Archive for the ‘Customer Spotlight’ Category

Customer Spotlight: Candy Apple Photography

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Candy Apple Photography

Our Customer Spotlight for the month of May are a husband and wife photographer/designer duo based in Denver, Colorado. Let us have the pleasure of introducing you to Jen and Rich Evans, owners of Candy Apple Photography.

Jen and Rich are long-time customers of Zookbinders and have some of the most creative and artistic work that we’ve seen. Their images are brilliant and picturesque, it seems they can make the dullest of images come alive through their unique photography style and design technique.

Read on to see what we learned about Jen and Rich Evans. Also, don’t forget to check out our slideshow sample from a PhotoBook entitled ‘Pin-Ups’, this is a great boudoir book that has a unique 1940′s vintage theme.

Jen   Rich

Studio: Candy Apple Photography
Name: Rich and Jennifer Evans
Location: Denver, CO
Website: http://www.candyapplephotography.com/
Blog: http://jenniferevans.bigfolioblog.com/

Where is your favorite location to photograph?

Jen: A gorgeous beach at sunset, because it is something unique for us, being based in Denver, Colorado.

Rich: Any place that has rusted metal and dilapidated buildings.

What excites you about being a photographer?

Jen and Rich: Being able to create a beautiful image and making our clients happy.

What turns you off about being a photographer?

Jen and Rich: Difficult people.

What is your favorite marketing tool?

Jen & Rich: Word of Mouth

What or who has inspired you?

Jen: Other photographers and my husband.
Rich: I find inspiration in everything I see and everyone I meet including my brilliant wife.

What’s your favorite f-stop?

Jen: 3.2
Rich: 2.8

What is your favorite book?

Jen: The Poisonwood Bible, The Red Tent, or anything by Dr. Seuss
Rich: The Stand, or anything by Christopher Moore

What is the #1 reason that client’s hire you?

Jen and Rich: Our unique imagery and our personalities

What do you do when you’re not photographing?

Jen and Rich: Spend time with our new baby boy, Kol.

If heaven exists, which photographer would you like to hang out with?

Jen: Yervant and Elizabeth Messina
Rich: Parker J. Pfister and Mark Seliger

Thank you Jen and Rich for sharing a little bit about yourselves with us! To see more work from Candy Apple Photography, please take a moment to browse their website and blog, you won’t be disappointed!

All images provided to Zookbinders by Candy Apple Photography
All Rights Reserved
For image permissions, please e-mail: jennifer@candyapplephotography.com

Tags: , ,
Posted in Customer Spotlight, Photographer Connection | 2 Comments »

Customer Spotlight: Robin Pesa, Busy Bee Boutique Photography

Thursday, April 1st, 2010



Our Customer Spotlight for the month of April is an extremely talented and successful photographer, designer, and business woman. Let us introduce you to Robin Pesa, the owner of Busy Bee Boutique Photography which offers boutique photography for babies and pets, Bellissima Photographic Artistry for weddings, DoodleDo Inc. – an album design company, and the up and coming Plan Bee, a resource website strictly for photographers! Robin is one busy lady and we love her work.

Below we have posted some samples of Robin’s photography and design work with a slideshow from Busy Bee Boutique Photography of Baby Gavin and a streaming video from her blog describing Zookbinders frames. Also, if you would like to see samples of her work from Bellissima Photographic Artistry you can click here:

Sarah and Rich’s Wedding
Ali and Matt’s Wedding


Headshot: Bruce Erik Steffine, Photographer www.steffine.com

Studio: Busy Bee Boutique Photography
Name: Robin Pesa
Location: Sewickely, PA
Website: http://www.busybeephoto.com

Where is your favorite location to photograph?
Anywhere with great light! I live in Sewickley, a little village just outside of Pittsburgh and the overcast skies can be like a big soft box.

My sessions are all ‘on-location’, at my clients’ homes or location of choice, so I scout the light when I get there. For weddings, I have never been to a more beautiful church than St. Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh.

What excites you about being a photographer?
I love that what I do makes people happy. I’m always nervous when I release a gallery to a client – I want them to love it!

What turns you off about being a photographer?
Software upgrades, unless they are really significant.

What is your favorite marketing tool?
Social networking, including blogging, Facebook, and I even Tweet a little bit. Word of mouth and professional networking are also high on my ‘results’ list.

What or who has inspired you?
People and animals. I’m lucky to be able to use a camera to make people happy. That is inspiring.

What’s your favorite f-stop?
Wide open.

What is your favorite book?
The Bible

What is the #1 reason that client’s hire you?
I think it’s because they want a fresh approach to their portraits and weddings. They know that we always strive to exceed their expectations. I shoot for an album – always! – and my clients look forward to that.

What do you do when you’re not photographing?
I design wedding albums! Bruce Erik Seffine and I own DoodleDo, Inc. (www.wedoodledo.com) and when I’m not shooting or editing or processing, I’m designing. But after all that, I love to walk my dog, Alexander.

If heaven exists, which photographer would you like to hang out with?
Anyone who has a camera! I’ll bet the light is great up there.

Thank you Robin for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share a little bit about yourself! To our readers, please be sure to view Robin’s work and see for yourself what a talented woman she is!

Baby Gavin, Busy Bee Photography

Robin explains Zookbinders Frames Concept:

All images provided to Zookbinders by Robin Pesa
All Rights Reserved
For image permissions, please e-mail: busybee1@gmail.com

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Customer Spotlight, Photographer Connection | 2 Comments »

Customer Spotlight: Rebekah Westover Photography

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Our Customer Spotlight for the Month of March is Rebekah Westover Photography from Orem, UT. Zookbinders loves her work, one of her infamous albums used by Zookbinders is The Wedding of Erik and Kali – we’ve taken samples of this to trade shows and have kept many samples in our office here in Deerfield, IL.

In fact, we love her work so much – that when you pass through one our main hallways you will see our piece of artwork we refer to as “The Zookbinders Wall of Frame”. We have twenty 10×20 black wall frames displaying each spread from Rebekah’s album. You can see this in the picture shown below:

Just to add more to the tale of this infamous album – at the WPPI Tradeshow in 2009, we met the bride, Kali – who stopped by our booth and noticed her wedding album displayed for all to see!

Read below to learn a little about Rebekah Westover and check out a slideshow we posted of her work and one of our favorite albums – Erik and Kali.

Studio: Rebekah Westover Photography
Name: Rebekah Westover
Location: Orem, UT
Website: http://www.rebekahwestover.com/

Where is your favorite location to photograph?
It often changes, but right now I am loving yellow fields and dead orchards.

What excites you about being a photographer?
The personal work I’ve shot of my family is my proudest achievement. The work is priceless to me. It’s exciting that I can photograph those most important to me in a beautiful way.

What turns you off about being a photographer?
Competition, jealousy, insecurity. Not in others, but in myself.

What is your favorite marketing tool?
My Blog

What or who has inspired you?
My kids, other photographers, color, fashion magazines, books, art, travel, light, life…

What’s your favorite f-stop?
If I can nail the focus – 1.8

What is your favorite book?
Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

What is the #1 reason that client’s hire you?
I think it’s a tie between liking my work and liking me as a person.

What do you do when you’re not photographing?
Read, shop, watch movies, go for walks, play with my family, think about photography

If heaven exists, which photographer would you like to hang out with?
The ones I hang out with now

Thank you Rebekah for sharing a little bit of your personality with us! Everyone, check out a slide show sample below of  Rebekah’s work.

All images provided to Zookbinders by Rebekah Westover Photography
All Rights Reserved
For image permissions, please e-mail: rebekah@rebekahwestover.com

Tags: , ,
Posted in Customer Spotlight, Photographer Connection | No Comments »

Customer Spotlight: Captured Moments by Rita Sherman

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Our Customer Spotlight for the Month of February is Captured Moments by Rita Sherman. Owner Rita Sherman, her daughter Sydney and her designer Heather Montasir team up to capture and create unique and beautiful senior and family portraits.

Our marketing team at Zookbinders loves her work and you will usually see her books featured on display at our office here in Deerfield, IL or at the annual photographer trade shows we attend.

Captured Moments by Rita Sherman is based out of Scottsdale, AZ. Read below to see what we learned about Rita Sherman and to check out a slide show of her work. Be amazed by the one of a kind design that is in each of her images.

Studio: Captured Moments by Rita Sherman
Name: Rita Sherman
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Website: http://www.ritasherman.com

Where is your favorite location to photograph?
Anywhere the light is awesome. This is usually in and around our client’s home.

What excites you about being a photographer?
Working with different people every day and then telling their story.

What turns you off about being a photographer?
Nothing, I’m blessed.

What is your favorite marketing tool?
Facebook and former clients.

What or who has inspired you?
Working with creative clients really inspires me. Also Joe Buissink’s gentle spirit and his way of seeing things. Dave Beckstead’s energy!

What’s your favorite f-stop?
2.8

What is your favorite book?
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

What is the #1 reason that client’s hire you?
Because they saw their friends’ images that we created and they want something creative and different.

What do you do when you’re not photographing?
Taking long walks (preferably on a beach somewhere!), going to movies, and just hanging out.

If heaven exists, which photographer would you like to hang out with?
My daughter, Sydney and my other “adopted” daughter, Heather.

Thank you Rita for sharing a little about yourself with us! Everyone, check out a slide show sample below of with some of Rita’s work.

All images and logo provided to Zookbinders by Captured Moments Inc
© Captured Moments by Rita Sherman
All Rights Reserved
Permissions, email: rita@ritasherman.com

Tags: , ,
Posted in Customer Spotlight, Photographer Connection | No Comments »

Customer Spotlight: Mark Garber Photography

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Our Customer Spotlight for the month is Mark and Jennifer Garber, owners of Mark Garber Photography in Springboro, OH. Mark and Jennifer are a husband and wife team and award winning photographers. You may have seen them speaking at a convention as they are active members of PPA and WPPI.

Speaking of being Award Winning Photographers, Mark Garber Photography was the 2005 and 2008 First Place Zook Award Winner. You will also see their beautiful album images frequently used in Zookbinders display albums, ads, on the web, and many of our graphics and promotional materials.

Read below to see what Zookbinders learned about Mark and Jennifer!

Studio: Mark Garber Photography
Name: Mark and Jennifer Garber
Location: Springboro, Ohio
Website: http://www.markgarber.com/

Where is your favorite location to photograph?
Definitely any place with great available light. We like finding new places, whether they are urban, environmental, or totally off the map. Our off the map locations include carnivals, shopping centers, and even dairy barns. New locations keep us creative and help to keep our work looking fresh.

What excites you about being a photographer?
Trying new things whether its a new marketing campaign or a new approach to shooting. Everyday is different! It’s also a rush to please your clients and surprise them with images that they couldn’t have imagined.

What turns you off about being a photographer?
Imitation is not the greatest form of flattery in our mind. I know its human nature to have mentors or admire certain styles of work, but hopefully you become inspired by that to create your own unique style and not just mimic others. Finding your own unique style is part of the journey of photography.

What is your favorite marketing tool?
NETWORKING!!! Social networking is more than just tweeting about a session you just did. Spend good quality face time with your clients and other like minded businesses. 80% of our business comes from referrals from past or current clients as well as other wedding vendors. Relationships are key!

What or who has inspired you?
That’s a tough question to answer since there are so many inspirational things out there in our world. From a business perspective, the author of the “Wizard of Ads,” Roy Williams. When Jennifer first started trying to develop a strong brand identity for the studio, Williams’ books were a critical and life changing guiding force in shaping our business.

What’s your favorite f-stop?
Frank’s Bar after a long wedding.

What is your favorite book?
Jennifer reads just about every business/marketing book that comes out. Here are her all time favorites:

1.) Secret Service by John Dijulius
2.) Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith
3.) Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams

All three are life changing marketing books with real information…not just fluff! All of these authors have multiple books to read as well.

What is the #1 reason client’s hire you?
We have worked hard to create a brand image that conveys service, quality, artistry and personability. To paraphrase Lexus, “We are a service company, that happens to sell great photographs.”

What do you do when you’re not photographing?
Retouching, marketing, retouching, marketing, retouching, marketing…..seriously!

If heaven exists, which photographer would you like to hang out with?
My top artist choice would be actually be Salvador Dali…I think he would be a trip to talk to, not to mention I really admire his work. When it comes to photographers, we’re very lucky to get to see many tremendous photographers/friends when we attend photography conventions like PPA or WPPI. Tradeshows and heaven, who’d a thought?

Where can you see more of Mark and Jennifer?
We are platform speakers at Imaging USA. You can attend our high-energy, information packed program Jan. 12th at 1pm. You can also find Jennifer at WPPI’s Business Institute March 6th.

Thanks Mark and Jennifer for sharing your information with us! Below you can find a slideshow of some samples of their work.

All images and logo provided to Zookbinders by Mark Garber Photography
© Mark Garber Photography
All Rights Reserved
Permissions, email: garbersonline@gmail.com

Tags: , ,
Posted in Customer Spotlight, Photographer Connection | No Comments »

Page 2 of 3123