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

Photos you should ask to see before booking your wedding

     When it comes to weddings you want to know your photographer is the best at what they do. When you sit down and meet with them, you see all the previously perfectly posed photos that could soon be of you and your spouse to be.

Discovering Grand Dad’s Dog Tags

     Though, what is it a photographer didn’t show you during the meeting and maybe something you should ask them to show you? Here’s what it is, during the meeting they rarely ever show you the party photos, the cake cutting(maybe), and the candid’s that comprise around 60 to 70 percent of the what is photographed on you and your loved one’s wedding day.

     Now, you may be asking yourself, Tim, seriously, why are you telling us to ask photographers to show us another person’s wedding candid’s?

    Here’s the reasoning behind it. Posed photos are great, they sell really well as images that will adorn your walls for a very long time to come. As time has passed, from the wedding day to the first showing, I find loved ones spend more time looking at the candid’s and remembering those once in a life time moments with friends and family that aren’t staged and try to figure out how to work them into albums and as small mementos.

     I will admit, at first, if a potential client came to me and said those posed photos are nice but show me some candid’s. I would have probably freaked out in the beginning or even recently because I would be worried about what they are looking for in those. Now, I understand they want to be able to see if us as their photographer can capture those special intimate moments with friends and family that weren’t stages and happened by chance. Those moments that come and go as quickly as the wedding day does.

Blink first you lose.

     This may not be something that you would of thought to ask of your photographer but I encourage you too. As a client I would want to know if they possibly got the shot of the bride and brother noticing that grand dads dog tags were on memorial display which were just added by the husband mere moments before they walked in the room. Or that bride and her best friend were having a stair down right before they busted out so weird hillbilly dance on the back of an old farm delivery truck while laughing uncontrollably. Those are the memories you also want to know your photographer can capture and save for a lifetime.

Family moments

     With the two short scenarios from above think back to a close friends or family members wedding that you attended and then later were at their house and ended up looking through their album or box of wedding photos. Chances are you looked at the posed photos but you held on looking at that candid moment photo or page just a little bit longer and relived it and just maybe busted out laughing or started to tear up.

     Posed and candid photos have the power to relieve special moments in your lifetime make sure you have a photographer that can do both.

Summer of Senior Portraits

     Summer is here and that means it’s time for the class of 2019 to get the glam on in front of the camera before they graduate next spring and head off into the great wide world as adults. First, there is one more year high school, reports, tests and as some young women love and some young men dread the senior portrait session ahead of them.

     For most it’s their chance to show a more adult side, be the jester for one last time or just be the person they really want to be. It is all meant to show the world I have arrived. At Vagabond Photography we strive to help bring those dreams to the photos we create with our Seniors.

     We understand that sometimes what our Senior’s has in mind for an outfit is not always what the parent had in mind or will approve of. Recently with changes in the fashion industry to push young kids to dress more like adults (not necessarily always in the best ways) we have seen that trend reflected in our photography industry as well when clients bring outfits. The one thing we always recommend to all our clients (seniors, families and engagement couples) if it’s not something grandma and grandpa would hang on their walls at home or mom and dad would put on their desk at work because it might be seen as a little to provocative maybe it would its best also if you bring an alternate outfit so both parties are happy in the end.  

     The great thing about senior portraits is that is doesn’t just have a be a quick simple headshot for the year book like in years prior where we all lined up sat for a minute and a half and then were back in class. We can feasibly go anywhere and do almost anything (but not hanging your photographer from a rope off a cliff). Vagabond Photography is nestled out in East Troy, WI we are 40 minutes from the lake front & downtown in Milwaukee, 50 minutes from our state capitol in Madison and all around us in the perfect lake and nature settings. If there is another place outside of those areas that holds special meaning to you and your family we can travel there as well.

     Including sports and hobbies into our photo sessions is something we have always tried to get our clients to do more of. It brings the feeling of this is part of who I am into the photos and allows our Seniors to experiment with different poses that include their passions.  If possible bring your pets as well. While we understand at some locations it is not possible to have them there but when they are it always brings in the possibility of unexpected hilarity which translates into beautiful photos.

     Dates book fast we only do few sessions a day at Vagabond Photography and we do this to give out Seniors the right amount of time in front of the camera to bring their ideas to life. We are also able to do group sessions so if you want to incorporate a senior portrait session with your friends. We have all had that one friend we have grown up with who might as well be family and it is always a fun time when we can bring friends like that together.

     We look forward to hearing from you.