Mary Dougherty Photography – Rochester New York Wedding Photographer » wedding, engagement, family, baby, children photographer in western New York

Ben + Michelle : Rochester Maternity Session

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 Posted in Portrait

Their joy was contagious. Two people, in love, expecting their first baby and there’s not another feeling like it. It’s one of those events that happens once in your life and so there’s every reason to document it. There’s also every reason to wear yellow shoes, which gave a pop of color and completed the sophisticated look of their outdoor session. Not only did this vocal professor and doctor dressed well but they did a great job in front of the camera, jumping in to taking pictures and taking my direction while also adding influence of their own. Ben and Michelle came down from the Watertown area to meet me in Rochester for their before the baby session and now that they are getting close to welcoming the baby into their family I’m looking forward to heading up to their new place to photograph him. Here are some of my favorites from the session…

you guys are delightful and are going to be fabulous parents! There are so many more images to look through so head to the proofing gallery and I’d love to know your favorites. Thanks for coming down and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

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Leah : Senior Portraits

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Posted in Portrait

The early evening light couldn’t have been more gorgeous. It softly illuminated Leah who floated through the tall grasses. She talked about her senior year, the extra classes she was taking at Alfred University and the plans she had for after graduation. She is an all around artist with interests in music, art and dance – which is what she plans to pursue in college.

When we met for her senior portraits I knew two things: her school required a “standard” portrait for the yearbook (I guess things got a little out of control with submissions in previous years) and in spite of that she was up for doing something different. I took her to one of my favorite places to shoot and had her walk through the creek and stand in the midst of grasses… you know, the usual. Before we did that we captured a few more simple images and this was my favorite:

she totally rocks that haircut, which in my mind makes the picture half model / half woodland nymph… and as you can see it translated into our more natural setting.

So I mentioned that Leah studies dance, and while ballet is her background modern dance is what she is most interested in pursing. While I only saw a quick improve of a few minutes, I know she is super talented.

Leah I think you rocked these photos – but you’ll have to let me know what you think! Friends and family – did I capture her… leave a comment and let me know what you think as well. While you’re at it, head over to the proofing site to see the full gallery, just create a profile to log in. Leah it was fun to photograph you and have a great senior year!

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two people two dogs

Monday, August 30, 2010 Posted in Engagement

It’s been a week since I was in Saratoga Springs, NY meeting up with Tom and Madeline for their engagement session, but it feels more like a month. It’s been one of those weeks where I look back and almost can’t remember where I was two days ago or what if I wore the same shirt yesterday that I’m wearing today. Why has it been that way? Preseason. Today is the first day of classes at Houghton College and leading up to today has been two weeks of cross-country preseason. I’ve been a runner for a while and now I’m involved with the xc team as an assistant coach… and I love it. I’m half athlete and half artist and have been balancing those two for a long time now. I really love running but I only love it that much because of the people. It’s always been like that, since the day I joined the 70 other girls on the South Cross Country team as a freshman.

Enough about running (for now) and back to a week ago. An overcast morning, and charming small town, and a couple in love… with their two dogs. When I heard that Tom and Madeline had two mini dachshunds I knew they should bring along to their esession and here’s a preview of what I captured:

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FAQ : having a small business

Saturday, August 28, 2010 Posted in MDP

Welcome! today I’m inviting you over to sit down and answer some of those questions I’ve been asked about having a small business, and of course a photography business in particular. Like I said before, I definitely don’t consider myself an expert, and there are many different ways to do things so my way isn’t necessarily the right way for you. I will say that having a small business is liberating and challenging at the same time. It can completely take over your life if you don’t tame it, but when you do it can give you the freedom to do something you love. (ps. I’m working on taming it, and I think that takes time). So, let’s get started from the beginning:

1. How long did it take you to be able to do this full time?

I spent about a year building up my business while working full time before I switched completely over to doing just photography. Before I started my business I also had about a year of casual wedding photography for friends so I guess you could count that as time spent to get to where I am today as well.

Being able to work slowly into having my own business was really important for me to get started since I wasn’t sure how things would go. It allowed me to get my feet wet before I saw if I could swim (do you like that analogy?)

2. How did you become a small business?

There are a lot of places to help you navigate the steps of creating a small business – often they are local resources that will provide classes and information for you to get started. Several of the steps include: deciding what type of business you want to be (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company), filing a DBA, checking with zoning to approve your home-based business, getting a business license or anything else your county/city clerk requires, and filling the proper documents to pay and collect sales tax… what am I missing? Like I said, find your local small business administration office or someone to help but a good place to start is online at SBA.gov

3. What tips do you have for getting your name out?

I would start with your product (photography), since often your work will speak for itself. You already know that word of mouth is the best advertising and that of course is based on good experiences + products. Make it easy for people to find you by having an easy to navigate website and blog and start talking to people!

4. What did you use to create your website?

There are a ton of easy ways to create a website, and I went with the company Bludomain for mine. They’ve become even less expensive than when I got mine so there’s no reason not to have some kind of web presence.

whew. I’m not sure if that was helpful for anyone, but hopefully at least one person got something out of it. Let me know if I was way off base or what you thought and I look forward to hearing from you!

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how Jasmine Star shoots weddings

Thursday, August 26, 2010 Posted in me

If you are photographer – aspiring, professional, or in between the two – chances are you’ve heard about Jasmine Star. Maybe it’s the fabulous weddings she photographs, her story of start up included no prior photography experience, or the way that she openly talks about her business and how she’s come to the point she’s at. Either way, it’s pretty inspiring.

First let me back track, and explain why I’m talking about her in the first place (besides the fact that she’s clearly fabulous). I’ve received a few emails/msgs from some people asking questions about my business, what I do, and how I got started. While it’s been flattering that people would ask I’ve definitely struggled with feeling like I could share in the first place. For one, I don’t have all of the right answers so I don’t think you should trust me for hard and fast business advice. There are many people out there way more qualified. Second (and maybe more importantly) I didn’t really feel confident enough. Okay, that’s kind of hard to say, but it’s so true. I make mistakes, I don’t do everything perfectly… so how can I tell people what they should do when I’m trying to figure it out at the same time.

Okay, just to clarify (before this sounds like people are banging down the proverbial door to get in touch with me) I’ve had a few people contact me. That means less than 10. I don’t really know I haven’t kept track exactly. So, before I share some of my experiences with you, I thought I’d direct you over to Jasmine Star who is basically the queen of start up wedding photography and has put so much information out there you can probably learn all you need to and skip me. :)

If you didn’t know, this week Jasmine has teamed up with Creative Live (which I’ve found is a cool online workshop/class type place) and is going photograph a real wedding live tomorrow. She’s spent yesterday and will spend today (2-8 EST) sharing with everyone how she prepares and gets ready and works, and then tomorrow we’ll see her in action (4-12 EST). Viewing the live event is free, but if you can’t view it you can purchase the videos and watch them when you like. So…. all this to say if you want to see how a real pro does it, you want to get ideas for how your wedding day should flow, or anything else I think you should tune in! I’ll be there and we can pretend we’re sitting next to each other watching.