Troutman Photography

Troutman Photography 2012-13 Senior Model Program

Clare Troutman — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:20:37 +0000

We still have several openings for senior models from local schools in the valley. If you're interested in our senior model program please send us an email to info@troutmanphoto.com.

Inspiration from Elmo?

Clare Troutman — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:20:36 +0000

Omg I love my job! The other day my children and I watched the movie “Being Elmo”. It’s the life story of the puppeteer behind Elmo from Sesame Street. I highly recommend watching it but be warned it may spoil the magic for younger viewers. My five year old didn’t seem to care that Elmo was a puppet and it inspired him to create puppets of his own. Now this is where being a photographer totally rocks. If I take pictures of our finished creations then I can have the studio pay for it and write the whole thing off. Not only that but I can use the same lighting tricks used by Sesame Street to bring our puppets to life and score some “cool dad” points with the kids. Like I said, my job rocks! Anyway, my whole family from ages 5-noneofyourbusiness had a blast creating puppets and my wife and I got some quality kiddo time. It was truly a win/win for all involved. So even if you’re not planing on selling pictures of your creations I do think it’s still it worth the time and effort. There’s nothing like knowing that you’re creating lifelong family memories one weird, random art project at a [...]

Donate to Operation Smile – Receive a FREE Portrait!

Clare Troutman — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:41:18 +0000

DON’T MISS OUR SPECIAL “CELEBRATION OF SMILES DAY” PROMOTION! On April 21 Troutman Photography will participate with an elite group of photographers around the country in a very special portrait promotion. On that day we will be providing a wonderful opportunity for you to update portraits of yourself and any family members you wish. In doing so, you will help to support Operation Smile, which provides free surgeries for children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. Along with other members of Professional Photographers of America (PPA), we are offering the gift of an individual portrait session and a desk-size portrait in exchange for a $24 minimum donation to PPA Charities, which has chosen Operation Smile as its charitable partner. For every 10 individuals we photograph, another child will receive the gift of surgery! It costs as little as $240 for Operation Smile’s medical volunteers to provide a life-saving surgery that can take as little as 45 minutes. One hundred percent of each donation will go to Operation Smile. If you wish to use the image for business purposes each digital file may be purchased for an additional $30. These mini sessions are [...]

St Patty’s Day Pot o’ Happiness

Clare Troutman — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:23:33 +0000

What do you find at the end of the rainbow? If you said, “Darby O’Gill and a bunch of angry little people?” You may be over thinking the question. If you said, “A pot o’ gold?” You are a true capitalist and we love you for it! This St. Patty’s Day, Troutman Photography has replaced the pot o’ gold with something money can’t buy. A giant bucket o’ happiness. The bucket o’ happiness will be filled with the names of what makes us happiest…our customers. On St. Patrick’s we will find the some random Irish guy to draw the name of one lucky customer for a $150 Troutman Photography gift card. Use that card to purchase anything from Troutman Photography that makes you happy or, for extra karma points give the gift o’ happiness to a friend. If you’d like to get your name in the bucket o’ happiness for a chance to win, simply tell us what made you the happiest with (or why you’re going to schedule a session with) Troutman Photography. Post that nugget o’ happiness on one of the websites below AND mention your post on our Facebook page. More posts equals more chances to win. But remember each “nugget o’ happiness” you post [...]

Introducing Clare

Daniel — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:06:33 +0000

I’m going to be honest with you guys right now and let you in on a secret I’ve been hiding for almost 20 years. In High School I was a total geek! (Shocker…I know!!) For those of you who know me, this may come as a complete shock to the system. If it doesn’t shock you then at least fake it or I’ll release the New Year’s photos from ’97. For those of you who don’t know me, picture a 15 year old kid who dressed like Mr. Schue from Glee roaming the halls of a high school in North Texas. Now add a camera around my neck instead of a girlfriend and you’ve pretty much completed that picture. The reason for this public outing of my geekish past is really to drive home the point that I was not/ am not what you’d call a smooth talker. I have to make myself be outgoing because inside I’m completely terrified of being the center of attention. This is the exactly why as an awkward teenager I picked up the camera. The camera allowed me to attend social events, football games or whatever and be a fly on the wall. I could [...]

“What’s there to talk about? Just take the Pictures!”

Clare Troutman — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:12:36 +0000

“What’s there to talk about? Just take the pictures!” I’ve actually heard that statement when trying to suggest to a client that we should do a pre-session consultation. In this instance I realized that the client wasn’t really looking to create a portrait that reflected the individual personalities within there family but were rather just looking to document that they were all in the same room at the same time. If that is what the client prefers of course I will deliver but images from that session will never make it into my personal portfolio of favorite work. Not to sound too hoity-toity but i really do prefer creating art for my clients to enjoy rather than just documenting an event. I truly believe that all photographers have the potential to become artists but nearly being a photographer doesn’t make you an artist. Let me explain that statement. A photographer might present a family as a collection of bodies closely placed together. An artist will present a family as a emotionally bonded group of individuals who’s love for each other is obvious and undying. Which would you prefer? The thing that makes all the difference in the above example is [...]

This is going to be a great week!

Clare Troutman — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:39:43 +0000

This week is going to be fantastic. My assistant Darren and I get to start off the week by showcasing our work at Jefferson High School. Darren is sort of my “Flying Monkey” if you will. I can load him up with business cards and yell “fly my minion” and watch as he takes flight leaving a wake of business paraphernalia trailing behind him. It also doesn’t hurt that at the ripe old age of 4 he has become a bit of a ladies man. I’ve seen him stop women dead in their tracks with just a simple smile. My litlle man is a very social little monkey and I just adore that about him. Darren and I will be hanging out with the students of Jefferson High this Monday answering questions and showing off our work. We are also giving away some free gifts to anyone who schedules a senior portrait appointment at the event. It should be a great time. We also have new studio samples coming in this week. My wife and I attended a photography conference in January and we found new vendors offering a huge selection of printing options. We recently ordered from some of [...]

Happiness Is…

Clare Troutman — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:00:47 +0000

Not just a smile but a full force double barrel blast of happy!

ImagingUSA Troutman Photography Style

Daniel — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:30:40 +0000

For those of you who didn’t get our 1000 Facebook posts about it, Clare and I attended ImagingUSA in New Orleans this year. We had a blast and learned a ton of useful things that we can’t wait to apply to our business. On our first day in NOLA I had a chance to take an all day hands on lighting class with two of the industries top pros Kibbee Walton and Chuck Arlund. Chuck was featured in this month’s Professional Photographer magazine. Both instructors had fantastic insights into lighting and allowed us to try out a few of their favorite lighting setups on some very patient models. You can see a few of the images I took under the direction of Chuck Arlund on the right hand side of this page. Every day Clare and I attended classes from 7am until 7pm and visited with some fantastic vendors during the breaks. We found some very exciting products that we are going to be offering at the studio. Including a line of boutique jewelry that is designed with both women and men in mind. We will be showcasing a new product on this blog every month so stay [...]

The Big (Not So) Easy

Clare Troutman — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:31:19 +0000

As I sit here and renew my membership to the P.P.A. ( Professional Photographers of America) I couldn’t help but realize that I belong to an organization of people dedicated to keeping an artform alive and helping it survive drastic changes in the digital era. We are fighting to keep our chosen artistic medium from becoming obsolete and to help it remain relevant to the general public. As the technology changes it often time effects the entire process of creating images not to mention what can be done to an image after it’s created. It’s up to the professional photographers of the world to not only test the limits of what can be done but to teach the next generation of photographers what we’ve learned along the way. That’s a huge responsibility that I for one am thrilled to be a part of. I’ve already begun passing down everything I’ve learned up to this point but photography is one of those endeavors that is constantly changing. I doubt any photographers out there would ever claim to know it all but even if they did some new technique would crop up and it would be time to go back to school. I love that there’s always something [...]