I just finished designing the posters for Daud for his election campaign at Brock. This is one of the poster concepts that I came up with - I thought it was a ton of fun and really showed off the fun, relaxed and energetic side of Daud. This one should win him the election alone, I think ... hehe

Enjoy!

Posted January 29, 2010 by Bryan Caporicci  |  Category: It's Fun!

As many of you know, not only am I a photographer here in the Niagara region, but I am also a photo-educator in the Niagara region. I have held basic, entry-level photography courses here at the studio, and I also have another business with local photographer Robert Nowell, called "EnlightenMe", which is an educational resource for professional photographers.

I have had the pleasure to teach, along-side Robert, on many topics, including sales, marketing, branding, the business of photography, off-camera flash, Adobe Lightroom and embracing change. Robert and I were recently asked by the Professional Photographers of Ontario, Central-Portrait branch (in Toronto) if we could speak and give a seminar at their upcoming meeting. As always, we were pleased to be able to share our knowledge and really encourage the photographers to embrace change in their business and grow to a bigger and better studio.

We spoke on the changing photography industry and all of the wonderful things that come along with it. Topics included:

- Facebook & social media
- Fusion photography
- Digital negatives
- Websites
- Marketing

We thoroughly enjoyed speaking with them and we've received some really phenomenal feedback so far. Below are a few photos that Chris Schiller took of us while we were speaking - please enjoy 'em!

While I'm on the topic of speaking, teaching and education, I thought that I would mention that Robert and I have three upcoming workshops for professional and aspiring photographers scheduled. They are:

- Album Design - February 8th
- Portrait Lighting - February 25th
- Systems in Business - April 8th

Please visit www.enlightenmeblog.com to get more information on these programs, and to sign-up if you are interested.

We have also had a lot of photographers ask us to run another off-camera flash workshop and another Adobe Lightroom workshop. That is something that we are working on now, so if these workshops are of interest to you, please e-mail me and let me know!

I've got lots more blog posts coming up today, so keep your eyes peeled! I am also going to be announcing another basics-of-photography course that we'll be having here in February, so check back soon for that!

Ciao for now :)

Bryan

Posted January 29, 2010 by Bryan Caporicci  |  Category: Chit-Chat

I talked about word-of-mouth advertising and network marketing, and how important it is in my business. There is also another form of marketing that is very closely related to these - it's called referral marketing.

It's always funny to see referral marketing at-play. I think it's fascinating that in business, you can usually trace everything back to a fairly small subset of clients who have all spread the word. One client tells another, who tells another, who tells a few, and it goes on and on and on. It creates this amazing web of clients who are all inter-connected, and are all looking for the same thing from photography.

It's this reason that I am always striving not only to produce the most amazing portraits for my clients, but that I am also dedicated to providing the most incredible experience for my clients. Because one satisfied client tells another who tells another who tells a few ... and, well, you get the point!

Having gone to Brock University for almost 4 years, I have a very strong connection with the school; I spent hours and hours and hours there, studying, in class, at the gym, working, and hanging out with friends. It holds a lot of really special memories for me.

When I was still at Brock, three years ago, I photographed my good friend, Sohail Mall, when he was running for Board of Directors for BUSU at Brock. We hung out for an afternoon and wandered around Brock, finding all the hotspots for some really nice election photos.

From that session, I have since done election portraits, every single year, for various Brock students running for various positions. It's neat to see how one single session can stem into so many more.

This morning I met up with Minhal and Daud for some election portraits. Minhal is running for the first time, for BUSU Board of Directors, and Daud (whom I photographed two years ago, as well) is running for his third year in a row.

I hope that you enjoy some of these images, and if you are at Brock and see their posters hanging around, think of me (oh yeah, and vote for them, too!)

Posted January 27, 2010 by Bryan Caporicci  |  Category: It's Fun!

Something that we offer all of our brides are our "It's Chic" sessions - also known as "boudoir photography". Our "It's Chic" sessions are an opportunity to get some beautiful, romantic, and classy images of you, to give your groom-to-be on the morning of the wedding. What bride doesn't want to get pampered, have her hair and make-up done and feel great about herself?

Our boudoir sessions aren't only for our brides, though. We offer them to all of our clients who are interested. For the month of January and February, we are accepting a limited number of sessions as a discounted rate, which will be $425. This will include professional hair and make-up, a 2-hour boudoir portrait session, on-location, and a 5x5 boudoir-book with 10 of your favourite images.

Do you have a few friends interested in having boudoir portraits done? Why not do them all at the same time to make everyone feel more comfortable and to have some more fun with it? Your $425 session fee will be waived for you when you sign-up yourself and three of your friends to have the boudoir session done at the same time. Contact us for more information.

Here are a few examples of the types of beautiful images that we will create for you.

Posted January 26, 2010 by Bryan Caporicci  |  Category: Promotions

Last weekend, Al and I had the opportunity to take our "Engaged Encounter" class, through the church. It is a pre-cana class that everyone who gets married catholic is required to take. The course took place over the Friday evening and all day on the Saturday.

The concept behind the course is to really get you thinking about your relationship as a couple and to help you move in a positive direction, together. For Al and I, seeming as we have been dating for over 6 years, we have pretty much had a chance to talk about everything and anything with regards to our married life. A lot of the couples that we met at this course, however, had only been dating for a couple of years (or shorter), so there are inevitably some topics that may not have come up in conversation. This course was to get them talking about these topics and get them on the same page before they wed.

I thought that it would be interesting to have a blog post, listing a few of the topics discussed throughout the course, to share with everyone. Some couples' whose weddings we photograph are not marrying catholic, so they wouldn't have a chance to take a pre-cana course like this.

Take a look at some of these questions, and have a chat with your fiance about them. It may be interesting and enlightening to see what each other has to say on each topic.

Financials
Will you share a joint bank account or will you keep your bank accounts separate?
Who will be in charge of paying the bills?
Have you/wIll you invest in an RRSP for savings, or an RESP for your children's' education? How about any other kind of investments? Who is going to handle that?
Have you sat down and worked out a personal budget? Have you set financial goals?
Will you have a financial advisor to help you with your money and your investments?
What kind of house can you afford? What kind of vehicles can you afford? Will you take vacations?
Would you be willing to move if your spouse got a promotion that involved re-location?

Children
Will you have children? How many will you have? How far apart in age would you like them to be?
Will your children attend a catholic school or a public school? Will you raise them catholic and have them attend church?
How will you discipline your children?
What if you are unable to have children, naturally? Would you try other methods?

Family
How do you plan on maintaining a relationship with your own families?
How will you spend the holidays?
What traditions did you have, growing up, with your families? What traditions do you hope to continue with your own family?

Chores
What are the household chores? List them, and figure out how they will be divided. Will one of you do more than the other?
How were the household chores divided when you were growing up, with your parents? Do you have similar views on this?
What if one of you busier than the other, will the other spouse do more chores and housework than the other?

Rules for effective arguments:
No name calling
No 3rd party
No past history
Stick to the subject
No cheap shots
Don't go to bed angry
Maintain a sense of humour

If you have any other questions or thoughts that may be helpful to engaged couples, please feel free to leave them in the "Comments" section, below. I'd love for you to share them!

Posted January 23, 2010 by Bryan Caporicci  |  Category: Chit-Chat

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