Found this great graphic put together by a series of interviews from Smartpress (http://blog.smartpress.com/) about advice and info about professional photography, trends, equipment and advice. Check it out at their website in full size here.

I will definitely update this if my poor service is remedied, but here is my experience which would cause me to give all my blog readers and everyone else the advice to AVOID UNITED CAMERA & BINOCULAR REPAIR AT ALL COSTS!!!
As all of my readers know, I’m a professional photographer, so getting my camera fixed quickly and correctly is important to me, and also important to the bottom line of my business. So, when my main camera had a problem with the card reader in late June (one of the pins came out with the CF card, got the dreaded CHA error) I did some research and found that Nikon repairs were taking 2-5 weeks. I searched for a company that looked reputable, called United Camera Repair (their website is here) and the woman on the phone said that most DSLR cameras are fixed within 24 hours of receiving them. Their website, as you can see in the screen shot above, even touts “Speed: Most repairs completed in 48 hours”

Sounds great, right?

So, I paid the extra $50 bucks to have my baby overnighted to them and for over night shipping back too. I sent it to United Camera on 6/30/11, they received it the morning of Friday July 1st. (signed delivery by Kelly) So, it is now the morning of Friday July 8th, one whole week later, and they still (STILL!!!) have not touched my camera. It still says “Status:  In line to be assigned to a technician” despite my calling multiple times and promises that it would be looked at that day.

When I call, there is one very crabby customer service person, who, now that I’ve prepaid for my “service” says that it takes 10-14 business days to have a repair even started. Entirely different thing than what they tell you before they have your camera and your money. I’m still waiting to hear back from Don at United Camera Repair  this morning to let me know why they still haven’t worked on my camera after he promised me multiple times it would be worked on both Wednesday and Thursday (yesterday).
Ironically, their tagline is “A better repair experience” What a joke, I have never had such a bad experience with a company; from the customer service people who tell outright lies, their bait & switch tactics, etc. – it is just ridiculous. I would AVOID UNITED CAMERA REPAIR for certain.

Wedding Photography Spoof Video from Matt E on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

best,
Mary

Mary

Jenny Schartner, of Captured Photography, is based in West Palm Beach, FL, and specializes in both wedding and portrait photography with a beautiful, crisp, sunny style that makes me feel like I’m right back on my trip to Florida. She has a great blog, (here) that features extensive posts showcasing both sessions and sneak peeks, great engagement photos that really capture the relationship between couples, and to top it off- she also does videography of weddings! Jenny also has a great FAQ for photographers to cover the myriad requests for info that she gets (as do I, and many others, which reminds me I have to put my Photog-wanna-be FAQ back up on my site! LOL) Take a look around and enjoy the blog- stellar work!
best,
Mary

Mary

published!

Ps, In case you are not a subscriber to Professional Photographer magazine, you may have missed my first nationally published article! I was asked to write for them about Blogs of Photogs, and creating a better photography blog. You can download the pdf here. If you are a subscriber, either online or in print, you can also see my second nationally published article (lol) in the same magazine, on p. 20, about getting Dads “in the picture.” It was fun to see my name and work in print! ~M

Our first feature is Pro Photo Blogs. Pro Photo Blogs was started to give photographers a great looking choice for creating their blog (or blog-site) instead of having to use a free site with tiny images or paying upwards of $3000 to have a custom blog created by a designer. Pro photo blogs gives you a high end blog, using the power of WordPress, with nearly limitless customization choices, all at a very affordable price, great support, and a money back guarantee. You don’t have to know how to write any code, and the large image features show off your photography in amazing ways. I really love the newest version with the ability to have slideshows and galleries.  I’ve been a customer of theirs for years and have created both my regular portrait website (www.maryhphoto.com) and Blogs of Photogs with their awesome template. If you’d like to get a special $10 discount off your purchase of the Pro Photo Blog theme, use discount code MARHAN882 on the order page.  To check out the overview, go here.

best,

Mary

Came across this great Pay-It-Forward project today: Roadside Families and knew I had to share it with all my readers on Blogs of Photogs! I’ll excerpt the “rules” below from their website, but the basic premise is this; photographers taking photos of other photographers family and then paying it forward, all with no money exchanged~ a beautiful idea!

Rules for Paying-It-Forward (note from Mary, this is from their website)

1. Once you and your family has been photographed, you have 30 days to photograph another photographer’s family. Don’t be that person that holds up the line because you procrastinated!
2. A photographer and their family (defined) can be any family group that consists of a photographer and his/her family. This could be a regular nuclear family, distant cousins, twin siblings, or conjoined twins. Whatever.
3. Be creative. Let loose! Free your mind!

Rules for Submissions

• Nudity or vulgarity will not be acceptable. Keep it family-friendly.
• Images can be no more than 900 pixels wide (including your watermark).
• Yes, you may watermark your image.
• To keep the chain going, you need to link to your own family post here on roadsidefamilies.com. This is called a permalink, and the url is shown on each post. For example, if JMC shot Joe’s Family and Joe shoots Kelly’s family, then when Joe posts Kelly’s photo on RoadsideFamilies.com, he needs to link to the one JMC shot of him.
  Example (at the top of the post):  Photography by Joseph,     Click here for Joseph’s family photograph
• IMPORTANT! Follow the step by step instructions below for submissions.

So, check it out and find a photographer to photograph your family and then you get to go shoot another photographers family. Love to hear about those that have already done this! Great idea!

best,

Mary

Seshu Photography (blog here ) is based in Connecticut, New England, but Seshu travels extensively to capture lushly gorgeous wedding, engagement and portrait images that are a flawless mix of candid in-the-moment captures fused with beautifully posed images. Seshu was born in NY, but lived in India for 12 years before returning to the US. As he mentions in his bio, he straddles multiple cultures and comfortably immerses himself into their prized traditions. I know you will enjoy his work if you haven’t yet heard of Seshu. Make sure you follow him on twitter too, as he has lots to say and lots of great advice.

Enjoy!

Mary

Uniquely You Photography Blog features Sarah Ulrich’s gorgeously clean, fresh and bright photography. Sarah has both a photography and a design background which are evident in her work as well is in her amazing design offerings to photographers (here) Sarah works out of Lincoln Nebraska, specializing in babies, children and families. Her work is equally amazing on location, or in studio for newborns and maternity. Enjoy!