We get our inspiration for imagery pretty much “on the fly.” This pretty much means that we don’t go to a wedding thinking “I’m going to create this particular image today.” Instead, we look at a scene or subject and think about the possibilities, and execute whatever we can in the time we have.
This past weekend’s wedding was just such an opportunity. Over the years I have been doing photography, I have picked up the ability to see the finished image before I click the shutter. Sounds corny, I know, but I know what I can do with images, know my lighting and exposure well, and just fit the subjects into the image capture I saw in my mind’s eye.
Melissa and Joey had a fun wedding, full of happiness, surprise and wonderful family & friends.
And they were very cooperative when I had an idea about this image:
I’ll post more images later… this one stood out, and I wanted to share it. 🙂
In this post, I told you about working with The Alpine Adventure Agency to come up with a photography workshop that combines an amazing vacation, an incredible package chock full of lots of adventure, and an educational workshop that could only take place in the Italian Alps.
Well, everything has been organized and laid out by Daniela Anderson, owner of The Alpine Adventure Agency, and we’re ready to reveal all the details. But before that, let me tell you how I came up with our exclusive workshop program.
- It was important for me to first educate you about determining composition and posing. For many who attend this workshop, these segments will be very interactive. I encourage ideas on posing from anyone and everyone, because having interaction means you are getting involved.
- There is so much packed into the lighting element, that it will just spin by. But I’m so excited about this part because there is so much to work with in this beautiful environment.
- Finally, we’ll start to pull it all together by using new angles, exploring the camera settings and giving you a chance to apply everything you’ve learned in an unprecedented portrait session with a beautiful Italian model… who, by the way, will be accompanying us EVERY day of the workshop. 🙂
Now, on to the details. Daniela Anderson is a wizard at planning exotic vacations, many of which have also included workshops in the arts and crafts arena. And so rather than me duplicating all her efforts, I’m just going to refer you to the page she designed which outlines not only the workshop elements, but all the other details about this fabulous Italian vacation.
Here’s the link: Italian Vacation & Photography Workshop
It’s a great vacation, with plenty of value, fun, and food. AND you get a great workshop, an awesome location, and did I mention the food? 🙂
So, quite a bit of snow out there. Too much for many people… just right for penguins and polar bears. And more on the way. Yeah… I know.
But let’s try to make the best of the situation and have some fun with pictures. We’re hosting a Snow Photo Contest. Here’s how it works:
– There are two categories: Funniest Snow Photo and Most Artistic Snow Photo.
– You can only enter one photo per category.
– The contest is open to our Facebook fans, clients, and their friends and family who live in the snowy northeast. To make the contest fair, and with no slight to my photographer friends, this contest has to be limited to non-professionals.
– The winners (Diana and I are the judges) will receive a free T-shirt with your picture on it, customized with any text you’d like (like a caption or logo). Our decisions are final (as always 🙂 ).
– The contest entries must be received no later than Wednesday, February 10 at 7:00pm. Any received after that will not be considered.
To submit your photo, email your photo to photos@tlcphotography.com. We will acknowledge your entry and email everyone with the winning entries as well as posting it here on the blog.
Please email us if you have any questions.
Ready?
Set.
Go…!
Speaking with a number of photographers, both locally and across the country, I’ve learned that the number of wedding inquiries is up… way up. And the number of bookings is going way up, too. And I have a theory.
A lot of people wanted to get married last year. 2009 wasn’t a great year for a lot of people… a depressed economy puts of a lot of purchases, and sometimes weddings. Because there’s a lot of buying and renting for weddings, I think a lot of people put off their weddings until 2010. Hence the high number of inquiries and bookings.
Since January 1, we have received 28 inquiries for weddings in 2010 and 2011… I’ve even gotten one for 2012! Most of our consultations started this week, a couple of weeks after a bridal show. We’ve had consultations every night this week except Tuesday. One of them called at 3:45 and was there by 4:30 and booked before 6pm. It’s crazy!
In a good way. 🙂
I have at least two more consultations on Saturday. I’m hoping to book them both. I have two other wedding consultations that are getting back to me with their package decisions.
But here’s the point (isn’t there always one?): If you want a good photographer for your wedding, you’d better contact them now. Don’t wait until a few weeks before your wedding. You might end up with the family uncle with a point and shoot camera! 🙁
Enjoy the weather.
What the…?
Confusing, eh? 🙂
Those are the four dates NEXT year that will become the most popular wedding dates of the year 2011. They are, in order:
1 1 11 = January 1, 2011 (Saturday)
1 11 11 = January 11, 2011 (Tuesday)
11 1 11 = November 1, 2011 (Tuesday)
11 11 11 = November 11, 2011 (Friday)
It seems over the last several years, people have flocked to the numerically sequential dates, or those which have familiar numerical sequences. The most popular days of the week are Saturdays in the United States, and in 2008 more people got married on the single date of June 7, 2008 (6-7-08, a Saturday) than any other single date that year. And let us not forget another popular wedding date this past decade, 7-7-07 (also a Saturday).
While the trend continues unabated, the message here is to book early if you want to reserve those special dates in 2011. As of this writing, our calendar is open that date. 🙂
By the way, 10-10-10 is a Sunday.
We’re open then, too.
So, you’re planning your wedding. There’s so much to think about and do… so much to plan and consider. So many people to involve, inform and induct into your wedding world. Fun, huh? 🙂
Over the years, I have worked with some amazing vendors, from bands and DJs to caterers, venues, florists, and napkin makers. I’ve seen the worst of DJs who would rather hear their own voice than play the music you hired them for. Caterers that forget basics, like silver ware. Venues that get the date wrong. Florists that deliver the flowers with the wrong selections in them. I won’t even go into what the napkin maker did (you really don’t want to know).
One thing that seems to be a recurring theme throughout the wedding vendor industry, at least one that appeals so greatly to my sense of "what a great vendor" is the element of customer service. I have long been the ultimate proponent of throwing anyone out of a service organization that delivered poor customer service. The client is your lifeline. Without it, there is no business. But some go above and beyond.
I recall a caterer who had prepared two dishes incorrectly and that were not ordered by the bride’s family. Ordinarily, they might have accepted the meal "as is" and taken a discount later, but they couldn’t accept the meal because it would have triggered an allergy in about 30% of her family members, including the groom. Shellfish allergies seem to run in the family. Instead of throwing up their hands and saying "there’s nothing we can do," the owner called two of his own family members. About ten minutes later, some more appetizers were delivered (people were hungry!). Thirty minutes after that, six big trays of a new dish was delivered, enough to feed twice the people there. Now, that’s customer service.
Everyone makes mistakes. There’s just no exception to that. The ability to recover from those mistakes and give you a good attitude at the same time is the measure of good customer service.
I personally take pride in the level of customer service provided here. I have never argued with a client. If they are upset about something, I listen to their entire situation before responding. And in almost every case, we have worked out a reasonable solution for everyone. Of course, with only one situation every year or so, you’d think we’re out of practice. 🙂
The important part for you brides to be is to remember that a) we’re human, and we will make mistakes, b) if you give us the opportunity to fix a problem, it will probably be taken care of quickly, and c) only the best of professionals will always provide great client service.
Good luck with that wedding planning. 😉
But verify!
I recently spent some time with a woman who has photographed weddings in the past. She recounted a story where she was shooting a wedding, with her daughter. She was using her favorite camera to shoot during the ceremony, mostly overall proceedings, while her daughter photographed wide shots.
She went on to explain that during the ceremony, she changed a setting on the camera, unintentionally, and the images began to show up on her rear monitor as very overexposed. For the next several minutes, she tried a variety of things to overcome the problem and get back to shooting the ceremony. This included changing camera settings, using a different lens, and more.
After she was done recalling this worst day of her wedding career, I asked "why didn’t you just grab your backup camera?" Her response was "my daughter had it."
I was somewhat shocked. Not from the standpoint that her daughter had a camera, but that her daughter had the ONLY OTHER CAMERA, and that the primary photographer had no backup. Please understand I’m not picking on her, because for all intents and purposes everyone has to start somewhere. But this woman is a professional photographer, and accepts money for her work. To be this unprepared means that the level of professionalism suffers considerably.
Well… it comes down to this…
After 25 years as a wedding professional, it has become a personal mission to make sure I am always prepared at a wedding. This means having backup equipment with me wherever I am at the wedding. During the ceremony, at least one backup camera is nearby or around my neck or shoulder. That’s important to me in case something goes wrong with my main camera. I also carry spare batteries, cards and lenses. And I won’t waste any time trying to figure out what went wrong with the camera in my hand… I’ll immediately switch to the other camera. It’s THAT important not to miss anything.
After all, it only happens once.
Ask your photographer if they have backup equipment. In fact, ask them if they have backup everything. They may think you’re just checking off a block, but reinforce to them that your wedding images are very important to you and that you only want to make sure that there’s little chance anything will happen to your photos. It’s important.
Trust your photographer… but verify that they are ready for a camera failure. It WILL happen to at least one of you.
A week or so ago, a friend of Diana’s and mine contacted me about teaching a workshop while on an exotic excursion in and around a town in the Italian Alps. I will admit to being hesitant at first. I have almost forever been the "home is where I’m safe" guy. That means my day starts at home, I go to my studio, I get done, and go home. I love being home. And the thought of venturing out, not just beyond my home, but outside my country and into a very small area in a country I’ve never visited was, well… daunting.
So Daniela (the friend/vacation arranger person) asks me to give it some thought and let her know what I could come up with as far as an educational workshop that would fit with an existing program which includes tours of some of the area’s most incredible scenery, food, wine and entertainment.
After a few days, I had some ideas in mind, but I wasn’t really sure how they would play out within the existing scheme of the vacation agenda. So, Daniela visited the studio on Wednesday to give us an idea of not only what to expect, but more about the gist of the adventure. And after the first hour, I was going into a daze. Diana soon recognized this and quickly rushed me a large mug of hot coffee.
By the time we were done talking, I realized that the location (San Martino di Castrozza in the foothills of the Italian Alps) was quite nearly The Perfect Place for a sweeping approach to a lot of different photographic possibilities. But I had to rein myself in a bit, because a) everything I’d want to cover could last for months, b) there’s so much more to see and do that there’s no way I could keep your attention for more than a few hours at a time, and c) *I* want to see more of the sites.
So, after all that, what are we looking at? This is more or less preliminary, but the general concept is the same:
1) The trip is from August 29-September 7. The time we spend in San Martino di Castrozza would be the majority of the time there, but each day we would venture out to surrounding areas.
2) Each day of the trip, something new is going on. A photographer who lives there is something of a nature/landscape expert in the area, and conveniently quite an amazing photographer. Alessandro Simon is a full-time photography instructor for The Alpine Adventure Agency, which is owned by Daniela and her husband, Ken. Alessandro would be showing you the best places and settings for your equipment to get great images of the scenery around you (and above you, and below you, etc.)
3) In the afternoon for six of the days of the trip, I will have an opportunity to work with you to find the best places and angles to take advantage of the sweeping and intimate imagery available for portraiture and wedding photography. The town itself has so many wonderful places, that it will be hard to contain yourself. We have already lined up a beautiful model (a local) who is happy to pose for us during these portions of our workshop.
4) In addition to the photo workshop and opportunities, you will also have the opportunity to hike, take an amazing cable car ride, dine in some of the most incredible restaurants, learn from expert chefs in a cooking demonstration, visit a glacier lake, a fabric maker, an amazing wood sculptor, enjoy local entertainment, and so much more than I can possibly explain here.
Things are still unfolding, but my plan is to create a workshop that will truly prepare you for the adventures in photography, both at home and in exotic locations. Optional evening sessions will be available (and we’re still working out the details on that) to explore new horizons in lighting, composition and posing your subjects.
Please contact the folks at Alpine Adventure Agency to get started. Information on pricing, availability and the agenda will be available soon.
So, I’m driving to the studio this morning… the usual route.
Let me back up a second.
Diana and I usually ride in to the studio together. Since we live in Shepherdstown, the ride to Pikeside in Martinsburg is about 30 minutes in length. I usually drive, and Diana usually rides shotgun.
Along the way it is not unusual for us to see deer, squirrels and various other wildlife. We’ve seen raccoons, opossums, hawks, and a heron once in awhile (especially down by the river, but once crossing the road), and even a couple of foxes. We tend to point them out to each other, and often in an effort not to make them part of the roadkill statistics. :\
This morning, however, we’re on one of the back roads (to avoid all the traffic lights that have sprung up around here) and after rounding a turn, I see a turkey… not one of those skinny, ugly birds you see in groups of ten or more. This was a fluffy turkey that was on a pathway to suicide. If I’d delayed a half second in responding, our little friend would have met his demise. If the brakes had locked up, again we’d be having a turkey feast this weekend. Instead, the bird missed my front bumper by mere inches.
The part of the story that’s missing here is that Diana often contemplates her day on the ride into work. Which often means she isn’t watching the road by this point, since we are typically out of the danger of wildlife crossing the road. So, as I hit the brakes, she lurched forward into her seatbelt. Now fully aware of the surroundings, and a healthy dose of adrenalin, she said a silent curse for the turkey, and went back to contemplating.
I wonder what kind of turkey that was?
There comes a time when you just need a little change. I guess I’ve reached that time. I’ve been using one blog system for a number of years, and it has served me well. But for a number of reasons, I have decided to change the way my blog works.
1) We are now hosting our own blog on our website. The blog address is http://tlcphotography.com/blog. This gives us an opportunity to control how much we can do and from whence our images go and are stored.
2) Improved automation. A lot more things are available for the new blog system that I find more advantageous for the type of blogging I do.
3) Remote handling. I can do just about anything without having to “log in” to do it. I’m all about making it easier to do.
I like simple and smart.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=be5da19f-5a3a-494e-95d4-a1505310d2fb)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=eb2793ac-b6f1-419e-94ec-62150f2bd66a)
