Marvelous Monday: Laura James Studio

Happy Marvelous Monday! We are super excited to feature this amazing business today! Laura James of Laura James Studio is an incredibly talented brand designer that helps entrepreneurs (especially photographers just like YOU!) get their businesses properly branded! You already know that the Golden Girls are BIG advocates of how important branding is to running a successful business and we are totally in love with the things Laura James creates! We have benefited from her awesome expertise and we have a feeling that a lot of our readers will really love what she does!

Read on to learn more! <3

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your business! What's your specialty?

I am a brand designer that specializes in creative entrepreneurs (like photographers!). I started my first business designing wedding invitations in 2004, and not long after realized graphic design was definitely where my heart belongs. I currently work full time from my home office in sunny Los Angeles, where I also am a full time mom to one little boy (with another bundle on the way soon!) and a wife to the love of my life. :)

Tell us about your journey! How did you get to where you are?

As I touched on before, I started my design career in 2004 as a wedding invitation designer. Few people realize I still do that now! From there, I dabbled in a number of design areas – print, layout, branding, web, color theory, and more – all of which I still do to this day. During all of that, I found that branding design was by far my favorite aspect of graphics.

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<<< Hurry on over to the Laura James Studio blog to snag yourself a FREE download of her new brand discover guide! Go HERE to learn more!

What are your favorite things about working in your field?

I don't even know where to begin! Since I really do work that makes my heart sing, it's hard to say what my favorite parts of this experience is for me... I really do love bringing the inner visions of others to life, and the reactions that I get from those designs. I love asking those thought provoking questions that help entrepreneurs define where they want to be (you'd be surprised how few people think of really important details!), and I really love going through the answers people give me.

While I blog a lot of my completed projects on my website, I also love that many of the details and nuances of branding that go on between me and my clients are sometimes not shared. For example, I love packaging design – and I think a lot of photographers do too. I spend time with a lot of photographers sharing resources and suggestions of how they can integrate their branding into their packaging seamlessly – such as ribbons, twine, stickers, stamps, and so on. I make sure I never just hand over a brand and say "see yah later!" – I share the ideas and thoughts behind each branding element that I suggest, and a few that I maybe didn't include in the branding materials!

What are some of your plans/goals for the future?

I have SO many grand plans for my business! Outside of branding, I am integrating photography (I've been doing that for almost 15 years now...) and product styling into my services list by the end of this year (though I already have a few fantastic clients!), and hopefully by early 2015 I'll be launching a shop with some really fun products – but that's all hush-hush today hehe!

What areas do you service?

I work anywhere! Since my business is so flexible, I don't need to meet face to face with my clients (though I do love Skype, FaceTime, and Google Hangouts to meet up and get to know people). I am based out of Los Angeles, but we move quite frequently (I've lived in more than 6 states in the last 10 years) and travel quite a bit too.

Please be sure to check out Laura James Studio! The best way to contact her is via email, at info@lauraj.co – but she can also be reached by phone at (321) 328-0765. Be sure to follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google + too!

Xoxo!

Golden Girls

If you would like to be featured on a future Marvelous Monday post or if you know a local vendor of photographer we should feature, please send an email to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com!

What's happening around here?

Hello all! You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet around here lately and we have to say we are totally sorry! As you may know, wedding season is in full effect and that means that we are super swamped! Not to mention that school is back in session, Summer is winding down and the holidays are quickly approaching. As you can imagine, life is pretty insane for the Golden Girls right now! We plan to get things back on track very soon, but in the mean time we'd love to hear from you!

Please remember that your participation helps drive Golden Girls! We love meeting and teaching new people and we really love spreading the word about our fellow photogs! We want YOU to get involved and we have a number of ways for you to do just that!

If you would like your business featured on a future Marvelous Monday blog post, if you have a question you'd like answered or if you have an idea for a future Golden Girls workshop, please shoot us an email! We are here to help and we'd love to get to know you! Send questions, comments, anything really, to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com!

Also, don't forget about our awesome events coming up! Our first ever Golden Girls Photo Walk will take place in just a few weeks! This event is absolutely FREE and open to anyone! Bring your kids, bring your family, bring your camera! We want to hang out, shoot stuff and have some fun!

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Oh, and as always, Work It Wednesday submissions are welcome and encouraged! This week's theme is SCHOOL. We know you have some awesome stuff to send in! Email your images to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com by Tuesday!

Once again, thank you so much for checking us out and playing along!

Stay golden!

Xoxo!

Golden Girls

Marvelous Monday: Hello, I'm Kate!

If you've attended a Golden Girls Workshop, then you already know how much we LOVE to set up lots of pretty little vignettes for our attendees to photograph! Flowers, jewelry, sample invitations... you name it! So, whenever we host a workshop, we love giving small businesses the chance to work with us and get their work showcased!  Earlier this year, we contacted an amazing calligrapher named Kate Thomas, the genius behind Hello, I'm Kate! We immediately fell in love with her work and had to have some of her stuff displayed at our events. Kate's work is gorgeous, whimsical and fun! We love what she does and we just had to feature her on the blog! Read on to learn more about her super awesome business!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your business! What's your specialty?

I am a graphic designer and calligrapher from Southern California. I moved to Minnesota in 2010 to pursue my MFA in printmaking from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. I work as the Custom Print Coordinator for Paper Source in Edina as well as an Adjunct Art Professor and I complete freelance projects in my spare time. I have a love for all things handmade, blooper reels, celebrity babies and I enjoy drinking iced coffee and extremely cold water.

Tell us about your journey! How did you get to where you are?

I have always had a love for typography and hand lettering but didn't really begin playing around with calligraphy until I was in grad school. I decided to make a few greeting cards in January of 2014 and test them out on Etsy. Once I started to get steady sales, I reached out to a few local consignment shops to see if they would carry my cards. Now I sell an average of 20-75 cards a month between online and in-store sales!

What are your favorite things about working in your field?

I like knowing that what I do makes people happy! My cards are given out on birthdays, anniversaries, valentine's day, etc and I know that people are saving my cards because of the personal messaged written by loved ones inside. It's nice to know that my hobby is helping someone else show they care.

What are some of your plans/goals for the future?

I am just starting to letterpress some of the more popular greeting cards rather than hand writing each one. They aren't available yet but most of them will be part of my holiday line.

“From birthday or anniversary cards to custom artwork for weddings or the home, I specialize in calligraphy for the special events in your life.”

— Kate Thomas, Hello, I'm Kate

Be sure to check out Hello, I'm Kate on Etsy, Facebook, instagram and Tumblr!

Xoxo!

Golden Girls

If you would like to be featured on a future Marvelous Monday post or if you know a local vendor of photographer we should feature, please send an email to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com!

Marvelous Monday: Clickin' Moms

Happy Marvelous Monday! We hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Today's Marvelous Monday is a little different than the previous Mondays! Instead of shining the spotlight on a single photographer or vendor, we wanted to let you guys know about a whole community of photographers!

Clickin' Moms is an incredible online community made up of talented photographers from all over the world. (And don't let the name fool you. This isn't just for moms. Moms, Dads, non-parents! Everyone is welcome!)

One of the coolest things about the Clickin' Moms community is that it is open to photographers of all levels: hobbyists, beginners, professionals... even super awesome rock star professionals join in the fun! You can be a mom who just picked up her first camera or a seasoned professional who is booked year-round!

So what exactly is Clickin' Moms? Well, it's a lot of things. it's a community, it's a store, it's a blog, and it's a forum. An AMAZING forum! Users can sign into a members-only message board where photography discussion runs rampant! There are seriously thousands of topics and pages full of photography discussion. There are tutorials, tips, tricks... anything you could think of! Have a question? You can get it answered. Have a story to share? Do it! Want some constructive criticism? You've come to the right place. You do have to pay a membership to join the forum, but we totally think it is worth it. This forum is amazing, guys. Seriously.

And not only that, but Clickin' Moms also hosts CMUniversity. If you are looking for a one-stop shot for photography e-learning, this is it! There are tons of online classes, breakouts, mentoring opportunities and more! They also go on sale all the time, so keep an eye out!

And finally, there's Click Away, a unique photography conference created by Clickin' Moms! It's taking place September 11-13 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We're going to be there and we would looooove to see you there, too! There are going to be so many awesome classes, speakers, and workshops! We can't wait!

As you know, Golden Girls are big on education. We love learning about photography and we love teaching it! Clickin' Moms has a been a huge tool for us in our photography journeys! We've met super cool people and we've learned incredible things.

If you'd like to sign-up, go here! You can try it out for 30 days for free!

Xoxo!

Golden Girls

If you would like to be featured on a future Marvelous Monday post or if you know a local vendor of photographer we should feature, please send an email to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com!

Marvelous Monday: Melanie Catalano Photography

Happy Marvelous Monday! We hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

As always, we are kicking the week off by shining the spotlight on an awesome small business! Today's featured photographer has one incredible story to tell! Melanie Catalano of Melanie Catalano Photography is a super talented portrait photographer who primarily works in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire… but she is far from your average photographer!

Read on to learn more her amazing, star-studded journey!

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your business! What's your specialty?

I've never been able to narrow it down to one category that I want to specialize in. The thought of giving up another part of my clientele to only shoot one category makes me sad. I can't imaging losing any of my clients. From Newborns to Families to Corporate events to Celebrity clients… I love them all and I want to be a part of all of their moments, big or small.

Tell us about your journey! How did you get to where you are?

I started my business 7 years ago when my kids were babies. I grew tired of always having to take them to 1 hour portrait studios and not getting the results I had pictured in my mind. So slowly I began taking my own photos of them. I grew up with a Photographer for a Mom, so as I began taking an interest in it, she passed down her studio equipment to me. And I fell in love. I've been lucky enough to have my Mom as my assistant along the way. I couldn't do it all without her. Not only do we make a great team, but she's my best friend. And getting to work with your best friend... well you can't really top that.

What are your favorite things about working in your field?

I get to do some pretty amazing things. I've witnessed babies come into this world, families first moments together. I get to watch them grow before my lens. I never take for granted what a huge privilege it is that these families have chosen me to be a part of their lives. 

Another fun side of my job is 2 years ago I began doing the photographs for a website called www.justsimoncowell.com. They asked me if I would cover the shows and events with Simon Cowell. Through all of this I have been able to photograph stars such as Britney Spears, Demi Lovato, One Direction, Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio and of course Simon Cowell himself among others. Had you told me 7 years ago that I would one day be photographing and interviewing celebrities I would have thought you were crazy. But here I am and loving every second of it!

What are some of your plans/goals for the future?

I think my favorite thing about this business is that it is always changing. You are never content or bored. If you are, you are doing it wrong. There is always something new I want to try. Whether it be new gear, new props, new poses, new post processing. Something is ALWAYS triggering a new creative spark and drive within.
I believe I will always be happy and love what I am doing. But I'll never be complacent and not want to further my art. My next venture I am working on is weddings. It's something I have put on the back burner for a few years. But I think I am ready to take on this new world. I can't wait!

Be sure to follow Melanie on Facebook! You can also contact her by sending an email to MellyC@gmail.com or calling 951-729-9173.

Xoxo!

Golden Girls!

If you would like to be featured on a future Marvelous Monday post or if you know a local vendor of photographer we should feature, please send an email to hello@goldengirlsworkshops.com!