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No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk
Today's Guest: Denise Rehse Watson of Photo Sensitive Portraits in Hood River, Oregon
Today's Host: John Bentley

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ANNOUNCER: Welcome to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk brought to you by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow. Now here's your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Today on the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk, we have Hood River, Oregon, photographer, Denise Rehse Watson of Photo Sensitive Portraits with us via telephone.  Welcome to the program, Denise.

DENISE: Well thanks.  It's good here in the hood.  What can I say?

JOHN: Didn't expect that from you.  Yeah, sure the hood.  Why not.  Oregon, a very beautiful state, and I bet you have some beautiful photography to talk about in the Oregon area.  Tell us a little bit about Photo Sensitive Portraits.

DENISE:  Let's see Photo Sensitive Portraits came about about 15 years ago.  I started my business not as a photographer at first, but as a photographer's assistant in San Francisco, California.  It was photo sensitive professional support services for the photographic industry, and I had a great start there.  I learned a lot working with a lot of commercial shooters, a lot of portrait shooters, and finally got the nerve to hang up my own shingles.  That was a great beginning.  It was a wonderful place to start and grown and learn.

JOHN:  So when did you move to the Oregon area then?

DENISE:  Not quite about...just 2 1/2 almost 3 years ago now.  It seems like forever, but yeah.

JOHN:  What is your primary focus as a photographer?

DENISE:  As a photographer, here in Hood River, my primary focus is portraiture.  I am kind of classically trained.  I'm a traditionalist, although, I can do fashion forward stuff as well and so families, children, and maternities, and I just started branching out into doing seniors.  And right here I'll give a shot out to teens, Steve and Shelly, who I attended their No BS workshop this summer and they are responsible for the Harringtons, yes for really shaping my senior photography.  Thanks guys, thanks a lot!

JOHN:  Great so what have they done to help you in senior portraits?

DENISE:  Well, like I stated, I’m pretty much a traditionalist, and I don't have kids of my own, so I didn't have a lot of experience working with teenagers and the first year my pictures were ok.  They were very traditional and it just wasn't exciting enough and going to the workshop with Steve and Shelly made me realize I can be more fashion forward.  I can be looser and freer, more of a model portfolio experience if you will and that was eye opening for me.  It freed me up, cut me loose, and I just finished up my own senior season; we wrap up early here, and I'm very happy and very proud of the work I did, and I wouldn't have gone there without Steve and Shelly from No BS.  Yeah Team Steve!

JOHN:  Ok, Denise, you had mentioned that you do maternity and children and families.  What is it about the maternity and the children that you like so much?

DENISE:  Oh my gosh.  Well first of all, I guess I should preface that by saying I have no children of my own, and that is by choice; however, there's just something incredibly beautiful about pregnant women.  Most of the women who I encounter who come to me are really happy in their pregnancy; they're feeling good by that time, and it's a celebration.  It's a celebration of family.  It's a celebration of optimism. I personally think having a baby has got to be the most optimistic thing a human being can do, but feeling a little more optimistic since November 4th.  Political aside it's just a real privilege when people ask you to be part of an intimate, you know, to participate in such an intimate part of their life, and I always treat that with a great deal of respect.  The other thing is from a business standpoint, I did mention I moved from San Francisco to small town Hood River, rural, Oregon and it's a much more conservative community in many, many ways as you might imagine; however, there are a lot of transplants here.  The majority of the current crop of photographers anyway also share very conservative views so I get a lot of the more, I'll use the word again, fashion forward moms.  The moms who don't mind getting naked, basically, who don't mind showing a lot of skin for pictures, because that's equally beautiful.  I'm very comfortable working with nudes or working within the figure photography and they have a good time with it, and they get some really beautiful work.  And I haven't posted much of that on No BS, I guess maybe I should, but...

JOHN:  Perhaps.  Now we're going to take a break here, but before I let you go, why don't you give your website and contact information for us please.

DENISE:  Absolutely.  The website isn’t much so I'm going to send you my blog which is www.photosensitiveportraits.blogspot.com.

JOHN:  And is there a phone number where inquiring minds can call?

DENISE:  Sure.  Give me a buzz; I will talk your ear off.  Anytime if you have questions; I've got answers, and what I don't know I make up that's (541) 436-2755 that's the studio land line.

JOHN: Excellent. We are in the studio with Hood River, Oregon, photographer, Denise Rehse Watson of Photo Sensitive Portraits, and you're listening to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. We'll be right back after these important messages.

ANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Visit them on the web at www.nobsphotosuccess.com. NO BS Photo Success dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow.

ANNOUNCER: VTalk Radio.

ANNOUNCER: www.morephotos.com helps professional photographers manage their digital images online in over 20 countries. They can help you with domain names, websites, shopping carts, and online proofing solutions. Please visit them at www.morephotos.com. Mmorephotos.com the online sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. We now return you to the NO BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk show with your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Welcome back to in the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. We are in the studio with Hood River, Oregon, photographer, Denise Rehse Watson of Photo Sensitive Portraits.  Welcome back to the program, Denise.

DENISE: Hey, thanks.

JOHN: Now we've been talking about your wonderful photography business up there in Oregon.  You have a blog that's on your website don't you?

DENISE:  Yes I do. 

JOHN:  How important is that to your photography business?

DENISE:   It's huge.  It's a way...photography is all about communication and blogs are a terrific way to communicate, you know, let the community know what I'm up to, what I've got going on, and I also post things like what's going on in the community that people may find interesting.

JOHN:  I looked at your website and saw that you did have kind of an interesting part of your website called the Women's Opportunity Awards.  Why don't you share a little bit about that and how important that is.

DENISE:  The Women's Opportunity Awards; I'm a member of Soroptimists International...the Hood River Chapter and one of the things our club does is we award three women the Women of Distinction Awards.  These are cash awards and public recognition awards that are given to three women who have exhibited long standing (10 years or more) service to women and children in the community.  And as a Soroptimist, I'm not on that committee that chooses them, but as a photographer I do portraits of the three women and the images are used for promotion, and I also make a gift of them to the women's families.  Just photographed the three of them yesterday in the studio, and it was a wonderful experience and a privilege to work with such wonderful women.

JOHN:  Now you also have a blog that's connected to the No BS site don't you?

DENISE:  Well what I have, we talked about this earlier, is not so much a blog, it is a pinned post in the Business and Marketing Forum called "Starting Up and Starting Over".

JOHN:  And what's that all about?

DENISE:  Like I said I started my business in San Francisco.  I was there for 8 - 10 years it kind of runs together sorry, and then started my business.  It was a big deal, moving from a big city to a small community.  There were a lot of challenges in moving and starting up my business again so I started to write about it and it struck a cord with people and so I've continued.  I post something about once a month about what I'm doing and what's working for me in getting the word out business wise in my community.  Hi, I'm here.  What do you do when you don't have a lot of cash, but you've got a lot of time, and you're new in town.  How do you get the word out about what you do and who you are.

JOHN:  That is something the subscribers to No BS can go on the site and check it out.  Speaking of No BS, how long have you been connected to No BS?

DENISE:  Oh, my goodness, for over 3 years now.  Since it was a free site.

JOHN:  What has No BS done for your photography business?

DENISE:  It's done a couple of things.  Number one moving from a large urban area to a small rural community, I missed tremendously the comradre and companionship of other photographers.  I was very involved in the San Francisco Bay area with different professional photography groups.  I could count the number of photographers I could call upon if I had a question about something literally in the hundreds.  I moved out here, and I'm one of three photographers in the area, and they kind of keep to themselves around here.  It's a little strange, but NO BS's provided community and family immediately.  I can honestly say without them, I think I would have gone a little Kuku.  I couldn't have done it.  So from a community standpoint that was huge.  I think I'm one of the photographers with a little bit more experience on the forum; however, I am always learning something from somebody.  No matter what level of photography they're at.  I mean, hey I'm a photographer I love to look, and I'll devour anything written about photography so always learning, always, always, always.  There's so much that I have learned, for instance, Rob's stuff on marketing has been an invaluable help to me.  Absolutely fantastic.  I love the lighting tutorials.  I find those incredibly helpful.  It is...easily membership here is one of the biggest bangs for your educational buck anywhere.  I don't care whether it's books, videos, seminars, your monthly membership fee in No BS forum is the best deal going.

JOHN:  Well, Denise, it's been a pleasure having you on the program today.

DENISE:  Thanks so much.  It's been kind of actually a tickle.  I'm so flattered to have been asked.

JOHN:  Great, now before we let you go, why don't you give your website address and contact number for our listening audience.

DENISE:  Absolutely.  It's www.photosensitiveportraits.blogspot.com.  Give me a ring at (541) 436-2755.

JOHN: We've been in the studio via telephone with Hood River, Oregon, photographer, Denise Rehse Watson of Photo Sensitive Portraits, and you've listening to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. I am your host, John Bentley. Thank you for joining us today. Have a great afternoon.

ANNOUNCER: No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk is powered by www.vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st Century.

 



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