Introducing Lindsay Ammons People Photography!

I am so pleased to announce that Lindsay Ammons Photography is starting a new chapter! I've been so blessed to shoot pets all over Chicago for the past few years, and have had so many wonderful clients. Many of my clients have invited me back to shoot other important milestones in their lives - engagements, weddings, children.  While pets have always been - and will always be - a passion of mine, I have found that I have so much fun working to capture my human clients as well. After a lot of thinking and planning... Lindsay Ammons People Photography was born! To set up a shoot contact me at lindsay@lindsayammons.com.

I am looking forward to continuing to provide Chicago with premier photography services - and not just for our four legged friends anymore!  So let's kick off this journey the only way I know how - with pictures! Here are some of my favorite "people photography" pictures of late....

Miss Ava at her 3 month shoot

Saada's Headshots

Maternity shooting - loved this pink shirt Vicky wore! 

Bride Sarah sneaking a peak at her groom

Adorable Miss Peyton

A walk in the park. Gorgeous light this day! 

Baby Ellie! 

Preserving Memories - the high-tech way

Wow, you guys, it's been a minute, huh?

A lot of my news and updates have been taking place over on my Facebook page (you know you want to like it) but I did want to take some time out and write a post about backing up.  I was reviewing my blog and remembering the sheer anguish I went through when my hard drive died with all my photos on it. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, if I had read a super helpful blog post from a photographer who had been around the block, maybe that would have never happened.

So, I wanted to take a moment and review the process I use to back up my images. While nothing is fool-proof, I think my process is fairly comprehensive and should safeguard against any lost images (knock on wood).

My 3-Step Back-Up Process:

Step 1: Buy good CF cards and don't reformat them until the final images from the shoot are burned onto the clients CD or USB drive.

Available at B&H Photo

I use SanDisk extreme 16gb cards. I won't shoot with cards any larger than 16gb. If i'm shooting a wedding (during which i usually shoot about 100gb of images), and I only use one card, and it craps out... well, i'm screwed, and worse, so is the client. 

These cards sit in a little coaster on my desk until i've completely processed, and burned images, onto another drive (CD or USB).  This means that at all times, the raw images are in at least 2 places (actually, with my process it means they are in 4 places, but we'll get to that).  

Step 2: Use a good external hard drive with RAID-1

I use a Western Digital My Book with Raid 1. This is a very key step.  This means that the hard drive actually has TWO separate hard drives in it. 

Let's say, for example, you buy a 2TB hard drive. This means that inside the drive there are actually two 1TB hard drives. You can chose to use it as a 1TB drive, and have the drives automatically clone one another (This is called RAID-1), or you can use it as a 2TB drive. Don't' be stingy. You want this to use the RAID-1 feature. Yes, it cuts your memory in half, but it also cuts the chance that you'll lose your data in half, unless the whole drive somehow gets ruined (fire? someone spills a drink all over it?).  

In fact, this brings me to another rule I have in my house. No one, except for me, is allowed to put a drink on my desk. Having a party? Unplug your drive and set it, ever so gingerly, in a closet somewhere.  Just get that thing the hell out of dodge. 

Western Digital My Book
Available at Microcenter

 Step 3: Use an online back up service like backblaze.com

The third step is a last defense that I haven't yet had to rely on, thank god. My entire hard drive is backed up in real-time by backblaze.com.  It's unlimited storage, and as soon as I put something new on the drive, the little backblaze elves get busy backing it up. But Lindsay, you say, isn't that expensive? And i've already spent all this money on these great CF cards, and this awesome WD External drive?! Aspiring photographer, I say to you, it's $5 a month, so go sign up immediately.

Hopefully, someone somewhere will see this post, follow this process, and be saved the heartache that I went through when I lost my data.

In the meantime, here is an adorable picture of a baby that I photographed yesterday. They don't make 'em much cuter than this! Oh yeah, and this photo, just like all my other photos, is backed up in triplicate. :)

To any aspiring photographers out there, feel free to email me if you have questions about backing up your data - lindsay@lindsayammons.com.

Favorite Shots of Late

It's been a big couple months in the world of Lindsay Ammons Pet Photography. New Equipment, lots of new clients, lots of fun! Many springtime shoots coming up, and with how beautiful the weather has been in Chicago, there is plenty of foliage fodder to play with! Here are a few photos from recent shoots that I love.

Mr. Trooper - a cutie senior daschund - chillin' on his bed

Trooper is quite comfortable in mom's lap!

Love this natural light.

Giana in beautiful textured brush.

I absolutely love these next two. Some of my favorite ever! 

Look at those eyes! 

Fernando, a rescue puppy, in his new moms arms. Looks like he's getting pretty used to life in a home, huh?

Whew... it's been awhile

It's been so long since i've paid my poor blog any attention! It's not for lack of shooting. There's been plenty of great shoots lately that i've thought to myself "I really need to write a blog post about this one..." and then I don't. Like a big loser.

Anywho, there have been lots of great shoots lately. My christmas time was absolutely insane, I actually had to turn a lot of potential clients away, so anyone who is thinking of hiring me for their christmas pictures next year, take note! Book in early November!

I've re-upped my entire camera bag of late, investing in some big ticket items which will have a huge impact on my images. I can't wait to debut some of them! Those will be coming soon.  In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures of sweet baby Hope and her little family.

Annie called me because she wanted some pictures of their 6mo. old baby, their dog, and their family. A real smorgasbord of a shoot. I was excited, I do love shooting babies. When I got to their South Loop home and was greeted with luscious natural light pouring in from large north facing windows, and warm hued exposed brick, I knew this would be a great shoot. They had some ideas of shots they wanted, which is always great, and the shoot ran really smoothly, with Hope being a real trooper until she fell asleep which allowed us to get some snoozy baby shots, is there anything better?

Baby Hope is SO CUTE. Her eyes are so expressive. 

Dad and Daughter.

She loves her mama. 

Shadow the pit bull. So well trained. I love the backlighting here, feels very dramatic. 

Shadow. 

Such a lover.

Sleepy Baby.

So snoozy.

Ray wanted to get this shot, I mentioned it was almost like an engagement shoot to which they replied "we never had one!" I was happy to oblige, and I think it's adorable.

Jovi (& Holly Berry)

I had such a fun shoot yesterday I had to blog about it ASAP. I'll admit I went into it stressed.  I was stuck in traffic for the better part of 2 hours leading up to it, and I was concerned I was going to be late (ask my friends - they'll tell you i'm kind of a crazy person when it comes to being punctual - but a 7:00pm dinner reservation doesn't mean 7:15, amirite?) Anyway, when I got to the house I was greeted with an unexpected amount of people crowded around a TV watching a football game. Usually I have free reign to shoot wherever I want... that wasn't going to be the case here.  In the end it all turned out in our favor because the light outside was gorgeous and they had a utility porch out back that ended up having the perfect rustic, and unexpected charm to shoot for.

Jovi! Such a little fox. 

Brittany and Jovi.

Joe and Jovi. Joe looks like the godfather here, ha. 

 Brittany's roommate Emily and her older Shih Tzu, Holly Berry, (love it!) got in on the fun, too! 

Brittany and Jovi were very natural in front of the camera, easy to shoot.

...and Jovi was quite comfortable perched on mom's shoulder.

Holly Berry warmed up as well...

Owen & Jamie

In August I had a full shooting schedule, and I was starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed.  For the first time I was scheduling shoots a month out due to selling out my schedule, which was both thrilling and a bit scary.  I received a call from Diana, she needed some photos done... and soon.  Her beloved lab was just diagnosed with cancer, and she was worried if she didn't get photos done right away, she would miss her chance. My heart sunk, and I was reminded of why I started my little photography shop.  While some shoots are purely joyous, and riotous fun, I got into this business because I wanted to capture our animals as we remember them, and sometimes that means meeting sick animals, or senior animals, who will soon be on their way to the big dog (or cat) park in the sky.

It's heartbreaking. But something to celebrate. 

Every time I go to these shoots I have to remember that these animals are so well loved that their owners hire a professional to capture them as they are - their beloved, furry best friends and confidants.  This one was especially hard for me because Owen is big, drooly, playful black lab... much like my own pup, Dayton.  It's a constant reminder that just like with our two-legged loved ones, we need to take time every day to rub our furry friends' tummies and tell them how much we love them.  

Owen is loved.

 Jamie is Owen's cocker spaniel brother, and he.is.adorable.

Stately Mr. Owen

Friends.

Family.

 Jamie loves his dad.

There had been so much rain that everything was so green. There was no color correction done to this photo... everything was just that green! 

Have you rubbed your dog's stomach today?

Max & Kaya

When I got a call that there was family with a Mastiff and a Husky who needed to be photographed, I jumped all over it.  I've always wanted to photograph a Mastiff, they are such gentle giants with so many funny, photo-ready features (long jowls, droopy eyes, wrinkly face, etc. etc.) Husky's are also a photographers dream with iceberg eyes, and Kaya just so happened to have two different colored eyes which made her even more beautiful.  I drove wayyy out of the city for this shoot, so we were able to shoot in giant cornfields and on protected land, which made for lots of wonderful shots.

Give me a break, look at this dog! A photographers dream.

Kaya is such a good model.

I love this picture. The dog & owner's personalities really shine through. And yes, Max is wearing a doggy tuxedo.

We shot on this beautiful forest preserve, a very nice setting.

Typical Mastiff, with a drop of slobber on its way to the ground

Big old Max.