September Gardens

Photos from trips last week to the Florida Botanical Gardens, USF Botanical Gardens, and Eureka Springs Park. The first set is from Eureka Springs, a small Hillsborough County park near the Vandenberg Airport just north of I-4.

Thanks to insomnia, I woke up early enough one morning to make the roughly hour-long drive to the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo to get there before 7:30 a.m. It opens at 7 a.m. so you can get the early morning soft light, and dew on some of the flowers. It was worth the trip, though a breeze made it hard at times. Moving plants equal blurry pictures.

After that, I got greedy, took a detour on my way home, and went to the USF Botanical Gardens. I fought the wind again, but clouds helped soften the harsh midday sun.

Family Photography Shoot

First of all, welcome to a slightly new look to the blog. I tweaked the code to eliminate right-hand side column to allow room for larger slide shows. Of course, you an always see examples of our photography at www.photoquist.com.

I wanted the expanded layout to show off some photos from a shoot I had yesterday in Tampa's Lettuce Lake Park. The shoot with Brad, Fumi and their darling six-year-old daughter Maiko was great fun. The predicted rain held off and the cloudy skies helped our cause by diffusing the sun.

Anyway, let me stop rambling for a moment so you can see some of the shots!



The park is a good venue. It has a boardwalk, lots of woods and shade trees (also good for softening sunlight) as well as playground equipment and a swing set. But on those it was hard to keep Maiko still long enough to snap off a photo! I thought the bubbles might make for some interesting photos and Brad brought the bubble-making gear. Maiko didn't stand in one place very long for that, either! Fortunately, I also brought a pad of paper and a couple of pens. Drawing gave her something to do while keeping her stationary -- for a little while!

Another Testimonial

I got an e-mail today from someone featured in one of the galleries on our website.  She had offered to write a recommendation. Sure enough, she did!

Working with John was great. My husband and I had not taken any "professional" photos together and we thought it would be quite awkward. It was opposite! John did a great job of making us feel comfortable. We had such a blast on the shoot and the photos showed it! I loved that we were able to see the photos right there on the spot and not have to wait. We were so pleased that we referred some friends to John and will keep doing so in the future.

Thank you, Erica! That was awesome! If I could put words in someone's mouth (or their typing fingers, I suppose) I could not have done better. I'm glad she mentioned that she and her husband had a good time. It's supposed to be fun!

Here are some of the shots from that shoot:



The framing was primarily vertical but I shot some horizontally.



While I like to think that the photos speak for themselves, it is truly great when the people in the pictures are willing to speak for them too!

See more singles, couples and family photography at Philip Randolph Parker.

Viewer Mail

Not viewer mail, exactly, but an e-mail from a visitor to our website. She was a referral (very cool!) and "very very interested" in hiring me (very very cool!).

She had some questions about the service and how the shoots worked. Things like how much direction do I give versus the client choosing his/her poses, shooting at multiple locations and having wardrobe changes.

I wrote a detailed note answering them and thought I'd share it here in case it helped anyone else better understand the business model of Philip Randolph Parker Photography.

Hi C-----,

Thank you for checking out my site! I appreciate the interest.

The pictures I shot with Jahara were great fun. I made suggestions for some of the shots -- like the ones when she walked on the railroad tracks in her heels (what a good sport she was!) -- for others she did what she wanted and I tried to capture the moment.

It's a collaborative process where we bounce ideas off of each other so that we get the shots you want for your portfolio and I get to brag that I took them!

For the $200 you get digital copies of ALL the shots we take on our shoot. I don't remember how many shots I took with Jahara. My most recent shoot with a couple and their 8-month-old daughter was 380 shots. They're not all great shots, I'll tell you that up front. No photographer is going to nail every single frame.

And some shots are very similar as I snap several frames of every pose we do. Of those 380 shots with that couple and their daughter, I posted 14 on my website — the ones I considered the best of the best. There are 19 of from my shoot Jahara on my site. She might be able to tell you how many shots she considers portfolio-worthy.

Remember, you don't pay me until you've seen the photos and decide they're worth it. We'll review them on my laptop right after the shoot. Of course, if you decide they're not worth paying for, you don't get to keep them.

I provide only digital copies. Many photographers will have low-priced session fees and then require that you buy your prints from them. That's pretty standard in photography and I don't want to give you the impression that you're getting ripped off if you hire a photographer who works that way. But, at least for now, I don't. I give you digital copies that you can take to any printer you choose. I've used Wal-Mart and been pleased with the results.

As for shooting in a garden and in Ybor City, I designed the $200 service for single location shoots. That's mainly because the early morning light that gives us the best photos lasts for only a few hours. We'd lose too much of that light driving from one place to another. It's better to spend that time shooting.

Wardrobe changes are no problem as long as they don't take too long. You might remember a shot I took of Jahara as she put on a boot during the wardrobe change she did on our shoot. Another couple featured on my website's gallery page — Erica and Brandon — also brought a change of clothes and changed up their look. Just remember that we have a limited window — one to three hours — of really good light to work with.

I'll be happy to call you to talk more about what kinds of shots you want and to set up a time, let me know when a good time to reach you is.

Have a great day!

John McQuiston

For more information about singles, couples & family photography — including location portraits and engagement sessions, visit www.photoquist.com.

Testimonial

As much as I love to tell you how wonderful my work is -- just ask! -- it is much more convincing if the kind words come from someone I've shot.

Here are a few frames from a shoot I did back in January with a young lady named Jahara.



One thing I really loved about shooting with her was how expressive she was. It looked like I had more than one model on the shoot. She wasn't afraid to have fun. The really cute shot of her sticking out her tongue didn't come from any direction I gave. I think she was just teasing her husband standing near me and I caught it. Those are the best shots -- the ones where people aren't posing, they're being themselves and I make sure I'm ready to capture it.

Enough of my words. The point of this is to hear from Jahara.

The shoot I had with John back in January was a blast! The photos turned out great and it was such a pleasure working with him!! I loved how comfortable and easy it was. I definitely plan on another session soon!

-Jahara

Thank you!

For more examples of singles, couples or family photography, visit http://www.personal-documentary.com/photography/.

And They're Off!

Ah, the handy racing cliche on the day we launch the new photography website and its companion blog. (That would be the one you're reading right now.)

When a 50-1 shot whose owner towed him 17 hours from New Mexico to Louisville wins the Kentucky Derby, that gives hope to a lot of long shots.

I lived and worked as a TV sports reporter in Lexington, Kentucky for three years. As you might imagine, I spent a lot of time covering racing. Central Kentucky is known for two things: the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Basketball.

I learned a lot about the race that dates back to 1875 — only 10 years after the Civil War ended! — and has run every single year since. Two world wars and one Great Depression failed to stop the streak.

Though I still watch the Triple Crown races, I've lost touch with the sport since I moved back to Florida. I do visit our local track, Tampa Bay Downs, but it's mostly to take pictures. My last trip was a couple weeks ago. Here are a few of the shots:

Welcome!

Pardon the sawdust as we get the new blog and website going. As you may have surmised, this one centers on photography. In particular, photography by a new company in the Tampa, Florida area formed to provide such a service.

I wanted the blog to have a plain design to match that of the new PRP website, which has an acutely simple layout. The reason is not because I'm lazy. Or that I'm a largely unskilled web designer. Or some devious combination of the two.

The idea was that the plain site would help the photography stand out.

Oh, and I should mention that "I" am John. The name Philip Randolph Parker comes from the middle names of me and my brothers. While, as you know, there is "no I in T-E-A-M," for the moment I am the team. I take the photos, I build the website and I write the blog.

They really are labors of love. But sometimes they are labors!

They are also works in progress. However you happened to have stumbled across this, I welcome your feedback — nay, I implore you for it.

If nothing else, the creation of even that simple looking site gave my HTML and CSS muscles a real workout. (HTML and CSS are some of the codes computer geeks use to make websites.) And I made a breakthrough discovery about sub-domains, which will interest absolutely no one outside of the guy writing this sentence, I realize, but this blog is brand new and I don’t imagine I’m talking to anyone but myself right now.

If I am mistaken about that, I thank you for reading.