Motherhood Exhibition 2010

It's that time of the year again! This was our 5th year running at the Motherhood Exhibition and it was our best year yet.

Not sure if it was the new fengshui, we changed our usual rightmost row booth position to the leftmost row and it paid off on the first and last day of the exhibition, we had the most signups on these days. We also brought down more things this year as it was our first time having such a big booth to ourselves. So the sofa, coffeetable and more canvas displays came along.







It was also the event to launch two new packages, our Teeny Weeny newborn session and the We Are Family photography package. We also gave out our spanking new brochure/catalogue at the fair. Do get one from our studio when you come for your shoot, it better explains all our packages and comes with lots of pictures :)







Thank you sincerely for all your support, without you, we will not be where we are today :) And also special thanks to our client Sarah for bringing us a cake on the first day of the exhibition! It was yummy :D

Till our next event, see you soon!

Brochure 2009 & Motherhood Exhibition

Hey everyone, once again we will be at the Motherhood Exhibition this year. We have a new brochure printed and details of the promotions we are offering for the fair are shown below. Please drop by our booth A11 (near the nursing/changing rooms) to say hi if you are going to the fair :)

A Letter to the Hatemailers

My father taught me that in business, even if it were not my fault, to just apologise. So I say sorry to you for making you upset, angry or unhappy.

I am sorry that we cannot give you another saturday slot when you miss your scheduled saturday appointment by not showing up at all or giving us less than a day's notice. I miss spending saturdays with my family because of the nature of my job which has fullday shoots lined up on saturdays. When you do not show up, that is an hour of time I could have spent with my boys.

I am sorry that I did not receive your email, I do not know why some emails get lost in transmission. I will check with my service provider to make sure this doesn't happen again. Generally I reply all my emails within 24-36hours of receiving them. Please call us in the studio for faster response.

I am sorry that we "force" you to wear certain clothes for your shoot. We were merely offering our professional opinions and suggestions on what would turn out better in your photographs. You need not show your displeasure by refusing to smile or cooperate, simply telling me how you feel there and then would suffice. We would have respected your decision, thereby resulting in less friction during the shoot and a better outcome altogether.

I am sorry that we are "unoriginal" in using certain props/fabric/poses over and over again. If we can take your suggestion of pasting your faces over the same props/fabric/poses, that would really make our job easier, thanks for the brilliant idea.

I am sorry that I wasn't Singa the Courtesy Lion when replying your SMS as I was busy shooting when your text came through and had to multi-task. I apologise for the typo in my text which you repeatedly made fun of by posting it on my forum thread.

I am sorry that you feel the need to pass judgement on me or my business when you have never met me or come for a shoot before.

I am sorry that I am too direct when speaking and that I am no good at honeycoating words. I wear my heart on my sleeves and I understand now that this is not a good trait for running a business. I will try my best to improve in this area.

I apologise that I have no training in customer servicing, marketing or running a business. This shows up as flaws as I try to do all these roles while being a mother and wife. And no, I do not have a maid.

I am sorry again for all the above but will continue to learn and improve as I go along, taking all that you will throw at me, because I love what I do and for the 2 reasons below.

A Lesson on Copyright

A few weeks ago, I got a call from a very upset Bloom client. She said that her colleague who came for a photoshoot at our studio has seen her semi-nude photo in our portfolio album. She was furious that we did not inform her and said that we have violated her rights and wanted to sue us.

I was taken aback. Several questions ran through my head and I sought advice and much needed information on copyrights from fellow professionals, friends in the legal circle and the internet. The below paragraph (extracted from this website) sums up the information I received:

Who owns the copyright on photographs?
Under law, it is the photographer who will own copyright on any photos he/she has taken, with the following exceptions:

If the photographer is an employee of the company the photos are taken for, or is an employee of a company instructed to take the photos, the photographer will be acting on behalf of his/her employer, and the company the photographer works for will own the copyright.

If there is an agreement that assigns copyright to another party.
In all other cases, the photographer will retain the copyright, if the photographer has been paid for his work, the payment will be for the photographer’s time and typically an allocated number of prints. The copyright to the photos will remain with the photographer, and therefore any reproduction without permission would be an infringement of copyright.

Examples:

If Bill Smith asks Peter Jones the photographer to photograph his wedding. Peter Jones will normally provide a single copy of the prints as part of the fee, but any additional prints Bill or his family and friend want must be ordered via Peter as he is the copyright owner and controls who can copy his work.

If Bill Smith engages the services of XYZ-Photos for the same job, and Peter is an employee of XYZ-Photo who instruct Peter to take the photos, XYZ-Photos will be the copyright owner and control how they are used.

On our receipts to all our clients, we have this clause written:
The Studio Loft LLP reserves the right to use at its discretion, in whole or in part, for promotional/editorial purposes and without advance notice, any and all images. Such use includes but is not limited to the web or printed advertising, press releases etc promoting/marketing The Studio Loft.

However, out of courtesy and privacy, we have always sought permission from Bloom clients whenever we want to use their photos on our printed marketing materials (brochures), website or print advertisements as these have a wider public audience. For in-studio portfolio albums, I didn't think that we needed permission thus my oversight in not informing this particular client. I also understand from fellow photographers that as long as I am not selling the photograph commercially but using it as my own portfolio for marketing purposes, this is totally acceptable.

Still, my client was furious and I felt bad to have made her feel this way as it was totally unintentional on my part. There were at least fifty other clients with a similar shot like the one I used of her which they would have readily given me permission for use in the album and I would have used any of the other photos had I known that she would react this way.

Although in the eyes of the law we did nothing wrong, I do apologise to her. I will be sending her a letter of non-disclosure to close this matter and her photographs have been removed from our portfolio since the phone call.

We now have a notice put up in our studio informing our clients of the possible usage of their photos for our promotional/editorial purposes and if they object to this, to let us know so we will not do so. I hope this clears up any unhappiness in the future and to all photographers out there, be aware of your rights and be sensitive to your client's privacy. Yet another lesson learnt for me while running the business!

The last day of 2008

So here we are, the last day of the year. I guess the easiest way to see how far you've come is to see where you were this time last year.

Last day of 2007, the accounts for The Studio Loft were sorted and my Loft partner and I parted ways (business wise that is, we are still good friends). I was left to run the studio business which we started in May 2006, I just hired my first employee Ashley, I have months of backlog orders to clear, I was 3 months pregnant. In other words, I was in deep s**t and I thought 2008 will be a tough year. It was, but it was also my most rewarding year.

I have to thank my family (my in laws who come almost everyday to the studio to look after Dyl Dyl, Erwin who does most of the household chores and look after Kay, my dad who's the studio's resident handyman, Kayden for being such a great Gor Gor to Dylan and Dyl Dyl for being such an easy baby!), my friends (Alice who took my place while I was on maternity leave, Corinne who helped me with the breastfeeding shoot and for the lovely red chair, all others for their endless support and referrals), my staff (Ashley, Charlene and Hitomi our intern for all their hardwork) and not forgetting all of The Studio Loft's clients who made it a great year for me and the studio. THANK YOU ALL from the bottom of my heart :)

Halfway into 2008, I became a mother of two when my lovely Dylan boy was born! He's the sweetest and most cheerful cherub next to his brother and I love them both so so much :) It helps that Kay is not jealous of his younger brother at all and "ger-rums" him whenever he has the chance. I break into a smile thinking of them both together :)

Without health, there's no happiness. And I am lucky to be healthy the whole of 2008 and able to work 6 days every week! So here's wishing you all a very healthy and happy 2009!!!

A Godly Studio

They say cleanliness is godliness.
*errr-herrrm*
I have to say I have always been an untidy person. My dad and husband will agree vehemently! Not that I am proud of it but I have never had a tidy desk in the workplace, nor a tidy bedroom, nor a tidy wardrobe, nor a tidy bag, not even a tidy desktop on my computer! :s And obviously the studio is not so tidy too hehe :p

Well since our move from Devonshire, we have been busy shooting and processing that we haven't really done any space planning and thus there are still boxes lying about with photo frames not put up yet etc. Yesterday I took the first steps to start getting organised by going to Ikea with Dylan in the pouch, Charlene and my in laws in tow too. We managed to buy some shelving and filing cabinets, a new reception table and a wardrobe for the fabrics in the studio. Furniture arrives tomorrow then the fun begins.

***edited on 29th Oct to include the photos below, all taken with the LX3***

BEFORE:






AFTER:




check out the gigantic canvas we printed on the left wall :p it's 1.5m x 0.75m!




and that's our new open concept wardrobe on the left


We also changed the backdrops today. The chestnut background has now been replaced with an almond one. It looks great lighted, sort of a happy pale yellow. As usual our demo unit Dylan was shot against it once we got it up. Will post a photo soon.

Anyway we look forward to welcoming you to our newly improved and godly studio :)

Just like a book

The Studio Loft's albums have always been of classic designs and materials. We offer shatung silk, suede, vinyl and leather coverings with a window on the cover for a picture. I decided to try something new for our coffeetable books. This is called the photowrap cover, comes in matt or gloss finish. Personally I prefer the matt. Matt finish prone to scratches, glossy finish prone to fingerprints, so see which you can live with :p We customise the design to your preference. This cover is an optional item at $70.

Working with a baby in tow

It's been a week since I went back to work officially and I think this has got to be one of our busiest week ever! 12 Blooms, 5 Little Big Shots, 1 kid's birthday event shoot, 1 magazine cover shoot and 1 video shoot...PHEW! Next week seems even busier and I shudder at how I'm going to handle another week with Dylan in the studio. What's more he'll be into his 6th week and that's another dreaded growth spurt week!

I am thankful for the help I got from the girls, who overnight had to become photographers cum babysitters ;p Ashley is more experienced at handling babies and she's great with Dylan. We laughed when we see Charlene trying to handle the loud and bawling baby, she's like a new mummy kekeke. But after one week, she's getting as good as Ashley ;p Thanks girls, you've been awesome assistants in more ways than one :)

My in laws also came to help look after Dy and buy us lunch on days when we were extra busy. Thanks Ma and Pa!

Dylan's feeding times have never stretched more than 2 to 3 hours in the day and because of this, I often have to stop in the middle of a shoot and ask the client if they mind me running off to the other room to nurse the bawling baby for 10mins. Most of them are understanding and shoo me off to do what I have to do. So nice of them :) But today Charlene told me the grandmother of one of the Little Big Shot client commented loudly (as I nursed Dylan in the other room before their shoot) on how I shouldn't bring a baby to work and should start shooting for them the minute they stepped in the door :S sucks! Bet she never breastfeed her children that's why she's so unreasonable :(

So now I am thinking of ideas on how I can still work with baby in tow. One of the blogs I frequent recommends The Snuggle Wrap which allows young babies to be "tied" to you with their heads fully supported and have both your hands free to work. It's unlike a sling which uses one shoulder. Have a look at this product and let me know what you think. If not, any other suggestions? Sigh, it's not easy!

Motherhood Exhibition 2008

It's The Studio Loft's 3rd year participating at the Motherhood Magazine Exhibition, the largest parenting extravaganza of the year. This year seems kind of slow at the moment. We're halfway into our second day here and i am typing this entry, slow huh? ;) Am hoping things will pick up this evening and over the weekend.

This year, we are sharing our booth with Itsy Bitsy Me and Wink to Learn. So far so good for them as well :) We decided not to bring down too many things this year since we are only getting 1/3 of the booth size. However i brought down the 24inch iMac to play a slideshow of our favourite photos over the years and you know what? It's a great traffic grabber! Oh but sometimes we find some lecherous men leering at the nude Bloom shots :S

One of my favourite clients *shameless plug coming up* Kristal and Martin has a booth here this year. They have a new prenatal education product called the BabyPlus but they said unfortunately it's too late for me to use it as i am too far along already kekeke :D Maybe for #3 if ever i decide to have another one!

The number of clients who came by our booth to say hi this year compared to previous years is an indication of how much we've grown and it's so nice to see our Little Big Shots all grown up or our Bloom mummies with their little bundle of joy :) Oh and some of our friendly competitors dropped by as well, Alvin from Dphotofolio (who has a booth here too) and Hart and Polo from Tomato.

This is our 2008 brochure printed for the exhibition. This year i decided to go with happy faces/bodies :





edited to add:
being the brainless klutz that i am, i forgot to bring home the envelope with all the takings for the fair on the first night :( but i think my unborn baby must have been watching over mummy as when i went back on the second day, the envelope was still under the desk, PHEW! :D

A friendly pow wow with the competitors

Last saturday, i received an email from David of Foto-U (one of our competitors). Four other competitors were included in the email, namely Tomato, Dphotofolio, Kopimei and Funshotz. We are all fellow advertisers on the Singapore Motherhood Forum.

Anyway the email was a call to all of us to come together and stop giving softcopies (negatives) to clients without charging for them. It was a valid call as in the long run, we will all be losing out this way. However it was funny that it was coming from David as his studio was the one that started the practise of giving out all softcopies from their sessions :p Anyway we all decided to meet up for a friendly networking session on thursday and the venue was my studio.

Shirley, our Kopimei arrived first with Hart from Tomato. David came some time later and last was Alvin from Dphotofolio. It was the first time i am meeting everyone with the exception of David whom i met once before when he contacted The Studio Loft for a joint promotion with Foto-U. Everyone was nice and friendly and we touched on issues like our business models, dealing with difficult clients, how to better improve workflow etc.

I am glad we can all be friendly with each other and help pass each other clients if we cannot do the shoots ourselves. Hart mentioned that he does not enjoy maternity shoots and have been referring some clients to me and likewise in my heavily pregnant state i am not fit for outdoor shoots and will refer to him any clients requiring this service.

We all agreed that the meeting was a fruitful one and decided to make this a bi-annual affair :)

The two faces of the client

It's been an up and down week to say the least. Just looking at The Studio Loft's business thread on the Singapore Motherhood Forum and you will know what i'm talking about. I've been getting flak from a couple of clients and even from some people on the forum who are not my clients! On the other hand, i have received posts by happy clients thanking me for my work and making it an enjoyable experience for them. The two faces of the client makes me realise how difficult it is to balance the roles of business owner, photographer and customer service personel.

To top off the bad part of the week, a client cancelled her shoot this morning because i was 15mins late. i apologised sincerely but she would have none of it. What can i do ya? Sigh. But later that day i had 3 other shoots which went well and made me feel better :) i even got an sms from one of them to say they were glad they came for the shoot and from the other client, she wrote an encouraging post on the business thread and that made my day better.

i know the main problem is that i suck at customer service but i can't help it, i am a very frank person who does not mince her words and sometimes i come off as rude and opinionated. Friends will tell you that my temper has mellowed over the years but i guess it is still not good enough to garner me a GEMS award :p i will try harder to improve in this area as i go along but do cut me some slack as i am just a mum trying to make a living out of my hobby and at the same time give my clients beautiful photos they can cherish.