How Honest Are You - Part II

On November 30, 2008, I wrote a post asking, "How Honest Are You?" Well today, I got a chance to see how honest I was.

I had lunch today with my brother at KFC. Yes, we like that greasy, messy chicken every now and then. Definitely not something you want to eat too often though... but it's ok every now and then.

Anyway, as I went up to pay, I gave the cashier $10.00 from which he was supposed to give me $4.00 plus some change. Well as he counted out the single $1.00 bills, I thought I noticed that one of the bills was a $10.00 bill. He handed me the money and I took a closer look. Sure enough, besides the coins, I was given four bills... 3 singles and 1 ten. Hmm... I was right.

So I immediately pointed out to the cashier than instead of four dollars, I had gotten thirteen dollars instead. While he seemed totally confused, I just told him that instead of four $1.00 bills, I got three $1.00 bills and one $10.00 bill. It didn't matter. He didn't get it. Another worker came over and tried to explain it to him in Spanish, but I still don't think he understood. Whatever... I just told him to give me a $1.00 bill and I'd return to him the $10.00 bill. He did that. Still, I don't think he quite understood why.

What would you have done?

I had two chances to keep that $10.00 bill. The first time would have been to pocket the money and say nothing. The second time would have been to give up trying to explain to the cashier that he had made a mistake and then just pocket the money. I did neither because it would have been wrong to do either.

Some people might say, "Boy, are you stupid! If you kept the money, you would have made $3.00 plus some change and had gotten a free lunch out of it too!" But others might see what I did as the right thing to do. How honest are you?

Flashed by the Paparazzi

Sunday's bride was wiping her dress since something got spilled on it. But as I saw her doing that, I noticed a woman in front of her trying to take a photo of her... so I raised my camera to try to capture the woman taking the photo.

Little did I know that I would be clicking the shutter release at the exact same time that her flash would go off on her point and shoot camera!

The result is spectacular! Nice "star" pattern from her flash and the backlight helped rim-light the bride and the person helping her. Cool! Then a moment later, another woman decided she wanted a shot as well. While not as spectacular as the first image, the creative way she is holding the camera makes it interesting.

Sand Ceremony

Often, in place of a Unity Candle, a "Unity Sand Ceremony" is done at weddings. It symbolizes a blending of the family and often children are invited to participate as well since they are part of this union too.

I was lucky yesterday in that the minister allowed me FULL ACCESS to the ceremony as we had discussed this beforehand. He realized how dark it was at the Naper Settlement Chapel and allowed me to go anywhere I wanted and to use a flash as needed. Great! That solved a huge problem of lighting in that church as it is one of the darkest churches I've ever had to photograph in before. I've been to the Naper Settlement Church in the past, so I knew what to expect and was ready to shoot the entire ceremony with just the ambient light there. But I'm so happy when the minister allows me to do whatever was needed. That's called working together!

Besides, the minister said we had worked together in the past since he recognized me! I've shot a LOT of weddings in the past and I just can't remember all the ministers I've worked with... but it sure is nice to be recognized by them!

Pre-Ceremony Photos

Often before photographing the wedding, I'm with the bride taking photos of her getting ready. Whenever I tell potential clients that, I can just imagine what they are thinking... "OK, so when I'm getting dressed, this guy is in the room with me???"

Well, yes... and no. I'm there when you are getting things put together, but I'm not in there when you are dressing! Often the best photos of the day are taken before the wedding. Close up details of your dress, shoes, hair, etc. are often shot at that time.

But sometimes, there's a shot just waiting to be taken, and that was what we had yesterday. Roxann was already dressed and ready for me when I got to her room at the Herrington Inn in Geneva. There right in front of us was this huge bed with drapes all around it (not quite a full canopy)... so I asked her, "Is this the room that you are staying in after the wedding?" She replied, "Yes." So how could I resist not taking these shots? "Can you pose for me on the bed?" I asked. And this is what she did for me. She was a good sport about it too! Great shot, don't you think?

Mariachi Monterrey

Yes! A Mariachi band! I wrote about how much I loved Mariachi bands back on Dec 18, 2005 (see the archives) and I was happy to see one at yesterday's wedding.

When my clients Roxann and Horatio came to see me last year to book their wedding for Jan 4, 2009, the first thing I asked them was, "Is there going to be a Mariachi band?" Roxann says, "Most likely."

I told them the story of how I started out in my wedding photography career shooting weddings in San Diego. It seemed no matter what kind of wedding I had in San Diego, I had a good chance of seeing a Mariachi band at the wedding. It didn't matter if the wedding was not a Mexican wedding... hey, it's San Diego for crying out loud!

So I'd become accustomed to seeing the guys at the reception. Then I moved back to the Chicago area and poof! No more Mariachi bands! I missed them.

These guys were just as good as any other Mariachi band I'd encountered in the past. There were 8 guys (one is hidden behind the violinist) and wow were they loud! What I'm most amazed at is that the singers can really "belt out" the lyrics! They don't need mics... they just sing as loud as they can and believe me... it is LOUD!

After they were finished (they played for 2 solid hours), one of the guys came up to me to ask if I could send them some photos! I was happy to do that and asked that he send me an email with their address. When I got home from the wedding, I was surprised to see the email so quickly!

If you need a Mariachi band, contact Mariachi Monterrey at 773-370-4656 and ask for Rene. "Se Habla Espanol"... of course!

Taylor T5

Photo courtesy of Craig Bonett

The "Liberty Tree" T5

Photo courtesy of Raul Blacksten

Doyle Dykes playing a "Koa" T5

A couple of years ago, Taylor guitars introduced the T5 "hybrid" guitar. At first, I didn't know what to make of it... was it an electric guitar, or a thin-bodied acoustic? The guitar had the ability to create a variety of tones ranging from a Telecaster twang to an amplified acoustic guitar. That's quite a feat!

I had considered getting just one guitar to bring with me as I played at church that could handle both acoustic tones and also electric tones. But based on what our congregation liked in worship music, I decided to buy as good of an acoustic guitar as possible. Ultimately, I ended up with a Taylor GS with Maple sides and a Sitka Spruce top. But while the T5 did not end up as my choice for guitars, I have to say, those who have chosen it do seem to get a lot of "mileage" from it.

Doyle Dykes plays one on his recent CD entitled "Bridging The Gap." While he chose to use the guitar for it's electric sounds, I've heard him play the T5 in "acoustic" mode as well. The T5 does an amazing job of simulating the sound of an acoustic, which allows guitarists to easily switch from one sound to the other without switching guitars!

Check out a T5 if you want to get a guitar with lots of versatility. To read more about the amazing Taylor T5, click here. To see the full range of Taylor electric guitars, click here.

Another Minolta Meter

Image taken in manual mode at 1/60 sec, f 2.8, ISO 3200

Back on October 27, 2008, I wrote about one of the only original items of photography equipment that I still use for my wedding work today... a Minolta Autometer IIIf light meter. It was having some problems recently but if I bumped it around, it would work.

Well, it appeared that I could not trust it any longer as the problem seemed to happen more often. So I decided I needed to finally replace it. I was lucky enough to find a fellow wedding photographer who was selling her used Minolta Autometer Vf meter because she rarely used it and so I snatched it up! Minolta is no longer in business, but these meters have been very accurate and have served well for years.

The new meter arrived today, just in time for my next wedding on January 4. After allowing it to warm up from being out in the cold from shipment, I gave it a quick test... works fine! I decided to pull out my old Minolta meter to see how close my old 1990 meter was to the new one. The accuracy was within 0.1 f stops of the new one! Amazing!

Now if the old meter wasn't having intermittent problems, I'd still rely on it. But it's now time to retire it. But I'm happy to report that yet another Minolta meter will take it's place. I wonder if this one will last 18 years as well?

New Year's Resolution

Do you make New Year's Resolutions?

Because we often put together unrealistic expectations, most resolutions are destined to fail. One of the most common personal resolutions has got to be "Lose Weight." While it might be something that can be done initally, most people fail after some time and go back to their old habits.

What are my resolutions? Well, every year, I promise myself that I'll lose weight. Like everyone who resolves to do this, I never keep this promise. So this year, I'll just give it the "old college try" and see where it goes. If it happens, great. If not, oh well.

What else would I like to resolve? Well, I don't think I want to resolve anything personally. But I will try to make certain things happen for my business in 2009 including:

Book more weddings by giving clients more options
Book more events to round out my wedding schedule
Concentrate on building my portrait and commercial photography business
Network more with my professional photography friends
Try not to spend so much money on new gear (that's really hard!)

What are you resolving to do for 2009?

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a very Happy (and safe) New Year!!

To Flash or Not To Flash - Part Two

I took two photographs of a room at the Alhambra Palace... one has a flash and the other doesn't. Which do you prefer?

The image without the flash actually looks very close to what it really looked like in the room with the dim ambient lighting in there. But the image with the flash shows sharper details. So which is better? Which is more correct?

If you take a photograph of just the room (without any people in there), the image without the flash gives the truest representation of what your eye actually sees in that room. It's a very warm light in that room and while the image is definitely darker, it's a true representation. But the flash does fill in a lot of details that may be lost with just an ambient light image.

If you add people to the room, a "no flash" photo of them will make their skin very reddish-orange. Not flattering at all. Plus, they would be just as dark as the room. So pulling out the flash would yield nice photos of the people, but it would also make the room brighter as well.

What's the best solution?

The answer would be fill-flash set to match the light intensity of the room. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to do this and so I don't have an image to show you. But essentially, what you would get would be people lit to give natural skin tones, but the background would remain the same as you see in the "no flash" room. Yes, this is advance photography and requires a good working knowledge of how to use your camera in "manual mode." No "auto mode" or "program mode" for this kind of photography!

I promise to take a photo like this in the future to show you!

Pre-designed Albums Vs. Client "Designed"

A "pre-designed" album is an album in which the photographer picks the photos for you and designs the album layout as well. A "client-designed" album is one in which the client chooses the photos and the album layout is designed by the photographer. Which is better?

I can tell you that most clients who opt to pick out their own photos to include in their albums take a LOT LONGER than they thought it would take. During my consultation with my clients, I will tell them that if they pick out the photos for the album, it will take months before I will hear from them with their photo selections. Often, these brides will say, "Don't worry. I'll pick out the photos quickly because I want to get my album back as soon as possible!" I usually just smile and say, "No you won't." That usually gets their attention.

While everyone really does want to get their albums as soon as possible, often they find it very difficult to select which photos to go in the album. Why? Well, it's not impossible to get between 1000 to 1500 images from me at any given wedding. From that, I usually ask people to pick out somewhere between 40 to 60 images to put into the album which tells the story of the day. It's a lot harder than you might think.

This past year, virtually all of my brides have been late in picking out their photos. And a couple of the brides who opted for me to do a pre-design even had to wait a little because of the backlog created by clients who backed up the production cycle. Yeah, it's been a real challenge this year for albums!

If picking out the photos is so difficult, what are the advantages of letting the photographer do it? Well, consider that an album layout needs to tell a story and make sense from page to page. Most often that means the images must be selected so that they compliment each other on the page and also on the adjacent page. Often, it must also be in chronological order as well. Plus, some images may need to be larger than others to make the design look good.

When the photographer picks the images, he has the ability to mix and match as needed to get a nice looking design. But when he is stuck with whatever photos the client has chosen for him to use, some images may not make sense in telling the story, or perhaps that image cannot be used on the same page as another image so that creates a big "blank spot" in the design! There are lots of page designs that fall short because of wrong photo choices.

When I do my initial consultations with clients, I often show both pre-designed albums and also albums made where the clients chose the photos. I want my clients to see the difference. Although the photographer (that's me) still makes the designs, it's usually quite evident to people that the pre-designed albums look just a little better. Why? Well, you'll notice that there is less wasted space in the design and the 'flow' from picture to picture and page to page is better as well. That's because if a photo doesn't quite work on a page in the design, I have many other photos to pick from to take its place to make it work! Plus, I'll do custom cropping to fit the images nicely on the page. Often with client choices, I am not allowed to crop as needed.

When you make your first appointment to see me, be sure to ask to see the pre-designed albums vs. the client designed albums. I think you'll agree that pre-designs usually look better. And, with any luck, you'll get your albums back faster as well!

Leather & Acrylic Albums for 2009

A new album option for 2009 clients is Leather & Acrylic albums!

These albums really grab attention and I've ordered an 8x12 demo album made to showcase one of my 2008 weddings. I should be receiving it in about two weeks. When it arrives, I'll take a photo of it and post it on the blog so you can see what one of my weddings looks like in a rectangular format. Other album sizes are also available with the new acrylic cover including 10x15, 11x14, 12x12, 10x10...

When I attended the WPPI convention in Las Vegas in 2008, I saw a bunch of album companies who offered acrylic covers, but none compared to the one I'll be offering my clients. Where other brands of albums seemed to simply put a photo behind the acrylic, my albums look more integrated into the acrylic. It's hard to describe, but when you see it firsthand, you'll know what I mean. Plus, the glove leather black which extends through the spine and about 2 inches into the front of the cover adds a touch of distinction as well.

Like my other leather albums, an optional leather slipcover can be ordered to help protect the album as well. I'll have a sample on hand for my demo album.

While I have ordered my demo album with a standard print surface finish, the new "metalic" paper finish can also be ordered as an option as well for any of the leather and leather/acrylic albums I offer. This surface option is more prone to scratches however, so a protective lacquer is applied to keep scratches to a minimum.

Be sure to make an appointment to see the new album!

Family Portraits

As promised, here are some portraits taken with my new studio gear. What's cool about this session is the "Generations" portrait showing four generations within this family!

While it's always nice to have professional backdrops for portraits, it is even better to use the home itself for a backdrop. With a great fireplace behind the family, how can it be beat with a studio backdrop? It can't! As usual, it took longer to set up and tear down the equipment than it did to get the photos taken. But it pays off when the photos come out as nicely as these did. The studio lighting makes a huge difference in the quality even though the photo is taken at a home.

To Flash, Or Not To Flash

"To flash, or not to flash... that is the question..."

While many photos look fine one way or the other, sometimes having a flash is necessary to get a good exposure and to freeze the action to avoid blur. But there are times when using a flash is not appropriate.

For example, during a wedding ceremony... often the use of flash is distracting. But there are some churches where the lighting is so dark that without a flash, you'd never get a good shot. So do you use a flash in that instance?

I think if it's been cleared with the minister beforehand, the use of flash is ok. Recently at one of my weddings, I had to use a flash during the entire ceremony. Not only that, but I had to get a lot closer than I'm normally allowed to. But I had cleared it with the minister beforehand and he and I both agreed that the flash and my physical positioning was necessary. So in that case, it was fine.

What about at family parties? Is a flash welcomed there?

Yesterday, while at our annual family Christmas get together, I did not use a flash. Why? Well, when you take over 400 images throughout the day at a family gathering, eventually, the flash will become irritating to people. So in this case, it's not welcomed. Sure, some shots suffered due to the lack of quality light. But with the proper technique, most came out just fine.

So it's a judgment call. While I don't want to risk taking a bad photograph for something like a wedding, I'll take that chance for a "just for fun" event like a family party.

Merry Christmas!

"Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!"

Bridging The Gap - Doyle Dykes

It's been five years since Doyle Dykes has released a new CD and he's hit a home run with his latest, "Bridging The Gap."

This CD just rocks! You'll be surprised at the variety of music on this CD. He's got everyone helping out on it... his son Caleb Dykes, his brother Aubrey Dykes, and recording artists - Eric Johnson and Phil Keaggy too!

Each time at the last two Doyle concerts I went to, I asked, "Is the CD out yet?" But due to production delays in the CD printing, the answer was, "Not yet." Bummer...

So I figured I'd just have to wait a little while longer. Luckily, Doyle played a couple of the new songs at the concert, so I already had a good idea of what the CD was going to be like. And, Doyle even played me a couple of tracks in his rental vehicle for me to hear as well. A sneak preview! But recently, I called into WGN Radio in Chicago to the Steve and Johnnie show this past Wednesday to congratulate Doyle on the release and I was offered a free copy of the CD by the show's producer! Cool! (Steve and Johnnie are friends of Doyle's and they know me too.)

Easily, this is now my favorite Doyle Dykes CD! I especially like the tracks "All Be Done Dink," "Bridging The Gap," "Red Clay," "One Riot... One Guitar," and "Tennessee Stomp." There are other great tunes on this CD, but these stand out to me.

Pick up your copy of "Bridging The Gap" if you go to see Doyle in concert, or order it from his website. These songs are guaranteed to lift your spirits!

Alhambra Palace - Chicago IL

I photographed an office Christmas Party last night at the lavishly decorated Alhambra Palace in Chicago, IL on Randolph Street. This place is incredible to see!

I spoke with the owner of the restaurant and he told me that it took him 2 years to gather all the things you see at the restaurant and to put the place together! The Alhambra Palace has been open for about 1-1/2 years.

If you want to see some incredible decor from Egypt, Lebannon and Morroco, check out the Alhambra Palace. You really feel like you've been transported to another country when you walk in there!

The party I photographed was a lot of fun too! But since it's an office party, I'll not embarass anyone by putting their photo on the web! Just kidding... everyone was very well behaved and I know they all enjoyed the atmosphere of this restaurant. Be sure to click on each image to get a closer look.

Like... Um... You Know

"Like"

"Um"

"You know"

Which of these do you say most often?

Here's an example... "Like, this is the most impressive photo! It's like, unbelieveable!"

Or how about this, "Um, this is really good. It's, um, not bad!"

And don't forget this one, "Hey, this is the best photo, you know. It's something you should do all the time, you know..."

Habits are hard to break, that's for sure. I know people who constantly use one of these three. My daughter can't stop saying, "Like." I am often found saying, "um" or "you know."

Is it cultural? Generational? Who knows. All I know is, it's irritating. Like, um... you know?

The Herrington - Geneva IL

Over the years, I've shot many weddings at The Herrington in Geneva, IL and each time, they've done a marvelous job in setting up the room.

This is a page spread in one of my client's album. The colors really pop in this one! Purple accent lights were used to match the table settings. Cool! Be sure to click on the image to take a closer look.

Spongebob Squarepants

It seems whenever I go to take photos at the bride's home, I always find something interesting to photograph that has absolutely nothing to do with the wedding. This guy was on the bed. :)