Becky's "trash the dress"

A new trend in Wedding Photography is to "trash your dress." The dress isn't actually trashed, but before trying to spend $$$ to stick it in a box and put it in storage, brides are using their photographer to capture the dress again... without worrying if some dirt get's on it... this is after the wedding of course.

I wanted to get some examples for my brides to see so my sorority sister Becky (who is getting married in Dec!) was gracious enough to be my model. I found the dress on Craigslist.com. Here's the result of a fun shoot with a great friend!

Jacks 1!

Little Jackson really is my favorite boy. He's one now, but it's hard to believe how much he has grown in the past 5+ months I've known him. His parents had a party for all their friends... poor kid though didn't make it to his cake... he got too sleepy and fell asleep in his high chair...

I do have to start with a picture of big brother Noah, who'se almost 3.



Happy Birthday Jack-Jack.

Alan's 30th Birthday Surprise

Today was Alan’s 30th birthday and all his friends got together for a surprise birthday party. It was a great pool party, helping us to cool off from an incredibly hot summer day. A couple crazy dogs, adorable kids, a grill, and friends made for a wonderful birthday celebration. Happy Birthday Alan!

A "Kit Lens" vs. a "Fast Lens"

Not to digress from actual photos, here's a post a wrote today for a Wedding Photography group I am a part of... but if you read to the end I promise a photo from the other night...

Kit Lenses vs "Fast" Lenses

Let me begin by saying, I'm a consumer, not expert on the lens market. This is merely the information that I have gathered in my career and learned from personal experience. I am also a Nikon shooter and therefore, more familiar with Nikkor Glass.

I imagine that the majority if not all of us own(ed) a "kit" lens. These lenses most typically come bundled with a SLR body. These lenses by design are made of cheaper materials... and are purposefully made for the everyday family photographer. (Get our product into everyone's hands, good strategy ;-) These lenses do their job and still are able to, in capable hands, produce quality photographs.

When a photographer speaks of a "fast" lens they are referring to the aperture on the lens. This is not just highly beneficial for wedding photography, it is most CRUCIAL! Let's first look at the effect aperture has on your photography... You are shooting a wedding and it's the brides childhood dream. There she is, in her church she grew up in, standing with her groom, the soft flicker of candlelight illuminating her face, and that of her beloved... Weddings are not about making our conditions favorable, they almost never will be for a Wedding Photographer, so we need to know how to work with horrible lighting. With people there is no option of a timed exposure... their first kiss as man and wife will bring you into a courtroom... By utilizing a fast lens and ISO you are able to reduce the amount of ISO (giving you less grain) and use a faster shutter speed so you are able to capture the moment. Another benefit of shooting "wide open" is that you are able to produce a greater depth of field, commonly known as DoF. DoF allows for a specific part (distance) of your image to be in focus while the others distances are burred, aka, bokeh and means less time post processing the image in PS to produce a selective blur, which IMO, does not even compare to the bokeh a wide open lens produces.

While there may be some debate about it, glass is mainly considered to be more important than the camera body. When you invest in your glass you are making a long term investment. When you are investing in a camera body, you are investing in technology that will need to be upgraded just like your computer or laptop. Both Canon and Nikon are known for, and excellent at producing superior quality glass. Other companies such as Tamron and Sigma have "budget" friendly glass however there is debate as to quality that is lost with these brands.

If "Kit" lenses are able to still produce quality images why should you invest in "fast" lenses? As I mentioned above, Kit lenses are typically made of a cheaper, plastic material. Fast, quality lenses are often made of metal. They are more rugged and durable. This enables them to better withstand the demands of wedding photography... which includes a very high amount of shutter actuations, changing lenses quickly, etc. The last thing you need to do is break the mount on your lens during a wedding shoot. Once again, it also allows for you to better utilize your lighting conditions, keeping your clients happy and saves you time. Not to mention that when you discover the joys of DoF I predict you will never look back on your investment.

When looking for a fast lens...
It's all about aperture. For a wedding photographer I recommend f/2.8 or less. As I am a Nikon shooter I shoot all Nikkor glass. Nikon "standard" wedding photography glass would be lenses such as
17-55mm f/2.8
70-200mm f/2.8 VR
50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 (The f/1.8 is UNDER $100USD! No excuses! ;-)
85mm f/1.8 or f/1.4

For equipment on a budget, see this thread


Back-up equipment.
You should never go into a once in the lifetime event unprepared for the worst case scenario, which includes your camera, lens, flash, memory, all of which can malfunction... You don't need to order 2 17-55mm f/2.8 lenses, but at least have a few fast lenses and make sure you are still able to cover different focal lengths, should the ring bearer sneak into your bag and "drop" a lens...

So can you shoot a wedding with your Kit lens? If you can utilize it to the best of it's abilities, sure. However, the best of it's abilities will still limit you. So begin to invest. If you are serious about starting a business then you need to be serious about that business. ALL businesses take investments... Should you go into debt and take a second mortgage to do so? I would advise not. However, if you are not ready to put in the investment for wedding photography begin your business doing seniors/children/families. You can schedule the shoot to allow for your lens limitations and save your money made to invest in your business. This also helps you to become more familiar with the quirks of humanity and provides invaluable experience... besides... would McDonald's open without buns?

Best of luck in your Photographic endeavors.

And... here's the photo!

The other night I had an itching to watch the sunset... I grabbed Thad and my camera/tri-pod.... here's the result.

Catching Up

The sunday before the 4th of July I went with Thad to Virginia's Eastern Shore. We went to his "fake" family's 4th of July cookout at "Uncle" Bill's house. It was one of those Beautiful white victorian houses with a wrap-around porch and a white fence... gorgeous. It was a good day meeting about 100 different people I will never be able to match a name and face too, however it was a good time had by all. Volleyball, horseshoes, and Fireworks coupled with 15 coolers of drinks makes for a Happy 4th of July... And good scenerary.




One of Thad's friends also recently got married. I of course packed my camera but did not want to get in the way of her own photographer. Turns out, the photographer left before the cake cutting, so I yanked mine out and snapped a few photos... She had an incredible cake... it was a beach theme wedding and the entire cake is edible.. we all got a shell too!

Apology

First of all... I must apologize... I've become very neglectful of this blog. I've done so may photos and shoots between my bridal portaits and regent that perhaps I'll do one LARGE blog. Or a few smaller... we'll see how this one turns out!

Secondly,
Mike and Kate's wedding was everything that every little girl dreams of! A beautiful princess dress, little white chapel, and tossing your boquet off your childhood home's balcony! It was a priveledge to wittness and photograph their beautiful wedding.

I met the bridal party at the salon and was able to capture some great moments of them getting ready. I also discovered that apparently there is such thing as Mens Brazillion Waxing.... Yikes!




She even had her dream exit on a beautiful evening complete with birdseed!


She also wanted a portrait with her Cat of about 16 years...


It had a "sage" theme to it... the cake was made by her aunt and was incredibly delicious. Although it was an incredibly small wedding (25 guests) they had a large enough cake to "make sure everyone receives a sizeable piece of cake!"


Even the punch was sage! Congratualtions again Mike and Kate... May your Marriage be blessed!

Back to Regent

I'm almost done processing my wedding with Kate and Mike on 7/7/07 but today I got asked to do a gig at Regent University last min. Regent has such a great mission statement and reminds me a lot of my own alma mater... they also have consistently been one of my best clients and I'm always more than happy to put them into my schedule. I went to the reception tonight and as I'm sure you can tell below, I was quite impressed with the cheese tray! I'm a big cheese fan... And then there was the cheesecake and dinner...



Speaking of sweet... I hope you're not hungry!!!
Click to see larger




God Bless,
Kelly

First Bridal Portraits, DONE!

Wow, I just finished doing my first Bridal Portraits, I loved it! Here's a few shots.

It's been a while

Well, its been a while but here's the update.

I've booked my first wedding and since have just worked on developing my skill further. I went and took some photos of my friends at the beach the other day. Here they are.

Paul & Autumn

This Saturday I did an engagement session with Paul and Autumn. 2 friends of mine. We went to a few different locations. They were a lot of fun to work with, they were cutting up the entire time... I still managed to get a few serious ones though. It was also Autumn's first time to see a dolphin! I just so happened to somehow capture Pauls arm around her with him pointing TO a dolphin that was breeching. Here's a sneak peak.

Weekend

Well, the headshots went well this weekend. I haven't had a chance to really go through the actual "headshots" but I quickly edited some portraits I did for him. He sent these two as a preview to a talent agency out here and she asked him if she could send me some of her clients. Just another door I hope stays open... I'm also going to include a shot of the Nationwide building I did for Ionic Dezign.



I also went through an old album of my semester abroad. I found this photo that was done in bw and decided to try my hand out at painting... Here's the result.

I also finally made some motivation posters with some old pics from my college days. Here's a rugby one I made up.

Getting busy...

Man, Things are really starting to pick up! I was just asked to do yet another Regent event for the Divinity schools 25th Anniv. celebration! WOW! God is so good! So, my wish list...

Nikon 85mm f/1.8 ($900)
Nikon 80-400 VR ($1300)
Lighting (varies... but $$$)
Reflector (That's going to be tomorrow ;-D )

I've got headshots this weekend and another shot for Ionic Dezign next. I may also try and get a boutique I need to shoot this weekend. I love life....