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I feel like so much has already happened and its been just the beginning of what I believe is going to be an amazing year! I’ve been working and will be continuing to work on my retouching and lighting, as well as releasing more marketing strategies to boost business. It’s bee really busy so far; I’ve already booked two weddings with a few more in talks, as well as been updating my portfolios and getting ready to re-launch and revamp my work for future business. A quick reminder for those who haven’t heard yet, I am currently running a contest where the winning family will have free family portraits taken by me! On my previous post are the details but basically you need to go back to my photography fan page and upload a family picture, invite your friends to “like” my page and get them to “like” your picture (the most likes wins).

I have a handful of goals this year and one of them will be continuing to work and test shoot with more agency models and building up my portfolio to target high-end clientele. The last two model shoots I was able to work with Ford model Lito, fitness model Alex and Scout model Andie. Since last year where I have had a handful of opportunities to work with great agency models I feel I have been able to really grow and improve in many ways! One thing that I have been continuing to work on is selection and display of my images. As are most photographers we tend to be picky when choosing which images we feel are the strongest or which ones we like the best in our session. Some times I’ll think what I may think the consumer may like, but for modeling and fashion it’s a bit different. When it comes to many other aspects of my photography such as wedding, or portrait for example, no matter what a photographer thinks it’s really what the client sees and the emotions that it gives them when they view those images. When it comes to fashion I have to think in the mind of a potential agency, magazine editor, or even designer. I want to display the model or shoot in a way that should sell. I want the designer, agent, or editor to look at the image and think; I need this model to wear my clothes, or he/she (the model) needs to be in my magazine. If I want a consumer to look at my images I’ll want them to know what the look is and be able to say something like “This looks like a GAP Ad” or “He looks like an Abercrombie & Fitch or Armani model!”

I’m excited for this because I believe it’s a great opportunity to take my work to the next level and continually be aiming for higher end clientele. I’m making the steps this year to produce superior quality images that will catch client’s eyes and continually network to win the right contacts in hopes to make it! Here are a few images of my recent shoots that you can hopefully enjoy!

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I said that big things were in store in 2012 and I wasn’t kidding! Life is about giving back and this month I want to honor and bring family to the forefront of people’s minds. Family are usually the ones that will be in your corner even when it seems like nobody’s there. A family will be there to fight your battles when the world’s on your shoulders. Family knows you better than anyone else, and family should treat you better than anyone else. We don’t choose them and we don’t have a choice, but they are our family and its not so much the similarities (because let’s face it… sometimes we may have less in common) that keep us together, as much as it is the love that holds us together.

So I have a contest for a lucky family in greater bay area. One family will have the opportunity to receive a free family portrait session completely free.

The value of this portrait session is over $300 including:  

A portrait session either studio or on location up to 1 hour and a half (not including travel time)

You will receive:

*A personal online portal to view and share images of the shoot with family and friends…

*A low resolution disk that will have the images from the session which are great for sharing online for sites such as Facebook, myspace, etc…

*One high-resolution image that will be able to be printed up to an 8X10 size…
So what are the details and how do you apply? It’s actually quite simple… As long as you are willing to put in a little effort!

First,

1. Post an image of your family on Kanoa Utler Photography Fan page. The quality of the image doesn’t matter, nor does it need to be recent. Just an image of your immediate family will suffice.

1. Message your friends and family to “Like” my fan page and click “Like” on your photo. The family with the most likes on their image at the end of the month will win the family session photographed by Kanoa Utler Photography!

That sounds simple enough right? There are a few other things that you can do:

* If you are a family friend and would like to be part of this as well please feel free to post your own image and tell your friends!

* If you win and would like to give the prize away to another family, this is allowed but needs to be cleared by me first!

Some Restrictions Apply:

*I unfortunately can’t shoot every family that applies. This is for one family shoot. Not the whole uncles and aunts, cousins, nephews, this is just your immediate family.

*Only one family unit will be counted during this. That means if you and all of your kids decide to post an image, I will not combine nor will I count every image of every photo. One photo per family unit, simple enough right?

*The shoot is limited to the Bay Area and Sacramento area, if you want to shoot somewhere else arrangements need to be made with me prior to the shoot, and may have a traveling fee included.

*If there is a tie between two families or more I will do an additional week for the top competitors to get more “likes” on their image that will hopefully boost them to the top! If another week goes by and it’s still neck and neck then it’s a rock, paper, and scissors tournament and its best two out of three (just kidding!). But I will allow up to two families to win this if that’s the case.

*This offer does expire, so within six months this needs to be used and applied or it will no longer be valid. If there are issues with this please notify me upon winning.

*This is only a family portrait session and can’t be used or exchanged for any other form of photography services.

*Any other additional questions or possible issues that may arise you can contact me on my personal Facebook page, or contact me by email: Kanoautlerphotography@gmail.com

- Even runs thru the month of January, 2012

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It’s a new year and a new season! Last year was great but hopefully we are all progressing on to bigger and better things! Just a quick recap my goals for last year were: to improve and develop as a photographer, to shoot large events, a restaurant, round out my modeling and fashion portfolio, network, shoot a product, have my work posted in a magazine, get new business cards, book 10 weddings, update the website and expand the blog, and so much more! It’s been such an amazing year and I can’t even begin to say how thankful and blessed I am! Almost all of my goals I was able to achieve, even though many times through out the year I wasn’t sure how they were going to happen. I met a handful of mixed martial arts fighters including Jake Shields, shot a handful of beautiful weddings that were all over the bay area, worked with a handful of amazing local and international designers, been on stage with Big Sean and Travis Porter, shot numerous large events including covering a fashion concert benefit for Bruno Mars and Far East Movement! The list goes on but I’m not settling there and I have no intention of quitting! Many people would say where do you go from there but I have even bigger dreams and goals for this year!

One of the biggest goals will be working on local marketing (Northern California) goals as well as continuing to improve and develop as a photographer. It’s only been a few days and I’ve already got a handful of brides that I’ve been talking to who are looking forward to having me be there for their special day! I want to continue pushing more commercial work, and shooting for bigger clients. I have been continually working on my large event photography that I’m looking forward to being part of bigger things in the near future. I want to get into a bit more product shooting as well as food photography so stay tuned for some more tasty images! I plan on testing with more agency models as well as continue to work with the Bay Area fashion network. There are a handful of goals and I will continue to keep the blog going as well as the fan page on Facebook. There will be a handful of opportunities to be more interactive and it will pay off because I will be doing contests and be giving away a handful of free things this year!

More details on contests will be posted soon, but I wanted to just update everyone on all the amazing things that have happened this year and to remind you a bit of where I started. I actually started in film and took photography in order to grow as a cinematographer. I found out how much I enjoyed both, but we all know that in the end I’ve done far more in photography than I could have imagined! If you have dreams and goals they may seem to have faded but don’t forget that when it comes down to making it, there’s a handful of factors but the main things that have kept me when I feel inadequate are perseverance and hard work! I want to personally thank all of you who have supported my dreams and I believe that the same will happen for you if you don’t give up!

Of course what would a Kanoa Utler Photography blog post be without images? Here are a few beauty shot teasers from my test shoot with New model Sonya! Hope you like them!

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A few weeks ago I shot two amazing weddings. This wedding I captured was of a longtime friend that has always loved my images and told me that I was going to be the best choice for her for her special day! It’s one thing when you see on your stats that people are seeing your work but it’s a completely different feeling when someone tells you they have consistently seen your posts and love your work! The wedding was in the Brazilian room in Berkeley, and a funny thing about that was that I was talking to a friend earlier this year about shooting there sometime. Its crazy how many things have come together like that this year!

I did these two weddings a little differently, (I’m usually changing things up and hopefully improving) I went with an off camera flash during the reception. I think it added a bit more dramatic lighting and really I felt gave me more control. Normally an average photographer will have a flash on top of his camera or put some sort of connector that allows him to pull the flash off the camera that he can point it a different direction. But what I found I loved about bringing my Alien bee 1600 light was that I never had to use my flash once. The recharge times on those were much faster than an on camera flash and also much stronger!

Because of that I bought another light and modifier. I plan on bringing these as a standard look now for my indoor wedding reception coverage. It’s like adding another tool to your arsenal. The light looked amazing in that room and I was able to capture expressions clearly and consistently that in many other cases I could have easily missed. When it comes to quality I can see a “night and day” difference of my wedding images from these. There is much more control and because of that I was able to use my surroundings to the best of my ability. Hopefully you can take a look at these images and feel the same way!

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted… I do apologize for that. I have been really busy (which is a good thing!) and revamping for the next season. Also there will be a few changes in how I post on my blog, and working with my new layout. Hopefully It hasn’t been too confusing but I do hope that you’ve been able to look at all the changes on here! I’ve shot a few weddings (which i will be aiming to post soon) as well as I just shot for BAYFashion Magazine’s December issue so if you want to take a look at that my spread is around the middle to near the end labeled “The San Francisco Street Fashion Update.” To view the online version you’ll probably have to register (which is free ) and simple just allow it to use your Facebook login to view the images and magazine. Here’s a few that didn’t make it in but I hope that you get to take a look and tell your friends!

After months of Sheereen telling me this idea that she always wanted to do an Audrey Hepburn inspired shoot I finally got the closest matching model, a great hairstylist, and a Perfect wardrobe from San Francisco Shirt Company . We pulled it off I think and I thought It needed a little video (just because I have been loving the video on my new camera lately).

Also, If you haven’t seen my new site yet please take a look around! There are numerous changes I have been working on to get this up and running. There are still a few bugs that I’m working out but they should all be taken care of this week, and you get to be some of the first to takea look around and let me know what you think!

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Lots of people are getting into photography, and many jump into wedding photography hoping to make some “quick money.” Its easy to get discouraged early on if you are trying to find work and you don’t seem to have brides lining up to have you photograph their wedding. I like to tell my brides that you get what you pay for. If you want to invest into one of the most important decisions of your life do you want to have an inexperienced person holding the camera or someone who has shown time and time again that they can capture great images? Surprisingly you’ll get a 50/50 split on this. People want to have the Hollywood wedding but have a pauper’s budget. There is nothing wrong with saving money, and cutting costs, but when it comes to expenses a great photographer will be able to take consistently great images that can capture the moments you want to be cherished from your day.
Lot’s of people take pictures these days. But just because someone takes 50 images and gets one good one doesn’t make them a great photographer. Some photographers can set up a scene and create a moment for you where other amateur photographers may just keep snapping away hoping they got their shot. I’m a strong advocate for the bride and groom to not just think about the cost (though this is important in choosing at times), but looking for quality, and finding who fits you best. People go for an easy option when they could get something a bit more if they put more effort into their search. Stress will as times cause a bride and a groom to make rash decisions when they could have made better choices that would reduce their stress up to and after their special day! That’s where a great photographer comes in! How do you find great photographers though? Well usually people look for their portfolio.
Having a strong and full portfolio really helps put customers at ease. People want to see consistency, quality, and creativity, just to name a few. These portfolios should showcase your work you are most proud of, as well as be able to show a bride what they can be expecting from your images. Building a portfolio takes time. There are a handful of ways to do that: You can shadow a professional wedding photographer and learn from them, bring your camera to your friends wedding and practice getting “Key Moment” shots, shoot trash the dress sessions with past brides, and one of my favorite you can become a second shooter for a photographer at a wedding.

Being a second shooter has some tasks that you will have to implement that the main photographer will usually ask of you. But the great thing about the second shooter for a wedding is your freedom (for the most part)! The duty of the whole wedding is on the main photographer, you as the second shooter get a lot more leeway (usually) and will usually be compensated for your time as well as it gives you the opportunity to fail getting shots at a wedding (but not always) but be limited in stress because most people will be counting on the main photographer to get the great images. Second shooting can be really fun and be rewarding and if you do get great images you have some more images you can add to your portfolio. It’s great for also experienced photographers that had a slower wedding season. They can assist other great photographers and capture great images sometimes in amazing locations just being the second shooter. I have a friend that makes a great amount of money just being second shooter for weddings. My suggestion would be to get a portfolio that you do have made of your favorite images and then send them to photographers in your area asking if they need second shooters. Sometimes many photographers already have a list of second shooters they pull from, but if your work is solid most photographers will jump on the idea of having more great help there!

Here are just a handful of images that I took as a second shooter for a wedding!

Modeling Pics, a photo by fhfotos on Flickr.

If you want to model and get signed with an agency you might want to keep a few things in mind…

First- there are many types of modeling people can do: hand modeling, fitness, lifestyle, high fashion, runway,  beauty, so find out what your look is and work towards that.

Second- Find a great photographer to build your portfolio. Ok I think I need to mention this because sometimes people misconstrue what I’m trying to say. Don’t just find someone that takes great pictures of a cat, or nature, or even weddings, Find someone that has an established portfolio and actually works with models. Sometimes getting a shoot with them can be quite beneficial, if they get you a handful of great shots from them plus feedback and any advice that will help you pursue your dreams can be the right motivation you need!

Third- Submit! Print out 8×10 images of your favorite shots and go to an open call! You won’t know if you will be accepted until you try! Sometimes you need the right look for that specific agency, but don’t get discouraged, just try another agency! There are a handful of modeling and talent agencies in the bay!

Just to name a few (in no particular order):

Look Modeling Agency

Ford Models

City Model Management

Stars The Agency

JE Model

Scout Model & Talent Agency

Here’s a few modeling pictures that I have recently taken this month! Take a look!

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-Sidenote: you don’t have to get images from a photographer before you head into an agency. Most agencies will have you “test shoot” with their selected list of photographers, and have you build their portfolio with what they need you to look portray for customers. Also again I want to remind you to look into height and weight requirements for certain modeling types. Some people will be told consistently they don’t fit the “look.”  Know your look so you can fit in the right “type” of modeling.

Project Pink ’11, a photo by fhfotos on Flickr.

It’s that month again… National Breast Cancer Awareness month that is… It was around this time last year when I was first contacted by one of the largest fashion bloggers in the bay area to come and support Project Pink fashion at Westfield Valley Fair hosted by MODE Bay Area. With great food, a great show, and great young talent including a handful of Designers such as Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Betsey Johnson, and Franco Uomo, to name just a few of the many that were introducing the latest fall trends it was an evening to remember! To be able to draw a community, bringing awareness and raising funds to support The American Cancer Society, is no easy task. Laura Kathleen a cast member from Project Runway was there as well being the special guest appearance and over $10,000 was donated that night! It was great to be a part of this moment and hopefully these images can help inspire and raise awareness to this important cause!

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Macy’s Glamorama Passport Presents ’11, a photo by fhfotos on Flickr.

There comes a point where it’s not just about the work, but it’s about the work and making money. Eventually many of us want to be part of something bigger than us. This last weekend I was able to contribute my photography to causes that were beyond just myself. I was able to be a part of Macy’s Passport presents Glamorama, which featured Bruno Mars and Far East Movement as well as a great night of art, dance, and fashion. The Orpheum Theatre was packed that night as many joined to support the fight against childhood illness, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. Hands down it was one of the best fashion shows I have ever seen in SF ever! To be able to be a part of this was not only a great honor but to be able to capture great images that hopefully will touch and inspire others to make a mark and do something that goes beyond themselves.

I will be posting my other fashion show that I was able to take a part of this next week as a double-header post I’m releasing this week! Enjoy

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