Our new site allows us to post huuuuuge images and is more connected to my new portfolio! There is so much there -new photos, links to our second shooters’ portfolios, more from my thesis on gender roles perpetuated by wedding traditions. I’m so pleased!
If you’ve subscribed via our feed, make sure you’re using our Feedburner feed, as we’ve moved that over to the new blog and you won’t have to do a thing. This blog will also no longer be updated, so definitely check out the new one or subscribe to our Feedburner feed.
If you’ve received the “Good Eats” issue of the Washingtonian, then you may have already seen this photo! Visit http://www.washingtonian.com right now and see what photo pops up on the front page!
I saw this photo this morning while eating breakfast/reading blog feeds and it really cracked me up. Sloths are my favorite animal; I couldn’t help but post this image this morning. But it has nothing to do with the new logo!
We’re getting a new logo!
To make a long story short - a photographer who I really admire, Justine Ungaro, is getting married. She created a blog: The Unbride. It rules. Used in tandem with Offbeat Bride, you could have the answers to all of your DC-area (and otherwise) nontraditional needs.
Justine works a lot with a designer who has recently started an identity design company, Identity Kitchen. I spoke with the designer, Ellen, and she understood exactly what I was looking for in terms of rebranding my nontraditional portfolio! So soon you’ll see the new “Lara Swanson” logo watermarking my images, as well as the new portfolio. It’s so close to being done, and I’m very very excited about it.
To all photographers - I wholeheartedly recommend Identity Kitchen and their work. The process has been super easy, and you really can’t beat how kind and smart Ellen is. If you’re looking to do any identity work or branding, definitely contact her - she has a full list of services.
The new portfolio
The new portfolio will have two sections - one for commercial work (food photography, headshots) and one for my nontraditional wedding/union and portrait work. It’ll also have links to all of our second shooters’ work so you can see them all in one place! It will also have tons of testimonials for your perusal and a more robust section for my thesis/installation posters - if you don’t know what this is, then it’s another reason I needed a new portfolio! :) It exists in my old one, but is pretty hidden.
This will be the first time I’ve not built the website myself - BluDomain is a flash site built for photographers’ portfolios and it’s pretty slick. I think it’s really taking the portfolio to a new height, and I’m really excited to show it to everybody. Hopefully within the next few days it’ll be live!
Ah, we’ve finished another week. This will be the last weekend before the wedding season starts back up! So in honor of sitting back and relaxing, here is our random Friday list of things I love.
Warning: many of the below links involve a strange sense of humor (they’re not for everyone!).
XKCD cartoon strip. Many of them are over my head, but the ones I get make me laugh out loud.
Marmaduke Explained. This one is pretty random, but is often pretty hilarious. They even have t-shirts of the best explanations.
SomeEcards.com - “When you care enough to hit send”. Check out their most popular page for a good sampling.
Jezebel is written by a handful of female bloggers, mostly about news and topical stuff. It can be really caustic but I find it’s an enjoyable (and at the very least interesting) read. Definitely gives me my dose of sarcasm for the day :)
These photos are from Carmen’s Cuban great-uncle’s birthday party. Carmen says, “My family hired a live mariachi band and we all danced until the wee hours of the morning. It’s a mix of portraits and photojournalism, but I mostly just wanted to capture the spirit of my very interesting extended family.” Enjoy!
We’ve written about being “green” before when we posted some Polaroid transfers, but after seeing An Inconvenient Truth last night (for the first time, I know, I know) I want to be very clear about how much we strive to be environmentally and socially responsible.
Every photographer that is associated with A Softer Image strives to be as environmentally friendly as possible in his or her work for our weddings and unions. In addition to shooting digitally (meaning there’s no film packaging waste), we don’t make print proofs and instead do only online proofing. We use recycled materials for our marketing materials and packaging materials (handouts/flyers, ribbons, boxes, etc.). You may even receive your prints or albums in a mailer from us that’s obviously being recycled (anyone out there get our “Mpix”, “CanvasOnDemand” or “Amazon” boxes?!). If there’s more than one photographer, we carpool to each wedding/union/portrait session, and if clients are interested, we provide lots of tips and information on ways to make their events also environmentally and socially responsible.
Also, please read our five-part series “Wedding Conscious, Socially Conscious” on being environmentally and socially responsible:
Part II - “Look to the people right around you to boost your local economy and give your wedding YOUR flavor. It will mean so much more to you, and your guests, in the end.”
Part III - “If you can’t reuse anything, then don’t use it in the first place”
Part IV - “Pay attention to your paper products’ recycling code and match them to what your area handles.”
This weekend when we went to NJ we brought along Moses. He and my father adore each other - I’m not sure who was happier to see whom! Mo was a total ham during all stages of the trip, starting with packing:
No wonder we carry lint brushes everywhere we go. In the car he was equally adorable:
I can’t get over that grin.
When we got to NJ we realized he really needed to take a bath before he hung out with my extended family. I could make some awful jokes here about putting your best paw forward. Brad grabbed the camera while I did the dirty work (in Brad’s clothes, of course):
What a sad, sad dog. I think secretly he loves it.
This past weekend Brad and I visited my family in New Jersey and we had a blast. I miss that state so much! Among other things, I got to hang out with our wedding photographer for a while and sneak in a few headshots while talking about what work we’re each doing, our favorite new Photoshop actions, and blogs we love.
I also was able to show my sister the beginnings of the online portfolio I’m building for her art. She’s an art major and she’s been compiling photographs of her work for a while, so it’s time to get the website up. She does really amazing stuff, and I wanted to showcase a range of her work here as we get it all online!
So I decided to try out Etsy! I do so much CD and DVD packaging that I have lots of leftover supplies from past clients and decided to put them together and sell them. I had a blast making, photographing and listing items. Here’s what I’ve listed so far:
Each item holds one disk (CD or DVD) and I’m offering a free injket-printable CD with each. And I’ll be happy to print on them for you for free, too! I’m so excited about continuing to make these… although the wedding season is about to pick back up again :)
