TTD on the tube

Good afternoon,

I wanted to let you know that the TV cameras of WTAJ, Altoona-Johnstown, PA were at our final Trash The Dress session with Steph and her daughter Aspen this morning! They shot some footage as we did the final deed to the wedding gown we've used for Steph's TTD session. We won't tell you what we did, but you'll see it on WTAJ News tonight! They couldn't be specific, but they do plan to air it sometime during the evening news from 5-6:30pm. If you would like a sneak peak, we'll have some images on Facebook, My SPACE and on our web site later today or this evening!

Sometimes TV stations will link an on air story to the web. I don't know if they will do that for this story, but if they do, we'll send out the link to view it on the internet, so do not fret (at least yet) if you aren't in the Altoona-Johnstown TV market. Thanks to WTAJ for stopping by and sharing with their viewers!

Richard

Newsletter, May, 2009

Here, for your dining and dancing pleasure, is the Richard Soukup Photography newsletter dated May 26, 2009!

As always, we welcome your input and comments!!! Just in case you were wondering, I will never rent, sell or spam your email address. I will only use it to send you useful information about our company! And at any time you can remove your name from the list.

Lots of news with the class of 2009! Graduation is just around the corner, and we want to thank all the seniors and their families who trusted and honored us with capturing great images for the second most important images ever taken of an individual (we assume weddings being the first)! To Heidi, Lexy, Shannon, Shiann, Nate, Dan, and Emily, we wish the best for you in the future and congratulations on reaching an important milestone!!

Two of our Senior Spokesmodels for the Class of 2010 have been named. Gabrielle from Clearfield Area High School and Dante from DuBois Central High School will be featured on our web site and various other places in order to show off what we can do with great senior images. Gabrielle has already had her first session with us and those images are online now at www.richardsoukupphotography.com. . Dante will have a first set of images created soon! In addition, we have Haley on board with us...while she is only a junior at DCC this coming year, we are working with her to show some of the different sides of what we can do. Look for her images at our web site as well!!! We plan on adding one to two more spokesmodels shortly!

Our senior pricing is always available if you request it by email at rtsphoto@verizon.net. Share it, copy it, refer to it!! If you use the promo code "2010" when booking us, you get two sheets of wallets at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!! And who can't use wallet prints?

IT'S WEDDING TIME THIS WEEKEND! Jessica and Jim will be tying the knot in Clearfield this Saturday. We are honored to be their photographer and judging by the lineup of professionals they have assembled, we are looking at a great time! We will be posting images from their wedding overnight in their gallery and some will make it onto the web site as well! Their gallery is already created on line but nothing is in it as of yet! That will be taken care of Saturday night into Sunday morning! When guests at the wedding give us their email addresses at the reception, we will email them when images are up and ready to view!!!! We will also have cards printed up with the gallery location and password for Jessica and Jim's guests! Their guests can also order images from the event online!!! Just one of the ways we make working with us easy!!!!

We will be doing the digital photography classes again at the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center this September. Added to the list is an advanced Digital Photography class for those with a DSLR camera. Details will be announced by the school in August for the fall term!! I can't divulge the dates and times because they have not been totally set as of this time, and the school only takes reservations and fills classes after they are announced to the general public. Watch the Clearfield Progress for the ad from the center. Be aware that the beginner class sold out very quickly in March of this year, and from the feedback I'm hearing and the questions I've been getting, I am assuming the same will happen this time around as well!

Richard Soukup Photography is also partnering with fetcho.com! We will have a presence on their web site and we are also working on being able to do a forum where your digital camera/photography questions can be answered on line in an open forum! Fetcho.com is a new portal web site that will have specific sites for different areas of the region! In addition to classifieds, links to entertainment venues, weather links, and other information, it is laid out in a nice neat format, unlike a lot of portal sites that resemble a hodgepodge! It's a great site to make a home page for your browser! The Clearfield site is at www.fetchoclearfieldpa.info. Other ares that have specific sites include Centre County, Jefferson County, Elk and Clinton Counties to name a few! We'll have more news on our partnership with Fetcho as time goes on!!

WE HAVE A HUGE PRESENCE ON FACEBOOK AND MY SPACE..and are doing more on Facebook each day! In addition to being on personally, I have set up a group for Clients of Richard Soukup Photography, and also have a separate business page on Facebook! If you are on Facebook, please consider adding us to your circle of friends and be a fan of the Richard Soukup Photography page. We will have specific offers that will only be for our FB customers!!!!

I am also in the middle of a great project on Facebook! It is called The Photography Throwdown and it is a group on FB that I contribute to! The story is that the three of us that "run" the group are friends from high school back in Seaford, Delaware. Doug and Mark (our other two participants, and by the way TWINS) are two of the very most creative people I've known and both have a good eye and a sense of what makes good photography. The artwork these guys have produced over the years is fantastic! The idea of the group is that we take a challenge weekly and create an image following the theme of the week, post it and let everyone take a look and comment on it! The "winner" gets to name the next assignment! So far we've done "Self Portrait" and Doug took that one! This weeks subject that Doug chose is "afterlife"! I LOVE THIS PROJECT, NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT TESTS AND WORKS MY CREATIVE JUICES, BUT I GET TO INTRODUCE YOU GUYS TO TWO VERY TALENTED INDIVIDUALS! I will learn a lot from this exercise and I hope you will gain some insights as well, not to mention a motivational kick!

See ya in June!!!!

Richard

Richard Soukup Photography
814-290-3251
rtsphoto@verizon.net
"When the image matters, and it always does!"
Visit the new web site at www.richardsoukupphotography.com
We're on MySpace at www.myspace.com/richardsoukupphotography
facebook us at www.facebook.com/richardsoukup
Twitter us at www.twitter.com/richardsoukup

Digital camera classes

We will be doing the Digital Camera classes that were so popluar in April again in the fall, in cooperation with the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center. Dates for the classes wil be announced, but the actual dtaes and times are not set and will be announced by the CCCTC in the month of August.

We've already had some interest and can only take 10 people per class..so time will be of the essence!

More in August!

One session for May taken!

Heidi and her parents will have me taking images for their prom group on May 1st, for the Brockway prom!

That date is now locked out and saved for Heidi!

More information and booked dates as they happen!!!

He who hesitates.....

Hello...the newest edition of the Richard Soukup Photography newsletter is on your computer screen!

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With Easter being later this year, we have had a couple of inquiries on my availability that weekend for a family session! Not a problem, but the earlier you book, the better time you get!!!

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The long awaited engagement session for Janessa and Jim is due to take place next weekend! After being delayed due to weather, we are looking forward to getting this one in the camera!!!

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We have posted a lot of different images on our Facebook page...check those out and post on our wall if you like!

We'd love to have you as a friend as well.

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WALLETS...we have decided on the pricing for them. You may recall we have wanted to adjust them to a better deal for you and we have done so:

8 wallets for 10.00

96 wallets of the same image are 90.00...30.00 savings!!!

192 wallets of the same image are 170.00.....60.00 savings!!!

These prices will be good for the rest of 2009 and will be updated into the pricing schedule soon!

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SENIORS.....CLASS OF 2010, we are looking for you! IT'S TIME TO START BOOKING SESSIONS FOR THE YEAR!!! Yes, we like to do things early if we can!!! Our blog fans can get the following information pieces just by emailing us at rtsphoto@verizon.net:

• Pricing guide for Senior Sessions
• Senior Shoot Sheet (the document we use to set poses and scenes....use it to help organize thoughts and ideas!!)

If you feel so motivated, we would love to have you share this with friends, family and folks you know that have current high school juniors!!! We would appreciate it!!

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PROM SESSIONS.....we have done them in the past and this year is no exception! We would love to do a session with you and your friends before you go to the prom as a way to get better, more unique memories of the big day! We are doing the sessions differently than we have in the past:

• Participants will get an 8x10, 2 5x7 and 8 wallet prints for just 10.00.
• You will also get the image emailed to you that night, so you can use it on MY SPACE, FACEBOOK or email to others!
• ALL BOOKINGS IN ADVANCE OF PROM DAY!!!! Money is due at the session!!!
• Current Richard Soukup Photography customers get first priority with scheduling! First booked, first served!!!
• Sessions will take place at a mutually agreed to site between clients and myself!
• Creativity is encouraged!!!

Any questions, or to book...LMK!!!

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Also, we are doing something this year we call "FRIENDS" sessions.

The idea is that you get a group of your high school friends together, and we'll get one great group image of all of you! The cool thing is that each of you will get an 8x10 print of the group and an 11x17 poster of the group as well! The cost will only be 12.50 for each member of the group, with extra posters being 6.00 each!

• Be creative..we'll take it almost anywhere!
• It's a great way to remember the gang, and a real unique one as well!
• There is a minimum of 6 friends for this program....if you get more, we'll include them as well!
• Payment is due before the session, dates for session are, as always, subject to available dates and times!

You could even do this instead of the prom session above and schedule it for prom night! Any questions, or to book, call us ASAP!

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We have done a little sprucing up of the web site and added JazzKatt Productions to our "links" section! Al Lockwood, a good friend of mine, is the owner and we recommend him highly! More great vendors will be added soon! If you have a vendor that you have worked well with, we will consider adding them. Just email us at rtsphoto@verizon.net, and we'll take it from there. They must have a web presence for us to add them to the list!

Just a word on the "Links" section...we consider it a good resource to help you with your planning for weddings and other events. The folks listed there do not pay to be there! If they did, it would (in my opinion) compromise the endorsement! Our site is not built on advertising, so we feel comfortable listing those we feel do a great job. There may be more than one listing per specialty, but anyone that makes our page is someone we've worked with or know of their great reputation.

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This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of my wife Vicki's successful battle against esophageal cancer! When she was first diagnosed with the "beast", it was considered a long shot for survival. here, 10 years later, she is alive, well and kicking! What a personal blessing!

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To conclude, one of our RSP customers is going thru a tough time right now. Some of you may know the story of Brooke Haney, the daughter of one of my clients. We've done senior images for her two step brothers, Brandon and Kyle.

Brooke lives just outside of Clearfield. She had a heart transplant at age 5 or 6 years old. She has now been diagnosed with coronary artery disease at age 14 and will need to go the transplant route again! She is on the transplant list at Childrens Hospital in Pittsburgh as we speak. She has had to stay there a couple of times for visits since the first of the year, and is currently a patient there to iron out some issues!

In addition to being one of the toughest kids I've met, she is one of the most positive kids I've met. When I do the Clearfield County Fair parade the first week in August, she always just comes right up on stage if she's there, just to say hello! With all this young lady has been through, you never see her frown or feel sorry for herself.

Keep Brooke and her family in your thoughts and prayers. More news as we get it!!!

Richard Soukup

Richard Soukup Photography
814-290-3251
rtsphoto@verizon.net
"When the image matters, and it always does!"
Visit the new web site at www.richardsoukupphotography.com
We're on MySpace at www.myspace.com/richardsoukupphotography
facebook us at www.facebook.com/richardsoukup
Twitter us at www.twitter.com/richardsoukup

Copyright... Part 2

Last part of this subject..

When approached on the subject of use of our images, we take into account several things:
is the subject of the image going to approve? We'll contact them and secure their permission, in writing for the specific use!
is the subject or the photographer given credit somewhere in the presentation?
what and where is the end result?

Sounds tough, but I'll give you examples where we gladly cough up usage of our images, and in some cases, have done so:

1. death in the family and use of an image at the funeral or viewing! Most photographers with any sense of caring, compassion and feeling will even go ahead and secure that copy for the customer..some without any cost!!!!
2. request by a media outlet to use WHEN THE CUSTOMER OR SUBJECT IS IN FULL 100 PERCENT APPROVAL!
3. when the customer has a photo giftware item made up that I don't offer in my regular product line! Matter of fact, we OK usage to a local vendor on a routine basis that does unique stuff! It's called helping the customer and supporting LOCAL businesses!
4. Facebook and My Space usage!!! This is always a concern and we'll get into this in a future RSP newsletter, mostly when it comes to My Space!!!!!

Bottom line....ask before you use an image...you may find that we can help you use it better!!!

More soon!!!!

A word (or many) about copyrighted images...

I wanted to talk about copyrighted images and what the laws entail!

When an image is taken, it is the property of the photographer. When I sell a copy of that image to a customer, the image itself is still the property of the professional photographer, as deemed by the copyright laws of the United States and International law as well. The same thing applies to written word, be it books, magazine articles or newspaper stories. They are the property of the publishing entity.

When an image is copyrighted, you can not copy it or manipulate that copy in any way, shape or form without the consent of the creator. If I sold the copyrights of a set of images to ABC Jackhammer Company, they would then hold the rights to those images.

Furthermore, a one hour photo lab can't copy these kinds of images without a written release from the photographer. Some stores, Walmart being the most notable, have a policy that states if any professional images, regardless of creation date are presented to their photo labs, they may not be copied at all, even if the image is from 1908!! This is their company policy...figuring that if their policy is stricter than the federal law, no one will violate it! There is a workaround for the 1908 situation, but we won't get into it here!

Copyrighted images are identified by several methods:

1. the standard c within a larger circle on the front or back of the image
2. printing on the back of the image stating that the image is a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced. Many professionals use photographic paper with this writing on the reverse
3. name of the photographer or studio business on the front and/or back of the image

It should also be noted that copyrighted images DO NOT NEED TO CONTAIN ANY OF THESE ITEMS TO BE CONSIDERED COPYRIGHT PROTECTED. The smart copyright holders do take these steps to protect themselves, but they can still be covered without them!

All images that are taken by Richard Soukup Photography are copyrighted to us and can't be used without our permission. What we do when we sell a CD is to allow the client (Senior or wedding clients as two examples) to reproduce them for their own benefit, in what is referred to as a "license to copy". There are some restrictions, such as not allowing them to be used for commercial usage and others, but for the most part, it is not terribly restricted.

If a CD is not a part of the package or order we sell to the client, the client must order all prints from us and can't reproduce, scan or copy the image in any way without our company consent.

So why is this a big deal to us?

Several reasons:

1. by controlling the printing of the images, the copyright holder controls the quality of those images. Poorly printed images make us look less than professional.
2. by controlling the use of these images, there is a better posibility that they won't be used to invade the privacy or lives of my clients. I've seen instances of publications using professional images created by a wedding photographer, printing them in their publication and not only using them to embarass the couple, but also not asking the permission of the photographer...a violation of the law.
3. usage of the images of clients for the purpose of promoting a cause of point of view that the couple may not support or agree with. There have been instances of this happening to other people.
4. hurting future income (which is a minor one for me!). I am usually pretty understanding on this point, because of many situations, but my bills have to be paid too!

Our position on copyrighting our images and company policy is coming up in a future blog entry!

Comments are always welcome!!