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VTalk Radio Photography Spotlight
Today's Guest: Pat Dorgan of Dorgan Photography in Gilberts, Illinois
Today's Host: John Bentley
September 2007

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ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Today's program is sponsored by morephotos.com the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.

JOHN: Today we are in the Studio with Pat Dorgan of Pat Dorgan Photography of Gilberts, IL. Welcome to the program. This is VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight. Hello Pat.

PAT: Hi, John, how are you?

JOHN: Hey, just fine and dandy. Thank you for joining us today.

PAT: I appreciate the invitation.

JOHN: Now, I understand you have a lot of business going on down there. Tell us a little bit about your business

PAT: Well, you know, we'd always like more. We never say we have too much, but I consider myself a portrait artist with a mission to celebrate life through photography. People look at me and go, "What does that mean?" It means creating portraits of those elements in your life that have meaning. Elements that we treasure, and I provide event coverage like family reunions, award banquets and small weddings, but my focus really is on children's portraiture, pet photos, dog portraits, equine portraiture, and high school seniors as well. We all have trophys that celebrate our successes in life like a new home, the airplane, the boat, you know, the new car, the Porshe, the Hummer, and I think we should celebrate all of that and have mementos of all of those milestones in our lives. So I look for those celebratory occasions and do my best to try to capture them for people.

JOHN: Now, I see a lot of equine photos on your website. You do a lot with that. Are you going to events or are you going to people's homes for these kind of photo sessions?

PAT: Actually, that's a good question because I started out as strictly a horse show photographer, but currently I provide both studio portraiture and on location photography. I originally was doing the hunter/jumper circuit. Then I started branching out into eventing and crusage and carriage driving shows, but as my reputation grew as a horse show photographer, and that was all on location, requests started to come for farm calls. You know, to create head shots of people's horses, equine portraits, and portraits of the horse at liberty, you know, just running free and some of those can be so romantic. But that grew into family portraits at the barn and then transitioned into in-home portrait sessions. To be honest with you, John, that's a totally different ball game. From outdoor photography or environmental photography, so I started to learn everything that I could about indoor lighting and eventually opened a residential studio in my home here and now my service is just much more broad. My clients can come into the studio for portraits of their children, you know, their families or pets or I can travel to their home, or their barn, or their favorite beach, or park for portraits and then in between I accommodate requests for event photography and small weddings.

JOHN: Tell us, Pat, how long have been in business?

PAT: Hmmm. Well I know it wasn't yesterday. I think I started back in '93, and I owned a horse at that time, and I wanted nice images of my horse and just ended up buying a camera and taking photographs of my own horse, and, you know, you quickly get tired of looking at photos of your horse just grazing so then you start chasing them around a field and start taking action type photos, and the camera that I had wasn't working so I upgraded to a Canon Rebel with the change of the lens and that was a whole new world for me. Boy I just couldn't get enough of it so that's when I started shooting horse shows. I just couldn't get enough of it.

JOHN: Sure, I see a lot of pet photography on your site too. What do you do to make an animal comfortable in a photo shoot?

PAT: A lot of times they're not! A lot of times you really have to tune in to the animal because they come into the studio, it's an unusual situation for them; it's not their home, it doesn't smell like their home, it doesn't look like their home, and on top of that I'm triggering these flashes into their face every so many seconds so it's a real uncomfortable situation for dogs especially and you just have to kind of...what I do, what I find works is sitting on the floor and just making friends with them. I think I'm lucky, I'm real comfortable with animals having owned horses and dogs and a lot of my clients will often say, "Oh my gosh, he's never warmed up to anybody this quickly." You know, I'll have dogs sitting in my lap, and once they're comfortable with you, it's easier for you to talk to them, but the patience is a real key and giving them breaks. I give them a lot of breaks so that they can run around for a bit and a lot of treats. Treats always work well. It works well for the dogs, it works well for the owners.

JOHN: Yeah, I'm sure.

PAT: You know, so patience is a big key and just being willing to take your time and read the animal and understand when the animal is done. And if you can't read that, then you're just in trouble.

JOHN: Would you please tell our listeners out there today what your website address and contact information is, Pat.

PAT: Yeah, it's really easy. It's www.dorganphoto.com.

JOHN: Is there a phone number that they can reach you by?

PAT: Currently it's (630) 289-5342 and I say currently because my husband and I are building a home about 30 minutes from here. That's kind of an exciting event in our life right now. So we'll be moving to Gilberts, IL, shortly. So check the website for new phone numbers and addresses.

JOHN: Sounds like a good idea. We are in the studio with Pat Dorgan of Pat Dorgan Photography of Gilberts, IL. You are listening to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight. We're going to take a break for these important messages, we'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio Photographer's Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com, the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.

VTALK RADIO: VTalk Radio.

ANNOUNCER: We now return you to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley. JOHN: You are listening to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight. We are in the studio today with Pat Dorgan of Pat Dorgan Photography of Gilberts, IL. Welcome back to the program, Pat.

PAT: Thank you, I'm still here.

JOHN: This is a good thing. Pat would you tell us some of the cities and communities in the area that you service.

PAT: Yeah, well I'm currently based in Streamwood, IL, and I actually have a service radius of about 125 miles, because my equestrian clientele are spread out all over. Local areas in Illinois include Schaumburg, Palatine, Barrington, Inverness, Lake Zurich, Kildeer, Long Grove, Bartlett, Wayne, and maybe Libertyville. And I pull pet clients and children clients from all of those areas, but I also service areas in Wisconsin such as Lake Geneva, Waukasha and Delavan when riding stables have a group of people who want horse portraits. And in the near future, my husband and I, as I was telling you, are moving to Gilberts, IL, and I'll be closer to communities like Algonquin, Carpentersville, Crystal Lake, West Dundee, Elgin, and Hampshire. So that's kind of exciting to be able to service those clients a little bit better.

JOHN: Now I see on your site wedding photography. You do a lot of weddings, do you?

PAT: I used to; I don't anymore. I've really started to focus more on the studio portraiture. And still a lot of work with equines.

JOHN: I also see a lot of nature photos on there. Is that just something you do as a passion or are you able to do something with those photos?

PAT: Nature is what I do when I want to relax, and I just go out and shoot for myself and in the future, you know, something that I'd like to do is to be able to offer fine art prints and note cards, but for right now, that's just more just for me.

JOHN: Can you tell us some of the other services and products that you offer.

PAT: And with the products, sometimes the fun part isn't just creating the image, it's in presenting it. And I've always liked the portraits on canvas, because you have now added texture to the image and the overall feel of the portrait is that of an oil painting. So those are really great to promote and we can frame portraits for you if you wish, but my clients also love the gallery wrap style canvas that doesn't require any picture framing and probably one of the most popular products that we promote is the Gina Alexander photo handbags because they really show off portraits of dogs, horses, and children. They show them off really well. Um, what else? Oh, our coffee table books. Those are a favorite with clients including high school seniors now. Some people call them memory books or digital photo albums, but they're photo books and they can have leather or standard hard cover books, and they tell a story, you know, about maybe baby's first year. They can document a family reunion, or wedding albums are also included in this. You can illustrate day in the child of your life or capture life with your horse out of the barn. They are all quality pieces that make great photo gifts as well as heirloom pieces for the home. I like the products that we promote. I think they really have something for our clients.

JOHN: Coffee table books, that sounds like brilliant idea.

PAT: Yeah, they're fun.

JOHN: Yeah, really, honestly. It sounds like you're quite diverse in what you do with your photography. That's a good thing. Can you tell us what would be the most important goal when you're doing a client, Pat?

PAT: Oh, to make sure they're happy with what they get. You know, I like to know ahead of time what it is they're looking for. How they see the end product, and I really try to make an effort to provide that for them, but I also know that sometimes people don't really know what they want so I do take liberties and try to provide them with a little bit more and shoot something the way I see. And often times those are the portraits that they'll buy, but bottom line they have to be ecstatic with their product and what they get and it has to be meaningful for them and if it's not then we try to reschedule or redo it. Because you know people are going to talk about you, and as far as I'm concerned it's better that they're saying something good.

JOHN: You got that right. Sounds like you've got a great service there. Can you tell us what separates you, Pat Dorgan Photography, from the competition?

PAT: Well, some basic things. I'm a member of the Professional Photographer's of America, the PP of A, and I have worked with them to gain my certification degree. So I'm a certified professional photographer. With the digital revolution, everybody out there now has a camera and some of these amateurs are actually quite good. Many of them are just taking snapshots so the need for our service has...there's been a dip in the need for professional photographers. But I believe that if you continue to study and you know your clientele and you're providing what it is that they're looking for, you're giving them quality products, and different ways to enjoy their products for years to come, then I think there's definitely a high survival rate there. And I'm looking forward to being able to find a variety of ways that clients can enjoy their images and it's not just pictures of that I want to provide for them, it's heirlooms. I want my clients to be able to pass along what they have from one generation to the next. I want them to be able to remember their animal companions and what those companions have given them, and it's a great service I think that I provide, and I enjoy it. I love my clients, and I like what I do. I think I'm pretty lucky, huh?

JOHN: Sounds like it. Sounds like it. We need to wrap things up here, Pat. Would you please give us your website information and contact information one more time?

PAT: You bet. It's www.dorganphoto.com. And the current phone number is (630) 289-5342, but make sure to check back to the website because we're moving.

JOHN: We are in the studio with Pat Dorgan of Pat Dorgan Photography of Gilberts, IL. Thank you for joining us today, Pat.

PAT: It's been great. Thanks so much, John.

JOHN: This VTalk Radio Photographer. We are out of here.

ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st Century.

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