Roger's Blog

No job? Volunteer!

2011-11-14T18:19:00.001-08:00

Every time I hear a story on NPR about the economy and those without jobs, I want to climb through the radio and yell volunteer! Now I know it sucks not to be bringing in money - and the instinct is to spend all of the time job hunting. And as someone who has never lost a job I feel like I am totally back seat driving, but I just have to say out load somewhere - so I guess it is here - what I think the advantages to volunteering when out of work are, they are as follows ...

If I was interviewing potential employees, the one that was volunteering would stand out big time!
Jobs often come from relationships with people who you get to know ... all of the people who you come in contact through your volunteering will know that you are looking for a job ... and they will have there eyes peeled because they will believe in you (because you are volunteering). And they will be able to talk about you because they will have the story to tell about your volunteering! That is a lot more assistance than everyone who is just putting in job applications is getting.
It is hard not to get depressed looking for work ... but if I was spending x amount of time looking for work and the rest of my time being productive as a volunteer, then I would stay in a pretty positive state of mind from working and helping other people.

I realize that the instinct is that the most direct way to get a job is to look for work. I think the most direct way to get a job is to impress the most people who want to help you get work. And you don't know who knows who ... the grandma of the biggest firm in town could be your favorite fellow volunteer ...

You can follow your passion for who you want to help, or experiment with different volunteer environments to learn about yourself (like teaching your trade to others, when you have never taught), or you could go totally analytical and volunteer doing basically what you want to do when you are hired. Regardless, there is a wonderful energy in keeping busy and productive.

I really hope this idea is a help to someone :)

SP Client Search - MS Access, My second hobby ...

2011-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

I have been programming in Microsoft Access since version 1, and really enjoy programming (not the coding so much, but the puzzle of user interface and flow). It has been a second hobby - photography still #1, but I get to do that during the day. ;)

We use StudioPlus, a professional photography management software. It is built on the Access database format, StudioPlus allows access to the information stored in it's database (read only) through Microsoft Access. This is another testament to the company as most lock out access to the photographer's data.

I recently finished writing a program in Access that solves a problem that we run into every once in a while. We will get, not quite enough info about who a client is, like when we get a phone message and we cannot make it out clearly ... John somebody with the phone number ending in 435 called with a question about his order ... it can be a pain to figure out who this really is (StudioPlus allows searching, but each name and phone number field separately). As I had some of the elements designed anyway I put a program together ... and in a way that others could use it easily (since this forces me to really polish it up for our use) ... ;) ... I have called this program SP Client Search.

For a window into this hobby of mine here is the main screen in the program(really the only screen, except for a help/about window).

All of the clients are normally listed on the left, with the client's detail on the right along with any family member detail. Just select a client and use the arrow keys to move between clients. I entered our name and street number in the two search fields so that we would be the only one showing in order to keep our client info private - and to demo what the search filter does.

The program searches on up to three different criteria, and searches the following fields ...
- Client's first, last, and company names, address, 6 client phone fields and the client email address.
- Family member's name, phone number and email address.
All in one push of a button ~ Love It! :)

So there you go, just wanted to share a little behind the scenes of what I am up to ...

A link to the program is posted in the StudioPlus user forum, since it won't do anyone any good if they don't have StudioPlus. If there are any questions about how it works or on the StudioPlus software feel free to wave at me. :)

Please note: This program is written by me and is not supported in any way by StudioPlus

Thanks,
Roger

Added info ...

The post in the StudioPlus forum is titled "Client Search add on to StudioPlus" in the "Ideas to Improve Your Business" section and my user name is darkroomdevil. The StudioPlus forum is where any updates to the program will be posted, and hopefully conversations about the program :) ... since this program only works for StudioPlus users.

The link to the current version of the Access file is
http://www.eleakis.com/SPClientSearch/SPClientSearch_1.13.zip

My fav photo restoration of the year ....

2010-12-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while a restoration comes along that is so much fun and just makes me smile!

A friend and client came into the studio with some tiny little bits of photo - most of the pieces made a dime look big. It seems they had a favorite dog that had long since passed and these pieces were what was left of the photo. Could we possibly get some sort of photo from these little scraps of image? If we could, it would be a Christmas surprise for the wife. :)

The dog's name was Zoomer. The next dog to come into the family ate - yes ATE the photo, which is how it got into a bunch of little pieces (I also remember over hearing something about a stomach being pumped, but I don't know if that was because of this photo only, or if other stuff was also eaten ...). Amazing that the pieces were even saved.

So here are the little pieces ...

Puzzled over and moved the pieces around in Photoshop for a couple hours ..

Filled in the missing bits, and cropped the bottom part ...

From little scraps to having a memory of Zoomer - gave me tingles :)

What A Wedding!

2010-09-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Chantel and Greg ARE MARRIED! They are off honeymooning - don't know where - not supposed to know - that is OK ;). We hired Chantel 9+ years ago - little did we know she would knock our socks off with her talent and sweetness and become our business partner (me and my sweetie, Joanse). We have become family, and Sunday I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding ... such a different experience when it is family ... teary eyed behind the camera and all :) ...

It has taken me forever to choose the photos - I keep adding in family photos that are sweet and then - 'if they are in the blog, I should add this family too' - reminder to self; this is not their wedding album and I want to get this online before they get home! ;) - so not so much family, just some of the the day and the two of them, mostly ...

...I actually was able to get a photo ... :)

Love these!

The Marriage was at Beatnik Studios, an art gallery and photographer co-op ... perfect for Chantel and Greg (who didn't want the same-o-same-o). The art work on the wall was not conducive to a wedding - it came down and left a very large empty wall - so Chantel and Greg had done a big honeymoon before the wedding, a trip to Europe last December and had taken some random photos with their little Canon Elph camera ... we blew them up for that empty wall and it was now a gallery again! (The little white tabs under each image has the image's name on it, it was a proper gallery showing).

After doing family photos we ran off for some very quick romantics!

And then the whole group photo of everyone (except me - but I know Photoshop) ;) !

Then the first dance and stuff - if you look close that is one helluva dip!:)

The photo booth was a huge success! Call us for a referral, they were wonderful!

And off into the depths of a wild sweet party !

Thanks Chantel and Greg ... We loved every minute of it!
xoxox
~ Roger

Madeline ...

2010-05-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

Madeline came in for grad photos today I just love them and had to get them up right away before our busy week end and time got away from me. I photographed Madeline and her brother Ryan when they were little - so a real trip for me to see Madeline all grown up - other than making me feel older, it was real super to see what a sweet and cool person she has become :).

Touch of magic today - Thanks Madeline!

Sara and Evan equals Twins

2010-05-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

Sara and Evan are twins, they were here for graduation photos. They share a sense of humor, a gentleness - a kind of self conscious awareness and at the same time they are totally comfortable with who they are - but their favorite thing is definitely not being photographed. They had already had the formal school photos, mom was looking for outdoor photos to have something that really resonated with their personalities.

So we played - hey - it is all about personality. I have to say that I absolutely loved doing the session. Here are a few of the shots I really liked...

I love water and reflections - so I get real low to the water - just think it is pretty ...

For you photographers ... there is a tree to the cameras right the the sun is hitting - that was the light source.

So I handed Sara my camera at the end of the session and showed her what buttons to press and she took this one of her brother - my favorite photo of the session :) - I just love it when I am surprised with something real cool and I think it is real wonderful that Sarah and Evan felt pretty comfortable with me.

Sara and Evan - Thanks!

The irony of quality

2010-05-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I did a copy and restoration for a new customer which was picked up last Friday - I did a wonderful job, and the customer asked - is this a good job? It took me off gaurd. It was a wonderful job from a very difficult original - superb. I would post the before and after here, but I didn't ask for permission ...

But, the point of this is it got me to thinking about perceptions. What I think is obvious isn't always obvious. Unless the customer had the same job done by someone else, and then compared the jobs, they might never know. And on the other hand if they had the job done by another who did not do as well, they would still never know how good it could get... quality is something we do. But quality will not guarantee that we get the business and lack of quality in others will not necessarily bring us business.

OK, I realize and I am thankful that this isn't every customer, and I do feel like I am ranting a little (would have much rather had the customer say 'oooh this is good'). I just wanted to share this little life reminder - one of those many ironies of life ...

Two boys ...

2010-05-04T23:29:00.000-07:00

This mornings portrait session was of two boys, feisty and kind of shy and full of energy :-) ... it took them a little while to warm up. I love these portrait sessions, where the personality comes out and we get photos that are really unique ...

Thanks!

Photo Restoration and Photoshop - My Educational Sources

2010-05-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a quick sharing of my favorite resources for learning and figuring out copy & restoration and photoshop challenges. My learning has been mostly reading and online, and these are the two best resources I have found!

Online: www.retouchpro.com - a group with a wide range of abilities and interests, with some of the sharpest minds around! All skill levels are always welcome. From restoration work to commercial beauty retouching and art from photos ...

Books: Anything by Katrin Easmann ... www.photoshopdiva.com and www.katrineismann.com she is the Photoshop Diva!

These are my main sources for learning. Anytime I have a question or want to stretch what I think I know, this is where I go! No matter what your skill level something from these two resources will be sure to bend your brain (mine is twisted - enjoy!).

Email Archiving / Backing up ...

2010-04-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

One of my hats is that of the studio Researcher, figuring out solutions to problems. We have a challenge in the we are running out of room on our web hosts server for storing our email (we use the IMAP email protocol so that we can access the email from any computer - kind of like gmail and such). Well, to make a long story short I found this software, I have tried it and it blows away the competition - and it is free (they do also have a commercial version)

Company is at www.mailstore.com

Pasted in from their website ...

MailStore Home Archives Email From:

Microsoft Outlook 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007
Microsoft Outlook 2010 BETA (32-bit version only)
Microsoft Outlook Express and Windows Mail
Microsoft Exchange Server Mailboxes
Hosted Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes
Mozilla Thunderbird and SeaMonkey
POP3 and IMAP (including webmail services such as Gmail and Yahoo)
.eml and other files

.......................

Check it out!
~Roger

I like ~crazy~

2010-04-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

And I like photos to be a little 'off' ... Photos that are overly posed feel fake to me. A little bit of imperfection brings more feeling, makes it more real and honest. The reason I pose is so that the light and the setting works and the subjects of the photo are in a good place and are flattered, for when the good stuff happens.

Every situation has in it the opportunity to get something unexpected - even what appears on the surface to be the simplest session can have magic moments in the session if I can find them. It is that illusive possibility, that is the challenge and what keeps it exciting and fun for me.

I did a photo session the other day which included two hyper Labs that got me to thinking, I realized that there was no stress with the session - I was happy! Crazy subjects means that random things are bound to happen, and when random things happen photos happen that I could never pose - and could never repose. For me that is magic! My secret is that it doesn't take any patience to handle the real crazy situations ... in truth I am relieved that I am sure to get something unique and special, I just have to be aware and there ...

~Roger

Dare We Review Yelp?

2010-01-20T04:13:00.000-08:00

Yelp (yelp.com) ... is a review site and an interesting business model at that - not all reviews show up on the site. As stated in the yelp FAQ section ...

"The review may have been suppressed by Yelp's automated software system. This system decides how established a particular reviewer is and whether a review will be shown based on the reviewer's involvement on Yelp ..."

The Situation

A number of our real sweet clients have given us glowing reviews over at Yelp. These clients have not become active 'Yelpers', so their reviews do not show up on our yelp business page. The reviews that have not shown up can be found here, here and here ... ;-) I think this works for Yelp because people that are not active Yelpers don't go back and check to see if their review showed up, if they are active then the review shows up - so no heat from the Yelpers ...

Yes, I am irked. I believe in the Yelp idea, use Yelp to search out good businesses and really love the usability of their web site (although this experience has given me another view of those businesses with 'no ratings').

Yelp has approached us with the idea of advertising with them. Their answer to reviews not showing up is that it is an unfortunate but unavoidable byproduct of the system that insures the highest quality of reviews. The idea is that if we advertise with them, we will get reviewed by active Yelpers, those reviews will show up, and we will build amazing synergy from there ...

The Conundrum

The conflict I am having is not with Yelp's business model. It is that the casual Yelper would never know that some reviews are not showing up. Yes, go to the FAQ section and there is full disclosure, but nonetheless the assumptions that are made by the person using the site for research are different from the actual facts of the site. When the whole focus of the site is the idea of building integrity in reviews, the review site itself has performed a slight of hand.

We have many marketing and advertising alternatives, of which I honestly think Yelp is a very good one. But it irks me to be a fan of a service or product that is at all 'tricky'. So, do we get over ourselves and advertise with Yelp or do we use other alternatives?

Chantel and I are talking about it and we would appreciate any and all feedback. What is your experience with Yelp? Does this feel 'tricky' to you?

Thanks!

Side Note: It is interesting and telling that our perception of a business can take us from being fans to having reservations. I am sure that goes both ways - if you are reading this and are a client of ours, and we do anything that gives you reservations - please,please, please let us know ... thanks!

Update 4/12/2010

Yelp just added a feature to their site that addresses this issue, and I think resolves their conflict between quality reviews and transparency. They added a small link at the bottom of the page that takes you to the reviews that are not displayed ... in our case "(8 Filtered Reviews)", or something to that effect.

Kudos to Yelp! Way to go! They took that bull by the horns and figured it out! :-)

WOW ~ Happy Holidays

2009-12-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

For us, holiday bliss is finishing up all of our customers orders on schedule before Christmas ... then showing up at the studio for a few final things on Christmas Eve and finding no phone messages! This means nothing fell through the cracks and everything is taken care of with lots of happy customers ... big sigh and smile ...

Chantel, our business partner, graduated on the 19th of December with a degree in marketing from CSUS - this last semester she was caring a very full load - and a few days after graduating, Chantel and her sweetie Greg, celebrated by leaving on a 3 week trip to Europe (yes we are jealous!) - Way To GO Chantel - both for the marketing degree with all the hard work that went with it and making it to Europe.

In the midst of all this, we had a real good Christmas season, considering the recession, and loads of happy customers, we have been working a lot of long days to stay on top of everything - and I now have a real holiday glow on...

So, for all of our customers, and you know who you are ... THANK YOU!

A Change In Personal Programming ....

2009-11-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

This week marks a big change, the culmination of a gradual change in thinking. 18 or so years ago, whenever Microsoft Access 1.0 first was launched, I started using Access to keep track of the things our accounting program couldn't track. The first project was weddings and which wedding vendors provided services to which wedding and how the wedding couple liked / rated their services. We used this to follow up with photos for the vendors and to know who to provide as a referral for couples looking for services.

Well, I was constantly developing the program and every few years I would look at software management programs for the portrait industry .... none of them did what mine did, so I would continue adding to my program until it now does all sales and banking including payroll with all needed reports for taxes and yeah - a bunch of other stuff ... I could ramble on ....

The program that I wrote kicks butt, it could easily be commercial, except for a few things ... I don't want to be a full time programmer and it is built in a bubble - my concepts with no feedback from the industry. To improve the program further it was also becoming evident I would have to learn languages outside of Access (PHP, Visual Basic, etc.). I was also feeling that whenever we had an idea as to how to improve our marketing or systems within the studio it meant changes to my Access program, so those changes were implemented at the speed of my programming - not a very 'nimble' business model ...

Because of these thoughts, back in March after MUCH research we purchased StudioPlus to manage our business (http://www.studioplussoftware.com/). Finally, a program that does what mine did and more. (Yeah there are things I miss, but live with it Roger!) Besides the stuff my program did it emails and syncs calenders and client info with phones and palm systems, etc. etc. etc. ...

Well, a week ago we are finally up and running, StudioPlus exports to Quickbooks (while my program did both sales and checkbook) and our checkbook actually balanced! Everything in process before the conversion date had to be pretend posted (cause you don't want to count it twice and it needs to be in the current system ... this means I didn't miss anything :-) !!!).

It took from March to now (November) because every time I sat down with StudioPlus I would run into questions about how to do what we did in our old program in the new, everything is really different, I could ramble on with examples, but just trust me ... most waking moments since March have been filled with this puzzle, how much info to migrate and what info not too, and what the work flow would be so we didn't lose track of orders and things in the process ...

It was a hard decision, going with a different program - my Access program was my BABY, and worked perfectly. But now I am free to spend more time with my sweetie, solve studio management puzzles within the framework of the StudioPlus program instead of programming, become a little more of a social networking person (there is a lot more to this life and business than just the systems approach), exercise a little more, figure out other stuff I might want to do and yes, even Blog more :-).

Just wanted to share this big transition in our business and life and give a reflection of the kind of obsessed problem solver I can be ... If anyone has any Access or studio management questions fire away ... ;-) Yeah, OK, photography and Photoshop questions are OK too ... ;-)

The Elixir of Love - for the Chorus ...

2009-11-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

We photograph each of the Sacramento Opera's performances at their last dress rehearsal. This last performance was the Elixir of Love - sacopera.org .... I love photographing theater, I love the music and the lighting, and I really enjoy being able to share images from the performances with the fans and the chorus.

OK, so the Good news and the Bad news ...

Good News = Elixir is a fun show!

Bad News = Normally by this time I have a whole opera full of images posted to our web site with free access to the images for the chorus, but the web server that we are hosting our opera galleries and shopping cart from is about full (we use Total Choice Hosting for those that are curious). I need to research whether we should remove some old galleries or pay for more server space (right now we are paying for 3 Gigs). We are in the middle of Christmas rush, so posting Elixer needs to wait until I have time to figure it out.

Each opera takes a bit of room on the server and I have been of the mind set to leave them up forever so that the Sacramento Opera has a living archive of their work .... maybe this is an unreasonable approach, or maybe this is really a good thing ... I would appreciate any feedback from the chorus and others on this .... I can see doing any mix of the following ...

post all operas as we are now
weed down each opera to fewer images (takes more time to weed more and it is hard to know who might be in the background of a photo and really appreciate the shot)
remove each opera after a period of time (just post last 24 months?)
post favorite images to a blog like this and not to our gallery - those that are interested in seeing the others can come by our studio ...
any other choices??????

The photos are available on our web site for free, and this blog also by right clicking on an image and choosing Save Image As (or something like that). As always, please give us and the opera credit if you use the photos anywhere.

Here are some of my favorites from Elixir - I made sure to include some chorus shots ;-) ...

Great Legs .... :-)

Yes, I am running around the sides of the stage, I used to not, but then Jennifer at the Opera said she needed more close ups for press use ...

I don't know the characters, my focus is all on visually what is happening (and I have never been interested in the stories, just the music and the theater of it). I have photographed all of the Opera's performances since they started performing in the big theater and I love the music and catching challenge of catching the fleeting moments.

Everyone in the production really gave it their all! even light on their feet ...

This is kind of how I feel sometimes when I am trying to get kids to smile ....

Yes, that is a giant hypodermic needle ...

Love it when the light is behind some and in front of others ...

So darn giggly ...

Cute show ... Thanks!

Three Dimensional Objects - Download and Hit Print

2009-08-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Wow - You have a photo printer and can now download a photo and print it yourself - so what about if you need a screwdriver - download the design and print it yourself on your 3D printer - or use your 3D printer to make another 3D printer for a friend ... here is the blog post that I ran across ... amazing.JHG Blog: Print Yourself a Chair ... and Have a Seat-Rr

So we took the dogs to the mountains ...

2009-08-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

Monday we took the dogs to the mountains. We have a secluded spot we like to go where we hardly ever see anyone else and I really wanted to see how the dogs (Katie and Joey) would do off leash.

So we packed up and I brought a long rope and a bag of their favorite treats just in case ... we first stopped at an open park like area with no underbrush just in case the little one went crazy (ten years old - we have only had her with us 6 weeks). So we started walking and the dogs went ahead 50 ft. - I turned and went up the hill on a dirt road and clicked for them to follow ... and they did :-) so we went up the hill and back and they were good.

Now off to our little spot ... did I mention we brought our hammock?

Well, Joan wanted to read and was feeling a bit like I was sitting there watching her - so she suggested I take them for a walk ... I started off into the woods, they would get to spots that were hard for them to walk through - they would slow down and figure it out - this photo is when I looked back and saw them saying 'you really want us to walk on this' - (I turned around and backtracked the way we came - and going back they went a lot faster because now they knew the way ... dogs are pretty darn smart).

So we went out to the dirt road and up a long hike to the top of the hill ...

And yeah, it was warm :-)

I was thrilled, the whole hike, only a couple of pats on the leg for them to follow when they were distracted by something ... really felt like pack leader :-)

Katie can look so dam regal ...

We let the dogs wander where they wanted (keeping a sharp eye) - I was there to learn them, Katie prowled around a bit and stopped in the light like a deer ... wow ...

It was getting dark, we are reading and the dogs are resting. A real wonderful day and I am saying we should go - Joan is saying just let me read a bit more - neither of us wanted it to end - we finally pulled ourselves out of the revere and headed down the hill ...

This will be one of those favorite days - thanks for letting me share it with you!
-Rr

Jodie becomes Joey - our new Cairn Terrier

2009-08-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

So this really nice lady came into our studio on June 25th (Eleakis & Elder Photography - shameless SEO plug...) with this cute dog to take advantage of our Chow for Charity promotion (A photo session and 5x7 for pet food that we then donate) so that she could have a portrait taken of her dog - so she could find it a home. She is having back/health problems where she can't bend over and couldn't take care of Jodie any more - a real heart wrenching decision for her.

I took a look at Jodie and spent a few minutes to get to know her and said we could skip taking a photo - I could take her if she thought that would be OK. Jodie is ten years old and is a real sweetie and is working out great and gets along super with Katie, our Kerry Blue Terrier.

Joan (my wife) had a problem with the name Jodie (I have a cousin named Jodie) ... but Joan's cousin Joey said to name her Joey - so she's Joey now ... :-) ...

...and here she is in our back yard ...

-Rr

So you want pickles with that do you? I'll give you pickles!

2009-08-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

A client came into our studio the other day for some tutoring. She had some questions about Photoshop Elements, and she wanted to see if I could help her with a problem ...

The Problem

Her family had gone to another photographer for family photos (who I won't name) with the understanding that they would be able to purchase the digital images (some of the family members are amateur photographers). The photographer said yes, and then sized the finished images for 8x10 and told the family that they wouldn't work for making 11x14's, which is what they wanted.

Well, this led to a discussion between the family and the photographer, who finally decided to wash their hands of it and give the family the 'original images' ...

The Photographer's Solution

The photographer gave the family a disc with, what they said, were the original images. For the photographers out there, each image was in tiff format and the long edge was 40 inches at 300dpi ... 240 MB files each! The image files were so large that the family thought that something was wrong with them because they couldn't get them to transfer to their computers.

So you said you want pickles with that do you? I'll give you pickles!

Our Solution

We created 11x14's sized images in the highest quality jpegs, our software did the conversions while we talked Photoshop - for non photographer's that means usable quality images. So we end up being the heros - not something I am ever prone to argue with ... this just goes to show (and remind us once again) how meeting expectations and good communication are the key to happy clients.

-Rr

Obama and Politics

2009-01-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

I am not a political person - never have been, and I don't feel guilty about it, although I feel pressure from those that are political. I think we are hard wired for the kind of things that interest us and that there will be a percentage of the population who are political, want to teach, write music, do math, etc. - everyone should do what they can and not feel guilty otherwise.

Most who write about politics are political ... so I thought in contrast, it would be interesting to share my uninformed impressions. For the record I am a white guy (german, french, scott-irish, english welsh) ;-)

I don't think Barack Obama won the Presidency because he was black, or intelligent, or spoke well, or religious, or has leadership qualities. All of these helped to gain support and win, but I think the one thing that made all the difference, that made him such a favorite, is presenting a balanced awareness and perspective. This was lacking from the previous presidency and it has become required for us in the USA. Yes, the country was ready for a black president, but much more importantly our country was looking for someone who radiates perspective.

I love the phrase ... 'you don't know what you don't know', which is the perfect phrase to represent the importance of perspective. Bush didn't seem to lead with that quality - I am excited for the future to see Obama leading plays out.

-Rr

What to do with this new blog ...

2009-01-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

... this blog thing is a stretch for me, I am private, love being with and helping others but need time to myself, love having life puzzles to solve, am a cynic an optimist and a smart-ass, am a bit of a perfectionist and haven't really had writing tendencies ...

I think a blog should be honest, not a glossed over commercial for the studio like many photographers blogs that I have seen ...

not everything about me is everybody's business and I don't want what I write to be a waste of your time ...

so this will be a learning experience and thank you to anyone who tags along :-)

-Rr