FAQs
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I am always reading, researching, taking more training on techniques and hardware/software. I strive to stay current in technical knowledge and am always trying to expand my artistic capabilities as well.
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
For me, photography is my personal means of artistic expression. Whether I have customers or assignments or not, I am always shooting. It's a passion. I have to keep my camera in my hands. I offer my services to people who want to have quality. Because I believe they should have such an option. :-) Always. Generally speaking, in my photography, most fascinated by ambient light, I put myself in a 'frame' of mind to quickly recognize what will generate a unique and pleasing result. As I exercise my art of photography, I stay very cognizant of impressions of light and endeavor to ensure that I capture what motivated me in the scene. Be sure to share with your friends and family.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
1) Ask the photographer what equipment they use. I very-often see portrait photographers use beginner-level DSLR and charge an arm and a leg (basically much more than I charge). As a professional photographer, I can certainly come away with amazing-looking images from a beginner-level camera. But such images lack commercially-acceptable quality. They typically have higher 'noise' in the images and they don't print well. Basically, in my opinion, it is cheating the customer to charge as much as a professional (who has professional grade equipment) for services and prints. 2) Ask them what format they shoot in and clarify if they mean RAW and not JPEG. It is very important. Too many photographers don't shoot in RAW or don't know the difference. 3) Ask where they print. If they say at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Office Depot, Staples, CVS or something like that, RUN from them! They do not value their own work.... Why would they value your time, effort and money? 4) Ask if they work alone or if they have an assistant. If they don't have anyone assisting them, then I would think twice if one person will be enough to cover the event or to quickly and efficiently set-up and take down equipment or assist you in different photographic scenarios. 5) I would stay away from the photographers who charge A LOT for the photoshoot and make a living off of photoshoots alone & don't care about selling you the prints. What if images are not good? Then even if you did get 100% refund, what about your time, effort and a piece of your life wasted? Can you repeat a wedding? Or your baby being 3 days old? A wasted moment cannot be re-created, even if you get a different photographer later. Choose wisely. 6) Ask about licensing. Ask about legal & ethical aspects. Do you wish your photo (or photos of your son or daughter) posted on Facebook for everyone to be able to see or download? We, at J Farley Photography have a very careful approach to sharing customer images online / on social media. We do not post images of minors without parental request/approval. Which means, we - by default - do not post baby and children images into our online portfolio. Only if the parent has signed a release do we post the photos in our online portfolio. That means more safety and peace of mind for our customers. Most other photographers are not like so. Beware of that and ask about their image sharing policy. 7) Make sure to ask if any given photographer is doing business legally in the state of NC. One must be registered, have Tax ID and be able to charge sales tax. Please do not support illegal business. 8) And, lastly, you should always take a good look at the photographer's complete portfolio to see what kind of person he/she is. What other photography assignments are they doing besides the work for you. "You are what you photograph."