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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Dumb tricks that get photographers hired.

THIS IS AN ENGAGEMENT SESSION I DID IN DOWNTOWN PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND WITH AN UPCOMING WEDDING. THE ENGAGEMENT SESSION IS A REALLY GREAT TIME TO HANG WITH THE BRIDAL COUPLE.

So this will be a quick little blog. It’s poking at some practices that we (not me) as photographers sometimes do to bait potential customers. I’m just listing a few that you might see at a bridal show, online or a face to face meeting. This also will touch a little bit on style of photography as well (some tricks that I do employ to a degree). If you’re a photographer, bride or groom then you may agree or disagree. Feel free to comment at the bottom. This is really only my insight from over ten years of shooting weddings and developing my approach. This is my opinion and of course there are many roads to Florida (my analogy I most often use). I know a photographer, lets make up a fictional name and call him Bill G. He would get soo mad whenever he saw anyone doing photography different than he did it, it wasn't the proper way he would always mutter. This photographer only happens to shoot a few events a year now while I have shoots a few times a week. Anyways.. all roads eventually lead to Florida. Every photographer has a different method and this is only to highlight what some of the masses do when they’re not trying to stand out.

Free engagement shoot with all new bookings! Okay, I always offer an engagement shoot with every wedding, that’t only normal to me because i’m going to be spending the entire day with you and… I want to know that you’re both semi-normal and that we somewhat get along and like each other. The engagement shoot is also a great time to run through poses, get a few nice photos for save the dates.

So back to how this works at a bridal show. Everyone is going to give this away and they’re going to put a “value” on it or an exact price or possibly use the word bargain along with this. The engagement shoot costs the photographer nothing but his time and when you bundle up your fee for the wedding day along with any tangibles (flash drives, albums), then a little extra time on the front end isn’t a big deal. Every photographer is going to include this, you might have to poke and prod a bit, but get it. But never think that the photographer is some sort of saint for offering this.

Positive side of things, take the engagement shoot with the photographer you want to book your wedding with, it’s a good trial to see how you vibe with each other. Even if in the end they charge you for it as extra it’s still a small investment to know that your wedding photos are going to be what you want.

Dates are filling up fast, better book with me now. This may be true. I had to turn away almost forty brides last year because I can only shoot one wedding at a time. If you need a few days or a week to mull things over then that’s totally reasonable and responsible. There are popular dates out there that happen every year. Typically i’ll have one or two dates that people are pining after every year, but only those who book early get it. If someones offering a one day deal only then pass on it. This is your wedding and if your photographer can’t wait a day or week to book you then maybe they don;’t have that much business to begin with or too much business to properly accommodate you.

Free album with all 2020 bookings, an eight hundred dollar value!!! OMG, you better book right now, that’s a killer deal. Wait! There’s the internet, With absolute certainty I know that any of my brides can find a decent album for two hundred dollars. I also know that once I send them an album they could do a little research and figure out who I use or… just ask me directly. When I book a wedding I do the albums at cost, give or take twenty dollars, this means that I have no incentive to up-sell you on getting one. It’s not that I don’t want you to have an album, in fact I do. I just don’t want to charge you eight hundred dollars or more for one and lose a wedding over a book, I also don’t want you to say “we aren’t interested in an album” and all of a sudden i’m taking eight hundred dollars off the total. So for me it’s always easier to just be super transparent on this. I would much rather charge for what matters, the photography. I’m putting value on my time and skill, not the material things. You’re paying for someone to show up, not mess up and deliver some amazing images.

Quick photo I had of an album that I had made for around two hundred and fifty dollars. fifty pages and glass cover.

To be completely transparent and honest I will say that there are eight hundred dollar albums and northward out there. Some of them are amazing companies that put out a quality product. I have friends that sell using these beautiful albums and that’s great. I’m only warning you about people that are pushing a free album in attempt to make you “Buy now now now!”. A great salesmen is going to present, not pressure. A traditional mark up on products is three hundred percent of their original cost if not more. It’s much easier for me not to have to explain the price increase if someone ever tracks down where I get my albums, so I do it at cost.

So if you’re a photographer you may have a problem with this next part. Multiple packages and A la cart pricing. So this allows photographers to move things around and still keep the price in their favor. This also can add to some confusion when trying to figure out the price. Sure, I can add this, let me give you a deal on this other thing or this is going to cost more because it’s not bundled with this, so you want this but not this other thing, or that’s an additional charge because of…

It’s too much to shift all these tiny pieces around all the time. I always want to make sure you get a good deal so I just find out what you’re looking for and give you. price on that, putting the majority of the fee on photography, not the tangibles or things that don’t cost me anything. A la cart pricing “can” be a way to steer you back to the packages. Once you add up everything that you want you realize that the price is more than the package. So now you’re considering the packages again and now you’re back to shifting things around. Again, going to play myself up again. I only offer one package so that I can just take away whatever brides aren’t interested in vs. shifting packages around or slowly building up the bill.

Gratuitous photo of myself.

Additional photographer, more coverage. Okay. This is true to a degree. You end up with more photos, more people in more places. My goal is never to up-sell you on what you may not need. If you’re getting ready near each other somewhat or if you have under a hundred and fifty guests then it’s pretty easy for me to accommodate you. Most brides that come to me are pretty educated on wedding stuff by the time they get to me and I know they’ve researched me and my work, so I’ll never want to push something on them that they already have an inkling that they don’t need. Your photographer should be pretty up front and either say yes or no, not yes and yes to a second shooter (our term). If you want photos of you walking down the isle from front and back then you’ll want a second shooter. If you want photos fo your grooms face as you walk down the isle and you walking down the isle, you don’t need a second shooter. If you’re both getting ready at a hotel and you want coverage of the both of you then you don’t need a second shooter. If you’re getting ready four towns away from each other and want coverage of the both of you… you may want a second photographer.

When I use a second shooter (photographer) I usually charge whatever money i’ll actually be giving them. They have an easy job, they show up, have fun, shoot and eventually leave sans memory card. I’m only using a portion of their photos in the end, we all have pretty high standards when it comes to photos and we’re all very picky as photographers. Be weary of any photographer pushing services that you don’t think you need on you. Do your research on this subject, ask Jeeves (old reference).

I couldn’t find any of my photos with crazy filters on them, so I’m using a photo of a wonderful meal I had, yes I have a cell phone case with my logo on it. I’m branded up.

Here’s what else grinds my gears, yes I went there. Everyone calling their photography their style or vision when… they’re just using a downloaded preset (sometimes they even pay for these) on every single photo or desaturating the photos. I’m not going to say I don’t like these photos, some of them are great. I love the look but, yes there’s a but. Someday in the future when you want to see what that moment actually looked like without grain and desaturated reds and oranges and way to much work on highlights and shadows you won’t be able to. Because that filter is there for life. What I like to do is capture the actual colors, correct color temperature and exposure. It takes seconds to throw a filter on, but I don’t think I could ever call it my “style”. I’ve wrote a bunch more about it here.

So here’s what i’m trying to get across, look at their skill as a photographer. Do you like the way they frame a photo, is the exposure at least correct. Take a look at their whole portfolio, not just weddings. See their range and skill as a photographer because a wedding is essentially a marathon of photography. We’re constantly pushed and pulled throughout the day to get operate in any conditions, bad lighting, difficult people and situations, hot and cold and also our gear matters. I’m getting away from my point but basically if a photographer is calling his desaturated photos his style and trying to play up how artistic he is… take a second look. If he’s saying he’s a natural light photographer.. run! One more warning sign to look for is selective color, thats when a photographer turns down all the colors except for one. This makes everything black and white except for those red roses, making it an iconic photo. This is gimmicky, simple and a stupid trick that people can now do on their cell phones… so why would a wedding photographer be doing this? Steer away from white vignetting as well, that’s a huge warning sign that your photographer is behind the times in style.

So this is a shot THAT A NATURAL LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER COULDN’T GET. THIS WAS SHOT WITH TWO OFF CAMERA FLASHES. ONE FLASH BEHIND THEM ON A SNOOT SO THAT THE FLASH DIDN’T SPILL OUT ONTO THE BRANCHES OF THE TREE AND THE SECOND LIGHT BEING HELD BY ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER WITH A TIGHT GRID TO FOCUS THE MAJORITY OF THE LIGHT ON THEM.

A natural light photographer is a scary thing for a wedding. There’s only so many hours of the day that are bright during a wedding. Eventually it gets dark and then what? If someone’s mastered how to take photos in daylight, that’s great. But you’re going to want your entire wedding covered and if they can’t navigate around a flash and some interesting light then you may want to look elsewhere. Again, they’ll have some amazing photos and they may be a talented photographer but please for wedding sake make sure your photographer uses lights! Imagine if you bought cabinets for your kitchen and the cabinet maker told you that he can only put the hinges on the outside of the cabinet and not inside because that’s not his style. I love a good analogy.

Depth of field, making something sharp and something pretty damn smooth. At a quick glance you already know this wasn’t taken with a cell phone, so automatically it’s already leaning towards the only conclusion you could make, a professional photographer took this with a professional camera.

Here’s another trick that I do employ. Shooting at a very low depth of field. This means whatever i’m focused on is sharp and the rest is out of focus. It does make for a pleasing photo. I also know that regardless of the situation when I use this little trick that whoever sees the photo regardless of proper assessment sees a professional image. They know that a good camera or good lens is somewhere in the equation and whoever can afford this good lens or camera must be a professional photographer. Quick example, lets say I tattoo’d someone and it didn’t look half bad and I show off that tattoo. To those of you who don’t know, I might be a professional tattoo artist, but look at the rest of my work and realize that maybe… not so much. So again, look at someones portfolio, if that’s their style, everything shot in low depth of field, then maybe pass. It’s a simple trick that I do use, but only when it’s called for. These lenses are primarily used to work in extremely low light, not just for a blurring (bokeh) effect.

So here’s an example of my Canon 200mm 1.8 lens. The reason this looks unique is because of the size of this lens and also the hefty price tag. This isn’t a lens you can pick up in your local best buy.

So i’m going to admit to something horrible. I use my gear to get brides and grooms. I have some cool lenses. I have a fisheye lens that is pretty much useless except for some random cool photos here or there. It’s sometimes fun to use during a wedding reception or sometimes in tight spaces but mostly useless. I also have a two hundred millimeter lens that is no longer produced that can shoot at an incredibly low depth of field which produces a spectacularly amazing image that looks like non other. I have many others which I could list. I use these lenses to get new business sometimes because I know the common person will see the image and be wowed. But the main thing I want to point out is that I can still use the most basic, boring, cheap lens to get an amazing image regardless of depth of field or any other curiosity the lens may entail.

So to round this out, investigate your photographer, get to know them. Don’t go with a photographer because they’re rolling back the price quickly or throwing in a freebie as soon as you blink or move your chair in the meeting. Make sure you love their work, that they don’t use car salesmen terms in regards to your wedding package. If you see the word budget, value or deal then calmly and quietly get up and say that you have to make a quick phone call and get out of there. Just like then you buy a house, car or anything of value, research, know the terms, know the differences between photographers and make a very educated choice on who you go with.

Click here to see some of my photography or call me at 508-471-0069 to ask me any questions you might have.

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.

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. 

Wedding workflow

So this post is purely for photographers, maybe geared more towards wedding photographers perhaps. This is not going to be a blog where I incorporate lots of visual aids, i'm not a Buzzfeed article. If you know Lightroom or have just started using it then you will be able to follow along. If you're a bride or groom and don't know what Lightroom is then this probably isn't for you.

     So what I concentrate on is keeping things simple. It can be very easy to misplace a photo if you don't know what you're doing in Lightroom. You can add a filter that doesn't show certain types of flagged photos or you might not have photos from 2016 or 2015 included and miss a photo that you needed asap. Okay, so i'll go through everything from the beginning.

     So first off, any of my edits have usually been thirty seconds or less on a photo. I'm working with four thousand photos when shooting a wedding and between sorting, processing and delivering I have gotten pretty efficient. I'm mentioning this because I want you to understand that I don't treat my catalog like a golden goose. If my catalog becomes corrupt or has an issue and I have to restart from scratch, it won't be the end of the world. I may lose all of my edits but i'll always have my photos which is the most important part.  

     I sort my photos by YEAR, MONTH, DATE. If I need to get photos of a race from two years ago all I have to do is search my calendar on my computer or phone for RACE. Once I have the date I just look through my catalog for these photos.   

     I do have two catalogs, one on each computer. My main computer is used for managing storage between two eight terabyte external hard drives. This catalog has everything from 2007 to 2017. I'm currently teetering around five and a half terabytes but it goes up and down each year depending on how harshly I treat my past work which i'll explain more about in the next paragraph. The second catalog I have is on my MacBook Retina, this is my workhorse. It's fully loaded and meant for travel and speed. I'm able to take all my wedding photos and work through them non stop without being confined to my office or apartment. My favorite place to work is actually Starbucks. So this catalog of photos and edits on my MacBook is stored on a Lacie Thunderbolt hard drive. I'll talk more about what I do with these photos later in this blog.

     Another benefit of having everything in one catalog is access. You can keep doing triage on your photos, sorting through them and pulling out the bad photos. When years go by and you get better at photography you will be better equipped to judge your past work more critically. Every year I spend a few weeks to go back through my old photos and trim out the chum. God forbid I expire before i'm suppose to and someone is charged with sorting through my photos and see all my bad photos (I mean bad composition, blurry and other issues). I've heard other photographers talk about how inexpensive storage is, it's not trust me. I upgrade my hard drives every year due to concerns of proper backups. Hard drives fail so you should regularly upgrade. I use my hard drives pretty heavily as well. If I have a bride or past client that wants photos from their shoot I don't want to give them any bad photos. If you even show a client a bad photo there is a chance they may think it's great. Here's what happens when you show that bad photo, they say it looks great and you know it doesn't. They start showing that bad photo and telling everyone who took that photo. So I really only want my good photos out there. If it's something important then yes, save the photos, no biggie. But for me I don't want to have sixteen terabytes of good photos mixed with bad photos.

           Sorting, yes, no. It's that simple. Yes to a photo, it's good and you like it and want to share it and you want people to know it's on of your photos and i've used too many ands in this sentence. No means that you don't like the photo, it didn't come out good, bad composition, un-saveable, blurry, unflattering. When you get rid of a photo you're also saving the environment. You're also saving your wallet from having to get a bigger hard drive prematurely. So for those of you not in the know... P is for Pick or YES, X is not Reject or NO. While in the library module you have to make sure Auto Advance is clicked on under the Photo menu at the top. Okay, so now that we have all the photos and we're selecting P or X and working through the photos we realize it may not be going as fasts you would like it. This can be for two different reasons. You have to make sure all standard previews were built for the photos. Otherwise you will have to wait a second for the photo to render each time you click through the photos. Control A and then Library menu, Previews, Build Standard Size previews. Now wait and once it's finished restart your sorting process. Another reason the photos may be going slower as you pick through them is you're in the DEVELOP module. You will be able to sort while in this module but it will be a little bit slower.  

     The best part about sorting with P and X is you can do it with one hand. The more you do it the faster you'll get with it. I promise once you've done it with a half dozen shoots you'll be a master. Now here's what you do once you've selected all the bad and good photos, once you've flagged everything as a YES or NO. Now you can DELETE REJECTED PHOTOS. Now keep in mind once you've deleted these files they are moved to your trash bucket on your computer or Mac. Please please please make sure you don't have deleters remorse over your photos. This is just how I work and if it works for you then it works for you. Lightroom really allows everyone to process and do their own workflow the way they want. This is just how I work. Okay moving on.

     Once you have deleted the rejected photos by clicking the Photo menu at the top of the screen and scrolling down to it you can repeat this whole process again. So what you'll want to do is go through all of the photos and repeat this process of saying yes or no to all of the photos. I will typically do this several times if not more just because I want to make sure that my client or bride & groom get the best photos they can. You'll start to notice that you now have just really nice photos in your catalog. It will be a pleasure to show, friends and family your photos without having to delicately explain why some of the are bad.  

     Now that you are down to just your good photos you are ready to start editing. I don't use presets btw for anything. I process my photos a little bit differently and don't want everything to look exactly the same as every photographer on Instagram or Pinterest with a yellow decontrasted light flared photo. So here's what I do next. I take one photo and I apply a few general edits on it. First I add anywhere between +5 to +15 on contrast (This helps give enforce a more sharpened look) and then +5 to saturation (You should be shooting RAW and your phot may be a little flat because of it) and then +1 or +2 on clarity just to add a little bit of edge to everything. I'll also make sure Profile correction is on and sometimes i'll add increase sharpness and add a little bit of noise reduction. Once i've done this singular edit to this photo i'll want to apply it to all of the photos. I move back to the main Library loupe view by hitting the G key. Select All (Control A or Command A) and i'll mouse over to the side triangle to reveal the window to the left where it says Sync Settings. I select Sync Settings and I make sure everything is applied. Keep in mind if you decided to adjust exposure on this first photo it will apply to all of the photos. So once all these basic edits are applied to everything I can start going through with more edits. if you've noticed I don't do much with my editing. I really try to get everything correct when I actually shoot the original photo. I don't try and follow up my work with corrections. It makes my life a lot easier when I take a good photo and work from that to make minor adjustments. I'm not huge on filters, fake looking scenes and such. I would much rather get the correct tonal range and add some lights in the scene to break a subject from the background or add a dynamic little flare by using my flash a certain way. It's way too easy to add all these afterwards.   I wrote about that a little more here.

     While in the DEVELOP module you can navigate your mouse over to exposure and it should change the color slightly from Grey to white notifying you that your cursor is selecting this certain option. While the mouse sits over exposure you can now use the arrow keys to adjust exposure and also move between photos. This means you can go through all of your photos with out having to move around your mouse non-stop. I like to apply all of my exposure edits to all the photos like this. I'll eventually go back and do cropping on all of my photos to make it more pleasing to the eye. Some photos may require additional adjustments like Shadows or adjusting highlights. 

     Once I have done all my edits and i'm happy with my work i'll export the photos to a custom named folder. Once the photos have made their way to where they're suppose to be. This is usually my website IShotYourWedding.com which is made through Pixieset.com. Any photos that I really like will end up on my Facebook or Instagram. I'll also take a few photos that i'm happy with and put them in a separate folder called "Images", I know i'm super creative. This is just a folder that links to my Wallpaper and Screensaver that allows me to keep seeing my good photos. When i'm done getting the photos to where they need to be I delete the JPG files. I have no use for them. I have a finished copy on my website if I need to show them and the really good ones I have in a folder and on social media. I find it's much easier to get rid of them and it also keeps my desktop very clean and provides a really nice focus for me to get work done now.

     After most shoots, always weddings I take my photos and back them up to my Lacie thunderbolt hard drive. I sort through them as quickly as possible and then those get backed up to two eight terabyte hard drives. When I am no longer using the photos on my MacBook or travel drive as much I delete them because I have them backed up in two separate locations. This allows me to keep my computer relatively clean. If my computer ever gets stolen I don't lose out on photos and because I have a MacBook and good practices it's very quick to get back on my feet as far as editing goes. 

     I hope this is helpful to the photographers out there with a massive workload. This is a little bit of the magic behind my smoke and mirrors. This is not a shortcut to work, this still takes a great deal of time to do correctly. I'm not breezing through any photos. In fact most  weddings I take four to five weeks because I'll work on the photos every few days that way I'm looking at them with fresh eyes and processing everything in my head on which is a good photo and which is a bad photo. I always want to make sure my best foot is forward. If you don't have Lightroom yet i would highly suggest you go and sign up for Adobe's photographer plan which gives you Lightroom & Photoshop for only $9.99 a month.  Feel free to leave me any comments or criticism on this post. 

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.  

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.

Jenna & Paul

Jenna & Paul live in Sturbridge which happens to have lots of exciting places to shoot an engagement shoot in addition to being located somewhat close to B.T's Smokehouse.

Here's some of our shoot at their house, the town common and Old Sturbridge Village.

A thousand images!

So this just popped into my head, this idea of a thousand images or more for wedding photos. This is something I support, I've always support this from day one. I am writing this for brides, grooms and fellow photographers.

     There will always be criticism about the amount of wedding photos you share with clients or on the other end of the spectrum receive from a photographer because more often than not you wouldn't mind a few dozen or hundred more to look at or a bunch more to share.

    So originally I would give upwards of fifteen hundred images because I felt like I was holding images captive. If I had fifteen hundred images but only gave them five hundred, why? I prided myself in giving this extra value to my brides, grooms, clients, friends and family. Everyone was very happy after all at all the extra photos.  

     So the images that are completely cut from a wedding that are not used are the following, peoples backs, unflattering faces (not to be confused with a funny face or two which the bridal couple will enjoy), bad micro-expression, unflattering light, blurry photo, obscene, unflattering photo of bridal couple, duplicates of same pose unless there was a significant change in facial expression or posture possibly, bad hand placement during group photos. This is only a small multitude of examples of reasons.

     The remainder of the photos are variations of moments, different angles, views and composition. These are the usable photos, the ones that can be saved, shared and looked back on.  Some of the photos are a series of an event happening and not just the pinnacle of the moment.

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     So i'm going to start with the downside of sharing this amount of photos.  We as wedding photographers typically take more photos than we need. We do this because we don't know who's going to blink or if someone will suddenly have a horrible twitch in their face or move their hand to look like a t-rex's arm. Lots of photos, lots of options, lower risk of fucking up, better chance of getting something damn near close to magical. With all these photos you have to go through and perform triage, saying yes or no to which photos live and which ones die; a very important responsibility. More photos to look through can mean longer wait times for clients and also longer processing time for photographers.  

     Now when you give someone fifteen hundred photos that means they have lots of options, maybe too many options. The first dance photos maybe two dozen instead of a select six. When you have two dozen photos verses six that means that the most outstanding, perfect photo will take a bit longer to catch your eye or stand out. It also creates the perception that you quickly edited the photos and are giving them everything without selecting the bad ones to get rid of. You are also putting your photos up against your friends photos or other bride's photos where they have gotten the top fifteen percent of the wedding photos that were taken that day.  

     Let's use a box of donuts as comparison. I'm going to present you with a dozen donuts, some are chocolate frosted, a few chocolate frosted with sprinkles and maybe a chocolate glazed as well as the jelly, a french (You actually only capitalize french if it is a product of said country) cruller, and an additional complement of donuts. Now lets take that nice looking dozen and put it up against six good looking donuts, jelly, chocolate frosted, french cruller, blueberry, glazed, old fashioned. So you have a perfect assortment but maybe not a bunch of variations on donuts. 

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     So here's the upside of sharing as many photos as is reasonable. The most important reason first, you don't know who is important to the bride or groom. We don't know if they've seen their uncle or aunt in the past twenty years. We don't know if they don't get along with their parents and have reconciled for the sake of family and wedding. We don't know if their parents are divorced and this si the first time they've been in a room together in ten years. Their parents may live on the other side of the country, their sister may be in the army and home for the first time in two years. 

     So when you make the choice to not include a photo of Uncle John giving a hug or crying at the wedding then you forsaking a once in a lifetime moment.  You are the judge, jury and executioner when it comes to the selection of photos given. Why not lessen the risk of incorporating beautiful moments that you might not realize are happening right in front of your lens.

     I once had a wedding where I was going through the routine of getting all the moments, all the guests and performing top notch wedding photography. I spent around a month editing the photos and ordering the flash drive and finally presenting the photos. I found out that the bride's aunt had died shortly after from cancer and she was only in maybe three or four photos. She asked if I had more. Apparently the aunt had raised her since she was a preteen, she had meant more to get than her own mother in some sense.  I had no idea and this killed me that I couldn't do more for this bride. I'm only sharing this because I want to really impress upon you that we don't know who is special to the bride or groom and we have no idea the great history in everyone's relationships. The wedding guests are chosen very carefully and they're there to witness a huge landmark in a person's life. 

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     So when you give variation, option, choices you are allowing them to choose the best version of themselves in photos. You are giving permission for them to remember moments that they will most likely have missed on their wedding day. It's a little bit extra work to edit a few extra hundred photos, but you get better and faster at it.  Is it all worth it, sharing this many photos? Damn right it's worth it and I don't regret it for one second. Those extra photos usually mean that everyone who attended that wedding can find a flattering, fun and amazing photo of themselves or someone they love. This means they share, they brag and hopefully they say who took their photo. 

     I always argue about this with fellow photographers, I think I always will. I started giving out these extra photos as an added value to my product but through the years i've learned that this added value isn't quantity, it's beautiful moments that I didn't know were happening. 

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.

Europe - Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain

So I hope everyone has been having a great week. I sure have been. 

     So let me start from the beginning of the trip. I arrived in Rome and quickly realized how hard it is to rent a car without a credit card. I brought my ATM card and license, I have plenty of money so I didn't need to bring my credit card and also I haven't used it for a single thing in 2 years. Sixt car rental was able to help me out, I just had to lock up $2500 on my bank account. So a minor hiccup to the beginning of my trip.  The airport was absolutely mental, signs were hard to figure out and pointed to random places where there was nothing. Regardless I found my car which to my surprise was a diesel which gets 70mpg or some weird kph estimate, a Fiat 500L Diesel. 

     I left the airport and didn't care where I ended up, I just didn't want to be at the airport anymore. I started following signs for Roma and ended up in the center of Rome. Crazy traffic patterns and scooters zipping in and out among the cars as well on the other main roads leading into the city. The city itself is history married into a beautiful manicured painting. Old ruins mix with more modern buildings and ancient trees dot the area. I quickly found Vatican city and as you may have guessed thousands upon thousands of people and nowhere to park. I drove around for a bit and followed the blue signs for parking, P. These led to full parking lots or parking for Vespas. Eventually after an hour and a half I called it quits and headed out of the city. I really needed a good nap and decided on coming back and returning the car early and spending lots of time wandering. Part of my plan though is to have no plan at all.

     So now I'm heading up to Geneva which is a long ways away. I take the long drive up the Italian Coastline and stop at many different rest stops to get fuel for the car and myself. I did have some very italian food it just happened to be very packaged.

     So a very notable name popped up as I drove north, Pisa. I know that name and I know what it's all about. I headed for the leaning tower of Pisa. When I arrived I was ushered into a empty spot on an area of free parking by an African gentlemen selling umbrellas.  He stood by my window as I tried to ignore him. He tapped and offered an umbrella, it was raining. I declined and he then asked for money to watch my car. I declined again and he started mumbling under his breath and so I decided a Euro wouldn't hurt me in the long run so I didn't have my car keyed, peed on or cursed. I gave the man a Euro and he scoffed at me, only one euro. To which I replied yes, i'm giving you one euro for free; i'm going to be back in 20 minutes. So I walked to the tower and glanced back a few times to make sure that he wasn't on top of the car. The most exciting part of visiting the tower of Pisa was being able to use the bathroom. I paid .50 Euro and it was totally worth it. I took a few photos while dodging everyone else's photos as they mockingly held up the tower. There was no way to get a nice clean shot of the tower without a sea of tourists in the photo. When I got to my car I did a quick visual inspection and found nothing out of place. I threw my bag on the seat and drove down the road, a few second later my check engine light triggered!!! That guy from earlier did something and I know it. I had been driving my car now for 30 seconds so whatever damage was done, on top of that my seatbelt light was blinking and the car thinks my camera bag is heavy enough to be a person. I turned off the car and opened the hood to see any funny business and also checked the gas tank for any debris or random liquids outside of it that didn't belong. Turned the car back on and everything works again, no light. Damn crazy voodoo that man did scared me pretty badly.

     Driving up to the alps was pretty impressive, you could see the sun setting to the left of them from where I was and I eventually was able to snap a few photos. By the time the end of the day wrapped up I was at the Swiss border, I drove up to the pay station to go thru and only the commercial truck opening was open so I turned around and parked at a truck stop a few kilometers down the mountain. I pulled myself into the back of the seat and then attempted to go to bed. It was creepy that first night. I was at a small truck stop near the top of a mountain and the bathroom was a complete nightmare to begin with. It had those creepy places to stand and squat to go to the bathroom.  I went to bed and used my bath towel as a blanket. Keep in mind that there is snow on this mountain and it got pretty cold very quickly. I started the car a few times to warm me up. When I woke up I took a few things into the bathroom and took a handi-wipe shower with those tiny cleaning pads. I changed clothes, reorganized the car and played with photos for a few minutes. Now that I was all packed I could head out.

     Headed up to the mountain pass and paid the toll to go thru the mountain, I believe it was around thirty euro to enter.  For about thirty minutes I drove through an endlessly straight tunnel with yellow lights reflecting against the dash and irritating my eyes. Eventually I could see the tunnel ending and I emerged into mountain roads winding down, across the sides of the alps. 

     So every turn was more breathtaking than the last, some of the bridges that crossed the valley that opened up in front of me as waterfalls dotted the mountainside. Eventually I came to a much needed gas station. I purchased some cheese, chocolate, sandwich and a blanket as well as some coca cola light. My aim was Geneva and I seemed so close.  Eventually after what seemed forever I arrived and was able to find parking fairly quickly. I decided on a street photography approach to the city and shot around with my super telephoto and eventually switched to a few other lenses. I swear to you while walking around the main tourist area by Lake Geneva that two ladies walked by me and literally smelled like hot chocolate. I bought some chocolate and headed back to my car, rain was periodical and not good for my camera even though it's sealed.  I criss crossed through an older part of the city and bought some macaroons for my troubles. Made it to my car and eventually made it halfway out of the city when I saw my weakness, McDonalds. Now theres a reason I like McDonalds while I travel. I know what i'm going to get and it's like a little piece of home that happens to have WIFI. Did I mention that almost nowhere has free wifi.  I paid for four hours and literally sat there inside McDonalds and out in my car with my laptop using those four hours of WIFI usage. I said hello to everyone back at home and uploaded some photos. Eventually I decided to make a run for my next place which was suggested by the girl at McCafe "Mc'Donalds. A little village in France which was very close, only 30 minutes away. I drove to this special little village which has a beautiful lake and couldn't see anything because of the rain and fog and general miserableness that the weather seemed me due.  

     I started on my way to Barcelona now which was eight hours away.  I decide that I could make a serious run for it. It's actually easier to drive at night over here because no one is trying to pass you or vice versa. I made it a few hours into the trip and eventually caved and took a long nap at a rest stop. I decided I couldn't sleep and made another go at it. I kept making it thirty or forty minutes before I negotiated with myself to stop again for any other random reasons, bathroom, stretching or I was hungry and tired. I found an amazing rest stop and made my claim on it. When I pulled up there were people sleeping on the ground next to their vehicles and on the sidewalk with clothes bundled under their heads as a make shift pillow.  I quickly turned off my lights and cracked my window and slept in the most comfortable position that I come up with. I woke up at eight in the morning and most of my fellow hotel car patriots had left. I cleaned up my car and heading into the rest stop and had some breakfast.  

     I continued the day by stopped at many rest stops to break up the day as well as a picnic with my new blanket that I bought. The next notable rest stop was just over the border of Spain. There was a small grove of trees where people were parking and hanging out. I parked and took a nap under a tree for about an hour or so. Eventually I made my way to Barcelona and couldn't find affordable parking. I decided on a different route. So tonight I am staying in a hostel that has parking for fifteen euro. Had some local food and now i'm sitting in a room with thirty plus kids from other countries. I am staying in a room with a Chinese kid and a pair of guys from France, it's fair to say that i'm the toughest / coolest person in the room. So that's my trip so far. 

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Europe, me, camera, car

I bought a plane ticket. 

Flying to Italy (July 28th)

Picking up a car.

Driving all over Europe. (Italy, Switzerland, France, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Germany, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovakia and any other place I can squeeze in.

Taking photos everywhere. (I'm even tempted with a Ukraine selfie)

Flying home (August 11th).

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     So now the logistics of what I'm going to do. Everyone keeps saying that this is a bit mental.  But what better way to showcase that I'm a destination wedding photographer than to visit all the places I want to shoot at. How can I visit so many places in such a short amount of time.. and alone!  I'm planning on doing a bit of driving and enjoying some alone time. Some places in Europe only take an hour or several to get to, Amsterdam to Brussels is under an hour and you can drive from Paris to Germany in under 5 hours. I've been researching a route to take and I plan on make a small route of my trip before I go so everyone can follow me on here.  Some places are 5-7 hours apart which sounds like a lot, but consider this. Imagine driving from Worcester to Boston, not bad right. Now drive to Providence, not the worse right; hop out and explore a bit for a few hours. Next would be Hartford CT. So you arrive and now you've been driving for a few hours and the end of the world didn't happen. Even though the places are many hours apart that won't mean that I have to stay in the car and on route. This trip is all about stops, detours and taking it in.

     I've also been to Europe before, several times. I rock.

   I plan to blog everything while i'm there, videos, pictures and audio. Unlocking my AT&T Iphone to be a bit more compatible with VodaPhone and purchasing a prepaid card.  I also plan on visiting many Starbucks and internet cafes. I'll have my MacBook with me and be uploading photos and videos daily.   

     So I can't possibly enjoy my time because it's going to take so long driving and finding hostels, hotels or bed and breakfasts. I found an easier way and much more economical way to explore Europe. By sleeping in the backseat of my rental i'll be able to cut out many hours of checking in and out and making sure I didn't lose anything. I do plan on staying a few nights in a hotel (A man's gotta shower).   By not doing a hotel it will also save me countless dollars which can better be spent on gas and delicious meals.

     If I find that I love Portugal or Slovakia and i'm having a blast there then i'll stay longer. My goal though is to experience as much as I can in a short amount of time. (My part time job is being awesome and allowing me to take 2 weeks off this summer for this trip as well as 17 dates for weddings and other shoots). 

     I'll be traveling with two Pelican cases. One will be full of camera equipment, planning on bringing my Canon 16-35 and 24-70, 70-200 and a 50mm to compliment my 5d MKII. I'll also have my Canon EOS M in tow. I've actually already started to assemble some of what i'm bringing. I famously get sick before any big trip because I worry about mis-packing equipment. I'll be using a power inverter so I can charge everything that I need to in the car and negate any power adapters or need to stop moving.   

 To people who doubt how awesome this is I say this. I love to travel, it's something that makes me happy. I love photography and the chance to take photos where everything is alien to me is rare. I also love adventure and living my life to the most exciting ends possible. 

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My favorite place to work.

     So being a wedding photographer means I don't usually have a studio. Most of my work is done on site or at a church. So my office is my home, my apartment, sometimes sitting on my bed. So while being home for so much time working on things I am presented with many distractions. There is the awesome Tostino's frozen pizzas that I love to cook, hot showers to be taken, my cat that needs to be played with and cleaning to be done. 

     So most of the time when there is work to be done, I choose to go elsewhere. My choice is usually Barnes & Noble or Starbucks. I like these places because It feels like I have a time limit of sorts, i'm paying to be here. it works like this, I pay around $5 an hour to sit and work on my computer. That price of course comes from the delicious fancy coffee drinks that I love to consume. 

     In fact, right now.. I'm sitting in a Starbucks in a very comfy brown leather chair writing several blogs. So if Starbucks reads this, I am open to endorsement deals.