican Ranch, Lindsey & Matt’s favorite winery and then headed over to the cliffs for some barefoot climbing and high-heel climbing. Our engagement sessions are always an adventure and Lindsey and Matt were the epitomy of pro! They came prepared to bear their souls and with plenty of wardrobe changes (I love options!!)
Engagement sessions are hard work and here is some great advice from seasoned NYC & LA model, poet, writer and blogger (Dress Me Up in Hand Me Downs), Melissa Napoleon, on how to get the best results from your engagement session:
1.) Don’t Plaster A Smile On Your Face:
You should look happy and excited in your engagement shots, but give your facial muscles a break. You don’t need to smile big in every picture. Relax and be as natural as possible, or else your pictures come off boring and unbelievable. Mix it up a little bit with big and small smiles, smirks, drama, passion, contentment, and even silliness to show your personality. Variation is the key and helps to keep things interesting and exciting.
2.) Leave Your Comfort Zone At Home:
Expect to be challenged. Let go and let your personality and emotions do the performing. Even if you’ve never been on or in a shoot, don’t let it stop you from acting like a pro. Treat the camera like it’s your bedroom mirror. Forget about the photographer and feeling embarrassed or awkward. Photographers want you to let loose and experiment with different facial expressions and poses; it keeps their creative juices flowing. They love being surprised, so give them all you’ve got!
3.) Pluck, Tuck, Clip and Fit!
Photoshopping will cost you time and money so don’t go thinking it’s your bff. Pluck your eyebrows, tuck in everything that needs to be tucked, clip your nails, and make sure your clothes fit you perfectly before the day of the shoot. DIY, or spring for a mani/pedi or even head to the salon for a blow out. If you don’t want to spend extra money, just make sure you look and feel your best. Bring a few different outfits; casual, dressy, edgy, fun, or whatever you think enhances your body and personal style. Remember, you are creating art-your creative input and expression is just as important as the photographers!
Jung and I photographed a wedding in DC in January and our bride and groom chose to offer their guests various food stations at the reception. Everyone loved it and I was thrilled to see stations when I photographed Aldie’s 2nd Annual Options and Upgrades Event, catered by Jeffrey Miller Catering.
Placed throughout the mansion, were 8 food stations, 3 dessert stations, passed desserts and 3 drink stations. As guests entered the Great Hall, lit by a romantic summer fire of candlight, they welcomed the refreshing sight of Hibiscus Iced tea, Lemonade and Minted Water and Seafood Martinis.
Guests then proceeding into the library, were they continued feasting at a pasta station, complimented by a vodka lemonade station. The ballroom held the grandest display of interactive stations including a Mexican Grazing Station, a Vietnamese Summer Roll Station, a Raw Bar, a Blini Bar and Pork Chow Fun Station.
As guests finished their meals, Cheeksecake Lollipops, Mini Frozen Sorbet Pops and Peruvian hot Chocolates were passed. Guests could also indulge in either a free flowing fountain of Chocolate or Carmel, an Espresso/Cappuccino Bar and leave with a warm mini donuts fried to order.
It was a full house and everyone left happy!
Click to see a mouth-watering slideshow of the different stations offered and for pricing information, please call Kimberly Bates at 215-348-3509.
The Women in Business Committee of the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce is pleased to present the Gourmet Getaway on Thursday, March 25, 2010 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Keenan Motors, Rt 313 in Doylestown.
A decadent evening of food, wine and song, the Gourmet Getaway is your ticket to sample an array of scrumptious gourmet food and enjoy beer and wine from top local breweries and wineries. Entertainment will be provided by Courtney Colletti Music & Voices. We will also have a silent auction and raffle prizes!
This evening of food and fun benefits the Women in Business Scholarship Fund. The scholarship fund gives a deserving local woman education money to gain the knowledge she needs to get a job. Your ticket to the Gourmet Getaway may be just the ticket to give someone an opportunity to succeed.
Proceeds from the Gourmet Getaway go into the Women in Business Scholarship Fund (a non-profit). It assists women who have overcome substantial challenges and wish to re-enter the work force by educating themselves. Scholarships are awarded to Bucks County women at least 25 years or older, U.S. citizens, beginning or continuing their education and can demonstrate educational merit and financial need. One hundred percent of the proceeds are distributed directly to the accredited institution the recipient will be attending. These strong, courageous women need the financial support to help them achieve their career goals and help them gain personal and professional success.
PLEASE PARK at the Wachovia Building on the corner of 313 & 611 where a shuttle will await you. Please DO NOT park in the Keenan lot. The dealership is extremely generous in donating the space for the event and we don’t want to disrupt their business.
2010 SPONSORS
Kathleen Herb Brower, DMD, MD, LLC
Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
Marketing Solutions
PNC Investments
Media Sponsors
Bucks County Town & Country Living Magazine
Bucks County Women’s Journal
Bucks County WOMAN Magazine
One of the first things I did when I moved to Doylestown was to join the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce and if you’re in the area, I highly encourage you to do the same. The Chamber offers amazing opportunities and tools to help businesses succeed.
Within the Chamber, I work on the Entrepreneurial Assistance Committee, whose mission is to help businesses grow. In addition to offering hundreds of free business consultations (which are also available to non-members!), including marketing, business management and succession planning, the EAC, produces a yearly educational workshop series.
Sponsored by National Penn Bank, the 2010 series centers on Business Growth and tomorrow’s session is titled “Succeeding in the New Economy”.
I will be presenting along with David Werrett, President of the CBCC and Mario O. Vicario, Jr., CPA Kreicher Miller. David will present a global view of the economy, Mario will discuss the trends he sees when working with small businesses and what makes them successful and what holds them back, while I am the case study and will be discussing my philosophy and methods for success in this new economy. Donald V. Cericola, CPA DVC Financial Services, will be facilitating.
3 SIMPLE STEPS TO SUCCEEDING IN THE NEW ECONOMY
DIVERSIFY
In today’s market, consumers and business are cutting back severely and in some cases, all together. Avenues of revenue that were free-flowing in 2005/2006 have dried up today. My answer to this problem is diversification. As a small business owner, I’ve been told to find my niche and perfect my game within that niche. For example, one of my specialties is wedding photography. If I focused soley on marketing to brides, I would be sitting in the corner crying right now. On average, brides are spending 1/3 of what they were spending on their wedding 5 years ago and I am now competing with pro-sumers who have purchased pro-sumer cameras and are billing themselves as professional photographers, driving down prices. Then there’s the bride who is choosing to cut out photography all together and depending on family and friends to cover her event. If I stayed pidgeon-holed in my niche, I’d be in serious trouble today. You would never invest all of your money into one stock, so why would you want to depend on all of your income flowing from a single source? In addition to being a wedding photographer, I am a food photographer, a fashion photographer, a meeting and special events photographer. I photograph interiors, families and advertising campaigns. I have teamed with an event planner and am the Photography Director at his company. I am also the Senior Editor of Nesting Newbies Magazine and develop content as well as contribute my photography services. I teach Digital Photography workshops. I sell B2B and B2c. When weddings are slow during the winter, corporations are throwing holiday parties, planning educational seminars and working on their annual reports. Since it’s difficult to predict who will be spending what and when, I try to keep as many avenue of income open as possible. I’m sure you get my point. Diversify.
BUDGET & FORECAST
Since the market is so volatile and unpredictable, I have cut my spending back to the very bare minimum. I created a spreadsheet listing all of my monthly expenses, canceled any service that wasn’t crucial to running my business and shopped around for the lowest prices on those expenses that just couldn’t be cut. I then created a spreadsheet for the entire year and created a forecast showing me what I would be spending and when to expect to pay annual bills. I added a page to the spreadsheet showing my projected income for contracted jobs. I used this information to forecast trends in my income and determine the appropriate months to market certain services. This is a time consuming activity, but well worth the time spent to get a better understanding of the trends within your business. This is also an effective exercise if you need to open a line of credit during lean times. When you have a forecast, you prove to the bank that you are a responsible borrower and show them exactly when they can expect to be paid back.
SOCIAL NETWORKING & WARM LEADS
Advertising was one of the big ticket items in my budget and the first expense to be cut. Since I was cutting my exposure dramatically, I had to find creative ways to market myself. I started a blog, created a Linked-in profile, a Facebook profile and began Tweeting. I also joined several different organizations, including the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce and ISES (International Special Events Society) and got involved. When I had the opportunity to personally connect with someone at a networking event, I looked them up online and connected with them there as a follow-up. Having the online connection strengthened our live connection. Social networking also works in the reverse. There are several people with whom I am connected because we have a mutual colleague in common and when we were at a networking event, it was easy to recognize these people and talk with them, since we already started our relationship online.
Getting involved with an organization is a great way to show colleagues your work ethic first-hand, which makes them more inclined to hire you or recommend you to a friend or another colleague. This is called a warm lead and if strategized correctly, can be a valuable source of business. I find that when I am referred thru my network, I am more likely to be hired and my client values and respects my services more because of the personal connections involved.
YOUR ACTION ITEMS:
1. Diversify
2. Create a budget and a forecast
3. Get involved online & with your trade organizations
IN SUM
The most important trait you can have as a business owner is this economy is flexibility. Be willing to constantly re-evaluate your plan and be flexible with your decisions. Try new things. My motto is that it’s better to try something and do it badly than not to do it at all. The more you do something, the more practiced you’ll become. There’s a learning curve associated with pretty much everything we do, but if you never try, you’ll never know where it can take you.
Thank you, Women’s Business Forum, for inviting me to speak this week about Better Blogging.
I’m a huge proponent of blogging (I must pause here and put in a plug in for my good friend, Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Guide, who showed me the light and encouraged me to start my blog. Thank you, Stacie!!) What a great era to be in business and to have the opportunity to blog. I have studios in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Doylestown, PA and with clients all over the world, it’s integral that they feel connected to me.
In conjunction with the product of my photography, I am selling an experience and my blog affords me the opportunity to build relationships with each of my clients. Oftentimes, I’ll meet someone and I’m flattered at how much they already know about me.
I understand how overwhelming starting a blog and maintaining a blog can seem, in addition to maintaining a Facebook account, a Twitter account and a Linked-in profile. Fortunately, there are a myriad of tools available now that link all of these accounts together and make posting more streamline.
My #1 piece of advice is that it’s better to do something badly than not to do it at all. You need to start somewhere and the more you do it, the easier it’ll become. Think of it as yoga for your brain.
I suggest that before you start, you find a notebook in which you keep all of your notes for your blog. Write things down as you do them. Chances are you’ll have to do them again and you may forget how to do them. If you have the steps written down, you won’t have to spend time researching the issue again.
The two main platforms for a blog are Blogger and WordPress. Take some time to look at each and decide which works best for you. I use WordPress.
Here are my action items for a blog :
So many of us are using the internet today before making our purchasing decisions and having a blog helps put you in the running. Take the time to research your options and invest time in building your blogging empire. Blogging can open doors that you never knew existed.
(Chorus of Angels)
ME!!!
But seriously, I’m very proud to announce that I have just been named Senior Editor of Nesting Newbies Magazine, in addition to being a contributing photographer.
Nesting Newbies Magazine is the brain-child of Lea McIntosh and Jodi Murphy and is aimed towards newlyweds who are just learning how to design their homes and entertain. But don’t under-estimate the content of this magazine. I’ve been told by several design pros and well-established foodies that they devoured our premier issue in one sitting and were left begging for more.
Well, design enthusiasts and foodies–buy your coffee beans this weekend and get ready for the next issue of Nesting Newbies Magazine, which is due out any day now!
I so enjoyed photographing the Lambertville House in my hometown of Lambertville, NJ. Being at the Lambertville House made me feel so warm and comfortable on this brisk winter day and I know your guests will feel the same when you invite them to join you in the 1812 Room.
The Lambertville House is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and among its guests, has been host to celebrities and dignitaries since 1812 (hence the 1812 Room). This classic boutique hotel is an exceptional place where ambiance, service and attention to detail come together to create an unforgettable event, be it social or corporate. The Lambertville House offers Corporate Day Meeting Packages (DMP) including several ammenities such as an on-site event planner, full-time meeting/banquet specialists, state of the art A/V equipment and gourmet catering services. The 1812 Room holds up to 90 people in rounds, 70 people in rounds with a dance floor, 45 people classroom-style and 25 in a U-shaped setup.
Which ever configuration you select, I can guarantee that your guests will have a top of the line experience from the moment they walk thru the door at the Lambertville House.
For Corporate and Event Sales, contact Alison Stickle, 609-397-0200 Ext 101.
For Meeting and Event Planning, contact Nicole Loudenslager, 609-397-0200 Ext 121.