We Like Being Different! {Knoxville Professional Photographers | Allan and Lisa Mueller}

Professional photographers all know how to take photographs, some are better at composition, lighting, post-processing or posing, but in general, to be a professional and get paid you have to be a pretty darned good photographer. So if every other professional photographer in your area is fairly great at taking a photograph, how do you set yourself apart from everyone else and create imagery that will get attention?

Offering an unbelievable experience to your customers is one way, but you aren't the only one who will be doing this. Delivering exceptional photographs and related products at a reasonable price isn't going to have folks banging down your door either. So, now you are sitting there trying to figure out how your photography business is different than the photographers down the street. Once you come up with some ideas, think about how you will execute on them. Chances are, in order to really and truly set yourself apart, you are going to have to invest a chunk of your hard-earned cash.

Several years ago we attended Imaging USA, which is the annual convention of the Professional Photographers of America, in Tampa, FL and we saw something that we were sure would set us apart from all the other photographers in Knoxville. What did we see? The Scene Machine from Virtual Backgrounds!  We happened upon the Virtual Background booth and had a wonderful conversation with Shirley Robinson, a photographer from Colorado who was working the booth. She had been using the Scene Machine for her boudoir photography business for many years and provided us with a lot of great information. This conversation led to lots of conversations between Allan and I and ultimately we decided to purchase a Scene Machine and 10' X 10' background.

We decided to set ourselves apart from all the other photographers in the Knoxville area by providing our client's with a virtually limitless collection of backgrounds. Not only can we photograph client's anywhere they choose outdoors, we also have hundreds of choices of backgrounds, featuring both indoor and outdoor scenes, for them to choose. How many different backgrounds can you incorporate into an hour session? Four or five? Maybe six. How many do you think our clients can have? The answer: A lot!

Right about now, you are probably curious how the Virtual Background System works and although we like to tell people it's magic, you can follow this link for a complete explanation. Images in this post are from yesterday's session and feature the use of a colored gel with the Virtual Background System. These images also feature Photoshop actions and effects available from design house. We'll be sharing more images shot incorporating the Virtual Background System on our Facebook page over the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

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ALM Photo :: Pierre Steenekamp Corporate Portrait Session

Pierre Steenekamp
COO/Managing Director
Bel-Essex Corporation
Knoxville, Tennessee


Allan had a corporate portrait session with Pierre, who needed some professional photographs to use in company printed materials, as well as for the board room. As you can see, Allan was able to capture several different expressions from Pierre while still keeping them very professional. These photographs were captured against a dark grey background, but soon ALM Photo will be able to incorporate their Virtual Background system into their portrait work for an infinite number of background options. Stay tuned to this blog to follow the completion of the ALM Photo studio and the installation of the Virtual Background system. It's going to be like nothing you have ever seen before. We guarantee it...

Contact ALM Photo should you have a need for corporate portraits for advertising, business cards, websites, blogs, or conference rooms.

ALM Photo: Studio Update #2

It snowed, it rained and it rained some more, but that hasn't slowed the progress on the ALM Photo studio construction. Each day brings the dream a little closer to reality. The photographs below are from earlier this week and show the debris strewn about the yard is not the aftermath of a tornado but in fact materials necessary to successfully construct the structure. Please note that in the case of the middle photograph, snow did not make everything look prettier, but at least we had some snow.

More Updates: The Virtual Background System delivery (Part One) arrived yesterday. We can't wait to demonstrate this fantastic system to everyone. It will be a tremndous asset for photographing portraits in the studio and shooting on-site events.

We are eagerly looking forward to the WPPI Convention in Las Vegas and will be there March 14th through 19th. There are many great presenters and a huge tradeshow so we will return brimming full of knowledge and Allan will have visions of new equipment, software and gear in his head.

:: Portraits ::

Experience the excitement of an ALM Photo portrait session. We’ll capture the fresh, high-energy, professional images you really want while having an incredibly great time. The possibilities are endless!

Portrait sessions are the perfect choice for family reunions, senior portraits, holiday family portraits, pets, children and expectant mothers.

Session may be at up to two locations of your choice or in our studio. Studio session includes four wardrobe changes and choice of two backgrounds.
$250

Please inquire about out-of-town, glamour and model portfolio session prices.

All portrait session printed products are offered ala carte.

~Spring 2009~ ALM Photo will soon be offering an exclusive background system with hundreds of exciting backgrounds in our studio. Come see what sets us apart and experience the future in studio photography!

Contact Lisa to schedule your Creative Consultation at 865-406-3870 or lisa@almphoto.com.

All portrait photographic proofs will be available for viewing on-line for up to 90 days. 2-for-1 prints are offered during the first 30 days.

All portrait sessions are within 25 miles of Knoxville.

We are back from Texas...finally

Allan and I returned from our trip to the Virtual Backgrounds workshop in San Marcos, Texas late last night. It was a great learning experience and we can't wait to get our Scene Machine Digital system and start taking awesome photographs with the Virtual Background System. For those of you who don't know what this is you will find out as soon as our studio is completed and we have an Open House celebration complete with demonstrations.

Virtual Backgrounds workshop room

Jim Wilson taught us how to use the Scene Machine, Dr. Henry Oles spoke to us about what he incorporated into his booklet titled "Perfect Storm- What Every Studio Photographer Needs to Know Not Only to Survive but Also Grow Bottom Line Profits in Difficult Times" and we learned a tremendous amount of marketing information from Greg Stangl. All in all it was a terrific experience and we met many wonderful fellow professional photographers from across the country including one couple who traveled from Austria. I almost forgot...we got to eat lunch and dinner in an actual railroad car and, honestly, you don't get to do that everyday. Pretty cool.

Of course it wasn't all work and no play for us...we found a great bar in San Marcos that may be franchising soon across the country. Bikini's Sports Bar and Grill was a very unique establishment with beautiful waitresses, a fantastic bartender named Amanda (I dubbed her specially concocted margarita the "Amandarita" and admit to having way too many...but that is another story).

We will be traveling back to San Marcos again soon and look forward to spending some more time seeing the sights, drinking some more Amandaritas, checking out the local scenery and taking some photographs.

PS Don't forget about the Daytona 500 on Sunday!

Schedule Update

ALM Photo will be traveling to San Marcos, Texas on February 9th through 15th for a workshop at Virtual Backgrounds. In addition to building a photography studio, ALM Photo has several technological advances up our sleeves to make your photographic experience truly amazing and different from anything you have experienced before. We will post updates on the studio construction when we return.