Artticle about ME! in the Tri-County Newspaper

I was very honored to be featured in the January 26th edition of our local newspaper! Riva, who has taught photo journalism, connected with me so well and expressed so much better than I could, my passion for photography and my desire to help people by capturing a special person or moment. And Riva took several of my photos and displayed with the article, as well as some photos of me in my studio. Here is the article......

By Riva Sharples
The Tri-County News

Last fall, while attending a photography workshop in the Black Hills, Wakonda resident Cathy Logue met a woman who had resigned from her high-paying position in corporate business to pursue her passion, photography.

“Wow,” Logue remembers thinking. “She’s living the dream.”

Then, inspiration hit. Logue realized that she, too, could live her dream, at least in part.

Thus began a whirlwind of activity for Logue and her husband, Charlie, as they worked to create a photography studio in Wakonda for Logue.

The new studio, located in the former Anderson Produce building on Main Street, is an impressive, professional facility that features studio lights, backdrops, and props. Logue overhauled the building’s “egg room” to create the studio, stripping and re-finishing the wooden floor, painting the high tin walls on three sides, and completing a wall on another side to create a spacious and comfortable space.

When the Logues began the renovation project, there was a car sitting in the middle of the “egg room” and a garage door in one wall. Cathy and Charlie spent many hours transforming the space.

At first, Logue was interested in creating the studio for personal use.
“I wanted a place where I could shoot photos in the winter, when it was too cold to go outside,” Logue says.

Logue soon decided to go public with her studio after people started contacting her, requesting that she shoot their photographs. The more photographs she posted on Facebook and through her blog, the more people requesting her services.

Logue realized in creating her studio in Wakonda, she could offer a convenient, reasonably-priced service to area residents.

“It can be really expensive to go to a professional photographer and have your photo taken,” Logue says. “I don’t consider myself at the professional level. I’m still learning, so I can be reasonably priced.”

Logue charges $50 for a one-hour photography session for up to four people and one outfit change. Photographs captured during that session are then edited and burned onto a CD. Logue provides the CD and a copyright release to customers so that they can take the images and have prints made wherever they would like. Logue offers other packages, too, including a Birth to One Year package that documents infants at various intervals during the first year. There is no mileage charge for Logue to travel to locations within 30 miles of Wakonda, she says.

Logue, a Registered Nurse who has worked as an education coordinator for USD’s School of Medicine for 21 years, says she can afford to offer such a good deal to people because she is not quitting her day job. She has opened her studio so that she can pursue her passion for photography while sharing her talent with others.

“I just love photography,” says Logue. “I love working with people, especially. Capturing the emotions and getting a shot that leaps out at me is just so much fun.”

But it can also be incredibly time-consuming. In addition to time spent in the studio or on location capturing the images (Logue spends a minimum of one to two hours on most shoots), she also puts in many hours in her “digital darkroom,” where she uses computer software to crop, enhance, and perfect images before they are given to customers.

“I don’t think people realize how much time it takes after you shoot a photo,” says Logue. “I’ve spent many nights up until midnight working on images, when I’m a person who used to go to bed at 9 p.m.”

Still, Logue enjoys the work immensely. She says she has always enjoyed taking photographs. Her two children, Ashley and Emily who are both grown now, were well-documented through photos and video as they grew up. Logue has also been a passionate scrapbooker for years.

Her passion for photography blossomed in 2008 when her daughter Ashley got married and Logue bought a digital SLR (manual control) camera. At first, Logue jumped into landscape and wildlife photography (an area she still enjoys), but then she found herself drawn to people photography, particularly after her grandson, Noah, was born 10 months ago.

In 2009, Logue attended her first photography workshop. Since then, she’s sought out more education about studio lighting and photography through workshops, two photography groups in Vermillion, and a photography group in Yankton. Last fall, she took a photography trip/workshop to the Black Hills. This year, she plans to return. Logue has even been in touch with area photographers, from whom she gleans additional tips.

Logue’s specialty is infant and child photography. In her former career as a nurse at Pioneer Memorial in Viborg (where she worked for 10 years before going to USD), Logue worked with many labors and deliveries. She believes her time spent around newborns has made her a more patient and better photographer. During a photo session, Logue takes her time, working with the infant or child to help his or her personality shine, and taking lots of breaks along the way to play, eat, or just relax with the child.

Logue’s favorite place to photograph her subjects is on location, she says, where she finds people are more comfortable and natural in their own settings. But, she’s also happy to shoot subjects in her new studio, and she will photograph individuals or groups, from infants and children to high school seniors and families. This spring, Logue will be shooting her first wedding, too.

You can reach Cathy Logue (Photography by Cathy Jo) at 267-2754 or 661-3812.


Riva J. Sharples
Editor, Tri-County News