An Interview with Lindsay Moretti of LindsayBrynn Photography

I recently had the opportunity to interview Lindsay Moretti, a friend and former co-worker of mine who launched LindsayBrynn Photography, her own photography business. She was gracious enough to answer a few questions for me and I'm happy to share them with you.

Steve: How did you get into the photography business?

Lindsay: I got more serious about photography as a hobby and I enjoyed learning how to take the best images I could possibly take. I studied techniques and photo editing everyday so I decided to offer "free shoots" to some friends to see if I still enjoyed it when the subjects weren't my own child, etc. I really did enjoy taking photos for others, I just loved the reactions from people because they were really appreciative to have the photos and they're something that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. That's when I decided to start the business officially.

How did you decide to make it a career and has it been profitable?

I already have a couple part time jobs, but I like the flexibility of everything. I shoot mainly on the weekends and just started charging my full prices a couple months ago. So far business has been great. I get many inquires and I already have a few bookings for next year. Profits this year haven't been amazing mainly because I've shot at discounted prices in order to build my portfolio.

What's your favorite subjects to shoot and why do you enjoy shooting them?

Portraits because I like to get creative. Babies have been really fun, especially before they can crawl because you can pose them easily. I like doing portraits because I can tweak colors and settings and even creative textures in photoshop later.

Has the economic downturn affected your business in any way?

I've launched during the economic downturn and I'm still finding customers so I guess that's good.

Do you find the work fulfilling?

Definitely. It's my favorite job. Photo editing can get tedious sometimes, but it's all worth it.

What equipment do you generally use?

I enjoy using natural light, a Canon 50d and a prime lens, usually my 50 1.4 or my 85 1.2. I try to keep flash out of it at most costs by bumping up the ISO if necessary. If I do use flash I use a Canon Speedlite 580EX II and I diffuse the flash or bounce it off of a wall. I try to use flash only as fill so that it's hardly ever the main source of light.

This works because I don't have a studio yet and do all my shoots on location.

How has the internet impacted your business?

The internet rocks. I have a background in internet marketing so I know how to build websites, advertise easily and use social media for advertising. I post some previews from my sessions on Facebook when clients allow it. My friends see these photos and they usually remember to recommend me when they know of someone who needs a portrait photographer.

How hard is it to sell your photos?

It's easy to sell photos because I charge a lot for a CD of digital files. If people are paying a session fee they'll be buying their prints through me as well. I have affordable prices so there hasn't been much complaining.

What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of photography?

I don't feel that I'm quick enough or completely comfortable in manual mode. Sometimes on a shoot I'll forget to check that I'm getting everything the way I'd like it. I can get pretty scared of messing up.

Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring photographers looking to turn their hobby into a career?

Just keep practicing as much as you can. Find other photographer friends and ask them if you can come with them to a shoot. When I was starting out I found that a lot of professionals discouraged people from the profession and I'm not sure why. I love it and think everyone that wants to do it should do it.

- Lindsay Moretti is a stay-at-home mom and professional photographer based in Jupiter, Florida. To learn more about her photography or to contact her, visit http://www.lindsaybrynnphotography.com/

Crashing Wiley Hall

This series shows Wiley Hall as it looked earlier this morning (November 24th, 2009), when a driver allegedly hit the gas instead of the break in one of the parking spots next to the historic building.

I was tipped off by Jill Morgenthaler, age 24, who saw the crash as she and her friend, 20-year-old Leiagh Bonfiglio, were getting out of their car at Wiley Hall opposite of where the crash occured. Jill said:

"My friend and I were parking at Wiley. Right as I turned off the car, either
the girl was trying to reverse [in drive] or lost control getting into the
parking spot, but she rammed her RAV 4 into the column of Wiley Hall. We thought
were were gonna die!"

As of this writing no one has been reported as injured in the crash and the driver was examined by Flagler nursing staff. A temporary support beam has been set up until a new columns can be made to replace the damage.

Illustrated Photography

Originally shot as picture of Nostalgia, 25-year-old Megan Frost thinks back on the fun she's had through the magic of desaturation.

The statue of David, courtesy of the Ripley Museum. This was shot at night and there were several things I could have done with it, but I thought the glowing edges looked the most striking with the surface texture of the piece.

I shot this alligator statuette outside of a house in Licolnville that could be suspected of favoring a certain Florida college football team. I used a watercolor filter to give it even more character.

Team 1 Assignment: Nostalgia

Megan Frost, a 24-year-old Fine Arts student, gets nostalgic on the swings of Ron Parker Park.

Posing a Threat: Fashion Photos

All these photos feature Shelby Jane, an 18-year-old student and aspiring fashion model.

Megan's Balloons, variations on theme

Megan Rohlfing, 21, shares some of her child-like fun by becoming one with the "balloon hole." These photos are courtesy of Desi Pappas and used with permission.

Issues: 3 Faces of Unemployment

Unemployed and forced to leave Florida to find work, Nicole Tyrell, 28, sees off the last of her possessions as they are loaded onto her mother's work truck. This is the last time she will see her things outside of a Uhaul truck until they're unpacked in New Hampshire.

As part of his daily routine, Tim Griffing, a 53-year-old Coast Guard Veteran, enjoys a meal of all-you-can-eat chicken. Griffing has been living on unemployment checks for two years this November after being let go from Harley Davidson. He now spends most of his considerable amount of free time helping the Boy Scout organization, volunteering in Jamborees (large Scouting conferences) across the world.

Eddie Garner is a 57-year-old homeless man living primarily in the downtown area of St. Augustine. He hasn't held a job in over two years and receives a $550 Social Security check to live off of each month. Due to an issue he wouldn't discuss with me, he's unable to eat at the St. Francis house and relies on other homeless friends to bring him food until he's able to eat at one of the charity meals given out each night in the Square.

For my issue I wanted to look at unemployment through the eyes of three different people in three very different situations. Each is impacted by the issue but each have responded to it in a different way. As the unemployment rate in Florida reaches an all-time high, the importance of finding and keeping work takes paramount importance.

Paul Cohen Speaks to Flagler Filmmakers

Paul Cohen, the director of Florida State University's Torchlight Program, came to Flagler College today to speak about the business of making movies.

Night Photos

This photo may be too dark for our purposes, but I like how the light brought out just enough detail to let you know what you're looking at.

For this assignment I visited a couple of local St. Augustine Bars, Tradewinds Lounge and the White Lion Pub, to get a feew images of people relaxing. Both bars had completely different moods from subdued to rowdy. The majority of these images (the first three) come from the Tradewinds Lounge where Troy Locke was rocking the crowd with his band MATANZAS.

In Class Project: Photos of Photographers

Steve Meehan, 21, gets up after shooting.

Today's in class assignment was photograph a portrait of photographers while shooting. I shot a picture of Steve as he was shooting outside the Library building.

Environmental Portrait: the Cori Jacket

Cori Talbot, age 17 in the Yellow Jacket Suit, and her friend Shelby Jane, age 17 in the Mask, grapple with their dinner.

Cori Talbot towering over her mask, showcasing her unique ceiling decoration.

"Buzz" the SAHS Yellow Jacket as portrayed by Cori Talbot.

For my Environmental Portrait I chose Cori Talbot, the current bearer of the long running Yellow Jacket mascot tradition for St. Augustine High School. These pictures were all taken in her environment, her room, along with her friend Shelby who is a semi-permanent fixture of that place.

Motion Studies

Melissa Strait being a sport and allowing me to capture her movement around a room.

Sarah getting into the Volleyball game at the St. Augustine Pier.

Karla saving the volley during the same game at the St. Augustine Pier.

Here are a few of my practice runs with freezing and blurring motion by using gimmicks on my Cannon SD790 point and shoot. I've found that the auto-correcting imagery are making things a little more difficult to take pictures, but there are some work-arounds I've managed to hammer out. For one, ISO seems to be the only way to capture motion on my camera currently and it suffers terribly in low light situations with excessive image noise.

Motion Final

Megan Frost, 23 from St. Augustine, leaps from the Methodist Church Wall on Carerra Street.

Megan Frost, 23 from St. Augustine, zooms by on her bycicle outside of an abandoned building near Scarlett Ohara's.

I took many pictures of different subjects, but decided to use Megar as my subject because, as a friend of mine, she was easily manipulated into doing multiple shots to help with my technique. So here are two of the better pictures of Megan in action.

Portrait with Caption

Aleah Tschudi, a 21-year-old esthetician (skin care specialist), says her favorite part of St. Augustine is

the quaintness of it.

Feature Photo

Victoria Barnett, curator of the National Holocaust Museum, takes in a difficult question from the student panel after her lecture.

Families come together to play volleyball at the pier at night. Chris laughed along with Marco and John as his attempt to save the volley was defeated by the net.

Chris volley's the ball with a move that looks more prayer than anything else.

This series of photographs was made as an attempt to field a feature photo. I tried to get a sense of action through the Volleyball series but ended up learning more about my camera's "action" setting and it's aversion to low-light situations. The Volleyball players were all good sports (no pun intended) in letting me take pictures of their game, but declined their last names. To give credit to those in attendance pictured and not pictured, their names were as follows: Marco, John, Sarah, Karla, Jacob, Sam and Chris.

Portrait Assignment

My sister, Melissa Strait, taking time our of her vanity to giggle.

My dog, Max, looking at me with barely veiled apathy.

These two were shot as an attempt at an unconventional portrait photo. My official assignment is the first and second. In the third I just wanted to see if I could get Max to sit still long enough for a camera to snap a picture in dim light.

A Sense of Place: Lincolnville

Large buildings in various states of disrepair dot the Licolnville landscape. This one is clearly condemned, but many more are being renovated or re-purposed as Community Centers or Museums.

This old and rundown two-story home stands in stark contrast to the renovated one-story just two doors down on DeHaven Street. Like this small slice of neighborhood, much of the community is in transition.

No community is complete without people to inherit it and Licolnville is no different. Little Reniah Wilson, age 3, peeks out from her Play Skool buggy after telling me about how much she looked forward to seeing Mickey Mouse.

Bonus Picture!:

In addition to a variety of community buildings from Churches to Museums, Licolnville is also home to the St. Francis Homeless Shelter. The men in the pictured were reluctant to be filmed without payment, but the woman consented. None of them released their names, however.

For my sense of place I chose the Historic community of Licolnville. Known both for its crime as well as its history, Licolnville is a community in transition. Built as a town for freed slaves after the Civil War, this community has alternated between historic landmark and crime-ridden slum. Licolnville is now home to a diverse group of people from many backgrounds ranging from its original African American population, to students attending Flagler College and the wealthy who seek to restore some of the old properties that have fallen into disuse. All of this history and diversity in one small community makes this place uniquely "St. Augustininian;" the quintessential neighborhood for an already historical place.

Team Red

Photojournalism Project one; detailing a silhouette, an S Curve, and a Headshot with an out of focus background.

St. John's County Flea Market

Proving it's a buyer's market (as long as the merchandise is cute), Nicole Tyrell and her son Caleb of St. Augustine fall for the flea market's charms.

Identifying himself only as 'Jerry,' this man has owned and operated the "Indoor Junkyard" stall for nearly 13 years.

The picturesque greeting of the West entrance facing the parking lot.

This series of photos were taken on the front line of one of the truest indicators on how people get by during economic hardships: the Flea Market. According to one of the stall owners, most vendors at the Market are new people trying to eke out a little more money to make ends meet in a trying economic time.