Sheri O'neal Photographer

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….

Sometimes the night before a photo shoot I look through image samples and try to visualize ideas that incorporate lighting and composition. Many times, depending on the assignment, it is difficult because there is no real knowledge of what a location will offer, what my subject will look like, what wardrobe they will bring or what the personality will be of the person I am shooting. The process of shooting an assignment is one that will eventually drain me of my energy but only after it is complete and has my final approval. I start visualizing in my mind what kind of lighting I want to use and what items I might be able to incorporate into the shot. If I am shooting in the studio many times I will go early or the night before and play with lighting ideas before hand so I have a better direction of what I plan to do. I never have a true sense of where I will end up, and it never ends where it starts . Part of the art of photography is not completely knowing what will happen.

In the beginning of a shoot there is a nervousness. I wonder how the person I am about to photograph feels around me and how I will interact with this person so that they will relax and trust me. How will I connect and find things to keep their mind busy so they are not focusing on the camera. I feel uncomfortable in my skin. I feel a bit uneasy and anxious and I know that they are feeling the same. I always start early before the subject arrives. When they get to the shoot things begin to get busy with makeup, wardrobe, ideas and questions pertaining to what the subject is expecting the images to look like. Many times they have no ideas and trust me to come up with something, other times they know exactly what they want and I have to determine what that is through their words. I interact with the subject as much as possible to put them at ease, if there is a makeup artist it helps because they take some of the pressure off of me while they converse with the subject as they are working. I let them interact while I take everything in and figure out what works visually. Now that I have a direction, know the clothes that will be worn and how the the subject looks I can begin to create a story with imagery and light. I make sure to connect with the subject giving them ideas and seeing if I am going in the right direction by asking lots of questions. I always ask them in advance to bring images with them that they like so that I can figure out what they are hoping to see. I watch them from a distance and pre-think what I believe works with their skin color, eye color, hair color and the way that they carry themselves. Their body language always gives me a starting point and a million thoughts rush through my head. I think about light ratios, aperture settings, white balance, angles and color schemes in regard to how I want the overall image to look and feel.

I have never though of photography as just creating an image but rather a process of creating an image that portrays some feeling of emotion. The beauty of photographing people is that everything in the shot makes up the story but it is in the eyes where the truth of the image will be told. Subconsciously we all look into the eyes of people both in real life and in art. For me there always seems to be a confusion in my own mind as I am putting all the elements together. Often I get quiet in thought and have to force myself to say something in order to keep the subject engaged. It is so much easier on me if I have a good makeup artist, assistant or art director that can keep a dialog going with the subject while I am contemplating my creation. As the shoot begins I pay attention to highlights, shadows, composition, hair, clothes, image placement, an so many other things…thoughts running through my mind a hundred miles an hour.

As I begin it is almost overwhelming as I try to find that place where “it” happens. A photo shoot is the process of creation, it is spontaneous and in the beginning it is always unclear what will need to happen in order to make the image take on a story of its own. It has to play out and unfold with constant nurturing and change. I am always thinking, pushing, changing, talking and tweaking. The uncomfortableness slowly begins to fade, a rush of energy begins to grow within me as I move forward and become excited the closer I get to the place I feel I need to be.

Years of this type of experience helps me to get better with my craft. I realize how to push myself and the subject to a point where in a split moment out of nowhere it happens. I know when it happens, I get a feeling that overwhelms me and I know I am there. I can’t explain it other than to say it is a combination of experience, visual realization and emotion. The “it” is when I get the one shot I know will be the one I want to use. For what ever reason it speaks to me. In the end that image I felt happen may not be the image that the subject picks but it is almost always the one that I feel is the hero.

Within my self it is a wonderful feeling to have a library of images I have created over the years. I am not just a photographer, I am a story teller and I love the opportunity to share. I am grateful for the opportunity to capture beauty with a single click which can stop a moment in time that will never again be. It is such a gift to be able to share that with others because it is not about me or my image, it is about the person staring back at the viewer as a story evolves from the emotion within their eyes…the windows to the soul. It is history and it always reflects life in a time that once was.