The photo on the left displays what comes Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC). The photo on the right displays Sassy Pants. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments!

We are so excited to start using Sassy Pants on a regular basis!! It gives the images exactly what we feel it should!

When we shoot weddings that do not have coordinators we will help in constructing a time line of the day with the bride. This enables us to be on the same page as the bride and the rest of the wedding. Its important for us because we then know how to structure our shooting.

I attended a workshop a little while ago in New York City and the host of the workshop, Lawrence Chan, created a user group for all of the attendees. We usually have a topic to talk about and one of the topics was on questions that brides should have answers to. One of the questions was:

• What will help the photographer in getting great shots for the big day?

One of my favorite responses was from Shannon Kelley of Shannon Kelley Photography. She wrote:

“Remember the photographer when planning your wedding.  Think about the lighting at the reception and let them know. Make sure to talk about the time line of the day and set enough time aside for pictures, and enjoy the day!”

Her answer really sums up all that needs to be done by the bride:

• Keep the photographer in mind when planning
• Know that extremely low light does affect the photographer
• Go over the time line with the photographer
• Budget enough time to get what you want
• Most importantly, ENJOY THE DAY!

Budgeting time for great pictures is just as important as hiring a great photographer. It doesn’t matter how amazing your photographer is if they dont have any of your time. Get a solid time line down and you will have nothing to worry about! The only thing left to do is have fun at your wedding and cherish the moments.

Here is one of Shannon’s eye candies! Enjoy!

Fogging is a good one to end with. I’m all fogged up! I’m a foggin’ bloggin’ fool. Some days I sit behind my computer….like today…and try to come up with crazy, funny, INSANE stories to tell you. But really? My life ain’t all that INSANE! Its normal, average and sweet. Bitter-sweet at times. But mostly sweet. I woke up today in an abnormal way. I usually rise at 7:00 a.m. on the dot, pee, weigh myself (obsession of mine) make coffee and then patiently wait on facebook while my delicious cup of joe brews. But no, today was different. I woke up to Jared nudging me. Over and Over and Over. “Hey, wake up! Nyquil knock you out?” Yessss I moaned as I rolled back over to hide under my pillow. “Can I get you anything?” Yessss I moaned again. Coffee would be super. He quickly got up, peed, and made coffee. I remember laying there wondering what the time was. I rolled over to grab my phone and read 10:45 a.m.!! Panic ran through my mind….Church started 15 minutes ago!! Crap. I quickly got up, peed, poured myself a cup of coffee and sat behind my computer feeling exhausted. Whoa baby…I’m sick! Headache, sore throat, running nose, aches, bleh. I take my first sip of coffee and nearly drenched my computer in disgust. I love Jared, but he is no longer in charge of making my morning coffee! I’m sure all you die hard dark brewers out there would have loved it, but I almost hurled. Just kidding, it wasn’t THAT bad, just bad enough I had to make a new pot.

Jared and I had a little fun with lighting yesterday before my photo shoot for a Make Up Artist (her blog post comes this week). Here are the head shots we did for each other. There are more of me because Jared wasn’t exactly photo shoot-ready!

By the way, ABC check was a huge friend of mine today! I was a little embarrassed to see all of my misspelled words!!!

                The next day Jared and I were leaving for church camp.  He was on the media team and I was just tagging along for extra footage, I mean, I no longer had a sissy camera, I was HOTT stuff. I felt powerful and in control and IMPORTANT carrying my new little toy.  Know the feeling? I wanted everyone to see that I was a photographer and I meant business in the photojournalist act.  This exciting feeling of people taking me seriously in a passion of mine was addicting. During that week I got to spend time learning new technical things such as- how to expose when in the shade, in the sun, in a dark lit room and capturing action shots with some motion blur.  I was on cloud nine being able to indulge in my creativity, exploring different angles, different heights and even some dangerous situations that at the time I thought made me look cool- but now I realize I could have gotten hurt. Nothing major, just hanging off sides of cliffs, tree limbs, standing on rooftops, moving truck beds. Yup. I was super cool. But despite all the effort, my images were still just average, just ok, nothing special. At least in my eyes they weren’t. Now in my Mom and Dads eyes…that’s a different story. But, I craved more. And more. And MORE. I wanted to create images that came from some of the industries best such as Becker, Jasmine Star, Jessica Claire, Mike Colon, Bob and Dawn Davis….the list goes on and on.  Why was I not able to get the same things they were? What was it? Photoshop? Better Equipment? Artificial lighting? WHAT?

             Having that kind of drive, that kind of craving for more, drove me crazy! So, I decided to blog stalk them. I checked 10-15 different industry leaders blogs everyday, twice a day sometimes even 3 times a day. Trying to figure out what the heck they did to be so amazing. Becker, who I am eternally grateful to, started this amazing online networking site. [b] school. I highly recommend it if you are just starting out and want genuine help and advice from others who are paying it forward.  The people on there were so quick to help with any questions or concerns that we had! Business issue? Helped. Technical issue. Solved. There was no information that anyone was holding back.

            Helping others is exactly what I want from my career. Whether it be my clients who I try very hard to please and take care of. Or my new photographer friends who want help in creating in their camera what they are seeing in their head. Now, don’t get me wrong, photography is not a cheap business to get into. But it is worth every penny when a bride or client calls you and is close to tears praising you for your ability to capture the day beyond how they remember it. Each detail that took hard work to create will be forever remembered.

50mm 1.4.   ISO 200   f/2.2   1/400 sec

50mm 1.4.   ISO 200  f/2.2  1/320 sec

85mm 1.8.   ISO 320  f/2.0  1/250 sec

50mm 1.4.   ISO 640  f/1.4  1/1000 sec

85mm 1.8.  ISO 250  f/1.8  1/800 sec

The only job where you start at the top, is digging a hole.   -Anonymous