David & Anna at the AC HOTEL, Worcester

David and Anna at the AC Hotel in Worcester

Filters are for the lazy.

Believe it or not, no filter. This was shot with a Canon 90mm TSE (Tilt shift) lens

WGBH Live on Boylston Street

Government Center MBTA Canon 8-15 Fisheye

I just got this question recently when meeting with a bride and groom.

Why don’t I have black and whites, sepia tones, filters on my photos? This is very simple to answer, look back in your phone a year or two. Do see all the random filters that you were using on your Instagram photos / Facebook posts; they’re awful.

     Tastes change, styles adapt and people move on from trends. These are some of the most important photos that you’ll have of yourself, why would I put a trendy filter on and especially one that is so overused by Pinterest focused wedding photographers. De-contrast, playing with the highlights and adjusting the color temperature to be a bit more yellow doesn’t make a classic photo in my mind. I’ve also seen a lot of photographers use this as a crutch when a photo is mediocre or missing something.  

     Sometimes converting a photo to black and white looks great provided you do it the correct way and know what you’re doing with levels, curves and also saturation of colors and a number of other things. But here’s what we photographers know, this doesn’t make any photo a classic or immortalized image. Being honest, the only time i’ve actually made a photo black and white in recent history is when I absolutely couldn’t do what I wanted with the photo due to a number of reasons. I reluctantly changed it and adapted it because it was a moment that I did not want to throw away. I will never myself change a color photo to black and white though just to wow someone. One more example, white or black vignetting on photos… cringe. 

     Now here’s the part where i’m a dick and say mean things about other photographers. I really do try to be positive, like way too much.. usually. I know a great number of photographers that are shooting the exact material they were two or three years ago. Most photographers that I know get better every few months, years or just plainly have breakthroughs of creativity that make me very jealous. But I see some wedding photographers that never try new things, never purchase new equipment or develop their post game (editing).  Wedding photography is simply put a gym for photographers, you’re regularly pushed to adapt, learn and get better, faster, stronger at your photography.  I can look back every year and see my deficits or where i’ve made improvements. So here’s where I tie that back into what i’m saying, filters are a huge crutch for someone trying to hide the fact that they aren’t developing themselves. For the sake of the bride and groom you should be taking the payment and rolling a good portion back into your own development and/or equipment. This is your one chance to capture someone’s wedding and why would you put an ugly filter on such a beautiful day.

     What I try to accomplish with my wedding photography is creating accurate representations of what the scene actually looked like. I use different lenses and compositions to showcase different moments. I’m trying to achieve as close to as possible correct color profiles, your flowers are rarely neon or muted colors; it’s somewhere in-between I hope. It would be too easy to add filters to my photos and claim that I’m an artist and that this is my art. What I do is document and record moments as beautifully as I can. I don’t have a particular unique skill that no other photographer could ever attain. What I bring to the table is knowledge, personality, skill and a pretty good amount of equipment to back it up. I do use some creative editing techniques that highlight certain aspects of a scene or cast a cold blue morning as a more warn and sunny one. The best editing in my opinion is the kind you can’t detect. 

     If you want to add a filter on your photos you’re always welcome to do so but as I started out saying, look at your images with filters and effects from a year or two ago.. cringe. :) Imagine your parents wedding photos and imagine what it would look like with correct color or your grandparents images if it wasn’t shot in black and white (yes, I know that may have been all that was available at the time). 

I shoot weddings and would love to shoot your wedding.

Click here to see my website and learn more.

Moore State Park,  Canon 200mm 1.8

My cafe mocha. Shot with Canon 35mm 1.4

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.

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.

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