Saturday Morning Cartoons

Enjoy today's installment of Aaron Johnson's photocentric comic strip "What the Duck."

This Weekend: Shooting My First Wedding!

Well, tomorrow is the day that I nail my first wedding assignment! I say it this way because I really believe that thinking positively will affect my outcome....besides it's really all in how I measure what I think "nailing" or "succeeding" at something is. For me, succeeding tomorrow at the Villanueva/Simpkins Wedding will include several realistic goals that I know I can achieve based on past experiences: having at least 50 to 100 sellable prints (which is totally doable for me); keep fresh batteries in my flash/camera; hand out out business cards to at least half of the 175 guests attending the wedding, have fun and try to relax. There, that's not bad, right? I should be able to pull that off! From that point on, everything else will just be gravy!

I have spent the last week having nightmares, sweating and worrying about this assignment. But I woke up this morning finally having reached a calm stillness in my soul that says, "I am talented, and I have worked hard for this. I am supported and loved. I can do this!" I don't have enough time for fear anymore. Now I need to do what I do best: GET OUT THERE and GET THE JOB DONE!



Here's the plan, Stan:
1) I will be shooting with my Canon 5D and a Canon 30D rented from Camren Photographic Services. Each camera will have a lense (the 16-35 on the 5D and the 70-200 on the 30D). Find out why in a subsequent post when I share what I learned from Daniel Doke in the PhotoVision DVD session, "Weddings. Part 2".

I will be responsible for all must-have images, including formal wedding party portraits, bride/groom shots, cutting of the cake, the first dance, etc. etc. While I will have two assistants on this shoot, I've been told to try and shoot the entire event as if I were the only photographer there. "You are the lead photographer; shoot as if everything was depending on you," said one of my instructors, Efrain Cruz. I will shoot the bride while she is getting ready at home, then follow the family to the wedding. Formal portraits will be after the wedding, and then it's off to reception!

2) My buddy and 2nd shooter Jason Peckovitch, owner of the Illusive Dreams photography company, will start off shooting the groom while he is getting gussied up at home, then follow to the wedding. Jason, who specializes in portraits, will be responsible for snapping candids and those terrible "Grip and Grin" shots you already know I hate. Truth is, those images sell. Jason will also set up lights for a mini-portrait locale ala "Prom Night" while at the reception so he can score some more print sales. It has been agree that my shooters will get to keep all the money they make from their print sales so they will have more incentive to get great shots.



3) My third shooter is Mike Haley, my boyfriend. I'm so happy to have him with me on this assignment! His skills as a wonderful landscape photographer will help him capture storytelling, all-encompassing background images with my wide angle lens. He will also shoot some detailed oriented shots as well of decorations, flowers, keepsakes, etc. etc....all those little things that add life to any circumstance.

My goal is to cover this event the same way I would if I were sent out to cover an event for the newspaper, trying to get every angle and every side of the story possible. Got anymore words of encouragement? I would love to hear from you!

Get the Goods: Tried and True XTi or Spanking New 5D?

I just got my new Canon 5D on Tuesday with a picture quality and extended ISO which should be great to work with during my indoor wedding shoot on Saturday. But a question posed by friend and colleague photographer Tiffany Trott got me thinking: Should I shoot the wedding with the tried and true XTi or use the untested and somewhat unknown 5D?

I've been studying the 5D every chance I get to become more familiar with its settings. Some buttons are in different places and my hand hasn't really gotten used to the 5D's new grip. My boyfriend Mike, who will be assisting me at the wedding, needs to use a digital camera (most likely my XTi), but is it a mistake to rely on new equipment during such a challenging shoot? My buddies at Wolf Camera spent an hour with me going over the differences between the two cameras, and they seem confident that I will be just fine shooting the 5D. I still have two days to study it....Here are some test shots I took yesterday just playing around with it. Neither of these photos have been seriously edited in PS3..I just took them through some general editing with Picasa.

Potted Flowers in the World Trade Center Building in downtown Denver


Canon Heaven


Just Me

Breaking News: Quantum Battery Blowout or Faulty Speedlite? Part 2

Earlier this week, I posted up about my Quantum Turbo 2X2 battery charger and the short circuit it may have caused in my 580EXII Speedlite. I am very thankful for the staff at Denver Pro Photo who quickly refunded my money for the questional battery charger as well as the sync cord without any argument or hassle.

They tried using the pack on a Nikon flash, and it worked well. It could also be possible that my flash was faulty; I have yet to hear from Canon about whether my own flash can be revived. Staff confirmed using a third-party product could cause a malfunction, however other wedding photographers have used the Quantum product the same way I hoped to use it without any issues.

Either way, I feel more comfortable now knowing that I got my money back and a new Canon-appropriate CP-E4 battery pack will be arriving soon. Maybe this is just a way for Canon to get people to only buy other Canon products instead of relying on third-party items, and maybe my Speedlite was faulty to begin with. I just hope the Quantum dealers might be willing to offer Denver Pro Photo some type of compensation for their time and efforts as well. As long as I have SOME flash to work with during the wedding, I will be more at ease.

Get Out There: Becoming My Neighborhood Photographer

My dogs could be THE best advertising campaign I could ever have had (second only of course to letting my work speak for itself). When I walked my dogs this evening, several of the people who had seen me before waved at me as if they knew me. My dogs, a lovely Siberian Husky and Alaskan Malamute, were quite the attention-grabbers. And it was then that the idea came to me: Since everybody in the neighborhood knows me as the lady with the two "big arse dogs" as one neighbor said, why not use that exposure so the area comes to know me as "the photographer in their neighborhood (with the big arse dogs.)"

I wrote a feature article once business people, including real estate agents and private practice dentists and therapists, said they experienced an increase in sales once they started displaying photos of them and their pets on business cards and fliers. People tend to respond and relate to cute puppies and babies in positive ways that may make them give your business a second look when others are quickly forgotten. The next business postcard I pass out should probably have a picture of a person interacting with their pets.

Since I don't have a lot of money for advertising, I have to be my own brand, my own product. If my neighbors get used to me walking my dogs every morning and evening, passing out promotional fliers, coupons, or business cards, I think they will come to think of me as an extension of their space, a part of their community. It may make me seem more real to them, someone they can approach. I've been told several times that some think of photographers as being elitist. I want them to see me as a part of them, somebody working hard trying to showcase a special skill set. Either I will become my neighborhoods photographer or they will thing I am a big pain in the arse, It's a fine line, I'm sure!

Get Out There: Almost Ready to Display My Photos At Heidi's Deli

The owner of a Heidi's Brooklyn Deli in downtown Denver has given his final blessing for me to hang 8 to 10 of my images in his restaurant, since we now know that I can do so without destroying his store walls. Marty was concerned about nail holes, plaster and paint damage. So he asked if I could try using those popular 3M™ Command™ Adhesive Products which guarantee an easy, clean removal.



To test this plan, I hung up one of my 11x14 images in a glass frame with a mat and wire at home. The first time, I only used one large hook, and I didn't give the adhesive the full hour it needed to adhere firmly to the wall. So of course the picture and the mount slid down the wall and hit the carpeted floor with a sickening thud. Once I made sure nothing was broken, I tried it again, this time using two large hooks and waiting at least an hour, if not longer, for the adhesive strip to stick before hanging the picture. This time it worked, and it was very easy to slide the hook cover up, grab the tab and stretch the adhesive off the wall without removing the paint or plaster. I bought about 16 of those tabs and tested the plan again hanging up one image at Heidi's.

So far so good! The image hasn't taken a swan dive, yet. And I think the 11x14 size is large enough for a potential customer to buy the image right off the wall that same day. Marty has agreed to accept payment from customers. I would love to work out some kind of agreement where he could get some profit from a sale too, but he keeps saying he doesn't want payment. Maybe I could just have all of my friends have lunch at the Heidi's in honor of the showing so he can make some extra sales that way.

In My Library: PhotoVision Video Magazine Issue 67

Every other month I receive a 2-hour video from PhotoVision Video Magazine , an ongoing educational training seminar for professional photographers hosted by Ed Pierce. Each DVD contains photography styles and techniques, digital work flow, lighting and posing, Photoshop tricks and marketing and sales strategies from photographers working on actual sessions with real clients. The 67th Issue featured: "Wedding Part 1," a segment where celebrated photographer Daniel Doke took viewers on set to a bride's home the morning of her nuptials.

Here are some of the tips I took away from the interview with Doke:

1) He uses a 50 mm 1.2 lens, often shooting wide open to blur out a distracting background
2) One of his signature images is to capture the bride's shoes in focus in the foreground with the bride out of focus in the background
3) He goes for detail shots such as "save the date" notices
4) When the bride is getting dressed, he concentrates on the finger's of helpers zipping or lacing up the back of the dress.
5) He photographs expressions of both happiness and frustration for a storytelling, documentary feel
6) He combines mixed light and flash with ambient lighting
7) He gains the bride's trust so he can "control" them without seeming pushy.
8) He uses curtains and railings, nooks and cranies to frame the bride or act as leading lines to emphasize her face
9) He shoots the bride with all of her bridesmaids in one image, and then the bride with each bridesmaid separately, in both serious and funny poses. He also shoots combos of the bride with her parents and grandparents..."the more combos you have, the more albums you can sell."
10) He shoots indoors and outside the home, favoring the soft even light that's available when shooting on the porch.