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Posts Tagged ‘Rochester NY Family Photographer’


Do you think headshots make a difference? | Rochester NY Headshot PhotographerD

September 3, 2010

And I mean this as a serious question.  Do you think they are important?

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?!

marloweb1  Do you think headshots make a difference? |  Rochester NY Headshot PhotographerD

marloweb2  Do you think headshots make a difference? |  Rochester NY Headshot PhotographerD

marloweb4  Do you think headshots make a difference? |  Rochester NY Headshot PhotographerD

marloweb3  Do you think headshots make a difference? |  Rochester NY Headshot PhotographerD

1 Comment

Rachel
9.03.2010

hot damn those photos are stunning. and you make wonderful points. I’m linking to this!

 
 

 

What do you get when you add… | Rochester NY Family Photographer

August 21, 2010

Four humans and four dogs?!

An absolute riot!!!

The Darlings were such an inspiring, close-knit family and a hands-down hilarious group. They along with their four furry friends had me laughing so hard I was almost crying the entire time I was shooting.

4 humans + 4 dogs officially = an incredibly fun family shoot!

IMG 4937e What do you get when you add... | Rochester NY Family Photographer

And….and a great deal of teamwork to get everyone looking at the camera at once.

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Thing is – I’ve learned this from Lulu – when you’re a dog the simplest things are sometimes the most thrilling things in the world…

IMG 5042e What do you get when you add... | Rochester NY Family Photographer

GRASS!!!! OMG!!!! EVERYONE’S SITTING ON THE GRASS!!!!! OMG!!!!!

It’s so exciting.

But after much running around, calling, cooing, cajoling and otherwise convincing we finally got everyone to look…

IMG 4918e1 800x534 custom What do you get when you add... | Rochester NY Family Photographer

Well…

IMG 5015e What do you get when you add... | Rochester NY Family Photographer

…almost. :-)

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The Tour de Fam | Rochester NY Family Photographer

August 13, 2010

It all began with a photograph. Which is funny because normally sessions END in photographs…

But this one began with a photograph. Not my photograph, and not just any photograph…THIS photograph:

IMG 4428e The Tour de Fam | Rochester NY Family Photographer

The Stolkas celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. FIFTY YEARS!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!?!? And their daughter contacted us for some family portraits of them with her and her sister while everyone was in town for the anniversary. And she knew she wanted to bring this photograph which of them on their wedding day. And I loved this idea!

When I shoot families, I think it is really important to make the shoot more than just images of people in a place. Family is history, it is love, it is the nitty-gritty and the laughter of every day, and I think that every family should incorporate something that is all about THEM into their shoot to really capture WHO they are. So I loved the wedding photo plan. Then we got talking and Helena said that one thing that her parents love to do together is bike…so we brought that into the shoot…

IMG 3903e The Tour de Fam | Rochester NY Family Photographer

It was incredible to see the closeness between the Stolkas and their daughters…and the laughter!!!! This was more than a celebration of FIFTY (did I mention 50?) years of marriage, it was a celebration of family, of love and of those moments together that we can often take for granted in our busy lives. And we laughed SO much!

Stolka'sBoard

Happy Anniversary Stolkas! Here’s to many more years of family and fun!!!

N27 11x14e The Tour de Fam | Rochester NY Family Photographer


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It’s CRAZY time!!! | Rochester NY Photographer

August 4, 2010

So…yes. Things are CRAZY around here at Tammy Swales Photography. We are right in the thick of the craziest part of summer and (with the help of an unmentionable amount of caffeine) we are LOVING it!!! Myself and the team have been hard at work, but we realized in a rare moment of breathing recently, that we have been surrounded by some fantastic people. Seriously, I have the most fantastic clients!!! I feel so blessed.  And a special shout out to Kristi Hedberg who was a FABULOUS second shooter at both Julianne and Jessica’s weddings!

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?!

Lately21 Its CRAZY time!!! | Rochester NY Photographer

Aww, heck…why not two snippets?!?!

Lately1 Its CRAZY time!!! | Rochester NY Photographer



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These Days Are Very Engaging | Rochester NY Engagement Photographer

June 4, 2010

So here’s the thing about engagement sessions. They are SO. MUCH. FUN. I love how laid back they are. There is so much raw emotion at weddings. So much love, so much tears. But at engagement sessions you’ve got two people, completely in love, and it’s just them in their normal clothes and everyday habitats. There’s no crowd, no gowns, no wedding party, no pressure. Just a boy and a girl (and a crazy redhead yelling directions). And it’s all about THEM. About the love they share and what makes them such a unique and incredible couple. I can’t even tell you how much fun this is for me to watch!!!!!! And how much we LAUGH!!! I’ve literally come home from engagement shoots with my face sore from laughing so much. It really is fantastic to see couples open up and be their crazy, playful selves.

All that said, I’ve had a MAD number of engagement shoots lately. What an amazing way to start off the summer!!! I am PSYCHED beyond belief to shoot every one of these weddings.  I am overwhelmed by how each of my couples “get” me and how I work..which is the MOST important thing in getting great photographs.



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Sometimes crazy fun engagement shoots take a little extra maneuvering, and my couples really step up to the plate. Literally! Valerie had to do some serious pre-planning to get us into Frontier Field so she and Keith could incorporate their love of baseball into their engagement images. But what a great experience that was!!! And Jessica and Clark impressively managed to get their ENORMOUS (and gorgeous!) dog all the way up to my forth floor studio without event! Talk about hard core…

egagebb These Days Are Very Engaging | Rochester NY Engagement Photographer

And Stephanie and Micah were right there when I started yelling  “AH! There! Light! Underpass! Run! Now! Go!”

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And we NAILED it!!!!  We make a great team. ::grin::

I love my couples and I am SO excited for this summer.

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Two Couples…One Gorgeous Day in Manhattan | New York City Wedding Photographer

May 26, 2010

I love – just LOVE – shooting engagement sessions in Manhattan. The color. The texture. The action. It’s always an adventure.

The great thing is, it just so happens that this year I have A LOT of couples from New York. Some are getting married in the NYC/Long Island area. Some who live down there now are getting married in Rochester. And one couple is holding their wedding in an AWESOME old bank in downtown Albany!

Lots of NY couples means…lots of NY engagement shoots! WOOT WOOT!!!  It also means some very strategic planning and a good deal of heated negotiation with the weather man.  All of that has paid off, though, ’cause this last trip down was SUCH a success!  Allison and Gregg and Leslie and Brad were totally fantastic and, let me tell you, between the lot of us we have some ROCKIN’ scheduling skills. What better way to spend a gorgeous spring day than marathon-shooting two adorable, fabulous couples in Manhattan?!?!

NYCEngagements

There really isn’t any. I mean seriously. SO much fun!!!! Allison and Gregg, Leslie and Brad, you made my day.

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Faces of Heart Disease American Heart Association Rochester NY Chapter | Tammy Swales Rochester NY Photographer

April 1, 2010

You know it’s been busy when two MONTHS creep by and you don’t update your blog.  Then…when you finally DO want to update your blog you can’t remember the password to…erm…update your blog.

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!

ahagroupweb Faces of Heart Disease American Heart Association Rochester NY Chapter | Tammy Swales Rochester NY Photographer


ahapostersweb Faces of Heart Disease American Heart Association Rochester NY Chapter | Tammy Swales Rochester NY Photographer

2 Comments

Lou Gonzalez
4.09.2010

Nice job on this Tammy!

Robyn Baty
4.09.2010

so wonderful. great job.

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There’s Something Interesting About a World View | Rochester NY Wedding and Portrait Photographer

January 26, 2010

I realized…when I thought about doing a “year in review” post (that would be 2009 peeps.  I might be a wee bit behind.  lol) that when brides meet with me I show them wedding images…and when families meet with me I show them family images…and when seniors meet with me…I show them senior images…

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….

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3 Comments

Kerry Cannan
1.26.2010

Amazing.. I am truly in awe of your work! Wow! What life would be like if I could see the world the way you do thru your lens! You rock! –Kerry–

debbie
2.04.2010

Since this was the year I “found” you. It was a great collection of images, most that just made me smile. Fun music too!

hey congrats saw you mentioned in an article a few times in amerian photo

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Today. This made me happy. | Rochester NY Family Photographer

November 16, 2009

lweb Today.  This made me happy.  | Rochester NY Family Photographer

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I Know Who You Are | Rochester NY Family Photographer

November 15, 2009

I know who you are.

You are thinking about the holidays (sort of).  You think…hey!  It might be a good idea to get our family photographs taken so we can….

A.  Have them.

B.  Give them as Holiday Gifts

C.  Print them up in holiday cards to send out!

Right?  Don’t try to hide it.  I know the thought has crossed your mind.  But.  It is the middle of NOVEMBER.  And if you have any HOPE of having me take your family photographs…

You should call or email me right away.  You have until December 1st.

So if you’re reading this and thinking…OMG I have to do this…remember…


I know who you are.  :)

PS — These families are WAY ahead of you.  :)

famtime I Know Who You Are | Rochester NY Family Photographer

1 Comment

Mary
11.17.2009

Awesome Tammy- these all made me smile, 2 particularly!! Thank you so much again, you ROCK!

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