STARTING UP

It's official. After much deliberation, and heart-to-heart talks with Sean about this (thank you, Sean!) I'm happy to announce that I'm taking my photography to the next level. I can't tell you how very excited I am about it all, yet completely nervous, anxious and all of those other gut-wrenching feelings you get when you start something new. Here's a little bit about why I decided to pursue this path:

I've always enjoyed photography. When these wonderful digital cameras were not even invented yet, I use to get comments about using up the roll of film on things such as nature. I felt really bad (film was expensive, no?) but I couldn't help it! When I was pregnant with Isaac, I made the decision to quit my wonderful job at an amazing High School and focus my energy and time with our son. I haven't regretted it one bit.

But I still had the itch for art; creating and critiquing. I hope I always will! I produced a few drawings over the last year or so for some people and have made a bit of money that way, but I realized what path I wanted to take shortly before Isaac was born.

Once Isaac was born, I was frustrated that I didn't know how to use all of the functions with my new camera. I read the manual front to back several times (I once took it on the plane for my reading material) but I still felt that I was not getting everything. I then took Isaac for his first, and only studio shoot, and my heart just kept telling me the entire time the 16 year old girl was snapping pictures with little success, I know I can do this a ton better! I'm sure I'll go back to them a few times to get those oh-s-o-cute Christmas ones, but I have decided to focus my time and talent with natural settings. It looks more real, and people tend to be themselves a bit more.

So, I got a bit more serious, and through a wonderful friend, Kelli, I learned of an Arizona-based Photographer who had the qualities I was looking for in photography. I flew out to her Salt Lake City based workshop and I haven't looked back since. She taught me so much, and I met some wonderful people, including Megan Milbradt (hi Megan!) who has been such a huuuuge help to me since then. I owe you so much Megan!!

So this is where I stand. I love the confirmation I feel in my heart about this little choice of mine. I'm just going to take it as slow or fast as people would like to take advantage of my skills. I'm currently working on a new blog that I am devoting all of its interests towards my Photography. Until it is up and running (who knows when that will be! Hopefully by Christmas) I'm going to continue to use my own personal blog for pictures. Because I initially created this blog for family and friend purposes, you will still occasionally see pictures that are unedited, quirky and less professional looking. The ones that will most likely make it to my reel of Photographs for my other blog will have my logo on the picture somewhere (starting now.)

I have a few things I'd like to share about my schedule, in case you, or people you know and perhaps I don't know, are interested. First of all, please share this information with whomever! I trust your judgement and would love to have them check out some pictures here in case they are curious. Because my other blog is not running yet, I could also send them a few samples in case they are riding the fence about whether or not to go with natural pictures, versus studio shots.

For the next six months, I will be offering my Portfolio discounted prices. Because I am still experimenting in different ways with different Photoshop functions, and new lenses, I'm not going to charge my full price until March of 2009. So please take advantage of these prices while you can.

I will be specializing in basically everything but landscapes and weddings. So, if you have a sibling or niece or grandchild who needs senior photos, or a friend who just had a baby, or perhaps someone who is just looking for a creative picture of all of their children, I'm up to the task! All of the details about the length of the shoots, the prices and what time of day we would schedule can be found on my price list, which is available via e-mail: jeannette.neal@gmail.com

Good news for friends in Utah! I will be visiting friends and family October 15-23rd. I most likely will be staying in the Lehi area (which I know has some great places for some pictures!) so if you are interested in doing a photo shoot while I am available, please let me know asap! Same thing goes, if you know someone who is interested, but I might not know them, please tell them to email me so I can become better acquainted with them.

For friends and family in New York, I will let you know when I plan on making a trip to N.Y. in case you are wanting to get in a photo shoot. As for all of the other dates not mentioned, I am available here in Michigan. Anything within 20 miles of driving will not be charged the transportation fee. As much as Milford might be out of the way for people, you are more than welcome to come to my area to get some shots!!

If you are interested, please try and schedule as soon as you can, especially since I would usually only do one shot per day. The Holidays are around the corner and this could be a great gift for you or your family, or friends:) If you would like to have these photos before Christmas, your Photo shoot must occur before the end of November. I will be limited in my time during the month of December because of holiday traveling (and our Neal Family trip to Hawaii! Wahoo!)

If you have any questions or comments (about whether or not I'm insane to be pursuing this!-ha!) let me know! Thanks for making it to the bottom of this post. This was lengthier than I had intended!