Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

A few days after each wedding, a customer satisfaction survey is sent via email to the client. This survey was just returned.
Q. Do you feel the team as Solaris Studios responded in a timely manner to any questions you may have presented?
A. Yes
Q. Did your photographer show up on time for your wedding?
A. Yes
Q. [...]

It’s Monday, and Monday’s are reserved for the following tasks.
First, I have to secure the images that were taken during the previous weekend’s wedding. This means downloading compact flash cards to the server, and initiating a drive to drive backup.
Next, all of the raw images need to be backed up to DVD [...]

One of my goals is to help other photographers, and one way I plan on doing this is by creating an additional 10 spots on the first page of Google through a website called Ten Houston Wedding Photographers.com
Well, if only for a moment, the site was actually located on the first page [...]

I arrived at the church on time. As a wedding photographer, on time for me is 20 minutes early.
Nobody was there. Another 20 minutes pass, and still no one. 45 minutes before the wedding is to start and a groomsmen arrives, so I finally get confirmation I am in the [...]

I am contractually obligated to show up at a specific time, and a specific place, each weekend. And, I must be prepared to perform to the best of my abilities. Which means there is some prep work before heading out to photograph a wedding.
Primarily, I am getting my equipment ready. [...]

I’ll be speaking for two hours on Tuesday of next week from 7-9pm to The Houston Photographic Society on how to transition from an amateur photographer to a professional photographer. It will be only a faction of what I will communicate in my all day workshop in April, but I promise everyone [...]

I have selected a date for my next in studio workshop. On April 2nd I will be holding an all day workshop here at the studio going over the business of wedding photography. If you are thinking of becoming a wedding photographer, you’ll want to stop what you are doing and sign up [...]

Today’s blog entry has very little to do with photography. It’s really just kind of a fun story.
It’s Saturday, and normally I have a wedding on Saturday, but not today. I’m looking forward to a nice “date night” with my wife.
So, I’m just waking up and I hear a loud scratching. I [...]

My mission statement is very simple and is composed of two parts. I want to help as many families as I can with my artwork, and I want to help as many photographers as I can with my knowledge.
One challenge for many photographers today is to obtain a respectable ranking on many of the [...]

I have been thinking about my studio space the past few months as my five year lease in my current location is going to expire in exactly one year and four days from today. Currently I am located in a very nice professional tower, in a very nice part of Houston, and I have [...]

When planning a wedding there are many items that go on a list that must be researched, the perfect solution found, and then marked off the list. One of these items is finding a photographer that suits a couple’s needs. Being a bride-to-be is an exciting time yet it can also be quite [...]

u5c3gdv24m

My beautiful wife, Toni, is the general manager of Chili’s on the corner 0f 290 and 1960 in northwest Houston. Currently,  a all of the general managers in the Houston area are having an internal contest.
A margarita contest!
Come join me for margaritas tonight at 5:30 at the Chili’s on the corner of 290 and 1960 [...]

Straight from the middle-of-the-night keystrokes of Aric himself, Aric’s newsletters are full of thoughts and real world examples about photography and the business of photography from the point of view of Aric.
No matter what the subject matter, there’s always a photographic tip or a new resource for you to discover. Aric’s newsletters are [...]

We are proud to announce that Solaris has been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2008/2009 Pick. Please pick up a copy of The Knot Best of Weddings 2009 magazine and check our our listing.
This is a back to back award for Solaris, both in 2008 and 2009, making [...]

Well I finished photographing the last of the 30 families yesterday, and I just want to say thanks to everyone! That was a bit of a large task. Many of you have already ordered your 8×10s and I hope they bring you years of enjoyment.
I’ll be putting the rest of the images online [...]

Below are the available times for members of The NWHMOM who had to cancel due to bad weather. Please leave a comment to schedule a time.
The location has not changed and is still at Burnet Park on Telge.
Saturday 4/11
9:00 am
9:30 am  The Terry Family
10:00 am  The Meyers Family
5:00 pm  The Powell Family
5:30 pm
6:00 pm
6:30 [...]

Lensbaby

OK Everyone, here’s the schedule. Here’s how this works. I have scheduled different days for outdoors and studio sessions, and each day has multiple time slots.
Find a time slot that you would like.
Look over the comments of this blog entry to see if anyone has claimed the time slot already. If the [...]

This has probably been seen already by every person looking at this entry, but I just found it. It has the entire audio which I found interesting. Everyone was very professional.

Just to keep things straight, the following is a list of the families that have responded to, and are participating in The Northwest Houston Mothers of Multiples special. This special offer is limited to the first 30 families that respond.
1)  The Worster Family
2)  The Clynes Family (Studio)
3)  The Ciment Family   (Studio)
4)  The Minson Family [...]

Well, I am in the studio bright and early today. Left for the studio at about 5:30 this morning, and I am excited to be here. I have a good amount of production going on.
1) Digitally enhancing the last few images from my recent shoot in Germany.
2) Downloading and backing up [...]

Can someone help me? Stumbleupon is not letting me stumble my own page. Would someone be kind enough to stumble http://tinyurl.com/aosfnw
Thank you.

Today I have launched a new addition to the Solaris Site. If you are interested in the business of wedding photography, then this is the site for you!
http://www.solarisstudios.com/shop
Tell me what you think!

Two free round-trip airline tickets to Hawaii!  That’s right!  For a limited time, for one couple, we will purchase two round trip airline tickets to Hawaii when you book with Solaris!  Restrictions apply.  Call for details!

Well, I have to admit that I have been surfing through all of my favorite photography blogs looking for images from the inauguration.
How about some images from space!

(This is a copy and paste of an email sent out to people scheduled to attend our Business of Wedding Photography Workshop)

First, I want to thank each of you for signing up for my workshop.  At the time of this letter, $1925 has been donated to The Staudt Family to help their fight with cancer.  Thank you [...]

The new official portrait of Obama was released today.  It was taken by the official White House Photographer, Pete Souza.  Frankly, I really don’t think much of the portrait.  It is interesting to note that this is the first presidential portrait taken with a digital camera! 
Someday, I will photograph a past or current president in a portrait [...]

So what do I have to do to come up with the shots that I create for my clients on their honeymoon? The process is probably very close to what you would imagine. There is more to it that what I am about to write, but I do want to share the basics.
Once [...]

I have been working on album design most of the day today, but I took a small break to read some of my favorite photography sites and I found a video of one of my favorite photographers, using a set of lighting equipment that I have had my eye on for some time.
Annie Leibovitz shooting [...]

Well, we are all happy here as my son is now wearing big boy underwear!  He gets a reward every time  he tells us he needs to go potty. 
A crazy tattoo!  

On the plane to Paris. Have to de-ice the wings before we can depart.

Yesterday was my third and final day with my clients. Today I return to Houston while my clients continue in their honeymoon to Paris.
Here are some images I captured with my iPhone yesterday on our way to and after our shoot.

Well, it’s 7:45 am and I’ve just finished my breakfast.  I am to meet with my clients inthe loby at 8:15 so we can catch a train to todays destination.  I will be taking my iPhone, so I can blog from the train ride.
Here is an additional image that we created yesterday in The Royal [...]

It’s almost 2am here in Munich. I set my alarm to go off at 1am so I could video chat with my wife and kids at 6pm in Houston. I have to get up in 5 hours, but before I collapse, I wanted to share another image from our adventure. Very little [...]

Posting this while at The Hofbeauhaus.

Keep in mind that this is pre-photoshop.  Just a bit of color balancing.  This is one of about 600 images I created this morning.  Things are going very well!

I will post some more images from this amazing trip in a few hours. First, I need to get some sleep.

Getting ready for my first shoot!  Breakfast just arrived at my door.  It’s 1am in Houston, and 8am here.
We have two locations we will be shooting today, and I will probably shoot close to 2000 images.
Wish me luck!  It is going to be so amazing!