Opening under Coivd-19 in Wisconsin

As of today(2020/05/14,) well technically yesterday afternoon May, Vagabond Photography can start taking clients again. It feels to good to be able to start providing services again to you our valued customers. While I understand it may not be ideal, here is the tentative plan moving forward for how I am going to be conducting business.


1. Photos done by Vagabond Photography will still remain on location as I have always been an on location photography service. I have some great locations picked out and are ready to go.

2. Consultations for weddings, family/senior/modeling/headshot portraits, aerial and event photography will be done over the phone/email for a just a little while longer. If the conditions are agreed upon by both parties a PDF contract will be email to you to be signed electronically or to be printed and mailed back. I’ve always been a hand shake type of person, two parities agree to the terms shake on it, sign the document and then its off to the races, but I understand the handshake will have to wait for a while long.

3. During the portrait sessions I will do my directing from a distance of how I would like you to be posed. Normally, I like to be a little closer to make some of those very fine tweaks but I know for the safety of our clients this is best for the time being. As for clothing options that will all be discussed prior to the session.

4. Viewing and ordering of prints will be done through our websites client's galley as opposed to our normal in person sales. I can also do a viewing over the phone and internet in case there is a few alterations you would like to have made to an individual photo. I have with my client gallery services to see the same thing at the same time as you so we both can be looking at the same image and be on the same page.

5. As for payment I'll be doing Paypal or Check, for the time being I won't be taking cash. I am also still trying to figure out though my website provider how to set up credit card for services rendered instead of per-photo and once I get that figured out as a viable option, this will be an option as well.

I look forward to being your photographer again and getting back to providing you the best services I can.

Tim Gumz
Vagabond Photography
05/14/2020

Water Leaders Summit 2019

     Right before the fourth of July, Vagabond Photography had the pleasure to work the with The Water Council at the Water Leaders Summit for the fourth year in a row. It is always a fun and educational experience to work with them. This year’s summit took place at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 26-27th.

Charles Fishman - During opening statements

Charles Fishman - During opening statements

     Normally as photographers, we go to a conference or seminar to photograph the event but we always seem to come away with something a little more tucked away in our brains by the end. This year, main take away was during the opening statement by events the MC Charles Fishman, “Every time we do a search on Google it uses two tablespoons of water.”  As a photographer I use the internet a lot to look up how to fix camera/lighting equipment, learn new techniques, to my guilty pleasure of looking up Babylon 5 and Star Trek memes. Never in a hundred years would I have thought for one minute that we really use water in that process. But Google and all the internet search engines do, its used in keeping the servers cool. It also made me think how much water goes into making a camera? So I did some searching and didn’t come up with an answer but I would wager it is many, many of gallons between the circuit boards, plastic, metals and glass in a camera.

Eleanor Allen & Charles Fishman

Eleanor Allen & Charles Fishman

         It was a great day filled with great speakers from all walks of life. Touching on multiple subjects from Rethinking Water for People, How actions and awareness are no longer the domain just of the water sector and Rethinking Water Use: Risk, Stewardship and Value Creation and Rethinking Water in Corporate Governance. This year focused more on how we use water and the risk of pollution and running out.

     Eleanor Allen spoke with Charles Fishman to talk about her work when with the peace corps to bring clean water and better out houses to communities to prevent the transmission of disease to people in foreign countries. She went on to explain how some communities for all for clean water while others didn’t really care but once one community got on board with the project others seemed to be more receptive to it.

     During the last panel of the day they talked about rethinking water in corporate governance and as a person who has worked in many fields from photography, to industrial, and farming to commercial it really got me to pay attention while working the rest of the event. They noted if companies really had to pay for the water they use, items we use would cost us a whole lot more money but the companies would also be a lot more apt to stop leaks and save themselves money. One of the speakers stated that one of the biggest leaks for a plant is in its fire suppression system and that was mainly due to leaky valves or connections in pipes.  It was interesting to hear them talk about how Ford Motor Company managed to reduce their over all use of water in manufacturing use to help water stressed areas be more sustainable.

So think of how you use your water.

Xiaofeng Zhao and Valeria Orozco

Xiaofeng Zhao and Valeria Orozco

Clean Rivers Clean Lakes Conference 2018

Last week we had the joy of returning for a third year, to cover the Clean Rivers Clean Lake Conference for our friends at Sweetwater based in Milwaukee WI at the school of fresh water siences.

This year’s Clean Rivers Clean Lake Conference was held at Alverno College. Alverno College has such a beautiful campus and was a great location for this event, the staff was amazing and very helpful. If you ever have the chance tour this beautiful campus I highly recommend it.

This year’s discussions and panels focused on creating purposeful drainage areas inside the urban landscape, porous pavement, new policies and regulations and how we as good stewards can do out part in these endeavors.  

As much as it is a day of work for us it is also a learning day. I come from a family with farmers and every year I am impressed to see what these fine people come up with. Some of it in the past I have taken back with me to my uncle’s farm to see if there is something we can put into practice as it pertains to curtailing field runoff into the streams and waterways.

Here are some of the photos from this year’s Clean Rivers Clean Lake Conference.

Talking to a business consultant. Useful and enlightening for a single person business. A personal perspective

How using a business consultant can help your small business. A personal perspective about Vagabond Photography's meeting with Cultivativated Advisors.

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