Sheri O'neal Photographer

On Friday June 25 I made a visit to Joe Glaser’s instrument repair company to pick up some gear he wanted to donate to my ReTune Nashville project.  Joe’s expertise has been said to be the best around and after visiting his facility he certainly has the volume of work to support the claim.  Loving the ability to turn any experience into a photo opportunity, I took along my camera just in case.  Joe started by taking me through his entire facility pointing out the flood damaged gear he was currently working on by such names as Keb Mo, Vince Gill, John Fogerty and so many others.  I asked if I could take some pictures and he allowed me to do so although some items were off limits to photos. What a great hour of learning about musical instruments and what his business does to fix many of these damaged and broken items.  I love shooting documentary style and would love to go back and cover Joe’s business from an editorial point of view, I enjoyed my visit and I walked away with some great pictures!  Joe graciously donated 8 guitars to ReTune Nashville (read previous post) from prominent artist that were not worth fixing, all of these items were stored at Soundcheck, a facility  that house’s most of  Nashville’s prominent musician’s gear.  I was blown away by what he shared with me and so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet this talented man in person!  Below are some of the photos I shot on Friday…enjoy!

This guitar was estimated to be worth a hundred thousand dollars and Joe believes it can be restored to it’s original look and sound.  He has a special machine that can grind the fret board down eliminating any warping that occurred from water damage, the other repairs are all done by hand.  It is amazing to think of the talent these guys have to bring items like this back after such destruction.

Scott Holyfield works on a vintage guitar (bellow) that was damaged in the May 2010 Nashville flood while in a storage shed at the Soundcheck facility.  The Cumberland River crested over 50 feet and flooded the facility damaging millions of dollars worth of musical gear.

Thank you for visiting and I hope that you enjoyed reading about Joe!  If you need a photographer I can guarantee you will be happy with both the experience and with the outcome so please keep Sheri O’Neal Photography in mind for all of your photo needs .  Give me a call or drop me an email and lets do business!

In my business I work hard to keep my clients coming back and their happiness is my number one priority!  I want them comfortable during the process and I want them happy with the outcome.  A happy client tells his friends and associates about your work and you begin to build relationships which is key to a prosperous business.  I make it priority to be sure my clients like the images we are getting while working so that in the end they will have no reason to be unhappy with the final result.  My track record is around 98% when it comes to “happy” but every once in a while there is that one shoot where the client may not be as satisfied as I had hoped.  When that happens it affects me deeply on both a professional and a personal level.  My work is a reflection on me as an individual and as a business owner so if the client is unhappy I do what ever I can within my power to fix the issue.   It feels great when you get praise for a good job but you always remember the unhappy client no mater what the situation.

Joe West of Gasoline Productions Inc. is the ideal happy client and a great example of one that I want to keep.  West is a producer and writer with multiple cuts for artist like Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Jimmy Wayne, Julianne Hough, Emily West, and Danielle Peck (among others).  After sending his artist Sarah Marince to me for a shoot in 2008 he felt confident enough with my work to send Joe Zelek my way earlier this month.  Zelek and I talked over the phone about what he wanted, negotiated a price that fit his budget and his needs on an upcoming music project he is working on with West.  Zelek spends his time between Ohio and Tennessee working on music and wanted something fresh and different shot outside with a lens flare affect.  West has a great piece of land out in Franklin, TN where we met to do the shoot one sunny March afternoon.  What I didn’t expect was the incredible shooting opportunity I had in the old house located on the property that is planned to be torn down soon and Zelek was open to all the additional ideas I had regarding backdrops throughout the house.  Zelek, West and I had a great time shooting that afternoon and I became a new fan of Joe Zelek’s music!  West shot some great behind the scenes images that are included in this post.

As I leave you I have to admit that loving what I do makes me often feel like I am cheating when referring to this career as a business.  I do know however, that it is a business and as long as I keep the client happy, knowing their needs come first, I believe I will continue to do what I love. If you need a photographer I can 98% guarantee you will be happy with both the experience and with the outcome so let me make you a “happy” client!  Give me a call or drop me an email and lets do business!

I love to photograph kids!  When I opened my studio in Florida back in 1996 I was privileged to pick up accounts with book publishers Harcourt-Brace and Scholastic Book Fairs.  Kids became 80% of what I photographed almost every day for many years.  Due to limited budgets and the volume of work, we often used average kids who had no modeling experience and I learned quickly that I would need to master patience and kid communication.  I found that when shooting the smaller kids I would sometimes have to explain in detail on a very elementary level in order for them to understand what I needed them to do. Since moving to Nashville in 2001 I have not had much of an opportunity to photograph kids because the photography market is so different than it was in Orlando.  I miss that opportunity these days and look forward to when I have the chance to test my patience and kids always make me laugh!  I love how beautiful and flawless their skin looks and the glow it radiates in a photograph.  And the eyes…the window to the soul, are big in comparison to their face because the eyes are the size they will be when their body has reached adult hood.  Photographing kids taught me patience and that has carried over to all the other areas of my work!

This is Sophie, she is as many kids are…very talented.  Her biggest love is horses and her father Jim hopes to see her become more involved with them over the next year because he supports her love as good parents often do.  She rides and helps out at a local horse farm when she can, around her school schedule.  Jim wanted some family portraits because he felt his little girl was growing up too fast so we set up a simple backdrop so the focus would be dad and daughter.  I love that Sophie looks mature in how she carries herself yet she is still a child.

As I go remember to email me or give me a call if you have a project you need help with or if you need corporate or personal photos!  I am looking forward to hearing from you and I am looking forward to spring.  The warmer weather brings with it lots of color here in Nashville so lets plan your next shoot outside!  I will be back with new images to share soon!

-Sheri

These days I seem to be getting more and more calls from business executives who want something different when it comes to their photos.  I think there is a trend happening, perhaps it is the younger generation wanting to be themselves rather than conforming or an older generation realizing that you can be smiling in a causal atmosphere yet still look professional.  It seems to me that people want to look more relaxed in the photos that they send out as PR material.  I prefer to have people look happier and relaxed in the photos I take because I think  it makes them more approachable from the customer’s standpoint.  Social media marketing proves that we want to feel connected to those we choose to do business with and a simple smile can make all the difference in the world.  That being said I also think a great photograph is key because it is your image, we live in a visual world and your image is everything!

Brian Carden was no exception to the idea of wanting something different.  He is a Financial Advisor here in Nashville who came to me and said, “I am updating my site, I don’t want to appear conservative, I wear a suit but I don’t want to appear stiff in my pictures and I want something different”.  At the moment he is working with Robert Land, his “Digital Brand Architect” and Robert is working to build Brian’s new brand from the ground up.  I met with Robert first and we talked about the image we wanted to create for Brian…something less business like but very professional and very approachable.  I decided to shoot at Brian’s home because I love creating an image in someone’s own surroundings and environmental portraiture is one of my specialties!  I know that when someone is in their own home they are much more relaxed and it makes my job a lot easier.  My goal is always to try and capture something about that person, their body needs to be relaxed and it needs to show in their body language and in their eyes.  I think we nailed that at Brian’s house and I can’t wait to see how his new site and marketing material comes together!

PR for the small business is changing and so are the needs for photography regarding branding and image.  If you need someone to talk to about your marketing, your brand and your image give me a call.  I am here to help and it doesn’t have to be a painful experience, I promise!   Until next time….

A In August of 2008 I was asked by the folks of the magazine “American Heritage” to spend two days traveling through Alabama photographing the churches along the hallelujah trail.  Having never heard of this trail and with the excitement of a two day travel assignment I couldnt wait to get on the road.  The hallelujah trail consist of thirty-two churches throughout north Alabama that are all at least 100 years old, are still in their original site, and are still holding services. The trail winds its way through sixteen counties in the northern part of Alabama.  My assignment was to shoot as many churches as I could in a two day period.  I started by getting a map of the trail and charting the best route to shoot with the most interesting of the churches as well as the most I could photograph in two day’s of drive time.  It was a challenge but I was able to shoot twelve churches in the two day period.  It so happened this was the week after hurricane Gustav blew through and I did not realize until around 6:30 PM how hard it was going to be to get a room for the night due to all the evacuee’s.  I was in the town of Decatur and literally went to every hotel in the town no one had a room.  I was ready to sleep in my car (although not happy about it) I was tired needed a shower, it was hot and I walked up to the counter of this last hotel.  There was a young and handsome man sitting behind the desk, I askedfor a room, he replies “I am sorry miss but we are full”.  I smiled and said you know I have heard through some music friends of mine that most hotels always keep a few extra rooms open for special reasons.  I would be really grateful if you could check and see if there might be one available, I dont care what it cost,  I have been working on assignment all day and really don’t feel safe sleeping in a strange town alone in my car with all my gear.  Would you please scheck for me, otherwise I need to ask for permission to park in your parking lot and sleep.  With a smile he went to the computer typed in a few lines and said….ok miss I think I have one left.  I relieved and slept well.

As I was driving from one town to the other I came across this really old run down row of apartments (shown above) in the town of Courtland.  I drove by them 3 times scared to get out because there was a little store with a lot of rough characters hanging out about 2 blocks up the road.  On the third pass I had to stop, I was fast, I was able to park where I could stand right outside my car door and shoot.  It took all of 3 minutes and I was in my truck, doors locked driving away.

As always these random shots while shooting an assignment often get lost in the mix.  I recently came across these and wanted to mess with them a little.  Here are a few more from the halleluja trail assignment…