Album Design Blog

Mystic Seminars 2012

One thing I really believe in as a photographer, is continuing to learn and grow and be inspired by others in my field. My absolute favourite way to do this is at Mystic Seminars. This was my second year attending and it was just as fantastic this year as it was last year.

The seminar is a four day lecture series with some amazing speakers as well as a small trade show and some great opportunities to network and just hang out and have a great time with other photographers.

It takes place the second weekend in January and is in Mystic, Connecticut. Photographers come from all over to attend this great event.

Check out this awesomesauce highlight video that Switzerfilm put together while at the seminar. Not only are these guys amazingly talented, they are such great people and I had a chance to hang out with them on the last night of the seminar.

Social Studio was also there with a photo booth and of course, lots of fun was had with that!

See the rest of the photo booth set here.

If you have been searching for a workshop or seminar to be inspired and learn a ton, I HIGHLY recommend Mystic Seminars. I will definitely be there again next year!

Halftone Media Launch Party

Isn’t there a saying, “better late than never”? Well that saying truly applies to this!

The Halftone Media Launch Party took place on a warm evening in July and was such a great success! So much so that I’ve been busy designing some fantastic albums and haven’t even had a chance to post images from the amazing event!

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who came out and made the evening a lot of fun.

A special huge thank you goes to Amy from Splendid Events, who planned this event so well that I didn’t have to do anything but make decisions – she was such a pleasure to work with and I highly (very very very highly) recommend her to anyone needing help with event co-ordination of any kind (wedding, corporate, parties – whatever!). Amy, I really honestly couldn’t have done it without you!

My second thank you goes to the amazing ladies at Luxe Bridal Boutique who opened their doors, and the store to us for the evening. What beautiful wedding dresses that Luxe has – it made me want to go and try them all on even though I’m already married!

Third, thank you to Geek Sweets for the delicious cupcakes that, get this, had the Halftone logo on them! Say What???? Jenny is so very talented.

And last, but definitely NOT least, thank you to the official photographers of the evening, Melanie Rebane of M Photography and Amna Hakim of Amna Hakim photography. You did such an amazing job thank you!!! Additionally, I’d like to thank Amy Symes who also snapped some pics of the event that are below as well.

Also, special thanks to my hubby, Thomas, who helped out and filmed some of the event for me.

Halftone Media Launch Party from Halftone Media on Vimeo.

Images by Melanie Rebane of M Photography.

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Featured Photographer: Laureen Carruthers Photography

Laureen Carruthers is a portrait and wedding photographer in Williams Lake, BC. Laureen sent in a gorgeous wedding to be created into a stunning 24 page album with a custom cover.

I asked Laureen a few questions about her work, and her love for albums.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
I love selling wedding albums, because they are a way of remembering the beautiful day…and showcasing all of the most important moments. I imagine my clients looking through the album with their own children years down the road…I love that thought!

Nikon or Canon?
Canon right now…but I feel I may be pulled to the dark side in the near future…

What is your favourite lens?
I have two at the moment, my 50mm 1.2, and my 100L macro – the bokeh on both of these lenses is out of this world!

Favourite kind of candy:
Sours all the way – is there anything else? I do like to mix them with gummy bears.

I just love the way the cover turned out for this album – Laureen’s portrait sets off the design so well and the book just flows with the mix of white space and full bleed images.

Featured Photographer: Julie C Butler Photography

Julie Butler is a wedding photographer in Ottawa, Canada who sent in an amazing wedding to be created into a 15 spread layout. Julie has a talent for getting her couples to relax in front of the camera and just be themselves and it really shows in her work.

I asked Julie a few questions about her work, and her love for albums.

Why do you love selling wedding albums to clients? Why are they important to your couples?
I love selling albums to my clients – in fact I’m hoping to sell albums to all my 2012 clients!! It tells their story .. what better way to sit down at the end of the day and remember your wedding with this lasting heirloom that can be passed down from generation to generation .. PRICELESS!!!!

Nikon or Canon?
CANON for sure!!! LOL

What is your favourite lens?
Canon 70-200mm 2.8 by far – it’s my baby. It hardly ever comes off my camera!!

Favourite kind of candy:
Sweedish Berries & Nibs .. YUMMY!!!

Julie chose to have a mixed layout of full bleed and white space for her clients’ Alba Album from Willow Paper Works.

It’s Official, We Are Launched!

I am so excited to officially announce the launch of Halftone Media! This company grew out of a conversation I had with Laurie from Studio 1948 about how much I love designing albums. She and I were talking about workflow and in talking I realized that I would really love to help professional photographers have more time to shoot and work on their businesses by offering custom album designs, and so the idea for Halftone Media was born.

Fast forward quite a few months and I brought the idea up to Jenn Stark Photographers who gave me that extra little push to really get this thing going. Before I knew it, I announced my intentions on Facebook and took two orders within the first week – amazing! I had such fun designing these two albums that I knew that starting this was a great idea. Also a special thank you shout out goes to Ewan and Brianna Phelan for their words of wisdom and encouragement regarding Halftone Media.

Photos of Liz by Ewan Phelan of the Last Forty Percent Photography.

I am Liz, a pet and wedding photographer in Ottawa, Canada under the name elizabeth&jane photography. I am a trained graphic designer with a degree from York University and a post-graduat certificate from Algonquin College – both in Interactive Multimedia. I am a self proclaimed nerd who loves cheesy pop music and editing while watching bad movies on Netflix. I am head over heels for my amazing husband Thomas (who built this website – awesome isn’t it??) – he is the Han Solo to my Leia. I am pretty much obsessed with our three dogs, Paddington, Corduroy and Wellington and I also run the Ottawa Dog Blog. I can pretty much talk about dogs for hours (I’m not kidding). Oh and I am an extreme exclamation point over-user.

Now that we’ve met, please like the Halftone Media Facebook page and follow on Twitter for updates and random awesomeness. Also, be sure to check back to this blog for posts featuring amazing photographers, tips and tricks and maybe even some freebies! Who knows what could happen??

It’s so nice to meet you and I hope to design an album layout for you soon!
Liz