I feel like such a lucky girl! Today Uprinting.com (My marketing printing company) posted an article on me as a "Featured Successful Business". I have a lot of respect for this large company so this meant a lot to be noticed by them:) We did the interview online. SO many questions! But I feel like they "got" what my business is all about. Please enjoy the article below:)
As well here is the direct link so you can see all of their wonderful printing products...
“CHEESE!”
That’s one word you’ll never hear photographer Arianne Lewis say when she’s taking her pictures. To the owner of California-based business, Ari Photography, saying “cheese!” before a photo means you’ll be getting exactly that : a cheesy image of yourself frozen in time – and that’s not what her work is all about.
It’s all about “couture photography for the edgy” with Arianne, who believes that a lot of the standard photography shots out there have hit a plateau. The true-blue Californian and lifelong photographer has an intense desire to make everyone feel “magazine-worthy”. She says “Making anyone off the street look like a model, in my opinion..is extra special”.
With her trusty camera, reflectors and some expert Photoshop tweaking, Ari takes artistically- composed photos that wouldn’t look out of place in high fashion magazines. Sessions with Ari Photography aren’t the typical sit-on-a-couch-then-click! deals everyone’s used to, which is why not just anyone “gets it”. Arianne has learned that people who do get her work are those who are innovative and responsive to new ideas.
These edgy clients are certainly game to experience Ari’s out-of-the-box, rock and roll meets glam concepts like the Rock the Frock, and Haute Couture photoshoots, among many others.
For Ari Photography’s Rock the Frock photos, Ari takes the bride out of the typical wedding day world to one where she’s rockin’ her wedding dress. Her extreme Rock the Frocks, known as Trash the Dress sessions, are like declarations that the wedding is done and the dress will never be used again “because you’ll be together forever”! It’s also an alternative to storing the dress and trying to get your daughter to wear it in 20 years for her wedding. “You may not have the dress lying around after these extreme sessions, but you will have some killer art of you in the dress on the wall that will last a lifetime!”
Rock the Frocks are often used in place of bridals before the wedding, to have displayed at the actual wedding reception. However extreme Rock the Frocks aka “Trash the Dress” shoots are usually taken weeks after the wedding. For either style of “bridals” you will usually find the bride posing in gorgeous locations -sometimes on the grass, sand or even in the mud. It sounds rather adventurous but those willing to get down and dirty in their wedding gowns are sure to be rewarded with jaw-droppingly amazing photos.
Make no mistake, Ari says “So far each dress I have done a Trash the Dress or Rock the Frock Session with, have come out perfectly clean. In fact one of the dresses was resold to a bride out in Belgium.”
Using Arianne’s artistic prowess, even family photos are given a unique, avant-garde twist. There are no awkward smiles inside a studio here. This Annie Liebovitz fan whisks families away to interesting nearby locations like farms, beaches, and abandoned buildings so she can capture beautiful and raw family moments.
Of course she’s had lots of practice with family photos, having two sons and a husband (of five years now!) who continuously inspire her to become a better photographer so she can catch each moment before it passes. Ari’s intuition for knowing the exact moment to click the shutter release button helps a lot in this case. -So does her ability for helping subjects who are uncomfortable in front of the camera smile. She does this by chatting with them to loosen them up, or by giving them situations and asking the subjects to show her how they would feel about that. “The second before they start to overthink it” I snap, she explains.
Ari also shoots weddings, fashion/editorial high school Seniors and maternity photos which interested clients can learn all about through her website as well as her printed materials.
Arianne has advertised her couture photography through canvases, menus, Stackcards and postcards from UPrinting for a year-and-a-half now and she loves it.
As someone who has color ingrained in her very soul (thanks to her late father, the abstract artist Alan B. Cheney who was obsessed with extreme colors, and to her mother who majored in music and performing arts), it’s important to Ari that her materials have vibrant colors and with UPrinting she is able to have that. She enthuses, “I love the color on each printing product I have received! UPrinting’s customer service is greatly appreciated. Very high quality, which is what my business is all about.”
Ari brings the printed canvases to go-sees to show her clients up close how much attention she pays to even the tiniest details. Doing this lets potential customers she how professional and artistic she is, and “I always get a “wow” at the print quality” says Arianne.
Exactly the same reaction Ari gets for her crowd-stopping “couture photographs for the edgy”.
