There’s overcast and then there’s White Overcast… where the sky is pure white with no definition to it and it provides no unique or warm glow like some types of cloudy days. So to say it was challenging is correct.
As you can tell I’ve really been loving twilight these days.
I searched around for the area with the most frost on the trees in bountiful.
Some random country road.
We pulled up to the location and it just kinda occurred to me that the car had lots of light power… why not use it.
I know it’s nothing terribly ground breaking but it was the first time for me.
I used the car lights on all the twilight/night pictures.
Stay tuned for the reception and luncheon pictures… I tried a new lighting style that I’ve never done before and they turned awesome.
Let this be a lesson to never cancel just cuz of weather.
Just be prepared.
Know how to make it work.
It might mean you have to different stuff than on a more normal day.
But that’s how a good photographer and a good photo shoot goes… Roll With The Punches.
This was slated as an 8 hr formals shoot.
I didn’t realize it was a 2 and a half hour drive so it ended up being 6 and a half hours long.
I had several people asking me how in the world we’d be able to go for that long when most times it’s more like 2hrs.
Well I just told them several times to be prepared to work hard too… that’s 6-8hrs of modeling, it’s a two way road.
They were naturals and since they knew and picked how long it would last they never once complained and were totally into it.
What an awesome photo shoot.
By the end her hair was totally wet and nothing like when they started… but we adapted and adjusted just fine.
And we actually all stayed pretty warm.
We had a lot of traveling in between spots… abt 2hrs driving in the car… that was the saving grace.
Being able to warm up from time to time and to reset and find new places with new pictures.
Just cuz it’s snowing doesn’t mean you’re excused from not laying on the ground.
You better have prepared for what you’re wearing to get down and make the shot happen.
If she’s in a wedding dress in 6 inches of snow you can lay down once or twice.
Thank goodness for a lightstand so that the assistant can park the car while you take advantage of the last reminents of twilight.
On the left is a spot he was planning on for a while and very excited about.
On the right is a spot he’s probably past a hundred times and never even noticed… but I saw on the way down and new we’d need to stop there. Both winners!
I took 1400 pictures many reasons
They were really good looking
We shot for so long
I loved the locations
When snow is falling you have to take a bunch to avoid the snowflakes showing up in bad spots like in front of their eyes.
But the picture above was in the first minute of shooting and is amongst my favorites.
They did a great job at expressing emotions in their pictures… and that’s something you can’t really pose.
I did two weddings in Alaska this year… on the first trip I went up to Denali National Park.
These are the pictures I took.
I know i’m gonna put a bunch here on the post … but there’s some really fun stuff on the Full Gallery So go there
This was pretty darn cool when the bear walked past us.
Yes we were in a car, we’re not crazy and I don’t own a super telephoto.
I kinda chased this guy around for a while.
Denali is all about Mountains and Animals i’ve decided
So apparently this was an exceptional time to go. It’s not usually this clear. (So they tell me)
Maybe clouds would be fun sometimes but I guess it’s fun to go in abnormal situations.
I view my most recent wedding as a standard for things to come.
Let me explain why and how.
What I did to make this possible
A couple months back I was so busy that I opted to raise my prices in a deliberate attempt to have more time.
More time for my photo projects.
More time to have a real life.
More time to focus on each photo shoot.
More time to UP my standards.
And so far it’s worked.
It’s been weird to not book as many photo-shoots, I’ve learned to deal with it.
I’m learning how to fill in all that available time.
New Pricing – Thoughts About
I didn’t want to simply raise costs just because, but I wanted to raise them at the same time raise the quality of the product.
Over the years I’ve raised my prices many times… back in 2005 with the first few weddings I shot for as low as $250 for a wedding.
I didn’t just raise costs because I wanted more money, but because I felt the product was worth that, because I had worked hard at improving with talent, time and equipment.
Now I finally have pretty much every tool I’ve wanted for a long long time.
Weddings I’m searching for
This Hawaii wedding is also an example of the types of weddings I want to focus on working on.
Nicely organized weddings, with people who are very interested in a higher level of photography. I want to be dealing with brides who don’t simply want A photographer but are in search of A great quality photographer.
I understand for some photography isn’t their #1 concern.
And I also understand there are many who really want great pictures but can’t usually afford them.
I want to still be in an affordable range… as a bargain for an educated shopper who can understand what I’m giving when they compare it to other options.
I want to deal with people that stretch to reach the cost (even if i have to help them with the cost) so that they’re appreciative of the product.
But I also want to deal with people that understand the bargain.
I am in Utah where the wedding photography costs are way down in comparison to many other parts of the country.
I suppose this is why I travel a lot.
Give more
If you compare straight up prices it can be deceptive.
But when someone sees I don’t charge by the hour and they could have me for 10hrs + on a wedding day.
And when they see how many pictures I typically give to a client.
When they recognize things like how I review and edit Every picture I give to them.
Many of the intangibles such as the experience which will help me deal with any possible situation that might come up for a wedding.
Or the demeanor and attitude that helps me deal with weddings perfectly. Not too formal, not too informal.
Not just the quality of the picture… but the feel of the picture.
The speed with which the sessions go… not rushed and not dragging along.
Consistency
I’ve always prided myself on the consistency of my weddings.
I felt confident telling clients that they were assured of great wedding pictures.
It wasn’t hit and miss. It was hit after hit.
And sometimes of course there were some big hits.
Written on December 18, 2009 Posted in Photo Meetups
Almost like a yearly tradition to go take pictures of the lights on Temple Square.
For the first little while I was thinking about what I was going to focus on.
Some photowalks I spend most of my time sharing techniques with people asking.
I thought this time around since I had all my stuff I’d focus on taking some really cool pictures.
But turns out I didn’t do much of either.
This time around I really didn’t spend much time taking pictures.
I primarily played around with shooting video.
I did snap out a few pictures in between videos.
And here they are.
The photowalking event was a great.
There were a TON of people.
A bunch of people I haven’t seen in a long while.
And a Ton of people i didn’t even know.
Seems like when it gets colder and all of us don’t have as many photo-shoots these activities get bigger and bigger.
I did miss having Steph and Suzanne there like last year.
And I wish I had been able to keep up with David and Carissa but I was too slow and didn’t really get around too much… we shot a lot on one small area.
But in the end I got a sexy new profile picture for facebook by Antonio
So the real question is… what in the world do I do with the 90 video clips I shot??
I’m really clueless. Isn’t film all about how you intertwine the clips.
Well I don’t want to add that to my plate as well… that’s too much.
I can upload them to smugmug and put them on the blog… but they weren’t really informational… I think.
Good things happen when the sun goes down… twilight is often more exciting… and then there’s a clear evening with the stars coming out and some nice palm trees.
In this post I’d love to drive home the point:
Make wherever you happen to be work for you.
And get good at seeking out spots and SEEing the spots you’re at.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
(Above) As you see these pictures you might wonder why they call it Sunset Beach… haha
This day was proof-example, after example, of why going out with a set purpose (set picture) in mind is in many (not all) ways is retarded.
But having a “way point” can be smart.
Yes have plans… but be open to all the amazing things that surround you.
In this case we penciled in Sunset beach for sunset.
When you’re on a road trip with me you realize I’m using a pencil and that pencil has an eraser.
But beyond that when you are wherever you are… be ready to shoot them when they happen. (know how)
And be ready to SEE them.
It makes me wonder how/why those photographers who set out with one specific shot in mind do it.
That would drive me batty… and doesn’t seem like a good idea. (Open for discussion, as long as we’re trying to understand eachother)
(Though perhaps having fewer pictures would sure cut down on processing and make picking easier)
Going back to the car to grab the tripod… low and behold, I saw the light.
I was saying to myself… how do these things like this keep happening to me?
I really couldn’t have planned the mist, the sunlight angle because of clouds, the color of the sunlight is beyond our control as we know.
Yes I put myself in a situation where i could get back lit pictures of surfers when they came out… but I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
I can’t move this dude I’m not in charge of the posing.
I just frame it up to tell the story and wait for the elements to be in a good spot.
This is a big example of just wandering around searching and being in the right place at the right time.
We didn’t write Hawaii 2009 in the sand but we came by literally seconds before the wave washed it away forever.
I barely had time to aim and spray fire shoot it as it got washed away.
The lighting was hardly what people aim for, but I knew that it would make it unique and that I could add back some of the contrast from shooting towards a setting sun.
This was not planned it was a result of waiting around for other people to be ready to go and getting bored and saying… hey why not take pictures of the palm trees.
If only I had my cable release to take longer than 30 second exposures. But that’s what I could do…
and I set the White balance to 2500 kelvin to bring out the blue because the street lights were throwing off the colors.
On this trip I discovered the joy of setting my white balance to Shady A2 to really bring out warm colors
I think any white balance could have worked for this evening and the camera itself would have been stumped with the colors of the sunset at sunset beach.
Don’t just take good pictures and call it good… add spice.
OK obviously the above picture was taken a while before sunset colors hit… but I wanted to show the kind of waves they were looking at.
You’ll see some better pictures of waves coming up… but I take pictures to document what was going around a whole lot.
Now planning your shots ahead of time is not a bad thing… don’t misunderstand.
I planned on being at sunset beach at sunset.
And when I got there an hour before sunset I said I wanted to be on such and such side of the water/beach.
But the point is: Up until that time (your way-point time) and after and maybe even instead be willing to let your hunches, ideas and the light take you where they will…
Kinda like the waves of see, they go here and there and wherever the wind and tide takes them.
Yes there could have been other paths… but make the path you decided on, or were thrust into work for you
You’ll find some amazing things start to happen.
And you’ll learn to deal with (photographically) what you’re given… and not just search for what you want and always see the green green grass just beyond reach.
I’m saying both things can be good when done correctly.
But don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
A lot of my pictures are a testament to my laziness… i was shooting sunset here and just didn’t feel like moving.
I was hoping more surfers would just walk past me. (They’ve done it in the past)
So i just sat around, not being pulled in any other way.
So I made where I was Work.
Instead of perhaps finding another better location. (Which might have been good too)
People almost seem to refuse to take pictures when the light is not perfect for them.
I say learn how to deal with the light no matter what it’s giving you.
Use it to your advantage… take the pictures the present light situation is giving you.
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity… make it the perfect opportunity.
Even better if what’s been given is pretty darn nice!
I know I did a post with a link to all the pictures from the trip in a recap… but I’ll continue with the 3 remaining days with a post for each
So this is post 12 of 15
Above – Sunrise
Below – Sunset
We did sunrise on the north end of the island and couldn’t really find a good spot so I focused mainly on the sun itself with the waves in commotion.
We found some of our best sunset (in this case twilight) at the south end of Oahu.
Small parks with no one at them that had a good view of stuff in the distance.
It was nice because they had some good palm trees and there were a couple surfers who came in right before dark.
I was just going to straight up share the pictures and be done with it.
But readers of the blog have probably noticed the trend to share photo shoots along with commentary and perhaps even a lesson from time to time.
Those interested in the pictures will probably just view the pictures anyway
or maybe they should just skip right to the FULL GALLERY With an open invitation to use these pictures online to your heart’s content (Assuming they’re of you)
Read the end for more info.
Those wanting to wax philosophical might do so with me in the text of the blog.
I’ll be intertwining some pictures as well.
Read my discourse about giving and receiving and see more pictures after the jump
I think some of our best spots for sunrise and sunset on oahu were at random, non-popular parks on the south of the island.
Probably not having a ton of sand and with waves braking way off in the distance this made it so.
But we seemed to be in a bay with land jetting out, right to where the sun was rising (in this case)
At sunrise and sunset there will be surfers either entering or exiting for the day.
It’s fun to shoot both.
We then went to one of our favorite beaches and that was Sandy Beach.
Skim borders (or whatever they’re called) are great to photograph because they ride the shore breaks… and that means they’re close.
Palm trees are Hawaii Iconic … we often added them into the shots.
Seems like we took so many pictures of the sun coming up or going down adding a great foreground became the search.
Having an extra wide 14-24 was nice because these trees were practically straight above me.
Again changing up the foreground can help spice up something that everyone takes pictures of.
This was probably the most eclectic day on Kona as we spent most all our time on the south of the island and ended at the volcano.
We saw the moon set minutes after the sunrise.
We were in jungles and on green sand and black sand beaches.
We took pictures of surfers, horses and windmills.
So SmuMug has released a feature I’ve wanted for a long time ever since David Terry told me about the idea.
(BTW happy birthday David)
I’ve been waiting for a version of coupons that would ease the way to let the clients choose their pictures straight from the site.
Like a little shopping spree. But allow me to still be in control of the end result.
As a photographer I want to focus more of my time on creating better pictures and not spending so much time picking pictures and dabbling in business things and I would hope my customers would appreciate this.
I also like the fact that it all still goes through me when they select pictures, and I’m sure that’s what the customer hopes for as well…
I love their print delay feature… having a few days to review their order and enhance the pictures before they’re sent to the printer is perfect.
I’m mostly interested in the last of these… which is also probably the most complicated type.
“Print Credit – This functions just like a gift card. If a customer does not use it up in an order, the balance will remain to use on future orders. You can optionally set a start and end date for its use.”
So thanks for the coupons SmugMug and I hope my customers love the idea as much as I do and look forward to incorporation of coupons in 2010 packages.
Dustin wanted some pictures while we were traveling around in Hawaii.
One evening after sunset (twilight) I decided I could take a break and do some.
I laid the flash on a few rocks pointed it in a direction and told him to stand in front of it.
I walked around him shooting pictures and doing some different poses.
After a while I realized I didn’t have move at all… he stood in the same spot the whole time and I just moved around and adjusted my settings.
In fact the flash stayed in the same spot on the same settings the whole time.
I did have him jump in that spot so at the end he did move a little.
Just goes to show what you can do.
Here are some examples
To change it up I shot through things.
Shooting away from the sunset/twilight made things much darker background obviously.
This day we took it easy only leaving later in the day to pick up two more photographers from the airport and then shooting in two locations in town (Kailua Kona)
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