Contact Information, About Myself and Business Info
Ryan Smith Photography of Myrtle Beach
Check below for information about my various business licenses.
Contact Information:
Email:
Please use the contact form by clicking the contact tab on the left of every page, if this is not working for some reason e-mail directly at ryansmith@myrtlebeachphotography.org
Also, I'm trying to build followers on my Facebook Fan Page. If you could visit it here and "like it", that would be great. You can also stay up to date on my updates and contact me on Facebook if you prefer.
Phone: 843-252-0492 (Please read below)
Please note:
Please keep in mind I'm a small business, I do everything in
the business myself including phone calls. Many times I will let
phone calls go to voice mail so I can filter between actual clients
that I can call right back and sales calls. If possible, it makes
it a lot easier for me if you can send a quick e-mail or text message
to check for availability and other information. I have access to
e-mail almost all the time, even on my phone, so I can get back
with you very quickly if need be. Thanks for understanding.
About Myself
If you want to check out my blog for thoughts on my recent shots visit here.
I'm 34 years old and I started out as a hobbyist doing things like nature photography and slowly worked my way into doing portrait and wedding photography full time. I'm proud of the fact, like many great photographers, I just had a passion for the subject and taught myself through books, podcasts, and other resources. I very much enjoy photography and do it as my hobby as well as professionally. I'm experienced using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom so I do the post processing and touch up as well.
I don't know how artistic I am, but I seem to have a good ability to get clients relaxed and having fun, which I find is when I get the best shots. I also seem to have a good eye for light. I don't spend so much time on setting up a perfect shot as trying to catch just the right look or expression. I keep having clients tell me how much they like my work, so I must be doing something right. Of course I do set up poses, but I really like candid and fun shots enjoying the beach and the outdoors. I'm very open to suggestions, anything a client wants to try I'm generally happy to do. I think being a good photographer is not so much about some amazing talent as it is just working hard and trying your best to make a client happy.
About Ryan Smith Photography as a Business
I work out of my home office, pretty much everything that gets done in the business I do myself. All my photography work is on location so I just don't see the point in the expense and responsibility of having an outside studio, I work out of my home office which is set up with a couch and large wall screen for clients to view and discuss images with me. I have all the pro level equipment and software of any photographer, in fact I'm more on the cutting edge of technology than most. I just prefer keeping things small, taking on the amount of work that I can do, and not having the stress of getting big and having to worry about employees and all that comes with that.
I carry general liability insurance through Auto Owners, Indemnity Coverage through the PPA, and equipment insurance through the PPA as well.
Equipment
You can usually tell pretty quickly looking at a photographer's pictures, even if you know nothing about photography, if they are using top of the line lenses. One of the reason my pictures really stand out is that I'm using top of the line Nikon equipment. I'm into photography as a hobby as well, so I really like keeping up with and getting the latest and best equipment. It really helps me to stay on the cutting edge of whatever is possible in photography at the time. If you really want to get into specifics I'll post what is in my typical camera bag below. I usually have about ten thousand in equipment I'm bringing to a wedding.
- Nikon D700 full frame FX camera body with battery grip (Really incredible low light sensitivity)
- Nikon D300 camera body with battery grip
- Nikon 24-70 f2.8 lens
- Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR lens
- Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens - Sigma 10-24mm lens
- Nikon SB-900 Flash - Nikon SB-600 Flash - Pocket Wizards with TTL - Light stands etc.
- Spiderholster, Really Right Stuff wedding pro flash bracket, Lightspheres, other gadgets and accessories
Something I'm proud of is this website that I built myself. I believe one reason my site is ranking so well on Google is that it is very clean, usable, and even the code is very clean and correct. I hope you find the site to be nice to use as well.
My Computer and Photo Processing Hardware:
Professional Photographers of America - PPA.
In case you are curious about how the images are processed and protected. I use a special IPS LCD (much more accurate than your typical LCD) that I keep color calibrated with a Spyder 3 to make sure what I see is what you will get from your prints. I have 3 monitors hooked up to my PC for work as well as a 4th display on my wall which is also hooked to the PC to display images for clients. I protect your images with a Data Robotics Drobo for redundancy as well as an external backup drive and an off site backup just in case. I use Adobe Photoshop CS5, Nik Software, as well as Adobe Lightroom 3 for image processing for the most part.
I do all my work out of my home office. With the transition of photography into a fully digital process, I can do all processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop without a studio location. However I have a nice setup at my home for clients to come by and view and discuss my work including a large wall screen where you can view images.
Ryan Smith Photography Myrtle Beach is a registered and licensed retail business in the state of SC. I carry both liability as well indemnity insurance policies. Because of this I do have to charge 8% sales tax on all purchases, if a photographer doesn't require this, they are not operating legally. I have a number of different business licenses which keeps you from having any problems planning a wedding in the city limits.
Business and Retail Licenses:
