This blog is intended for people who either enjoy my work, or perhaps are looking to be future clients and is a way of getting to know me and my style a little more or perhaps even somebody else who is wanting to get into the business and is looking for insight or inspiration.
Second of all, or third of all, oh I don't know I've lost track already, but anyways...I should correct myself in saying this is my business. In this endeavor I have so eloquently set out on in hopes of something other than utter failure, my wife, Brandy, is the glue that holds me together. But not only does she support all of my wacky ideas (from my aspiration of creating the worlds first fruit filled churro while we were in SD...stupid Cinnibon for stealing my idea!....to plenty other ideas I've had or inventions I've claimed to have come up with)...she also is VERY handy with a camera herself. In fact she is better with a Sony point and shoot than a lot of people that think owning an entry level Nikon makes them a professional. She also watches the email and handles the calendar of appointments. In fact, she's the one that had to nudge (down right push) me into pursuing this dream of mine. If she had it her way I would quit working on my bachelors degree in IT and concentrate solely on a photography degree, but my IT work pays the bills right now and until I get this biz off the ground...a brotha's gotta eat! lol
So where did all this begin for me?
Well this (or something very similar) was my very first camera...remember with the 110 mm compact film cartridges in the back? Yeah I found it in my house when I was probably 10 years old or so and I took pictures of everything on it. I probably still have a cartridge or two floating around that were never developed (ironically Brandy does too)! From that moment on I would get disposable cameras that I could actually afford I continued to take pictures. In the seventh and eighth grade I was a photographer for the school yearbook and one of my photos even made the FRONT COVER! ahhhh my first publication... I was so excited! After that I didn't really do much else. Just never had the equipment and got interested in other things. Sad, I know.
Once I joined the Navy I had the opportunity to see much more of the world than most people dream of seeing (this is also where I met my wonderful wife). It was my outings with her that sparked my interest in pictures, yet again. When you're with someone as beautiful as her, how can you not take pictures ;-) Then she bought me my first Nikon. D60 which I'm still working with today. It serves it's purpose and still takes great shots. When I feel the need to upgrade I will.
One sunny, spring Sunday, my wife was looking Radiant as ever and the cherry blossom tree behind our house was in PERFECT bloom. So I said hey lets go outside and she climbed all in the tree in her Sunday dress and we just spent a few hours taking GORGEOUS shots. We even brought our two tiny dogs Lady (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) and Tink (Chihuahua) and took pictures with them and after I edited all of those I think it occurred to both of us that we could do this for real.
Brandy put an ad out on Craigslist and WeddingBee (one of her favorite websites) and from that point on it's been a flood of people wanting pictures taken for various reasons, babies, weddings, engagements or just to have pictures taken of them. What a self esteem booster it is to have gorgeous pictures taken of them. Especially for women and young girls. They are constantly bombarded by modeling and advertising. Even the teenie boppers on Disney Channel are all models now. What better way to boost their self esteem by taking them to get awesome pictures done! Every woman wants a photo shoot in their wedding dress... every high school girl should have a chance to have a photo shoot in their prom dress (other than their dad taking pictures on his 1980's camcorder). If I could continue taking pictures for everyone for free I would, but I am hoping to start making a living with this. It takes a LOT of time and effort, especially in processing, but I do have SO much fun doing it and I always try to make sure my clients are having fun too. Without fun and enjoyment you're going to capture the wrong emotions on film.
From here on I'll blog here and there about the shoots I do and what happens in between them. I hope you enjoy reading them and getting the behind the scenes story about what happens next....
Don't forget to follow me on facebook and see all the sneak peaks as they come out!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BAZZINGA/243374428180#!/pages/Burke-VA/Chris-Gronde-Photography/113525125346089?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=47
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