Busy times…

I am a neglectful blogger! Apologies! I do at one point want to make this a more regular thing but I have been swamped with thoughts rushing through my mind! I promise next time … I will try to share the thoughts with you all!

So how’s business?

I am doing great! I am earning enough to pay for all my expenses and bills and I am doing well enough that I actually went out and put a new camera on finance … woo! SO what camera, I hear all you photogs out there asking? I put the Nikon D700 on finance for many many reasons … it is amazing! But for any of you that knows much about Nikon you will know that they have just released info for the D800 … they did this about 2 weeks after I signed the contract … They have however not given me the D700 because they are waiting to get stock.

I have fallen in love with the the D800 now, my partner plays soccer with one of the managers from the store I am getting it from and the guy said he would make a few calls and see if we can swap my camera for the D800! Wooo! Happy lady! Fingers crossed everybody!!

What else has been happening? Well it has been one year since the bushfire that took 72 homes in my local area and now that I am a business and feel I have something to give.

I decided to do some photo shoots for the families who lost their homes… to give a little something back. I knew realistically I would only be able to offer so many sessions myself, because I am a business after all and I need time to do paid work too … So I racked my brains thinking how to make this offer work and then it came to me … Why not put the offer out there to other local photographers and see if they want to help in any way! I have started with my own network of photographer friends and together we have raised 25 sessions. I have been contacted by the local news magazine ‘The Valley Reporter’ and they have been kind enough to offer us an article. So hopefully more photographers will get involved and then more families will know about the cause too! So far just through using social networking and word of mouth we have around 3 families … I hope to be able to help all 72 of them. Imagine losing all your photos, your everything – It’s hard to think about, let alone live. These people are truly courageous and deserve something good to come their way. A big thank you to the photographers listed below that have generously offered there time to help out a great cause.

Aaron Moss

Anita Southwell

Caitlin Worthington

Jessicca Wilkinson and last but certainly not least..

Krystle Wheatley

So thats one of the things that has been whirling through my mind … a lot! What else have I been doing? Well I released my first set of greetings cards in time for Valentines, I have made Birthday and Christmas cards, but I thought Valentines was the perfect release time… I will be making an Etsy store soon… at the moment I am printing cropping and folding by hand, which is lovely but I am going to start getting them printed and folded professionally soon so I can keep up with the demand 🙂

What are your thoughts on the designs?

I have been doing more photo shoots too … so I will put up a couple new posts with some photo updates, I know you love those 😉

For those who are interested in the business side of things … I love it! Success is all about determination and I am very determined to make this work! I am still trying to figure out MYOB … and hating it! But for the moment I have a cashbook and a very organised file of receipts, invoices, contracts and client info. I have started a logbook too, which I hope to remember to fill out, I am hopeless at that kind of thing! I didn’t realise when I started this, how much time I would be spending on the computer, editing, marketing, keeping track of finances, planning, researching … Your actual shoot time is a very small percentage of what you do! I have been working on a proper price list for all my services too .. which is actually really hard but I will get through it and have it going soon for those that want to see. I am going to be making up packages also .. so that could be interesting!

OK  well I am outta here! I will put up photo posts shortly! Thanks for reading!

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