Through out the day it was super crazy, 65 adults and kids swarmed the house and massive amounts of candy. I met so many kind and wonderful people and cant wait to work with this family again! Hope and Mimi (Katie and Timothy’s 3 year old daughter) opened up to me and loved on me like they’ve known me forever!

The response I get when I asked Hope how old she was:

Mimi’s got Sassy Pants!!!

Yes, I know, Hope was the best baby to shoot. She always smiled at me!

One of Katie’s friends made this cake. Amazing??? Yes, nothing short of.

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Where to begin…

Heather and Alex are that uber awesome couple that others desire their relationship to mimic. From the first moment we met them you could see the genuine love that they have for each other. Not too often do we see the soon to be husband get just as excited about their wedding as the soon to be bride does! My first impression of Alex was this tough linebacker that you didn’t want to make angry (the kind of guy that you would hire for a body guard) but as soon as he started talking about their lives together you could see that he has a soft and loving heart for his wife Heather. Heather is one of those people that when you first meet they are reserved and really polite, but it only took about five minutes of us conversing for her to open up and be passionately involved in the discussion of her wedding details. You could just tell that she was bursting at the seems in anticipation for her wedding day.

Their wedding took place on a BEAUTIFUL day in August. We couldn’t have asked for anything better! Being that Alex is of Macedonian descent, the day was filled with traditions and events that make me glad I’m a wedding photographer. The lovely Shannon Sano second shot with me and her day started out at the salon with Heather and her bridesmaids. My day started off with Alex and his groomsmen just hanging out and enjoying the day before they had to get ready. Once the events started to take place it was a never ending celebration. A live band accompanied us where ever we went and lots of dancing and laughter filled the area. What an awesome day it was!!!

This next shot is one of my favorite detail shots. It just happens to be by the ever so talented Shannon Sano.

Craig asks:

Hi Rachel,
How the heck do you get an image like that with the bridesmaids. Really awesome, natural, but kinda surreal at the same time. Do you offer advice or have an action set for post process you have for sale, as I don’t think I have seen you selling advice. But well done, very impressive. I shoot pretty well, but would like to have a consistent style, but those sort of shots are what I aspire to do, like you have in your kit, so no better person to ask.

I think the picture Craig is referring too is this one:

Blessings
Craig

This shot was fun, these GIRLS were fun. The positioning was easy I told them all just to gather around and get to a place where they could all see me. Once they gathered into this position I told them to freeze. Because, well, it looked B.A.

You are correct my sir, I do not sell advice. Yet. Maybe come 2011 I will host a workshop but for now Im free advice. I process all of my images through Lightroom. I honestly would be lost without it. I also shoot RAW which allows me to be in more control during the processing process ha! I do have an action,Sassypants, I use for SOME of my shots but honestly 90% of the images you see on my blog were processed in Lightroom and then very little sharpening added through Photoshop. I find your consistency will be a lot better when processing through Lightroom. I would hate to process all my images through Photoshop. Bleh. I don’t sell any actions or presets at this time. But, maybe in the future!

Kristin asks:

Rachel, who is YOUR favorite photographer?

I get asked this question a lot! I definitely have my blog roll of daily checks! Here are some just to name a few.
Jasmine Star
Jose Villa
Bobbi and Mike
Tanja Lippert
Leo Patrone
Gabriel Ryan
Jessica Claire
[b]ecker

I would have to say my favorite out of all of them though is Jose Villa. He shoots all film and I just absolutely love the look and feel of his art.

Tiffany asks:

I’ve been doing a lot of research on which camera to purchase and think I’ve narrowed it down. I think I’m going to buy the Canon 50D. I’m on a budget, and want to get a nice lens…do you have any recommendations?

Tiffany, I have to say Im a huge fan of prime lenses. 50mm 1.2, 35mm 1.4 and 100mm 2.8 are some of the only lenses I use. But, with being on a tight budget I highly recommend investing in a 50mm 1.4 for your first lens. If that might be a little too high in price check out the 1.8. I honestly can shoot an entire wedding with my 50mm 1.2 and maybe switch out during the ceremony.

Karen asks:

I was wondering if you went to college to be a photographer, and if you did, where?
You inspire me so much. I had almost forgotten that it was my dream to be a photographer as a kid, I got my first camera when I was only 8.
I do have a couple of more questions, but I don’t want to bug you
Thank you so much

First of all, no one bugs me with questions. I LOVE getting asked questions and it makes me feel so wonderful knowing I inspire you. I have to say, I started out in college for nursing. My first sight of blood and I was swaying back and forth like I was standing on a rough watered sail boat. That was my last day of college. I, technically and artistically, am a self taught photographer. I just read book beyond book to get my first knowledge. I second shot for a few photographers and then took off on my own. I highly recommend reading these two books when starting out. Digital Photography by Scott Kelby. I read mine so much the pages are literally not attached anymore. And then Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I carried these with me everywhere and studied them beyond belief.

Amy asks:

I’m so conflicted. I want a website, just so that I can have a portfolio. I do not know when, if ever, I will feel comfortable accepting money from people. Can you look at my pics and tell me how I can make them better/give me some tips? I want to take it to the next level, but I honestly just don’t know how to go about doing it. when did you know you were good enough?
Practicing is all I know to do.,,….
Any other suggestions?

Amy, the choices on websites are endless. We currently have a Bludomain website but have recently purchased an Into the Darkroomwebsite for our new and upcoming brand. These can get to be a tad expensive if you are just wanting to show off your portfolio. I recommend starting out with a Blogger Blog, if you’re not looking to make money just yet, to update your friends and family on what you’ve been up to. The leap from taking your photography from a hobby to a money making machine is definitely a tricky situation. But, you can be the worst photographer EVER and still charge people money. And MAKE money at that. Its all in how you perceive yourself. You have to make your client and your subject feel like you are worth what you charge. And you need to believe you are worth it as well. My advice is to start out low and casually keep building your price. Your first paid shoot will feel weird, awesome and new all at the same time. When we first started out our portrait sessions were free for a month (to build portfolio) then anything after that was $50. I felt like I was over charging because I was definitely not as good as “so and so”. But you ARE worth being paid. Not everyone can be an artistic photographer.

I hope atleast one person took away information from this blog post that helped them out. I would love to answer all the questions in one blog post but Im going to leave more for another questions post in a couple weeks!

A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her.  ~David Brinkley

Little update on whats been going on:

• We shot The Limited fashion show last week in Cincy! <—FUN!
• Have been booking lots of 2011 weddings
• Working on a new portfolio site
• Working on a new brand
• Trying to get my home decor under CONTROL
• Redesigning my closet for Fall fashion
• Started a workout and diet program two days ago. Fail.
• Working on separating work and life. Because I currently don’t have one.
• Attended my friends gym opening. Plain City Fitness, go check them out!
• Found a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes I’m trying to convince Jared are NECESSARY.
• Not excited about leopard print this Fall.
• AM excited about over-sized clutches. SCORE.
• Planning an anniversary vaca to NYC. Where we spent our honeymoon 3 years ago.
• We have the COOLEST give away coming up to launch our new brand. You NEED to be apart of it. All the cool cats are.
• Ive shot 8 shoots in the last week and have 9 coming up in the next 8 days. WOOT!
• I spent 3 hours designing the other day to find out I was designing at the wrong resolution. Big Fail.
• Its finally cool enough to have little backyard bonfires with friends after a long days work.
• We don’t have a wedding this Saturday so I’m actually going to be able to attend a bachelorette party. Crazy!
• I want to move to Southern California. Just because.
• I really want to get a little black and white French Bull Dog. Just to keep Dashy company while we work.

I know there is more to update but I’m only on my first cup of coffee this morning and still a little fuzzy brained from all the excitement last night. Which was going out to dinner with family and not getting to bed til 11. That’s right. I’m a party animal! Anyways, here is a fun look at my little cousins shoot the other day! Hes such a cutey right?

Then our little Drew decided it was nap time about 10 minutes into the shoot. Love him!

Happy Friday everyone!

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.  -Katherine Hepburn

Erin and Jesse live about 2 hours away so personal contact with them was just not as frequent as I would have loved for it to been. But there was a particular time this past winter where Erin had broke her foot and was now in the care of Mom and Pop (who like 5 minutes from me). I was invited over by Erin one night to just chit chat about wedding stuff and to hang. She showed me her scrapbooks and told me all the juicy details that have been going on in their lives. Jesse was finishing his residency in Dayton and was not able to spend quality girly time with us

Erin’s wedding day was super special to me. Her excitement to marry the man of her dreams was just over flowing from her face!! Jesse, like most grooms, was a little nervous but for the most part pretty calm. Erin’s Dad on the other hand lost it before the ceremony which caused ME to lose it while I was trying to shoot! The images below speak for themselves… Love you guys!!