When 2010 started, I never dreamed I’d be making this announcement. But over the last year, it’s a decision that I wrestled with to the point that it couldn’t wait any longer. Seems like in the spirit of renewal of a new year, it’s especially fitting.

Here goes…

Starting today, I won’t be going in to work anymore just because it’s 9 in the morning! I’ll be able to focus 100% on living out my passion of being the best photographer I can. It’s something that has become increasingly necessary as I’ve become more & more busy with photography. It’s been a gradual process as my job allowed me to move to part time a few months ago. The thought was that as the winter slows down, I’d pick up more hours. The thing is, it never slowed down. In 2010 I had the outrageous goal of shooting 20 weddings. I just shot my 30th on New Year’s Eve! 2011 is already guaranteed to be even busier than that!

I still love the company I’ve worked for for the past 6 years so I’m going to continue to work as a contractor for them to help with projects as needed. My boss, Ken, is hand’s down the best boss I’ve ever worked for. Ever. It’s mind boggling how supportive he’s been & how he’s afforded me all the time I needed to take care of my photography clients. I’m also incredibly grateful to my friend Jeff & his wife Britt who introduced me to this company and talked Gina and me in to leaving ‘home’ and  moving east of the mountains. It’s safe to say that Jeff’s taught me more about graphic design than all of my school combined. To everyone else I’ve worked with, thank you. I’m glad I’ll still be able to keep in touch by working with you as needed.

So how does this change things?

Clients: One of the biggest catalysts for this change is the desire to provide the absolute best customer service to my clients. So many times I’ve just run out of hours while trying to get things done. I’ve felt like I’ve just barely been staying afloat. Most of the time that’s meant I’ve made sacrifices to myself or my family so I could deliver to my clients. Though I haven’t had any complaints, I feel like I could do a better job of being more proactive on that end. I’m petrified of not giving a premier experience to any of my clients. I don’t know if that will ever change though. I’m 90% sure I’ll always feel like I could do more. This is what I’m most excited about.

Me: I can’t wait to do more. I’ve had a mega list of things I’ve wanted to do but haven’t had time to. I think Gina has a similar list for me, though I think hers is a little less photo-centric. No more excuses! I can’t wait to get started. Among the list of things to do is spend some time working on personal photographic projects (experiment!), teach photography (I love teaching almost as much as photography—stay tuned for more announcements!), & be more active in the local wedding/photography community. This is an open call to any locals who want to go get lunch, let’s do it. I have a couple set up this week. I’m ready for more! There are other things I’m looking forward to like being able to take on a few graphic design projects for friends & being open to those when the need arises. I’m FINALLY going to get to go running regularly again. I’m not to concerned about getting back to marathon shape, but I’m looking forward to being more active. Last but not least and probably least, is sleep. Hopefully I’ll start to average closer to 5 hours per night.

Family: Family. Family. Family. They’ve been 100% supportive. Gina’s NEVER mentioned one time that she wished for me to stay home or not be working. She’s never even asked me to help out with things like yard work (still have to figure out how to get out of that one) in lieu of editing photos I can’t wait to be around more often. I’ll probably still prefer to edit photos & build albums into the wee hours of the morning, but I can’t wait to exercise the freedom that being a business owner affords.

Well, this is a long post. If you made it this far, your name’s probably Gina or mom.

Lastly. Thank you. Thank you Gina. Thank you R, K, & G! Thank you clients. Thank you other photographers including SWPBers (this list itself is a mile long). Thank you fans—which still feels weird to say. If you’ve even once commented on a blog post, facebook post, photo or sent me an email, or asked a question, thank you. Sincerely, I appreciate it, like you’ll probably never know. I hope to someday meet & thank you if I haven’t yet. I probably need a separate post on this because I can probably go on forever.

In addition to all of  that, I also have a dozen ideas to grow Matt Shumate Photography that I’m psyched to try! Time to get to work!

So stay tuned for more exciting news.…

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

A few weeks back I jumped on a plane over to Seattle with my eldest (they each get to take turns) to meet with a couple of brides who’s weddings I can’t wait to shoot, and while I was there I got to shoot a couple of family sessions. The extra cool part of this was both the dads in the family sessions are two of my best friends in the world & have been for about as long as I care to remember. Since I live a few hundred miles away I don’t get to see them nearly enough & it was great to hang out with them & their awesome wives & adorable kids.

The weather rained the entire weekend—with the exception of the hours I spent shooting—so the sessions were wet but not rainy—thankfully. The sessions took place at one of my favorite parks, Tumwater Falls Park in Olympia. If you live on the west side of Washington make sure you visit & when you do, make sure you take the trek all the way back along the water & see if you can find the heart-shaped puddle. If you make it there during the Salmon runs I swear there’s more fish in the stream than water.

Challenge? What challenge?

A family session with 9 kids? How tough could that be?

As it turns out, not so tough at all. Especially when it’s the Fullmer family. We had a great session down by the Spokane River & everybody was about as well behaved as can be—except for maybe me. As a dad of 3 really (well, mostly) well behaved girls I don’t see any way to square that number & stay sane. But not only were they sane, they were a pleasure & it was very inspiring for me to see how they interacted with each other. Truly a happy family.

Thanks to my own Reagan for going along & helping to entertain the younger ones while I was taking pictures.

For photographers: The first photo is a composite of 5 different photos so I could get a wide shot with a shallow depth of field since we had to be closer to the tree line than I wanted to.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

I’m happy to post some photos from a recent family session. This time it’s the Hopkins family!

We hung out at Manito Park for a little while & had some fun walking around & getting some fun pictures. Frequent visitors might recognize Ana from having helped me photograph Betsy & Chad’s wedding recently. She does some pretty fine photography work on her own. It’s always a little more nerve-racking to photograph a photographer simply because they know all the tricks. Fortunately, I think these ones turned out ok.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

A little while back I had the pleasure of spending some time with an outstanding group, the Ross family. We hung out at Mirabeau Park in Spokane Valley for a while, enjoying a beautiful light, & making some great photos. I had lots of fun & I think they did too.

The pictures don’t lie.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

I had the pleasure of [shooting] the Elys last week at Manito Park on Spokane’s South Hill. Talk about troopers. We wandered around the park looking for great places to shoot and all the while the kids were (at least acting like they were) having a great time. Little foot injuries or pangs of hunger weren’t nearly enough to slow down this family.

I really had a great time hanging out with these guys. The kids were so sweet & willing to try whatever I was asking—especially if it was jumping off a ledge while I had my camera on its “machine gun” setting which reminds me a ton of my own girls.  My favorite part of these photos is that  the impressions of the  personalities of everyone seems to shine through in the photos.

Then, after our session was over I saw my friend Ana wrapping up a bridal session so I hopped up on the ledge of the bridge (shhh, don’t tell my wife) & took the opportunity to shoot the shooter. That makes up the last photo in this set.

For the best viewing experience, open up the photos & use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.

I met up with Michele & her two kids in downtown Spokane and spent some time hanging out with them & getting some photos (& tossing the football around). We started at the Rocket Bakery then headed up to the MAC. They were so at ease with each other & with me as well, we had a blast (at least I did) getting these photos. They were all great to photograph & I think the pictures show that. Since I live in a house full of girls, chances to toss a football around are few & far between, so I’m thankful for any chance I get. Thanks guys!

For the best viewing, open up the photos and use your arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the photos.

While we were over visiting the other side of the mountains—sill refuse to call it ‘the coast’ unless I see the actual Pacific Ocean —we had the chance to hang out with one of Gina’s friends from high school & photograph her little ones as a surprise birthday gift for their daddy (kind of a recent theme at MS Photo!).

She brought up the idea of having her daughter have a tea party on the beach & I thought it was an awesome idea! So at the end of the day we got out the big lights & headed down to the beach just in time for the wind to pick up & the waves come crashing in. In all, we only had about 5 minutes of actual beach shooting before the little model had enough of the cold & wind & we called it quits—not before getting some great shots, IMO!

Fortunately the weather was more than accommodating for the rest of the session & it was a blast for me to catch the kiddos going from being shy (notice the first subject I was offered to photograph was ‘Doggie’ the sheep) to playing it up for the camera.

Take a look by clicking through. FYI, once you open up the window, you can just arrow through the photos with your keyboard which is very cool, try it!

Calvin just turned 2 and his parents thought it was a good idea to get some photos taken of him as well as some of their family. The entire time I was editing these photos I kept finding myself holding back the laughter since Calvin is such a cute & expressive kid. How can that joy not be contagious. From seeing the moon in the daylight sky to blowing out the candles on the birthday cake. Every photo was a different face—and I think it’s great.

Thanks to Kelsey who came along and helped a bunch. Click the thumbnails to see the photos…

Generally I prefer to get my photos on location, but sometimes timing, weather, and circumstances add up to equal taking the photos inside. Fortunately I have the studio setup now that allows me to accomplish the photo taking without relying on nature at all—plus I love having absolute control over my light.

This time the Osborn family needed their family photos done and we decided it was a perfect time to get in the studio and get some use out of it since the weather has been on the cold/rainy side. First I set up the lights against the 9′ wide white seamless paper background and had Reagan stand in to test things (the last photo is a couple of these test shots). Once they were good, the Osborns showed up and we got to shooting. They were lots of fun and everybody did great in front of the camera. They all have such great personalities which makes my job easier since I don’t really have to do anything but catch it—you know, like karate kicks and stuff.

Finally I got a couple of photos with my daughter Gwyn hamming it up with her friend—which didn’t look like it was going to happen since Gwyn was being a bit of a brat. Of course she saw how much fun everybody was having and decided it was ok to be a part of it.

Even within the confines of a small studio I think we got some great portraits and I can’t wait to use it again.