Omaha Help Portrait

Help Portrait is a world-wide event held December 10th for three consecutive years now. Omaha has joined the mission and held a community Help Portrait at the Omaha Kroc Center. Omaha Help-Portrait is an independent group of volunteers who are participating in the worldwide Help-Portrait movement to give portraits away to the underprivileged.

Families in need were invited to come in from 9am to 3pm and have their family portraits given. A number of Omaha photographers, make-up artists hairstylist  and volunteers donate their talents to make this event possible.The families are then given a portrait to take home with them.

I was lucky enough to get an inside look on this inspiring and growing event. Below I have posted a link to YouTube of what I was able to capture. Due to restrictions I was not able to film the beautiful smiles of the familes that attended, but I was able to capture essense of the event.

http://youtu.be/Z05cpi5kQdY

 

 

If you would like to learn more about the Help Portrait Inc. Movement please visit their website at http://help-portrait.com/ 

And please be sure to check out our community Help Portrait Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hpskip#!/omahahelpportrait

 

A Family Business

I was lucky enough to have a sit down interview with family friend and aspiring photographer, Tammie. Tammie is a full-time stay at home mom and has a passion for photography.

What kind of shoots have you done?

“Tammie”: Well I’ve done some family portraits, I’ve done a lot of shoots of just my kids, my family, and myself. I’ve done a few weddings and I’ve done some senior pictures for nieces and some of their friends that saw my work and liked it. And just stuff for other friends and family.

What makes photography so special to you?

“Tammie”: Well I have always liked the idea of capturing just moments and emotions in photos. And I started as a little girl just taking pictures of anything I saw that was cool. Right now I just love getting my kids at every moment in their life just growing up and changing. And doing that for family, other families and friends and letting them see the changes and capturing those moments you’ll never forget if you have a photo for.

What prevents you from expanding your business?

“Tammie”: The thing is, I treat my photography as a hobby, it’s a passion of mine. And I don’t want to start it as a full-time job because I am just afraid it will take away the passion of it, having to do it as a job. Doing it every single day with a bunch of hassles, I want to keep it as my passion in my back pocket, so to speak. To keep the passion alive.”

Thank you Tammie, for the School of Communications, I’m Stephanie Storm

Aspiring Photographer ~ Sara Lynn

(audio script)

With Omaha being Nebraska’s largest city there is no need to wonder why so many of its residents love to capture the soul of this city. Omaha is as diverse as it is large and that is the great asset when it comes to photography. Plenty of architecture, nature and people streaming through the city it is a photographers dream.

Today I am going to introduce to you an aspiring photographer, Sara Lynn. She is still finishing her degree and hopes to one day own her own photography business. I have asked her when she first new she wanted to be a photographer and discussed some of the roadblocks that have come with her dream.

“Sara Lynn” : I am 22 years old and I want to be a competing photographer here in Omaha. I have had this dream since I was a little girl, the first time I was ever handed a camera. Of course back then I lacked the skill to capture a quality photograph but the passion was always in me. My passion as well as my skill has come a long way since then. The beautiful thing about photography is that I am continuously learning from my experiences and no two are exactly alike. But like any job there is a lot of competition, especially in Omaha. Some big names headline our city when it comes to
photographers and I can only strive for my name to be one of those someday.

“For the UNO School of Communication, I’m Stephanie Storm.”

Omaha Help Portrait

“101,596 PORTRAITS GIVEN”

Help Portrait will be returning to Omaha this December 10th 2011. Omaha Help-Portrait is an independent group of volunteers who will be participating in the worldwide Help-Portrait  movement to give portraits away to the underprivileged.

The Help Portrait inc. consists of a community of diverse photographers from across the world to come together and give back to communities by utilizing their photography skills.

On December 10th, photographers from around the world will be taking pictures and delivering them once they are developed. More than 6,000 photographers worldwide took portraits last year of homeless people, low-income families, the elderly, single mothers and victims of domestic violence and gave them the prints for free.

“Don’t Take pictures. Give Them” is one of the very strong taglines by Help Portrait.

To take part in this event I encourage you to follow the links provided below.Volunteers needed as photographers, stylists, videographers, organizers, entertainers should all sign up. It is a great chance this holiday season to give back to those in need and let them feel special and see their beauty with great quality prints!

http://omahahelpportrait.wordpress.com/

Seasoned Photographer

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You don’t have to be a seasoned photographer to take great photos. Taking the camera into your own hands is always an adventurous experience. Snapping your own pictures is a really great way to show others how you see the world. Taking it a step further you can get really creative using any type of photo manipulation or graphic design.

The photos I have picked above show a small photo excursion I recently had. Now I am not seasoned and I am nowhere near professional as a photographer. But I do have to admit that Fall is one of my favorite seasons to capture some beautiful photos.

I love taking photos of landscapes, especially when the seasons are changing. All the photos above were taken on the land owned by my family. I really like to focus in on the little things, as you can see in the photos of wild grass and barbed wire. When obedient, animals are great subjects of photos. I have an out of control collection of photos of my pets, above is my horse.

So before the temperature drops and it takes a lot more energy to get bundled up to leave the house, get outside and snap some photos. This season will make it easy for anyone to Fall in love with your pieces of art.

Blacksheep Photography by Jim Lamb

A professional never stops learning. Owner of Blacksheep Photography, Jim Lamb, aspires to learn more about his passion every day. A typical day in the life of Jim Lamb consists of work, study, play! Jim attends school at Metro’s Elkhorn campus on Tuesday and Thursday nights where he is taking an advanced digital photography class.

“I love learning more about the craft and collaborating with other photographers” said Jim.

Jim was originally from Texas. After loyally serving his county he retired from the Air Force after 24 years of active duty.  He is still currently a government employee.  His passion is photography.

“A passion that occasionally pays for itself” Jim said.

About 5 years ago, Jim revealed that he really got interested in shooting portraits.  Before that he described his photography as ‘really all over the place’.  Jim said that when his daughter was in her junior year of high school, she started asking around about senior portraits. Questioning who people were going to and how much the packages were. She realized that the price was way too high and she asked her father, Jim, to do her senior portraits.  That same year, he did portraits for a few of her friends.

“I kept doing senior portraits at a rate of 3 or 4 a year and really didn’t charge anything for the first 2 or 3 years” Jim said.

Within the past couple of years, he has been asked to shoot some engagements and even some weddings.  Another delight is that he really enjoyed shooting fashion photos for Omaha Fashion Week as well as working directly with some of the local designers.

Favorite event or secession of shooting?

“Lately, my interest in photography has been related to Omaha Fashion Week”

Jim has worked with designers, hair and make up professionals and local models. But said he still love shooting senior portraits too.

Upcoming projects or goals?

“My goal for next year would be to finish all the paperwork to become an actual business”

He said that he is currently in this process and increasing his marketing to bring in more senior portrait customers.

Wish you the best of luck Jim!

Bold & Kreative Photography by Kristin Allen

Kristin Allen of Bold & Kreative Photography is an international wedding and portrait photographer. She specializes in Wedding Photography, Engagements, Senior Photography, modeling portfolios and boudoir photography. She describes her style as fun, bright and bold.

Kristin describes herself as a photographer, traveler, girlfriend, sister and a daughter and values each of things. She puts a lot of time and commitment into each one of these assets because they are what make her life beautiful.

“I value relationships, memorable experiences and amazingly fresh images that are full of life and color.” Kristin states and uses as her headline for her website.

Kristin grew up at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. Here her mom, Pam, is also a full time photographer. Kristin and Pam occasionally team up together for special and big events such as weddings. This helps them deliver the very best of those cherished memories on print. Kristin went to college at Southhampton University in New York. Then she moved to Destin, Florida just after finishing college. There her goal was to pursue her dream of dolphin training.

“Dolphin training!?” I asked, thinking I heard that wrong and she laughed and said that I was correct. Just from the few minutes interviewing Kristin I can tell that she is a successful happy go lucky spirit. Her laughter and happiness are both very contagious and she seems to be very optimistic.

She continued saying that there she met a military boy and fell head of heals in love with him. She made the commitment to follow him where ever his job takes him. She loves to travel, she couldn’t say this enough and she loved him so in her own way she was getting the best of both worlds. She then relocated for love and packed up and moved to Portales, New Mexico before moving to Omaha, Nebraska.

“Some say I might be crazy, I just say that I am in love and happy!” said Kristin.

Just from the few minutes interviewing Kristin I can tell that she is a successful happy go lucky spirit. Her laughter and happiness are both very contagious and she seems to be very optimistic.

Kristin is also an active blogger, keeping everyone updated on her life and projects! She likes to blog about her life as a photographer, the people she encounters, special events coming up and more. As stated on her blog, she stands by her motto,

“A girl with a camera that loves to travel!”

Twitter

 

 

 

 

I have had a Twitter account for a brief amount of time now, maybe a little bit over a year. I still have mixed feelings about it. At first I followed a couple of celebrities, and then I found some news accounts, and now a handful of my close friends are now starting to get into “Tweeting”.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS– For the longest time Twitter and I were at war. I hated Twitter! I hardly ever used it for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I didn’t really understand the point of Twitter and was annoyed with the impression I was getting from Twitter. That impression was that arrogant celebrities were constantly throwing up posts on the hour mostly about lame things that nobody really cares to read.That is, unless you’re trying to avoid other things.

MYTH – One big common misconception that I have realized is that Twitter is all about telling people what you are doing. Identical to people who give constant status updates on Facebook. There are people who do use Twitter this way but  for the most part are usually not worth following unless they lead some extraordinarily or fascinating life.

Social networking It is 2011 almost 2012. utilizing social networking is a must! I believe very strongly that social media is only going to become more important in our lives. There is so much data instantly available for us that when utilized can benefit marketing, small businesses, job recruiting, networking and so much more. As for how all of social networking is going to evolve, we do not know, but I do believe that it is not going to go away. But I do know how important it is to stay on top and learn as the evolution continues.

Thank you for reading and check out my Twitter!

http://twitter.com/#!/StephanieStorm

Hello world!

WELCOME to Omaha Photography – the BEST of the MIDWEST

This blog is going to give you an exclusive inside look at a wide variety of photographers working in the Omaha Metro area!

The purpose of this blog is to to connect you with photographers with different strengths, abilities, and talents to assist in finding the right photographer for your needs, to network and make new friends.