FRIDAHM to Jenneffer Vazquez

FRIDAHM, and what it means to me. First of all, Fridahm means just that, what it phonetically sounds like, "Freedom". Freedom is something very important to me, being that I am a woman with a lot of compassion for things, after all I am a Pisces, I am also a politically aware person. You see, I believe we live in such a wonderful place in time and a great Country. It is in this country where I have come to learn that freedom is one of the human's most valuable treasures.

When I created FRIDAHM Photography, I wanted take a name that would describe my values and me. But there is a little more of a back story to FRIDAHM. Frida Kahlo, whom I fashioned the name FRIDAHM from, was a woman Mexican painter. I identified with her because she is of my same origin, she had originally wanted to study Medicine, (I wanted to study Law), she had an accident on a trolly that broke her back into several pieces and for the rest of her life she lived in pain. While on her bed rest after the countless painful surgeries she would paint. Unlike Frida, I did not have an accident, nor do I live in such pain. But I did experience a change of plans and much like her I am making the best of what God has given me. I was pregnant at 19, had my son at 20, married a Marine and moved all the way across the nation to follow my husband from California to Virginia State (much like Frida followed the love of her life, the famous muralist, Diego Rivera, when he was commissioned to paint a mural on the Rockefeller Building across foreign barriers to the U.S.) And so it was the identification with Frida and now I will admit that it was a sort of Romanticizing that I had with this woman's story that I chose to name my photography after her.  However somewhere along the line I got captivated in creating an interesting name that now I feel like I left the me out. And so in the midst of debuting my website, in less than two weeks. I have finalized my decision to drop FRIDAHM and make my photography just that, mine.

Digital Negatives or Prints?

So I've been thinking long and hard about what to do about Digital Negatives and prints. To express my biggest concern is that in the past when I have given the Digital Negatives with Signed release a lot of the times the photographs never leave the CD. They might be uploaded to the computer, shared on Facebook and through email but they never make it to a frame or wall. This makes me very sad.

As a photographer I want to see the fruits of my labor being enjoyed and not forgotten about in the memory of a computer. I've researched high and low for quality printing labs, professional photo books worthy of holding your valuable memories and I've tried  one way and another to convince you that Prints are the way to go.

So I have come to the conclusion, the customer is always right! I will once again offer a Copyright Release included in the session fee. But like all great things there is a catch (you are going to love this), you must print at www.MPIX.com. My hypothesis is that with the right direction you will receive only one of the best quality products available to the everyday consumer.

Unlike www.mpixpro.com or www.bayphotolab.com or www.whcc.com All of which I use & all of which you must be a professional photographer to print from www.mpix.com caters to consumers too. Ok so the secret is out, you too can print professional quality photography now please don't dissapoint me, I will once again be offering signed releases with your consent to print only at a professional lab.

But wait there's more! Prints will not go away, some people are oldschool and prefer the a physical product, (that's Me!) I will continue to offer Prints at a reduced price (to cover my time formating, ordering and delivering of printed product) from professional labs. So there its done, we both win!

Love hearing your thoughts, please comment below!

Always,
Jenneffer V

FREE for 500 is a Hit!

My FREE for 500 Likes  is a hit on Facebook!

In the lead we have miss Brandy M.S. (Count to be determined :)

First prize is a FREE Full Session with Me and Second prize is a Mini-Session!

Virginia Friends are welcome to join in! There's two prizes so there will be two winners!

1/2 Prints and Digital Negatives Special!

All Prints and Digital Negatives are HALF OFF if you schedule between now and November 15th!

Don't miss this chance to get more for Less!

<3 Jenne

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Quince Expo 2011

Today was the Quinceanera Expo 2011 at the Embassy Hotel in Santa Ana, CA. We were there to promote ourselves, along with G&R Productions who does our Videography for events. We work in collaboration with Color Fusion Beauty a cosmetics company with more than 20 years experience in the industry.

Esmeralda from Color Fusion has more than 20 years experience and can be seen  weekly every Saturday Night at 10PM on Latino TV giving a lesson on cosmetics.





Color Fusion Beauty

Leslie one of our lovely models, she's truly a gem inside and out.

There was an array of beautiful dresses by different designers, I was star struck with all the gorgeous fabrics and designs!

It was such a great experience being part of the Quinceanera Expo. We got to meet a famous Mexican designer who designs red carpet dresses for celebrities in Mexico. He was such a lively guy and shared his wisdom with all of and thanked everyone for making the event possible. I made a few friends and met with a few new photographers, making new contacts and am now set to second shoot a wedding coming November 11th with Carlos, from Flexx Photography. I just love Expos!

Downtown with Jesse

 Today I had the pleasure of photographing one of my favorite people, my younger brother Jesse. He is promoting his music as he is working his way towards one day becoming a music artist.

He has an "Urban" style that I strived to reflect in his photographs.

Born and raised in Orange County, Ca.

As part of our shoot he asked to focus a little on promoting the BOOM headphones shown here.

 This is one of my favorites, its a genuine reaction to me telling him to pick up the phone now. His exact words were "huh pick up the phone?"

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Always a willing companion in mischief around the house, Jesse was an excelent sport and up for anything I threw his way including these staged-candids

Here is an example of my first venture into the Vintage-Styled retouching. Above is what I would originally edit, to the right is my first experiment with my recently purchased actions.

Changing Styles

So up to now I have been a very adamant about staying away from the washed out, pale faces, "vintage" look but its starting to grow on me. I am thinking, if it were MY portraits what would I like? And I've come to the conclusion that I would like my pictures to have some sort of a dreamy look to them not so much vintage washed up desaturated look, but more of a dramatic shadows, bold colors , interesting angles kind of look but that is just me. There are already a lot of photographers who do the vintage look so I am focusing on obtaining or creating actions that will reflect my creative style.