As a kid, I never liked my picture being taken. It must be the fact that my dad would always micro manage the moment. “A little to the left”, “nope, too much”, “kneel down a tad”, “stand up tall”. Let’s not forget the whole timing my blink thing so the camera doesn’t capture snoozing Thanh. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my dad taking the effort to record my childhood memories. It just felt unnatural, forced, and fabricated. I wanted him to take a picture of me while I was having a blast; in a more spontaneous and organic style.
The moment is a unique window of time. There is this moment and the next moment. It is a fleeting phenomenon. With all of that said, capturing the moment in good lighting, composition, and seizing the emotion in it is rather a challenging task that requires a good eye, luck, and skill.
I came across a photographer who does a real nice job of all of the above. Chantal Andrea’s photos are alive with personality. Besides her great photos I wanted to showcase Chantal Andrea as a fantastic example of how to market your business and passion through social media. After skimming through her Facebook page, Twitter page, and blog I found that she does a great job of constantly updating her material for her fans and customers. It was clean, relevant, simple, and easy to use. Every photo is tagged with her website URL but it’s not just about business. She also sets up a blog for photo lovers to view, appreciate, and converse.
Andrea ultimately uses social media as a medium to tell her story. This is an important part to her success. A story is sticky, and it’s fun. It shows that she is at heart a photographer who loves what she does. You end up walking away feeling like you know her just a little bit and that’s maybe all you need to become her client.