Niccell & Jeremy at the Don Vicente de Ybor

OK, let me just stop right here and say that the Don Vicente de Ybor is probably my favorite place to photograph a bride.  The Honeymoon Suite is un-be-lieve-able!!

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to photograph a boudoir session with the beautiful Niccell.  I will have to check with her if I can post a slideshow :).  What an amazing session!

Well, here we are a few weeks later and their wedding was no less amazing.  Niccell and Jeremy are soooo good together, great people to work with.  Tessa and her crew at the Don Vicente did a great job as always, everything went very smoothly.  The ceremony was intimate and small, and very warm and emotional.  I personally love the fact that they wrote their own vows, these weren't cliche or sappy vows, oh no, these were heartfelt and true feelings expressed in these vows.  OK!  Enough chatter, here's the photos!

Tina & Mike's Wedding at the Sirata

On Friday, Derica and I photographed Mike & Tina's Wedding at the Sirata.  They were a referral from one of Mike's friends whose wedding I photographed last year.  I love that, it's so great when we get to work with friends of our couples!

Anyway, here's their sneak peek!

By the way, it totally poured during their ceremony, but everybody took it in stride, wonderful thing.

-B

Traditions? Who needs 'em?

Weddings are all about this thing called "tradition" <cue music from "Fiddler on the Roof">.

Without traditions, most of what we do today to celebrate nearly everything would be rather blah.  Weddings are no exception.  It's tradition that the Father of the Bride walk her down the aisle.  It's tradition that everyone be dressed up.  It's tradition that there's even a wedding!

I'm not going to tell you what you should do on your wedding day, as a matter of fact, I'm more likely to tell you pretend you're at Burger King and "Have it YOUR way!", but, there are some things I want you to think about.

Cutting the Cake.  Come on people, it's a cake, you cut it, everyone watches.  It's over in about 2 minutes.  You don't need the "cram the cake" action going on, that's kinda tacky.  This tradition started hundreds of years ago and it signifies "breaking bread together", or forming a family.  This is not one to leave out.

Bride and Groom seeing each other before the ceremony.  This is an oldie, but a goodie.  This one comes from arranged marriage, which is still practiced in some cultures today.  I guess the idea was that lets say we had a "beautification challenged" bride, keeping the groom away from her until he says, "I do" might stop him from running away in terror!  That's also probably the origin of the veil tradition as well, come to think of it.  I personally think since most couples have been together much longer before getting married than they used to, having a "separation time", even if it's only one day, makes the wedding day (and night) better.  You know the saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".  Plus, from a photography standpoint, the reaction of the groom to his bride coming down the aisle is priceless, but if he's seen her already, it's not so much.

The Garter and Bouquet.  These are the items most commonly left out by today's brides.  I hear, "It's tacky", or "That's boring".  Guess what?  Wanna know what's boring?  Going to a wedding as a guest, sitting through a ceremony, then attending a reception where NOTHING happens.  Just dinner, maybe a speech or two, then dancing.  They have clubs for that.  Having activities such as the garter toss, the boquet toss, first dances, cake cutting, maybe a dollar dance, get people involved and out of their seats.  Here's the truth:  Most people hate going to weddings.  Why not do something that makes them not hate yours?  Let's say you don't have any or enough single people in the crowd.  No problem, have ALL the women or ALL the men come up.  OR, here's a good one:  One of my brides bought about 30 scratch off lottery tickets and fitted them into a boquet of flowers, everyone was invited to the dance floor (and most got up too!) and someone went home with a nice gift!  GREAT IDEA!  I've never seen that many people get up for a boquet toss before!

There are many more traditions at weddings that are being ignored or scorned today.  I don't think this is the way to go.  Instead, let's modify these traditions to suit today's world and interests.  Keeping the spirit of tradition is more important than the actual mechanics of the act.  I want future generations to continue to do the traditional things that have always been done.  This is part of what creates a culture and a community, without that where would we be?

-B

How much thought did you give your DJ?

Picture this (hey, that's funny, right?), you have the perfect gown, the perfect reception site.  All your friends and family look fantastic in their finery.  Your flowers are incredible, the ceremony goes off without a hitch.  Your photographer is like one of the family.  The cake is gorgeous and the food is out of this world.

Then you are about to hit the dance floor.  But...... where's the music?  Suddenly there is a tap on your shoulder and some guy you've never seen before tells you he needs to run to WalMart for batteries.  You look at him like the moron that he is and say, "Who are you and why should I care?"  He responds with, "I'm your DJ and I need some batteries so I can get this party started!  I'll be right back."

Wow, there's a nightmare just about to erupt!

I've actually witnessed this, more than once I might add.

I've seen people spend a fortune on everything, flowers, reception site, dress, jewelry, etc., only to skimp and pay $200 for their DJ, the life blood of the party!  Did they think the DJ wasn't important?  Didn't they realize how the DJ can make or BREAK your party?

Thankfully, there are Professional Organizations that can help filter the good from the bad.  Professional DJ's invest in their education and their equipment.  They have the permits, insurance and knowledge to get the job done with style and panache.  DJ's come in all styles too, maybe you want a guy in a chicken suit, or maybe a monkey suit (aka tuxedo?).  You can get that, but you will also get reliability and responsible, dedicated DJ services.

While I have many friends in the DJ business, I can't reccomend one or any here directly, that wouldn't be fair, but......  If you look just to the right of this post, well you know, right over there?

OK, here in Tampa we have a local chapter for the American Disc Jockey Association, or ADJA for short.  Their website is:  http://www.adja.org/  Here you will find lots of info and helpful searches for qualified DJ services in any area of the country.

Don't trust your party to some kid with an ipod, get a real Professional!

-B

Niccel & Jeremy's Engagement Session

Sand Key Park got just a little hotter last night!

Niccel and Jeremy are one beautiful couple!

Even though it looked stormy, we survived it and came out with some amazing photographs. By the way, the rain held off until we got back to the parking lot, perfect timing.

They both didn't realize what I mean by "You will get wet".  No, that water is not Photoshopped, it's real, and it's wet! But...... it's a lot of fun!  Poor Jeremy got completely soaked while Niccel managed to keep her hair dry.

Here's their sneak peek!

Getting Better All The Time......

I will not be posting much if at all for the next week or so since Derica, Melissa and I will be joining Professional Photographers from all over the state and beyond in Daytona Beach for the Florida Professional Photographers Florida School.

This is a yearly event where we get to spend a week with an instructor in a small class format to learn as much as we can.

This year, Derica and I are working with Debra Lynn Ferro to brush up (hehe) on Photoshop and Painting skills!  Melissa is spending the week with Lori Nordstrom to learn about shooting the little ones (photographically, of course).

Don't miss me too much, ok?

-B

Aren't Photographers just Glorified Paper Salesmen?

Yeah, right......

When film was king, there was more truth to that statement, but it still wasn't true.

We all know the actual act of producing the image onto a piece of 8"x10" paper only costs a few dollars, that's not earth shattering news.

But.......

Here's why Wal* charges $2 and professionals charge >$50 or more!

First, there's cost of doing business:  licenses, permits, insurance, rent, storage, electricity, phone, etc.

Then, there's time to get the print made:  copying files, editing files, finding files, uploading, checking the print, packaging the print, arranging for the customer to pick up, etc.

Lastly, theres Processing time:  We process or retouch and manipulate each and every file for every print made so they can print at their best.  This takes a lot of time.  Depending on the file, we may spend up to an hour on an 8"x10"!  It's very difficult to make them all perfect and put a reasonable price on prints.  The smaller the print, the more expensive it is for us to make.  For example:  You order a 4"x6" print, that shouldn't cost too much, right?  Well, add up all the costs above and up to maybe a half hour of processing, and that 4"x6" could cost us money to make for you!  Obviously a larger print will receive more work than a smaller one, but this is just an explanation.

Wal* isn't going to spend any time processing your image, they also won't check for consistency or quality most likely.  Professional Labs have this unique attribute, maybe you've heard of them, they're called PEOPLE and they have EYES and a BRAIN to actually look at your Photograph and make corrections if necessary.  The Wal*'s of the world don't do that.

Soooo, next time you are looking at purchasing professional photography, and see what you might consider high print prices, think again, they are saving you a bundle!

-B

What are "Rights" to "reproduce"?

In the next installment of my ongoing series (well, it is, since yesterday), we will talk about "Rights" and "Copyright" and "Reproduction".  Nasty, nasty stuff.

Many people don't realize this, but if you hire a photographer for your portraits, wedding, etc., they OWN your photographs.  That is US copyright law, no two ways about it.  In the old days, the photographer would charge a small fee for the capture of the photographs and larger amounts for the prints from those photographs.  Today, there are more options available.

Yes, even if you purchase a print, the photographer still owns it!  If you scan it, it's illegal!

Today it's much easier for someone to reproduce a photograph illegally, thus we have the new pricing system.  Photographers tend to charge for their time up front and less for reprints.  If a print is simply a reprint, the print charges shouldn't be very high, however, many photographers retouch and manipulate the photographs they print (as they should) and charge for that time and skill.

That brings me to an interesting point:  Just how good are most photographers at retouching and image manipulation?  Isn't that something else you should look for in a photographer?  I mean, sure, they can capture a decent image, but can they make it shine?  This is something that can really set photographers apart.

OK, back to the doom and gloom.

Especially with Weddings, today many photographers offer a disk of images.  There are two basic types.

One is a small file suitable for E-mail, websites, Facebook, etc.  You don't want to print from it, there's just not enough information and that's not what they are intended for.  We've all tried printing a photo from a web site and it came out horrible, right?  same idea, looked great on the monitor, but not so much on paper.

The other is a high resolution file suitable for printing and this usually comes with usage rights.  These usage rights explain what you are allowed to do with these images.  Usually anything you want short of selling them, but this may vary from photographer to photographer.  The term "high resolution" is rather vague though, isn't it?  You may see some people calling them "Originals", unless you paid slightly over minimum wage for your wedding photographer, be wary of that word.  Remember we talked about retouching?  Originals have none of that, or even any work done.  Digital is much harder than film since we don't have a lab to make all the images perfect in color, contrast, and exposure.  Even slight differences image to image are quite noticable.  If the photographer doesn't take the time to correct for this, your images suffer for it.  A better word is "Proof", a proof is a working image, with some adjustments to it.  There are some photographers that offer "Edited" photographs.  This is a play on words.  The customer would take "Editing" to mean "retouching", guess what, it doesn't!  Editing is the act of sorting out the good from the bad, choosing the "keepers" so to speak.  It's a good thing to do, but it's not the same as retouching at all.  I'm sure there are photographers that offer fully retouched images from a wedding.  If they do, jump on it now because they likely won't be in business next year.

Yesterday I showed how a single wedding can use up most of a week's time, now imagine that photographer is going to spend a half hour to an hour retouching every single one of those 500 to 600 images?  Let's see, that's about 400 hours, or just over 2 weeks of utilizing every minute of the day for retouching.  Put another way, it keeps them busy equivalent to a full time job for 2 and a half months!  Not very realistic for a business model unless they charge the equivalent of a BMW for their services.

What does all this mean to you, the customer?

You have choices, lots of them.  Choices in Photography Style, Price Range, and Products Received.

Do you really want 800 high resolution photographs?  Do you know what to do with them?  Can your computer deal with it?  Do you WANT to deal with it?  Many people want the disk to keep for posterity, or "just in case".

Or, are you looking for QUALITY reprints?  An album with the best of the best in it?

Maybe you want all three?

The point is you can get what you want, how you want, at pretty much whatever price you want to pay.

In Tampa Bay alone there are over 600 Wedding Photographers, that's a lot to choose from.  Knowing a little bit about the industry helps narrow that field down a bit.

Hope this helps!

-B