Shauna Gustavson
Mother, X-ray & Lab Technician, Combine Driver,and Professional Photographer
Mother,
X-ray & Lab Technician, Combine Driver, and Professional
Photographer: this is the world of Canadian photographer, Shauna
Gustavson. Her diversity mirrors that of so many women who enter the
world of professional photography today. Shauna lives on a huge
grain farm in Eckville, Alberta, Canada which is about 30 minutes west
of Red Deer. She first started in part time professional
photography for a while in the 1990s and then returned two years
ago. Her studio is located in her rural farm home in a 14 x 15
foot room that was originally designed to be a storage room. Most
of Shauna’s advertising is by word of mouth although she is
participating in several small country town trade shows. She
specializes in weddings, children, and families.
ust a few months ago, Shauna learned about the Scene Machine Virtual
Backgrounds system and enchanted fantasy photography. She was
going through an American Photographic Resources prop catalog and saw
samples of the photography being done by another Canadian, Diane
Wilson. She noticed that a key part of her photographs, the
background, was created with a device she had never heard of before,
the Scene Machine Virtual Backgrounds system. The enchanted look
for children and the Scene Machine totally fascinated her, tickling her
imagination, her love for photography, and her desire to be truly
different.
Shauna explains, “I have always been terribly interested in
backgrounds. In fact you might say I have a background
problem. I have about 40 backgrounds, canvas and muslin, in
my little studio. Each new background was making my camera room
smaller even though I have them hanging from the ceiling. It just
wasn’t practical, but I wanted even more background variety for my
subjects. Backgrounds are really important to a photograph.
Once I learned about the Scene Machine system, it just seemed like the
best way to go even though I thought at first that it was a very
expensive piece of equipment for a very small town part time
studio. I really got excited when I realized that I could make my
own backgrounds or buy them for just a few dollars each and have no
storage problems at all. Most of all, I can change backgrounds in
seconds!”
Today I already feel that it was a great investment because now my
backgrounds cost me almost nothing and they don’t take up space.
I have already photographed my canvas and muslin backgrounds so I can
now project them and I have so much more room in my studio. I am
also starting to take my own backgrounds. We have planned a trip
to Banff and I will capture a lot of backgrounds there.”
Shauna purchased her Virtual Backgrounds system without ever seeing
one, not even at a trade show. She read everything she could find
and noted that many well known photographers endorse the system
including Canadian photographers Joseph and Louise Simone. She
also looked up Diane Wilson’s Web site and was fascinated by the many samples of her work and her story.
Shauna took a deep breath, ordered her system and arranged to have it
delivered to Trevon Baker’s studio in Kalispell, Montana.
She drove down to Kalispell and picked up her machine on May 29,
2009. Trevon provided her with four hours of training. She drove
back home and immediately put the system to use. From the very
beginning, her results were just great. “I didn’t really find the
Scene Machine very hard to set up and use. I just followed the
basic directions given to me by Trevon and that was it. It is
really quite intuitive. Now I hear that some people think it is
complicated - I don’t see it that way at all.”
“My
mom has always been critical about my spending money and certainly she
had second thoughts about me buying the Scene Machine, especially since
it costs so much more in Canada than it does in the US because of our
dollar and taxes. Now that she has seen it working she told me
the other day that buying it was a really smart move.”
Shauna decided to make maximum use of her minimal space by buying a 9 x
12 wide projection screen so she could do full lengths and groups using
her Sony A700 camera. She wanted plenty of room for backgrounds
to surround her subjects.
Shauna decided to attend one of Diane’s five-day fantasy and enchanted
workshops in San Marcos, Texas. She found the workshop to
be exceptionally stimulating, upon her return home, she immediately
began putting her new ideas to work. To get started, Shauna
placed a notice at a dance studio that she needed models to practice
with. She chose 17 kids. “The kids absolutely loved what I
was able to do with them, with the costumes, the poses, and the
backgrounds. There were two 16 year old female
models. I was concerned that they might not get into the
enchanted look, but I was so wrong. They were among my most
enthusiastic subjects, and they told me they were going to tell all
their friends about this new kind of photography because it was so much
fun. All the kids loved what I was doing. They were
saying Wow!”
Shauna is now actively making some of her own costumes and creating her
own props. Just last week she found a big piece of
driftwood down in a nearby creek bed. She dragged it home and it
is now part of her mermaid beach scene.
“It’s so easy to use the Scene Machine. I absolutely love
it. I love having so many backgrounds and I really love getting
into enchanted photography. I want to make photography more full
time, except when I am driving the combine for 2 months in the
fall. I really don’t understand why every photographer doesn’t
have a Scene Machine system. I just could not do what I have been
able to do now if I didn’t have the Scene Machine. It makes me so
different from any other photographer. The Scene Machine
has taken things to a whole new level because of what it lets me
do. My imagination is my only limit. Just about anything I
can think of, I can now do right in my studio. I started getting
good images the very first day I used it. I am looking forward to
doing so much more with it.
Shauna’s Web site is www.sgustavsonphotography.ifp3.com.
Shauna is another reason why we at Virtual Backgrounds enjoy our
work. We thrive on helping photographers deal with the Perfect
Storm and rise to new levels of success. That is what Virtual
Backgrounds is all about! There is no other tool available that has the
power of a Virtual Backgrounds system to enhance creativity and grow
the business. Keep up the great work, Shauna!
Click here to see more of Shauna Gustavson's images!
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