Charla Blue Photography: animoto

When I started teaching in 1998, I spent endless hours in the classroom and even more at home lesson planning and grading papers. I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of work that my job required. It consumed me! That was 12 years ago and I have come a long way! I often think back to those days and think about how inefficiently I worked. But unfortunately that knowledge only comes with time and experience.

Now that I am a photographer and a new business owner, I often feel like those first few years of teaching again. Thinking to myself, there has to be a better way! In three years of business, I feel like I am finally starting to come out of that same fog I felt in teaching and making wise business choices. Each day, month, & year, I'm refining my skills, workflow, and operations. Which will ultimately only make for a better experience for my clients!

It is completely overwhelming to jump into this business. There are so many amazing vendors that supply photographic services. It's hard to know who to use. I would spend so much time lamenting on who to use for a lab, or a album company, or to make slideshows. To the point that it would freeze any of my decision making skills. Until I heard some wise words during an Ask Dane episode. "Just decide". The words were so simple. And yet I had so spent so much time researching, reviewing, and evaluating each vendor...to the point of complete confusion. When I heard those words "just decide"...I did!

So, this is what I decided.

My images are hosted online on SmugMug.
I print my images with Bay Photo (which connects directly with my SmugMug account).
Slideshows are created through Animoto (also connected to SmugMug).
I design my albums with Photojunction software (a free download) and print with Kiss Wedding Books.

I have been super impressed with each of these decisions! They are all awesome companies that provide exceptional customer service and ultimately have an awesome product. They are individually committed to improving their products too! And I say all this after using several vendors that I was not satisfied with.

Now on to the album! If you are going to invest in a wedding photographer, my advice is to also invest in a wedding album too! In this age of digital images, the moments and memories often get loss on a hard drive somewhere. There is something so wonderful in the printed image and especially in an album that tells the story. My husband and I often look at our album and relive our wedding day through those pages. It was our best and most cherished investment from our wedding day.