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No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk
Today's Guest: Daniel Morency of Roy Studios in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
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 Cornwall, Ontario, photographer, Daniel Morency, with us of Roy Studio.  Welcome to the program, Dan.

JOHN: Now we certainly appreciate you taking time out of your busy photography schedule to chat with us. 

JOHN:  I love photography, and I get a number of opportunities to talk with photographers and talk about the business.  Let's talk about...what's the main influx of business for Roy Studio?

DAN:  I live in a small town about 50,000 people.  So it's kind of a little bit of everything.  Of course, weddings, family photos, babies, a little bit of graduations, a little bit of commercial work which is nice.  You get a variety of work and this way it's always interesting and I do a little bit of everything.

DAN:  Actually, I was with the Quebec group.  I'm close to the a Quebec border, and when I first joined an association, my friend ended up being in Quebec, because I am bilingual.  I did go through with the Quebec group, and then at that point I decided to come back with Ontario.  So now I'm with the PPO.

JOHN:  Now, obviously, you have a studio that you work out of.  I'm sure you do on location photography as well.

DAN:  Yes.  A little bit of on location.  I do have a pretty nice, big studio so the majority of my work is in the studio.  We do outside, of course, in the summer and the fall.  The only time I do location is more of commercial work, but because I've got a nice studio, especially at this time of year when it starts getting cold and snow, everything is in the studio.  I'm kind of lucky that way.

JOHN:  Certainly.  Now what kind of camera equipment are you using, Dan?

DAN:  I'm a Nikon guy.  I've got D3, D300.  I've always been Nikon.  Always loved the product.  I started with the D70's and then last year I went with the D3 and D300.

JOHN:  Do you find that a particular camera works a little bit better for in studio as opposed to outdoor photography?

DAN:  Yes and no.  I love the D3 for the low light conditions and the church for the weddings.  I'm really impressed with the D300.  It's pretty close to the D3 especially in the studio.  The only thing the D3 has a little bit advantage like I said for a low light conditions, but in the studio I work with both cameras.  They are excellent.

JOHN:  Now when you, obviously doing all the families and different portraits that you're doing in your studio.  You have to be pretty good with interaction acting with your customers, don't you?

DAN:  Yes.  I have to kind of make them at ease, because most people when they come in they're a little bit nervous.  They're not used to having their photos done professionally.  This is where with experience I find even I, myself, it got easier and easier.  At the beginning you're so worried when you start in this business of the technical part and the posing.  Once you've got it down, I find it's a lot easier to get the people to relax, because you don't even had to think about what you're doing.  You can do it automatically so then you can concentrate on chatting it up with the clients and make them at ease.

JOHN:  Of course, chatting it up with the clients is fine if they're adults.  What do you do with the kids, though?

DAN:  I try to...if they're smaller children, I tend to go down to their level.  What I mean is instead of sitting up, I'll kneel down a little bit and talk to them at that level.  It's...obviously you  get some kids that are a little more at ease right away.  Some are a little bit more shy.  That's why I usually book for a session an hour to an hour and a half.  So if they do come in and they're shy, I'll let them walk around and we'll try to get a little conversation and take our time; not come in, bang, sit them there, and start taking the photos, because if they're not at ease you're not going to get  nice photos.  I guess I book a lot of time for every session, and I find that after a while they do get at ease, and I've got some toys and kind of play with them a little bit.  If it's a family photo, it's a little bit easier if mom and dad are in the photo.  That's how I do it.  Like I said, book a lot of time and spend a bit of time with the child.

JOHN:  Obviously, if you're doing children and families, you must be doing some maternity photography as well?

DAN:  A little bit of that. It’s not a big percentage of our work. I’ve got a couple of samples and we do some, but like I said, my main thing is we do a lot of families. Another thing I forgot to mention is we do a lot of business portraits, head and shoulders for companies. I do a lot of those also. I’m on a commercial street plus I’m involved with different groups, the BIA, my city chamber of commerce. We have a group in Cornwall it’s called Team Cornwall. It’s about 300 – 400 business people, and we meet quarterly, and I’m the official photographer. We have kind of like hockey cards made up with your photo. I do all the photos for that group. 

JOHN: Excellent. We are in the studio with Daniel Morency of Roy Studio. He is a photographer out of Cornwall, Ontario, and you’re listening to the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk. We’ll be right back after these important messages. Do stay tuned.

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. Morephotos.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 Daniel Morency of Roy Studio. He is a photographer out of Cornwall, Ontario.  Welcome back to the program, Dan.

JOHN: Now we've been talking about your photography business. Definitely a lot of studio work involved for you, but I’m sure weddings are a big part of what you do, aren’t they, Dan?

DAN: Yes, we do a lot of weddings, because the studio has been around for this year it will be 50 years. We’ve done a lot of weddings, and we still do. I have cut down a little bit, because I found with switching digital you can do a lot of things with digital, but it’s kind of time consuming. So the last couple of years we’re cut down the weddings, but we usually do about 20 a year. That’s our average.

JOHN: When you do a wedding, are you doing more traditional photography? I noticed on your website that you kind of mentioned that you’re more of a traditional photographer.

DAN: We do a little bit of both. We still do traditional, but we like to do a little bit more free style like Rob and James so w e do a little combination of both. People seem to be happy with that. That way we cover everything.

JOHN:  Speaking of covering everything, I would imagine on some of the larger weddings you’re taking a couple of photographers then?

DAN: If it’s really big weddings, mostly I’ve always basically worked alone, but the last couple of years, we’ve had a couple of really big weddings, and I’ve got a photographer that I’ve done a couple of weddings with, and she’s a great second shooter, and like I said, if it’s a really big wedding, I’ll get a second shooter, but most of the time I cover the weddings by myself.

JOHN: Now you do a couple of other things as a photographer, modeling is one that you have listed on your website. What other types of photography are you doing?

DAN: We do work close with the U.S. Border, actually right across the bridge is New York state, and we do have a few seniors that come from the states. It’s not a big for our studio. We do traditional grad photos also and a little bit of modeling, but being in a small town you get asked to do a little bit of everything. It’s not a big part of our studio, but we do offer it if the clients want it, we can do it.

JOHN: Well there you go. It’s good to be a versatile photographer. I also noticed on your website that do mention that you do passport photos. That’s going to be a big thing here in the next few years isn’t it?

DAN: Exactly. It’s been a big thing. The Canadian government changed the rules about four years ago, and they made it very strict with photos. Before that, you could basically give any type of photos, and now they are really strict and I’m known as the expert for passports and so the last four years we’ve been doing a lot of passports, and again, I can see another big demand over the next 6 months, because in June 2009 you will need a passport by car if you want to go into the states and because we are a border town there is a bridge to go into the states right in Cornwall. We do passports everyday. So it’s kind of another part of photography. It’s not too complicated, but another service people will come in for a passport they see our photos on the wall and end we end up booking quite a few sessions for family photos or kids because they’ve come in the studio and seen our work. It’s another side benefit of doing passports.

JOHN: Now Dan let’s talk a little bit about Rob and James of No BS Photo Success.  How did you run into these guys originally?

DAN: I ended up seeing them in their own town.  It was a Professional Photographers of Ontario convention, and they spoke for a couple of hours and totally…I was just starting in digital and I was really struggling and saw them for a couple of hours and totally loved their talk, and two months later, I saw somewhere in an advertisement that they were going to do a two day seminar in Toronto and went to see them.  It was actually right SARS hit Toronto and they had all the registrations cancelled, but there was still enough that they kept in it, but they offered that if you wanted to come, they were going to do another one 6 months later, because we had taken the first one we could come to the second one for free, and I picked the first course, there were like 15 or 20, and I was the only one that went back a second time and still learned more stuff. Then, of course, when they came up with the No BS forum, I jumped in right away right at the beginning and became a moderator and then I started getting involved doing the chat room that we have every couple of months, and that’s the No BS story.

JOHN: Boy those guys are a lot of fun. I enjoy their unpredictable and funny way of dealing with things.

DAN: Attitude.

JOHN: Yeah.

DAN: Like I said, I still learn stuff from them. I rented it with the conventions, conferences , and we’ve become good friends over the years.  I totally love their attitude.

DAN: Usually I try every couple of months.  Usually on a Sunday night. We set a time, and I usually have a guest. Somebody from the forum that we can learn from, and the first 15 – 20 minutes I do like this little interview and get to know the member, and then anybody can jump in and ask all the questions they want to that member and it usually goes for a couple of hours and then we do a transcript so if somebody missed the chat room, they can see it on the forum what was said during the meeting. We’re probably going to have our next on in January or February.

JOHN: Alright. I will look forward to that chat room meeting then, Dan.  We certainly appreciate you joining us today on the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk.

JOHN:  Sure enough.  Hey before I let you go, though, why don't you give your website address and contact number for our listening audience.

DAN: The website is www.roystudio.ca, and I’m in Cornwall, Ontario. Canada, and you can go through the website all of my contact information will be on the website.

 

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