photography

Photography Lessons + Practice

May 2, 2011 1 Comment

Starting May 9, I will be posting regular photography assignments. I will be doing them along side everyone, too! The assignments will allow for hands-on experience right where you are, but also give everyone a community to come back to. It’s open to anyone, but I think it will be particularly helpful to anyone wanting to become a photographer.

We will focus on what we can do now to progress to where we want to be. I get it. Sometimes it can be frustrating because you know where you want to be, but don’t know how to get there. It seems daunting and it seems like you’re alone. We’re going to take this baby one bite at a time together.

Let’s start by introducing ourselves. I’ll go first and you can link up below. Don’t be afraid to show off who you really are!

—

Hi! I’m Hannah! There’s no real good word that describes me best besides ‘Hannah’. I’m a photographer, blogger, and marketing director for Latitude821. I started blogging in 2006 at a small blogging host. I have since been featured on Raising CEO Kids and nominated on award sites like the HSBA Post and the 2010 BlogLuxe Awards. I love summer, turquoise, swimming, friends, and traveling. You can find me on Twitter as @Hannah_Braboy and on my Facebook page.

Your turn! (Quick note: Please insert your permalink into the linky.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: assignments, BlogLuxe Awards, facebook, facebook page, HSBA Post, lessons, photography, photography assignments, photography lessons, photography practice, practice, Raising CEO Kids, twitter

Site Announcements + Updates

April 28, 2011 Leave a Comment

This Monday I will be introducing a new project of mine! I’m super pumped about it and I think it’s going to be really fun and helpful! So stay tuned! You can subscribe via email or RSS here, fan the Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter to get updates, if you haven’t already. [Good gravy. I talk a lot when I get excited.]

Now, on to the next announcement…

The site + blog won’t be splitting. I decided this because I just really like this set up better for where I am right now. It might evolve into something a little different as my business and brand do so, but for now I like this.

Fun, right?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: blog, Blogging, facebook, facebook page, photography, site, site announcements, twitter, updates

Dreams

April 11, 2011 2 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about dreams lately. A lot of those don’t involve photography and that shocked me, to be honest. It’s not that my dream of being a photographer isn’t still there, but I’m finding other dreams too.

There’s this job that I’ve always wanted to have for at least one summer. It has nothing to do with marketing, photography, or owning and running your own business. It involves summer, swimming, and kids. That job is being a lifeguard.

There are other dreams too. I’m figuring out that life is what you make it. It’s easy as a business owner to make life your job. Sometimes I need to preach at myself simply to say, “Hannah, for crying out loud. Life is not your job.”

I’m beginning to see that photography – art – will mold to wherever I am in life, but there is a strict line between it and my life. I’m not quitting photography professionally… I just needed to write this all down.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Blogging, business, dreams, personal, photography, This life of mine., writing

First Client Interaction + Branding

February 15, 2011 Leave a Comment

Interaction is a really important. It’s really important because it makes the client/photographer (or any profession really) relationship more awesome. First client interactions can be on the photographer’s website, blog, Twitter, or Facebook page. The impression left from the first interaction is crucial because you want that client to immediately know that (hopefully) you are their photographer.

Interaction is awesome, people love awesome, and people share awesome. Make awesome – the experience, the images, your website, your everything. In order to make awesome, you need to know what your target client would be like and what they would find awesome.

How can I make awesome? Let’s start with your website and say you are a children’s photographer. Your style captures emotion and fun in a timeless way. You want your website to reflect that. You want it to be fun, timeless, and you also want some sort of good emotion to occur when they visit the site. You want your Facebook page and Twitter to reflect your brand also. That makes a lasting impression.

Each photographer, brand, and business is different. All you need is to know yourself, your limits, your target clients, your brand, and stick to all of it. I hope that helps! If you have any questions, you can post them in the comments section or we can set up a very detailed, personalized brand consultation via Skype.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: blogs, branding, brands, clients, facebook, interaction, photography, social media, twitter, websites

BlissDom Recap

February 4, 2011 5 Comments

I just got back from the BlissDom conference in Nashville. I could never accurately express how grateful I have been, nor all the emotion that I have felt. Let me tell you a bit about BlissDom…

BlissDom is…
…a women’s blog conference.
…tech savvy.
…welcoming.
…informative.
…friendly.
…[one of] my happy places.
…your conference.

It was ten different kinds of wonderful, awesome, lovely, and [of course] blissful. Alli Worthington, Barbara Jones, Paula Bruno, Jana, Rachel (a southern fairytale), Frelle, Scott Stratten, Chris Mann, and a whole host of others are my new best friends because of it. I experienced. I felt. I saw. I heard. I connected. I learned. I had one of the best times of my life.

Tuesday:
- I arrived around noon with my twin brothers, mom, and grandma. They have been so awesome through all of this, as have a ton of others (my sisters, my dad, my everyone).

- I stuffed bags with Amy Halleran, Rachel (a southern fairytale), Jana, Lindsey, and a bunch of others. We danced to Only Prettier while stuffing the fabulous Lands End bags.
- I stuffed more bags filled with lots of love from the sponsors and us BlissDom Chicks.
- I took pictures. (I used a 35mm and Nikon SB-900 from borrow lenses. They are fabulous and let me use their equipment that handles low light like butter.)

- I ate at Stax with Lindsey. We talked dreams and it was all sorts of fun!

Wednesday:

- I attended wonderful Wisdom Workshops.

- I had a blast interacting with people and snapping photos.

Thursday:

- I was 10 million different kinds of pumped, excited, and nervous. The adrenaline that was pumping was insane, too.

- Firework by Katy Perry played right before the welcome. It almost made me cry happy, thankful tears.

- Brene Brown did an awesome opening keynote.

- I mastered the layout of the huge Opryland Hotel.

- I worked with some fabulous photographers.

- I met Scott Stratten from Unmarketing for the first time. He was super nice.

- I met awesome friends, a lot for the first time in real life.

- It was simply wonderful.

Friday:

- I realized that it was the last day.

- It slipped my mind until I climbed into bed that evening.

-My absolutely indescribably awesome mom came.

- I introduced her to some pretty lovely people, such as Sara Sophia, Jana, Alli, Casey, and a ton of others.

- I went to a brilliant session about viral marketing and Twitter by Scott Stratten.

- I freaked out when the fire alarm sounded and the co-hosts were still practicing for the State of Bliss ’11. When the alarm sounded, everyone just went on like nothing was happening. It was a false alarm, by the way.

- My team of pure brilliant photographers and I photographed the State of Bliss ’11.

- My team and I photographed the hilarious, true, and inspiring closing keynote by Scott Stratten.

- The flashmob happened. It was totally a surprise by my friend, Jana, to the co-hosts. She used to be a hip hop instructor and completely choreographed via Facebook 90 people dancing to Party in the U.S.A.

- I went to the girls’ night in party, captured it in pixels, met and chatted with Chris Mann before the party, and danced with my camera in hand. It was all kinds of fun.

More photos can be found on my Flickr.

Alli, Barbara, Paula- Thank you. I never in a million years would have envisioned all of this. Thank you for being so wonderful. I just really have no words for how grateful I am for all of this. I can’t wait for next year and years beyond. You all are amazing. xoxo

My family (you know who you are)- I love you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to all my ideas. Thanks for fixing me Texas Caviar when I was having a bad day. Thanks for playing a billion rounds of the state game with me late into the night. Thanks for everything you do. I couldn’t do it without you all. I love you beyond description. Y’all are irreplaceable.

To everyone else- You know your names. I could never list every one of you, but I want to thank you. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for your encouragement, trust, loyalty, and your friendship.

P.S. If you missed BlissDom or want to relive it, you aren’t alone. I do too. You can relive the bliss here at BlissDom at Home.

P.P.S. The BlissDom at Home link is my affiliate link. I guess they throw me some chocolate or something like that if you use it. Haha! If I get any chocolate, I promise I’ll share.

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: Alli Worthington, Barbara Jones, Blissdom, BlissDom '11, chris mann, event photography, Jana, Paula Bruno, personal, photography

BlissDom FAQ: Making Your Own Opportunities

February 1, 2011 3 Comments

BlissDom is the big women’s blogging conference that you all have heard me talk on and on about. “Photographer” and “Photographer Coordinator” were my titles while I was there, but I’m not much on titles. You want to go to BlissDom the very first chance you get. It has been so worth it; the people, the hard work, the emotion, the bliss, the everything. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I got asked a lot while I was there how I met Alli Worthington, Barbara Jones, Paula Bruno, and how I got involved with BlissDom. My first initial contact with any of the co-hosts was over Twitter. I just asked if they had an official photographer for the conference. That’s how it all started. The rest is pretty much history. I’m so grateful for everything.

People were a bit baffled when I told them that is how everything started. The beginnings were so simple, yet powerful. I think many times people underestimate the power of a good image and brand, their uniqueness, Twitter, truly loving people, and being very well educated, yet humble. Use those tools and harness the power. Ride your wave.

I hope that helps and answers your question. If not, please do feel free to ask further questions! No question is a dumb question. (That’s one of the ways I have learned – asking lots and lots of questions.)

P.S. Forgive the incorrect grammar on a few past posts. The iPhone auto correct has such a mind of it’s own. Haha!

P.P.S. BlissDom recap coming up soon!

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: Alli Worthington, Blissdom, BlissDom '11, business, One to One Network, photography, social media, twitter, Viral Marketing

Thank You

January 25, 2011 1 Comment

Today I am going to BlissDom to make sure the bliss gets captured in pixels and pal around with fabulous people. I am forever grateful for you lovely people, these opportunities, and this oh-so-wonderful job of mine. It’s the best ever and it’s made possible and wonderful by you. I could never thank you enough.

I’ll try to post snapshots during the week. Some posts will be iPhone photos via the WordPress iPhone app, videos from my iPhone or Nikon, photos posted on Facebook and Twitter via Instagram, and others will be shots taken with my Nikon. If something looks wonky to you, it’s probably the WordPress app. It tends to get formatting wrong sometimes.

I’ve got a pretty crazy travel schedule for the next few weeks, so I’ll be posting live from various places. I just wanted to thank you first. You deserve it. I could never, ever do this without you.

xoxo

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: Blissdom, Camera, friends, iPhone, Nashville, Nashvillians, Nikon, personal, photography, travel

[BlissDom] Headshots

January 18, 2011 28 Comments

It’s almost BlissDom time, Alli just had 1000 pounds of Hershey’s Bliss chocolate delivered to her house, and it’s all coming to life. You want to be there. It’s going to be fabulous!

I will be offering free headshots for BlissDom attendees and staff. They will be taken on Saturday (29th) in the Delta area at 9:30am. I’d love to see your beautiful face there! If you plan on getting a headshot, please comment on this post. I have room for 20 people max, and I currently have 8 spots left.

P.S. Special thanks to Borrow Lenses for loaning me the 35mm f/1.8 for these headshots! Y’all are going to look fabulous and that lens is going to be like butter.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Alli Worthington, Blissdom, headshots, photography, photos, portraits

Personal Photo Goal

January 14, 2011 5 Comments

I’m not a Project 365 girl. I’ve flunked the project two times- one in 2010 and one in 2011. It’s just not very much of a challenge for me. It’s way too easy for me to just take a picture a day. I don’t like that.

I like a good challenge, so I ditched P365. I came up with something different, where I will be taking my camera everywhere I go during 2011. It’s not a habit and it’s hard for me to just tote my camera everywhere, so that’s why I chose it. The above photo is of Dairy Queen at night on 1/13/11, when I went on a girl’s night out.

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: photo, photography, Project 365

2010

January 1, 2011 4 Comments

I can’t accurately express 2010 in words. It’s been a hard year for my family, much like 2009. It’s been an overwhelming day and year. I’m grateful to be able to sit down and write about it, melting everything down and turning it into something beautiful, hopefully.

I guess you could say this day could sum up 2010 pretty well. It’s been overwhelming, emotionally taxing, hard, awesome, and love-filled. It’s been a good year. I’ve learned with my family that all you really need is love to hold you together. We’ve proven it. Love works. I also officially launched Hannah Braboy Photography back in the Fall. It’s been spectacular! I decided to go to BlissDom in October; originally planning to go as the official photographer, but just this month being offered the position of photographer coordinator too. I’m so grateful to be able to work with such fabulous people, some of which being the whole Bliss staff, BlissDom sponsors, and Borrow Lenses, who is graciously allowing me to use some of their awesome equipment at the conference. There’s so much more and I could go on and on about how wonderful 2010 has been.

Tomorrow is 2011 and I’m bracing myself for the crazy that I can’t go into detail of, but I know will happen. I feel excited and nervous for the new year all at the same time, but mostly I’m just ready to jump in head first, like most things. It’s going to be a good year. Thank you for sharing 2010 with me, friends.

How was your 2010?

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: 2010, 2011, Blissdom, Borrow Lenses, family, personal, photography

BlissDom is… …a women’s blog conference. …tech savvy. …welcoming. …informative. …friendly. …[one of] my happy places. …your conference.

BlissDom is…
…a women’s blog conference.
…tech savvy.
…welcoming.
…informative.
…friendly.
…[one of] my happy places.
…your conference.