This blog is where my personal and business life intersect. I'm a a multi-passionate creative who teaches people how to create faster roadmaps to abundance in work and life through the doorways of business consulting and reiki teaching. If you'd like a DIY workbook to plan for your own creative living, check out my Pricing Workbook for Creatives. You'll see that I travel the world as often as I can and keep a gratitude journal as a reminder to find strength in my challenges.
I was a full-time professional photographer for 15 years, so there are still many cringe-worthy archives of my early work and artistic journey on this 19 year old blog. I've written loads of creative business advice over on the Photolovecat blog, and have started sharing reiki healing stories and healing moments over on the Abundant Sphere blog. If you'd like to learn more about me, here's a TEDx Talk of what my guiding questions have been to help me tune into my natural gifts and purpose. I'm available for workshops, presentations, interviews, and private consultations on creative business topics and for the advancement of arts programs in schools and communities:
ANNE ON TEDX
You're invited to join me in celebrating my 2nd year at Western Ave Studios and my 6th year in business as a full time photographer! The last year has brought great balance and peace to my life, and I can't wait to share that with you. For the first time since I started my business, I have FINALLY been in the same city for more than 2 years!! There's so much that goes into those first two years of opening a business or starting in a new city that I'm soooo glad to finally be in a place where I can experience the fruits of building a great team of people to work with! So....
Let's Get Our Party On!
Where: Anne Ruthmann Photography - Studio 302, 122 Western Ave, Lowell, MA 01851 When: Saturday April 2nd, 2011. 12-5pm Studio Open House, 5pm - 9pm Stay & Party with Glen David Andrews Band RSVP & Map: So I can have enough gifts for all guests http://on.fb.me/anne411
(Don't live near me? I might be visiting your area soon!! For cities and dates, [CLICK HERE]!)
PS. The idea for the "Anne-iversary" came from my dear friends & photography colleagues Rich & Ashley Pizzuti, who also helped with the image above. They celebrated their "Anne-iversary" as the day we first met and I "helped them get their heads out of their @$$" by inviting them to get more connected with the local community of photographers. We've become such good friends since that first meeting and I really admire how quickly they've grown since then!
Only two days left to visit my FREE Holiday Photo Booth so you can get some holiday photos that won't suck this year! If you're lucky, we'll even give you a chocolate chip cookie. ;-)
When? THIS Saturday 12/11 & Sunday 12/12 from 12-5pm
Where? Western Avenue Studios, 122 Western Ave, Lowell, MA
Who? You & me baby
Why? Because you like to have fun!!
Buy unique & local handmade gifts this holiday season! Holiday Open Studios this weekend and next from 12-5pm! Directions available online: http://www.westernavenuestudios.com
We had a ton of fun kicking off this year's holiday photo booth a little early this Saturday!! Check out some of our favorites from the day (hit play to start the slideshow):
If you missed the early holiday photo booth this weekend, you can still plan ahead for the first two weekends in December. For more details, check out the event page on facebook: {CLICK HERE}
This Saturday, and the first two weekends of December, I'll be offering a free holiday photo booth at my studio from 12-5pm!! Last year I did this and it was a TON of fun!! We got so many creative images with fun and silly props. Since it happens during Western Ave Open Studios, there are also a ton of amazing artists to see with local handmade items to make for a very unique and artistic holiday gift shopping experience!! I would love for you to visit with your family and friends and stop by for your free holiday photo and maybe even some cookies and hot cocoa!!! To see some examples from last year, {CLICK HERE}!
CLICK to RSVP!
Since I have a lot of friends and family who I know won't be able to make it to Massachusetts for the Open House, I'm going to try to do a live streaming webcam for those who want to "stop by" online even if they can't be here in person. Any suggestions on which streaming webcam service I should use? ;-)
*** Update 4/4/10 ***
Sorry I wasn't able to get a live feed up and running for you, I'll try to set up an "online tour" for later this week!!
I've been receiving a lot of requests for internships lately and I'm finally ready to start planning for interviews! I absolutely LOVED working with Alexis Hall & Katie Baker in 2009! While I can take absolutely NO credit for their successes over the last year, I do hope that I at least helped in some small way!!
Since getting a studio, I've had the opportunity to do a few more promotions and special events which have required extra help along the way. Emily Ku did an awesome job helping me as an on-demand, super-duper office manager, and Ivan Feign & Lauren Peate were extra helpful getting my studio up to par during my Holiday Photo Booth!
"The internship: overall, two thumbs up. I learned SO much, and I think that I was helpful, too, in the process. For me, the most valuable part was being able to have access to Anne and bounce ideas off her and learn from her experience. The only parts of the internship that I didn't particularly enjoy were minor...it made for a really late night for me (only because I'm an old lady and go to bed at 10pm, ha) and it was a little bit far away, but I knew about both of those things before I signed on for it. If anything, I feel like I didn't do enough to help, and that I got more out of it than she did. A 5-hour block of time seems like a lot of time to get stuff done, but once you factor in dinner and general chit-chat time, it really isn't."
"Anne was an amazing person to work for. I had a great time helping her with the holiday photo booth. It was fun for everyone because of Anne's uplifting energy that she is able to hold throughout the day. I learned so much about the production/bussiness side of photography that I never learned at my four years of school for photography."
My intern needs this year are very similar to last year's internship needs, however I will also be launching a few new exciting projects this year, which will involve a lot of building something from scratch - which is a great opportunity for someone who wants to start their own business & build their brand in a competitive market.
I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by a constant supply of photography students from surrounding colleges and universities, which is why this internship is unpaid and quite competitive. Last year's internship interview had approximately 12 attendees, and I ended up recruiting additional professional photographers who were also seeking interns so that we could find placements for as many interviewees as possible!
If you can commit to spending 5-6 hours a week in my Lowell, MA studio for a term of 6-12 months- that would be an ideal internship schedule. We can negotiate which days and hours will work best for you. At the end of the internship, we can evaluate if you'd like to continue with the internship or if there's an opportunity bring you on as a paid employee or contractor, depending on your strengths and the needs of the studio.
I would encourage ANYONE who's interested to apply, provided that you can make the time commitment. I'm not looking for perfect photographers or students with certain skills, I'm just looking for AWESOME PEOPLE with energy and passion to learn and help out. The internship will be tailored to utilize your strengths as well as challenge you in a few ways that will round out your natural talents. So much of what needs to happen behind the scenes is more related to running a business rather than just taking great photos. If this is something that excites or intrigues you, than you could be a great fit!
I'm planning to conduct internship interviews on February 28th, 2010 from 10am - 4pm. Since my email inbox isn't nearly as reliable as my voicemail inbox, please call 888-678-ANNE (2663) and leave a message with the following information:
- Your name & phone number.
- Why you're interested in the internship.
I will be returning phone calls next week in order to set up your interview, so don't worry if you don't hear from me right away. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or Facebook in the meantime, so that you can get an idea of what I'm like in advance. I'm full of optimism- so if that annoys you, we probably won't be a good fit. If you appreciate lots of different cuisines, I have a feeling you'll really like working for me. ;-)
(Images above feature Rich & Ashley of Pizzuti Studios and Douglas Levy Photography from a day when we were playing around the studio with some of my lighting equipment.)
The following blog post was written by Emily Ku after working with me during the holidays in 2009! The words & images are all hers, and the pleasure of working with her was all mine. ;-) Thank you Emily!!
"It all started when I read one of Anne's tweets saying that she needed some temporary help for a holiday photo booth. I have been following Anne's blog for around a year when she first started to blog on Weddingbee Pro (now on hiatus), so I knew she was an awesome wedding photographer and had a great sense of humor. At first I didn't really understand the free holiday photo booth since Anne mainly shoots weddings, but I knew it was going to be big and wanted to be a part of it. It turned out that the photo booth was to celebrate her studio opening at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, MA and more importantly, to have a really good time."
"From the outside, Western Ave looks like a big, rundown warehouse, but inside houses some of the most amazing local artists I've encountered. There are over a hundred artists who work on everything: glass figurines, hand painted scarves, jewelry, paintings, photography, etc. They open their doors to the public on the first Saturday of every month, and for holiday open studios, they opened the first two weekends in December. Most people who visited Western Ave during the holiday open studios didn't budget enough time to visit all the studios, so some people unfortunately didn't have enough time to take holiday photo booth pictures."
"These are just some of the many props that people could choose from. We also had a lot of holiday props which were the most popular, and we even had some festive Hanukkah props. Sometimes there were so many people waiting to get their picture taken that you'd think we were giving out free swine flu shots or something! I had a really fun time helping people pick out costumes, and Anne even let me shoot for a bit and play with the studio lights! It was quite challenging shooting a different group of people every ten minutes because there wasn't any time at all to get to know them and make the camera-shy people feel comfortable, but we were able to get a lot of really fabulous shots. When the shooting was over, the hard part started. I helped Anne edit through the thousands of photos that she took and also tried to help her complete holiday orders from her wedding clients. There was a ton of work to do after each weekend and while I could go home whenever I wanted, Anne was burning the midnight oil for weeks. I've now been introduced to the grueling life of a photographer, and I actually really enjoyed it!"
"Here's a picture of the wonderful people in Anne's beautiful studio: Anne Ruthmann (top left), Amanda (top right) - the "hot chick" down the hall, aka the owner of Brick Mill Studio. Ivan Feign (bottom left) - one of the wonderful assistants I worked with, and Lauren Peate (bottom right) - the other wonderful assistant I worked with. There were three of us total working for Anne, and it has truly been a pleasure! She is the best boss in the world!! Thanks Anne for letting me guest blog!"
"I just want to leave you with one last picture. Meet Emma, my fellow photographer friend Alex's dog. Isn't she so adorable?!"
As of Saturday December 19th, 2009, Anne Ruthmann Photography will officially be on holiday vacation until January 2nd, 2010 in order to take time to visit and celebrate with family and friends. While on vacation, email and phone calls will be returned as soon as possible (taking into consideration that more time will be spent socializing rather than working), but other services will be limited based on what can be accomplished when working remotely.
If you'd like to give professional prints as gifts to family and friends with arrival before December 25th, you will need to place your order by December 18th, 2009 through Pictage.com and select overnight shipping. I would also recommend that you have your photo gifts sent directly to the recipient so that it arrives to its destination easily without additional handling or packaging on your part. Prints ordered through Pictage.com are always ready for gifting because they are packaged and shipped in elegant black gift boxes.
Please travel safely this year while you visit your family and friends and remember to cherish every little moment you get with them, you never know when it will be the last chance to celebrate together. Life is far too short to live with regret for what we did not do or say, but it's also full of opportunities to forgive and let people know how much we love them, no matter what.
Sometimes I'm looking for cool textures or unexpected art and sometimes they just hit me so hard in the face that I can't ignore them. For these pieces, I was actually doing a study on the space outside Western Ave Studios and testing the limitations of of the 135mm f/2.0 lens, which I don't use too often but absolutely love. When I do a study, I basically take an extended look at something and explore it in as many ways as possible through whatever photographic means I have available. It's a great way to challenge your creativity and to remind yourself how to look for that which is often overlooked. I'm pretty sure both of these were on the side of some train cars temporarily parked on the tracks next to the studio. I love the combination of textures and colors. I haven't decided which one will be my desktop background yet, maybe I'll have one for my laptop and one for the studio. ;-) Click on either image to instantly download a high resolution copy for your desktop.
Want experience working in a studio environment with a series of fast paced mini-portraits? (Need some holiday cash?) I need two assistants who can commit to the following dates: Sunday 11/29, Saturday 12/5, Sunday 12/6, Saturday 12/12, Sunday 12/13. The pay is $250 for about 25 hours of work over the course of 5 days and you'll need to sign an independent contractor agreement. All of the work will be done out of my studio at 122 Western Ave. Lowell, MA.
Great assistants will be reliable, honest, creative, flexible, able to multitask well, maintain a positive attitude and cool head in a fast-paced and unpredictable environment, explain online viewing and purchasing options to visitors, and have GREAT attention to detail. Assistants do NOT need to be a photographer, but if you understand studio lighting equipment, I might just marry you (of course my husband might not like that idea, but he hasn't offered to learn studio lighting either... ha!) A good understanding of how to load, print, and backup photos with a Mac is preferred. If you're totally awesome and I fall in love with you, there may be more weekend work in the future. ;) Please email info(at) anneruthmann.com with your full name, phone number, location, and top 10 reasons why I'll love working with you. :-)
(Photo of Tim Co. and I from 2007 WPPI BluDomain Party Booth.)
As you could tell from my Mobile Monday pics, we had some fun at Western Ave Studios last week when I invited a few friends over to help me arrange my office. I had several problems that needed solving:
Create a storage area that is functional, organized, and easily walled off without much construction or blocking of windows.
Find a place for my desk that clients won't see immediately upon entering, and allows me to work even when there's full sun pouring into the studio.
Create a comfortable seating arrangement for clients that will position them easily for viewing a slideshow or having an intimate chat during a meeting.
Make the furniture easy to move so that I can shoot studio work if I want to.
Not only did my friends help me accomplish ALL of the above, they even added a little foyer where I'll be able to set up a display! Fabulous!! As we were getting closer to the end, I pulled out some B&W film that's probably at least 5 years old, dropped it into my OM10 and shot the silliness that started unfolding after several hours of hard work:
"I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in."
— Virginia Woolf
I really enjoyed working from home the last 4-5 years. I always had a separate room for my office, which meant we always had at least a two bedroom apartment or home and part of my income went to affording us a larger living space. The first couple of years I went through the honeymoon phase of working for myself by sleeping in as late as I wanted and working as late as I wanted, often times not even taking a shower or getting dressed before "going to work". I'd roll out of bed- sometimes off the couch from a late night of work the night before- and just sit down at my desk and start working, sometimes not even getting up to eat until well into the afternoon. I thought it was cozy and indulgent, but I found that I was never really ready to just run out for an errand or join a friend for lunch- and heaven forbid if I had to sign for a package- that was often an awkward moment at the door with just a robe on! Realizing that perhaps that wasn't the best way to work from home, my third year I made a point to only get on the computer after I had showered and dressed. Granted, there are still a few occasions when that doesn't always happen, but I've noticed that I feel much better and more productive when I've taken care of myself first. (Which reminds me to start making some tea before writing any further.)
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."
— Virginia Woolf (A Room of One's Own)
One of the drawbacks to working from home is isolation, (or if you have children at home, it's distractions). With the internet becoming increasingly more productive for working remotely, there's rarely a need to get out and enjoy the world or interact with other people. For some people this is great, for me, it became increasingly depressing. I found that the less I interact with others, the less tolerant I become. It's so easy to get locked in your own little world of what's right and wrong, up and down, without anyone else to check you on your judgement. So, to challenge myself and broaden my horizons, I decided to take on interns. Ironically, having interns come in twice a week actually made ME more productive and forced me to keep my home and office in "visitor ready" condition almost all the time, which created much more peace and sanity in my daily life. It was quite awesome, and I recommend it to anyone who is open to the idea. Everything seemed idyllic after discovering what was previously missing in my environment and I thought I'd always be able to work from home.
"Arrange whatever pieces come your way."
— Virginia Woolf
This summer my husband was granted the opportunity to become Faculty-in-Residence in the UMass Lowell Honors House (based on the Harvard model of living-learning communities) and it sounded like a pretty sweet deal: no rent, no utilities, a dedicated parking spot, even a few meals included! Of course, you often can't get something for free without making a compromise or two. I would have to give up my home office because there was no space in the residence for anything other than a bedroom, living room, and kitchen. I can't say that I was thrilled about this idea, in fact, I was close to depressed at the idea of giving up my big beautiful live/work space and trading it in for a dorm apartment.
"You cannot find peace by avoiding life."
— Virginia Woolf
Ever since we moved to Lowell, I had an affection for the Western Ave Studios and the lovely artists who indulge their creative spirits there. We actually met many wonderful local people- who have since become friends, simply because they participated in the regular Western Ave Open Studios event on the first Saturday of each month. So, naturally, when it was time for me to find a new home for my work, WAS was at the top of my list. (Click play on the video below for a stop motion tour of WAS, created by fellow WAS photographer Adrien Bisson.)
Luckily for me, new spaces were available where there had only been a waiting list before, allowing me to sign a lease and move in right away. At first, it just didn't seem cost effective or energy efficient to have a separate space away from home for my office, but when we had my office in my home- I was actually paying double per square foot over having it in the Western Ave space and probably using more energy because I wasn't sharing utilities with anyone else. The other nice thing about a studio is being able to have a space that is truly my own. Wedding season hasn't afforded me much time to work on making my studio visitor-ready yet, but I hope to have it ready by my birthday in April, so we can celebrate with a grand opening. I was able to do just enough painting inside and out to put a few prints up on the wall just in time for the annual Lowell Open Studios (which I didn't participate in because I was photographing a wedding) and was delightfully happy when I returned to find all of my business cards (aka Anne Ruth"mints") gone from my studio wall. What a wonderful thing for potential clients to find me and be interested enough to take my card even when I'm not there! I can't wait for the Holiday Open Studios in December when I hope to have my wall as I really want it to look! (Remember the sketch from last week's mobile monday?)
"I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realises an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past. "
— Virginia Woolf
It's so inspiring to walk past the studios of other artists on my way to work and be reminded of keeping passion and art in my work. The hallways are always changing with different colors and artworks to keep that little element of surprise alive every day. I look forward to evolving my business and myself as an artist through my experience of working from a studio at Western Ave, and I sincerely hope that when it is ready for visitors, you will visit me sometime so that I can welcome you in, offer you a cup of tea, and give you a great big a hug. ;-)
