This blog post is LONG overdue. Better late than never though. Let me start by saying, in the most humblest of ways, that I am truly blown away and amazed by the comments, emails, tweets, messages I receive on a daily basis from photographers all over the world. When I decided to go into business for myself a couple of years ago, I never in a million years imagined I would ever have “fans” of my photography. Especially from all ends of the planet! Just a couple of months ago I received an email from a photographer in The Netherlands telling me how I helped inspire her to open a boudoir studio. Emails like that just blow my mind!! It’s truly my heart’s desire to inspire people all over the world, but when I receive a message like that, the reality that it’s truly happening touches my heart on a whole ‘nother level. It is so EXTREMELY flattering that people in the same industry as me would not only take the time to get in touch with me, but would have any desire to want to learn from me in any way. I’m just a girl who LOVES being a photographer and LOVES her clients to pieces. I found my passion for this career many years (13 to be exact) ago but it was only in the last couple of years of being in business for myself that I have truly been able to “find myself” as an artist and really create my own personal signature look and style that comes from deep within my heart. I in no way think I have arrived to where I want to be as business owner and photographer. My goals right now are to completely focus 100% on my business and clients. I am an extremely hard worker and very dedicated to my passion of this form of art. I wake up every day, thank God for blessing me with this talent and for sending me wonderful clients who love my work, and then I spend the rest of the day continuing to build my business to grow to where I want it to be.

When I started my business a little over 2 years ago, I was working around the clock 24/7 to get it off the ground. I knew if I was going to make a successful career with my talent I was going to have to work really, really hard. I believe God gives us gifts to use, but it’s up to us to meet him halfway with them. While I believe with all of my heart that God has given me so much favor and blessed me with incredible dreams, talents and passions… I know that nothing has been handed over to me easily. Everything I have today is because I worked very, very hard to get it. My motto in life, “Live the Dream” is what I preach and believe to the very core of who I am. I have proven to myself and others over and over again that you really can do ANYTHING you want and achieve any goals you set for yourself. I tweeted in the past “life will give you exactly what you ask for” and I really believe that. If you ask for MORE, you will get MORE.

Since I have started my own business, I get emailed questions quite often from photographers about different aspects of my business. For both my wedding and boudoir brands. While I wish I had the time to email everyone back, the honest truth is I don’t. I feel so awful not being able to respond to the emails I receive from photographers. : ( But if I spent time responding to photographers, my clients and business would suffer greatly. I am being completely honest when I say, my clients will always come first. They are the reason I have a business in the first place, and they are the reason my business continues to grow successfully providing me with a roof over my head.

I most commonly get asked the best advice I can give to a photographer who is just getting started in the industry. I am not sure that there is an answer that would be true to all new photographers, but I am willing to share a quick version of my personal story of how I got to where I am today. I got my first camera when I was 15 years old. (I am 28 now.) It was a film Nikon camera that I was obsessed with. I fell in love with the hobby of photography and pretty much just shot whatever was in front of me. I am the oldest of 4 siblings so my 3 younger kin became instant models in my eyes. ; ) I practiced practiced practiced. I did this for 3 years and then when I was 18 I got a job working for another photographer. During this time I learned a lot about the business side of things while continually honing my skills and talent as a photographer. It honestly wasn’t until I began my own company that I really was able to “dive into” my true talent and gifts as a photographer. It took many years of practicing and experience to get where I am today. But I can honestly say I learned almost everything I know from experience. So what is the best advice I can give you? PRACTICE. I recommend if you are just starting out to do it as a hobby for the very minimum of a year until you really get a lot of experience under your belt. I’ve seen so many people start charging clients too soon, before they are really ready and experienced, and it ends up causing so many problems for both the client and photographers. You need time to learn and grow… you need time to find out if you have the gift… because not everyone does. Anyone can buy a camera, but that does not mean everyone has the “gift” of being a true artist. Also, some may have the gift of being a true artist, but might not necessarily have the gift of running a business. Both things go hand in hand in achieving a successful photography business. Not only must you be good at photography, but you must know how to make wise business decisions. So the key to learning whether or not you are gifted as a photographer and a wise business owner boils down to PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE. Being a photographer is hard work. I know that I, along with others, make it look super fun. But at the end of the day, it’s still hard work… just like ANY successful business. The reason I am where I am today as a photographer, is because I practiced for many many years and I worked super hard to get to this place. Nothing has come easy for me… determination, motivation and a GREAT attitude go a long, long way. If you want to be a success in anything you do, those 3 little things are KEY.

The other thing I advise is once you have decided you indeed want to be a full time photographer, and you know you have what it takes… choose what you want to shoot and stick to that. Meaning if you love photographing children, specialize in that and rock it out. I find too many photographers try to shoot it ALL and in the end their business suffers greatly for it because they are fragmenting their style to suite every different kind of photography there is. If a painter is good at painting landscapes he will specialize in that and not portraits. Sure he can paint a portrait but he true “gift” shows when he paints what he is best at.

I get asked to teach workshops on a regular basis. While this may be an option in the future, it is not in my heart right now. God did not give me the gift of teaching. No… I mean it. Ask anyone who knows me!! I am a horrible teacher and I will tell you why. I was homeschooled my whole life. Yep, it’s true. The particular curriculum my mother chose to school my siblings and I with was VERY self-taught oriented. Because of this, I learned from the time I could read and on to be very self-dependent. Almost everything I know I taught myself. Photography, web design, graphic design, HTML, video editing, Photoshop, whatever.. you name it, I probably taught myself. I honestly do better teaching myself things than being taught by someone else. This is the reason I did not go to college. It was never in the cards for me.  But the downfall to all of this is that I am not gifted when it comes to teaching someone else because I naturally expect everyone else to be able to learn something on their own or pick up something quickly. I know that most people do not operate like that, but even if I tell myself that, doesn’t magically make me a good teacher. Because of the fact that I realize I still have a long ways to go when it comes to this area in my life, I do not feel prepared to be able to teach others at this time. Again, not saying that I will never teach… but it’s just not the right time for that quite yet. Not to mention I still feel that even I have so much to learn before I can teach someone else anything at all.

The good news is there ARE several photographers out there who are INCREDIBLE and ARE naturally gifted when it comes to teaching. There are many amazing photographers who thrive off of teaching other photographers their tricks of the trade. I encourage you to find the truly talented photographers who have been doing this for a while, that are teaching workshops, and attend them. I am certain you will learn a lot. When and if I decide to start teaching workshops, you’ll be the first to know. ; )

I encourage you, no matter what career choice you make, to do it with excellence. Find what you are good at, what makes you happy and ROCK IT OUT with all of your heart. And again, thank you to every single one of you who have ever believed in me, sent me a kind email or message or left me a comment. I sincerely appreciate every single one more than you could ever possibly know. Keep living the dream.

xoxo

I leave you with this shot taken by me at age 15… of my little baby brother Stephen. He is still THAT cute. ; )

So what exactly is being you auctioned you ask? A 60 minute mentor session via phone or video chat. If you’re a photographer who is looking for some advice in photography, growing your business or just want to say HEY HEY to some amazing photographers out there… then this is the perfect opportunity for you to do so… AND your money would be going to an AMAZING cause! There are also tons of products being auctioned off as well. To see a list of all the photographers donating their time for these mentor sessions, please go to www.fstopbreastcancer.com for a complete list of the 50 photographers participating… including YOURS TRULY!!

Lydia is trying to raise $10,000 by Oct 24, 2010 to donate to the foundation. The auction will run Thursday, October 14th – Tuesday, October 19th on EBAY. You can view a little promo video that Lydia put together on the F Stop Breast Cancer website or by clicking here.

I will be posting the link for the auction once it goes live on October 14th.

I am SO excited about this amazing idea that Lydia came up with. She is so inspiring to all of us!! I am just so truly honored and flattered to be a part of it and I hope you’ll participate!! F STOP BREAST CANCER!

Second up: If you don’t follow me on Twitter or Facebook, then you may not know the exciting news that my new website launched yesterday! HOOORAY! Just in time for the new year!! Boy, talk about timing. I have always worked really well under pressure. It tends to motivate me a whole bunch and even though I began working on this new site 4 months ago, it wasn’t until a few days ago that I really sat my butt down and made it happen!!! THANK YOU PRESSURE! : ) I also have to give a huge shout out to Michael for sitting down with me and helping me finish it. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know if it would be done by now. Yay!! I am so excited to have such a huge project completed and I hope you all enjoy the new site!! Check it out here: www.dellafiora.com

I wish all of you a very happy and prosperous New Year! May 2010 be the BEST ONE YET!

… annnnddd because a post is boring without a picture, here is one I took of the spot I spend most of my time: MY OFFICE. Holllla! Yes, there is lots of pink – DUH. If you haven’t figured it out by now, pink makes this girl happy. The lighting isn’t super awesome for a picture, but I usually keep it a lot darker than this when I’m working. I like to be able to see my images with clarity and no lighting around me to mess me up! It’s my own personal cave, don’t hate yo. Oh and don’t mind that empty black and white frame at the top of my shelf to the right. It’s only been empty for like 6 months since my cousin gave it to me. I’ve been meaning to fill it with a shot from Paris! It’s so hard to find time to work on personal pictures though! Anyways, that is it. I love my little cave and that’s all there is to it.

Here’s to many more years of blogging!! Hooray!

1. Did you go to school for photography?
Ready for this? Nope!! I have never taken a class or read a book on photography in my life. I know that may be hard to believe. But I have always found for me personally I learn easier when I just do something and learn from experience. In no way am I saying you shouldn’t take a class or read books, I’m just saying I didn’t… but everyone learns differently. At age 15 I got a job at LSU’s 4h mini farm – a job that lasted only two weeks – getting paid minimum wage. (sidenote: this has nothing to do with what I am talking about but Mikey, at 16yrs old, also worked this particular year at the mini farm and in NO WAY was that the real reason I made sure to get hired as well… but he sure was THRILLED when he found out I’d be working with him… oh it’s true, ask him.) I saved my pennies and along with the help of my grandmother, was able to purchase my first camera. A film Nikon N50. As soon as I got my hands on that baby I shot anyone who would let me practice on them. It’s truly how I began to learn lighting and flattering angles on people. Experience has been my greatest teacher.

2. I just got into photography and was wondering what advice you have for new photographers who are just starting out in the business?
Shoot, shoot, shoot!! : ) No, really. If you don’t already have a good digital camera, then a really excellent one to start with is the Canon 50d. Don’t be afraid to play with the manual settings on your camera and allow your self to make mistakes – because that’s how you learn. Plus it’s okay, because it’s DIGITAL and you can just hit that magic little button called DELETE and no one will ever know how over-exposed the shot of your dog you were practicing on turned out. ; ) Practice, practice. Tell your friends you will give them free pictures if they will model for you and let you learn on them. Then once you’ve got a nice little portfolio going, get a blog and website to showcase it. I’d say start with a blog first because it’s more personal and people want to get to know you, not just your work. There are tons of photographers out there, but the ones who always captivate me the most are the ones I feel like allow me to get to know them with their online presence. Also, if you don’t already have Facebook, get one. Facebook has been one of the coolest ways for my clients to get to know me and vice versa. I could go on and on about Facebook and how much it has helped me, but I won’t. Just get one. : )

3. The lighting in your photos always looks amazing, how do you get them to look the way they do?
Lots of practice!!! : ) I am still learning everyday, but my favorite light is natural light. I know that a lot of really neat things can be done with artificial light, but I am just a lover of the natural. I love the warm tones it creates and the mood it sets. One of the best ways to get beautiful lighting in your photos is to know what time of day to shoot and how to use it appropriately. My favorite time is about an hour before the sun sets in the evening. There is this really neat website called Time and Date.com that will tell you what time the sun is going to set anywhere in the world anytime in the year.  It definitely helps me so much when planning photo shoots and it especially assists me when helping consult my brides for what time of day they should have their ceremony when they book me. When the sun is high above you it’s a lot harder to get the correct light because it can cause harsh shadows in places you’d rather them not be. It’s not impossible to get beautiful photographs at high noon, it’s just a lot more challenging. Another tip is don’t put your subject in the shade if the background behind him/her is in the bright sunlight.  To me it would be better to have the subject in the bright sunlight with the shade behind him/her. I’ve noticed darker backgrounds usually produce better photographs.

And because posts are prettier with pictures… below you will find one I shot of my fellow photographer friend Tina from Arizona while I was in Laguna Beach, California a couple of weeks ago. This shot was completely candid.

Not a facebooker? Follow my tweets here. — I’ll warn you sometimes they are pretty lame, but hey I try!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

We had a lot of fun and met several amazing brides and vendors! Here are a few photos of how our booth turned out:

Here is a little video I made from the show! Enjoy!!

Courtney,
I can’t really tell you how amazed I am. I knew you would do a beautiful job but what you put on the blog is just amazing!! I am sooo happy I went with my gut, and who made me feel most at ease. We really did hit it off sooooo good, and that is how I have explained it to anyone who asks me how I found a photographer! I had talked to so many, and it was sooo blah.  Then I talked to you and when we got off the phone I felt like I had made a new friend. Thank you so much for all the time it takes to do your job so well! It is soooo worth every bit of it, and it is so cool that it is something that you can share with everyone. While I was looking at the blog I got about half way through and I was teary eyed with joy!
So great. I can’t wait to see them all.
Thanks and much love!
Lori

So after much thought and many requests from several people… I’ve decided to start selling prints of my work for your home. YAY!! It’s something I never really thought I would do… mainly because I never thought that highly of my own work. But hey, if people like my work that much- why not!? I’m flattered at the idea. Completely blown away!

HOW TO ORDER:
I plan on putting together a seperate website for selling canvases in the near future. But for now you can email your order to: canvasorders@dellafiora.com if you’d like to buy a print! Just be sure to include the print # (the corresponding number will be the one on TOP of the image) as well as what size you want! I’ll send you payment instructions once I receive your order.

PRICING & SIZES:
All photographs are printed with the highest quality in the industry on fine art canvas wrap. Any image can be printed in black and white. Indicate your preference when you email your order. (You will receive a proof in black and white to approve before image goes to print.)

***Custom canvas sizes available. Email your size and you will receive a price quote within 3-5 business days.

Below is a sample of the corner edge of a canvas wrap if you’re unsure what it is:

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*****ONE WEEK ONLY SPECIAL!!!!*****
Order your print anytime between May 2-9 and get 20% off!!! (Your order and payment must be received by midnight May 9, 2009 to receive discount pricing.)

CANVAS WRAPS:
40×60 – $1300 ($1040 w/ discount)
30×40 – $1000 ($800 w/ discount)
20×30 – $800   ($640 w/ discount)
16×24  – $500   ($400 w/ discount)

Also available as regular prints (on artboard)–

LUSTER PHOTO PRINTS:
30×40 – $850 ($680 w/ discount)
20×30 – $500 ($400 w/ discount)
16×24  – $300 ($240 w/ discount)
11×16   – $175  ($140 w/ discount)

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#paris0004 (Paris at 7am)

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#paris0007 (In front of the Louvre museum)
#paris0008 (Details on a door in the city.)
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#paris0021 (Inside the Louvre museum.)
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#paris0024 (on the roof of the Louvre)
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#paris0043 (The Notre Dame)
#paris0044 (Closeup detail shot of the Notre Dame)
#paris0045 (Details of the doors of the Notre Dame- incredible!!)
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#paris0047 (Lampost in front of the Notre Dame)
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