IN FOCUS: News from Sutton Studios

Issue No. 30

New Year's 2010

LOOKING BACK, THINKING AHEAD

As our fifteenth year of business draws to a close we're looking back over 2009 and thinking a lot about what 2010 will bring.

The most consistent pleasure of course has been the pictures, so I want to share an assortment of those with you here (click any photo to enlarge it). I'm starting to see and enjoy color in a way I haven't before, so in addition to the Sutton Studios Classic Black and White, I'm including a sampling of color images as well.

As part of our 15th anniversary celebration we started a new Then and Now feature on our photo blog, Pith and Vinegar. T & N offers a random sampling of clients who have had their children photographed over the years, chronicling their growth from babies, to children, to young adults.

In addition to the usual parade of delightful pets and their families, we got to meet and work with four Chicago area authors in 2009 who came in for new publicity photos. We also saw an increase in the number of business portraits.

Emmy-award-winning filmmaker, Nancy Hanna, came in for portraits of her three (grown) children with their dog and made a video documentary of her experience. The finished video made a great addition to the offerings on our YouTube channel!

We hired Mothlight Pictures in the spring to create a video tour of our various print size and presentation options. Director Marc Wellin impressed us all with his professionalism and sensitivity, and the finished video has been quite a boon. Originally intended to facilitate ordering for out of town clients, the video has proven invaluable for our local clientele as well, giving them an opportunity to better prepare themselves for their ordering consultations.

2009 also saw our entry into using the social media, Twitter and Facebook, to get the word out about events and developments. We expect to be even more active in that area in 2010.

I traveled to Los Angeles in July to do a day's worth of portrait sittings for area clients. The trip was a huge success and a great learning experience. I did portraits for a half-dozen clients and made friends with the Los Angeles office of the Humane Society.

In late summer I spoke to a group of professional photographers about cultivating a style and about branding. In spite of my crude technology (NO POWERPOINT!) the talk went very well and the Q & A lasted well into the night.

As we rolled into the fall, Sutton Studios became a major sponsor of the Spooky Pooch event at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, donating prizes for imaginative Halloween costumes.

We created a lovely new color display for the "Doga" (dog yoga) program at the Lake Shore Athletic club. Sutton Studios client Becky Solomon runs this popular program for the club.

I was also invited to be a judge in a photo contest sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle.

In the Fall we began distributing ten thousand copies of the 10th release of our charitable Dog Days calendar. Over 75 shelters in the Chicago area (and farther afield) received the calendars at no cost in order to sell them to raise money for their heroic efforts.

In November we found ourselves deeply involved with "Pooch On Scrooge," another fund-raising effort, co-sponsored by the Goodman Theater. I photographed nearly a hundred dogs with an actor dressed up as Scrooge, with donations going to help Season of Concern, an organization that helps people in the Chicago Theater community with expenses associated with catastrophic illness. I pieced together video clips from that event to make a short "documentary" that can also be found on our YouTube channel.

December's highlights included a radio interview with nationally recognized commentator and author Paul Lisnek on WVON, and an appearance on NBC 5's morning show.

We're excited to dive into some new areas in 2010, along with revisiting some more well-known stomping grounds. Look for more in the coming months on Sutton Studios' work with anti-dogfighting organizations, exploration of new media, judging at photography contests, growth at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, development of a cat calendar, booking more speaking engagements, traveling to Los Angeles and New York, and experiments in color photography.

Wishing you and yours a holiday season filled with special moments and an especially hopeful New Year!

- Yvonne

Feliz natal e um próspero Ano Novo!

- Daniela

Wishing you a new year filled with warm hearts and cold noses.

- Kate

Thank you all for a splendid 2009! Wishing you happy, peaceful holidays and best wishes for the New Year.

-David
Write to David