Funny how "blogging" never use to be a word! Now everyone has a blog! I am brand new to starting my own blog, but I look forward to keeping my family, friends and clients up to date with all that is going on in my Photography business and my own personal life. Before I jump right into blogging for my business I wanted to give a quick introduction and tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Chrystal Shaffer; I am 25 years old, and I am married to Jayson Shaffer. We have two awesome kids. A girl and a boy named
Jayden (3) and Gavin (2) and we reside in Northeast PA. My husband Jayson works for his Mom in the family business and I work as a Wedding / Portrait Photographer.
I became interested in Photography when I was in 7th grade and started reading a lot about the trade, however, I did not own a camera until I was in 10th grade. For Christmas my parents bought me a Nikon film camera and I began taking pictures of anything and everything. I don't even want to know how much money I spent in film back then!!!
I graduated
high school from Canaan Christian Academy in 2002 and on Sept. 7
th 2002 I was married to Jayson! Being newly married came with lots of
responsibility and lots of bills, especially with the purchase of a new home. Because I could not afford to become a full time student I decided to take Photography courses on line. Two years later I received my diploma and began making plans to build a studio in my house. In 2004 Jay built a small 15 x 15 studio in the basement of our home. My first lighting was a rigged system from good
ol' Home Depot. And I learned to use that "not-so-perfect-lighting" to make a pretty good portrait. In 2003 I made the transition from a film camera to a digital. One of the best things I have ever done! I took a few night classes on digital photography and taught myself how to use
Photoshop too. As I continued to grow my business, both in knowledge and in
clientele, our family was also about to grow.
On January 16, 2006
Jayden Lee was born. She was perfect and we loved her so much (of course our love has only grown more over the years!) I realized having a baby and a studio in my home was not what I wanted. I wanted to have quiet and privacy and comfort in my home especially now that we had a child. And having people you don't know come into the house for a session is not quiet or private or comfortable! Besides the fact that a studio in my home was not as professional as I wanted it to be.
I needed a
"real" studio! The best thing that I could come up with was to do away with the studio in my basement and push people to do outdoor portraits or location photography in their own home. That worked well. AND GOOD THING IT DID! Because on April 23, 2007 Gavin Joseph was born and that studio of mine ended up turning into a bedroom! We were once again overwhelmed with love for our little boy and Jayden loved him too! Pushing my business outdoors and into other people's houses taught me to think on my toes and to trust available light using it to make beautiful images. For three years I did location photography and enjoyed every minute of it. I watched my business grow and grow all from "word of mouth". The Lord was certainly taking care of me and my family. I began doing more and more
sessions
for . . .
High
School
Seniors
Families
Weddings
Jayson even started assisting me with weddings in 2006 and he was great! He's never taken a single photography class, but he knows what I need in a picture and he knows my style of shooting. We are a good team and even still today he does most of my wedding assisting!
AND IN May 2009 Chrystal Photography opened a "real" Studio!
My dad, Steve Vitelli, opened a retail Custom Picture Frame shop and Gallery on May 1st named Steven Anthony's. Inside of his gallery is my studio . . . Chrystal Photography! And both businesses are off to a good start. It's nice having the studio inside of the Gallery because our businesses go hand in hand. I would like to see all of my work leave the studio framed and complete, ready to hang. So, really this studio is a one stop shop!!! We are located in Lake Ariel on Route 191, 3.2 miles North of Hamlin Corners. To speak with me or my dad please contact us through email: chrystalphoto@yahoo.com and be sure to also check out my weddings posted on: http://www.chrystalphotography.photostockplus.com%20thank/also check out our website at: http://www.chrystalphotography.com/ Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to read about how the business began. Please become one of the blogs followers and that way you will be up to date on Chrystal Photography and Steven Anthony's calendar of events throughout the year.
God Bless you,
Chrystal
