Today's Guest: Chasity Blackwell of Chasity Blackwell Photography in Troy, Texas
Today's Host: John Bentley
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Chasity Blackwell Expert PageANNOUNCER: Welcome to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk brought to you by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow. Now here's your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today on the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk, we are speaking with Troy, Texas, photographer, Chasity Blackwell, of Blackwell Photography. Welcome to The Digital Photography Shop Talk program, Chasity.
CHASITY: Hello.
JOHN: Now you're from Troy, Texas, although you consider yourself from Temple, don't you?
CHASITY: Yeah, Temple, Texas. Yeah, that's where I was pretty much raised and graduated high school from.
JOHN: Sure.
CHASITY: It's like 10 minutes from Troy. Troy is just kind of a little outskirt area.
JOHN: Ok. Well let's talk photography. Let's talk a little bit about you and Blackwell Photography. Can you kind of give us a little overview of what you're up to?
CHASITY: I am at the moment, I guess back in February, I started working in the wedding photography business and that's taken off and that's what I'm pursuing at the moment.
JOHN: Ok, now you obviously, you've done a number of things. Family portraits, seniors, maternity. I went to your website and took a look at some of your work, and let's talk about all the different aspects of photography that you're involved in.
CHASITY: Ok. What I really like and enjoy?
JOHN: Sure. We'll start there.
CHASITY: Actually, I adore weddings. I mean that's really a passion of mine I found out and then I love maternity and I love the newborns. Let's see, family portraitures...it's good, but like I said, I think the most passion I have for right now is weddings.
JOHN: Ok, let's talk about family portraits for a minute now. Are you an on location photographer or do you have a studio there in Troy?
CHASITY: I actually, we were living in Temple, and then just within the last couple of months, we just purchased a house here in Troy, and it has a home studio.
JOHN: Wonderful.
CHASITY: So, yeah, so I'm working on it right now. We just got it painted and I just have my floors laid and just trying to get it organized, and I'm hoping to be ready to do my first newborn shoot on Friday...I hope. I do a lot of on location stuff too.
JOHN: Let's talk about babies for a minute.
CHASITY: Ok.
JOHN: Babies got to be a lot of fun, but babies are unpredictable, aren't they?
CHASITY: Yes they are.
JOHN: What kind of situations have you run into with children?
CHASITY: As far as like newborns, you never can know what's going to go on during the session. You have to be patient. I have mothers that they get kind of nervous and they're wanting that perfect picture, and if I have to take an hour and a half/two hours with them, I will. And I'm like, let's just stop, let's all breath, and just take our time and the baby eventually will cooperate. The same issue with, I had a five year old and also a horse, and the mother was getting all stressed out, and I spent a couple of hours with her, and said, hey look, if it doesn't work, I'll come back. You know, but she was real excited and when she got her pictures back, I had about 60 proofs for her to look at, and she just was in tears. She was like I can't believe that you got it. I was like, yeah, you just got to take your time, and take a deep breath, and eventually they'll cooperate with you.
JOHN: Now you have to kind of have a connection with your clients don't you?
CHASITY: Yeah.
JOHN: You somehow have to bridge that gap of somebody who has never bet you before and yet you're trying to capture the essence of who that person is. How do you achieve that?
CHASITY: I mean personality is a really big part of photography. So if you don't have a personality, I feel it's very hard to connect with people, and so right off the bat I just like to sit down and talk to them and just get to know who they are and get a feel and kind of let them know who I am, and usually that first like 15 minutes or so of shooting it is kind of uncomfortable, but then after that, they kind of get to know me enough and start playing around and kind of telling jokes and having them talk to me and then after that usually everybody will start relaxing and really having a good time with it.
JOHN: Now you also do senior portraits. I would imagine this time of the year is when you're doing a lot of that work too aren't you?
CHASITY: I am, yeah, I'm actually teaming up right now with another photographer here in Temple, and we are going to...we've already got all our mailing lists ready to go and we're going to start hitting our senior market in August we'll be mailing out. We're going to try and attack that market full strength in August.
JOHN: We're going to take a break here, but before we do that, why don't you give us your website address and contact information please.
CHASITY: Ok. It's www.chasityblackwellphotography.com and my phone number is (254) 760-5166.
JOHN: We are in the studio via the telephone with Troy, Texas, photographer, Chasity Blackwell of Blackwell Photography and you are listening to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. We'll be right back after these important messages. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Visit them on the web at www.nobsphotosuccess.com. NO BS Photo Success dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow.
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ANNOUNCER: www.morephotos.com helps professional photographers manage their digital images online in over 20 countries. They can help you with domain names, websites, shopping carts, and online proofing solutions. Please visit them at www.morephotos.com. Www.morephotos.com the online sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. We now return you to the NO BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk show with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Welcome back to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. I'm your host, John Bentley. Today in the studio we have Chasity Blackwell of Blackwell Photography. She is out of Troy, Texas. Welcome back to the program, Chasity.
CHASITY: Hello.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about your particular photography business and what you like to shoot, and the kind of business that you're doing. Let's talk a little bit about the No BS Photo Success site. First of all, how long have you been associated with No BS?
CHASITY: I registered with them in February of 2007.
JOHN: Ok, so you've been with them almost a year and half now. What is the first thing that you learned from the No BS site?
CHASITY: I learned fairly quickly that I was one of the typical soccer moms that had a camera and thought I knew what I was doing. I learned real quick that I didn't know what I was doing.
JOHN: So what would be...ok, well that's certainly an important lesson...and so you kind of were humbled by the information that's on the site.
CHASITY: Oh yes. It's been along process. A lot of tears were shed, but I mean it was...tears because if I wouldn't of had No BS, I would never have been where I am at today.
JOHN: So what are some of the steps you have taken since joining the No BS site?
CHASITY: Well, I originally...I mean...I have always had a camera in my hand as a little child, so I've always had the passion for it, but I never got into the actual technical details of shooting a camera in manual mode, and I always kept my camera on P which we always tease and call it P for professional. Which is basically an automatic mode. But No BS...I've learned how to shoot manually with my camera. I've learned as far as my lighting set-up and everything there pretty much is to know about taking pictures and proper exposure.
JOHN: I would imagine the proper exposure is a big one isn't it?
CHASITY: Yes. It's a huge, huge deal. And I never, never knew what it involved, because there's so many different variations to making sure that pictures properly exposed.
JOHN: And one thing that I saw on their website I thought was pretty important was that they said it's best to know what you're doing at the beginning of the photograph then trying to have to do something with it later on in Photoshop or something on your computer. Get that picture right from the beginning. Isn't that something that they really emphasize?
CHASITY: Yes, that is, and that's exactly my mind set when I'm with a customer. I'm constantly...I custom white balance with my camera, and so I do all my custom settings, everything in advance. I do all my test shots right in the beginning with the customer sitting there to make sure I get everything properly done straight out of my camera. Of course, you pull it into Photoshop to give it that little extra punch, but I try very hard to make sure it's properly exposed when I'm taking the picture, because Photoshop has been one of the things that I've really struggled with over the past year, and like I said, I like to do as much as I can in the camera instead of going into the computer and working on it.
JOHN: Now I've seen some photographers actually use some kind of a light meter. Is that something that you use yourself?
CHASITY: Yes. I have an external light meter, and you can internally...you have an internal light meter in your camera too, but I'll carry my external light meter. Especially when you're in the studio you have your external light meter.
JOHN: What else have you learned from the No BS Photo site?
CHASITY: Oh, gosh. Everything there is to know about photography. I think the biggest thing was, because I was struggling once I found out that I needed to learn how to shoot in manual mode, I was getting real frustrated with myself so in November I decided to go ahead and take a trip up to Canada to meet Rob and James at what they call the Inferno, and before I went to the inferno I was almost ready to kind of give up and keep it as a hobby. Went up there to meet Rob and James and I kind of cornered Rob and talked with him for a while, and he really said something to me that really hit me hard. He talked about a movie The Horse Whisperer, and he said that remember to get on that horse and ride and ever since then every time I get down on myself, I'm like, ok get back up, you know, make this thing work. He's really the one that really propped me up to get me going, and after the Inferno in November, I mean, by the time February hit, that's when my business started coming in, and I booked in February I booked 6 weddings.
JOHN: Wow, great.
CHASITY: Yeah, it was exciting.
JOHN: Now what about marketing? Do they teach you anything about marketing yourself?
CHASITY: Yes, they do, and in fact, I actually at the Inferno they were giving out prizes throughout the whole week, and I won the wedding DVD set so I was so excited about that. I've been watching that and he has the CD on marketing that you can listen to in your car, and I've probably listened to that thing...I've probably worn it out about 30 times already now, because I listen to it everywhere I go.
JOHN: Well, needless to say, No BS Photo Success has been a success for you, hasn't it?
CHASITY: Yes, it has.
JOHN: Well we want to thank you for joining us today on the Digital Photography Shoptalk, Chasity.
CHASITY: Thank you for having me.
JOHN: Certainly. We have been speaking with Troy, Texas, photographer, Chasity Blackwell, of Blackwell Photography, and you have been listening to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. I'm your host, John Bentley. Thanks for joining us today.
Everyone have a good afternoon.
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