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With so many young families today placing a renewed emphasis on family gatherings, the art of portrait-taking is as in vogue as ever. With virtually every household in your area a potential portrait customer, this portion of the photography business is too large to overlook.

Families keep portraits forever. Parents use them to watch their kids grow up and then remember those days years later. Not only is every household a prospect, but a well-done first portrait can bring you repeat business from the same family for years.

You don’t need a studio to do portraits. You can rearrange one of the rooms in your house and accomplish the same thing for no overhead! Earlier, we suggested a tripod and a floodlight or two. The only addition to those items to set up a portrait studio at home would be some kind of colored background material you can tape up on the walls. Presto! A home studio!

This is not only a home studio, it can serve as a traveling one, too! Bring your background material, your lights and your camera and tripod and you can do your portrait almost anywhere: a client’s house, an office, a school building. You have to be prepared to hide any "alien" elements like other lights, tables, pictures, whatever might distract from the centerpiece: the picture of the family members/individual.

In portraits, it’s important to have everyone doing the right things. With several people, be sure they are arranged properly so that no one is blocking anyone else. Ask the kids to smile, not to make faces. You can take a serious shot or two as well. You’re in charge, although you must do it in a manner that is pleasant and controlled, but firm. After taking a few portraits, you will know what works best, not only in photography, but in the discreet suggestions to clients to better ensure a portrait they'll be pleased with for years to come.

There are thousands of memories stored away in pictures and that’s a lot of responsibility for you to get it right. But you can do it! Work with a child to make him or her happy, even if you know (or it’s obvious) they would like to be somewhere else. Years later, these precocious young clients will be pleased with the effort you made to get the portrait right, as they pull down an old album.

If you’re in the position of trying to build up a portrait (or photography) business, you can try an idea many photographers use to get started. They advertise a free or low-cost $1.00 portrait special for a family member. You sign up as many as you can take and then, as they sit, snap a few different shots of the person. You present your free or low-cost portrait framed (their choice of photo) and then you offer the additional shots and sizes that good pictures are likely to encourage. Not many people can pass up wallet-sizes, for example, of a good portrait. Your add-on sales should make up for the giveaway, generate your own portfolio of portraits to show other potential clients, and get your name known about town as a competent portrait photographer.

Children also have their pictures taken at school. The school photos are often done by a portrait photographer like yourself! Get down to each of the schools, put a bid in to do the portraits and leave samples of your past portrait work. Large towns have several schools as prospects. In addition, drive out to schools that are off the beaten track, but within a comfortable driving distance for you. They may not have someone they use regularly and your professional approach may attract a few offers to do the school portraits.

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The world is constantly changing but not like in the past few hundred years. Technological advancements are forcing the environment to change in a way that is not at all desirable to human-kind. Though technology has made our lives comfortable to a great extent the same factors of comfort are contributing to making the world a difficult and uncomfortable place to live in.

The machines that cool or heat our homes and offices contribute to global warming that is causing disastrous changes to the climate and the environment as a whole. The climatic changes all around the globe is leading to environmental disasters in almost every country and this should be sounding alarm bells in every home of the world. However, we are still taking things easy hoping for the governments of the world to do something about putting a climate change emergency program in place.

People should learn from the devastating earthquakes, typhoons and tsunamis that are wrecking havoc around the world. The first point in an emergency program should be to

educate the people as to the factors that lead to such environmental disasters and howto detect or predict the possible occurrence of one. Then the next step should include lessons on how to prepare for such contingencies.

Knowledge on howto act in times of environmental emergencies will help people improve their chances of surviving and coming out of such a situation with the least amount of damage.

Evidence is pointing to the fact that nature is going to hold man-kind responsible for the degradation of nature and the onslaught of natural disasters is inevitable. Mankind should be prepared to face these disasters if not do something to avert them - if it is not too late already. Greenhouse gases are not just government propaganda. It is a fierce reality and is the main contributing factor to global warming a phenomenon that is likely result in half the globe being submerged under the seas due to the melting of the ice caps at the poles of the globe.

It is believed that no matter what man does now there is no way of averting warming of the globe, it can only be delayed. What is of prime importance now is that man should understand the problems of climate change and howto react in such times. When climate change brings about a rise in the levels of the seas and oceans, forest fires and other disasters man must know the best measures to be taken.

It is important that the governments of every country should set up a contingency plan and a training program to educate the people as to how they should react in the event of an emergency brought on by climate changes. This will contribute to millions of people being in a better position to safe guard their lives and property and will lessen the impact of the environmental disaster.

With the present knowledge acquired by scientists around he world we now have a better chance of surviving -we also have a better choice.

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Preparing for a Disaster with the Right Insurance

Planning things ahead of time is the best way to ensure that you execute things the way you want them to be. However, there are some things that could happen that are totally out of the ordinary. There is no way you could plan for it.

Accidents and emergency situations are some of the instances that can really surprise you. These events are out of the control of any individual. They are beyond your means and power, just like when a disaster strikes.

Still, this does not mean that you are completely helpless in such situations. You really cannot have these events booked in your schedule so you can be out of the way when such serious disasters happen. Yet, you still can prepare for it in your own way.

Getting the Right Rental or Homeowner Insurance Policy

Owning or occupying a house entails the responsibility of taking the necessary precautions to protect the property and everyone in the household. This will, of course, cost you some amount, but it will be worth the security ensured.

There are also instances when getting covered by insurance is a requirement. Some lessors or managers of apartments will require their occupants to first get policy coverage. There are various insurance policies that can be offered to you as you occupy your house or rented premises. These will cover the usual incidents and specified risks that coincide with the occupation of the property. However, these standard homeowner policies will only cover the usual incidents that go with occupying the premises. It can cover areas such as repairs, maintenance, security or damage.

Consequences of disasters are not included.

Some standard insurance policies can cover instances of flood or earthquake. However, there is no assurance that it will cover completely everything needed. The coverage also depends on the risks in your locality to such disasters. Thus rather than wish for this, it is best to take the step to get your household covered. The key to completely protect your interests at all times is to get the right kind of insurance that you can rely on in case a disaster strikes your household.

Getting a Disaster Insurance Policy Coverage

Disaster insurance will cover any disastrous event that could be very devastating to a particular locality. This covers happenings such as tornados, earthquakes, floods and hurricanes. This will answer for any damage or loss brought about by the disaster. However, these policies will not cover the extraordinary happening of disastrous events mentioned above. You really need to get an additional disaster insurance.

Getting disaster insurance can be relatively expensive. This is one reason why most people do not immediately get it despite the fact that there really is a necessity to have one. Owners of houses do not have enough motivation to get one unless they are required. They will really not choose to buy one. They only feel the need when the disaster strikes already, but this is too late.

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91. Keep your health insurance cards on hand at all times. It is important to always have your health insurance cards at the ready in case you need to be taken to a hospital for any reason. Parents should keep the cards of their children on hand as well, in case of an emergency.

92. If you are moving into a new area, talk to an insurance agent to find out what is commonly excluded based upon the location where you will live. It is common for flood damage to be excluded from homeowner’s policies in flood-ridden areas. Fire insurance is generally a separate policy, and most standard policies will not cover natural disaster (or, Act of God) damage.

93. Set up an emergency financial fund. It is a good idea to establish an emergency fund in a separate savings account. In the event of an emergency you may need to be able to pay for food, clothing and a hotel. Or, you may need to be able to replace your refrigerator due to flood damage. Either way, insurance companies often take weeks or longer to process emergency claims and you are better off being able to carry the upfront costs while waiting for reimbursement.

94. Consider putting together an evacuation box. This is a good way to make sure that you are ready if evacuation is imminent. Use a waterproof box that contains cash, maybe traveler’s checks, medication, important papers and photographs of family members. It should also contain a list of important phone numbers and duplicate insurance cards, or copies. Anything else that you might need should be in this box.

95. Store valuable papers off-site. Many people have rented safe deposit boxes through their bank as a place to safely store records, papers and duplicates of important documents. This is a good place to store insurance policies, your will and a copy of your prescriptions.

96. Know ahead of time what you would take with you. If you are faced with one hour until evacuation during an emergency, you will want to know ahead of time what you will want to grab first. Most likely, you will already have cash and important documents, but you should develop a list of items to grab and their location within the home. It is recommended that you take only those things that cannot be replaced.

97. Make sure that your will is up to date. It’s difficult sometimes to realize that in a natural disaster and other emergencies we put our lives at risk simply by being alive. Therefore, you should always keep your will updated and on file with an attorney. If you are a parent, be certain to include stipulations regarding your children.

98. Consider a savings account with a credit union or bank that is outside of your local area. In the case of a major emergency, local banks will most likely be closed. Therefore, you would be wise to consider a bank account with an institution that will most likely be unaffected by a local emergency. It may take longer to get access to the funds, however at least you will be able to get to them.

99. Keep some of your investments liquid. If you are the type of person to invest your emergency funds, that’s a wonderful way to see your savings grow over time. However, if you need to wait ten days to liquidate an asset you may experience significant problems. Therefore, a money market might be a good idea for at least part of your emergency fund.

100. Know your local area. Even if you are new to a location, it is important to know the area very well. You should have several planned routes for evacuation if necessary and you should know where to go in case of an emergency. Become familiar with where the police and fire departments are located as well as any other businesses or organizations that you may need in case of an emergency.

101. Keep copies of your computerized files. It is important to always have a back up of your computer files in the event of any sort of emergency. Many people no longer keep paper records for their homes and businesses. A good idea is to make a DVD or CD back up every month and to place it somewhere that you can get to it in an emergency. You can place it in your firebox or consider keeping it at your office.