What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Payment at the time of booking by credit card is preferred.
Some sessions may require a non-refundable advance to reserve your date and time upon booking your session, with the remaining creative fee due before we meet.
If our session has to be postponed for any reason, you’ll have 90 days to reschedule your session, based on our mutual availability.
What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
We’ll schedule a time to talk on the phone and discuss your idea for the shoot, my availability for the dates you have in mind and where it will take place.
Based on our conversation and the information provided, I'll send a proposal to agree to, a contract for you to sign online, and an invoice is included for full payment upon receipt.
A basic session is for up to one hour of my photographic attention at the location of your choice, with however many changes of look possible, depending on the location and time available.
The client agrees to pay any fees associated with or obtain permission for photography in the location chosen.
After our session, you’ll receive a link to a password-protected gallery of high-resolution images, edited and ready for use. Your photos will be downloadable from a password-protected gallery for up to three months.
Photo metadata will include a license for the usage of your images. There is no minimum print order. You may order prints through my site or take the image files elsewhere and have them done. Photos are available on physical media for an additional fee.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
Bachelor of Arts degree in photojournalism, minor in folk studies. Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Ky., May 1994.
Awards:
Eddie Adams Workshop Barnstorm IX, 1996
Kentucky News Photographers Association First place photographs in annual contest, 1994 and 1996
College Photographer of the Year Contest Award of Excellence for Documentary,
“A Simpler Way of Life,” 1992
Society of Professional Journalists (Region 5) Mark of Excellence award for First Place
Feature Photography, 1992
Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association First Place Feature Photography, 1992
Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Award, 1978
How did you get started doing this type of work?
As a licensed optician, I managed a store for Southern Optical and fit eyeglasses and contact lens in a building owned by an ophthalmologist.
On the weekends I would go rock climbing in the Red River Gorge and return to give slideshows of our adventures to the local climbing club using my new hobby, photography.
A summer of climbing and a chance encounter at the camera store inspired me with the possibility of a return to college to pursue photography as a career with unlimited possibilities.
About that same time, the sudden sale of the optical company brought a wave of changes that forced a reappraisal of what I was doing in life.
That following fall of 1988 I chose to leave the life of an optician and study photojournalism and folk studies at Western Kentucky University. My freelance career began following my graduation in 1994 and continues to this day.
I still know how to fit and adjust glasses, a useful skill that I still use after 30 years as a photographer.
What types of customers have you worked with?
I do freelance jobs for the Courier-Journal where I go and cover an event with photos, write a text block to accompany the story, and immediately turn it all in on deadline for the next day's paper.
Or I'll be assigned by AP Images to meet with a corporate client, shoot their event, process and caption the images on site and produce a handout photo for immediate distribution on the wire.
Maybe a chamber of commerce or corporate client will need an event covered or stock photos for internal and publication use, or someone may need a headshot for a company bulletin or book sleeve.
A gig service will alert me to a food shoot or a personal event or portrait photography opportunity. Or someone will call me ... I do all sorts of work as a photographer on call!
Describe a recent project you are fond of. How long did it take?
I photographed City Place, the Oldham County Chamber of Commerce's visitor center, and they used the images to advertise their space in Louisville Magazine in hopes of attracting convention business. We worked out times for sessions to capture HDR photos of the exterior of the main building, and views of the whole property, inside and out. I even left them with an animated GIF of their rain barrels in action! What a great space and people there.
What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Find someone with experience producing photos for publication - it implies prior training and a professional work ethic.
What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
Projects are often team efforts, involving a writer and an assigning editor to produce a story for publication. Sometimes it's just me and a subject in a location, creatively interacting to make photos for a meaningful purpose.
Either way, I creatively work within the constraints I'm given to work out a visual solution that works for the client.
It may appear somewhat glamorous, and sometimes is, but it's generally stressful, physical work that is also deeply fulfilling.
