The Roles are Reversed

I'm used to being the one writing stories and taking pictures of people, but this time - it was the other way around. The lovely & talented Erin Madison of the Great Falls Tribune wrote a story about our new business in this Saturday's BUSINESS section. Since the article ran, there's been around 1,000 hits on the blog!!! Thank you to everyone who took the time to check us out!

Article published Sep 29, 2007
News anchor branches out
By ERIN MADISON
Tribune Staff Writer

A familiar Great Falls TV personality can now be found behind the camera as well as in front of it.

Cindy Cieluch, a news anchor for KRTV, recently started her own portrait photography business.

She officially launched the company, Cindy Cieluch Photography, in June, but has been working to start it since January.

Owning a photography business has always been Cieluch's "secret dream," something she talked to her husband Matt about wanting to do someday.

He always encouraged her to go for it, Cieluch said, but this past Christmas he surprised her with a new camera, which provided enough motivation for her to take the leap.

Cieluch minored in photography in college.

"That was just my hobby," she said.

Since she got her new camera, Cieluch has been taking lots of pictures of her friends, their children and their pets to build up a portfolio.

Much of her work can be viewed on the photographer's Web site — www.cindycieluch.com.

Cieluch shoots anything from babies to weddings and everything in between.

Her favorite thing to shoot is engagement photos. She likes watching the couple interact with each other, she said.

Cieluch incorporates her journalism background into her photography, using a photojournalistic style — trying to catch people acting naturally, rather than in posed portraits.

She remembers when she got her senior portraits done they were very formal and posed.

"I thought it was just painful," she said.

Cieluch added that she wants her subjects to have fun and be themselves.

That is something Jolie Kiser likes best about Cieluch's photos.

Kiser has had three photo shoots with Cieluch. One was when her son was first born and the others have been as the now 10-month-old has grown.

"She caught expressions from my son that I hadn't been able to capture on film," said Kiser, who owns the Living Room, a salon and day spa in Great Falls. "It just captures a moment in your life that you can't go back to."

Cieluch works hard to make sure her subjects feel comfortable in front of the camera and to make them laugh, then tries to catch them during the in-between moments, when they're being themselves, she said.

She also tries to find unique places to take pictures. She doesn't have a studio, so everything is done on location. She's done shoots in alleys, hayfields and in babies' nurseries.

Something that looks kind of plain and ugly can look really good in photos, Cieluch said.

Some of the best shots are just totally spontaneous, she said. She'll be driving somewhere with a client, see something neat and stop and take photos.

Kiser said she had doubts about some of the places Cieluch took her for her photo shoots, but they all came out great in the pictures.

"How she shoots, it is just very artistic," Kiser said.

Once Cieluch does a photo shoot, she puts all the proofs online and allows customers to order them that way.

She even puts a slideshow of the pictures to music, Kiser said.

"It just feels like you're watching your life," she said.

Cieluch even keeps a blog of her photo shoots, something that many photographers do. It's a good way for people to get to know her as a person and to become familiar with her work, she said. Her blog can be found online at http://cindycieluch.blogspot.com/