Photography by Megan Brown
- Name/ Business Name: Megan Brown/ Photography by Megan Brown
- Located in: Provo, Utah
- Started in: 2001 just as a hobbyist then became more serious the beginning of 2008
- Status: Part time
- Types of Photography: maternity, newborn, children, family, weddings, portraits
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: Canon 5d mark ii 24-70L 2.8 and 50mm 1.4
- Interesting Personal Fact: I went to Long Island New York to be a nanny when I was twenty years old and had a wonderful experience. Also, I married into a bowling family. My husband, along with all of his immediate family, bowls and so now I have become a bowler too. My average isn't that great, but I try
I'm very competitive. As I was getting pretty serious into photography, I became pregnant with my fifth child. It became a high-risk pregnancy and I was ordered to be on bed-rest for ten weeks. Photography had to be put on hold. My baby came three months early and I was able to document his journey with my love for photography. He's now out of the hospital and doing really well. I'm now getting back into it and LOVING it!
Find out more
- Main Site: www.photographybymeganbrown.com
- Blog: www.photographybymeganbrowntheblog.blogspot.com
- Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/_meganb_/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/Photographybymeganbrown
I grew up one of three girls, I was the middle. I became very independent, strong minded, strong willed and responsible at a very young age. I was always concerned about others and dreaded the thought of anyone being mad at me. I honored and respected my parents. I had dreams to be someone...someone successful. I wasn't sure how I would acheive that. I spent time going to college,
working, then trying to find myself while being a nanny across the country. After returning to where I called home, two weeks later I met my sweet husband. We were inseparable, in a whirlwhind romance, constantly joined at the hip. Eight months later we were married. Six months after that, we were expecting our first little baby. After becoming a mommy, it became one of the biggest parts of defining my success. Longing for the baby pictures that were never taken of me, I started to become obsessive with recording my own babies life. There grew my love for photograhy and one other way of defining my own success. Along the years, more children blessed and enriched my life. And each of them helped to nourish, cultivate, and strengthen my desire to learn photography. I was always told I had an eye when others saw my work. It encouraged me and I eventually took the plunge and bought my first Digital SLR camera in 2008. Many friends and family helped me practice by being my subjects. And many other photographers inspired me all the while deepening my strong urge to pursue this passion. While at first my love for photography was self-serving, I really saw the happiness I brought to others when taking pictures for them. They say you find pure joy in serving others, that you lose yourself in service and your problems become the least of your worries. My way to serve others is to help them keep the memories they hold dear to their hearts. I'm lucky to have found something that is my passion in which not only benefits me, but all those around me as well.
Wade Heninger | Dance Photography
The Quick Survey
- Business Name: Heninger Fotographik
- Located in: Seattle, WA
- Started: I started working in the late 90s.
- Status: Part Time. I also work for SmugMug as their resident designer.
- Types of Photography: I shoot mainly dance, family and portraiture, with a few weddings mixed in to keep it interesting.
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: I <3 my Canon 5D MKII. My favorite lenses are: Canon 24-105L and my Canon 70-200 L 2.8 IS. However, my absolute favorite lens is my Summicron 50 on my Leica M8. Bar none that lens impresses me every time I use it. Wish I could mount it on the 5D
- Interesting Personal Fact:I love to shoot dance performances in my kilt. Its dressy, and it has some big pockets (Utilikilt) for holding all that crap we need to carry around. If I ever pass out shooting, I full expect someone to scream "We have a photog down, repeat a photog is down" in a nice scottish accent.
Main Site / Blog: http://heninger.org/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/heninger
Short Bio - I started in photography as a kid when my grandparents gave me an Argus 126 camera for christmas one year. I burned thru a lot of film before the economics of it all outstripped my modest 8 year-old finances. Much later on I picked up a camera when digital was just starting to catch on and before long I was back learning traditional photography and working in my own darkroom. I worked as a designer at Adobe and gravitated towards the photo side of their offerings, working on Photoshop, Camera Raw and finally Lightroom - a product which I'm very proud of and use to this day.
I spent the better part of 5 years doing mainly fine art street photography - prowling the streets with my Leica and learning how to edit my work. I kinda stumbled into dance photography when I suggested a small project with a local studio where my daughter was dancing. One thing lead to another and now I find myself shooting several big dance events a year in the Seattle area and am the studio photographer for Emerald Ballet Theatre in Bellevue, Wa. Dancers moving fast in dark environments have really pushed me technically, and I've been really happy with the improvements in hardware over the past 5 years.
My style has morphed over the past decade, and what was once a body of very traditional, very rigid black & white work has morphed into a much more varied presentation using colors, toning and more than a few vignettes. Lightroom has had a huge impact on that broadening focus beyond my comfort zone. I shoot a lot more these days, and as my volume has increased, I've actually handed off the proofing, sales and printing to SmugMug and its pro lab which has saved me a huge amount of time.
I don't do much active marketing per se, but I pick up a manageable volume of family, senior and portraiture work thru the dance studios clientele - its a nice symbiosis.
Each year brings a new bunch of stuff to learn, and I enjoy the challenges photography brings. Furthermore, I find a lot of inspiration with both the contemporary and historical work out there. I'm a huge fan of using the social media outlets, especially twitter and facebook to publicize my work and I'm amazed at the connections I've made thru that venue. I try to limit my follows, but those I do constantly impress.
My job designing photographer tools for the last decade has allowed me to travel, attend conferences (you'll always find me at WPPI & PPE) and meet with some great artists and interesting people.
Finally, I do a weekly roundup of the important happenings in the Lightroom world, entitled "Lightroom Tuesday" that is chalk full of tutorials, tips and tricks for making the most of today's outstanding workflow software. Follow me on Twitter for the weekly reminders.
Its a great time to be a photographer.
Crystal Pickering | Newborn Photography
The Quick Survey
- Name / Business Name: Crystal Pickering of R+C Photography
- Located in: West Jordan, Utah
- Started: June of 2009
- Status: Full Time
- Types of Photography: R+C photography does all types. However, I am most at home and comfortable when shooting newborns. There is just something so pure and innocent and sweet about capturing the first moments of someones life.
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: Canon 40d / 100mm 2.8 macro, 50mm 1.4, and 85mm 1.8 (I am 100% a prime girl)
- Interesting Personal Fact:I have a Pepsi every morning. It is "my coffee" I suppose you could say!
Main Site: www.rpluscphotography.com
Blog: www.rcphotographyutah.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RplusCPhotography
Short Bio - Hey everyone!! I am Crystal, the C in R+C Photography. I am a mommy to 4 kids and a wife to the most amazing and supportive man alive!!
I was always interested in photography. However, I never had the money to invest in an SLR to learn. When I got married to my husband his sister owned her own sports photography business, and let me borrow their Nikon. I used and abused that little camera for about a year, before they needed it back. When I had to give it back, I felt like a piece of me was missing, and that is when I realized, that my "hobby" was turning into something more.
Then my 2 year old was born, and from there it grew into what it is today. I met Rachel about a year ago and that is when we formed R+C Photography. Shooting with her is a blast. We both bring something completely different to the table, in regards to technical skills, artistic vision, and business savyness.
Our personalities are different enough that we can find some common ground with almost every client. In fact a lot of our clients remain very close friends with us to this day, and this is how we prefer to run our business. I love shooting with a partner. I love having someone to bounce ideas off of, and of course we challenge each other to get better. We are always striving to "one up" our previous shoot. We talk about what we learned from each shoot, and what we can do different next time, and what we liked that time.
To wrap it up lol, shooting together as a partnership, and more then that, as friends, is what makes us unique!!!
Jennifer Grigg | Wedding Photography
The Quick Survey
- Name: Jennifer Grigg
- Located in: Springville, Utah
- Started: 1980's
- Status: Business owner, mom, college degree in photography
- Types of Photography: families, wedding, headshots, events
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: Nikon D200 70-200 2.8!
- Interesting Personal Fact: 3 kids, teenager, preteen, tweenie
Main Site: http://www.jennifergrigg.com
Bigfolio: http://jumanjijuice.bigfolioblog.com
Xanga: http://www.xanga.com/jumanjijuice
Iweb: http://jengriggphoto.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Jumanjijuice
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jengrigg
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jumanjijuice
Smugmug: http://jennifergrigg.smugmug.com
Short Bio: I got my first camera in 7th grade, circa 1977, not really mine, just a vacation lend from my Dad. He set up a darkroom in our only bathroom and took so many pictures of me that they fill 11 albums.
I loved yearbook staff so much in high school that I chose to study and graduate from BYU with a BFA in photography and minor in communications. My first job was at the Provo Daily Herald with the amazing Jason Olson and Trent Nelson. I worked part-time after our first child, then freelanced, then had three children, then interned with the Deseret News during the 2002 Olympics.
My rekindling of my wedding photography business started when I traded in my Nikon f4 for a Nikon D70 in 2004. The digital bug bit me and here I am. I shoot families, weddings and some public relations work. I would love to shoot 50 weddings a year, but for now. I shoot less than 10, with about that many other clients as well.
My kids have busy social lives filled with friends, creek walking and music and sports. My husband is a web designer who loves his job, family and church.
Christine Bentley | Capturing Wedding Details
The Quick Survey
- Business Name: Christine Bentley Photography
- Located in: Irvine, California
- Started: 2006
- Status: Full Time
- Types of Photography: Portraits and Weddings
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / 70-200 2.8
- Interesting Personal Fact: I met my husband while riding my Harley, well actually I met him after I crashed it into the shop where he was the service manager. We were married 6 months later!
Main Site: www.christinebentley.com
Blog: www.christinebentleyblog.com
Facebook: facebook.com/christinebentley
Twitter: http://twitter.com/chrisbentley
Short Bio: Oh lets see. I love tell the story about how I got started, mostly because it's pretty crazy. I had a fav photog who moved to Southern California and I pretty much freaked out because she took ALL the photos of my children. So I decided that the last session we had scheduled I would take mental notes of her equipment and just go and buy everything that I needed to do what she was doing. So after leaving the amera store with over $10K of equipment, I thought I was a "professional". My husband came home to find me in tears in our living room with a camera that had a black LCD screen. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING. Nothing was returnable and I was up the creek. I mean, I bought a 35mm lens cause the "35mm" sounded like "photo stuff" and I thought I needed it....I truly didn't even know what aperture was or ANYTHING. The learning curve was quit humbling to say the least.
Always up for learning (I have a Master's Degree in Education), I decided this was not going to get the best of me. The idea was to be able to take photos of my children, not really to start a business. Soon it became a healthy addiction and an artistic outlet. It was "me" time as all parents out there know you need that "me" time to indulge in your favorite hobbies. It was amazing to me that I could actually start making money doing this, I love it, still do.
I started to follow AMAZING photographers and learn from them. My early mentors who have now become friends are Bob and Dawn Davis. They started my career. I truly believe that. I took their workshop first, it was amazing and things have never been the same. I started simply with portraits, afraid to take on weddings, but realized soon enough, weddings are a LONG portrait session with a great story to tell. Then I was hooked. I blame and thank Mike Colon and his workshop on getting a lot of my business together, marketing etc. I have been really fortunate to have met some amazing people in this industry and if there is any advice I can give to those you start, do what you love first, and reach out to others. Without my early mentors, I would most likely still be lost.
A few short years later, I have a studio in Irvine. I have amazing clients both portraits and weddings. I have won Accolade and Merit Awards in both WPPI as well as PPOC. I plan on entering more images, and more and more. I continue to learn, I'll never stop learning, but now I also teach! Imagine that, I actually teach those in my community how to use their consumer DSLRs as well as do some professional mentoring. I believe in myself, I am blessed to have others believe in me, I am determined as all hell, but I love it, I love it all and I get to live it everyday!
Edward Maurer | Sports Photography
The Quick Survey
- Name/Business Name: Edward Maurer / Edward John Photography LLC.
- Located in: Oakland County Michigan. I live in a beautiful little town called Lake Orion which is about an hour north of Detroit.
- Started: professional photographer on July 18th, 2008, but I've been a photographer for a lot longer than that.
- Status: Part time
- Types of Photography: Lifestyle wedding and portrait photography is my primary focus, and I enjoy sports photography.
- Primary Camera / Favorite Lens: Nikon D700 / 70-200 f2.8
- Interesting Personal Fact: I've seen the movie Ferris Bueller's day off more times than I can remember and can recite the dialog to the entire movie.
Find out more
Main Site: www.edwardjohnphotography.com
Blog: edsphotography.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/edwardjohnphoto
Short Bio: I'm a husband, a father, and a passionate photographer. Enjoying life with my bride, our three beautiful kids, and the worlds best dog Sparkie.
I've seen amazing images all my life and began capturing them on camera when I was attending engineering school. A stable job at an engineering firm was all I ever wanted, but something was different when a camera was in my hands. I felt alive and everything felt "right." I took my engineering knowledge (left brain) to good use by analyzing the camera gear and how it all functioned, meanwhile the right side of my brain was visualizing images that just needed to be captured. I offered to help photograph a wedding for a friend and by the end of the night I was hooked. Exhausted, but excited at the same time. Telling the story of a wedding is something I truely enjoy. In January of 2009 I began a daily photo blog where I posted photos every day that had been taken within that week. This helped me to see light, to really study composition, and to bring my photography to the next level. I intend to keep this blog going as long as I can because it really helps me to stay focused and to improve.
