First posting

Imagine if it was your wedding and the photographer, dj or make-up artist got to announce to all your friends and family (that night or the day after) that you got married and share the most iconic photos (the professional ones) with everyone before you got to announce it?

One of my favorite things to do with my photos is to share them. That means with bride & groom, venue, dj, florists, hair & make up. But i’ve found that I have to provide a little context of how and when to share these photos. I’m making this post because I have had vendors take the initiative and post anywhere from a single photo to dozens of my professional photos of the bridal couple before the bride and groom have had a chance to arrive home and unpack from the wedding day.

Give the bride & groom (groom & groom, bride & bride) first posting (explaining further). That doesn’t mean you can’t post photos of the wedding day or night. This just means that you don’t tag them the first few days or so. You want to give the bridal couple a chance to announce to the world (friends, family) that something big went down (their wedding). When I make my initial posting about the wedding day i’ll usually post one or two of my favorites and tag the venue, quick little excerpt from the day and that’s about it to start. Once I see the bride and groom are posting days later or a week later thats when I allow myself to tag them on social. Remember that due to some social media privacy settings if you do tag them then all of their friends and family will see it in their newsfeed before they’ve made it public.

The night of the wedding they will expect their friends and family to post photos of where they are, tagging the lovely couple and including selfies and shots of the two at the alter. The following day they’ll still receive photos from friends and family on their social media, they’re riding high with all these posts. The two might make a post thanking everyone (sometimes vendors, I love it when this happens), this is when a formal photo is uploaded of their choosing or dozens of photos put up. The two have spent months, a year or two planning this big day and now they get to revel in all the likes, praises, congratulatory talk that one expects and accepts for just a tremendous day; don’t ruin it for them by taking away any of that thunder.

So now that the official photos are up and the bride and groom (groom & groom, bride & bride) have made it clear the they’re married, now you should tag them. I usually like to wait until after I see posts on their end dying down. I like to give them their due fifteen minutes of fame. I know that it won’t get lost amongst a sea of cell phone photos during the week of the wedding. This is a post i’ve wanted to make for awhile. It’s hard to explain to someone in person about when they should post and why. I’ll summarize it briefly below in simpler terms for ease of use.

If I’ve given you the link to the teaser photos for the wedding, it’s because I want you to have them, I want you to use them. You don’t even have to tag me in them (although I do love it when you do. You don’t even have to ask permission beyond this point).

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Wedding day: Thank the bridal couple, tag your business, maybe a selfie with them or a cell phone photo

Following day: Thank the bride couple, tag your business, maybe a selfie with them or a cell phone photo. A professional photo without tagging them, tag your business, venue, other vendors

After you see the newly married couple posting the professional photos: You’re golden, post whatever you would like at this point and tag them.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post and will take it into consideration when you make posts in the future. I only put this together because it’s really hard to explain to someone who might be in the same room as the bridal couple about how they can use my photos (I give everyone the link to the teaser photos, I want everyone to win)

This is not a post dictating what to do with my “art” (shudder). I don’t have enough time to police all of my photos and patrol Facebook for infractions. This is just me saying “let the bridal couple enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame”.

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Who steers the ship

     If you decide that you know more than the photographer it may cost you. That's not meant to sound like a threat, it's more of a small rant that will help put some of your wedding day into perspective.  It's a fast paced day with lots of moving parts and lots of different vendors who do not want to mess anything up, this means everyone is making sure they perform exactly what they were hired for.

     Most weddings will go off without a hitch, there are the small little hiccups which do happen. People arriving late, corsage mishaps, wrong colored shoes, missing socks. But most photographers have been to a few hundred more weddings than the bride and groom they are tasked to take photos of. This means if you decide to intervene throughout the wedding with ideas and direction it can cost you time and photos. One of my favorite parts about a wedding is guiding a bride throughout the day because i'm with her the entire day. I'm able to say that we're running on schedule or we're going to head back here and you're going to have a little break and then get introduced into the reception. 

     On your wedding day a wedding photographer will never argue with you, you're the boss. We've been hired to take photos and not to negotiate/argue on how you want it done. I totally understand the intervention that may happen when a bride thinks she needs to. It's a high stress day for the bride because she wants everything to be perfect. In my experience most brides don't relax or breath until after they've sat at the reception.  My goal is to get amazing photos and maybe jump through a few hoops doing so. I also want to keep the bride and groom happy throughout all this. If your face shows stress on your wedding day it's going to show in the photos. You may not even remember doing this or ever see those photos because I will make sure they don't make the final cut. 

     During formal photos I have thirty to forty minutes to get the photos that you'll be hanging on your wall and passing down to future generations. I have a method, a path that I follow and a flow. We start off big, break it down, switch it up and eventually end up with just the bride and groom. If you decide you know better then the photographer we're going to let you do so. I've had brides direct formal photos before and we started with family and then bridal party and then back to family and then back to family and then the bride and groom and then bridal party and double the time. I write this as a warning to other brides to let the photographer steer the ship at certain key points. You've hired us for a reason. I certainly wouldn't be offering suggestions to a plumber or mechanic. I want to get you as many photos as possible.

     On your wedding day, relax, enjoy, experience it. You don't have to keep track of everyones whereabouts, put someone in charge of that. Consider the day a stack of dominos, line them up and let it happen. You wouldn't start the line of dominion by tipping them and slowly readjusting them as the dominos fell. If you look worried or like you're yelling at people in your photos it's going to look just like that in your photos. I really want the best of you on your wedding day. It's not just a paycheck or an honest one if I don't think i've done everything possible to get you the best photos. So pucker up, smile and let your wedding day happen and enjoy your friends and family. No guests will ever notice the mistakes, I promise you.

The worst best man's speech

So I was recently told this story by a groom and wanted to retell it here. I loved it and I hope this happens at one my wedding. 

This all started with a best mans speech.  The best man got up and he looks over at the bride and groom and then back to friends and family.

"I'm really happy for Rob and Sarah, it's great that Sarah can start this new chapter in her life, in her relationship. So this is for all of you guys out there, she is off the market, she's not that type of girl anymore. We know she has somewhat of a past, but she's not that type of girl anymore. So you really have to understand this, no more calling, texting her. This is a new chapter in her life. So no more visiting her apartment, late night rendezvous.  You gotta just leave her alone now. So i'm going to have to ask everyone to bring up their keys to her apartment."

(puts out a bowl)

Everyone just filing up and putting keys in the bowl with a little old man being the final person putting his key in the bowl.  

(The best man had handed out keys to all the guys prior to the reception)

I made the bride's daughter cry

Okay. Now that i've link baited you i'll quickly tell you I didn't do anything wrong. Okay now that we've got that settled I can continue with the story. I also did get my bride's permission to tell this story because I didn't want to come off as mean in any sense or be disrespectful to anyone.  I'm not going to name this venue and if you recognize it then you know they have amazing prime rib and corn fritters. I have shot many weddings here as well as my first wedding and I will be back. 

     So first off, me and the bride's daughter totally hitting it off. She's nine years old and I took the time to help her find some things in a Where's Waldo type of book at the hair salon and I let her use my camera.  When we arrived at the wedding venue (I'm not going to use their name here because I really like them) I started doing detail photos while the bride ran around and made sure everything was in order. I asked my bride's daughter is she wanted to come and hang out with me while I do photos and carry the veil. 

     My little assistant came with me while I hung the dress all around the property but there was no area that was really conducive to what I was looking to do. Inside and outside I only found a few spots but nothing that blew me away.I found one spot that worked amazingly, from a chandelier by the front entrance. I hung it, tipping the lights sideways a bit but the dress was light and no troubles. I took a few photos and it looked amazing. I decided to have Sam stand in a chair next to the dress and maybe some directly behind it. I had her on a chair and I was instructing her not to touch the dress whatsoever because of the chandelier. Just as I was doing so a nineteen year old waitress rushes over with her hands up saying "I'm sorry, I just, I, you can't, sorry, you can't"  to which I replied we'll just be a few more minutes and then we'll be out of your way. She then started to reach for the wedding dress which I grabbed before she could touch it. We stood there in a small stale mate and I explained that I just needed to get a few photos and I would be leaving the area and she said that I couldn't hang the dress there (several employees had walked by me or watched me prior to this). She pointed out two places where I could hang the dress. One being on a coat hanging area with high chairs and the other by the front podium where there was no place to hang it.

     I pointed out those to areas and questioned them, over there??? She eventually walked away very quickly and I was left alone with Sam. I walked back over to rehang the dress and continue with my photos and was blocked by Sam. Sam told me "No! The lady said you can't" to which I replied, yea I know but it's okay. So I moved into position again but was blocked by Sam "She said no". Now i'm being impeded from doing my job. So I got down and tried to explain to her that the worse thing that can happen is I get yelled at again. I tell her that i'm going to be taking the photos that her mom will have for the rest of her life and I have to make them as perfect as I can. Now Sam is actively trying to take the wedding dress fro me. 

     A family member of Sams comes in the front entrance and says hi to both of us. I ask if they can take her upstairs so that I can finish taking photos. She stands there with arms crossed. She is unresponsive to her Aunt and Uncle. I ask  if she doesn't want me to take photos of the dress, she is quiet with arms still crossed "Do you not want me to hang the dress up" yessssss. Tears start to drip down her face so I say "Okay i'm going to go take photos over here, but you have to head upstairs okay". So she leaves and I walk over and rehang the dress and get a few more photos.

     Afterwards I head up to put the dress back and my bride is there to greet me. She says "So you made my daughter cry...".  She then follows up with telling me that she talked to Sam and that for the money she paid me and also the venue that I can do whatever I want and that's what i'm paying for. So Sam thought that the nineteen year old waitress was going to cancel the wedding and kick everyone out. I did talk to the coordinator for our wedding and she said she was aware of what happened and it wasn't a big deal at all and was fine with it. 

     My main goal at any wedding is maybe not following all the rules but instead getting the best photos I can without being too disruptive. I'm always on the bride and groom's side and am looking to do the best I can do.  I've included some photos of the dress below, I did only take a few shots inside of the dress.

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See if you can pick out which photo I designed and shot and which one was suggested to me.

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It's not a Trump hat!

Okay, I recently got some new unitymike.com gear. That's what i'm going to call it I guess, unitymike.com gear. Just so you know, it's expensive, FUBU expensive. These shirts, hats are not H&M prices.

     Okay, so let's get where we're going. I happen to wear a red hat all the time, well almost all the time. When it's spring, summer or anywhere where it's hot out i'm not wearing a red winter hat. Which you may think of as my luxury items which are not readily available to the great public. Recently I wanted to rock a red hat when it was spring, summer or generally hot out, I couldn't; too hot. I decided I need a summer version of my hat and soon.

     So while I was in Hawaii I wandered into a LIDS, which for those of you not in the know, it's a hat store. Quick side not, I was wearing a Worcester "Fuck Yeah" T-Shirt from Worcester Wares, the person who actually designed the outdoor mall where we were happened to notice my shirt. This architecture guru or designing genius has actually designed the Greendale Mall and the Solomon Pond mall as well as dozens of other malls, anyways... small world.

     So back to the story,  I checked out some red hats, black hats and ended up getting both. So now i'm going to crap on LIDS for a second. This chain wanted the price of the hat, plus fifty dollars to create a DST or EMB file (embroidery file) and then twelve dollars to put my logo on a hat. So for a single hat it would be a little north of eighty dollars. So I decided to curt the system a bit and have the embroidery file made elsewhere. This is where I want to praise Fiverr.com. I was able to have my logo made back into a vector file, it's been awhile so why not sharpen that up. I lost my original logo file and have been working off a lesser quality version. So once that file was nice and sharp I found someone on Fiverr that would create this embroidery file for the high cost of five dollars. At this point i'm home on the mainland in Massachusetts. I made my way to the Auburn Mall to meet with the embroidery artists who are experts at putting a hat on a machine and hitting a button. This is literally what they do. So now i'll throw some praise back at LIDS. The first three hats that I brought them got destroyed while attempting my logo. A quote of around an hour turned into two hours and then turned into me swinging back later in the day to find no progress made. This doesn't sound like much praise yet, i'm getting there. So the next day I show up around eleven thirty or so and there is all three of my hats with varying degrees of mis-stiching. The kid working there assured me that the machine was now fixed and he just walked into this, I did not doubt him in the least. So again I was quoted around twenty minutes per hat and thirty minutes later I realize that they do not understand estimates.

     Okay, praise time. My hats came out awesome, they did start from scratch for the new hats. They hats fit good, they look good with one exception. The exception is it's similar to Donald Trump's hat, Make America Great Again. Okay, two things; America was never not great and secondly I've been rocking a red hat longer. I am not a trump supporter at all, so much not a support in fact that when I type out trump and it doesn't auto correct the capitalization of his name.. I don't even go back and fix it. So two second rant, watch the news, watch his press conferences, watch what he's doing in office. I want him to do good and stand up and do the job, but I doubt that's going to happen. 

     So i've had too many people comment on the fact that it looks like a Trump hat and I guess i'll have to get over that little aspect of my hat. I like it because it's a strong looking hat. I know it will eventually get dirty and crappy and i'll have to stop wearing it, but until that day comes. 

Business cards and why mine is the best.

Here's a few business cards i've put together.  You can see the evolution of my design.

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Brace yourself for a long winded rant about my business cards. You kinda asked for it... those were a lot of Facebook comments. 

      So Zazzle who I typically use for my business card had a little bit of a trimming mishap when producing my cards. They upgraded some of their behind the scenes editing software and it ended up pushing some of my text outside the cut lines. So this mishap meant they took care of me with credit and that allowed me to go back and readjust the cards. Additionally the thickness or weight of the card was so thick that during the cutting process the sheets shifted slightly. I had text very close to the edge and it showed any slight deviation. I only noticed it while dropping off a set of business cards. 

     I do want to preface this all with Zazzle is awesome. I've used other companies and I really have had good experiences with this company. The customer service is always top shelf. There has been times where I've made a mistake and other times where they've made a mistake. They have humans who work there and it turns out humans can make an occasional mistake, totally okay with that. I've had soo many people message with me various other companies that they use and I have to decline the help because I really do love this company and the fact that I have everything all ready and designed for print here.  So with this current mishap Zazzle took care of me and just recently sent me an additional box of cards which was done unpressured and just a show of appreciation. So I ended up with double the amount of cards. I've been using Zazzle since I started my photography business and it's nice to have a steady supplier like them. 

     So I've put this out to my friends on Facebook, the designing of my card. I was mostly looking for feedback on my red hat that I want to include. I've spent a lot of time designing my card to stand apart from everyone else. Typically everyone does the same exact thing. Name, Phone, E-mail, logo and maybe a slogan. Think about how many business cards look exactly the same. 

     The design of my business card has been the same with minor adjustments over the past five years. One side is always a large image of my logo, large enough to read if it's on the ground or a table. I've chosen the chubby size cards instead of the standard for two reasons, it stands out and doesn't fit behind other cards nicely. The second reason is it's different, it's usually been a tear-proof material which is always an interesting challenge to my clients to tear it up. 

     So I appreciate everyones input for the cards. Some of the advice I totally understand. Use a beautiful image you've shot, use this font, why is the phone number so big. This is not a card which I've put together quickly. It's been made to stand out from the pack.  A thousand cards will probably last me most of the year. Brides and grooms who typically end up with my card end up with it because they are in my office. Most people are finding me on Google, Facebook, Instagram or a random phone call. If these were being used for a wedding expo I would probably have something a bit different. 

     One of the biggest things with photographer is everyone happens to use a camera aperture for a logo (myself included, guilty). So I changed my logo a year or two back to something a littler bit more reflective of who and what. It now includes the words wedding which is my focus. I also have the dot come in the logo as well so now I don't have to do any additional dot come references elsewhere in the card. The main goal of my card is for it to stand apart from everyones no matter what business's card it's next to. My business name was believe it or not an AIM handle back in 1996 which was unity1818. Unity is an Operation Ivy song, not a Queen Latifah jam. It ended up as a placeholder for my website because I eventually needed one. Unity happens to work as a name for a business name but unity photography is actually taken by another photographer named Ken who I've actually met in real life. Anyways the reason I mention this is logos are hard and also very much essential to pull together a website, business card and any branding you may want to do. I didn't get to do anything cute like Two cranes photography or jumping cat photo. I based mine off a teenage Aol Instant Messenger name. 

     The giant phone number is something that takes people a second to grasp sometimes. I've had lots of people pick it up and say what is this and then it clicks. Then I have a few different sentences fit above, in-between and below the giant phone number. So whoever has already picked up my card because they don't understand the giant numbers at first and now they're reading all these sentences i've put on my card which is done is a very small font.  So they've spent anywhere from fifteen seconds to twenty seconds reading this side of my business card. I just times myself doing it from picking it up and skimming through everything. 

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TEXT LISTED CURRENTLY ON MY BUSINESS CARD

Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and Facebook. Visit my website to find all my social media links.

Wow, this is a very impressive business card. Thank you, I agree. If you find this impressive then wait until you see my photos.

The number on this card is my phone number. Please visit my website to send me a more formal message.

Don't lose this card. Int has your future wedding photographer's contact info on it.

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There is a rhyme to my reason.... is that even a saying?

     So think about how long it takes for you to usually comprehend information on anyones business card. You look at a logo, an address maybe, hours possibly, phone and e-mail. I've already gotten almost twenty seconds of someones time. I've told them where they can find my social media links. I've directed them to my website to send me a message. I personally don't like a random e-mail from someone with a simple sentence "HOW MUCH" "WHAT ARE YOUR PACKAGES". So I love to direct people to my website where I have a proper contact form and more importantly all the information.  I've also included a little bit of my humor by saying how impressive the business card is. If you didn't get what the numbers were or skipped over the numbers in favor for a full sentence then it's explained here with the above text. I've also told them how important the card is and not to lose it, it has your future wedding photographers info on it. Okay, that last sentence is a little cocky but it's cool, I know I rock.

    So if you found this card and and saw all this information you would be able to get a quick snippet of who I am, personality wise possibly. As a wedding photographer i'm the person you'll have the most contact with during a wedding day. I'm literally with a bride all day long give or take some distance. The big thing I try to convey when I meet a bride and groom is the attitude of easy going. I'm very easy going, in fact most of my meetings i'm wearing that red hat and a hoodie. More meetings happen in the winter time. I'm also friending all of my brides and grooms on Facebook at some point. Since i'm spending the entire day with someone it totally benefits me to keep them in a good, relaxed and happy mood. Some of that comes from the informality of most of my approaches. I have brides contact me at eleven at night with a simple question or on Facebook on a Sunday afternoon. I'm very accessible and I make sure the bridal couple knows this. My goal is to have it feel like a friend is shooting your wedding. 

     With my current design i've chosen to remove some of the text to focus more on branding myself with my favorite object, a red hat. Affectionally worn for the past six years solid or so. I'm regularly recognized everywhere for this hat. Currently it's a red winter hat from American Eagle but i've also had many other variations of this red hat. I can't really wear baseball caps when I shoot outdoors and fedoras or these winter caps have always hung around me. I've actually gotten to meet a lot of my Facebook friends in public because they spot me somewhere in Worcester, Boston, NYC. It's a very bold color and my attire doesn't really have to match the hat. What i'm doing by including the red hat with my business cards are training anyone who ends up with this card to eventually be able to spot that exact red hat. Think about it. You have this random card with a red hat, phone, name, wedding photographer and you see a random photographer with the same exact hat. Chances are you are going to come up and say hi and tell me about how you ended up with the card. 

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I'm going to meander a bit, follow along.

     So beyond wedding photography I actually do a number of things. One of those things being web design. When I meet someone who asks for photos or video the first thing I ask is what it's being used for. They tell me they want to put it on their website or Facebook. The next question I ask is to see their website and from there I see their website is angelfire or geocities hosted (antiquated reference, totally worth googling). So from there I talk to them about web design in addition to photos. So I can put togethers someone website pretty easily with a few photos and rearranging information. Here's the other thing I do, consulting work. 

     What is consulting work as it applies to you? Okay, thats a question being asked to me if that didn't make sense there. What I do is interview a business owner and pull out content to add to their website. Often times while explaining things it leads to other questions which inadvenrtuly conclude with a change in their own business's infrastructure. One of the best questions you can ask someone is "What would this look like if it were easy". It's a question you can ask any business owner. It helps them identify a problem area and provide the easiest solution and then we can work on the actual route to getting there. I also will call out an weak areas in their dealings and suggestions I may have to changing routine. 

     So I deal with many different businesses and these owners all happen to be around Worcester and Boston and every once and awhile I get recognized in a Starbucks or while on the job shooting somewhere. I'm training everyone as well as brides, grooms to recognize and associate the red hat with Michael Hendrickson, wedding photographer. 

I have time.

So hopefully everyone will understand my reasoning a little bit better now. It's not simply a harsh design choice. I've slowly evolved it from the very simple to the more complex. My goal with my cards are to stand apart from everyone and I fear being similar to everyone else will make me blend a little too much. I've spent a few minutes to design some of what everyone's asked for in a business card just to appease some.

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I've made a few quick mock-ups of what some think would make a good business card. I've also reverted the size back to a standard business card size. This is not a dig on anyone. This is suggestions i've gotten on the initial thread on Facebook as well as in private messages. 

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Okay. So here's my final design. I did put some thought into this. If you've read this entire blog then hopefully you've fell on my side of the wall. 

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What a photographer's day is like.

Wow, you take photos for a living, that's soo cool. It must be awesome traveling and making your own schedule. Did you get to eat that after you took the photos! Wow did they pay you to fly there and take photos of that? That's an awesome camera, it must have cost a lot. You have that many lenses. 

So I get a lot of the same things repeated to me time and time over. People remark at how amazing and fun it must be to do what I do. But the fact is, it is. But... taking the photos is really only ten percent of what I do. Marketing, post processing, phone calls, e-mails, spending money on things that are and aren't tangible as well as hoping clients make their way to you if you're doing everything the correct way.  I'm going to run through some of the basics of what I do and dive into some of it and gloss over the other parts. 

I do get to make my own schedule. I wake up whenever I want, in fact I don't even set an alarm anymore. I just happen to wake up as soon as the sun comes up and my brain automatically activates and goes back to whatever I should be working on or left off on. When I wake up it's a shower, slide on my stylish clothes and Apple Watch and off to Starbucks to have a Venti Cafe Mocha. I wear the same red hat everywhere I go so that i'm easy to find, recognize and meet. I also wear a unitymike.com t-shirt on the off chance that someone wants to talk to me about hiring me. On my way down to Starbucks i'll call my photographer friends and we bitch to each other about the business. We all run into the same problems, clients who don't want to pay, clients that we're still waiting for them to pay and the clients that say they can pay less somewhere else. This topic is rehashed every few weeks or months as time dictates. This photographer friend and I will talk sometimes several times a day. We run numbers by each other and situations to get another perspective. We also share a lot of information such as negotiation tactics and we talk a lot of gear. 

Once at Starbucks I sit down and play on Facebook. I have my noise canceling headphones on which are absolutely necessary to focus on tasks.  So, when I say play on Facebook I really mean sort through my business page's messages or posts and find people who have tried to contact me. Clients contact me through, text message, phone calls, Instagram, Google+, my personal Facebook page, a Facebook thread or my Facebook business page. While on Facebook I'll also post a link to my website which I really need people to visit. I'm also taking a nice selfie photo or photo of my drink. I need likes, I need people to follow me and be remembered when they or their friends get engaged. Some of my marketing strategy is to go exciting places, eat amazing food, have fun experiences and share these. Facebook's algorithm will note if someone hovers over a photo a bit or clicks on something you posted and adjust it so you show more often in their newsfeed. This means when I post things people are seeing it. I write out a blog or two to put on my website because it actually boosts me up in Google, makes my SEO a little bit better. I also schedule a post or two for my Facebook's business page. I sort through my photos on my computer and pull out a few photos and send them to my phone so that I can post on Instagram a little bit later. The Instagram photos will have to include a nice description, location and some relevant hashtags. 

I send a few e-mails, responding back to anyone who has asked me anything. I'm very prompt with this. If I have an e-mail from a potential bride and I don't answer with in short few hours they will move on to the photographer who does answer.  My futuristic tech that I wear around my wrist is not so much to show off a toy as it is used to get e-mail notifications and text messages. I hate staring at my phone for any length of time.

I have to swing by my office to drop off some flyers that came in. I straighten out my office which comes at a nice discount. Other people have been in my office to use my giant tv. I clean up desk, arrange everything for new clients coming in. My forms are getting a little low in stock and I have to sit down and revise and reprint a new stack. I keep adding more to my forms to help me. While at my office I also have to visit with my landlord of sorts to go over his projects and what he needs done. I help out where I can. 

I have to take a drive to a clients house now because they need a family portrait.  Everything is loaded into my car, lights, camera, action. I head to the clients house where I set up, pose, photograph and repeat half a dozen time with various locations on their property. We have a good time, i'm paid and now everything needs to be packed up and brought back home and deconstructed back into it's case.  On my way back home i'm calling a client of mine who I help out at their office. I do everything from ordering supplies to photo and video and web design and consulting work. I check and see if they need anything or if theres anything upcoming that I need to get ready for. Nothing to do there, so no problem. 

I'm having clients in my car later in the week which means that my car which is also used to transport gear from Maine to Florida is nice and clean. Also, earlier I got a good deal of dirt in my car because the clients driveway was muddy. So wiping the seats down, vacuuming, sorting the contents of my trunk space as well as topping off fluids are on my to do list either today or another. 

During lunch I may eat at my dream place, Coney Island Hot Dogs or go down to The Fix. I'm going to pig out and enjoy it. I've earned it. I've been up since seven working on things.  During lunch i'm browsing on Amazon looking for little things that I've been putting off ordering and finally plunge into my wallet to accommodate myself. I also take any phone calls during my lunch time throughout the week. My phone rings about a dozen times a day with clients and also telemarketers. I can't tell the difference between a safe number and unsafe number because local numbers have been bought up to get a better hit rate.  The reason I mention this is I get to go to my favorite places to eat but a majority of the time my food gets cold. I don't let calls go to voicemail when possible because no one wants to wait and I also depend on clients coming in regularly.  I still manage to take photos of my food which more often than not leads to my food losing it's ideal temperature. 

After lunch I'm beat, worn out and ready to quit. I usually take a nice two hour nap or more. This is interrupted by the occasional phone call and I also wake up at some point and roll over and check my phone for reciprocated e-mails from clients. If I get a call from a bride or e-mail from a bride my goal is to set up a meeting asap, that means later in the day or early the next day or whenever they want. Once I'm awake I recharge again with coffee and a snack. I'm editing photos now for a gig I shot the night prior. I've spent a little part of the day making sure I have everything backed up, previews loaded and basic adjustments made across the board. I get a phone call from a print shop saying the custom frames I ordered are in, i'm still waiting to be paid for them by the client. I have to head over and pick them up and then notify my client they are in and softly nudge them to be ready to have their wallet ready. In case of any questions I have to go back to my computer and dig up the original invoice I sent them. I have several invoices out in fact totaling enough to pay my incoming bills, rent, subscriptions, insurance. 

I'm also waiting on my insurance agent to find me a more affordable insurance for my gear which I pay almost two hundred dollars a month for. I pace around my apartment, straightening things out, organizing my equipment and staring at my giant three by four foot white board. I regularly fill this board up with upcoming tasks, notes, reminders and dates. Anything that i've taken a note for has to be put into my phone and computer for redundancy, thats on my to-do list. I put on my nice Bose noise canceling headphones and pace around my apartment conquering small and mundane tasks to the bigger ones. I have a phone call to make and I spend thirty minutes circling my couch talking to a bride and narrowing down a meeting time. I have to cross check my calendar with a list of weddings to make sure I have time to meet later this week and have her wedding date free.  She can meet today in fact which is wonderful. This was a good phone call. About seven or eight times a year I get a phone call from a bride who loves my photos and she's very excited to meet with me and then tells me her wedding date. I cross check her wedding date and i'm already booked. I have a couple go-to photographers which I send brides that I cannot take. I'm careful who I send brides to because it will fall back on me if anything goes wrong. I send most of my brides to a photographer friend out in Boston. 

I head to my office for the second time today, I'm early. I turn on my tv, my apple tv, bluetooth speaker, set Spotify to modern wedding playlist, set up my Macbook to connect with the TV and get the form out and write out all the information I have at the moment. She should be here any minute, okay ten minutes ago, thirty minutes ago, text, phone call, nothing. I get a text message letting me know she'll be late. I've now been here for an hour and it's dark out by now. She arrives, we hit it off and I go through my entire pitch, I feel good about it. I head home and after dinner I sit and write up a contract and send a follow up e-mail regarding our meeting and everything we talked about. I don't know if she's going to go with me or not. I don't typically do follow up messages because it can easily put someone in that awkward position of saying they're going with someone else but thanks for... you get the idea. 

I'm now uploading photos from the gig I shot the day prior. There's a lot of photos going up so It throttles by data which means Netflix and Hulu won't work on my TV. So shower and head back to my TV to be reminded of this. I end up sitting at my computer browsing through Facebook's newsfeed and get lost in Instant Karma videos on Youtube. I'm also kicking myself to be productive still at eleven at night. I'm making a circuit between my workstation where my Macbook and main computer are to my white board looking for more tasks to finish. I write a few more things on my board that need to get finished. There's a lot of things that just require sitting and writing or following up with people about projects. The rest of my time is spent sitting on my couch with my cats swiping through Bumble to meet someone. It's hard to meet someone when you're schedule is composed of the entire day and night. Basically this app leads into a huge time suck of non productivity which re-guilts me into a productive whirlwind.  

Sleep either can be wonderful because i've accomplished so much or terrible because I still have so much to accomplish. I've disallowed any news on Trump before bed because that makes my sleep even worse. The best part of my day though is having my cats follow me onto my bed and lay next to me. They have no idea what I've done today or the day prior no matter how many times i've tried to explain it to them. That's a very calming thing, two little cats who's day tomorrow is packed with sleeping and eating. Maybe i'm in the wrong profession. 

So this is exactly how any day goes for the most part. The details may change, some days are less and some days are more. The tasks are different but each day I get thrown a puzzle and have to put it together. If I ever clear my white board of things that I should be doing that I feel uneasy and anxious because there is something I can be doing and I have to figure that out asap. There is no rest. But the best part of any of this is whenever I want I can take the day off. I can shut down and do nothing. But most every single day goes from seven in the morning to past midnight. It means I can take a vacation wherever I want on a moments notice but I also better keep a watch on social media and e-mail during that.  

Hoodie and winter cap.

Have you ever been forced to wear a tie or dress shoes. Sure, you look good in them and it looks good from a clients perspective. But is it really necessary? 

     Whenever I meet with a client I usually am dressed as comfortably as I can be. I have sneakers on, a hoodie and my favorite winter hat. This is just something that has worked out very well for me. By dressing down I think I might be giving our meeting a little less high stakes feel and more relaxed vibe. My clothes don't sell me as much as my reputation and my photos do. In ten years and countless clients i've only had one objection to my clothing and that was from a single guest who was a bit oppositional and probably just had a bad day. Most of my clients are dressed in their everyday lounge clothes and the occasional Sunday best but ninety five percent are dressing comfortably so why would I be?

     My meetings are also the same as my dress, very informal and relaxed. I'm not pitching to anyone as much as i'm casually interviewing a couple to see if we're a good fit. I usually ask a dozen or two questions and click through a couple hundred photos. Spotify is playing a modern wedding playlist and the bottles of water are flowing. 

     The first question I have for any couple even before they meet with me is their wedding date. I often have people who get to me a week or two late and I'm not able to shoot their wedding. But in most cases I have the date open and we end up meeting. My office is in the second floor of Gerardo's Italian Bakery, it's a long story of how I got there. I have my books, some forms and a big tv to show my portfolio. 

     I do have a set package but I regularly adapt it to the couple sitting in front of me. The biggest thing for me is to be fair. I can't charge someone who has fifty people coming to their wedding the same I would charge with two hundred people coming. If I have an easier day ahead of me then the price can reflect that. I walk you through a typical wedding day which is usually from hair and makeup all the way to the last dance. Now you probably weren't interested in any books but I'll show you a few anyways. They're not as expensive as you thought in the end, most times. 

     So there is three things I hear from every bride and groom. We're really relaxed, our wedding is informal and unique, we're on a budget. I agree to all of these, you don't even have to tell me in fact. I'm going to capture beautiful memories regardless of budget or if you're a ball of stress. I like hearing about peoples visions for their weddings.It's easy to match someones enthusiasm about their weddings because I really am excited to shoot weddings.  

     By the end of the meeting I run across the price and I've gotten enough information to build a contract. I don't need an answer right now, i'm not a monster. I hope that we clicked and I leave the ball in their hands. 

     By the end of the meeting you never saw my dress shoes and we might have had on the same exact hoodie so you know we both have amazing taste. I send off an e-mail later in the day with details of our meeting and a contract with some instructions attached with it. 

     Hope to have you booking your wedding with me in 2018. Have a great day / night. :)

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We're not going to get everything.

     A photographer can work off a list or just capture a little bit of everything. When you work off a list you are trying to remember what is not important to the bride. In fact the bride may not even know what is the most important parts of the day, this is her first go at a wedding. That’s why I think it’s best to just cover every aspect. 

   So before the wedding you have loaded up your head with amazing images from Google and Pinterest and featured Buzzfeed articles. You’ve forwarded these links to your photographer and informed them that these photos are to be captured. This is all very doable, but when it comes to your wedding day and you incorporate this into the mix it’s sometimes impossible. So I say impossible, it’s not really impossible; it’s undoable for you as the bride and groom. The photographer can most certainly do this, but he won’t be able to do all of these requests in the twenty to thirty minutes he may have with you following bridal party photos.  I can only speak from my own experience in this of course. I would love to recreate photos and make the bride and groom happy but often during a wedding day you're busy with friends and family. Another thing to take into account is that some photos you see on the internet are purely circumstantial or in fact not even from a wedding. Some photographers will have models pose as a bride and groom just to create breathtaking photos. For the bride and groom I really suggest trusting their photographer and let photos take a backseat to being in the moment.

  So to follow up and summarize. The photographer is going to do his/her best to capture everything. We want to immortalize your wedding day in photos. We want to provide a seamless, enjoyable experience and not get in the way.  If you’ve hired a photographer because you like their work then the best thing to do is trust that they’ll capture your wedding day so you can sit back and enjoy it.

Here's the reality of it.

When you hire a wedding photographer you sometimes have these amazing expectations. You’ve seen their photos, their work, their great attitude. You’re hiring them to capture the one of the most amazing and memorable days of your life.  Here’s what he/she is going to be able to capture, not everything.

     Another reason to capture everything is you don’t know what’s important to the bride and groom. Sometimes they might not know what was important until after the wedding. Let me give a few examples of this. Let’s say you take the time to get photos of all the cousins, maybe they move away in three years and aren’t reunited until a family reunion in ten years. How about an Aunt and Uncle who come to your wedding that move away the following year. The most common thing i’ve come across is my focus on grandparents. Not to sound morbid of course but we do expire and these photos are a huge trigger for your memories. One more thought, how many times does your family get together. I’m talking about everyone, not just for the holidays which sometimes can be tough with visiting everyone. You have everyone in a room so why not take advantage of this.

    Here’s the upside that you can really work with. If you have a great photographer who is willing to be adventurous, persistent and do a little bit of poking and prodding; he/she can liberate you from your wedding reception for a few minutes to take some amazing photos and give you a moment to breath away from everyone. During the formal photos for the bride and groom you’ll also be able to get some of the shots you’re looking for but to reference or have those same exact circumstances to recreate can sometimes be tough. The photographer is going to pose you a bit and move you to different locations.  What i’ll do typically is run through all my tried and true poses that work. We only get one shot at getting your wedding photos and I do experiment and innovate but before I do that I make sure to get the memorable photos that you’ll hang on your wall. I only have a short amount of time and it would be selfish of me to ask more of the bride and groom while they’re trying to enjoy their wedding day. The same way a DJ wouldn’t keep asking for suggestions for playlists on your wedding day or a venue wouldn’t be consulting with the bride about sides during before the meal is served on the big day. 

Thanks for reading. I've been a wedding photographer for around ten years now and every year means a little more experience and a lot more equipment to play with. I would love to meet with you if you're getting married in 2017 or 2018. 508-471-0069 or www.unitymike.com to see more of my work. Have a great new year.

Jillian & Jarrod

Spent a little time on Revere beach and afterwards we got some Italian subs at New Deal Fruit.

Want to become a better photographer? Shoot weddings!

So the title pretty much sums up what I want to say. I'm going to keep this brief, mostly because I was just on my way out the door and then inspiration hit and I have to get this out before my Venti Mocha happens. 

     So if most of you don't know already, I'm a wedding photographer. People usually say one of two things, that's awesome it must be a fun job or I would never do that, i've tried before and it was too stressful. So if you've said either of these things you're both correct.

     This is a fun day, you're spending it with two people on the happiest day of their life; unless of course they have a baby or have just spent way too much at B&H (photographer reference). Everyone's happy on their wedding day despite the hiccups of the day and the hectic nature of the schedule sometimes. The bride and the groom see all their friends and family, get to show off dance skills and force everyone to watch them eat the cake; it's a wonderful time. As the photographer I'm also in a good mood. I've done enough where my day feels like i'm hanging out with new friends and just doing what I love.... taking photos. I get to share this beautiful day with two brand new friends of mine and I get to eat with all the rest of the people. I get unrestricted access to the best photos during the ceremony and reception. I'm not fighting anyone for the best shot of the bride and groom and when the dance floor opens up i've been known to dance with an aunt or grandmother too. At the end of the day I get to thank the bride and groom for inviting me to shoot their wedding by sending a dozen or so shots. It feels good to send those off and see all my photos pop up on their social media (I get tagged and I love it).  So again, to reaffirm, this is fun.

     So the other half of the coin, it's stressful and you don't think you could ever do it. Shooting a wedding is a marathon of photography. Sure you may have done an hour or two shoot before or two portraits in a day but imagine shooting six to twelve hours. When people think that it's going to be the most stressful thing, it's not... maybe the first dozen times. But once you realize that you're the one in control the better off you are. Often times or not my job feels like a photographer / chaperone. I'm typically reaffirming the bride & groom about how the day will unfold throughout the day. Okay, you're getting makeup done and afterwards we're going to take a big group photo, yes, not in your dresses yet or okay directly after the ceremony you'll have the receiving line we're everyone hugs you, shakes your hand and while that's happening i'm going to set up over here and then we can..... You get the point (excuse my run-on sentence), i'm guiding the day and reaffirming their schedule and letting them know if we're good on time or not. 

     So the way weddings make you a better photographer is this, you change settings location wise and on your camera hundreds of time throughout the day. Light changes, difficult people added into the mix, someone doesn't like the way their arms look or you found an amazing location that's a ten minute walk away that you have to convince everyone of. Shooting a wedding will make you a better technical photographer (unless you shoot on Auto). You'll constantly be changing angles, lighting and learning posing. You'll change your settings on your camera non stop and after awhile you can dial in whatever you need at a seconds notice. During the ceremony i'll have on a certain setting but as soon as that announcement happens introducing Mr. & Mrs. Smith i've already shot my few photos and now i'm changing everything on my camera to get those photos of the bride and groom walking up the isle in a bit different lighting situation. 

     The most difficult thing for me is looking at photos i've shot and asked myself why didn't I just drag the shutter a little longer or why didn't I just ask that lady to move out of the photo. So each wedding I improve on all these little details, I know that I'm just going to ask someone to move out of the photo, i'll yell at someone who's mugging too much for the camera. When people are difficult or uncooperative and say something like I don't like photos or are just ruining a group photo I remind them "These photos aren't for you, it's for Mary & Tom". The location's aren't always the same either. You may be shooting at a beautiful hotel in Boston and get to take photos around Boston Commons and some of the urban areas and then the next wedding is at the Elks lodge with a giant parking lot around it. This is a challenge but not unconquerable. You find other locations nearby and suggest that we take a ride up the road to the beautiful lake or go across the street to the bridge or if all else fails, embrace what you have. Take photos of everyone outside in front. Showcase where the bride and groom are, set up some awesome portraits inside, make it fun for everyone.  I also am constantly changing what I bring, some weddings I bring all my super telephoto lenses and others I just bring a few prime lenses. I'm constantly challenging myself, can I shoot a wedding on just a 50mm 1.2, damn right I can. Could I show up to a wedding with a Canon Rebel and kits lens, hell yes and I would have the best photos there. 

     So hopefully you're looking at this in a different light or I just got happy and excited for you for nothing. So to recap, each wedding is a six to twelve hour shoot (I don't put a cap on the time and I don't ask them for more money in the middle of their wedding, they just get extra time, thats it) where you get to shoot the same subject from wherever you want and also the subject is willing to go with any ideas that you put down. Let me rephrase this, imagine doing a photoshoot for two people and having eight hours and not nailing it, it's almost impossible. Regardless of how we all feel about our own work and how judgmental we can feel, the bride and groom are going to love their photos, they're in all of them! So long as you try your hardest and are honest about everything with the bride and groom about what they're getting they'll be happy. 

     Want to get better at photography, shoot weddings.

Sharon & Jon's engagement session at Arnold Arboretum

Today we spent the afternoon at Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts. Turns out it's right down the road from my best friend's apartment and i've actually driven past this place a dozen times. We wandered and got some great shots and got to know each other a bit better. Here's some of the photos from the shoot.

#engagement #boston #arnoldarboretum #arboretum #bostonweddingphotographer #worcesterweddingphotographer #session #photoshoot #photography #macro #canon #ring #weddingring #inlove #couples #unitymikeweddingphotography #worcesterweddingphotographer 

Europe - Airport and on my way

So I'm at Logan International Airport right now. I'm tired from running around and getting everything situated and ready for my trip. I have that groggy, might be on the verge of a cold feeling. I happen to get sick before, during any trip I ever take. I don't know if by saying this out loud is some sort of willing it upon myself, but it happens regardless. I get excited, I get anxious, I get sick. 

     So far I've had some Chinese food, replaced my watch band and discovered that good internet wifi costs you $7.95. I'm currently making a time lapse of the tarmac and about to crack open a new magazine.   The next leg of my journey is to JFK International Airport in NJ and then onwards to Rome, Italy. I'm sure i'll have plenty of photos soon enough to start posting, but most likely not in the airport. It's not that I'm shy, it's just my bag is really packed and hard to zip up.

Stay tuned.

LB Wheaton, Sigma 150-500

    So i've been eyeing the Sigma 150-500 lens for quite some time. I always talk myself out of buying it. I have to wait a few days and buyers remorse and not being able to test it prior to buying it, easy to talk myself out of it.  

     Two weeks ago I wandered into LB Wheaton just killing some time before a wedding meeting (I landed it.) I saw the gigantic lens sitting on the shelf and asked if I could check it out. I was quickly handed this heavy lens and a Canon T5i. I paired them together and set it to manual and f/10 at 1/30th of a second and shot a few shots out the window.  I wanted to see what this lens was made out of. 2 out of 3 photos were crispy and clear and the stabilization held true. I changed the settings to something a bit more relaxed and shot thru the windows a bit more at local shops and urban landscapes to see how invasive I could be with this new zoom. The answer is, very invasive; this lens is friggin awesome! I found out from the gentlemen behind the counter that this lens had an instant rebate, I didn't need much more twisting of my arm. I told LB Wheaton that I was heading to a meeting and if I did good at the meeting I would be back to purchase the lens. One hour later I came back and pulled out my money and now I can't put this very heavy lens down.

     If not for LB Wheaton, I don't think I would have such a cool toy. Two weeks prior I stopped in and also bought a small collapsable tripod. This is such a great place to try out equipment and ask questions. You can also buy backdrop paper rolls here as well as lenses, bags, lighting and anything in-between. Very happy to have such a great store a few miles away.

     Here's a few photos that I've taken over the past week or two. I also have some wedding photos that I shot with this lens which came out amazing. Being able to zoom in instead of cropping in post would be so amazing. 

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Make sure to LIKE LB Wheaton Camera Shop Facebook page.

How to own that Maid of Honor speech.

So I previously wrote about the Best Mans speech. The advice from that still stands.

Please read what I wrote in that blog.

So a few different points of advice for the ladies

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1. Pull on those heart strings. Okay, you are posed to make us teary eyed. You're most likely going to tear up and get the bride to tear up. You happen to feel emotions sometimes a bit more deeply then our Call of duty, beer drinking, what are feelings type of guys that we can be. So with that being said we know you're going to say something very heartfelt and deep. My advice here is to keep it at the beginning of the speech or at the end, for god sakes I don't want to cry during your entire speech because of how sweet you are on each other. :)

2. Keep it funny. You're going to be pulling on those heart strings so make us laugh to, nothing is better than that akward laugh/tearing up. Tell us what you really thought about the groom and his friends. Tell us about when you knew he was the right one, did you do the cliche "you better not break my friends heart" speech to him?

3. Remind everyone.  Remind everyone why we're all here, these two people, this beautiful wedding, how much fun you've had today. The bride knows everything that went wrong today, misorders, mistakes and small mishaps that took part throughout the day. Remind her that this is one kick ass day. 

4. Take advantage. You have the floor, ask that single guy out that you've been checking out all day. (This goes for the guys too, ask her out. Mention all the pretty ladies that are in the room). You have the floor and everyones attention, be bold. Take advantage of the day and the fact that you're all at one big giant party and meet that special someone.

5. Always end up with a hug. Theres no better way then to end a heartfelt speech then with a hug. This doesn't really need to apply to the guys. The best mans speech is literally a verbal hug from the best man to the groom.  This is also an awesome time to snap a great couple photos for the photographer. 

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I hope that this has made you smile, laugh and I hope to see you at a wedding soon.

Government Center closing for 2 years

So on March 21st I believe we visited Government Center to get some final photos. My friends Michael Stepien, Stacey Hellzaboppin, Tommy Haran came with me on this trip. We shot all around the city and one of our final stops being here. We found ceiling tiles missing, spray paint marking the walls and floors where construction was to take place.   

     While we were taking photos we had a MBTA worker stop us and ask us for our photo permit and why we were taking photos and what it was for. We informed him that it's a public space and that we are allowed to take photos. The MBTA worker said "not since 9/11 you can't take photos". The MBTA worker then asked for our permit again and said that he could get someone down here to help verify our information. We were also told that we were in restricted areas (we had one foot on the yellow tred area), keep in mind that around 8 people had their foot on the yellow safety tred at this time.  While he got more forceful and louder and started arguing with my friends I calmly looked up the MBTA photography policy via the MBTA Website. I then proceeded to aim the phone towards him and read aloud their own policy, after that he left,   

     We moved to a different area and documented a bit more.  Win for photography.

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