Had two fun outdoor photos sessions in the last two weeks. On one the model had a costume in her car, and we convinced her to put it on. Just for fun!

This was taken at Bull Creek here in Austin, Texas.  The waterfalls are running nicely right now after the rain we've had over the last month or so.  This is a great place to shoot outdoor images for people and could also be good for products, depending on what you have. 

The angle of the girl makes the waterfall look huge, but it's only a couple of feet tall.  You can walk up most of the terraced parts in the water!  Its the magic of photography, and it never gets old.

Leonardo_V_151114_1737_04-M

I'm a day late getting my blog out this week, but I have a good reason.  I've been working to streamline the front and back ends of my business workflow,. and it is not an easy task.  Thank goodness we have lots of software to help us with this sort of thing.

One the front end, I've added bookedIN as a scheduler for appointments.  I haven't made any new ones yet, but I know how to set it up for things like mini-sessions and holiday photo shoots.  It's going to be a great tool.

In the middle I have Paypal set up, which I've had for a while, but now that I have bundled photo products, I've got them all in the items list.  This will make it super easy to take orders once I get out there.

At the back end I've got Quickbooks 2015 set up.  I still need some coaching on how to record different kinds of transactions.  I can already see how this is going to help me keep track of it all, once I get a better handle on how to use it!

As a fairly new business owner, I have to say I am in awe of those who have come before me and made their businesses profitable.  Not just in photography, but in any type of business.  Wow!  There's a lot to do.

My metamorphosis continues.  Here's a shot of one of the butterflies that show up in my yard.  Not sure how many more we'll see now that the weather has started to cool off.  I'm so grateful nature has not been pounding on my house as it had so many others, and hope people can recover from the fires, floods, tornadoes and so on.

The volume of trick-or-treaters at my house was low this year, so I have a lot of left over candy that doesn't need to be tempting me from the cupboards.  Instead I learned I can donate the excess to out troops through Operation Gratitude.  Local dentists and others collect the left overs.  It is packaged and sent overseas.  Just enter your zip code on this web site and find out where to donate your candy:   http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/

The rest of the holidays are not far behind!