photoEdge: A History (Part 5)

2008 marked the 2nd year of business. We had the house, we had the business, we had the brochures, we had the weddings booked, etc. Now it was just time to grow the business.

At the start of 2008 we already had 16 weddings booked. We were starting to get more brides calling us rather than us calling them. People were even starting to knock on our door. In Spring we had a booth at the Waxhaw Spring Fest for the 2nd time and had many many people say “You guys are the ones who just fixed up that house aren't you?” Our name was starting to get around.

Everything was looking up in the world of photoEdge. We did have some setbacks however. It's amazing how good an idea can sound in your own mind and during the planning period and how poorly it can do in the real world. We tried, we failed, we tried something different. We're still learning how this whole business thing works, but 2008 was a great teacher! By the end of the year we had successfully photographed 26 weddings,

about 70 portraits of engagement couples, families and children,

our first maternity portrait,

multiple senior portraits,

a high school prom,

our first dog portrait,

and much much more like bridal portraits in the bath tub!


It's hard to even remember all of the stuff that happened in 2008! The business sort of felt like it took off. In December when we looked at our yearly numbers we discovered that we had actually more than doubled our revenue! We still have a LONG way to go before we reach the “comfort zone” but 2008 definitely helped us get a little closer to our goal.

Who knows what 2009 has in store, but it's a brand new year with brand new trials, joys, failures, successes and stories!

photoEdge: A History (Part 4)

The first year of photoEdge was definitely a full one! Not only was I getting used to living in the South, but also both Dave and myself were getting used to being business owners. Talk about a first year of firsts! First wedding, first portrait, first studio space, first time driving in Charlotte, first bridal show, first wedding consultation, first senior portrait, first time business owner, etc.
photoEdge started out in the office at the Edge's house in Waxhaw. During the first 3-4 months or so, most of our time was spent out on the road. We visited hotels, wedding venues, met with coordinators, went to marketing lunches, bridal shows, etc. Anything we could do to meet other wedding professionals and grow the business we did. When we weren't out on the road we were in the office with one computer trying to figure out what the website should look like. Or how to design an album. Or what our brochures should look like and if we should even have one.

March 31st of 2007 was our very first wedding as photoEdge. Corey and Elise had a beautiful outdoor ceremony at Bethelwoods Meeting Center. About a month later we had Billie and Jack's wedding at the Doubletree Southpark Hotel. Slowly but surely we started to book more and more weddings for the rest of the year.

Dave's little office was starting to feel smaller and smaller. Dave had looked into renting studio space before I had even agreed to move out here, but everything was super expensive. We both had this vision of renovating an old house and turning it into a studio. Our slogan is Your Photographer For Life and we designed our business around building relationships with our clients. With that in mind, the idea of a house seemed so much more intimate than a rented space. Then it happened, the big white house on Old Providence Rd went up for sale. It was perfect! Exactly what we'd pictured. During the end of May we took a tour of the house. It definitely had a lot of work to be done, but we could see the potential immediately and put in a bid. By July 5th we were moving in!


We spent the next the next 4 months renovating the house, continuing to build the business, shooting weddings and trying to build up more family portrait business. On November 1st the photoEdge studio officially opened it's doors. November and December were spent adjusting to having a studio space and preparing for 2008.

photoEdge: A History (Part 3)

Now that you know a little about both Dave and myself, it's time to talk about how our stories collide. Growing up in California Dave's family and my family both attended the same church. I started babysitting for his 5 children (there were only 4 at the time) when I was 13. I continued to babysit for their family until I graduated high school, which just so happened to be the same summer they moved to Waxhaw.

Over the next 3 years while I was going to school and Dave was working with Wycliffe, slowly photoEdge came to the surface. Dave had always wanted to do photography as more than just a hobby and decided now was the time. He jokingly asked if I wanted to come join him in starting the business when I graduated. I immediately said no. No offense to Waxhaw, but it's nothing compared to Santa Barbara!!

During the next 6 months I started thinking more and more about what I was going to do when I graduated. At this point I knew I wanted to do portraiture, but I didn't know where to go and was nervous about starting a business on my own. Waxhaw was starting to sound more and more appealing. Dave in the meantime was going ahead with his dream and getting the ball rolling on photoEdge. Slowly but surely, God changed my heart and in May of 2006 I took a trip out to Waxhaw just to see what it was all about. I knew that when I visited I would know right away whether it was a yes or no. Within 48 hours I was set. I would move to Waxhaw in January of 2007 to become a co-owner of photoEdge!!

While Dave continued to get the business going I graduated from Brooks and took the next 2 months at home for the holidays and working to save money for the move. On January 18, 2007 I arrived in Charlotte, NC. We spent those first few weeks getting everything all set with lawyers and what not for our partnership. And I got settled into living in the South.

And that's where photoEdge began.

photoEdge: A History (Part 2)

Now that you know a bit about Christy, it's time for me (Dave) to add my part. Like Christy, my family comes from California too. People sometimes ask how we came to know each other. My family and Christy's family both attended the same church in California, in a small town called Santa Margarita. Santa Margarita is a small town of about 1000 people. It is surrounded by two ranches, one 15,000 acres and the other 16,000 acres. It's a fun little place near San Luis Obispo, where my wife and I both went to college. Christy was one of our favorite babysitters and our kids love her.
In high school, I took photography classes and was a member of the photography club. One of the exciting things I did in high school was to take a canoe trip down the Colorado River. My favorite photo from this trip was of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ.

I loved photography, but I was also interested in computers. When I graduated, I decided to take the computer route but kept up with photography as a hobby. Several years later, when photography went digital, everything came together for me. Through a series of circumstances, we moved to North Carolina and now run the photography business. In photography, there are lots of areas of specialty. It's kind of like doctors. If you have problems with your heart, you go to a heart specialist, not the podiatrist. For me, photography is boring if there are not people in the photo. I love the interaction with people and creating fun and beauty with people.

I often tell Christy that she has a life because she is always doing stuff with friends or going out to do fun stuff. She tells me that I do too, it's just different. My life is my family. With five kids, there is always either excitement or drama. I would love to take more photos of them but I have worn out my welcome with most of them. We had a day at the lake last summer to do photos and I have a few wonderful shots of our family.

Robyn, the youngest, is the only one who still likes to be photographed.

photoEdge: A History (Part 1)

It dawned on me the other day that many of you might not know the history behind photoEdge. So, I'm going to give it to you. Seeing as history class was never my favorite, I'll try to make this interesting for you. To really know the history of photoEdge you must first know the history of Dave and myself. If you've read some of our older posts, this might be a slight recap for you.

We'll start with me. I have an extremely close-knit family with 2 sisters: one older and one younger.

 My family has always been big on going on vacations. Here is where my interest in photography began. My parents had a very old point-and-shoot camera they would let us girls play with on vacations. I loved it!


That's me in the yellow pants on the left picture. I'm the one in the back right in the other one.

As I got older, I got my first personal point-and-shoot camera to take with me on vacation. In the fall of my 8th grade year, my mom's dad passed away. Since my interest in photography had already started, my grandmother gave me his Canon AE-1. At this point I started to think about what a career in photography would look like.

In highschool, I started researching photography as a career. I decided I wanted to be the Still Photographer on a movie set. How cool would that be?!? My junior year I took my high schools photography class with Mr. Pascolla. The very first day of class we watched an intro to photography video put out by Brooks Institute of Photography. It was quite a few years old, but the content was still very relevant. At that point I decided not only did I want to be the still photographer on a movie set, but I also wanted to go to Brooks. No questions asked. Until I found out the cost!

During the end of my junior/beginning of my senior year, I started touring schools and applying for colleges. I picked out my top 2: Brooks and CSU Sacramento. During the fall of 2002 (I think) Brooks called me to let me know about a perspective student day. My mom, dad and I drove down to check it out. I was in love. The campus is a gorgeous stone house that has been converted. It's set in the "mountains" of Montecito overlooking Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands. Absolutely gorgeous.



At the end of the day my dad said "Well, it sounds like if you want to be a photographer this is where you need to go." Now he was hooked!!! A few months later I got my acceptance letter and the deal was sealed :o)
I spent 3 years studying photography at Brooks. Sometimes I loved it - sometimes I hated it. The program is set up so that the first year you have a variety of assignments that expose you to all types of photography. I quickly realized a few things: 
1- I don't like shooting product photography - I learned this one shooting the "Small Product" assignment. 2- I don't like shooting fashion - I learned this shooting the "Fashion" assignments in 311.3- I don't like shooting architecture - I learned this in 311 as well!4 - I REALLY love shooting children - I learned this in Portraiture 241 & 2425- Weddings are also fun to shoot - I learned this from real life experience.6- Being a celebrity photographer (tends to be a side business when working on movie sets) is NOT how I want to build my business. Too competitive, time consuming and stressful - Learned this taking Celebrity Portraiture with John Russo 
During my last 9 months at school I realized that as fun as shooting on a movie set would be, I didn't want really see myself living in Hollywood or in that environment. Over time I began to recognize my passion for photographing children and developed my own "style" for shooting. Shortly after is when photoEdge came into the picture, but I'll share more on that later :o)