Megan is allll about options.  She brought a terrific array of choices and we ROCKED it out!

Thanks Megan!

I can tell you what I think — and my opinion is based not on the fact that taking these photographs are part of what I do for a living — but more of a life-long observation about how our society functions.

(yeah.  I’m about to go serious.  brace yourselves!  ::grin::)

So.  Many of us have had the experience of being thin and beautiful and then maybe not so much.  Have you noticed how differently you are treated simply based on appearances?  Or…what if you leave the house looking ratty vs. all amazing and cute.  Difference?

And yeah.  I can also see that looking good impacts your attitude and the way you carry yourself and all that inner beauty stuff.  But I am simply observing that appearances have impact.  On everyone.

So do I think headshots are important?  Yup.  With the economy being what it is, with people competing for jobs in ever greater numbers…with judgment about your business being made in an instant on the internet…have you looked at your bounce rate lately?  That tells you something.  Important.

Images are CRITICAL.  CRITICAL.

They tell someone a lot about you in a glance…things like…do you look approachable?  likeable?  happy?  intelligent?

Are the images professional (nods to self ::grin::)?  And within that word professional there are many many different levels.  If you are presenting yourself to the world…why in heaven’s name would you put up blah images?  What does that say to others about how you view yourself?

And I am not by any stretch giving you a Tammy Swales “hire me” plug.  All I’m doing is expressing what I think about the importance of images.  We are a visual society.  We’re impatient.  We don’t wait or ponder or get wishy washy much anymore.  We’re decisive and make snap decisions.

Trust me.  If an interviewer or recruiter or Broadway show director is faced with a pile of 500 resumes with images attached…do you think they’re going to read every single one?  Nope.  Betcha that they flip through the images first.  Is it right?  Nope.  Is it real?  Yup.

A good photographer, an experienced photographer both understands this dynamic — but works with the client to make sure they are being presented in the best possible … um if you’ll pardon the pun… light.  Your personality and self are what’s important.  Getting that into a photograph is a major MAJOR skill.  It’s not the camera people.  Trust me.

So I ask you…how do you want the world to see yourself?!

So…back to work, but first, here’s a snippet of some of that fantastic-ness for you, and a taste of what we’ve been up to lately. August, here we come!!!!  And frankly, how can it be August already?!

Aww, heck…why not two snippets?!?!

Over the past year I’ve been approached by a growing number of small business owners in the area who are looking for headshot photography for their websites. These professionals are actively seeking to create that first memorable image of WHO they are and what they stand for and to give potential clients a clear picture of what they can expect when they call.

This is exactly what Jeannie Michalski and Adam Militello had set out to do when they came to me. And can I just tell you…these guys…

COOLEST. LAWYERS. EVER. Seriously. They are hardworking…

They are smooth and no-nonsense…

They are down to earth, genuine, warm and caring…

And…and they are hilarious. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much during a shoot! OMG. It was so wonderful to see two people who believe so completely in what they are doing, who are striving to create an incredible company and who still LOVE to laugh!!!!

Classic.

Jeannie and Adam…You ROCK .

Oh.  And if any of my brides didn’t get a copy and want one…I might have a ‘couple’ extra– like…1,000.  ::laughing::  You should have seen the clerk at Wegmans when I went up to the counter and plunked them down.  I was totally disappointed that she didn’t say.a.WORD.  I mean come on!   I was bursting to tell her why I was buying so many!  ::shaking head::

I also had the honor of being interviewed by American Photo Magazine  — Theano Nikitas did an INCREDIBLE job writing an article on the new direction senior photography is taking.  I was STOKED to be included in the mix of talented photographers — and it was incredible seeing my work in a national publication.  Truly jaw dropping omg how is this happening wonderful!  Thank you so much — I am honored and humbled that I might have something interesting to say!

OBviously I’ve figured that out!  I have a bunch of stuff to share — so I’m blogging this morning — so forgive me for the blog dump today (that sounds funny and somehow…wrong…doesn’t it?  ::laughing::)

I had the opportunity to work with the AMAZING team over at the American Heart Association in Rochester.  They contacted me to do a series of images of survivors with the concept being “The Face of Heart Disease”.

I have never been so moved and touched by a project.  I LOVED meeting each and every one of these incredibly resilient and awesome people.  Truly.  I am a better person because of it.  I took on the project because my family has a MAJOR history with heart disease — and as my mom tells me — my grandfather is very proud of me right now.  ::sniff::

The posters will be on display at the Heart Walk on April 10th – if you are participating or cheering your loved ones on — see you there!

very rarely do I mix and cross over these groups with each other.  So…since I thought it might be interesting to push everyone into one slideshow (read:  laaazzzyy ::laughing::) — so that there’s a record of 2009 visually all together in one place.  It’s pretty cool.

Some images you’ve seen…some you haven’t.  And no, this isn’t EVERYONE who I worked with this year — that slideshow would be about 4000 hours long (not really — but I wanted to fit it into one song – -so this is my best shot)…so I pulled images that appealed to me TODAY.  If I worked on a slideshow tomorrow — it would be completely different.  So…gather what you want about my mood today — here is 2009 in 4 minutes.  Put your seatbelt on please.

Click on the image.  Ra ra ah ah ah….

You are hearing it here first.

I am utterly and completely addicted to color.  Vibrant, muted, pastel, jewel…it doesn’t really matter.  Colors just SING to me.  Every day.

A lot of my clients worry when the weather is bad…and you know what my response it?  It’s perfect.  Cloudy = soft beautiful light and VIBRANT colors.  Fall weather?  Bring it on baby.  LOVE the light and color at this time of year.

I think if you spend enough time looking at what I do (like me… because…yeah.  duh.) you’ll start to see some common things emerging:

First:  I LOVE people.  I love interacting, talking, playing, laughing, goofing around.  I think that shows up in the images.  Typically my clients are very comfortable with me and if they are NOT — they’ll tell you it  doesn’t take long for that to go away.  I’m a button pusher.  If you’re shy I push you to be in front…if you’re loud — I might make you do some quiet beautiful shots…it’s just…fun to play.  That’s the only way I can express it.

Second:  The color thing.  I can’t help but put people in colorful settings and SURROUND them with it.  And the funny thing is?  I can’t tell you how I do it.  I am not consciously looking for it — it’s just so much a part of how I see things that it just happens.  I love that part.  It’s why taking photographs is so magical to me.

Third:  Not soooo traditional.  ::laughing::  I can do traditional.  I have done traditional…but always just a leeetttllle bit of tammyitis sneaks in and they have some strange little twist.  Again.  Can’t explain it better than that.  I want my images to say something.  I want you to look at them and laugh or cry or FEEL something.  Traditional photography — wedding photography — is a little flat for me.  I want emotion darn it!  EMO-SSSHHIIOON.  ::laughing::

So.  There is my soap box for the day.  It’s fun, blogging.  I love thinking about what I want to say and how I am going to say it.  I love choosing images to help me show you how amazing my clients are.  And I LOVE when you COMMENT!  ::wide cheesy grin::

Here’s What’s Happened in Tammy’s World This Week:

A wedding in which the entire wedding party CONVINCED ME ( it’s ALWAYS the other way around) that they could climb into a dry creek bed for photographs.  I was worried.  High heels + Little Stones = Tammy Worry  But it turned out incredibly.  LOVE the light and the viewpoint.  This wedding rocked the house.  Wait until you see the slideshow — details were off the HOOK by Stacy K.  (duh).

A portrait session with the coolest girl who wanted to document her love for her horse and her dog.  They’ve hung together for years and she decided (I think she told me it took her two years?  OMG) that it was time to get photographs — she loves taking pics too — but as with all of us — there are no pics of HER in the ones she takes.  So this was her opportunity to be on the other side of the camera.  And the farm.  And the fields.  And the barn.  I was in HEAVEN.

An impromtu — hey can you photograph a civil ceremony on a Tuesday?  wedding.  This couple cracked me up.  We’d never met.  It was POURING and somehow we rocked out the images.  Nevada was GORGEOUS.  And they were totally into letting me be creative.  So even something so simple — turned out amazing.  I’m so glad they hired me.  I took one of my all time favorite images at their wedding.  Can you tell which one it is?  Seriously — did you KNOW City Hall looked like that on the inside?!  I thought we were in an Italian Villa!

An Engagement session in which I did absolutely nothing but laugh and watch two people have fun with their dog and their boat.  And yep.  I ended up in the water (just mid calf, nbd).  But it was a moment when I was thinking…WHY DID I WEAR A SKIRT?!  WHY TAMMY WHY?  (Answer:  no clean laundry.  oh wells. )  Also…one of the shots (I’ll let you guess which one) made me laugh so hard…omg.

A wedding with a couple who just lit up the day with their happiness.  I LOVED photographing them.  And her father’s backyard?  Seriously?  Crazy.  They were super good sports about all my crazy ideas — and I LOVE what we did that day.  The images rock.

Also – I’m finishing up senior season and maybe, just maybe I’ll do a load of laundry this week.  It could happen!  (stop laughing.  it COULD!  ::grin::)

Here’s this week’s crazy in the VIZ:

Oh PS:  If you’ve gotten this far then you’ll notice that I also went to a football game.  it was cold.  and my big fancy lense was USELESS from far away.  So I amused myself by photographing the entire game from the tops of the player’s heads.  Cuz you know.  It was fun.  The image above is one of my favs.  Touchdown!!

Busy Week Recap #4,524,216 section 671:

Wedding with Leslie and Victor — was soooo beautiful.  every single thing was beautiful. Victor’s mom was traveling from Latvia for the wedding — so they planned this whole thing in like…a blink.  And did I mention the food?  OMG.  It was amazing.  I also got to work with two of my favorite vendors:  Stacy K Floral and Events by Jen.  Amazing job as usual girls!

Seniors.  This week — let’s see — I climbed a MILLION stairs at a house on a lake, convinced a senior that a piece of cloth wrapped around her head was going to be amazing (her=dubious)…and got to hang out with some of the coolest kids ever.  My seniors are so INTERESTING AND THOUGHTFUL AND DYNAMIC.  I love that they friend me on facebook — because then — I see them getting through their senior year and then going off to college…it’s really really incredible to see.  The weird thing for me is that this year — MY SON is a senior — so it’s much more personal.  Gheesh.  How did that happen??

Headshots.  I LOVE when I get asked to do headshots.  This week my good photographer friend Lou (who tells me he hasn’t actually been photographed since he was 13.  huh?) asked me to “take a couple of pics of him”.  Um…no.  I made him do a whooooolllleeee session with clothing changes and all.  It’s good for photographers to be photographed — it helps us remember that it ain’t so easy being in front of the lens instead of behind it.  It was SO MUCH FUN — and I was honored to be asked.  Thanks Lou!!

Kerry Cannan.  I tell you — when this CD hits the market — this girl is going places.  I MADE her (I’m bossy.  Sorry.) sing in my studio and her voice.  or I should type it like this:  HER VOICE.  ZOMG.  GORGEOUS.  As was she!  We had a huge session creating images for her CD and promo materials for the release.  LOVE!

Other things to note:  A family that is getting married in October — we did a combined engagement and family session with James and Robyn’s daughters that was simply too much fun for me to even TALK about.  Charlie’s Angels?  Super Force 5?  Star Wars?  Yeah.  We went there.  And had a BLAST.

Also — the award for “Most I’ve EVER Laughed During an Engagement Session” goes to Beth and Brian.  I cannot even BEGIN to tell you how funny they are.  Who agrees to cartwheel in the dark?  And one of us ALMOST ended up in the water because we were being so dorky and laughing too hard.  Yeah.  I LOVE my clients.  LOVE.

This weekend I will be in Manhattan and Brooklyn all weekend shooting engagement sessions — so — I’m expecting AMAZING IMAGES to share next week.  ROCK ON!!

I have more to share but frankly, if I don’t start editing the 1.5 million images I have to get done — clients are coming to lynch me.  And then who would write these addicting blog posts?  You would miss me, right?

::silence::

:crickets::

::tammy laughs::

Oh.  And if you were patient enough to actually READ all the blah blah blah above — let me say this — I’m shocked.  ::grin::

PS — I also went to Pirate Weekend with my mother.  Shiver me timbers!

So.  If I talked to the powers that be — or I guess that would the The Powers That Be — and said…”hey.  so.  I have some cool ideas for senior sessions…what do you think about sending me some amazing senior girls.  yeah.  oh.  and…some sun…and oh…i dunno…a corvette…and a blue dress…some music…and… also the girls should all be sweet and funny and cool”

That would completely cover my sessions with Kate, Holly and Brittany.  Seriously.

And while I’m at it — how about a couple of IN-CREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL brides who absolutely ROCKED out their weddings?  Yeah.  That would be Jessica and Suzanne.  I’m so lucky.

A Tam Week To Remember.

Love You All.

Also — a note to seniors.  I am almost 100% booked.  And by that I mean like…99.99% — so if you’re thinking of working with me?

You know what to do, right?

Yeah.