Some of you may recognize some of Emery’s portraitures with attitude!  EasyDigital’s Facebook group has been fortunate to have him an active contributor. Thanks Emery! Anyone can join and contribute to our FaceBook group. Hope to see you there soon!

How did you get started?

Remember in the 80′s, there were traveling portrait studios in Wal-Mart stores? I was one of those guys. Photography was an interest of mine so I applied for a job in my area and got hired. I actually learned more about customer service than photography. I also did some portraiture and a few weddings on my own.

Are you a full time photographer?

Not at this time. I’m enjoying employment and doing photography as a side line.

What type of photography do you shoot?

My favorite is portraiture with attitude, dramatic lighting, and portraits with action. Living in a rural area, I really can’t specialize. If it pays, I’ll tackle it.

How do you promote your photos while you’re out shooting on location?

Mostly by making a spectacle of myself. I’m not bashful and I speak to as may people as possible. Nothing complicated, just personal contact. Pass out lots of cards, too.

How else do you market your photography (when not on location)?

I bug people and make sure they know that I’m an awesome photographer and direct them to my online photos. I put a lot of photos on FaceBook, too. Referrals from customers are the most important though.

Can you briefly explain your workflow?

I shoot everything in RAW and do initial processing through Lightroom. Then PS Elements for retouching and effects. I use TOPAZ plug-in programs for a lot of my effects.

Any favorite actions or vendors (besides EasyDigitals.com)?

I’ve purchased a few backgrounds and simple templates from another vendor. I like the TOPAZ plug-in programs. I use Zenfolio for online proofing and White House Custom Color (WHCC) for the majority of my printing. I use Canon cameras and lenses, and speedlights. Most of my studio strobes are Alien Bees.

What product seems to be the most popular that you offer?

Sports composites and sports related portraits/posters. Kids love shooting them because they can put on their game face. Parents love them for their uniqueness.

What is your favorite lens?

Canon 70-200mm L 2.8 series image stabilized.

What type of camera do you shoot with?

Canon EOS 1D Mark III. I also have a Canon 40D and 30D for backups.

Do you do online proofing or in person?

Some of both. Depends on logistics and customer preferences. Some customers like to have something they can hold and show.

Got any favorite web sites/blogs for inspiration or learning?

I’ve learned lots about lighting from Strobist.com. I really like to hang out on Flickr, you can see photography from around the world showcased there. You can also put your own stuff out there to see people’s reaction to them.

What is your favorite or most satisfying part of your photography business?

Wows, Ohhhs, and Ahhs from customers when they see their final product.

Any advice you can give other Photographers?

Anyone can go to an electronics store, buy a DSLR and call themselves a photographer. That’s just the beginning. Use your passion and motivation to develop skills that will put your product above mere snapshots. For goodness sakes, have fun or find something else to do.

How have the EasyDigitals.com products benefited your business?

EasyDigitals.com products help my products jump off the paper! If you were in someone’s home with our products combined hanging on the wall, you would stop and say “wow! who did that?”

My favorite personal photography thing is photographing my dogs. You can see those on Flickr here.

Visit Emery’s Zenfolio site to view more of his work.

Click “FS” to see images full size.

How did you get started?

I got started in sports photography as a favor for a friend about 20 plus years ago. I was only doing weddings at that time, and a friend of mine asked if I would take some pictures of his son playing soccer. I actually told him no at first because I had no serious experience taking action photos. He eventually talked me into it, and the shots came out great. I also had a few other parents ask me if they could buy some of the shots, and a sports photographer was born.

What type of photography do you shoot?

I shoot all types of photography. Portraits, weddings, team and individual, dance, events, sports action, still life, scenic, but mostly sports.

How have the EasyDigitals.com products benefited your business?

EasyDigitals.com products have added another dimension to my product line. I use the templates not only for posters, but I offer them to parents for father/son shots or mother/daughter shots. The unique design and totally customizable features of the templates also make them perfect for multi-team events.

How do you promote your photos while you’re out shooting on location?

The way I promote my photos and posters is through hand-outs and postcards at the events I attend or shoot. I have a tent set up with a banner, and sample posters available. I also have a web-site that we use to post the pictures for the parents and kids to see what they look like in action. Word of mouth is still the best.

Can you briefly explain your workflow? IE. Do you use bridge, lightroom and/or photoshop or other programs?

I use Bridge, CS3, Elements 7.0, and Lightroom. It depends what I am working on. I think Bridge is the best tool in the box, it allows me to go from one app to the other without having to close, save, re-open and work again.

Any favorite actions or vendors (besides EasyDigitals.com)?

I have a few favorite vendors for different things. EasyDigitals.com is definitely at the top of my list. And I am not saying that because you have me featured. You always have something new out, great ideas, and the tutorials work great for me and my staff that create. My other favorites are ThePosterplace.com. They print and ship all my large sized custom prints for a super reasonable price, and the turnaround time is awesome. They also guarantee their work. Another favorite is Pictage.com, great wedding albums good site for weddings. Printroom.com hosts my online site, and they do my action photo printing and shipping. Those are just a few, but the ones I use the most.

What product seems to be the most popular that you offer?

My 16×20″ Custom Posters, 24×36″ Wall Stars, and my 8×10″ Photo Sculptures.

What is your Favorite Lens?

That is a tough one… for action outdoors, I would say my 70-200mm VR 2.8. Very versatile if you are able to move around a lot. For team portraits I use a 24-70mm Wide Angle. Lets you cover large teams as well as the small ones fairly easy. For indoor sports… depends on the sport, the 70-200 works great for volleyball and basketball, for swimming I use a 300mm 2.8.

What’s your favorite or most satisfying part of your photography business?

I love seeing the facial expressions when the parents and kids see the final product. It makes all the hard work worth it.

Any advice you can give to other photographers?

The best advice I can offer is keep your product fresh, don’t just show the same stuff all the time. Let your customers know that you are working for them, and stand behind your work. The absolute biggest thing is….. have a smile when you talk and listen. Works for me

Below are a couple of Darnell’s exceptional sports photos in EasyDigitals.com templates:

I primarily shoot motocross, hare scramble, short course and enduro racing; and portraits when time allows.

Easydigitals.com was the only place I could find templates that worked well with my images. Everything I had come across prior, was strictly for ball sports and just didn’t look right with bikes/quads. My customers love the sports templates, Urban Grunge and Edgy Grunge. With the sports templates, I can change the backgrounds so that each poster is different. They are easily modified to fit any sport — and even portraits. I’ve also learned a great deal from the tutorials. Photoshop is not my strong suit, and Easydigitals.com has helped a lot. Their service is top notch and I couldn’t ask for more.

My business has mainly been word-of-mouth around the track. Racing runs nonstop, and I rarely get a break to talk with customers because I am a one-person operation. At some events, I put up an easy-up tent with single images, poster samples, and of course, my business cards. The tracks are also good about promoting my services with a link on their websites.

I love to see the joy on the riders’ faces when they see a picture or poster of themselves. Parents of racers also use my images to coach their kids.
They learn a great deal faster by being able to ‘see’ what they are doing right and wrong. Photography is only part of what I do. Promoting racing and racers is the best part. To many people motosports are not “sports,” and their friends think it’s just for fun, but racers are some of the most well-conditioned and dedicated athletes I know.

My advice to future photographers is this: it requires lots of long hours of dust and mud in racing photography, but it is so worth it.

Check out PhyllisBlume.com now…

Ask me how you can become a Customer Spotlight and get free EasyDigitals templates.

Soon we decided it was time to “GO PRO!”  It has been quite a roller coaster ride since then, but we love every minute of it!  We have become the “official” photographers for Heartland Idol, our local high school football booster club (THE TOUCHDOWN CLUB) and Dixie Youth Baseball.

We have done shoots for the cheerleaders, the swim team, the baseball team, the band, the golf team and the football team, as well as YMCA softball and soccer.  We are shooting a volleyball match coming up, and as soon as basketball season begins we are sure to be there also.

We primarily shoot action sports, which is our passion, but we also shoot maternity, children, newborn and infants, headshots, family, contemporary high school seniors, pets and (sigh) a couple of informal weddings.

We inform the players, parents and fans that we are shooting sports photos at an event in several ways: we wear shirts with our website printed on the back in large letters; we pass out samples of our photos and collages with information about our services printed on them; and often we set up a display at the concession stand or entry gate with more samples of our work posted on it.

In addition, since we also donate a percentage of profit back to the local high school sports teams, we are sometimes able to have the announcers speak about our services over the PA system while we are shooting.  In most cases, we have been invited to do the shoots, so the person/group who invited us passes out fliers/posters/samples or sends emails and newsletters to those they feel might be interested in making purchases. This information includes a link to our website and our contact information.  And again, since we donate back to the school, it is in their best interest to help boost our sales.

We cannot say enough about the easydigitals.com products.  We absolutely LOVE them.  They have given our sports shots the pizzazz we were looking for: no matter how great the shot is, it always looks better in one of their templates.  And the template somehow turns an average shot into “an amazing photo moment caught in time.”  Being fairly new in the business, we are certainly not Photoshop masters; and being able to purchase the templates saves us so much time.  The fact that they are customizable, and we can individualize them just enough to make everyone’s photo more personal, is incredible.  They really give us the professional look that we want to present to our clients without having to do it ourselves.

The most satisfying part of our business is capturing a priceless moment for someone, and then being able to provide it to them for a reasonable price.

Our advice to other photographers is, “Go for it!”  What are you waiting for?  Just jump in and do it.  Photography is so much fun and very rewarding!

Check out Impressivepix.com now…

Frederick Forgues lives in Canada with his wife and four boys. Sports photography became an obvious passion that developed quickly with four boys who love to play sports. Fred became more serious about photography this summer when photographing soccer events. He got a nice lens and started shooting. Soon, the other parents were asking to see the pictures. They loved them and started buying prints in 4×6″ and 5×7″ sizes.

Fred then learned of EasyDigitals.com templates. Being fairly new to Photoshop, he found the tutorials helpful and started creating 8×10″ posters with multiple photos from the Urban Grunge set. He would take the collages to the field and show the parents. They instantly fell in love with them and started requesting more and more of them.

Fred didn’t stop there. His wife is a news anchor, and she started taking sports videos for teams. They now have a company that does both videos and photos for teams.

This summer, Fred had over 4,000 pictures of different teams on his web site. Customers were able to access the web site and purchase the pictures they wanted directly from the site.

Now that he has an official company, Fred gives out business cards to parents on the fields and ice rinks. He also always carries samples of his work (using EasyDigitals.com templates) that he can share with those who are interested.

Fred says, “It doesn’t feel like work at all when you love what you do!” Parents are now calling him and asking him to go to games to photograph their teams and creates sports collages of their favorite photos.

You can have a taste of Fred’s web site on Lifepics. His other web site for videos is only in French for now, they hope to have an English version soon.

Thanks Fred, for letting me share your story!

Do you have a success story? Contact me now and find out how you can share your story and receive free EasyDigitals.com products.