My Weblog

technology: a lovely thing?!

many of you received a FALSE email generated from me--stating that i would be in italy until after february 8th...WORRY NOT---I AM NOT IN ITALY!

here's the scoop...had to go out of town on business in charleston, asheville, and savannah.  before i left last sunday, i set my computer to auto respond to emails that i was out of town for a week, and that i would return all emails upon my return on the next saturday.  i deleted my 'out of country' auto respond, ticked the 'gone for a week' response and i left.

when i returned a few days ago, my inbox and studio answering machine were CRAZY with concerned clients, confused upcoming appointments, etc.

REST ASSURED, i am HERE NOW, not in italy, and all orders, appointments, and other are going AS NORMAL and without a hitch!!

ahhhh, the highs and lows of technology...

heather

crazy upcoming 2 weeks!

i cannot believe how fast summer, seniors, and rodeos are all going...this is INSANE!

tuesday and thursday, the kids are participating in the state horse show in 'their' events...carlee qualified for state horse show in showmanship (her FIRST year), and kyle in many, but is only participating in breakaway roping.

thursday immediately after kyle is finished, the family is starting off for pueblo, colorado for the little britches national final rodeo.  kyle has qualified for nationals in all 5 of his events...i am SO VERY PROUD of him.

me, i have meetings at the opera house today, FULL FULL days of shooting on tuesday-friday, then off to austin early sat. morning.

speaking of austin, i'm off to speak at the Children and Families Convention in austin, texas!  this is a great great organization intent on providing education to photographers of all experience level, and i am humbled and honored to have been asked to be a part of their line up. 

it will be a quick trip for me tho, i fly out sat. morning to austin, and back into sioux falls on sunday evening...then it's a drive to pueblo for me to join the family to cheer kyle on!  we will be out in colorado through august 1st, and then back in watertown to photograph for the redlin art center's event on august 2nd....

phhhheeeeewwwwwwwwwww...craazyness!

the studio WILL BE CLOSED...NO PHONE CALLS RETURNED/NO EMAILS RETURNED from july 25-august 5 while we are in colorado.  i apologize for any inconvenience this may cause clients...but, this is a once in a lifetime for kyle, and i can't miss it!

thank you so much for adjusting and understanding!!

ok, back to readying for what is guaranteed to be a wild and exhausting week!

heather

open houses are DONE for this year!

we have had a lower response this year to the open houses, and one can only assume it is due to the higher price of gas...

so, we are ending our thursday open houses for the year.

if you would like to come and view the sets, have questions answered, we would love to have you come...we just ask that you call to make an appointment to guarentee that we are able to give you the time you deserve!!

if you would like to make an appointment for a consultation for your senior appointment, please call the studio at 605-886-8858.

thanks so much,

heather

just so happy...

that i want to share you all...

kyle won ANOTHER buckle today...all around cowboy for his bracket for the 4H rodeo.

combine that with him qualifying in all of his events for national finals little britches rodeo, this is an
exciting time for our family!  we will be traveling to pueblo colorado july 25-august 2 to watch him compete.

SO, how does this benefit you the client?!  WELL...

the first 10 seniors to book this week,  in the month of august, will receive their session upgraded at NO CHARGE...sooooo our contemporary session will be $89.00 vs. $129!

the first 10 children or families that book will receive a free 5x7 portrait (value of $35).

how's that for sharing the happiness?!

don't wait to call, i don't expect this offer to last long...

h

you win some, you lose some...

this weekend, wow, where to start?!

as a mom, i had a fabulous weekend watching my kids participate in the 4H rodeo here in watertown.  kyle has been participating in rodeo for the past 5 years, and it has been amazing to see him grow and mature.  initially rodeo was a big social event for him, ride your horse and screw off with friends, and oh by the way...yeah, let's throw a rope...

NOW he's all business...and dang it, he's GOOD!  i was so very proud of him today...he caught his calf in breakaway calf roping in 2.69 SECONDS...clinching the buckle for him!!  the look on his face was priceless, and thankfully was caught on 'film'.  just for comparison, second place was taken with a time 5.77.  talk about a proud mom moment. 

for sis, this is her first year of rodeo, and it was equally fun to see the excitement on her face when her goat 'stayed tied', and she didn't break pattern in her barrel and pole runs.

as for the 'lose some' part of the weekend...

someone, in their desperate state, decided that my professional camera and lens must have been THEIR prize, as it was stolen while i was helping my children ready for their events.  it angers me intensely, as my camera is like my hands...ALWAYS with me, and i feel violated.  i feel terrible, as i wasn't able to photograph my children in their moments of glory...thank goodness for my friends brad and linda kuehn, who as professional photographers went out of THEIR way to extend professional courtesy in taking care of photographing my kids.  thank you brad and linda!!

more than anything, i feel sorry for whoever felt that they needed it so badly.  i understand that money is tight, and i hope that taking my camera helps them in whatever way they needed it...i just wish they had asked for help vs. taking what wasn't theirs.

i do have serial numbers, so, all have been reported and local pawn shops have been notified, so...hopefully it will be recovered.

FEAR NOT THO...i do have a backup camera, so, sessions and such are in no fear of having their sessions cancelled...it's all good!

off to put away rodeo gear and start the mounds of laundry,

h

where did the summer go?

it seems like this first half of the summer has flown by...with the start of it being so rainy and icky, to FINALLY getting some great hot weather, and now it's just july already!

we have been busy daily with seniors from all over, and that has been a blast.  i love shooting in the new sets, we have 2 yet to tweak a bit more, but, man...it just seems like everything is just moving along at such a fast clip...we have SOME openings left in early july and SOME sporadically spread throughout august, so, if you are on the fence about getting in for senior pictures, etc., don't wait much longer.  we cut our number back to 80 total seniors this year...will you be one of them?!

getting daily feedback on the online gallery and ordering system, and it seems to be a resounding success!!  i'm sure we'll encounter glitches as this goes on, but, so far SO GOOD.  comments i've heard: 

----------------
"PS-I love the online ordering!  I love how quickly I was able to  see the proofs and that I could share them with friends & family.   Anything to save time is always a plus for me!"

"Love the convenience, I can order when I WANT to order!"

"Thank you for not having to have us drive back to order.  Coming from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx to place an order when gas is so expensive was not what we were looking forward to.  THANK YOU for thinking of your clients FIRST!"

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no, the thank you goes to you all for allowing us to try something new/different, and for being willing to work through the 'bugs' in the system!!  i do think the convenience, the time saving, the money saving in gas really DO make a lot of sense for everyone...it's getting so expensive in all things...it's good to work together to make it best for everyone.

off to work at the Goss Opera house today to get their printing needs handled.  i hear that saturday was a HUGE day for attendance at the Bodies, which is really just so exciting!!  it's good to see this new venture being successful, and i only see greater things in the future.  the retail location should be opening in the next few weeks...

if i don't check back in before the 4th, please, everyone have a safe and wonderful time with family, friends, and fireworks!!

h

it feels good to be:

1.  photographing awesome seniors again!

2.  playing in our atrium, getting rockin shots, and being creative...

3.  done sorting graduation/commencement photo's have them at the Post Office.

4.  seeing SO MANY PEOPLE at the Goss Opera House enjoying the Bodies Human Exhibit and
    the Common Ground Coffee and Internet Cafe...

5.  spending a bit of time with Rod Evans and being challenged to push my creativity even farther and into      new areas

6.  and have, i think, the major glitches worked out with our online ordering system!

7.  getting a 'facebook' presence--not sure i understand it all, but, seems to be THE PLACE to be, and of course, i'm late to the party!!

have lots to post...not a lot of time...check back for images and more!

h

ahhh, set building...

after doing construction for the past few weeks at the opera house, we are finally working on my sets here!

john, josh, john, kelli and i have been working hard the last 2 days on getting ready for our upcoming seniors...and i am SO excited by our progress.  alice in wonderland set is SO funky cool, heavy metal is coming along nicely, and the southern foyer area is a work in progress, but i see light at the end of the tunnel on that one too!

the front porch, the junkyard, joe's garage, the piazza, and the field of  flowers are done ( well, the flowers just need to grow now!).

tomorrow we should get our brick and metal walls up in the field of flowers area, and then we just have to paint them.

it's a good feeling to see daily progress!

i have 2 weddings this weekend, have printing to do at the opera house on monday, and then back to sets next week, as we start with seniors on FRIDAY!!

hope all have a great rest of the week and weekend,

h

the BODIES opened sunday to people standing in line

to view the exhibit.  what an exciting day, one filled with people from all over the state, and exhaustion on the part of many of us 'goss workers and volunteers'.

it's a good feeling to know that the 'bulk' of the work has been finished on the commercial bank building that is housing the exhibit, with only 'tweaky' things to still be completed...

the coffee shop, common grounds, is still being worked on, and the retail gift shop is unfinished, but, hopefully by the end of the month, they will have both of those ready for the public as well!

me, i'm tapering off my helping with the construction stuff, and now back to concentrating FULL TIME on finishing our sets.  the boys will be out tomorrow, wednesday, and thursday if necessary to help kick start all the new sets to completion.  i am SO VERY EXCITED to shoot in our new sets...it's so much fun to play in a new playground!!

i have weddings this friday and saturday, have sunday and monday to process those images, and then start into seniors next week.  we are OVER OUR HALF WAY MARK to being completed booked for our seniors, so, if you are holding out for an appointment, you might not want to wait too much longer.  we are only booking 80 seniors this year (we've always cut off at 100), so...seriously, don't wait!

back to  the opera house, i'm super excited, i've been named creative art director for the building!  this is so much fun to be able to create in a new venue, more art, more education...a great combination of my past and my future...life is taking some fun turns!!

anyway, off to bed...busy day in the morning with construction of sets here!

heather

WHS graduation

today is the big day for those graduates of watertown high school!  congrats graduates, you have such an exciting adventure ahead of you...enjoy today, and really push the boundaries for the future! 

we will once again be in the cafeteria of the high school starting cap and gown pictures at 11:30 today.  we will have extra forms with us, in the event that you have lost yours, or you simply forgot it!  the cap and gown pictures are photographed on a backdrop, and are simply a more formal portrait of your graduate.

as always, we will photograph everyone crossing the stage for graduation, and you have the opportunity to purchase those pictures as well.  do remember, we only print images that have been purchased!

ALL IMAGES WILL BE PRIORITY MAILED OUT...

we still have images from last year, that even after NUMEROUS calls and requests to have them picked up, still sit here.  so, for shear convenience sake (considering gas and busy lives) we will be mailing these out.  to cover the costs of mailing, there will be a $5.00 priority mail fee.

your images will arrive to you in about 3 weeks after graduation, so be checking your mailboxes for those then.

again, congratulations to the class of 2008...we look forward to great and amazing things from you!

heather