New photog in the house!

     My son Zach, 16, has taken up photography and is the staff photographer for the school's publications. I am so proud of the kid for taking the time to learn photography and try to take it to a high level. His photos are good and getting better......way to go Zach!

Half of a year!

     Thursday of this week marked the six-month anniversary of self-employment. What have I learned?
      I am pretty much shooting the same kind of things in my freelance world that I shot for the Eagle except I do not have to write captions, just invoices. Speaking of accounting, thank you Mrs. T and Dee for the help with all of that. I am shooting sports, portraits, agency work, weddings and even a couple of cool photo essays for an awesome client that runs my photos very well. I no longer get paid for holidays, but I do not have to work them either. I get to start my day (and spend most of it at times) in my pajamas in my awesome office in our home, the Eagle did not like me showing up to work in pajamas and I did not have an office. My work load is about the same, a bit busier at times, but certainly MUCH less stress and more profitable.
     What I do not miss? Meetings of doom and gloom in the newsroom, hated them and I quit attending them after only a few of them. The writing was on the wall about our newspaper business, but to have to hear about it sucked. I do not miss walking into a building that has been destroyed by the economy and decline of the biz. I miss the "full" newsroom that the Eagle used to have, great folks putting out a great product. I do not miss lay-offs, furloughs, pay cuts, pay freezes and buyouts, all terms I hope I never have to hear again.
     What I miss? Large snow storms and the itch to go shoot snow features for the next day's issue, I was like a caged animal on those days this winter. My brain said it was time to go shoot, too many years of thinking that way. I miss walking into the building and seeing the same folks each day, great people. I miss my boss, he was totally cool to work under, we now just share beer together and that is good too, maybe even better. I miss representing the newspaper and shooting a photograph of someone and trying to get to know them in our short time and make the best photo of them I could. I new that they were excited to have me there and I wanted to let them know that I would take care of them and represent my newspaper in a very positive way.

     I guess I will always be a newspaper man. Photojournalism has been an excellent way to train as a photographer. Making chocolate cake out of dog poopy is how we roll. That training has not only helped my photography, as I am very comfortable and confident behind the camera, but I have been trained to get people to trust me for 1/60th of a second. I take those skills and use them each day in my new freelance world......life is good, my stomach no longer aches and I am very happy. Cheers to another great and exciting six months. It was a great decision to go to work at the Eagle and a great decision to leave, change is good, new challenges and everything that goes along with that. Hell, I am the president of a company, with a staff of one, heck yeah!  Again, life is good. Peace.
 

Photo Workshops

     Over the last several years I have had the opportunity to teach photography to students. I have a couple of local workshops I do in Wichita that are basic photography classes, but I also teach a publications workshop to schools. It is a great way for the students to get an idea of what they might face shooting for the their yearbooks and newspapers during the school year. Whether it is a workshop for shooting a particular sport or just a "get the year started right" kind of thing, it helps teachers make sure that the photographers know what to look for, how to shoot and deliver a quality story-telling photograph to their editors.
     Various journalism workshops are offered all over the country and are certainly worth going to, but time and money can prohibit a student or school from attending those kind of camps. I am finding that it is just easier to come to the school and do the workshop there. The students are comfortable and are in the environment that they will be shooting in, their school.
     The workshops will cover everything from sports, portraits, shooting in the classroom and school events, caption writing and some basic photo editing skills. We move fast and have a lot of fun in these camps.
     The workshops are designed and tailored to each school. The cost is a set cost and not a per student cost and is figured on a per school basis, what they need, time, travel, etc. Some schools join together and have me out to save money, this is great as students get a chance to meet others who face the same problems that they are facing with their school publication photography. The most popular camps are the August and September.  Two of those weeks in September are already booked, but there are plenty of dates open. Those months are popular, but I do these camps during most of the school year too.

     I would love to hear from you and chat about your needs. My workshops work, my kids know how and when to make a good photograph after they attend one of my workshops. Please call, 316-706-8529, Jeff.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Almost three months ago I resigned from my position as a staff photographer at the Wichita Eagle....so, what have I been doing?

Our wedding business is growing and this fall has been a sign of some good things that are coming. We shot a beautiful traditional Pakistan wedding that was very cool, as well as two others that were just as awesome.

I have started my commercial side of business and just finished a project that gave me complete control of the shoots. Awesome! My client list is growing as I have got the chance to shoot for some pretty cool companies.

Of course I have to shoot sports to be happy and I have got to keep my hand in that for several different publications, but my teaching has been the most satisfying of all of the stuff I am doing. Workshops in KC, here and other places are really lots of fun. I trained a 12 year-old this summer, so far she has won first and third place at the Kansas State Fair and first place and third place at Botanica in their annual contest. This makes me VERY happy!

Needless to say I have been busy, and I love my new gig, love it. I miss the newspaper, but this new chapter is something that I have wanted for quite sometime. My family has been so supportive, I am truly blessed.

New pics posted

My site is being built as is certainly taking more time than I want, but here is a site with some of my work.....http://jefftuttle.zenfolio.com/

Tuttle archives

I have started digging through all of my hard drives as I have been looking for some photographs for my new site, Jefftuttlephotography.com.....The process is not all that much fun, but I have found some images in some folders that I thought were somewhere else. This is one of them. I shot this photo of my children, Erin and Zach years ago in Cayman. Kind of cool and a great memory of a fantastic trip....Oh yeah, why the site? Lots has happened since my last post, I resigned from the Eagle after over 20 years! Nutty? Freelancing is my new world, corporate, weddings (rasmussentuttleweddingphotography.com), seniors and I am shooting sports and other event for the Associated Press and others. I have several projects that I am very excited about doing that are still in my photojournalism world. I am also teaching several workshops over the summer, one in Wichita, in June, the rest are out of town gigs. The Eagle has been awesome, but it is time to say goodbye and do something I have wanted to do for years, have my own photography business. My time at that newspaper has been wonderful and I wish them nothing but the best, I truly have been honored to be a member of that great photography staff.....stay tuned!

Family photos

I spend so much of my time shooting basketball this time of the year, or working our Wichita wedding photography business that I forget to take my camera to family events. This is a shot of my mother and my sister-in-law I shot on Sunday....a great celebration and neat little shot! Happy birthday girls.