Photography | jm images

Getting ready to roll….04.05.12

So much has been happening in the lives of the Maher’s and JM Images the past few months. Many months actually. Not to dwell on the past to much as it is just that, my mother has been in and out of the hospital the past four months. There was a span of nine weeks she spent at UPMC in Pittsburgh. She will be returning home(again) tomorrow after another two day stay on the 7th floor. Shewwww……..

During more of my time away from the studio I had what I thought was going to be a quick and simple meniscus surgery. Out patient surgery. Well, seems my meniscus was torn in three areas and my cartilage was “old” and I had a rather large issue with arthritis that was not part of the plan. All this means is that I am six weeks non weight bearing on my knee. (as opposed to four days of rehab for a minor procedure)

During this time there have been a few mishaps with the studio space. If you are local you may have noticed an excavator to the side of the studio. If not local, well, there was a HUGE mess. Seems the sewer backed up and flooded my studio basement. This too has been repaired. There have also been a few orders that had taken a little longer than normal (for those of you that have been effected I do apologize and have apologized) and have either been ordered or will be ordered this week or have been delivered and you will be called.

During this time though I have had some great things happen that may not have happened otherwise. I have worked on a new website (same basic look but a little cleaner), have reworked my site as it had been hacked into a few months back. (ALMOST finished with the reworked site. Wedding images are to be uploaded this week.) I have also made a few new friendships (locally and nationally ) in the business that I may not have had I not been overwhelmed these past few months. I know it is hard for some to believe, but a lot of us photographers are friends and do go out for lunch and talk business and non business. There is an old saying that your best photo friends live out of state. That said, I have many out of state photographer friends but I also have a few here in Grove City and Slippery Rock, Butler, Pittsburgh. (Not to mention a really cool cat name Mr. Fawkes from Australia who helped me out with a lot of good ideas to rework my images and gave me some positive feedback about what I was already doing)I also got to reconnect with Skip Cohen over the phone (met him a few hers back in Vegas during WPPI and again during his inaugural Skip’s Summer School) and he gave me some great advice and also critiqued part of my site/blog/work and have me some personal advise that I have taken to heart. I would suggest checking out Skip’s blog even if you are not a photographer. If nothing else read his Sunday Morning Reflections posts. (check out one here) He is just a great writer and can bring a smile to your day.

Sometimes you need to embrace the bad times to make work of the good times.

Lastly, I want to make you that you stay tuned to my site and studio . I am so excited to share a few of my new ideas and another side of my photography in the next few months. If you liked JM Images before I know you will LOVE the new things coming up!

Thanks for reading!

Joe

1 COMMENT|POSTED IN Attitude, Personal, Photography

New Stuff (images from a notebook)06.08.11

So I was wandering around an antique Store and I came across a couch. really nice couch. Figured I needed it and really wanted it for a few sessions I had coming up. Plus, every photographer needs a couch. As I was waiting for a price on the couch I looked over and noticed a really cool, really beautiful vintage wedding dress. I normally don’t check out dresses but being a wedding photographer I notice wedding dresses. I looked at the dress and thought of a girl I photographed a few years ago and hoped she would fit in the gown. While I was deciding to buy or not buy the dress I remembered my notebook I keep in the event ideas pop into my head. I write them down and put them away until I have time to work on new things. Figured it was a good time to freshen up the portfolio. So, I picked up the dress and the couch and made arrangements with Marissa and here is a sampling of what we came up with.

Enjoy!

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Grove City Seniors!05.26.11

Hello there soon to be seniors! After the PIAA State Championships this weekend look for Evyn and ask for her Jm Images card! There are more goodies involved than what is on the card, but the cards are small and putting all the goodness on them is, well, just not possible!

Ohh my…. do not forget the new, rebranded, cooler looking (dare I use the term ‘swanky’?) “joe shot me” t-shirts that will be included in your session!

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More Seniors09.10.10

Busy time of the year! Love it!

And now…. back to work.

(Have I mentioned that I love my job?)

1 COMMENT|POSTED IN Photography, Portraits, Senior Portraits

Dance07.07.10

Something new for me this time. I have decided to go outside of my comfort zone and work on a dance project. Since I know nothing about dance (other than what my niece has told me from time to time) I was at the mercy of my assistant Jill and the knowledge from my subjects. I cannot really remember the names of the positions but I do know these girls knew what they were doing.

Lexi was a huge help. (I still do not remember the positions she was spouting out) But she was very helpful and a very fun subject.

I really like these images

I also learned there is an Acro dance style. This little dancer was amazing.

We also took a walk outside and they all played it up very well. I will show those tomorrow.

1 COMMENT|POSTED IN Children, Dance, Personal, Photography

Quick post05.04.10

Just a few images from a quick dress shoot the other evening. Again, I love my job! Such a nice girl! I look forward to working with her a little later in the month! Thanks Julianne.

LOVE this image.

This shot may be my favorite.

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One last shoot before college05.01.10

Just a little something fun and quick. I have had the pleasure of photographing Alexa in the past and we got together one more time before she graduates and heads off to college.

Alexa and her mom have been great these past 12 months or so. Anytime I wanted to try something new or wanted to get the word out they were always able and willing! Good luck at college Alexa!

This shot might be may favorite of the shoot.

2 COMMENTS|POSTED IN Photography, Portraits

Information Thursday04.08.10

It is a good great idea to look at photographs if you want to get better. You can look at Aunt Alice’s photographs from the Summer trip of 1976, and learn all the names of your long lost or deceased relatives. But that is not what I am talking about. Sure you may find out where Uncle Ray got that odd shaped head, but you probably won’t learn what a work of art looks like.

So, I highly suggest you click on the links that will lead you to a few of my favorite photographers that I have been following for years. When you are browsing through these artists feel free to click on a few of the links that will be on other pages. Find what inspires you, what trips your trigger, and look at the light. Light is everything with a photograph. Ahhh, yes. Light is everything with a great photograph.

Enjoy these artists. Some you will love, some you will not like. Others, well, you may scratch your head. But, they all have had impact on me in some way.

Robert Capa for his work (and much more than) on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944.

Diane Arbus

Garry Winogrand

Robert Frank

Helmut Newton (not for everyone)

W. Eugene Smith (one of my favorite photographers)

Weegee (what is not to like)

Minor White

Herb Ritts

Ansel Adams (My other favorite photographer)

Annie Leibovitz (She took the last photograph of John and Yoko)

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Easter Portraits04.05.10

Just a few pics while spending Easter Sunday with the family.

Janet… my bride of 15 years (and the look I get a lot of the time)

My sister Anne. (turned 45 <yep, that is right> the day before Easter)

A few of my Niece who LOVES being photographed. Never an issue when I ask her if she would like to take a few pics.

This was just funny!

She also likes to take time out and tease like her Uncle

And I met this little sweetheart while her family ate with ours. I mean, really…. how cute is this little angle…..

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A print may be a print but it is not art03.29.10

From time to time I like to “RE-BLOG” a subject that I feel needs to be brought up more than once or twice. It deals with the difference between SOC (Straight Out of Camera) images, tweaked images and One Hour Photo print quality. When I do this I take one images and show you the SOC images, my tweaked image that I get printed at my pro lab and my SOC images printed at the local One Hour Photo LAB. My intent is not to discredit the one hour lab(s) or their employees. It is to show the difference between the “day to day” local photo lab and the professional lab I use. It is also meant to educate a little on the difference between the SOC images and the tweaked/retouched/mental final image I had in my mind while shooting. This is not a post to explain why you pay under $3.00 for a 5×7 at your local One Hour lab and why I charge $24 for the same size print. (a-la-carte) The two are totally different beasts. In fact, the $24 for an image done by me is not a print at all. I don’t sell prints. I think of it as my clients purchasing memories for their children and their children’s children. They can get prints and pictures anywhere. I want my clients to take home art and memories, not pictures. At any rate, the results below I think are pretty obvious.

This image is SOC. I do set my camera settings to shoot a little more saturated and I add a little less contrast in my personal settings. Shot on manual setting and then under exposed 2/3 of a stop.

This second image is the print that was printed at a local One Hour Lab. Again, my SOC image above was an automated print at my pro lab and the one below was an automated print from an OHL.

This image is the one that I tweaked in Photoshop. I had the final image in my head as how i wanted it to look and how I thought the client wanted the shoot to feel. I under exposed the shot so I would be able to achieve the feel/look when I uploaded it into Photoshop.

There is a difference in quality and quality control. There is a difference in SOC and tweaked images. Because of this there is also a difference in the thought process. When it comes right down to it, when you purchase a print from me or another photography studio you are paying for the artistic vision of the photographer and therefor you are paying for and adding value to your children’s memories. Please remember that the 5×7 print you pay $3.00 for at the local One Hour Lab is not the same print you pay for from your professional photographer. You are not paying for a print or pictures… you are paying for memories that your children and grandchildren will have when they look at the images 5-10-20 years from now.

2 COMMENTS|POSTED IN Photography