Slices in Time

New Luminescent Website and Change in Rates

After a lot of backend coding and agonizing over layout options, I finally finished the new website today.  I intended to embrace Web 2.0 technology with this redesign (possibly Ruby on Rails) and use more active content such as Flash for the portfolio and Client areas.  This is all coming.. Our online Booking Calendar will also be unveiled soon so that you can see at a glance if we are available for your wedding or event.

Our goal for this website revision is to let people know that our feet are firmly planted and our dedication to Luminescent Memories is unshakable.  We also wanted to establish a brand that is readily identifiable to you, your children and future generations.

We have also unveiled our client support section.  All clients who contract our services get a personal website containing our own Client Proofing solution and a backup of all DVD files (where applicable — see our rates page for more information). This has been implemented and is ready for use — in fact, it is even better than planned!  Due to the design and the technology we embraced to implement the site, each client’s personal area of the site will have a custom layout based on the theme(s) of the photography contract.

Additionally, a good percentage of clients and potential clients have espressed a desire for us to do boutique, portrait and wedding work but in these tough times, it is becoming ever harder for clients to afford the high prices once commanded by the best photographers.  We have worked with those who contacted us for help with pricing and options.  In many cases, we have and will work with the client to cut costs and reduce pricing where we can.  We will continue to embrace our clients but remember, this pricing will not last forever.  We must make a profit in order to survive to serve you in the future.

In order to ease financial strain during these times, we have cut our package prices.  This pricing will be available until midnight July  31, 2009.  If your wedding or event is after July 31, 2009,  you can still get this pricing if you book early and put down a booking deposit!  Our hourly rates are also now reduced by $50/hour.

Our aim is to capture the essence of you, of your engagement, your wedding, your child’s birth, your son or daughter’s graduation and, then, their own weddings and school events.  Our goal is to capture to the best of our ability the world as we see it and as we want the world to remember it and to remember you.  We do all of this for you and for the future.

–

Ray A. Akey
Luminescent Memories Photography
http://www.luminescentmemories.com

New Luminescent Memories Logo

To those whom I converse with daily, it is no surprise that I have been working on the Luminescent Memories Photography website lately.

Today’s job was to create a multifaceted logo to symbolize one of our core beliefs, which is that Luminescent Memories is capable of seeing each and every project, whether routine or a new challenge, from beginning to end and create an end product that all can be proud of; from the elatious bride and beaming groom’s gorgeous wedding package to the corporate purchasing agent looking for the perfect image to represent his company to the individual looking to create sexy boudoir images for their significant other to the glamour/fitness/fashion model looking to build a new portfolio or add new photos to an existing portfolio. In other words, it absolutely had to imply strength.

I was also looking for a very simple font-based logo that can be easily identifiable with and as Luminescent Memories Photography.  After sorting through hundreds of fonts trying different combinations of upper and lowercase, I found the perfect font.  The only problem was there there was a gap in the upper left and lower right corners.  I used my trusty Wacom drawing tablet and the Photoshop pen tool and extended the ends.

This was almost perfect.  There was one more aspect that was really important to stress and that is one of continuity.  The continuity of generations of family represented photographically had not yet been incorporated.  The upper-left and lower right corners that had been extended simply ended right there, like a dead end.   To incorporate the aspect of continuity, the corners were also rounded like the others and now lead back into the weaving letters.

This created a rather unique graphic effect that almost seems puzzle-like, as if the structure were pulled apart to reveal the lettering but also implies strength. The strength that is our will, our courage and our endurance in achievements.

To finish the logo, I wanted a splash of colour.  This had to come from one place; a logical extension, Sharon’s luscious red lips.  This is an element of continuity as it is cropped from the background image used for Ray’s first set of business cards, printed in-house and laminated.  The cards are still in circulation to this day.