On the Move

This is just a quick one, to check in, at the end of a Friday afternoon at work.
Just staying overtime waiting for hubby to swing by in about an hour and whisk me off to Sussex for dinner with friends.
I realise that I have been away from Blog world for a long time, and as such I wouldn't even be surprised if most of you had forgotten who I am!

To be totally honest (holding my hands up here), there really has not been a lot of photography going on for the last couple of months, and the stuff I have done (really nice seashell shoot I want to show) I cant show you guys at the mo anyway as having problems with my tantrum throwing computer who is refusing to cooperate at the moment! It is having time out at the moment to think about what it is has done - which is nearly drive me over the edge of photographic sanity!

In the meantime we have been kept very busy for the last few weeks dealing with housing issues. It seems that the lovely house that we have been living in for nearly two years, that we called home from the minute we viewed it, is no longer ours to love. That would be the joy of renting.
The landlady disappeared off to the nether regions of Europe (but we think she is still holed up in Spain) and cut all contact with us back last year some time. I began to get suspicious and my bat senses began to tingle. then the letters started arriving.

Yep, she was using our rent money to live off instead of paying the mortgage. She was in shhhtuck, and seems to have no intention of facing the music.
We then received a letter addressed to the tenants, from a legal firm informing us that due to non payment, and subsequent mortgage arrears the house was being repossessed. We attended the court hearing (which is more than the landlady did), and were informed by the Judge, that possession had been granted. We were to get out on the 24th or face the wrath of the bailiffs who would shortly follow.
So we are packing, and storing, and occasionally crying.

We spend a lot of time standing in our garden, gazing at it. We also spend time gazing at the new patio that we put in this time last year, out of our own time, and our own money, on the agreement of the landlady; who assured us she was happy for us to do it (if she didn't have to pay) as we were long term tenants and were going to enjoy making use of it, in the sun soaked corner of the garden. Now several hundred pounds down, part of me was initially tempted to rip it up, and sell of the individual items. I have since been persuaded away from that idea.
We are moving back into my Dad's spare room (again) while we think of our next move.

In the meantime the camera has been shoved firmly in the camera back and pushed to the corner of the office until it is ready to take her to the next place.
So I have an excuse for not being online much over the last few weeks. The rest of the time that I have been offline I have no excuse what soever! Whoops.
Hope you are all well and enjoyed your Easter breaks.
Andrea

2011

I can't believe another year has gone past so fast! I really feels like it was only a couple of months ago that I was writing about the new year ahead of me.

2011 has been a hard year photographically for me, but then I know it has been a hard year for a lot of people, with lots of businesses going to the wall.
I have always tried to keep the things that I post onto my blog positive, so I sometimes would rather not post. But then that is not totally realistic, so I thought the last post for the year should be an honest look at the year.

It has not been a busy year for me, and as other small businesses owners can tell you, it can be very lonely and isolating being self employed. You are your own boss, and you have to try and keep yourself motivated when you are sat on your own staring at the computer screen. There is rarely anyone else to bounce ideas off, or to encourage you to keep pushing through, so unless you have good self discipline you may find yourself taking extra tea breaks or stopping to watch America's Next Top Model!
I will be honest there have been times during this year when I have had 0 motivation, and struggled with my self confidence.

I have spent many hours thinking of business ideas and photo shoot ideas, writing copious notes on my journeys on public transport but being slightly too scared to put many of them into action!
Thinking of ways to make the business fun, making my social networking pages interesting and interact with the very kind people who have taken the time to follow me, and support me over this year can be daunting. It can be hard to try and make all the posts interesting when there is not much happening with the business, and I'm pretty sure people don't find the fact I am trying to do my first tax return that riveting!
We are in a new era when being visible and updating our status and interacting on others pages and sites are the way business is moving now, and has very quickly become the norm. But I don't always have much going on! Does everyone else and I am just missing out?!
But not having that much going on can cost you! I have noticed my followers dwindle when you don't keep up a regular presence, as people move off to find other more exciting pages. I have to say the recently I can't blame them, as I know that I have not given people much to get their teeth into. I keep telling myself that next month I will be better, and I will have fun things to post up, and little nuggets of genius wisdom to amaze  folks with, but um.... it has not quite happened! Next year I will be better.... I sort of promise!

But as 2011 draws to a close I am trying to find the determination to starting putting in place the changes that I have planned to take the business forward in 2012. I hope that this time next year I can look back and feel proud of what I have achieved, and that the ideas I have now, are in fruition.
I have recently reviewed Asmartartz Photography and decided that I need to be true to me to make the business a success, and for that to happen I have to be honest to myself and with myself. So that means that I have updated what I offer, and have taken some of the packages off. I no longer offer weddings, and my last wedding was on the 1st October in glorious sunshine. I have also minimised the portrait packages.
I have also finally reviewed my prices which was very much overdue. Despite several people telling me that my prices were too low I was nervous of pushing customers away if I brought them into line for what they should be, but it seems that there has been a good chance that I was putting them off by them being too low!

At the start of next year I hope to implement the next phase of the business plan I have and this will involve splitting the business again. This should allow the business to flow better and also allow me to concentrate more on the parts that I think will be a bigger success.

This is computer dependant though! I have been having computer issues for the last 5-6 months or so, and the new desktop that I invested in has been nothing but a headache. Once that problem is sorted and the computer can be relied upon not to fall over and crash once a day I will then implement my plans for world domination! It is quite hard to run a business successfully when around 70-80% of the work is computer and desk bound and the computer doesn't work! In the meantime I will see if I can convince PC World that they should replace my machine with just over a week left on the warranty!!! Don't hold your breath I hear you cry! But they might be feeling festive, and if not i have already got my eye on a new computer!

In the New Year look out for new business sneak peeks and tantalising glimpses of what's to come (hint hint) next year.
So until then I hope you all have a great Christmas and have lots of Festive fun, good food and a good rest!
Take care
Andrea

October Wedding

I wanted to share with you some of the photos from the wedding that I did on the 1st October.
Your remember the cute couple whos engagement shoot I did on the beach? Well they got hitched in unseasonably glorious hot weather under rich blue skies!

Kerrie the bride looked stunning and her dress looked fabulous like it had been made just for her. I remember thinking before the wedding 'I wonder what sort of dress she will have on', and when I saw her I realised it couldn't have been anything else as it just looked wonderful on her. It showed off her lovely figure and was so feminine.
Jason looked dapper in his wedding finery, and it was if they had a special arrangement with the trees and the season and there wedding colours and bouquets matched the rich autumn colours of the trees exactly!

They got married in a beautiful medieval looking church in Selsey near the beach, with large beautiful grounds.
I was allowed to shoot in the church and could stand at the front to the side of the couple so I could catch their emotions. There was a beautiful quality of light in the church which gave everything an almost creamy glow!
Then after the group shots were done I sneaked the couple off for a couple of quick romantic shots before they were whisked away in the white rolls royce.

The reception was at Chichester Golf club, and the scenery was gorgeous. The club had also kindly given us permission to have some shots in a golf cart to get some more fun photos.

They were so gorgeous together and so in love that I had a big lump in my throat several times during the day.
After a hearty meal of roast turkey and melt in your mouth gammon, it was followed up with apple and blackberry pies, served with big jugs of custard!

The room was then cleared ready for the dancing. The couple had a live band, with the singer being their friend. They had prepared a lovely first dance, and were just glowing with happiness as their day drew to a close.

Thanks for letting me part of your day, it was a pleasure to witness two people so in love with each other start their new future together.

Always ....... Asmartartz xx

Back to School for me!

Last week I went back to school, and I graduated!

I enrolled on the 4 day Julia Boggio High Business Entrepreneur Business course, and I’m really glad I did.

I have been following Julia’s work and articles for a few years now, so the chance to get to meet her face to face, and learn from her directly was exciting and nerve wracking. Julia’s work is amazing, and she is getting featured in magazines all over the world. Julia is friendly and down to earth but straight talking with the business of photography, and has a great business head as well.

James Derbyshire her husband has a friendly and easy going nature, and gives a Hugh Grant air to the proceedings. His ability to put people at ease and be a genius at selling was a sight to behold. Seriously his sales day was a thing to behold.

Each day covered a different subject of running your own business, such as Marketing and Sales. Both of which I want to improve on. The fact that it was run by a photography business for photographers made the difference as that was what the emphasis was on, and not generalised in terms of any business.

I will be honest, there were times during the course that it was tough, because you love your business and you want it to do well; and even though you are there to improve, and you want to get expert opinion, it is still hard to distance yourself emotionally from it and when you are given advice and critiques about where you are and where you need to be it can be hard to hear initially. 

You get a one to one critique session with Julia herself during the course and it can be tough to hear what she has to say about your business, and what you need to do.  You take what she has told you away and think over it, and work out how to make any changes that have been suggested, and look back at your business without the emotion, and you understand better how to move it forward.

An additional bonus of the course was that I found myself in the middle of a friendly and encouraging support group, who knew where I was coming from.

Anyone out there that is running a small business on their own knows how lonely and sometimes very demoralising it can be, It is hard to keep yourself motivated, and sometimes harder to believe in yourself and what you are doing.  On the course you spend 4 days submerging yourself in the thing you love most, with other people who feel the same way, who give you encouragement, and ideas and suggestions. It also makes you realise that a lot of other photographers feel the same way, and everyone seems to have good days and bad days, and days when you think you are just not good enough and should throw in the towel, but you love it too much to walk away, so you just keep on pushing and trying!

The course itself is not run by Julia or James but by trainer Anne, who has been working with Julia Boggio studios since day one, and has helped get it to where it is now,  so you are in good hands.

Both James and Julia pop in and out over the 4 days, to offer their expertise and share their knowledge and stories of how they got where they are. They are surprisingly open about their business and willing to share the information (to a point!) which helps you see where it all started from.

My course finished on Thursday, and after the pub, when we all went our separate ways, I felt a little tinge of sadness.

It is not until it is done and dusted you realised quite how much you gained. Not only do you come away with a clearer idea of where you want to take your business, and what genius ways you are going to use to market yourself, and the secret tips and ways to sell yourself and your work, without becoming a ‘sales person’, but you leave with the words of encouragement from your classmates, who also become your friends.

We have already agreed to have a mini reunion at the SWPP in January, and I await to join our Facebook group that we are making. I look forward to seeing how everyone is progressing with their ideas and plans and ready to shout my encouragement from the sidelines.

I want to thank Julia Boggio and James Derbyshire for opening up their doors and being willing to share so much of their knowledge and business acumen with so many other photographers.

I can’t wait to see how their own story continues, as they have some great plans for the future, and I look forward to seeing them unfold. Thanks guys!

I had the pleasure of sharing 4 days with:

Dottie Photography

Captured Spirit

Ruth Hunt Photography

Shutter Leaf Photography

Mike Gratiss Photography

Julia Boggio Studios

.

enjoying lunch

our classroom where ideas where born!

Merton Abbey Mills

Outside of Julia's studio

Anurag

Relaxing after class on the last day

Workbook

Anne (on left) our trainer with Yvonne

Ruth

Mike

Mandy and Z|oe (Dotties) looking the most serious I saw them all week!

Julia with Baby (& monkey)

James & Julia joining us on our last day & Baby deciding whether to play with monkey or fill the nappy!

 Always... Asmartartz xx

Love on the Beach

So as I mentioned I had an engagement shoot on the beach at Selsey, Sussex with Kerrie and Jason.

They are friends but said that wanted me to shoot their wedding after photographing an awards dinner for their theatre group last year in Chichester.

For such a lovely bubbly and outgoing couple I was surprised to hear tht they were both feeling nervous about the wedding photographs to come. They were hoping to use the engagement session as a chance to get used to being in front of the camera, and how I work, as they had never been the sole focus of my photography before!

We headed to the beach as it was a special place to them, where they often went walking together, as it was not far from their house.

I was feeling a little apprehensive about what the weather would give us, as the day before it had been very unsettled. But the day dawned warm and bright, and hazy.

They both soon relaxed, as I directed them through the shoot, and asked for their ideas. It was important that they got a set of photographs that meant something special to them, and represented their relationship and their love for each other.

It was hard not to catch the love they felt as they looked at each other, and they were lots of giggles, and as the shoot progressed, there was more larking around, and silly faces pulled into the camera.

One of the photo ideas that I wanted to do with them, involved a prop; a large guilt ornate picture frame, which I got over a year ago from an antiques shop in Farnham. It has been leaning artistically against the wall in our living room waiting for the right shoot to use it. This was the perfect one.

On the beach I got Kerrie and Jason to hold it and frame themselves any way they wanted. A chance to show catch their love, in their own masterpiece. I am very pleased with how this worked, and got some lovely shots from it.

I am hoping to take it to the wedding reception to continue the theme, so that their friends and family can get in the picture too. This should give my wedded couple a lovely set of pictures of with the same theme, that will tie in together. Also it will give the friends photos of the day that they want to keep of the special day.

“The photo’s are really amazing, thank you so much. If these are anything to go by our wedding photo’s will be just stunning.” Kerrie

Love on the beach: