Family Sessions Post Covid

How we’re going to create meaningful portraits in Puerto Vallarta

When we were ordered to lock down a couple of months ago, I didn’t want to believe it. But in an effort to help, we stayed home. Either way, flights got canceled, sessions got postponed and cancelled, and everything I knew as a photographer has been on hold.

There is light at the end of the tunnel friends: we’re coming out of lock down soon and eventually, life will have to go on in a new way, but it has to go on.

I am grateful for all of my clients that have reached out and supported me all these years in giving them something irreplaceable.

It has meant the world to me in so many ways!

But the real question remains once we open up the beaches: what are sessions going to be like now?

Much the same, actually!

I usually photograph sessions alone and so risk is reduced. I also tend to keep a good distance from clients because we want to get as much of the beach as possible! Even with close ups, I’m a good 10 feet away.

I have and will wear a mask. Especially for families with children and adults over 60.

All booking and delivery of images are done online now anyway so that will remain the same.

I will only photograph immediate families that are traveling together. This breaks my heart so much because I absolutely love multi-family sessions!

Now more than ever I believe that photography is not only important but it’s absolutely ESSENTIAL.

I believe in capturing your family. I believe in creating something irreplaceable.

I believe in giving you the most meaningful souvenir you’ll ever take home with you.

If you’re planning on coming to Bucerias, Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, and surrounding areas, let’s book your family session.

We don’t know what the future holds for us, but we can make the most of it now and create meaningful memories that last a lifetime.

xoxo,

Jackie

I have a huge announcement, friends!

We’ve started collaborating with Lion Heart Stock Photography! They are a stock image site where you can purchase photos for everything you need.

Need images for an article? For a promotional piece? For social media, Lion Heart Stock is adding images every week in both bundles and individual images for you to use as you wish!

Eventually, we’re going to set up a subscription plan so that you can get access to the full library with new images added weekly.

Don’t forget to follow our Instagram page ;)

Gallery walls are so fun to create because of the countless variations you can organize your photos. Here are some really great ideas for your walls with photo measurements.

It’s not a secret that printing and looking at your photos hung up in your home makes it more homey, welcoming, and a capsule of your family and you’re most important moments.

Three framed images to create a large gallery wall.

Getting them printed with a professional photographic lab is also very important in terms of quality and longevity because only a professional lab can give you real high-archival paper that will last much longer than poster paper, say at Costco or Walmart.

Real photographic paper also gives you those rich and vibrant colors an depth in tones when it comes to black and white.

Square framed photos are perfect for symmetrical gallery walls.

Seriously, the options are limitless to what you want to create for your bare walls ;).

Photos by Studio 1202

Want to get your photos printed? Contact me and let’s talk wall galleries, because your photos belong on your walls, not on a USB in your junk drawer.

Get more inspiration HERE.

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Seems a little too much, you might be thinking, but here’s the thing… what if you could get ahead of the holiday rush with the beautiful photos you’ve already taken and have your cards done quickly and without worrying about getting them out?

I’ve got you covered. You’ll have your perfect christmas card ordered, sealed, and ready to send out before you even hear the first holiday jingle.

Choose from three pre-made designs. Each set is sized 5x7, printed on professional grade card stock with a smooth matte finish. All cards come printed on both sides with white envelopes.

Choose from one of three pre-made designs.

Pricing depends on how many cards you will need for your friends and family. Choose from sets of 25, 50, or 100!

Email me at hello@jackielamas.com for more information on pricing and let’s get your holiday started off early. Each order of holiday cards come with a cute Metal ornament for your holiday decorations!

Get this task checked off before October 31st to get your free metal ornament.

Photo albums have been around for a long time and as a kid, I remember we had a few in our house. To this day, my dad loves to bring out his photo albums stocked with yellowing prints of my grandmother and the generations that followed.

How great is it to see yourself and your family across generations through albums!

Thankfully, albums have been gotten a much needed update and have now become these beautiful flush mount, lay-flat, works of art that can sit on your coffee table for all to enjoy time and time again.

You probably thought albums were only for weddings, but no, they are perfect for family portraits as well!

All of the albums that I offer come with a custom full photo cover and the title on the spine. Choose from smaller sizes like the 6x6 or premium in the 12x12 size.

Perfect when you can’t choose just one photo and want all of them!

Here’s the thing, when digital came around in the photography world, it was new and cool and instant. It was something you could share out in the big world wide web and it seemed sooo cool.

But what can’t be ignored is that these portraits, they get stuck on a disc, USB, or sometimes don’t even get downloaded.

Old school film studios had it right: PRINT YOUR PHOTOS.

And it’s making a HUGE comeback.

“And it’s been proven. Scientifically when you see your loved ones in photographs displayed in your home, it makes for a more unified and happy home.”

Canvas gallery wraps pictured above

This means that all that time you spent researching, scheduling, going to the session WORTH IT. It will mean that your family, your memories, are appreciated all through out your home and for generations to come.

Framed prints

We’ve all been there - researching, scheduling, going to the appointment, and then walking away having to do more work than we intended. And let me tell you, Costco printing doesn’t cut it either. Those lines you see in the engineer prints means it’s not top quality.

Which is my long way of saying that as of August 1, 2019 I am going to be offering a wide range of Legacy Photo Products that will bring your PHOTOS TO LIFE.

They will hang in your home, they will sit on your desks perfectly framed and printed on the absolute best quality paper, or canvas, your choice!

I work with one of the top leading professional photography printing labs and because of that quality is of the highest rate. Be it albums, frames, prints, or canvases, your photos are Fine Art in your home. Your family, your loved ones, YOU are works of art.

And this means EVERYTHING.

Waking up to photos of your children in the living room hung up happy, smiling, and playful is what I want. Seeing photos of your family splashing in the water or running across the sand framed and hung above your sofa is pure happiness.

And it’s been proven. Scientifically when you see your loved ones in photographs displayed in your home, it makes for a more unified and happy home.

If you’ll like to get a sneak into the lookbook, shoot me an email at hello@jackielamas.com and I will send you a copy. Filled with beautiful legacy photo products to make your photos artwork in your home.

Because let’s face it: Your wall portraits make your house and home.

Walnut famed 20x24 prints in a set of three.

*UPDATE: I am still photographing family and weddings here in Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, San Pancho, Conchas Chinas, and surrounding areas! Contact me for more info if you would like to have more info!*

If you follow me on social media, especially Instagram, then you'll see that I've been freelance writing for a couple of photography websites. I do this in addition to my photography business which I absolutely love.

I love writing tips and tutorials for other photographers on both Digital Photography School (known as DPS) and Expert Photography. Both sites are great resources and as a fact, I used to go to them often when I first started to get help with photoshop!

It's been so nice to share what I have learned through both trial and error and real-life experience out during weddings and portraits with other photographers.  I used to feel like I didn't have much to share because I was a digital photographer and was young, and well, many other excuses that didn't really make sense. So one day, I decided to apply to write and here I am! With more than 10 articles written and it doesn't seem like I'm going to stop any time soon!

I wanted to put these links somewhere other photographers could find them so I'm putting them here on my blog with the tag Photo Articles so that if anyone ever needs to find them, they can use the search bar to the right of this page and find this post.

Thank you for your continued support in both my photography business and sharing these articles that I have worked hard on. And if you're a photographer and would love to chat about anything and everything photography, send me an email or find me on Instagram! I'm always open to share and talk :).

DPS Articles:
Visit my author page (by clicking here) to see all of the articles in one place. Currently, there are 9 articles that range from portrait, maternity, family, beach, flash, budget photography tips, and more.

Expert Photography Articles:
Tips for Lighting Environmental Portraits
25 Tips for Amateur Wedding Photographers
Tips for Maternity Poses
Engagement Session Tips

Back in 2009, I bought a template website.  It was perfect in all of it's new flash glory... But something incredible started to happen and my website became an issue.  Mobile devices began to dominate navigating the web and smartphones became the new audience.  Accommodating my flash website for mobile devices meant more money and a sub-par web presence on a 4" screen.

Fast forward to October of this year, I was in need of a new website and I began researching for a company that would offer a beautiful website with the capabilities of being as beautiful on a smartphone or tablet.  And this here is what you see now.  

Did you know that over 60% of my visitors daily are visiting on a mobile device? That means that more than half the people who visit my website everyday are doing so right from the palm of their hand!  

Let's look at some real numbers...

In the chart above we can see that only twice since my website has been mobile friendly, has there been more desktop visitors.  The rest of the year has been primarily from mobile devices!!! Check out the month of May, mobile users account for 72% of the visitors that month.  The biggest difference to date!  It's only the second week of June and we can see that 67% of visitors are through a mobile device.  

You might be saying to yourself, "Well, that's all good but why does it really matter?"  

1.  INCREASES EXPOSURE

You might not realize it but people are attached to their smartphones!  If they need something, they use an app.  If they need directions, they use maps and GPS.  If they need a question answered... you guessed it, they use Google right from their phone.  We use our phones for everything now and with bigger screens, we can appreciate bigger pictures and more content.  

Having a mobile friendly site can increase your exposure among clients that otherwise you might have not been able to reach.  Not everyone gets on a desktop computer everyday to check Facebook.  No, they do it right from the convenience of their mobile device.  I use device because it could be their smartphone or tablet.  Could even be Apple TV.  

Now imagine that someone shared your website onto their Facebook.  What happens next is incredible, people begin clicking on the link to view your portfolio online.  Wouldn't it be nice to reach all those people every day with a site that streamlines from desktop to mobile without skipping a beat?  You bet it's amazing.  

2.  YOUR PORTFOLIO IS ALWAYS ON HAND

I don't know about you but as a photographer, I have often found myself at a dinner with friends and the begin to ask about my work.  Rather than handing them a business card, I whip out my phone and launch my website.  I show them the galleries, allow them to browse through the blog, and let them play with the site while we're having dinner.  Instantly, I have connected with a potential client.  This actually happened once and I was able to convince a bride of booking with me.

Another great example is when I do hand out a business card and the client jumps onto the website minutes later.  What they see is a seamless connection between my business card and the branding of my website.  They are able to stay a while and check out the different galleries.  Instantly, they have become a potential client.  

Having a person wait until they jump on a computer to view your website is like putting money in a pocket that has a hole in it.  You lose potential clients because they won't remember later, they won't write your website address down.  What they will do is look for you on Google and Facebook and from there connect to your site right from their table at Starbucks.

3.  Google 

Google has begun to penalize websites who are not mobile friendly.  If that isn't cause big enough to make you get a mobile friendly site, then I don't know what is!  Regardless, Google is onto something big.  They are aware that most of their users are connected through a mobile device.  Google is aware that having a site that is ready for any device is crucial to its users.  What happens when you open the browser on your phone and Google something?  It gives you exactly what you're looking for:  Google's rapid search results with the same branding that Google has on desktop computers.  

I'm not sure whether penalizing websites for not being mobile friendly is a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that what they are trying to accomplish through this new strategy is going to move the future of websites.  Make sure that you don't get left behind!

If you need to check if your website is mobile friendly enough for Google, click HERE to find out. 

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Don't lose exposure because your website is not mobile ready.  You could be losing more than visitors - potential clients!  Use the link above to check on Google if your website is mobile friendly and stop losing potential clients now.  I know this completely changed the way visitors connect with my photography and me!

Happy Friday my friends!
 

At the beginning of this year, I wrote down my goals for 2012.  Both my personal and business.  Among them, I wrote down "Get Published".  It was more of a dream than an actual goal.  Until my client, Jessica, submitted a photo into a contest that was being held by a local paper.  The grand prize: Front cover of the Bridal Guide at the biggest bridal show in her town.  Voting commenced and I voted every day, as did her family and friends.  I saw the numbers climb and sure enough, she won!  

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read her email letting her family and friends know that she had won with their support.  

"Shut. Up.  I'm going to be published?!"  That was my initial reaction, of course.  She later mailed me a copy of the bridal guide and I was in awe of it.  I still couldn't believe it, even though it was in my hands.

I can't thank her enough for submitting the photo and her family and friends for voting as much as they did.  It was incredible to be able to that dream off my goals list.   2012 is proving to be a remarkable year, thank you God! 

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