What we’re up to

 by Abel

Life During COVID-19 Outbreak

I just thought I’d stop in and say hello to see what everyone’s been up to.  I’m still working but for now it’s been mostly video work helping small business get their social media presence solidified during this whole COVID-19 outbreak.  I’m going to start blending a bit more of video into everything that I’ve been doing ONLY because I think most people aren’t going to want to sit here and read this.

Key take ways during the outbreak downtime.  Not a whole lot going on.  As a few of you know I was a news photographer / videographer for KGBT (Our local CBS affiliate for our out of town friends) so I’ve been producing a lot of social media content and on occasion aiding essential business with their videos.  Don’t worry I’m being safe.   The part that I’m still getting used to is having to clean all the gear piece by piece. I’ve always kept all the equipment clean but now it REALLY counts.

Life has really changed.  If you told me just a few weeks ago that I would be using my camera to go to teleconferences I never would have believed you.  I’ve had two Mac laptops in the last 11 years and NOT ONCE did I ever use the web camera built into it.  In the last few days I’ve had a total of 12 zoom conferences ranging from understanding the government programs aimed at small business to local chambers doing online mixers.  Props to NHPO, Mission Chamber, and McAllen Chamber for making that happen.  And from the sound of things looks like a lot more of our clients will be requesting virtual meetings.  Which is fine, it’s just not the way I thought we’d be conducting business haha.

That’s about it for now.  Like I said I didn’t want to write a whole lot or get too philosophical about the whole pandemic.  I just really wanted to make an effort to connect with more of our clients and friends during this time.  It’s not always about selling, so if you have any questions about ANYTHING or have questions on your camera shoot me a line.  It’s not like I’m going anywhere.

Stay blessed.

 

 

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 by Abel

Thank You McAllen

I’ve sat here about 20 minutes trying to describe this project.

When this whole Covid-19 thing started shutting down businesses here in the McAllen area I fell right in with the rest of the businesses owners.  I saw my clients begin pulling back one by one and saw how when they closed their doors families were impacted with them.  With every team member laid off, families began asking for answers that leaders weren’t able to give.

I won’t lie, as much as I lean on the Lord I was worried (I’m human) but I wanted to do something that could help businesses talk about what the public’s support meant to them.  That for every dollar that was given to them, it went to keeping their restaurants going and their families sheltered for another day.  Of all the people interviewed in this video none of them were talking about how much money they were making.  In fact one of them has been feeding first responders and their families from their restaurants meager profits.

These are the faces of entrepreneurs fighting to keep going and a reminder of what your support means to them.  I feel blessed to have been part of this project and want to thank Angela Mills for making this happen.

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 by Abel

#MissionStrong

Life in Mission Texas – We put out our flag last night to participate in they city’s call to stand united during this whole crisis. Truth be told this flag was given to me by a veteran a few years back and has served as a background for a lot of our photoshoots. It’s been in storage for a few years ever since we closed our studio but it’s still coming in handy. #MissionStrong

 

 

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 by Abel

Texas Photography – Solar Power

McAllen Commercial Photographer Solar Power Farm

I needed a break from the video editing for a while and started to go through some of the 2019 archives – Adventures in Texas photography. Here’s one from a solar power farm being built out in the outskirts of Encino. The project owners are from California and I believe this will be one of their first solar power farms based here in South Texas. I’ve seen the huge wind farms they have out in Cameron county, but have never seen a solar power farm up close.

This is just a glimpse of phase one and what you don’t see is all the cabling they put into this whole project. They tether all these banks together with what I’m guessing would be miles and miles of cable. I decided to go with the drone to finish up the project as I didn’t want to end up as a snack for rattle snakes. It was pretty cold that morning and the snakes were apparently coming out to sun themselves.

Never been a fan of taking unnecessary risks so I just hung back. You have to love technology. — in Encino, Texas.

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 by Abel

#themcallenphotographer – February 2020 update

What have I been up to?

The question should be what haven’t we been doing.

Honestly it’s been really three things:

McAllen Web Designer

  • Building websites here in McAllen – Yeah I was a web designer in a previous life and have been building websites since 1996-ish.  I can’t remember EXACTLY when I started, but all I can say I kinda backed into the job as I had to do a marketing presentation for an advertising class.

    Long story short I had an advertising class that required a group of us to build a marketing plan for a fictional company so we went with a web design theme as it was before the dot com bust and everything was going online.  We’re talking about a time where yahoo was king and google was just being mentioned in the search engine community.  Always the project went over so well and the professor loved it that she recommended us to do something together as a team on our own.  I was the only one crazy enough to do it so off I went, and the rest is history.  Now flash forward 20+ years and the world has changed so much.  There are so many agencies trying to get your attention and hold it so they can look at what ever they’re selling or advocating for.  Social media wasn’t even on anyone’s radar back then, heck even the place I graduated from has changed from UTPA to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

 

 

  • Shooting commercial photos – Part of what we do (I say we because there are other people helping me out behind the scenes) is make sure the images that you want on your website / print products match what the vision.  We’ve crafted fun headshots all shot on location or the clients’s homes/offices to showcasing one of a kind products right in the warehouse.  They never had to bring anything over to our studio here in Mission.  I learned the hard way almost 20 years ago that it’s just easier if we go to you, we take the lights, backdrops, and of course the cameras,

 

  • And the root of it all Video work (That’s where I started).  With God’s grace we’ll start production work again on a huge 5 part series for a local boot company.  I can’t say too much about it as we’re still finalizing the details but it’s going to be a lot of fun.  What I LOVE about video is the creativity you can place onto a story.  Every one has a story and it’s awesome that we live in a world where we can share more about what fuels us, our triumphs, and even the day to day details of what makes a great company.

And that’s really about it.  I’ve never been much for blogging but I’m trying.  It’s not going to be perfect and I’m trying my best as writing has never been one of my strong points.  I read one of Dean Graziosi‘s books a while back and really hammered on how other people’s opinions were holding him back.  He’s a great speaker but by his own words, he’s always had trouble putting his thoughts down onto paper for various reasons.  But when he just tried it all changed for him.  I figured why not.  I’ve put this thing on the back burner too long and I’d like to share a little bit more of what I do and some of the great people I get to work with.

Here’s to a good year.

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 by Abel

Commercial Photography Editing

Friday night photography editing. I’ll be honest I try and get it right in camera but there are times you have to make adjustments on event photos and Lightroom is AWESOME!

Now having said that I also over shoot to make sure I have a good shot to represent that part of the conference so I have to look though a lot of pics just to find that right one. I would say about 20% of what I do is actually being behind the camera, the rest is editing, cataloging, story telling, and getting the things out on time and to the right people.

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 by Abel

President Disability Chamber of Commerce Headshot

I just got home from a 13 hour day and now it’s Time to start editing. I had a great head shot session with Evelyn Cano the President Disability Chamber of Commerce -RGV and formally of Capable Kids Foundation, Inc.

She’s always doing something and she’s just about to launch one of a kind Chamber of Commerce helping adults with special needs and businesses that are looking for qualified personnel work together. You can always follow her instagram stories and her feed at @evelyn_theadvocate.

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 by Abel

Happy New Year from Abel Riojas Photography!

 

(My boys and I ringing in the new year here in McAllen)

First let me say Happy New Year! We made it to 2020! 

To be honest it never really occurred to me that we were closing out yet another decade!  I never really thought it like that till someone pointed that out on instagram.  I never really look at time like that…I usually try and break everything down into small chunks.  Some people call them micro-decisions I just call it day to day operations, and of course before you know it hours turn into days, days turn into months…you get the picture.

I’d like to use this platform not to sell or talk about commercial / portrait photography…but to let people in on all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on.  I’m more active on instagram stories thanks to The Branding Professor so that’s been a big change for me.  But every now and then people ask me “what do I do all day?” and the answer is I’m usually in meetings or editing.  Every now and then I’m still doing website work here and there or even helping out new clients with part of their product / business branding practices.  Going back to the basics but a lot of new updated stuff that I’ve tried out in our photography business that can definitely help them get to the next level.

Anyways, here’s to a new decade and a whole lot of fun.

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 by Abel

McAllen Fire House

What a crazy month it’s been. 

i’m not complaining in any way but normally we usually knock off by December 14th and we just coast into the new year with new projects.  We’ll be off for at least two MAYBE three days before we jump back into the swing of things but I wanted to start sharing some of my favorite images from this past month.

Last week I had a chance to document a family as they went back to visit where they grew up.  They helped the City of #McAllen by donating property to help expand a firehouse to better serve the community.  It was cool hearing their stories about growing up in the area and even taking a ride with the grandkids in a fire truck to see the neighborhood.  Lots of memories and fun all around.

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 by Abel

Mobile Photography Studio

mcallen-commercial-portrait-photographerBefore

mcallen-commercial-portrait-photographer
After (What you see)

mcallen-commercial-portrait-photographer

Before and after photos. This morning we were over in Weslaco knocking out headshots from the customer’s break room. The nice thing for them is they didn’t have to leave and we were able to get the doctors in and out within 15 minutes.

The nice thing about taking portable gear is you’re able to transform ALMOST any location into a studio.  I’ve been able to set up in smaller conference rooms, break rooms and ONCE in a storage closet.  We just moved all the cleaning supplies away to make build the studio.

As always we arrived a bit early, this time in Weslaco’s Knapp Medical area and found a spot in the middle of a break room.  Luckily the staff was friendly and wasn’t too upset when they couldn’t get to coffee.  (No meltdowns happened and everyone was still smiling at the end).

In the end, we knocked out the photos and the team members saw and approved their photos.  We should have the end results with in 24 hours so they can go to print and update their website.

If you’d like to update your website or your look you can always reach out to us.  Shoot us a quick email and let us know what you’re looking to do and we’ll make sure you’re squared away.

 

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