Inspired Photo Blog

As 2005 draws to a close, I realize I have much to be thankful for this year. I have some of the best clients any self-employed person could ever want. They are supportive, kind and all of them have great stories.

This summer I decided that I wanted to be completely caught up with my workload before the start of a new year. Something I have not been able to accomplish for 3 years now. I have couples wanting custom designed Queensberry albums whose wedding dates were in 2002! Life stood in the way for most of them. New jobs that required relocating to strange lands, some purchased new homes that exhausted their emotional and financial resources and many heard the patter of little feet. It’s so easy to put off today what can be done in a few months.

When October started, I made a concerted effort to organize all my clients and get the fire put under them to finish what we started. This meant a whole month of designing albums, sending layouts back and forth, revisions and watching that Christmas deadline for album delivery looming ever closer. Finally, I hit my goal of getting all 16 albums signed off on and production could begin! Next was putting together all the album orders with the various title pages and color choices, cover options and sizes. I began uploading my orders to the Queensberry facility in New Zealand.

Next were the prints. I had to assemble a master sheet with each image that was in my couple’s albums which included the custom print sizes. Each image was opened meticulously, one by one in Photoshop and enhanced, color corrected and retouched to become a part of these couple’s heirloom albums. Each album took at least 1-2 full days of print production. These were uploaded to the professional lab and were delivered in less than a week. Once the albums started to arrive, then I needed to match up the prints to the albums, custom trim each photo by hand and carefully mount each photo by hand, into their respective places.

Every time I thought I was getting close, a new obstacle would be dropped in my way. The server crashed at the Queensberry production facility. That meant any orders during a certain time period would have to be reordered. This also meant that they were out of the production schedule and I lost valuable time and any delays this time of year could mean a couple not receiving their album for Christmas. Glitches in the album software surfaced, reports indicating print sizes showed the wrong sizes, photos were randomly dropped and not caught until the album was being put together. At one point 6 of my albums were held up at Customs. Why? Because of Homeland Security restrictions. I had to send over a copy of my Social Security card, my Master Business License and all sorts of business information. Even up to 3 days ago, I was facing hurdles that would threaten to bring this carefully orchestrated madness to a crawling halt. In the end…I did it! 16 albums. Beautiful, Queensberry heirloom wedding albums were finished and ready for delivery.

The phone calls were made and appointments set up. My beautiful wife volunteered to hand deliver 8 wedding albums to couples who had to work or couldn’t make it over to pick up their albums. The rest slowly trickled in all day long and I was able to reconnect with these special couples. Reliving their wedding day and listening to their memories and stories made me realize how much I love what I do and how important these wedding day stories are to the lives of my couples and their children. I am truly blessed to have been a part of so many people’s lives. They are my friends.

So, changing the subject and adding more photos for those who feel photos speak louder than words…I thought I’d share my personal Christmas card with you. Since it’s impossible to nail down all 5 of us at one time in any one place, we decided to set up a simple black background in our dining room and photograph each family member one at a time. Here is my wife enjoying a well deserved Cheetos snack between shoots.

This is the final design that I came up with in Photoshop. A composite of our 5 headshots and some creative tinkering in Photoshop. These were printed up on metallic paper and really looked quite spectacular. Note to self: Get some metallic prints made to show couples, very cool indeed.

No matter where you are this holiday season, I hope you are able to enjoy the warmth of family and loved ones. Be safe as you travel about and remember, Santa knows you’ve been naughty!