Back in 2008, I had the opportunity to work with Cathy Hartman Photography on the customization of her smugmug site. At the time, her photography business was “Treasured Moments” photography.

Cathy recently contact us for ‘an extreme makeover’ to her site with new colors, banner, logo, slideshow, content and music. LT worked with the Cathy on implementing the modifications. Most importantly, LT did not have to ‘recreate’ the customization of her smugmug site. The customization is design specifically for ‘extreme makeovers’ and enhancements for photographers who change there market brand strategy. This results in both a savings in time and money and expedites the redesign process. LT also work with Cathy to design and develop her wordpress blog which looks exactly like her smugmug web site.

Cathy writes to us “I have loved photography since I was a kid. It was always a great hobby, but not something I had time to pursue professionally. Most of my images were of my six children, 10 grandchildren, and students at my dance studio. Three years ago I sold my dance studio and last year became an empty nester. This gave me the opportunity to take my photography to the next level. I am very passionate about my photography and feel so blessed to spend every day with my camera. Some days I think I only want to be a baby and child photographer because I absolutely love the little ones. Then the next day I change my mind as I have a blast with a senior. Weddings are awesome – who doesn’t love a wedding! It means so much to be able tell the story of the couple’s special day through my images. And, I still have my passion for dance, but now as a dance photographer. There is nothing like capturing the beauty of a dancer whether on stage or leaping through the park. ”

Before – Treasured Moments Photography

After – Cathy Hartman Photography

After – Cathy Hartman Photographys Blog

Congrats to Cathy Hartman Photography on the new implementation of her market brand and “awesome” job LT!
Visit Cath Hartman Photography to see more images..

Steve and Marian Uffman from Louisiana enjoy using smugmug to store and share their family memories.

Steve tells me why he selected smugmug – “Photography is old hobby that I had put on the shelf some years ago – and then along came grandkids – with digital photography and a run rate of about 1000 photos per year per grandchild, printing was no longer feasible or a good method for sharing. Hence, we turned to the web for a solution and found nirvana ( at least so far). Being a retired CEO and founder of a technology business, I took on the project of gathering family photos from near and far that I could put on a website. After auditioning several sites, I found SmugMug to my liking but wanted to put some pop and professionalism into the site. Well as the story goes, handling and organizing over 10,000 photos is a big enough job by itself. I needed to find someone that could help get the site just as I wanted. Along came Jerry and in very short order we have a site that is rocking and rolling something that my family all enjoys whether they are in Louisiana, a hotel on a business trip or doing volunteer work in the remote areas of Mozambique. Not only has having a medium to share photos being wonderful but it also has inspired me to vigorously dust off the old hobby! I am either with my grandkids or in the outdoors 365 days a year, so there is plenty of opportunity to capture magical moments of all matters of wild thing – whether it is a critter or grandchild, it such a joy to capture the moment and then relive them day after day on the website. Thanks Jerry for all the great help and support.”

Visit Steve and Marian Uffman’s Family Galleries to see more images..

During 2009, I had the opportunity to work with Teresa Nora (‘T’) on the customization of her smugmug sites. ‘T’ has two smugmug sites.

One site, Imaging by T, is branded for her family portraits and art. Within Imaging by T, ‘T’ caters towards her Teen/Senior market with an unique market brand (Imaging by T – Teens). Ok you smuggers, basically that means it is the same Smugmug site but with an unique theme applied to all of her ‘Teen’ related galleries.

Her other site, Teresa Nora, is her ’sensual’ site. This smugmug site is branded towards her boudoir photography. The goal was to keep the ‘family’ related photography on one site and the ’sensual’ related photography on another site.

Her combintion of attention to detail, poses and unique locations result in very unique and breathtaking art for her clients

Recently Redbook magazine featured an article about ‘T’ and her ’sesual’ photography titled “I Posed for (Very) Sexy Photos” by Kimberly Ford. Congratulations to ‘T’ for her photography and her techniques apprearing in a national publication!

What an honor it has been to work with such a wonderful artist. ‘T’ – I am looking forward to working with you on future projects!

Teresa Noras ‘Senual’ Site (note: Adult related content)

Imaging by T – Family Site

Imaging by T – Teens Section

Richard “Dixie” Atkinson frokm Alabama travels around the United States specializing in Nature, Wildlife and National Park photography.

“Dixie” comments “Basically, I am an artist at heart. My major in college and my degree was in Fine Art earning a Baccalaureate Degree in Fine Art (BFA) with a minor in photography. My bio on the site sort of says it all – in that I was a good technical photographer having learned the ropes at Rochester Institute of Technology. At the time I was in the Army and was transferred to a location where I couldn’t pursue a BFA in photography, but I did find a school that would let me apply my photography education to that point towards a degree in Fine Art. Best thing that happened to me, because, as stated in my bio, that is when I developed my “eye” for photography. I have never been a person to say that the camera should show what the eye sees. As a fine art photographer, I envision the final result before I even ’snap’ the shutter and do my exposures accordingly. To me that is where the real art lies.”

“My favorite (photography) is pretty self-evident and that is landscapes and wildlife.”

“I don’t know about funny or interesting photography stories. I travel 49 of 50 states and specialize in the US national parks. I do 95% of my travel alone and much of the time I am “roughing” it in that I camp out or sleep in the back of my F-250 truck which has a simple camper cap on the back with a small cot. Since I am in remote locations and traveling alone (which includes day long hikes with my gear, etc.) I always have ten days worth of food and water with me and travel with a Spot locator for emergency situations. So far, I’ve been lucky in that I’ve never gotten lost (aren’t GPSs great) or totally stranded. However, I have hung my truck up on rocks and in streams while crossing them. Luckily, I’ve always been able to wench myself off or out of any situation I’ve placed myself (or the truck) in. The spot locator also has a blog site where fans can track me and this year will be first year that I’ve used that feature. After I get use to it, I may get you to add it as my blog site.”

“Dixies” comments on his web site : “It was a pleasure working with you on the site. You were very responsive to my requests and had the site up in no time. I am extremely please with the final results and highly recommend your services to anyone needing smugmug customization.”

Visit Visit Photographs by Dixie to see more images…

Also be sure to check on “Dixies” Find page google map – very impressive!

j Rost Photography (Julie) specializes in Sports, Events, Music, Weddings and Portrait photography in Sacramento California.

Julie comments “Photography is a very personal expression of the world around us. For me, it is a natural extension of my art background. Having spent many years creating art the old fashioned way with pen and paper, I was quickly enamored with the visual thrill of Photoshop! Discovering the magic of photoshop drove me to create my own images and hence the photography was born. The combination of taking great photos and then taking them a step further in photoshop is a thrill that will never tire with me. I don’t rely on Photoshop as a post-production band-aid, you HAVE to get it right when you shoot the image, but rather a way to make photographic art. There is something very special about capturing just the right moment with the camera and taking it to a breath-taking image. It is what thrills me and keeps me shooting and creating. For me, the art and science of photography and photoshop go hand in hand seamlessly from one to another…like the circle of life if you will.

Julie comments about her smugmug site and jR Customization “Working with Jerry has been a dream come true! I have been struggling for years to make my website do all the things that I wanted it to do — while LOOKING great! As a photographer, I am very visually driven and have never been able to find a way to showcase my work on a functional platform that does both beautifully. For all you photographers out there…stop what you are doing and hire Jerry to work on your site. It will be the best thing you have ever done and I guarantee you will love it. Jerry has found the magic combination of building the behind the scenes functionality in a way that will make your site stand out and look amazing! Thanks Jerry…you ROCK.”

Visit Visit j Rost Photography to see more images…

Deb and Keith of Franklin Photography specializes in Sports, Events, Music and Nature photography in New Jersey and Florida..

Deb tells me “Keith and I don’t just love photography – we are passionate about it, and in different ways. For Keith, it’s capturing “the shot” two-fold – the image, and the action within in such a way as to capture the intangible energy, the tension, the moment so that anyone viewing the image feels that they are right there too. For me, it’s capturing “artistic emotion” – you all know what I mean – in that simple click of the shutter that serendipitous event of stopping time and capturing visual emotion within the 4 squares of your frame. It’s like your first kiss, your first hole in one, your first anything – you can’t wait to feel that rush again and so you keep on capturing images.”

Deb and Keiths favorite type of photography – “I don’t think we have a favorite, although we most often are drawn to sports/action, photojournalism, family and stock.”

“I think our most recent “interesting” story was shooting for Bob Baldwin, a phenomenally talented jazz pianist, at the Hartford Jazz Festival in CT this year. We were so caught up in taking our shots while on stage we didn’t realize how large the crowd was – until we looked up and saw a virtual sea of 50,000 faces looking back – I think my mental response was a cobination of “Holy Sh@#-!!” followed by “oh, this is soooo cool”!”

Deb comments about her Smugmug site “We LOVE our web design. It effectively captures the timeless essence of what we do. We were blessed to work with a dynamic team – Bold Print Design out of NC, and jR Customization, design/programmer extraordinaire! Both groups tactfully kept us on schedule and were particularly helpful in taking my sometimes incomplete vision and pointing out better ideas so that we optimized our site in a way we had not anticipated.”

Visit Visit Franklin Photography to see more images…

“I just wanted to stop by and say hello and tell you how much I love your customer support and quality – Smugmug is the best!”

I heard that quote so many times from so many Smuggers while I was with Smugmug and Bay Photo at Imaging USA 2010.

Larry (LT) and I had the pleasure of joining the Smugmug team in the Smugmug/Bay Photo exhibit. To say the exhibit was busy is an understatement!

I spoke – and listened – to so many Smuggers – I lost count after 200 (and that was only Sunday!). We answered questions regarding Smugmug Pro, Smugmug customization (“WOW!!! – that is a Smugmug site? – awesome”), Bay Photo, order fulfillment and general techi stuff!

So many smuggers and ‘fans’ stopped by to say hello and to meet us. Amanda and Alisa Lynn from Alabama, Candace from Tennessee, Cindy from Alabama, Alisha from Georgia, the Time Smart Images team from Pennsylvania, Jeanelle and her friends from Mississippi – the list goes on and on. A few photogs even referred to my writings on the internet. I thought to myself – “people actually do read my blog, forum answers, articles and newsletters.” David Jay stopped by and I had the opportunity to demonstrate some of the cool Smugmug Customizations/Wordpress Customizations we have completed.

I also had a few conversations with some sport photographers on how I used Smugmug for my youth sports photography (which is my fav photography!).

Honestly though, the conversations I appreciated the most centered around the non-Smuggers who were just starting off and “don’t have an internet site” or “I only use Blogger”. Smugmug has so much to offer them…functionality and flexibility for any photogs business!!

A few other photogs bowed their heads in shame when they shared their nightmare stories of using a competitor’s site. “I cannot sell my art to my customers with my boring site” some photogs cried! It was not a hard sale explaining all of the features that Smugmug Pro offers.

“Oh my gosh – I know that web site – I love it and her photography is breathtaking!” “I’ve seen her photography before – I want to photograph like her!” “Your jR?? I love that web site – the photography is the best!!”

Here’s a secret I am happy to share… a few of the photogs I have worked with to customize their web sites are more popular than they think they are. And yes… Jaki Good Photography (Jaki) from Ohio, Moments Photography (Alicia) from Louisiana and Studio KYK (Monica) from California I am talking about you!!! Your customers love you and so do your peers!

We had our fun as well – Markham and LT “skooled” me on some iPhone apps I did not even know about (Bump, Lego Photo, etc). At the end of the day LT ask if I noticed how light the traffic was in other exhibits in the area as compared to Smugmug/Bay Photo. LT said “That exhibit had so many team members just standing around doing nothing all day!”.

A big thank you again to the Smugmug team (Markham, Jeff, Frederique, Candice) – they were great hosts! This was such an eye opening experience – I enjoyed and appreciated every moment.

Oh, and Smuggers, you must check out the Metal Prints from Bay Photo – they rock!

Still not a ‘Smugger’ ?? Visit Smugmug to learn more…

ShutterBy Me specializes in Portrait and Nature photography in Oklahoma.

Lana Trussell, owner of ShutterBy Me has really no favorite photography subject. “I’m not really sure I have a favorite subject. To me there is nothing like catching that certain smile that certain expression or special time in someone’s life on camera. Portraits are so rewarding when you catch that special moment and you know you got it right. I do so love shooting landscapes. My favorite place is Yellowstone. There is nothing like capturing the beauty of Parkadise! I could spend every day there for the rest of my life and never capture it all and never get bored trying.”