A year in the making, I was excited to ship my official introduction to nearly 300 of the top creative folks in the photo industry last month. After a successful 2008 and beginning of 2009, I realized my commercial work came mostly through word of mouth and that I had made no marketing efforts. I knew in order to take my business to the next level, I needed to start marketing myself on a national level and more importantly, I had only one chance to make an awesome first impression.

“As an art buyer, I get a lot of little promotional pieces. I am spoiled. BUT, yours was so well put together and well done that I stopped everything I was doing and went to your website. NOT to my surprise your work is just as thoughtful, innovative and touching as your promotional piece. I officially have a work crush on you. Please come and see us so we can put you to work ASAP.:)”

This promo would be the first time the agencies and art buyers would hear about me so I wanted to fill it with items that told something about who I was. The challenge was how to fill a box with multiple items and not make it feel like a junk box. I worked closely with Suzanne Sease and Rob Jefferson to find items that were relevant to the audience of art buyers and creative directors and compiled my mailing list with Suzanne using Agency Access.  I needed every piece of this promo to have a wow-factor so I worked exclusively with the most talented Robb Major to design everything from the screen printing of the shipping box to the design on the matchboxes.  To tie it all together, I included my “to-do list” which is below.

“Cool promotional box! So much so in fact that I feel compelled to use you for our next photo shoot. I have a client in ————.  Are you available and interested? Wow, this just goes to prove the power of good advertising.”

“This is the most amazing promo I’ve ever received in my 12 years of art buying! I truly hope to work with you soon and I hope this gets you a ton of work! Its genius!”

“I just received your magic lunchbox and I gotta say it’s quite the spread. The San Cristobal just made my drive to NY tomorrow night that much better. If you’re ever in ——– for a job let me know and I’ll set you up with a portfolio review with my art producer colleagues so they can get to know you. Thank you and stay in touch.”

It took two snowy days and a dozen awesome friends to put all of these boxes together and shipped in early February. The response has been outstanding and I have received an amazing amount of free T-shirt cards back full of comments request for portfolios as well as phone calls. The big task now is follow through….. and thinking about a 2011 promo!

Want a retro (empty, sorry) lunch tin of your own? Leave a convincing comment below and I may just feel compelled to mail you one.

The goal is to have all of your images named in a way that if they are all put into a single folder together, they would all be in order by the date they were taken. Same for all of the folders we keep the photos in.  Often, your camera will come with a photo editing software you can use in taking your photos off of your memory card and onto your computer.  You can also use Apple’s iPhoto, Windows Live Photo Gallery, or for more advance photographers, Apple’s Aperture or Adobe’s Lightroom.

If you use a program such as Camera Bit’s Photo Mechanic to download your images, you can use this in your naming window:
{iptcyear2}{iptcmonth0}{iptcday0}_YourEventName_{seqn}   =   100302_YourEventName_001
or
{iptcyear4}{iptcmonth0}{iptcday0}_YourEventName_{seqn}   =   20100302_YourEventName_001

It is also important to keep your images similarly organized in the program you may use to organize your images such as Apple’s Aperture, Adobe’s Lightroom or any other program that may be provided in your camera’s software.  Below is how I keep my Aperture library organized.

Cloudy White Balance, My Go-To

Starting photographers often complain about dull or blue tinted photos that make their subjects seem lifeless. My cure for this is to start using cloudy white balance.  This setting can be found on most digital point-and-shoot as well as DSLR cameras and uses a cloud symbol. I use cloudy white balance when shooting in direct sunlight, when using a flash, indoors with natural light coming in from windows as well as any other situation where my images seem too cool. This works great for natural skin tones.

Below is an example of a piece of finished wood that is inside near a window, the difference is stunning.

Auto White Balance vs. Cloudy White Balance

I am excited to present my brand-spanking-new lifestyle book. With the help of Suzanne Sease I was able to condense and organize my library of lifestyle images into one portfolio book.  This was made possible by using Apple’s Aperture to easily comb through 100,000+ images and organize and pair them with other images in the book layout program.  Printed by Pushdot Studio and presented in a Lost-Luggage binding and cover, I wanted to keep the printed book consistent with my brand; clean, image-focused and organic. I chose a hardboard and extra thick matte paper to soak in the colors of the images.

Additional portfolios are available so please contact me if your agency would like to have one shipped to their office or if you would like to request a meeting.

Lost-Luggage book printed by Pushdot Studio

I am thrilled to announce two 1-month internship opportunities with Casey Templeton Photography for Summer-Fall 2010.

Position Summary:

This is an opportunity to work in a broad range of environments and with a broader range of clients. Photographers who wish to gain experience in on-location commercial photography will find this opportunity particularly beneficial. This position will also give the participant unique insight into the challenges and strategies involved in maintaining a photography business.

The first 1-month internship will take place between May and August, while the second will run between September and December. The participant must be available for six days a week during their assigned four week block. $1,000 will be provided to help cover living expenses during the internship.

Skills:

The best candidate is a driven individual with experience, either through education, work, or both, in photography or video and a desire to advance in the field.
An understanding of basic functions and principles of the camera and photography is a must.
Proficiency with Apple computers is preferred.
Proficiency in basic web design and Video and Audio capture is a plus but not required.
Firm grasp of social media management preferred.

To Apply:

• Download Application Form and submit with a resume
• Write a short essay (feel free to be creative in both writing and presentation) explaining why you would be the best candidate
• Find/take a creative self portrait
• Submit a portfolio of 10 images (longest side 1024px) or a video (posted on YouTube)

• RT the following on Twitter:
  RT & follow @caseytempleton by March 15 for a chance to win copy of Aperture 3.0 | details: http://bit.ly/b5xleY | #ApertureRocks
• Post a comment anywhere on my blog and finish your comment with “+APERTURE ROCKS!”
• Post a comment on the Casey Templeton Photography Facebook Fan Page and include “APERTURE ROCKS!”

I was excited to hear that Apple released Aperture 3 this morning! I am equally excited to see that a number of my images were used on the website, instructional videos, etc! Since I started using Aperture in 2007, my image library has been revolutionized and the ease of organizing, editing, and delivering images to clients has taken my production process to the next level. Press release below as well as link to a free trial. Please never hesitate to hit me up with questions on getting started!

Aperture 3 Released by Apple

Press Release from Apple:

Apple Releases Aperture 3

New Features Include Faces, Places & Brushes

CUPERTINO, California—February 9, 2010—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 3, the next major release of its powerful photo editing and management software, with over 200 new features including Faces, Places and Brushes. Building on the innovative Faces and Places features introduced in iPhoto® ’09, Aperture 3 makes it even easier and faster to organize large photo libraries. Aperture 3 introduces new tools to refine your photos including Brushes for painting image adjustments onto parts of your photo, and Adjustment Presets for applying professional photo effects with just one click. Stunning new slideshows let you share your work by weaving together photos, audio, text and HD video.
“Millions of people love using iPhoto to organize, edit and share their digital photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Aperture 3 is designed for both professionals who edit and manage massive libraries of photos and iPhoto users who want to take their photos further with easy-to-use tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets.”
“Aperture 3 gets it right,” said National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. “The image editing tools are exactly what I have been asking for, they’re so easy to use and give me a level of control that I never even thought possible.”
“I chose Aperture because it was the most powerful archiving application around, but it’s now an unbelievable imaging tool as well,” said Bill Frakes, Sports Illustrated staff photographer. “I am beyond impressed with the massive changes made in Aperture 3.”
Aperture 3 allows you to organize large photo libraries with even more flexibility using Projects and the new Faces and Places. Faces uses face detection and recognition to find and organize your photos by the people in them. You can view faces across your entire photo library or view just the faces that appear in selected projects. In a new view that speeds up the organization process, Aperture 3 displays faces that have been detected but haven’t yet been named. Places lets you explore your photos based on where they were taken, and like in iPhoto, Places automatically reverse geocodes GPS data into user-friendly locations. In Aperture 3, you can assign locations by dragging-and-dropping photos onto a map or by using location information from GPS enabled cameras, tracking devices or your iPhone® photos.
The new Brushes feature allows you to add professional touches to your photos by simply painting effects onto the image. Aperture 3 includes 15 Quick Brushes that perform the most popular tasks like Dodge, Burn, Polarize and Blur, without the complexity of layers or masks. Brushes can automatically detect edges in your images to let you apply or remove effects exactly where you want them. Aperture 3 includes dozens of Adjustment Presets that apply a specific style or look to the entire image with just a click. You can create your own custom presets or explore the techniques of other photographers by importing theirs.
Aperture 3 makes it easy to share your work with stunning slideshows that weave together photos, audio, text and HD video. You can select one of six Apple designed themes or choose your own transitions, background, borders and titles, and even add your own soundtrack. You can export your slideshows directly to iTunes® to take with you on your iPhone or iPod touch®. You can also share photographs as beautiful prints, create custom-designed hardcover books and publish to online photo sharing sites like Facebook and Flickr, right from Aperture 3.
Pricing & Availability

Aperture 3 is available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) and existing Aperture users can upgrade for a suggested retail price of $99 (US). A downloadable 30-day trial version is available at www.apple.com/aperture/trial. Aperture 3 runs as a 64-bit application on Mac OS® X Snow Leopard® on Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Full system requirements, online tutorials and more information on Aperture 3 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Here is how I had to shoot it:
The wood panel wall was super reflective so I had a hard time keeping streaks of light from appearing. I placed 2 side Canon Speedlites pointing directly to the middle so they wouldn’t hit the wall, only the models. I wanted all the images to have a gold tone to them so I had a 3rd Canon Speedlite aimed away from the scene and bouncing off a the gold side of my 74″ Impact reflector. To light the wall, I used 2 simple shop lights that helped to add to the gold tones.

To pay tribute to Robert Earl Keene’s “Merry Christmas from the Family”, Adam and I wanted to get some gritty focused lighting shots using my handheld spotlight. It didn’t make it into the final card but will always be a great blackmail photo against Jesse Isenberg.

Weiners and Meatballs

The eggnog spew scene was shot while I was comfortably under a plastic sheet and the stripping office-goer was photographed on a green screen at the end of the shoot.

Office dude starts to strip and triggers eggnog spew

No words for this next shot. And yes, that is Holly because not all office parties are able to afford the real thing.

So ghetto, no mistletoe, just holly

Much thanks for these guys and gals!

Our awesome crew/models!

I had the opportunity to photograph a great Virginia-based band, Louisiana Territory (myspace | Twitter | Facebook). Their new album is called, “Traces of Gold” so I worked with coordinator, Rob Jefferson, and stylist Molly Todd, to capture images that carried the “Traces of Gold” theme.

You can read The Richmond Scene’s review of their album here: “Trace of Gold” Review on TRS.  And you can read more about the details of the shoot below.

The guys wanted to stay away from typical band photography and were willing to try almost anything. This gave me the freedom to incorporate unconventional methods and experiment with some new ideas.

If atypical is the goal, why not make them eat leaves?

To convey the “Traces of Gold” theme, I used multiple high-power spotlights to light the band. Lighting with spotlights was great for this shoot because they are more directed and predicable than camera flashes and provide a warmer light.

I often look for the light that cannot be seen by our human eyes. In the photo below, I overexposed the scene to pull in the gold of the overcast sky. Settings on my Canon 5D Mark II: ISO 2500, f/2.8, Shutter speed of .3 seconds.

Pilot Bryan Lawler

I had the great opportunity to work with Louis Uchitelle on a story about pilot, Bryan Lawler, and the adjustment of supporting his family on 50% of his previous income: Read Story and View Multimedia

New 4-sheet business cards

I was thrilled to receive my new business cards in the mail today! Robb Major and Brad Frost designed the cards and  ToraGrafix in California created them. I had two different cards made, same design, just different website addresses. This one is my general card that provides a links to caseytempletonphoto.com which is a splash page linking to both my main site and my wedding site. My other cards that I will provide to my commercial clients, will have a link to only caseytempleton.com.