Custom Concept Photography » For Photographers

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes … at Custom Concept Photography

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:15:25 +0000

Serving you better by appointment only.

Spring changes are all around. At Custom Concept Photography we are changing also to serve you better. Over the last 12 years we have had regular studio hours. As the photography industry changes so must we. Trish and I find that we are out of the studio more often and prefer not to put up a sign saying,

“Sorry for the inconvenience. We are out on a Photo shoot and will be back at 4:00pm.”

No one likes to show up at a business and find they are closed at that time. For that reason effective April 5th Custom Concept Photography will be by appointment only. Other than that business still carries on as usual. We feel this shouldn’t affect photography that much as most of our photography is done by appointment already. Our framing clients will now have to book in rather than walk in. Pick ups will be similar too.

We understand that there will be an adjustment period for a short time. We apologize for that, but in the long run it will make business more efficient.

We thank you for your patience and Trish and I look forward to growing personally and as a business. This adjustment will give us the time needed to get out of the studio to meet with clients and network with other business professionals without disappointing a pop-in client.

If you have any questions please feel free to call the studio and talk with Trish or I at 519.425.1249.

Best regards,

Trevor and Trish

SNA-YYZ… A Photo Documentary

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:03:23 +0000

Education is the key to the future. I LOVE going to seminars & classes to refine my skills as a photographer and business owner. After a full day of education in Irvine California, meeting some amazing photographers and enjoying some great food, I was on a plane headed back to Canada. Thanks to Lawrence Chan and Jeff Jochum for coordinating & hosting Startup Strategies. Thank you to Dawn Davis, Jessica Claire & Me Ra Koh for sharing your stories. (and thank you to Trevor for staying home with Tristan & Sterling to allow me pursue my passion – I love you!)

Here is a photo documentary of my flight from SNA – YYZ. Enjoy! These images were all photographed on our Canon G11.

Enjoy!

Trish

Letterpress! Alive and well in the Ontario wedding industry | feat’r Verity Ink Invitations

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:15:56 +0000

Letterpress wedding invitations

A short time ago I went to a Wedding Professionals get together at Nicole Sagert’s lovely home in Corunna (right beside Sarnia). As it turned out only a bunch of crazy photographers attended, to Nicole’s delight. (She loves photographers and admits to stalking them and that they are the coolest people)

Along with wanting to meet some new friends in the industry I was mainly there to see her latest business adventure in action. LETTERPRESS.

Nicole owns Verity Ink. Here is a little bit about Nicole from her blog…

custom wedding invitations for the sophisticated bride

About Nicole

I have been passionate about creating cards for almost ten years now, and am loving the creativity and perfection required to design custom wedding invitations. I have designed invitations for friends’ weddings in the past and enjoyed the process. I have also successfully sold my cards in a couple of gift stores, and made thousands over the years. It doesn’t get old.

I have diverse interests: I love stamping, and scrapbooking and reading, but also love being on a motorcycle when I can get a ride. I love tattoos, and Halo 3. I enjoy a quiet night in, or the company of good friends. New friendships is one of the perks of a career like this!

I have been happily married for nine years, and have three beautiful children; Judah, Levi and Trinity.

I live in Corunna, only 15kms south of Sarnia, and am loving this new venture of creating custom wedding invitations. It requires a lot of perfection and creativity and it has been a great outlet for me as a work-at-home mom.

Recently Nicole has immersed herself in the world of letterpress. It is an old form of printing that can’t be reproduced by modern technology. So she recently bought a 1910 letterpress in the states and is honing her skills to produce unique wedding invitations and business cards for the sophisticated bride and business person. Here is a little fusion video of my visit to her home. I love how Petro, a London Photographer, was wondering where to insert his memory stick to download the file of his business card. LOL.

I asked Nicole a few questions about what her letterpress machine (they named her FREEDOM) meant to her. In her words, here is what she said…

“I fell in love with letterpress when I was first creating wedding invitations last March. I knew how to create cards, I wasn’t sure I knew how to create an invitation. So I looked online for inspiration, and over and over the ones that I loved were letterpressed. I knew that once I had established myself in the industry, doing letterpress was the direction I wanted to go.
Letterpress is a tactile experience. With cotton papers that weigh more than your average cardstock, and text and images that are pushed into the paper, there is a depth to the invitation that cannot be repeated by any other method.

Presses are hard to come by. There has been a renewed interest in them lately, but because of their bulk, and displacement due to offset printing in the last few decades, many presses were scraped.

We found our press due to a very serendipitous and blessed set of circumstances. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be looking this soon in my business venture, but I had a lot of encouragement from a couple of photographers, who had looked for letterpress business cards locally with no success. For something so hard to come by, we actually found ours in the Port Huron museum, only 20 mins away.

Our press is an Chandler and Price, 12 by 18, and was made in 1910. This 100 year old piece of machinery weighs about 2400lbs, and Brad and I named her Freedom. With the amount of interest in letterpress being renewed, and the lack of letterpress printers in South Western Ontario, our goal is for us to be busy enough in the next couple of years for Brad to be able to retire from his day job, and the two of us to work together at home running Verity Ink.

I love the wedding industry. I love being a part of a bride’s special day. I love being able to bring her vision to life. And I love the hands-on experience of running the press.”

~Nicole

If you need any letterpress work done for Wedding Invitations or Business cards, give Nicole a call. 519.481.0738 or email at verityink@gmail.com

Fanshawe College visits Custom Concept Photography

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:44:10 +0000

Fanshawe College Photography 3rd year class

A couple weeks ago Brian Lee of Fanshawe College asked if he could bring his 3rd year photography students in for a tour of our studio and talk to them about photography and the business of photography. What an honour to be asked and a chance to help guide some some young photography minds. We took this opportunity to tell the story of Custom Concept Photography and the ups and downs of owning your own business and hopefully they will learn from our mistakes and successes. We had a great time with the students and at the end recorded the experience with a group shot. As you can see the photography world will be taken over by Women. Way to go ladies! Brian Lee was a great sport and had a great time in the toddlers chair.

We wish all the third year students all the success in the world! Please keep in touch.

Trish and Trevor

Fun with FUsioN at Custom Concept Photography

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:17:04 +0000

HOSTS

THE JASON GROUPP

FUN WITH FUSION

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010

Cadence and Eli’s IHNY Session from Jason Groupp on Vimeo.

So you bought your new Nikon D300s or D3s, or Canon 5d mkII or maybe even a 1ds mkIV. Now what? You’ve heard about fusion. Maybe you have surfed the net and fell in love the work Still Motion creates. BUT, where do you start?

Fresh off his speaking dates at MYSTIC 5 and WPPI, New York city photographer Jason Groupp has the answer with his Fun with FUsioN workshop

In Jason words, here is a description of what you will learn.

“Fun with FUsioN”
What is Fusion you ask? Fusion is the marriage of photography and video.

Over the last two years, Lindsey and I have been working to incorporate this new medium into our work. With our knowledge of photography and using the equipment that we already have, we’re on the road to becoming “film makers”. Though, it may appear relatively easy, there is most certainly a learning curve. Let’s just say, with every project we learn something new. We have spent countless hours figuring out the possible pitfalls of capturing great video. We’ll share those with you, so you don’t have to make the mistakes we’ve made.

Stills + Video at the same time? How do we do it? We have systematically created techniques where we can capture both great still shots and beautiful video footage. Managing both is not an easy task – but, trust me, it CAN be done!

You don’t know how to edit video? No worries!! We use the programs, Imovie and Animoto, to create our videos. We’ll walk you through our workflow, show you lots of shortcuts, and the keys to making a masterpiece.

We will also discuss how videos can be used as great marketing tools for your studio. We all know that in our business it’s all about personality! People love feeling like they can connect to you and your work. With the web leading the way in communication, it is important to make your website/blog really stand out. Short videos are a perfect way to add that missing ingredient!!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there is another tiny perk to “FUsioN”. MORE MONEY! I know you all want to hear about that!

Please, join us for a day of fun filled FUsioN learning. We will show you everything from the gear we use, to our workflow, to quick, easy steps to guaranteed success.

What you need to bring: (but not necessary!!)

-Your laptop loaded with the latest version of Imovie ‘09
-Some pictures and video loaded on your desktop

NOTE:
***We spend a good portion of time in Imovie, we wish there was a PC equivalent, but there isn’t. There’s still much to learn for everyone, but we don’t want anyone to be disappointed!

The man himself.

What: Fun with FUsioN by JASON GROUPP

Where: Custom Concept Photography

115 Thames Street South, INGERSOLL, ON

Cost: $99.00USD / person + $12 for lunch = about $111.00 **

When: Wednesday April 28th, 2010

Time: 10:00 to 3:00 with a one hour lunch break to meet new friends.

So contact us at Custom Concept Photography, 519-425-1249 or info@customconcept.ca for more info and to sign up.

Trevor Roberts

Studio Director

Custom Concept Photography

** $99.00 USD will be paid to Jason Groupp through his Paypal account on his website, then simply bring $12 for lunch which I will have catered by the The Olde Bakery Cafe in Ingersoll.