Posts filed under 'News'
New Green ideas in the works
I am excited about a new idea and I want to share it with you now, but I feel I have to wait until it is completed. So just know that soon I will have some great news for you and taking another big step to making Forever Young Photography an even greener photography company. More to come soon! Have a great day!
Add comment July 13, 2009
[Rave] Thank you note
My job is not just a job. I make it my priority to make each and every client feel special. I try to provide the couple with tips and tricks to help their wedding day go smoothly. I am constantly thinking of new ways to go above and beyond their expectations for their wedding photographer. For each wedding I am full heartedly doing all that I can to make the couples wedding day experience perfect.
I always appreciate receiving thank you notes from clients. It helps me to know what stood out most in their mind about the experience. Here is one I received from Heather and Andrew. They have always been so sweet. I remember Heather bringing a little thank you treat for me after her Bridal Portraits – a yummy cupcake. So thoughtful! I really enjoyed working with them and I hope I get to be their photographer again in the future.
“Dear Maranda, Andrew and I can’t thank you enough for doing such a great job with our wedding photography. We appreciate the added personal touches such as the cool gift bags and keep sake boxes, the framed photo of us, the book layouts, personal deliveries and most importantly, your patience. We really enjoyed working with you and won’t forget how you made the whole wedding photography process seem so smooth and easy and turned it into such a positive experience for us. Thank you for a job well done! ~ Sincerely, Heather and Andrew”
To read more about Heather and Andrew and see their photographs check out:
Heather’s Bridal Portraits
Heather & Andrew’s Wedding
Add comment July 3, 2009
“Attending” Virtual Photography Trade Show
It is always great to learn new things. I feel it is important to keep growing and challenging yourself. I just registered for an online photography trade show which fits in line with my environmental action plan that I recently discussed on my blog. No traveling required, the tradeshow is brought to you all online – presentations, classes, exhibits, networking all done from your compuer. If you are a professional photographer and would like to sign up for the tradeshow, here’s the link.
Add comment May 6, 2009
Wonderful Things
When I was visiting Alcatraz I saw this sign that stated a great message:
“It takes one, just one
And then one follows the other one
And then another follows another one
Next thing you know you got a billion
People doing some wonderful things
People doing some powerful things
Let’s change and do some powerful things
Unity could be a wonderful thing.”
Doing a little research, I found out that this is a portion of a Black Eyed Peas song – Union. I thought this was an impressionable quote and wanted to share it with you. If you don’t already know, I am a sucker for good quotes that make you think or act.
“It just takes one.” With this thought in mind, I wanted to do more and think of ways to further make my business a more Green Business. I started by listing out what I am currently doing:
Office Space:
- Since Forever Young Photography is mostly a mobile photography service shooting on location, I choose to not have a separate retail space. By doing so, I avoid the excess energy use of a separate space and daily commuting to an office. {Let’s also not forget the saved time and sanity for not having to sit in traffic!}
- CFL lighting or better yet natural sunlight from the great windows in my workspace!
- I always recycle Ink Cartridges.
- Using a power strip and turning off electronics when not in use.
- Using natural cleaning products in the space.
- A Whiteboard is your friend: My whiteboard comes in handy for jotting down all my notes and helps me use less paper.
- Keeping my cool is no problem with the mild weather in San Fran. My windows provide a great beeze and natural “air conditioning.” No need to keep my air conditioning unit at 78 degrees – which would be hard since I don’t have one. ;-)
- Final Photography Contracts are emailed as PDFs. No more wasted paper.
- Your personal online Gallery takes place of paper proofs. Again a huge paper saver! It also makes sharing your photographs with others easy. No need to drive proofs all around town to show the fam.
- Reuse any paper that I can, printing double-sided and recycling everything after.
- I reuse and/or recycle all packaging & boxes, bubble-wrap, etc. for shipping out orders. It is always better to reuse these items if you can instead of just recycling.
- I look for used furniture pieces when it is time to get more file cabinets or storage. Craigslist rocks.
- Share the knowledge: any photography magazines that I have finished reading I donate or share with others so they can learn as well.
Equipment:
- Though you already know this, I want to make my list complete and include shooting digitally. Digital Photography is a huge saver in materials {no film reels, packaging, harsh chemicals for developing or wasteful printing.}
- Equipment – purchasing high quality equipment so it will last a long time.
- My refurbished Mac laptop was a great investment. If you are in the market for a laptop, check out the refurbished options. You would never even know that it was not new.
- I always use rechargeable batteries for my cameras and flash.
It’s always good to make a list {I am a HUGE list maker}. From looking at my list I can already see some areas that I can improve. I am going to list them here to make myself accountable for these new items I want to incorporate into my business practices.
- I offer a few products that are made out of partially recycled materials, but I want to research and find more to offer my clients. This might take some time as I want to be 100% sure that any product I offer you is archival & durable. I’ll have to try any new items out first to make sure they meet my standards.
- Holiday cards anyone? I am going to research different cardstock options for you and include some in my offerings that are made out of recycled paper.
- The next stack of printing paper for office use will be recycled paper. I also will look into recycled paper envelopes & file folders to get my office up to par.
- I am also going to pay closer attention to the environmental action plans of the suppliers that I use so I can offer you products produced by companies with an environmental conscious.
Well there you have it. My first round of goals for “Greening” my business even further. Have any ideas to add to my list? If so, I would love to hear them! Email me your ideas.
1 comment April 29, 2009
Happy Earth Day!
Today is Earth Day and I hope you are doing something special or adopting one new Earth friendly habit to make the world better for everyone. Enjoy!
.
Add comment April 22, 2009
Corporate Headshot Samples
Good news! I added a Corporate Headshot Sample Gallery to my portfolio. You can check it out here. As a note, I love doing a loose style of corporate headshots with more content in the background. It makes the headshots much more dynamic.
However, your goals and planned uses of the headshots should really dictate the look to appeal to your target market. Everyone has their own goal for the look and feel of the headshots, and I always talk with my clients first so we can both have a clear result in mind. For example, the clean and neutral backgrounds are great for websites. Then if the company’s website changes in color scheme, etc., your photographs will still work for you. Want more tips? Email me and we can chat about your corporate headshot session.
Add comment April 17, 2009
Earth Hour Pics – Downtown San Francisco
Justin and I headed downtown to watch the lights go down in the city. It was chilly, but worth the wait. We stood on a pier to see both the city view and the Golden Gate Bridge. Check out the results.
For safety reasons, all of the lights on the bridge could not be turned off, but it is still a rare view to see without the towers lit up.
Not exactly total darkness in the city, but you can see these structures dark: Coit Tower (to the left) and Palace of Fine Arts (bottom right). If you look closely you can also notice other lights that were shut off in various buildings and the glow in the haze around the city was diminished slightly.
Afterward we headed downtown to Market Bar – a restaurant participating in Earth Hour – for a candlelit dinner and some live music powered by people riding stationary bicycles. 
Add comment March 31, 2009
Earth Hour – March 28th 8:30pm (in your time zone)
If you haven’t been hiding under a rock you have heard about Earth Hour happening tomorrow at 8:30pm. Here is a blurb from the Earth Hour Website explaining how Earth Hour started:
“Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.
In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.”
Have you signed up yet? Pledge to participate in Earth Hour here.
Add comment March 27, 2009
