Your Life As Art Photography by Pam
Artist & Intuitive | Pamela Zmija
Posting a few sneak peeks for some of the families I am still working on from the Portraits In The Park fundraiser to raise money for Infertility Awareness!
I will have more in a couple days… stay posted…
Here is the first family I shot at the wonderful fundraiser for Infertility Awareness. I had such a great time photographing 7 families while assisting Kara DeRose and her Hubby Nathan raise money for the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada . The purpose of raising money for this group is to get government assistance for couples seeking infertility treatments. Having personally been through infertility I immediately jumped at the opportunity to help make a difference!
Keep watching the blog as I have 6 more photoshoots from this day to process! Up next is the “T” Family! Also for all of these families please note that as per the model release for the Portraits in the Park the wait time for the CD’s is approximately 6-8 weeks from the date of the Photoshoots (Aug 7th), its a lot of work to not only process ALL of the photos for each family (which I am having a blast doing it brings the biggest smile to my face!), Kara also must sort through all sessions to ensure they get out to each individual family after the Photographer sends her our files. Thank you for your support and understanding!
Also for anyone wanting to participate and help us raise money, the Portraits in the Park does typically take place in May… the date had to be changed for this year. However the reason it is held in May during Infertility Awareness Week.
For more information or to stay up to date for next years event… check out the Facebook Page
Portraits In The Park
Today is World Photography Day!
As a Photographer I embrace this day… much like any other but today I took photos of a few things I enjoy!
I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet family and their new little man! One thing I love about new parents is that unconditional love in their eye, the very slow gentle touch and their slight mixed feelings of awkward-nervous-happiness as they adjust to this tiny wee person. I remember it in myself when we had our first child and in the families Ive photographed with new babies, it certainly is a feeling you will always remember of those first moments with your baby.
These two are not only clients, they are family and I was honored to do their family portraits for them with their new man. Their little guy loved to be warm and cuddled up, so why try to fight it, we worked with the wee peanut all snug in his blanket with his mommy & daddy. I love our results <3 :)
Have you been debating about updating your Photography… What better way to update your family’s photography whether it is your children, you and your spouse, pets or your entire (immediate) family… I am now offering my clients with MINI SESSIONS! Excellent gifts for family, decorate your home or even… yes its coming… Christmas Cards!
I have two scheduled dates of when I will be offering my photography mini-sessions! It will be first come first serve for the times – please contact me via email or phone to book your preferred session time!The locations will be outdoors with a variety of “backgrounds” being grass, trees, long wild flowers, lush greenery – hopefully in October some fall leaves…
Check out the details below!
They say that Karma “is the concept of “action” or “deed”, understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect” … What you put out into the world is what you get back… Everything happens for a reason. Yes all of which I do strongly believe.
I learned just that with the experience I had recently dealing with a photographer I shot a wedding with in December 2010. I was naïve, innocent and very trusting. What resulted was something I never would have predicted in my early stages of business development. I wont go into the details as Ive posted about it before.
As a photographer I am an artist with my camera, just as an artist with a brush or pencil, however an artist creates their piece of work(s) there is great pride in colours, composition, lighting, angles, medium etc. I was robbed of my images and after many attempts to reconcile this issue, I was given no choice but to fight back.
I submitted her file to the Credit Bureau with all of my documentation, proving what was originally agreed upon and our correspondence. I did this just before we left on holidays, the Friday before we left.
My hubby and I were out last night, arrived home and I went to get the mail, low and behold… The cd of wedding images! AMAZING!
So it took me submitting this file to the Credit Bureau for her to actually woman up and be somewhat of an “honest” business person.
Because afterall is was MY work she stole…
So. I come in, insert the dvd… What do I find – 331 jpeg files!
Great, right?
Wrong!
I shoot in RAW, only RAW… I was promised MY RAW images. Nope …
Honestly this may sound petty – ok yes I technically got “my” images – however its something like this… An artist sketches a drawing…
Someone steals this drawing.
When the thief finally decides to man up and return it, he instead returns a photocopy.
Its about respecting the artist and their individual talent.
So my theory on this – live and learn, obviously! I will never ever use anyone else’s cards but my own, I will also only ever use my own equipment (which I did use all of it for this wedding) and I will continue to always be honest in business with my clients! All throughout this entire process I did not mention her name once – does she deserve that respect … NO. I had to bite my tongue many times. A part of me still does want to call her out…
However I am much better than that and quite honestly after submitting the file to the credit bureau it felt good to get it off my back. Its very sad to say that about someone who calls them self a “photographer” and who advertises the same services as I do. Interesting enough she has already re-located… to the Exeter/Teeswater area.
There is one thing that my family said to me when I was going through secondary school that if I ever wanted to get involved in our family businesses I HAD to attend post-secondary school. Quite honestly this should be a pre-requisite for ANYONE who wants to operate their own business – a course in many of the business education offered through college is “Business Ethics”.
So to her I say… Good riddance and good luck.
After all its very true… What goes around, comes around!
Everything does happen for a reason and this has only made me stronger and more determined in my Photography Business :)
Iv had a lot going on lately, with moving the July long weekend and then our family holidays the last week of July… its been crazy busy – but Im loving it! Loving our new house (all of us are) – just not loving the random boxes that seem to still be all over. Perhaps a few more hours in the day would help lol… yeah long shot on that one ;)- .
I have lots of photos to share… a newborn and family session which was in JUNE – Eeeeek see what moving did to me… haha so not like me to be slow at sharing precious moments from my sessions ;). This past weekend I was so fortunate to take part in a fantastic event to raise money for Infertility Awareness! I am beyond excited as this was my first year participating with some fantastic photographers! Watch for posts from that event… as I shot 7 families in 4 hours! Very busy, tiring but such an awesome feeling to give back!
My family and I had a wonderful week long vacation! First entire week we’ve had off entirely together for a very long time and it was just awesome. Here are some of our precious moments!
Pamela Zmija Photography
This SUNDAY is Portraits in the Park-In support of Infertility Awareness Portraits in the Park and I am HONORED to be taking part in this amazing event which is SO close to my heart! I am paying it forward, giving back to help other couples who we can so closely relate to. We are thankful that our dreams came true, however many couples are still not able to conceive and still faced with this pain.
Want to help us raise money? There are still some openings due to last minute cancellations. Let us know!!! Pamela Zmija Photography
Details :
Time Sunday, August 7 · 10:00am – 4:30pm
——————————————————————————–
Location Victoria Park
80 schneider ave
Kitchener, ON
——————————————————————————–
For Portraits in the Park-In support of Infertility Awareness
——————————————————————————–
More Info $40.00 per 1/2 hour portrait session
10 edited images on a disc
discs can take up to 4-6 weeks to receive back
