This may just be me, but I've noticed over the last 10yrs that when hiring a photographer, experience and a good relationship with your vendor(s) seems to matter less and less. This is probably true of other industries, as well. We've all heard of experiences where companies are hiring younger employees because the salaries are less expensive then retaining someone with more experience. We see it all the time in sports. The long-term relationships that an employee has with their clients seems to get lost in the shuffle, and tossed aside to economic realities, as well.
Perhaps it's always been that way, and in my "older" age I'm just now seeing it, since it's affecting me personally. I mean, I was once that young pup photographer that kinda sorta snarled at those with experience as being "out of the game" or "not up to date" or "too old fashioned" to be relevant. I valued loyalty and personal relationships, but didn't put too much credence in it, at the time. For the record, I'm regretting that way of thinking, and even saying, those things, now.
But I bring it up because young Drew would have never taken the above photograph, which turned out to be one of the signature moments at Erin and Chad's wedding. Let me set the stage, and explain what I mean, and tie in how the role of experience and a personal relationship with a client helped to create this image.
I've know Erin since she was in High School. I photographed the theatre shows she was involved in, and she trusted me to photograph her senior portraits. She told me a long time ago that when she would get married, I'd be her photographer...and so it all came together last October, when she married Chad, and I was there, with Andy, Annemarie, and Katie, all ready to capture her special day.
When we got to the reception hall (The Harley Davidson Barn, on 322, outside of Boalsburg), we found out that there was going to be a long delay on the caterers part...like over an hour long delay. Experience has taught me that things happen in the biz to all of us vendors, and that the vendors need to really work together to cover for each other when something goes wrong...and it was happening to Erin and Chad....right now, in front of our eyes.
The introductions happened, and then there was a lull...then the toasts, and another lull...and then everyone started getting antsy. After a while of waiting, our team took the Bride and Groom outside of the Barn to get some images by a nearby cornfield, to help kill some time, as well....but we were losing some really sweet natural light that was coming in through the windows, where we had planned to take the cake cutting and first dance images, and with the delay in dinner, those moments would take place after the sun set. Some of the relatives were even leaving, at this point.
And here's the important part of the story. "Young Drew", from 20 yrs ago, would have let things happen, and just wrote it off to the day being the day. "It is what it is, and it's not my fault," or something along those lines. But "Old Drew" was going to take a chance on the relationship that he had forged with Erin, for all those years.
Always looking for a teachable moment when I have Andy with me, I took him aside, and said something to the effect of "this is the part where we save the party." I know that may sound kind of cocky on face value, but in reality it was one vendor coming to the rescue of another, more than anything else. But my point to Andy is that sometimes when an opportunity is fading away (like our light) you have to take the bull by the horns, and just go for it.
So we approached Erin, and suggested that we do the formal dances and cake cutting ahead of the dinner, instead of the "official" plan of it being after dinner. It took a little bit of persuading, but the key element is that Erin trusted Andy and I enough to know that when we said that we have a chance to get some stellar images of both events, but only in the next 20min or so, so believed that we were genuinely trying to help her out of a jam, and to help her get the best images we could possible deliver, and to keep the party moving.
So the events were switched around. The DJ did an amazing job of getting the families fired up for the first dance, and Andy and I had them all around our couple as they did their dance....and today's photograph is one of the images that came from that moment. They danced with their parents, and then the cake cutting was next...and when we were finished, the dinner was finally ready. It was truly a win/win on many levels.
But the relationship that was established with Erin, over many years, is what made this moment happen. The trust she put in us to think of her first, and her images (and photography is VERY important to her and her family) lead her to making a decision that wasn't part of the original game plan. Mixed in was the experience of knowing that the party needed a jump start, in the worst kind of way, and that Andy and I, and our team, could provide that spark. The rest of the evening was amazing, and it was almost like everyone forgot how slowly things started off, by the end of the night.
So the moral of today's long winded story...when you're booking a vendor for an event, keep in mind the importance and value of the relationship you have with that person. Can you trust that they are working for your best interests, so if something presents itself on your day, that was unforeseen, and they come to you and say something like "if we changed things up a bit, and did this, it would be better", would you believe and trust them, and make the change? Also as important....do you value experience enough to pay for it, for situations just like this one, to hire vendors that can change it up on the fly, and keep everything running smoothing, when something happens that's out of our control? "Young Drew" would have let it happen. "Older Drew" made it happen....and got a pretty cool image, in the process!]]>
It’s equally hard and labor intensive to create an image on the computer as it is in a darkroom. Believe me.
- Jerry Uelsmann
I recently found a web site that has some very interesting and insightful "photo quotes" and I've decided that I'd like to bring some of them to the blog, from time to time. My intention is to help those unfamiliar with the process of what today's photographers go through, to gain a better understanding of the ins-and-outs of the things that we do, and try to achieve.
1) Deadlines have moved up dramatically. Photojournalists have always had very tight deadlines...sometimes only hours after an event. Now that has been reduced to minutes. As a portrait photographer, there was always 2-3 weeks added in for the rolls of film to be sent off to the lab, and sent back. That time was immediately wiped away with the advent of digital, placing harsher deadlines on photographers turning projects over faster than ever before. When I first started photographing weddings back in the early '90's, a 2-3 month window was considered "fast" to get a wedding proof book to a client. Now that has been cut back to about 4-6 weeks, and some now are even saying that a month is too long to wait, that it's more like 2-3 weeks is the longest someone should wait.
2) Photographers generally shoot more images on digital than on film. It's not uncommon for me to take over 5,000 images at a wedding, where in the days of film, I might take 750 images. That's four times the volume of images to sort through, and edit down. The upside of that is that the quality of images has increased dramatically. Three to four images of a stolen moment can be taken now, to make sure that it is captured, whereas before you might only take one, and if you didn't get it, you didn't get it. So the paradigm has changed dramatically with the shift to digital. So if you have four times the images and less than half the time to turn a project around, you can see right away where there is a huge issue with time.
3) More adjustments can be made to images, to give a more personal feel for the client. Back in the days of film, you had color, black and white, and sepia as your main options. That was pretty much it. In the digital darkroom, the editing possibilities are truly endless. Hours can be spent on one image to get it just right, and with the increase in the number of images that photographers are having per session, you can see where this could be a big contributor to being very labor intensive. As artists, we want to be able to create exactly what our mind saw when we took the photograph. Today, we can pretty much do that. Many times I'm editing the final images in my head, as I'm taking the images, or even beforehand. That's a huge plus, but also the biggest minus, in the digital darkroom. There have been many times when I've delivered a senior portrait session, and I will have a couple of images rendered a dozen or so different ways. They are all different in the emotion they are conveying, and all could stand alone, even though they are all from the same initial image. It can set a photographer apart from the pack, in terms of their creativity, but it can also be their biggest downfall in getting sessions out in a timely fashion.
So those were just three things that I could think of off the top of my head, as to why the digital age of photography has made it harder, at times, than the traditional darkroom. There are many more, and perhaps if I run across a quote for a future blog entry, I can address those, at that time.
The digital darkroom calls me away! I'll be back soon with another quote!
Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of the trendy poses currently being photographed by, seemingly, anyone and everyone that owns a camera...which is pretty much anyone and everyone these days. Don't get me wrong...some of those ideas are funny and creative, and with the right person, couple, or group, it could really work for them. But that's the fundamental key...it works well for them...but will it work for you? Does it represent your personality? If a best friend or family member saw that image, would their first reaction be "that's so you!!", or would it be "what were you thinking?"
So the "jump" pose is not one I do or recommend for every wedding that I photograph. And I haven't yet met a couple that wanted to do the "sofa chair or love seat out in the middle of the road, or a cornfield" pose. But if it fit the personality of the subject I was working with, I wouldn't be opposed to taking that image. The fact that I haven't taken that image yet makes me think it's more a photographer thing, than a client thing.
Too many photographers, today, see something that appears to be new and original (usually in a trade magazine or from a competitors web site) and then the very next session they have on their schedule they try to recreate the idea for their portfolio, without regard as to whether or not it's something that their subjects want to do, or fits their personalities. I can tell you that from many of the pre-session interviews that I've done through the years, it can be a very polarizing thing.
And it can be a difficult thing to balance out the need to be creative, and to try out something new, from the photographers mind, compared to the need to photograph their clients in the most representative way possible. Getting out of the box in a session is never a bad thing...it's getting out of the box in another area code that becomes problematic.
So for Erin and Andrew's bridal party, the jump shot was definitely going to happen. It was them...and I can wholeheartedly verify that it was indeed them. Didn't matter that it was near freezing on this day, or that the wind chills were in the teens, or that the grass was damp, or that the girls were half frozen, and some still in high heels...it was going to happen.
So we tried it a couple of times, to various degrees of success...did I mention that it was cold, and wet, and my subjects were nearly numb? The fun fact about this image, is that this is the first one that I took, out of the batch. Feather in my cap, yes, but for a dynamic photograph like this, that rarely happens, but I'm very happy when it does, for another important reason.
I've noticed through the years that the energy levels for each pose are generally at their highest for the first few pictures in any set. If you have to take the image multiple times (and with large groups this is usually always the case) the chances of getting that energy back by the 15th time, for example, is nearly impossible.
In the moment, it was obvious that when they were jumping for the fifth or sixth time, it was never going to happen to get them all in the air at one time, again....they were tired, and the alcohol was kicking in, and oh yeah, it was freezing cold out there...but those attempts are important, as well, for those pictures are often more for the silliness that happens when they can't do it, which sometimes is a better picture than when they can...and you learn to keep the camera clicking during the failed attempts, as well. :)
So they jumped, and it was epic, and so far the response on my Facebook page has been very positive, which is always a good sign. When the image matches the group, what could go wrong?? Well, that's a story for another blog entry....LOL!]]>
So, yeah, it's been almost a year since I posted something on the blog. I know...shame on me!
These images got a nice response on my Facebook page, so I thought I'd post them here on the blog.
It's not often that I have the chance to do some nature, or still life, photography, but after photographing "Barnum" for the Mount Nittany Middle School Drama Club, we were all greeted by the beauty of a very quick and intense snow storm, as we left for the night.
Truth be told, I just wanted to get home. I had just come off the worst part of the flu, and I was running on fumes the whole day. I almost made it out of the parking lot, but then my conscience got the best of me, and I turned around and came back to get these images. Thankfully I didn't end up on my rear end after walking around in the snow and slush trying to find a good angle!]]>
It's show week for the State High Thespians, as they present "The Drowsy Chaperone" this Thursday-Sunday at the North Auditorium.
I'll be there the entire week, being involved in one aspect or another, with the photographer for the show...and if you can make it over to see a performance or two...or all of them...please do!]]>
It's show week for the State High Thespians, as they present "The Drowsy Chaperone" this Thursday-Sunday at the North Auditorium.
I'll be there the entire week, being involved in one aspect or another, with the photographer for the show...and if you can make it over to see a performance or two...or all of them...please do!]]>
The Spring Musical season is upon us!!
More details on the show coming soon!]]>
The Spring Musical season is upon us!!
More details on the show coming soon!]]>
And like more new businesses starting out, we had our growing pains...my daughter was just barely a year old at the time, and I had another full time job that I was working at that paid the bills...but it wasn't long before the business really took off, thanks to a number of people that put their trust and faith in me to be able to photograph the precious moments in their lives. One of the things I'm most proud of, looking back through the years, is that I'm still in contact with a bunch of those first clients that hired me on, and that I've been able to watch their families grow over the years, and I've even been asked back by a number of them for other sessions and work.
So to my very large extended family, I can't tell you how much it's meant to me that you've all allowed me to live my dream....you mean way more to me than I could ever tell you in a blog post!!!
Now it's onward to the next 20yrs!
Drew]]>
And like more new businesses starting out, we had our growing pains...my daughter was just barely a year old at the time, and I had another full time job that I was working at that paid the bills...but it wasn't long before the business really took off, thanks to a number of people that put their trust and faith in me to be able to photograph the precious moments in their lives. One of the things I'm most proud of, looking back through the years, is that I'm still in contact with a bunch of those first clients that hired me on, and that I've been able to watch their families grow over the years, and I've even been asked back by a number of them for other sessions and work.
So to my very large extended family, I can't tell you how much it's meant to me that you've all allowed me to live my dream....you mean way more to me than I could ever tell you in a blog post!!!
Now it's onward to the next 20yrs!
Drew]]>
Didn't take this picture...but I just wanted to say a big and huge "THANK YOU" to everyone that's been a part of the Meadow Lane family this past year, and the previous 20yrs, for that matter! We couldn't have done it without you, and we wish for a wonderful 2012 for all of you out there!]]>
Didn't take this picture...but I just wanted to say a big and huge "THANK YOU" to everyone that's been a part of the Meadow Lane family this past year, and the previous 20yrs, for that matter! We couldn't have done it without you, and we wish for a wonderful 2012 for all of you out there!]]>
The "true" image in this set is the second one, with the light blue lighting. The first image has the blue light totally removed, to give a very clear and clean look to the image. The last two have the blue channel of light tweaked a bit to give some different looks to the color, which I used purple and teal for this example.
But being able to tweak something like that, in a very quick and easy fashion allows the clients I work with to match the look of their materials without having to physically take 3-4 more images under different gels or lighting "looks."]]>
The "true" image in this set is the second one, with the light blue lighting. The first image has the blue light totally removed, to give a very clear and clean look to the image. The last two have the blue channel of light tweaked a bit to give some different looks to the color, which I used purple and teal for this example.
But being able to tweak something like that, in a very quick and easy fashion allows the clients I work with to match the look of their materials without having to physically take 3-4 more images under different gels or lighting "looks."]]>
In the first picture, Andy and I took a test picture of Zack, with the concept we wanted to convey in this image...just a very basic groundwork kind of image. The basic lighting and compositional elements are there...just the building blocks, really.
We bring in our student/model for the second image and move a little bit on the composition, so that the focus is sharply on her eyes as she's looking at the specimen bottle....however, the catch light from the flash is very evident in the corner of her safety glasses.
So we shifted the focus of the image to the specimen bottle that she's holding, and we tilted the camera a bit, to help take away some of the harsher reflections...and by focusing on the specimen bottle, that helped a bit with the flash bouncing off the safety glasses.
The final image is where it really came together...and we caught a mistake that we missed in the other two previous images....did you catch what it was?
It's always very important in a session like this one to be as thorough and accurate as possible, so that there aren't any flags thrown up that could compromise a great image. If you said that our subject was wearing gloves in the last image, than bonus points to you for catching that we missed that in the previous two images. But something like that being missed, or getting through an editor could have been catastrophic in the long run...especially if a couple of thousand brochures had been printed out before the mistake was found.
But we did catch it, so "no harm, no foul" as the expression goes....but I wanted to highlight this run of images, today, to show some of the behind-the-scenes work that many times goes into getting that one final image that a client can use.]]>
In the first picture, Andy and I took a test picture of Zack, with the concept we wanted to convey in this image...just a very basic groundwork kind of image. The basic lighting and compositional elements are there...just the building blocks, really.
We bring in our student/model for the second image and move a little bit on the composition, so that the focus is sharply on her eyes as she's looking at the specimen bottle....however, the catch light from the flash is very evident in the corner of her safety glasses.
So we shifted the focus of the image to the specimen bottle that she's holding, and we tilted the camera a bit, to help take away some of the harsher reflections...and by focusing on the specimen bottle, that helped a bit with the flash bouncing off the safety glasses.
The final image is where it really came together...and we caught a mistake that we missed in the other two previous images....did you catch what it was?
It's always very important in a session like this one to be as thorough and accurate as possible, so that there aren't any flags thrown up that could compromise a great image. If you said that our subject was wearing gloves in the last image, than bonus points to you for catching that we missed that in the previous two images. But something like that being missed, or getting through an editor could have been catastrophic in the long run...especially if a couple of thousand brochures had been printed out before the mistake was found.
But we did catch it, so "no harm, no foul" as the expression goes....but I wanted to highlight this run of images, today, to show some of the behind-the-scenes work that many times goes into getting that one final image that a client can use.]]>
So here are a few "beauty" shots that we took in-and-around the other images of the day.]]>
So here are a few "beauty" shots that we took in-and-around the other images of the day.]]>
FTR, there may or may not have been a comment about the salad bar sneeze guard, that didn't go over very well...remind me to tell Andy to be more careful next time.... LOL! ;-p]]>
FTR, there may or may not have been a comment about the salad bar sneeze guard, that didn't go over very well...remind me to tell Andy to be more careful next time.... LOL! ;-p]]>
I've been photographing the SCCT since 2006, and this was a very fun way to conclude my sixth season as their show photographer. I believe that this was the first show they've done outside of the Boal Barn since very near the beginning of the organization, so it was a thrill to be a part of history for them...and to get some very funny images of a great cast and a great show!]]>
A slight diversion from the PSU Forensic Sciences pictures to share a couple of days worth of pictures from two theatre shows that I photographed this past week. Here's a picture of Morgan Higgins, from Mount Nittany Middle Schools production of "The Phantom Tollbooth." Morgan played the Whetherman in this scene, as she welcomed our two hero's to Expectations.
Love the umbrella, as well....good thing there wasn't a huge gust of wind in the show...it might have turned into Mary Poppins very quickly!]]>
