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Philosophy and
Horn Blowing
Rather than torturing you
with a long narrative, here's a set of bullet points
on how I approach photography (and life, and parenting and...).
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I Am Old
School Digital photography is
catching up fast. A few years ago I would only shoot in film.
Then they stopped making my favorite paper. Then they stopped making my
favorite chemistry. Then they stopped making my favorite camera.
Now they are threatening to stop making my favorite film. So ... I
now offer both digital and film
packages. For truly fabulous portraiture or for images
that will be printed really big (11x14 and up), I shoot with medium format
film cameras. If you want something truly fabulous, I even have a
number of 8x10 field cameras. For everything else ... digital is
pretty darned good.
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Joi de Vie It has been
suggested I change the name of my studio to Joi de Vie (Joy of Life)
Photography. No, I am not a
light-in-my-loafers dandy, but I do specialize in taking candid, relaxed,
timeless photographs of my clients. Some photographers will slow or stop an event for hours as they endlessly adjust lights, angles and expressions.
In my experience that's the surest way to ruin everyone's day.
Instead I try to constantly move throughout an event or frequently change
locations/combinations for portraiture. The result has always been
happier clients and better photography.
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Your
pictures. Your copyrights. I do
two things extremely well: Take pictures, and make big, beautiful,
fine-art prints. Making dozens or hundreds of reprints by hand
is time consuming for me and cost prohibitive for you. I also don't
want the emotional liability of filing and storing thousands of
images from my client's most cherished
events. Put all-together I'd rather charge a fair amount for my
service, then release all your negatives/digital images/rights. With all my clients I make
sure they know I am the place to go for fine-art, museum-grade prints.
For everything else I am associated with a number of fully automated labs
who are always happy to make my clients their clients.
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Crazy
people make me run really fast It finally happened.
After photographing hundreds of weddings and being interviewed by hundreds
more potential clients, I finally met someone for whom I refused to work.
In this case it was a couple who had booked me several months ago.
Today they called and asked what I would be doing prior to the start of
their 7 P.M. event (four months from now). Being painfully
simple and not suspecting a trap, I explained I would be photographing
another wedding until approximately 5 P.M. (as I reserve the right to do
anytime). With that response the groom-to-be
began screaming and the bride-to-be began crying. "How could you
possibly photograph two weddings on our special day!" She
wailed. "Your work will stink! You'll be too tired!" He
added. They then demanded that I sit home and rest the entire
day prior to their event. Was I stunned? Yes. Did I see
this as the beginning of an incredibly uncomfortable relationship?
You betcha! Within ten minutes a full refund was in the mail and
their contract was terminated. What is/are the message(s)? 1. I do
this for the love of it. 2. I do have limits. 3. I am a
photographer, not a therapist.
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Sometimes we all need a big brother Weddings can be
scary. Let alone the fact that you are making the commitment of a
lifetime in front of dozens of your friends and family, you're also paying
thousands of dollars for what really amounts to a five hour party.
That can make even the best of us a little edgy. In the event that
things do get a little off-schedule (which happens 80% of the time), I try
to step-up, fill-in, and make sure the party keeps rolling. I have
served cake, poured drinks, fixed sound systems, written toasts, and once
even caught a fainting M.O.B. (mother of the bride) all with the goal of
keeping the smiles on your guest's faces. After one of these events
where I did a bit more than just take pictures, the bride hugged me as she
was headed out the door and said how wonderful it was to have a big
brother looking out for her on her wedding day. That felt good.
That's what I do.
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