I have moved my blog to a new location...

To all my blog subscribers (and anyone else you has followed my blog),

I wanted to let you know that I have moved my blog to a new location. It now resides at: www.ryanhphoto.com/blog/. If you would like to stay subscribed, just go to the new address and click the "subscribe" button on the left sidebar. I really appreciate it as I don't want to lose any of my precious subscribers.

The reason I have moved my blog is that I figured out how to host my blog on my webserver and use the wordpress blog software to design it so it closely matches the look of my website. Check out the new look of my blog and tell me what you think. If anyone is interested in really customizing their blog and using the powerful wordpress software, go to wordpress.org for information. It really is amazing, mind-boggling, and a little overwhelming. However, with a little time and patience, you can create something unique and consistent with your own site.

Happy blogging, and please follow me over to: www.ryanhphoto.com/blog/.

Cheers,

Ryan

Lisa and Brad

On February 19th I had the pleasure of covering Lisa and Brad's wedding. What a cool couple with a great group of family and friends! They were married at the Seventh Mountain Resort in Bend. Here are a few of my early favorites....

Post Wedding Show Thoughts

It was just over a week ago that I was at my booth at the Central Oregon Wedding Show. I think the show was a success. There were a lot of people that came to see what wedding services are available in central Oregon. 

I received a lot of positive feedback about my work and the level of service that I offer. I also got a lot of questions regarding prices this year. There is no question that the state of our economy has affected all of us. And it is definitely a factor for people planning their weddings this year. The best advice that I can give to people about where to spend their wedding budget is that you have to decide what is most important to you. Even though economic times are tight, it still is one of the biggest days of your life. So decide what you want to spend your money on in order to make it memorable for you. If getting amazing photographs of your day are on the top of your list, then don't skimp and have a friend shoot your wedding. If providing your guests with fabulous food and drink is your idea of how a wedding should be, then by all means throw out a phat spread. At this time it is all about knowing what your wedding priorities are. Since you can't have it all, you must decide what is going to stay and what is going to go? And if you can have it all, then consider yourself very lucky and enjoy all the planning options.

Well, I handed out a lot of business cards and promo cards at the show. My calendar is filling up, so if anyone has any questions about my services, please give me a call. Thanks to all the brides and family that made it out to show. I look forward to your calls. 

I also want to give a special thank you to Richard Armstrong. He has the business Canvas Prints Bend. And that is exactly what he does. He prints photographs onto canvas, then wraps them around a wood stretcher frame. And they are beautiful. He made  me a gorgeous 24x36in print for my booth. I was blown away when I saw it. I will be providing his services as a part of my wedding package options. Check out his website at: www.canvasprintsbend.com. 

RyanHPhoto.com has been updated for 2009!

Just launched today is the updated, improved, and tightened up site
that is www.ryanhphoto.com!

I decided to change the format of the wedding image galleries this
year. Instead of three galleries of great work from many different
weddings, now there are four mini-albums from different locations and
one gallery of my favorite single images. Since my style is more
photojournalistic, I thought it was important to show how the images
tell the story of a couple's wedding day. I think my site will also
help future clients get a better idea of how I capture all the events
of their day, from getting ready to dancing with all of their friends.
I am very happy with the new look and all the new images in the
wedding section of ryanhphoto.com.

Also check out the pricing section for some new information. I decided
to take the prices off my site and just include a starting price for
my packages. I feel this will be beneficial to future clients because
I want to emphasize that I will work with a specific couple to help
them tailor a photography package that is perfect for their needs.

I also updated the contact area of the website. I have included a nice
mug shot of me while I was traveling in Italy. I also have included
some client comments from last summer's weddings to give future
clients some idea of my work ethic. And I have included a link to my
blog, this thing you are reading right now. If you click the big logo
in the upper left corner of the site, you will also be directed here.
Pretty sneaky, eh?

Now I must give props to the man that helped me get the site updated
and running smoothly. I could not have done it without the help of
Greg Buchanan at Gel Fuzion web design. He has been so patient and so
helpful, and he got the job done before the wedding show! He has been
doing web design for about 15 years, so he knows his stuff. And knows
how to do it in 10 different programs. (Sounds like a bumper
sticker...) If any of you need website assistance, check out his site
at www.gelfuzion.com and give him a call.

Enjoy the new images at my website. And keep checking out my blog for
more updates as the season gets under way. Cheers!

Come Check Me Out at The Central Oregon Wedding Expo!

This Saturday at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds is the Central
Oregon Wedding Expo. I will be there at Booth #243. Right next to the
McMennamins booth. Come and see me and take a look at my work. I will
also have some photo album samples so you can see the quality of the
paper and printing. The expo is from 10am-5pm. I know this is a last
minute announcement, but I have been busy busy getting ready to show
offmy best work from this last summer at the expo! Hope to see you
there....

Images of a frosty Saturday

A couple weeks ago I awoke to a beautiful morning of delicate ice
crystals clinging everything. I wrapped my 1 year old son up and got
him loaded in the stroller to take a walk so he could see the frozen
beauty. And of course, my dog had to come along to run around through
the weeds, getting ice crystals all over her. Enjoy a few images of
our morning outing.....

Ryan H Photo now accepts plastic!

In lieu of the current credit crisis, starting this year I will be accepting payment by credit cards. I had a couple of requests to accept plastic this year already, so I thought it would be a convenient service for my future clients. It seems so many couples are using credit cards to help finance their wedding, especially if they have one with airline miles on it. By the time the wedding planning is all done, they probably have enough miles to fly free for their honeymoon. 

For all you businesses looking to start accepting credit cards check out merchantone.com. I felt that they had the best prices and services out there. I will let you know if it all goes according to plan. Ask for Marcos if you call for information.

A New Year's Resolution: My first post

So, I have had this blog for almost a year now and look, no posts. Nothing, just blank web space with a couple of gadgets that I added when I was looking for some time to kill. But it's not like I haven't been busy, because I have been awfully busy. Not just with my profession, but with life outside of photography. I have always said that if I was single, photography, my work, would be my wife and my life. I could easily spend all hours of the day updating portfolios, my website, sending out promotions, working on personal work, networking in the local community, shooting jobs, archiving, backing up, etc. etc. 

Fortunately, I am not married to my profession, no no no. I am married to a wonderful woman and have an amazing one year old son. So that means that sometimes I am so distracted with life outside of photography, that I let my career slide. Just a little. But that was last year and this is a new year of 2009. Like many of you I have a list of resolutions or goals that I want to accomplish this year. I won't bore you with the whole list, (mostly because it hasn't been formed yet, ha ha), but I will just mention the one that concerns this historic first post on my lonely little blog. That is to consistently post to my blog with all the things that I mention in the description of this blog. A loose assortment of thoughts, updates, ideas, and experiences about being a pro photographer in a small mountain town in Oregon. 

So I guess what I am saying is that I want to lay down the style and foundation of how this blog will be presented. And that is loosely centered around my professional photography, and also my life that drifts away from that profession. I plan to post updates on current jobs and clients, as well as images of my personal life. I feel this is a good way for people to get to see what I am up to outside of my website. And so they know that I am not just working all the time, but getting out there and having fun with my family. Because if I am not doing that, then what is the point of living here in a small mountain town where I can be outside all year round. 

As a last thought, a sub resolution that goes with this blog is that I am determined to juggle my career and personal life better this year. Hopefully these post will be a testament to that, showing my successes and struggles in this common conundrum of career vs. family. Hey I like that. 

Happy New Year everyone! May your goals and resolutions remain resolute throughout this new year. Until next time....