The beautiful Hotel Baker photographed by Alex Claney Photography
Wedding season and warm weather are just around the corner, so for all of you brides and grooms who are still in need of photography for your big day, please enjoy this vendor spotlight with Alex Claney Photography. Something 2 Dance 2 has worked with Alex and his team for over 5 years and he has captured thousands of memorable moments for our brides and grooms.
Tell me about your business: We have been in business for over 20 years. Even in these tough economic times, Alex Claney Photography has continued to maintain the quality wedding photography standards we believe in.
The discount photographers have a place in this industry. However, our main focus is the bride and groom who want a complete photography package that includes personal service, a personable full-time professional photographer and an album that they will be excited about for many years to come.
Where is your business located? We are located in downtown St. Charles. The studio is conveniently situated three blocks south of North Ave on Route 31. We have been in the Fox Valley area for 18 years.
What type of event makes up most of your business? The main focus of our studio’s business is weddings. As wedding and event photography primarily happens on the weekends, another large part of our business comes from the commercial photography market. Our studio is large enough to photograph everything from a car to small table top items for catalogs. We spend a large amount of time traveling and photographing sales meeting for a couple of clients but it’s always great to get to the weekend and photograph a fun wedding party!
What other services can you offer? The digital revolution has allowed us to offer several interesting products to our clients. We have an event imaging system—essentially a photo booth with a photographer. Another option is to create a green screen background that matches the theme of your event. Some of the themes we have done include a tropical beach, Tuscan wine vineyard and the deck of a pirate ship.
What sets your company apart from other Photographers? What sets Alex Claney Photography apart from other photographers is the size of our business. We are large enough to have a physical studio and work full-time doing photography. Yet, we are small enough to provide the personal customer care that our clients are looking for and deserve. We want to get to know our clients so that they get the type of photographs that they want. In addition, we also have a full-time graphic designer on staff. That allows us to create custom, one-of-a-kind wedding albums for our brides and grooms. We don’t send out the design work. Our clients talk directly to the designer, are kept in the loop and get to approve every step of the project. That way, there are no miscommunications and the client always gets the wedding album of their dreams.
Do you have a favorite location where you like to shoot? We love photographing at the charming Hotel Baker here in St. Charles. There are many beautiful locations both inside and out of the hotel that make a perfect backdrop for photos. Also, having been in business in St. Charles for so long, we know many unique picturesque places for shooting photos that photographers from outside the area are not aware of.
What are some 2011 Photography Trends? In 2011, I expect to see the “photojournalistic” trend to be not quite so prevalent. I have found that clients like the casual fun photos that you get but they are finding that the smiling looking at the camera photographs have been missing from the mix. Mom still wants to see the Bride and Groom smiling and posing. The photojournalistic photos are definitely necessary, but the posed images are making a return with an updated contemporary feel.
If you only had 1 song on your I-Pod what would it be? I guess it would be Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, IZ, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, I’m a sap – I love his version.
To learn more about Alex Claney Photography please visit their website: www.alexclaneyphoto.com
