Diane Jarvis-Schuller

Yes, I still refer to this season as Christmas. Not Xmas, not Happy Holidays, not Seasons Greetings, and no other generic terminology. Christmas is Christmas.

These are two custom cards I made for recent clients. I didn’t begin promoting the Christmas cards early enough this year but plan to have my act together for 2010. I’m pleased with how these two turned out. I have two more to work on plus a family that will be ordering some once they narrow down their image choices. These were actually easier to do than I thought they might be even though I’m using a template before customizing each one. I’ve also been creating my own title pages for client’s books and have become much more comfortable with some of the designs I’ve come up with for the book covers. Once I get caught up with everything, I’ll begin to post some of my design attempts (mostly book covers right now).

In the next couple days I will do my best to try and respond to those who have left comments since I’ve been away last week — slow but sure as the tired saying goes. The next post will likely be the one with my tutorial on how I make my designer envelopes. Since I’m so busy I thought I’d leave you with one of my favourite quotes — something uplifting and motivating:

“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” ~ Mary Dunbar

Here is to discovering your own special light!

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer using natural light to capture her clients’ own special light! Visit Photographs by Diane Schuller for more information.

“Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.”  ~Author Unknown

Such a beautiful family in such a beautiful setting.



I hope you enjoy this sneak peek. I’ll let you know when your private viewing gallery of proofs is ready. Thank you again for such a fantastic weekend!

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” ~Desmond Tutu
“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.” ~Gail Lumet Buckley

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Albertans: As I do with everyone, If this post receives 15 or more comments, from different people, this beautiful young family will receive a free 8×10. To make it easy you can use the [email a friend] link to share this post with friends and family.

Diane is a natural light, on-location lifestyle photographer serving central and northern Alberta including Edmonton & area. Visit Diane Schuller Photography to view her portfolio.

I sure hope I get to photograph more cars in future. I enjoyed that photo shoot quite a lot.

This is my first storyboard (made within Lightroom). It’s a 10 x 20 and will be finished with a linen texture and mounted on 2mm styrene for stability and ease of framing. Unfortunately, because the photo journal background is also white, it’s not as easy to envision where the edges are — it’s much more impressive when seen as a ‘whole’ rather than blending in with the background. I’ve been teaching myself all kinds of different techniques and am pleased with my first storyboard. Next on my learning slate is creating holiday greeting cards. Hang on Martha, there’s no stopping me now!

Perhaps the next storyboard will have a colour background so you can really get the entire effect when viewed on your screen. I’ve recently changed my pricing and, rather than offer a reduced price for prints ordered within 15 days of the proofs going online, clients will now receive a complimentary 10×20 storyboard when they place an order within 7 days of their proofs going online — I may carry this promotion over into 2010.  I have an extremely busy day ahead, 3 orders to place, a delivery to make, trip to town to get my hair cut, dogs to walk … you get the picture! Happy days everyone.

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer serving central and northern Alberta & British Columbia. Visit her portfolio at Diane Schuller Photography.

Here is a sneak peek of a photo shoot I had the pleasure of doing this past weekend. It was a grand family gathering celebrating three significant family milestones. What a warm family and I felt honoured to be chosen to capture their special day. Have I ever mentioned how much I love what I do?  :)  This first young lady turns 90 in a few months!

This is a lovely traditional Norwegian Wedding Cake, kransekake. As you can see, it’s a work of art and a beautiful tradition.

There was all kinds of food all day long and Bison was a juicy, delectable feature at mealtime (as well as Arctic Char and a huge variety of tasty foods). I took a lot of photos of the details but this, after all, is simply a sneak peek.

This little gal ended up in a lot of images — she loves the camera! Here she poked her head out of an inflatable toy and, looking up at me, was a willing portrait study.

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer serving all of central & northern Alberta & BC. She loves what she does and that includes capturing all your special moments. Visit her online portfolio.

I’m finally re-doing my business cards to reflect more of the lifestyle and portrait photography that I’m doing. I’m also going to be producing a 5 x 7 postcard with multiple images on the face of the card. For now though I’m trying to narrow down suitable images to use for my new business cards. The portraits here are in contention because they will allow me to add my logo off to one side plus my website & contact information. (With the father/child image, if I use that one, I’ll be removing ‘dad’ from the image so I have a spot for the logo, etc.). For a tip on self-promotion for photographers, read on.

Now I have to narrow down to one so I can get busy and prepare the image and create the business card mock-up. With each of these I’ll be able to nicely add my logo (watermark won’t appear) with all the contact information. The alternative is to buy 2-sided business cards but I like having one-side business cards since often I can scribble some information for people on the reverse or even use it as an on-the-spot discount card.

SELF PROMOTION TIP:  I always, always have business cards with me. I have them in my purse; in my vehicle; in my camera bag; and in my laptop briefcase. Here’s a self promotion tip that I do all the time: as long as you always have business cards with you, hand them out like candy. Anytime someone asks for your name, or your phone number snap them a smile and a business card — and leave the business card there with them. Whether you’re at the dry cleaners (they always ask your phone number), creating an account somewhere, paying bills, at the dentist or the vet’s office, use those cards. For the immediate purpose, whether they wanted the correct spelling of your name, or need your phone number, they have it right there in print. They are much more apt to remember you as well. Since you’re leaving it with them, they’ll either hang on to it (and you’re likely going to be the first one they check on when they need a photographer) or they may even pass it on to someone else. Either way, it’s a win-win. A lot of people are so curious they’re also quite likely going to check out your website so, when they see your online portfolio, you’ve just made another great connection. Great tip, eh?

What tips do you have in using business cards for self promotion?

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Diane is an on-location lifestyle photographer serving Grande Prairie & Edmonton areas in Alberta. Visit Diane Schuller Photography.