lisa shires photography: October 2010

There are lot's of exciting things happening for Lisa Dierolf Photography lately!!

Since I have been at CDIA, I have put a lot of focus on my website, marketing and most of all, networking. Obviously, I'm here to improve my photography skills, but the business side of things need just as much attention. David DuChemin, author of Visionmongers, says that business and marketing are 90% of being a photographer. The picture taking part is only 10%. So anyway, at a school where the professors are all pros, and even famous, photographers, it would be crazy not to network, get to know them, and bounce off ideas.

That being said, professor Robert Rathe has allowed me to tag along on one of his big corporate shoots at the National Institute of Standards and Technology next week. All that I know so far is that it will be an all day gig and it will be in a high tech lab. He is a fantastic teacher, down to earth, and I am really thankful that he is allowing me to be a part of this shoot. What I am most excited to observe and learn is the photog/client dynamic in a corporate setting and lighting techniques.

Two days after this, I am meeting up with wedding photographer Maria Linz for coffee. Last April, she and her 2nd shooter graciously allowed me to both shadow and participate in shooting a wedding. Her energy is contagious and it shows through her photographs. It especially shows because she booked 54 weddings between April and December of this year....you can do the math. We are finally getting together to go through the photos that I took that day and just to chat photography/business/etc. So excited!

Following that meeting, I'm doing a family shoot in Annapolis for the design guru and owner of The Preppy Paperie. She needed some family photos to put in her super cute custom designed Holiday cards. Both the cards and photographs will be featured in a post in two weeks or so for you to see. Sooo, if you need some portraits or cards, you know who to talk to ;) See my prior post about the Holiday photo/card package we are offering!

Ok...so...there is one more major thing to announce. I don't even know where to start with this one, and the embarrassing story as to how I got this opportunity will go left unsaid (unless there is high demand to know), so here it goes... STROBIST. If you are a photographer, and don't read this blog, then you should. Join the 500,000+ that already do and you will learn some great tips from major professional photographer David Hobby about lighting technique and beyond. This guy is just...awesome. And he has high end clients and assignments all over the world. And he knows light better than anyone. Anyway, yesterday around 11am, he posted a blog titled "Are you a local to Baltimore or Washington, DC?". I am! So, I furiously clicked through the blog on my cell phone to see why he wanted to know this. Turns out he was looking for volunteers to join him on a SHOOT in HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND. Say what?? All you had to do was leave a comment with your info if you were interested and he would select around 12 people. The shoot is on a farm and is for a non-profit. The goal is to provide them high end media to use in their advertising which will hopefully help them reach their $500,000 fundraising goal. By the time I read the blog, around 2pm, he had closed the comments because he received a ton of responses and didn't need any more. I was crushed. This kind of opportunity never comes along and I missed it!!! But, being the kind of girl that I am, I basically groveled and embarrassed myself...but all of that paid off....because I got the gig. There are a bunch of other perks and exciting things about this shoot that I am not at liberty to talk about yet, but will clue you in soon. I can't believe I will be shooting with David Hobby. I will be shooting with...the Strobist. I have no words.

Today was kind of major...for me at least. On Sunday, October 10th, 2010, I officially purchased the new Canon 7D (Ahh!!). While I know I really needed to upgrade, it took a few weeks of mental preparation to finally click the checkout button on B&H. Reading every review I could find, convincing myself that it was a financially responsible decision, and believing that the camera will eventually pay for itself took me awhile...but with the 2% discount ASMP offers, it would have been ridiculous not to buy it...am I right or am I right?? Haaaa. Ha. (Seriously though? Only 2%?). Anyway, I can't take the suspense of it's arrival on Wednesday, so I went ahead named it already (see this post's title).

On a different note, I was lucky enough to photography baby Brady on his big day last Sunday..