Hartselle Alabama area photographer Cindy Austin specializes in portrait and event photography.

Cindy writes about smugmug and jR Customization:

“I first learned of smugmug hosting by a friend and was excited to finally have my photos online for all to enjoy. I never expected it would lead to actual sales, but when I started being asked to photograph a little more and more I knew the first thing that would need a facelift was my website.

Being crazy enough to think I could update my own site, I started researching the internet for ideas and jR Customization kept popping up. After viewing the work he had done for other Photographers and reviewing his blog site, I found out he could also work with smumug sites and that’s when I knew he was the designer to turn my worries over to.

Being new to web marketing I didn’t really have a clear picture of what I needed to get started. After just one conversation with Jerry he knew exactly what I was going for and instantly set up very clear steps for me to get started. Along the way he catered to my every design need and I never had to wait days for an answer to a question. Each time he knew exactly what I was tangled up with and would calmly walk me through the steps to fix it and always followed up to see if I was ok with the changes. 

Jerry’s broad computer talent and aggressive marketing strategies has provided me with more customer oriented site in which to advertise and market my photography. I now have a website that speaks to who I am as a photographer. I no longer waste time worrying over my dull website and can now spend more time getting out and taking photos; which is what it really is all about.

Hiring Jerry was the best marketing tool I have ever purchased and I will always look to him for future updates and marketing advice. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Jerry for all your skills and patience.”

Cindy Austin

Freelance Photographer, Animal Lover and now, Proud Website owner!

Visit Cindy Austin Photography to see more of Cindys photography…

Georgia and Arkansas photographer specializes in event, nature, wildlife, and hunting photography.

Why and how Stephen got started:

“Late one afternoon, while on a trip to shoot ducks in the fall of 2006, my hunting partners and I stopped to glass a recently cut corn field holding several thousand mallards. After watching duck after duck pour into the field, we pinpointed our location and talked strategy about how we were going to set up the hunt the following morning. A few moments later, we turned back toward the truck and witnessed one of the most awe inspiring North Dakota sunsets that mother nature had to offer. I rushed back to the truck in search on my camera only to find that I have left it at home, 1000 miles to the south. It was then that I realized that after 14 years of wing shooting, I only had a few jumbled memories of my travels in my head.

On opening day of the 2006 Arkansas duck season, I again found myself without a way to preserve the memories of another fine day’s hunt. I watched a now good friend of mine, Ramsey Russell, maneuver around my clubs picking shed snapping pictures of everything imaginable from every conceivable angle. After supper that night, I asked Ramsey to see some of the pictures that he had taken earlier that day. What I saw was not only shocking, it was inspiring! I remember thinking, “I want to take pictures just like that!” By the time the weekend was over, I had annoyed Ramsey with a million questions and went back to Cabot with a list of equipment. I spent the next 3 days patrolling the internet for hours upon hours in search of information, shopping prices and figuring out who could get the equipment to me the quickest! I returned the following weekend with a bag full of Canon equipment determined to perfect my new found hobby.

I spent the subsequent weeks with my new camera and lenses in my company car or personal truck riding the roads of Northeast Arkansas photographing anything and everything I could find; sunsets, sunrises, flying ducks, sitting ducks, flying geese, standing geese, dogs sitting, dogs running….you name it, I shot it! Early on, I wanted to photograph everything and tried to do so! As the duck season of 2006 progressed, the duck and goose numbers started dwindle and I found myself photographing club members dogs each afternoon. It was then that I realized my true passion for helping hunters capture their dogs doing what they do best….work!”

Please visit www.gundogstudio.com to view his work…

From Todd Whetstine – the proud owner of Wild Woods Photography.

Blessed to live in the heart of the Ozark Mountains in Chester, Arkansas. I’m just a stones throw away from several photo blindes I’ve built around my place. Nature and wildlife photography are my passion. My wife Lisa and I have just returned from a tour of the state trying to capture the beautiful fall foilage. We spent a week putting tents up and down in several different places, (in the rain I might add, rained every freaking day). We returned home with so much more than we expected. We celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary while we were on tour and I think I had one of the best weeks of my life. Not only did we accomplish the fall foilage shots, with all the rain we had waterfalls everywhere around us.
I’d like to share some of my photos with you and talk a little about how I shoot. If you have a camera and a tripod you can very quickly be taking photos just like them. I never shoot without a tripod! The next secret is timing. Most of my shots are done very early in the morning or right before it gets dark. This allows you to open your shutter for extended periods of time on your landscape photos. I like to open my shutter on the waterfalls for at least four to thirty seconds. This gives the water a milky look as it spills over the ledge. I also try to frame the shot through leaves or rocks whatever I can find. The way you frame the shot is what will set your shots apart from everyone elses.
I hope you like my photos as much as I like shooting them. My photography became an instant passion but more importantly it started a healing process that helped me through a difficult time and I was able to start living my life again I strongly encorage anyone with camera laying around to use it. You’ll be suprised, not only do they take great pictures. They may open doors you thought couldn’t be opened. I’ve got many doors left to try and pry open and my camera keeps my mind in a place that allows me to do it.
Here is a link to my wonderful week with my wife – Fall Colors Album and here is a link to my home page . If I can help you with your photography contact me throgh my website and I’ll be happy to help. There are going to a couple of tough days starting out but if I can do it anyone can! Good luck and keep me posted! I hope you will share your photos with me.

Wild WoodsPhotography
Todd Whetstine

During the summer, myself and Alicia from Moments Photography had the opportunity to work on a new site – Dakota Cuvée Events. “Dakota Cuvée Events is the event planner and caterer of choice when looking for a company to treat your party as if it was their own.” Given the elegance of Dakota Cuvée Events, we did not want to implement some plain-boring static html web site nor did we want to implement a ‘flashy-flash’ site which is next to impossible for anyone to maintain; scratch both those ideas from the ‘menu’. What would be the solution ? Simple – wordpress!

The WordPress solution enabled us to design a site combining pages and blog posts. The pages consist of information about the Dakota Cuvée Events five-star menus, catering information, events planning, the southshore Louisiana and northshore Louisiana venues. The sites pages also contain information about the Cuvée, Dakota and Rambla restaurants. New Orleans nationally acclaimed events planner Bridgette Miramon has the ability to use the blog to write articles about up-coming events as well as several of Dakota Cuvée Events success stories. Bridgette can also maintain the sites blog articles and content pages herself easily through the wordpress dashboard. Visitors to the site have the ability to share the blog articles via the several social media platforms. The site is even iphone friendly and google search engine optimization (SEO) loves wordpress! Yeah – this is a blog – see for yourself – visit Dakota Cuvée Events.

One of the very first sites I customized was Get the Picture Photography. Tricia Hackney was has been a ‘smugger’ since 2004 and she found me via one of the photography forums. I was just starting off my small business so this was an excellent opportunity to work with a someone that had been using smugmug for a while.

Three years later, I am proud to say I am still her ‘web guy’ as Tricias business has grown from a home studio to now a downtown studio. Tricia photographs clients in both her studio and on location. Tricia uses smugmug to store all of her client photos and has over 120,000+ photos to date. Tricia recently contacted us for ‘an extreme makeover’ and we impletmented a smugmug/blog intregration onto her site. She is now ready to rock the web world into 2010 with her new blog. Tricia does also does a lot of work with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) and Operation Love ReUnited.

You can see more of Tricias photography at Get the Picture Photography.

Before – Get the Picture  Photography

After – Get the Picture Photography

The Camera Slingers “Freedom” double camera strap:

The “Freedom” comfortably supports the weight of two cameras at one time and gives you the flexibility to use one camera when you need it. Finally, a solution for the two or one camera shooter. The included strap extender allows you to quickly change from two cameras to one camera in a snap without ever having to readjust your strap. No more fumbling or having to set your bodies on the ground. The Camera Slingers design does not require the use of a cross strap, making it both female and wardrobe friendly. You can now carry two cameras with ease and comfort, even if worn all day! The Ergonomic design support system is made to support the weight of your cameras on the stronger part of your back, the unique bi-lateral binding takes the stress off your shoulders and spine. Your back will love you! Shoot in style … shoot with ease.

Features and Benefits:

 • Carry two camera bodies at one time with one

 • Converts into a single camera strap

 • Fits all cameras and lenses with a standard tripod mount

 • Adjustable camera positioning

 • Military grade components

 • Slip resistant shoulder pads

 • Fully adjustable, for all heights and body types

 • Sleek professional design

 • Ergonomic design helps prevent neck and back pain, even if it is worn all day!

 • 2 camera or lense mounts

 • 1 strap extender

 • 1 year manufacturer’s warranty

Visit Camera Slingers to learn more.

Camera Slingers

Ok, so am I not a big book reader, but a few years back I did take the time to read the book
“Now, Discover Your Strengths” by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton.

The authors have created a program to help readers identify their talents and build upon the talents. The main concept behind the book is “most of us have little sense of our talents and strengths, much less the ability to build our lives around them. Instead, guided by our parents, by our teachers, by our managers and by psychology’s fascination with pathology, we become experts in our weaknesses and spend our lives trying to repair these flaws, while our strengths lie dormant and neglected.”

The book enables you to ‘discover’ your top five strengths (from 34 different themes) by taking the online StrengthsFinder assessment. The book spent more than five years on the bestseller list and the StrengthsFinder assessment has help millions to discover their top five talents.

I took the assessment when I first read the book and then again recently to determine the accuracy of the assessment. Yes, I got the same five results (Arranger, Achiever, Relator, Individualization and ‘Woo’). Sorry – you have to read the book to find out what the themes truly mean !

I actually use this program as a team building exercise in the corporate world. Years ago, I given the opportunity to lead a team of programmers and systems analyst on a year+ application development project. Most of the team members did not know each other and as the project began, I heard team members point out faults in one another. As a team, we decided to take the each take the assessment and share our results. This way, we were able to recognize that each team member had different talents which could contribute to the overall success of the project. The ‘negatively’ quickly ended and to make a long story short, the project was a success – ahead of schedule, under budget and exceeded customers expectations. No, the book did not make this happen, but it did provide a positive influence on the team as well as focusing efforts on strengths instead of faults.

I highly recommend it to anyone – or any team – looking to reveal their hidden ‘talents’.

Showit Web Slideshows

Create stunning slideshows quickly and simply. Just upload your photos, select your music, customize the look and ShowitWeb does the rest.
 • Automatically resizes images and generates Flash file
 • Pre-timed transitions syncopated to the music
 • Customize the music, text, colors, zoom, focal points, and include your own logo
 • Embed slideshow into your blog or Facebook page
 • Sell a DVD of the slideshow to your customers with Showit’s MediaLab

I used Showit Web for a the home page slideshow on my Sarah and James Wedding Site. It was very easy to use and I had the slideshow created within minutes. I like the ability to create variations on slideshow transitions and timings.

Visit Showit Web to learn more.

Sparta Wisconsin area photographer specializes in wedding, portrait and nature photography.
Karla loves meeting the people she photographs and and capturing the special moments for them. “Photography gives me a different perspective on everything I see… I always imagine how something would look as a photograph” says Karla.
Karla just recently did a Senior Photo Session and photographed the girl on her horse… long story short, she got bucked off the horse but landed in very soft grass and was not injured! She commented that she’s had way worse falls than that one and Karla continued on with the shoot with no more drama!
Karla likes her new customized smugmug site and how professional it looks compared to how it did before…”I’m proud to tell people to check out my website because of how great it looks thanks to you Jerry!”
Please visit www.karlasullivanphotography.com to view her work…

I recently had the opportunity to work with New York Manhattan Wedding Photographer Jason Groupp. Not only is Jason a “The Knot’s Best Weddings” Pick award winner, Jason conducts serveral seminars on wedding photography and videography. Jason is also one of the Smug Group leaders. Jasons smugmug site was designed to look and fuction like his current Flosite. Please visit www.jasongroupp.com to enjoy his wonderful work.