Inky-Dinky-Do Blog

Our Blog is Moving / Bakersfield, CA's Newborn, Child, Senior & Family Photographer

So we have the other site ready to go so we are moving our blog reader over to the new Blogsite!  It is the blog + galleries and website.  So now you don't have to navigate to the blog- you will land on it!  Swoopy!

 

Come on over....

http://www.inky-dinky-do.com

 

Join the party!

Mini Session Bargain Alert! Only $30 / Bakersfield, CA Photographer

 We are gearing up for our MS walk in October and team inky-dinky-do has decided to kick it off by doing something crazy!

One September 16th we will be doing mini sessions not for a session fee, but for a $30 donation to the MS Society!  I know major bargain and it goes to charity!

This is perfect for kids, teens, adults, that headshot that you need for your facebook or dating site!  We designed a special background for our Team inky-dinky-do and we will be using that for all the images.  It is fun, sassy and yet can feel contemporary and sophisticated.  Pretty snazzy huh?  

Sessions take only 20 minutes so come dressed and ready to impress!  Call to book your session.  661-588-1984

September 16th

$30 donation for a mini session!

Question:  what should I wear with that?  easy- white shirts will look fabulous, you could go for some bold bright colors if you like.  I can see white shirt, fabulous jewelry for the ladies, cool T-shirt for teen guys, a polo in white or a fun color for little boys and of course little girls can wear almost anything!  Denim, white, creams, bold bright orange or green could be fun!

Question:  Can I do 4 kids together?  Not really for this one guys!  One person, might be able to put two together, but think of  this one as a solo session!

Question:  Can I do a newborn?  Nope sorry guys we need kids either sitting up or Mom or Dad will have to be holding them in the picture. :)  It is a timing thing, we need lots of time for those newborns and this isn't really set up for  that.

Question:  How do I book?  Easy Peasy- just give us a call 661-588-1984.  If you get the machine you can leave your name and number the day and time that you prefer and we will call you back to schedule.  

FELLOW PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

You can order the background shown for a $100 donation to our team inky-dinky-do MS team.  Get details on the inky-dinky-do Drops blog.

Donate to our team here. 

Madison is the Director of Recycling at inky-dinky-do

 

 Madison is not just your average intern & pet photographer.  She now has the title of "Director of Recycling" at inky-dinky-do.  Madison has a us working that whole Reduce, ReUse, ReCycle mantra.  How she is doing it...

Reduce- we have cut back on some paper where we can.

ReUse- we are happy to report that we are able to re-use 90% of our boxes and packaging materials.  

ReCycle- we are taking any left over cardboard, glass, plastic and cans to the recycling bins on the corner of Jewetta and Meacham.  

The cost to our studio.... $0.  The benefit to the environment = priceless.

Thanks Madison for showing us it isn't that hard to embrace a greener way of life.  Thanks to our clients for participating in our efforts! 

 

Madison showing off the simple solution of great labels for our already existing wonderful boxes.  That little solution cut down our cardboard consumption greatly!  

The backdrop is the Be Green backdrop by inky-dinky-do Drops. 

 

Ethan / Bakersfield Child Photographer

Ethan was just a cutie pie!  Rocking our IC Dots background  (from our inky-dinky-do Drops line of backgrounds for fellow professional photographers).  

Ethan was just full of smiles and giggles.  Thanks for playing Ethan!

 

Tylee / Bakersfield Baby Photographer

Yes, this is Miss Tylee who was rocking a baywatch bikini last time you saw her!  Thought we would show her sophisticated side today! 

A sweet side- showing off the French Blueberries Background  (for professional photographers)

 

Dress & Headband from our collection here at the studio.
 

Thanks Tylee for showing off one of the new inky-dinky-do Drops that we haven't even released yet- oh yeah Sneak Peek!

 

Tylee featuring an inky-dinky-do Drop- Masion de Cafe!  Dress & headband-  from our collection for clients to wear here at the studio.
 

New Backgrounds at the studio / Bakersfield Photographer

We have been busy little bees.  We launched our new inky-dinky-do Drops!  line of custom backgrounds for professional photographers this month.  We have been slowly adding more and more to the IDDDrops website.

For our clients we have a ton of new ones that are here and we are adding continuously as I design.  I love that I can think of a client or two and know... hey.. that would be a great background for them- and make it! :)  

We get asked so often when speaking and working with fellow professionals about our sets and props and things we decided to make a few available.  This month you can even win one!  

I borrowed Victoria to show off a couple new ones- my Fav is the Antiquities, which is the one you can win!  Check out the details here. 

Antiquities:

 

 

and then we played with Electric Raspberries

 

 
 
 

We just had to share what we've been up to.. / Bakersfield Professional Photographer

We launched the newest division of inky-dinky-do - inky-dinky-do Drops!  When speaking around the country we get asked a lot about our sets and such.  Well we finally decided to offer them to fellow professionals.  We have the new site up and going and designs will be rolling out each week.  I hope everyone loves it like I do!

I la la la LOVE this one.  It is fun and a little funky.  At inky-dinky-do we need backdrops that are easy to use and easy to play with.  This is one of those.  You can center your subject, put them to the side or whatever makes you think “hey that is cool!”  Since this is a new design for us I haven’t done a baby yet on it… but it will be fabulous when we do!

via www.inky-dinky-dodrops.com

 

Lost your iphone? Find it! / Bakersfield Photographer

 As a girl that is on her 3rd iphone (2 being stolen) I'm all for being able to find an iphone.  Well I leaned of a nifty feature.  If you have Mobile Me!  You do need to set it up before you have lost your phone, but if you do lose your phone then this will be a very good feature to have!  

You can set up location service in your settings> mail >(the account you use for mobile me) and now you see the button for locating the phone- click it.  Now go into your mobile me account at mobileme.com.  See the settings on the left of your main page- see the last one- "find my phone".  Yep- that easy!  I tried it while I was sitting here.  It found me in about 15 seconds.  I showed the phone was online and you can send it a sound- or a sound and message.  So you could put your name and home number  to appear for some honest person to call.  You can also reset a password and wipe your phone completely.  You would hate for someone to be posting your dorky picture in a swimsuit to your Facebook for you! 

So just a little tip that might save you time!

Bonus tip for photographers- we export our Successware schedule to iCal and import to Mobile Me via auto sync- that feeds to my phone and other computers.  So when schedule changes take place I can see them. :)

Photography as a Career? / Bakersfield Photographer

 

inky-dinky-do gets a lot of questions via email, but questions about photography as a career is the most common one for us from the teenagers.  So we thought we would share a recent conversation.  :)  If you guys want we can make this an on-going conversation.  This is the first part of a conversation via email with a very bright and spunky Junior in high school. 

I like photography and think I will major in it in college, is that a good idea?

No.  There are a lot of starving artist out there.  If you really want to be an artist and make your living from art- then major in business so you know if you are making money!  The art can be how you make your money.

 

Is being a photography rockstar fun?

Well it is funny to think of me as a photography "rockstar" but it isn't really what you think.  I know it might sound glamorous traveling and fashion shoots... the reality is time in airports, missing flights, and fashion shoots are work.  There are a lot of people to make happy.  You are simply a means to an end not a rockstar when you are on set.  I know there are a lot of photographers out there right now promoting the rockstar lifestyle- the truth is they are selling to other photographers.  That is marketing.  So it is like anything else.  Ask yourself what are they selling.  

Don't you make a lot of money though?

In truth, not as much as used to be possible.  Photography as a profession used to be something you could easily raise your family on.  Now, even fabulous studios are taking a little hit financially.

Why?  There are more photographers it must pay well?

Ahhh, that is part of the issue.  Photography used to be something mysterious and you had to understand principles of art and know how to use the equipment. Now you find people get a camera for Christmas and set it to auto and call themselves a photographer.  It really is a buyer beware situation.  Sure they got a couple good images of their friends kids in a field one day, but that doesn't mean they can perform in a situation that is less than ideal or get the results that people expect from a professional.  (yes, this is a sore spot in our industry these days)  I think the you will find 1/2 the time you are better off taking the photo yourself or paying for someone that really understands art.  The middle ground now is people playing- which is fine, but why pay for that?

If I like photography, why not make money at it then?  

I equate choosing photography as a career to choosing to be a restaurant owner.  You can love to cook, but not want to run a restaurant!  Share you gift with the ones you love and make your money from an industry that can feed your family.  When you do photography as a job- it is still a job.  Like any job there are things to keep in mind- do you have a degree in marketing, accounting, management?  No, well then you will need to hire someone to do those things.  When you enter the world of business you have to treat it like a business.  Taxes, insurance (not just your equipment, I'm talking liability, etc).   

So what then would you tell a young person to go into that likes photography?

CGI- seriously.  Those that are artistically inclined should be chasing this carrot.  CGI has made it's way from the big screen to the small screen and is used more than people realize.  Those green screens are everywhere and you don't even know it.  This is where I see a future for a budding artist these days. Anytime you are choosing a career path you should ask yourself where is the profession headed and what kind of future is there.  Farrier (horse shoe guy) was once a great profession, now not so much.  :)

So do you regret going into photography?

I can't say that I do, but I have told my own daughter that isn't a career path I would choose today if I was young.  I would however encourage people to enjoy photography!  I'm not sure why all of a sudden if you like it you have to be "in business".  What happened to the love of photography.  A hobby isn't a bad thing- it is liberating!  You get to photograph what you want, when you want and how you want, strictly for personal enjoyment.  Who wouldn't love that!  I know some great artist that love photography, but love it as a hobby.  Doesn't make them less of an artist. :)  Some of them are pretty smart- job they love and a hobby they love- that makes for a very well rounded person! 

So there is a snipet from a recent conversation.  I know some people think I'm unapproachable.  Not even, I love to talk photography, love to talk to those that are thinking about it is as a career or a hobby.  Now, I wont friend you on Facebook if you are local photographer. (policy I set in place a long time ago and can't change now!)   But if you have questions I'm happy to answer.  :) 

A tool for Wedding & Location Photographers / Bakersfield Photographer

 I get a lot of random questions, and  a lot of questions about our gear and set up.  I thought I would share a handy little gadget tht can make your life easier.  

We all know that when you are photographing a wedding or a large scale location job you go through those 4 or 8 G cards pretty fast and you need to be able to back them up for workflow and peace of mind.  We have in the past had an intern with a laptop and small portable hard drive.  It gets the job done, but not exactly ideal.

This little Nexto Extreme back up is a nice little solution.  It is available in 64G and 128G sizes.  We are a fan of eXtreme Cards as well.  

There is also a more rugged version the Storage Pro NVS-2500- that can hold 320G or 500G of data.  That is a little bigger than we would need, but I'm sure video peeps will love it. 

Who doesn't love gadgets that make our life easier and workflow faster?  

Back-up data from any USB device w/o a computer• Back-up directly from your digital Camera• Fastest OTG transfers - 8x faster than competitors• Back-up directly from Flash based or HDD camcorder• Backlit LCD Screen• The only full speed USB 2.0 OTG device available• One Hand/One Button Operation


• Forward Compatible with upcoming USB 3.0 specs.