Kenny Caudill Photography

It’s been two years since I wrote anything here.  I haven’t had any links to this blog either.  I have decided to try again to maintain a blog.  I don’t really have anything to say, just planning to believe that I soon might.

I just created a form to sign up for a newsletter on my website.  I will send out a Portrait Newsletter that will discuss photography news and techniques as well as give notice of current specials I am offering.  A second newsletter will notify riders of my motorcycle schedule and travels.  I plan to offer a few services to small groups on motorcycle adventures.

If you want to receive either of my newsletters, here is the link.  Newsletter

Look for more soon,
Kenny

Cleaning up and planning the repair for my defunct water heater, has me thinking about my dad.  He died just a few years ago (along with my brother, uncle and last grandmother) but that is a discussion for later.  When we were kids, my dad made us learn most of the things he knew.  He was a contractor and built houses.  He knew about and repaired all of his own equipment, and we were expected to learn how to do and repair everything as well.  I resented those lessons at the time, I didn’t like the dirt and grease on me and my clothes and I was embarrassed when friends dropped by and I was covered in grease.

Today, I have my dad’s old pick up truck.  He loved that truck and took great care of it, but it has suffered from sitting at my mom’s house with no use for the last few years.  When my mom asked if I wanted it, I wasn’t sure.  The idea of a fully paid vehicle sounded good, but I knew it would take a lot of work to get it running.  Still, I didn’t want to see it sold off as scrap.  I put a new battery in it and got it to start.  It sounded terrible.  I managed to get it home and over the next few weeks I remembered how much I had learned from my dad.  I was able to replace all the spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor button, wiper motor, idler pulley, serpentine belt, water pump, radiator hoses, muffler, steering arm and idler arm to get the motor and steering back into shape.  It’s not perfect, but it’s coming along.  I had lost that childish embarrassment of having dirty hands and took pride in the fact that my dad had taught me how to be self reliant.

Now, I really love this old truck.

My water heater burst last night.  I’m boiling water on the stove to shave and wash up.  I see this, however, as an opportunity.  I plan to replace the old tank heater with a new tankless system that will save me considerable money on heating water and reduce my carbon footprint.    Since my home has only one shower head, I can actually purchase a tankless, on demand system cheaper than a replacement tank heater.  I will install it myself, so I am reading up on stainless steel venting and the proper technique for installing these systems.  They require better and larger venting than my old gas heater due to condensates that are corrosive to the vent pipes.  I guess I may be boiling water for several days.

I will always want to photograph children, high school seniors and weddings.  I believe that these help keep me young.  But I want to spend more time riding my motorcycle.  I would love to take off for couple of days, twice a month, and shoot landscapes, scenics and wildlife.  Marketing Moron that I am, however, would starve trying to sell these.

Photography, motorcycles and Olivia.  That is my life.  I truly love all three.  Photography would be better if I didn’t have to operate a business at the same time, but that’s life.  A lot of my photography work is on Saturday.  Sunday, I ride.  Monday, if free of Specials, belongs to Olivia.

Tuesday through Friday are consultations, retouching, computer & file maintenance and no more than two portrait shoots per day. My goal, to be comfortable and happy, is 4 portrait sessions per week and 2 weddings per month.

WARNING! BLATANT SALES PITCH!

In case you haven’t found it on my website, I have some very special portrait sessions available on Mondays.  The idea is to make these sessions close to self service.  You make your appointment on my website, we meet at the shoot location and then you order the next day on my website.

With this arrangement, I can shoot quite a few of these on any Monday and then have the orders qualify for my school/event package pricing.  It, also, lets me offer the specialty items that can be ordered with these packages.

If you like this idea, please help me spread the word.  I need to shoot at least 6 on any Monday to qualify for the package pricing from my lab.  I will shoot them with fewer appts to try to get this off the ground.  I offer these sessions In Studio,  on EKU’s Campus and at Silver Creek.

During consultations, I am often asked if I shoot in a photojournalist style.  My answer is – sometimes.  During a wedding I have to change my style several times.  At the beginning, I have a list of posed wedding party and family images to capture.  For these, I try to pose people “interactively”.  For example, with the bride and her parents, I will have the bride hand the bouquet to her mother and then adjust dad’s tie, while mom watches.   Something that might actually happen, but we don’t have time to wait around for it, so I help it happen and get the image.

With the bride and groom together, I usually walk them around and suggest places to sit or stand and then make slight adjustments to what they are doing naturally.  I, also, keep them moving, no time to get nervous about the camera.

After the formals, I do become very photo journalistic.  At this point, I am documenting your wedding day.  Covering the final preparations and then the ceremony are done covertly rather than being directed.

After the ceremony, you usually want a few more posed images and that time allows guests to get to the reception and seated before your arrival and introduction.  My reception coverage is mostly candid for the events, but include slight direction for the family groups that want images made.

I can’t be a photojournalist 100% of the time at a wedding.  There are too many important images that you and your family want made that day to leave it to chance.

The first story I want to tell about Olivia occurred when she was about 18 months old.  It was the middle of the afternoon and I had just put her up on the couch to change her diaper.  It was only a wet diaper, (you will see soon why this is important) and as soon as I removed it and wiper her down, the phone rang.  I went to the other room to take the call and got involved with a client about her upcoming session.  After a few minutes I hear this angry lecturing voice behind saying “daga ooga cana ogba egga gogga unga” and more that I can’t bear to repeat.  I turn around and Olivia is standing there, no diaper, and pointing back into the other room.  I go to see what is bothering her and find that she has pooped on the carpet and has it on her legs as well.  She is, understandably, quite angry with me and her situation.

This story, when told aloud, makes Olivia laugh and it seems to sum up our relationship.  I do my best to take of her, but depend on her to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Olivia is 4 years old.  She is my best friend.  She once wanted to marry me, but turning 4 gave her new insights and she realized that it would probably never work.  Olivia’s mother is in school and Olivia attends a Montessori program, but I pick her up each afternoon and spend 2 to 3 hours with her every day.  Mondays when I have no Specials scheduled, I take off and we spend the entire day together.  I miss her terribly over the weekends but having weddings on Saturdays keep me busy.

Blogging is brand new to me.  I haven’t read blogs by any one else, so I have no preconceptions about what I should include.  I plan to write frequently about the photography business in general, photography as I practice it, tutorials about digital photography and anything else that appeals to me. I will create at least 3 categories for these posts.  One about business, one about photography techniques and one about life in general.

Parts of this blog will seem like a diary.  I will reveal thoughts and practices that I have never before voiced.  It scares me a lot to contemplate doing this and may take me a while to actually get started.  Much of what I have to say will be about me trying to deal with running a small business in this economy.