livebooks blog

Jillian Faulkner is a portrait photographer based in Calgary, Canada. Her specialty is concentrated in children and family portrait photography. She established Jillian Faulkner Photography in 2010 and has been dedicated to her practice ever since. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.jillianfaulkner.com.

I am rarely found without my Canon camera in hand and if I really think about it, my first interest in photography started back when I was about 10 years of age and received my first camera as a birthday gift. It began a strong and committed interest in visually capturing all the fascinating and unique moments in life. In my early twenties, I was a high performing sales representative both in the hair care and cosmetics industry applying a keen eye for what is visually appealing with a strong sense of style and fashion. It was not uncommon for me to have my camera out and ready to capture the behind the scenes action at one of our fashion shows or during a global make up artists presentation of a new launch. In 2006, after the birth of my first son, I decided to get more serious about my photography and further developed my skills with lots of practice and more advanced training. My new love was capturing on camera images of sweet little hands and feet and munchkins running about and exploring the world with fresh eyes. With friends and family regularly asking me to take pictures at important celebrations and of their own families, I launched Jillian Faulkner Photography in the fall of 2010. Since then, my passion for the art has grown even stronger with each visit from new and repeat clients. My passion truly lies in taking portraits of infants and children. They are all so full of life with developing personalities, beautiful innocence and tremendous potential. A perfect portrait done just right can show all of that to the world and I feel so blessed that my days are filled doing exactly what I love!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

JF: Classic, authentic, and joyful!

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

JF: Typically every few months, but it’s much more often now with the new liveBooks8 platform. I love that I can change out old photos with new ones easily and customize the looks of my portfolios to have every little detail just right and done to my liking. With a strong background in visual arts and fashion, this is a very big thing!

Q: How do you choose the photos you display on your homepage?

JF: I have a tendency to choose the images which reflect the majority of my work – portraits that “stir the passion” and which generate the strongest emotions as well as remind me of certain moments in the studio, with clients or from my own life.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

JF: It is hard to pick just one as there are so many new outstanding improvements that I love! I would have to say my favourite update is having the ability to easily customize and fully control all the design elements on my website. From fonts to page layouts to color schemes, it is all very easy to modify to ensure my work looks exactly how I want it to.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

JF: First, know your brand – your website should showcase your work. How you identify yourself and your work to both the industry and to your clients is crucial to growing your business. Second, make navigation around your website easy. Have samples of your work easy to find and live contact links to make it simple to get in contact with you. You only have a few moments to make a great impression!

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Cameron Karsten is both a photographer and film-maker. His work ranges from portraiture to lifestyle photography. He had worked for clients such as Discovery Channel, Bank of America, Delta Air Lines, and Microsoft. To see more of Cameron’s work, visit his liveBooks8 site: www.cameronkarsten.com.

I began my career as a writer, spending my twenties backpacking around the world in search of stories, characters, and experiences. I began a blog, attained followers, sold travel articles, and by the advice of someone, I was encouraged to post photographs with my written stories. At this time, digital photography was gaining momentum, so I traded in my Nikon film camera for a small point-and-shoot. I kept writing but slowly overtime, I had the desire to tell stories with photos instead of words. This led to a 2-year program in commercial photography, which led to assisting and digital-teching for professional photographers, which has now grown into a career as a commercial photographer. I still write and have a love for the craft, but I now shoot motion alongside my photography. When I step back, they’re all a form of storytelling, so I’m grateful for each trade.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

CK: When I switched platforms to the new liveBooks8 I was seeking something clean, simple, and bold. These would be the three words I’d use, and maybe throw in elegant as well.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

CK: Typically I update my website every couple of months, but it also depends if new work I finish fits within my projects and portfolios. Sometimes it’s sooner, sometimes it’s later, but I look at it and analyze the content every few days, seeking a better edit or a new perspective that’ll improve my presentation. But I admit; I am my own worst editor.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

CK: I want the homepage images that represent my projects and portfolios to be striking and to me that carries a sense of emotion with regards to light, shadow, and lines. Most of them are during sunrise or sunset, or are dramatic in the sense of scale and design. Obviously, I’m looking to attract creative directors, art buyers and project managers to dig deeper into my website whether it’s a personal project or commissioned portraiture.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

CK: My favorite new feature of liveBooks8 is the fullscreen homepage allowing the images to be big and bold. I want the first glance at my website to be striking and be utilizing the full screen with scrolling images, this becomes effective.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

CK: If I could offer advice on designing a website, I’d say utilize peers and professionals to help you edit your work. I’ve put my photography in front of many peers and strangers, receiving a whole gamut of feedback. It has shaped how I present my work, as well as helped hone my skills as a storyteller. The liveBooks8 support staff was also diligent throughout the process of transitioning my website to the new platform, which I appreciate and I’m grateful for.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Meet Corina! Corina is one of our amazing and talented Support Specialist. She has been working with the liveBooks company for four years now and we could not be any more proud of her work. She works one on one with our clients to make sure all of their support questions are responded on time and that problems are solved immediately.

Quick Facts: 
Hometown: Brasov, Romania
Favorite liveBooks8 Feature: Gallery layouts – they give the client so much power to display their work in a variety of ways!
Favorite TV Show: Friends
Words to live by: “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.

Nadège Barnes is a Wedding Photographer based in Southern California. She has photographed more than a hundred weddings and is scheduled to appear in many premier bridal shows within the coming year. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.frenchromancephotography.com.

I was born in the South of France in 1975 and was passionate about photography throughout High School and College, where I took photography courses. In 2002, during a visit to Los Angeles, an actor asked me to take photographs of him after an interview I was doing for a magazine. When I gave a sample copy to him, he was amazed by the quality of my work and recommended me for other jobs. The Magazine (Spirit) published my photographs right away and offered me more opportunities to photograph.

I was officially a professional Celebrity Photographer and was doing many red carpet events and professional opportunities within the months following.

Unfortunately, in 2004 the Spirit magazine was sold to a different company and I was not offered an opportunity to stay with the new company. I decided to travel the U.S. for a while and this is where I met my husband, Doug. I then moved to California where I began my family.

At the end of 2008, I retook my photography career but dedicated my work to Wedding Photography. I booked my first wedding client within a month and have since booked over one hundred weddings.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

NB: Clean, elegant, and practical.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

NB: I update it fully once a year. I update it every month for bridal show update events. The gallery section is one page I update the most – every time I am done with a session.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

NB: Just my best work and the ones that won awards.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

NB: They customize everything for you and their templates can be adapted and changed easily.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

NB: Have someone that is designated to your website maintenance that you can call if you need something specific changed that the template can’t offer. With liveBooks, it’s Adam. He is always the one that helps me with my website.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.