Yesterday one of the stops here in Tokyo was a popular park near Shinjuku station where thousands of people were gathered to see the cherry blossoms and have pic-nics.

About the couple
Jennifer and Tipp work for Google and are doing a sort of exchange in Tokyo for the year but will be back by the end of the year for their wedding in the Bay Area.

About the picture
I was doing a lot of my typical close up shots when Jennifer challenged me to try getting a shot that had tons of a tree. Well that proved difficult for a few reasons… the major one was that almost every tree was swarmed by dozens of visitors and doing a wide angle meant much more chance of getting someone else in it. I even thought it’d be impossible at first… but I kept searching for something. I took a bunch of other pictures with an attempt to get something but I didn’t enjoy the style of the picture and this one happened because the clients didn’t walk to the place I was thinking to try next. Well it was a great thing because when I saw where they were standing I knew in an instant the type of shot that would work… and it was nothing like I thought when I was originally given the challenge and perhaps nothing like they had envisioned. But it certainly tells the story of the cherry blossoms and puts them right in the thick of things.

I think the moral of the story is that it’s alright to let your clients give ideas and take them and roll with the challenge. Hopefully they are challenges and not specific requests because that can be pretty limiting to creativity. Don’t give up too easy… I might have thought the challenge pretty impossible given the circumstances but the only thing I really needed was to be more creative. Good thing I was able to stumble upon the solution.

More photo-shoots around the world
Yes I’m excited to do a few more out of the country photo-shoots this year and I’m hoping lots more come my way. I don’t charge for wedding travel so this is a real possibility.
Now engagements is a different story.
Because the location and the time of the year was so enticing I was willing to schedule in this trip to do the engagements at no extra cost but that of covering my expenses. Part of that was because it was later notice and I didn’t have anything scheduled between two Saturday weddings anyway. It was a lot of traveling to get here and it was a long photo-shoot that would make the most in shape person pretty tired but it was very very fulfilling and fun.

Tokyo Cherry Blossoms for the happy Googlers is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

One of the top expenses for any wedding is the floral arrangements.  Naturally this cost is dependent on the type of flower and quantity. Nonetheless, as a professional photographer, it is important to preserve these beautiful arrangements for all eternity, since the real bouquets will probably only last a week, two at best.

Here is a selection of some colorful Bridal Bouquets.

Typically, the style and formality of the wedding will influence and establish the style of bouquet that is selected. The bouquet can be composed of one kind of flower or a garden’s worth. A bouquet complements the bride’s personality and attire, remaining in the visual theme of the day.

They can be personalized bouquets by choosing flowers that are expressive to the couple’s backgrounds and beliefs. Colorful flowers that match your wedding palette is an obvious way to personalize your bouquet. Colorful adornments — from ribbons and lace to beads or feathers — will make any bouquet meaningful.

Bouquets is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

Salt Flats – Engagement Shoot images by Scott Jarvie

Capturing a moment filled with engaging emotion on location is no easy task.  However, doing it with 50+ mph winds is near impossible.  As location photographers, we learn to deal with, what Mother Nature gives us and adjust accordingly.  This is a skill and a talent. Plus, being a boyscout comes in handy. You, know the motto.

In this situation, a few strong assistants redirecting the wind current with large diffusers allowed the necessary time (as the sun sets) to capture this endearing portrait.  But the fun did not stop there. This happy couple played with the wind, danced and basically ignored the gusts, making their motions appear lighter than air against the last few seconds of dusk.

Shot with a Nikon D8OO, these images are examples of “situational solving” on the fly. On a college level, we are taught to be prepared with a proper gear bag; packed with basic essentials and a few “MacGyver” items. This will separate you from the amateurs and hobbyist. Professionals are always prepared. Professionals are problem solvers. Professionals get the shot they came for. It may not be exact to the initial vision, percentages are high it is better. That’s what happens when you are an artist.

Earlier that evening

“One of my favorites was taken earlier at the Salt Lake Marina. Time was a factor (wanted to make it to The Flats by sunset), so, these photos were shot in under 10 minutes.” -Scott Jarvie

The Stewart’s -What a wonderful couple.

An artist would probably described (critique) these images like this: (harp playing) The soft light of these images adds to the romance. The sky is fading,  the sun highlights the mountain range,  creating a mystical feeling from the horizon.  Their beautiful reflection in the wispy waves moving your view forward then back to the newlyweds.

And this is all true, opinionated and maybe a little high minded sounding, but true.

As a photographer, you see through an image – you look for the emotion. In Wedding & Engagement photography, naturally you would be looking for love, excitement and joy. Then come the lighting of the models and location. The composition of the image and equipment placement, camera settings, and more technical aspects. Sounds like the joy is lost, right? Not a chance. This all happens with in split seconds in the mind of the professional… and then, snap, back to the emotion.  This is the essence of an image.  And it is this memory that has been captured, processed and preserved for all of eternity. At least until you need to order re-prints to replace the faded ones on your wall.

A master photographer captures the essence.

Essence of photography is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

THE BUZZ about the PHOTOGRAPHY DECATHLON

There’s already been a lot of talk about the Photography Decathlon.
Our first official announcement was on the show “Life through the Lens”

I figure I need to do a good writeup which we can come back to and reference.

AUTUMN PICTURES

I’ll also be adding pictures of Utah in October to entice people

Summary

The Photo-Decathlon is a photography competition involving 10 styles of photography (landscape, portrait, street, macro, night, commercial, photojournalism etc)
Teams of 2-4 photographers (or solo photographers) have 2.5 days to strategize their schedule and photograph and prep a small portfolio for each of the 10 styles.
10 ambassadors (one for each field) acting as judges will award prizes.

GOAL: The photography decathlon hopes to provide a place for photographers to push themselves to do their best and find appreciation for their years of improvement… it’s also an event where photographers learn and grow and socialize and make new connections with other great photographers.

Video: The preparation, the classes, the sponsors and the competition will all be heavily filmed in order to share this event with the rest of the world who are not able to make it.

Team Entry : Teams are limited to sponsors. Sponsors are able to use them for their valued clients or employees or to stack a team as they so desire.

Theme of Decathlon: Autumn/Colors – Because we will be in the midst of the Fall colors in utah.

DATES: Oct 9-12 (tues-friday) With a 2 day free fall colors themed photowalk to follow the decathlon. (Saturday & Sunday)

Location:

Utah (With events happening from Provo to SLC to Park City)… we will be stationed in the mountains near Midway and Heber (50 minutes from the SLC airport, 15 minutes from Park City)

Many might choose to stay in Cabins with us in Heber or Midway and there are hotels there and in the nearby  Park City. We will have cabins fitting 10-30 photographers available for a nominal charge.

TEAMS and Costs

Admission will typically cost nothing for photographers because company sponsors are paying for them.
However competitors will need to take care of travel costs, food and lodging… Unless the sponsors also cover those.
All decathlon participants also have free entry to the educational day and the opening and closing ceremony dinners.
There will be separate tickets for the galla dinners and the educational day.

Businesses should contact us about sponsoring a team. Space is limited. And only sponsors may have a team.
Some levels of sponsorship come with access to two teams (ex. employee team and client team?)

Ambassadors:

One of the most exciting parts of the decathlon is that we will be flying to Utah 10 of the best photographers to come act as teachers and judges.
We plan to involve the photography community heavily in who will represent each of the 10 styles of photography.

So start thinking about who you’d nominate each of the 10 styles. Tell them to block off their schedule in early October.

Decathlon = 10 events

Landscape, Macro, Night, Street, Portrait, Commercial, Photojournalism (Subject: The decathlon), architecture, Thematic (Colors/Autumn), 10th (TBA)

SCHEDULE

Day 1: Educational Day

Classes, Panels and Mentoring Sessions. Led by our ambassadors

Opening Ceremony Galla Dinner: With special presentations and introductions while we eat.
A good opportunity to mix and mingle and it will also be when we hand out the packets for all the teams.

Day 2-3: Photograph

Teams strategize their schedule and their division (or non-division) of labor and decide when, where and how they’ll photograph each of the 10 styles of photography.
It will be exciting to see how each of the teams spend their 3 sunrises and 2 sunsets and how many of the styles will they tackle in the same location.
During this time our film crews will be following the actions of several of the teams to share with those unable to come to the event.

Day 4: (Final Day of competition)

At noon all teams will have all their portfolios submitted. The ambassadors will then proceed to judge them.
In the meanwhile we expect many more people to be coming in from out of town for the final 3 days of events.
We will have a small local photowalk for everyone to freely enjoy.

Closing Ceremony Galla Dinner and Awards:

8pm we will start the closing ceremonies with some special presentations/videos and we’ll also hand out the awards.
We will award Best Portfolio for each Style of photography and separately award Best Photograph for each style of photography.
We will announce the grand prizes and a few sponsors and our commercial product clients will also give their own awards.

There will be extra tickets available for The Dinner and Awards show for those coming just for the weekend events.

Day 5-6: Fall Colors Photowalk

With more people coming in from out of town for the weekend we’ll be doing a free photowalk focusing on fall colors. Decathlon participants and ambassadors are not required to stay.

Be Involved

Are you interested in: Sponsoring, Competing or Volunteering to help put on the event?

In any of these cases you’ll be in contact with myself (for the time being)
jarvie@jarviedigital.com or on Google+ or FB

Volunteers – We are working to assemble a team to help with the many areas of the event.
(Educational day organization, dinners/ceremonies, video, PR, online presence, housing and sponsorships. Also people to organize and manage interactions with our models, commercial clients, teams, ambassadors and our Sponsors)

Do you want to compete?

Be part of the early admission for teams when we start in the next month or two.
Of note: Some companies interested in sponsoring have said they just want to be involved and might make slots in their funded team freely available.

The decathlon itself will reserve a couple of teams to make available later in the summer.
But I say that if you and your friends are interested that you should find a business that might sponsor you.
Because space is limited we will be somewhat selective in the types of companies that we accept to be sponsors.

Individuals: Are you hardcore enough to compete in the individual photographer division? My hat is off to you!

Good Response already: We already have a bunch of well known photography companies planning on being involved and filling teams.
We will announce them as we finish up the contracts and start to make the sponsorships/teams official by signing on the dotted lines.

Updates will be at Photography Decathlon Google+ page for the time being until a site is finished. Or follow Scott Jarvie on Google+ or FaceBook

I will put together an FAQ if you have any questions

MORE PICTURES

These were all taken last year in fall and the full gallery can be viewed here

Landscape is only one of the styles but people can shoot their night, macro, portrait, commercial pictures all up in the canyons
Along with our Open Style themed category which is COLORS

These specific locations will be in our list of places to shoot.

The Photography Decathlon is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

Headshots

This was the first paid photoshoot with the new Nikon D800 and it was a fun one.
I like doing individual portraits though I don’t advertize them half enough… probably because I’m more used to weddings paying the bills and sending me to fun locations.

NIKON D800

For those interested in my thoughts about my first paid photoshoot with the D800 go to the end of the blog post

ABOUT Jennie

Jennie Litster is an Opera Singer

I met her at a wedding about 1.5yrs ago and we’ve been great friends ever since. The last time she had headshots was about 4yrs ago so she decided it was time to get new ones.

She uses the headshots heavily and says she’ll probably send out several hundred and I’m not sure what amount of time. But every year she travels around auditioning for different parts usually New York and California and sometimes Europe. This year she had a full time job working with the Utah Opera so she was here for a while.

The light in the house was so nice that we just did most of the headshots there… specially helpful because there was no wind… except for when we stood next to the door.

There are a bunch of looks for her to choose from as I know she’ll be very selective about which one she uses. I have about 90 pictures in the full gallery

GOWNS

Doing the pictures of the gowns though more fun was a secondary need for her. But we were able to get three different gowns

NIKON D800 Early Review

I new I’d be getting a very high MegaPixel count and that now my pictures could be blown up to cover the side of a large building.

Sharpness. What I didn’t realize was that because of this (and probably other factors) is that my pictures would be much much sharper.
In fact I’m still blown away at how much sharper my images are and I hope that this was not just the circumstances of this one photoshoot and a few other pictures I’ve taken.

Blown out highlights (bright spots) … well simply put: There are fewer. The camera really does have a much higher range. I guess it makes sense that it was rated the highest camera in this department by DxOMark.

Auto Focus – I still need more interaction specially in adverse situations like backlight or low light. But so far so good. The best compliment I can give is that I have yet to stress or work hard to focus on anything.

Battery Life - So far so good. I think I shot about 1400 pictures on the last battery. But I’ll keep double checking to make sure i was correct. The real test will come when I plug in my GPS and see how fast that depletes the battery. I don’t think I’ll be getting the grip very soon because it’s crazy expensive for a battery grip. But it’ll be wierd to re-adjust to not having one and not being able to use AA batteries to power the camera

File Size – Yep they’re big. 40-50MBs … and this has changed my workflow a bit. Meaning I am now starting to delete pictures from my computer that are blurry and out of focus. In fact I’m starting to chimp straight from the camera as well. The center button zoom is a life saver and I couldn’t live without it. But more than that when you are zoomed in you can scroll around in the picture much faster than any previous camera i’ve had and that does make a difference for me. I used to say storage is so cheap I don’t need to delete… but when your pictures are 3 times the size and you’re bringing home 15GB for a small shoot and 60+GB sometimes for a wedding then you start calculating numbers and realizing you could have about 4-5TBs of pictures a year when you’re used to 1-1.5 … Yeah so I’m changing my mind on the deleting thing. Good thing for me that I’ve already selected tens of thousands of blurry pictures over the years that I could easily, with one click of the button, delete.

ISO – I know people are more interested in High ISO performance but I think I’m most excited about having a lower ISO setting of ISO50 that will be awesome for night shots or even shooting at f/1.4 in the middle of the day. There is indeed noise at higher ISOs and since there are a lot more megapixels you can really zoom in and see it. But when you zoom out and just see the picture online and stuff I don’t think it’s a big issue. What I’m trying to say is that I just assume it’s better than the D700 but will try shooting some more HighISO stuff and get back to you on that.

COLOR – I’m still getting used to turning the pictures I take into the bright colorful images i’m used to. Using the Vivid profile in LR4 is good but not quite as punchy as I’m used to. Also I’ve found myself tweaking the WB in post a bit more than I was ever used to and I’m hoping it was just for this shoot. I think my picture color will be different than in the past… but I’m sure I’ll find a good method and be happy about it. With a short amount of experience one thing I could say is that the colors look more real.

BUTTONS - My muscle memory says that the AF-L button, the Mode button and the Front scroll wheel are all just slightly in the wrong place. It’s been awkward for me to adjust to.

Happy surprise – Changing Image size on the fly. Yep I’ve programmed the Fn button to change between full frame, 1.2x, 1.5x and 5:4 image sizes… it’s been pretty fun actually and only time will tell if I’ll continue to do that when the newness wears off… but something tells me I will if only because it saves so much space on the hard drive. Well to be fair it does help me previsualize the correct cropping when I can’t get any closer to my subject.

ONE TEST - You can’t really take anything I write to seriously because I’ve only shot 1400 pictures with the camera. But in this next week I’ll have done 2 weddings and this time next week I’ll be in Japan to do an engagement shoot and taking lots of travel pictures. So that’s when I’ll get a really good idea.

I thought I’d be happier with a D4 than a D800 but I really am warming up to the idea of a D800 the image quality is spectacular and that’s a pretty big deal. I think I’ll just stay away from a D4 so that I don’t know any better and my wallet is happier that way.

ZOOM IN
To get a better feel for the images why don’t you go to the gallery on SmugMug where you can view the images pretty large

Headshots with the Nikon D800 is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

Many of you know I’m very active on GooglePlus (my profile)

I’ve added these pictures on my business profile as well so you can comment on them individually.

QUICK SELECT

I very quickly perused the thumbnails of 4000+ pictures and picked out about 50 pictures I thought would be nice to show off from the event, just to wet the curiosity of those wanting to see pictures of the event.

I organized a 3 day photowalk for many of the GooglePlus photographers and we went to this event for 2 days. I’ll write more about that event as well as post lots more pictures from the event.

For now… Enjoy the pictures: (See them here as well)

In the comments let me know which one I should talk more about and I’ll put it up on GooglePlus and Facebook

(Above) The organizer

Characters Welcome

Friends and photographers

Look for Devin Grahams video to hit Youtube later today.

Goodline’s video is already up http://youtu.be/HltruTVcTYE

(Above) Sunrise

Epic sunset at the end of the day

The Big Picture: Here’s what it looks like from afar

Holi 2012 – The Festival of Colors (Day1 Recap) is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

THE PHOTOWALK

Come join us for 3 days (or less) in Utah March 23-25 for some awesome photography adventures.

My event The Jarvie Photography Decathlon (happening October) is sponsoring this epic 3 day photowalk
Kind of a pre-event festivity. If another group/company would like to help sponsor more than organization skills and help us rent a clean room tent get in contact with me.

LOTS OF PHOTOGRAPHERS

It’s a time for lots of photographers to get together for a weekend have fun, socialize and go take pictures.

This could possibly be the largest weekend-long photowalk so far in the history of Google+
We already have some well known photographers like Lotus, Hawk and Colby coming
Some photographers are even coming from out of the country.

When and Where
Friday 23rd of March through Sunday 25th of march in UTAH

Friday we’ll do photowalks in Salt Lake City and a couple other locations
Saturday and sunday we’ll go to the festival of colors
All days we’ll probably find locations to eat together
People are organizing groups to rent houses for the weekend since it’s more fun and cheaper.

And remember almost all details will be given on Google+ on my Profile or the Festival of Colors page

Things to know about the festival of colors

• Here are 8 other blog posts I’ve done about the event in the past 4yrs
• The festival is also known as Holi … there are over 15k people that go… mostly college kids
• here’s the official site about the festival of colors
• I write about how to keep cameras safe at the end of the blog
• it’s 2 dolors for entrance and you buy your own colors
• photography is allowed
• It’s all at your own risk
• It’s a pretty clean festival where I’ve never seen nudity, smoking or alcohol of any type… people are also very respectful of eachother and there’s lots of love and joy there.
• It could possibly be chilly or rainy
• It’s located in Spanish Fork Utah
• Here’s a great Youtube video by some friends

Other things to know about the photowalk

• I have access to large 20-50ppl cabins if someone wants to organize it
• Getting a location anywhere from SLC to Provo is perfect.
• Most people are aiming for near Lehi/American Fork because it’s halfway between the festival and SLC and Lehi is where I live.
• Contact +Ricardo Lagos (for now) and he can help connect you with housing options outside of hotels.
• As far as the photowalk itself there is no cost (just in case you didn’t know how photowalks work) Just show up.
• Let us know you’re coming so we can put you on the list of expected participants (Yes or maybe)
• Updates will happen on Google+ or on this blog – so follow both

AND NOW FOR PICTURES
2008

Here’s a small collection of some of the pics I took that year

2010

1000 More of my shots from 2010

2011

Last year I did some actual shoots… like a couple of real engagements, trash the dress (with models) and some portraits.

(Below Models)

ABOUT YOUR CAMERA

This will be the most popular section.
People always ask me about keeping the camera safe??

The safest thing you can do is to not own a camera to worry about.

Personally, I really don’t worry about it… tons of people that bring their camera and if they’re not stupid they’re just fine.

I will NOT try to convince you to come… some people will remain paranoid no matter what. I will not try to talk sense into you. If logic can’t save you then just don’t come, or come and don’t shoot, or come and buy a underwater bag.

If you read this section and you still whine about it… I will probably not answer your questions and simply mock you and your pansiness… so don’t expect babying from me.

But below I will give you the perfect TIPS on how to be SMART

We will also have gaffer tape, rain bags, and syran wrap and rubber bands at the event.

BTW it’s not smart to be in the middle of the crowd with no protection and a external zoom lens… but you can always NOT be in the middle of the crowd.

For those that are concerned

I would NOT recomend the following

• Using external zoom lenses
• Going into the middle of the crowd
• Changing lenses
• Changing memory cards
• Using a neckstrap you don’t want stained
• Not using gaffer tape on sensetive areas

As for me

• I wear an open jacket to tuck the camera
• I put filters on the lenses. (Even a cheap one just for the day)
• I don’t use an external zoom lens (so no 24-70) and I’d be risky to use my 14-24 but the other 5-6 lenses are fair game.
• I gaffer tape flash pop up, battery area, memory card area and external plug in sections.
• I put syran wrap around where the lens connects and remove it when I want to change lenses
• I change lenses in a safe environment
• I air compressor or comressed air to blow off entire camera prior to changing lenses and when I’m done for the day.
• I get a sensor cleaning

Worst Case?

Send your camera to my favorite camera repair shop (Kew’s) where for a nominal fee they’ll clean the entire camera for something like 100 (that includes sensor… and well everything)

So in any case… it’s a ton of fun and hope to see you all there.

Festival of Colors 2012 Weekend Photowalk is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

What do I think is Inspiring and Beautiful… Personal betterment, creative solutions and not limiting yourself.

The ability for people to be willing to explore and push themselves and become better is truly a beautiful thing.

I understand seeking (and continuing) those things in our lives that are comfortable… but often: “The enemy of the best is the good enough “
(Yes, I understand that” the enemy of Good is (can be) The Best”, but that’s a different conversation)

A Mindset
To not be shaken by obstacles but always find the push, determination and creativity to overcome.
This isn’t just about photography. When you approach everything in live with an receptive mind-set it will only find it’s way to your art.

Example
I have a problem with people who have, what I consider, an irrational fear of the cold.
It’s not that I want them to love everything about the cold… but that I believe to avoid great opportunities by simply using a complaint of the weather is irrational to me.
It demonstrates an unwillingness OR inability to find and implement creative solutions.
It’s one of the many things in life we just learn to overcome and when someone refuses to try it baffles me.

It’s as if they believe everything must be comforting and pleasurable and not cause any discomfort for it to be good.
I myself am not going to go out into the cold just because… but I would not let it get in the way or let it deter me from experiencing something great or growing as a person.
I will however find (creative) ways to find solace… such as in this case… jackets, boots etc

NEW THINGS

Too many people avoid new and wonderful things and that makes me sad. So many people do the same things over and over and don’t reach beyond, in their their photography, their food/music/movie/tv/people likes…. to me it’s all the mind set and it’s all connected.
New things don’t bring immediate joy… because there’s also something to be said about earning the results.
“Try new things” is perhaps an overused statement… let me qualify the statement.

…OF GOOD REPORT
“If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
This is a guiding principle in my life.

I don’t say try new things just because. I believe you try them because you believe they will make you better, they will bring virtue, love, strength and intelligence into your life.
And well I’d say don’t try new things that you believe would not bring lasting benefit to your life.

Example
I don’t say I love all music… I say I’m willing to like any type of music that has a good message and a beautiful sound. I don’t mind if it’s Rap, 80s, country, opera, classical, hip hop, pop, indie, disney, foreign, bollywood, punk… or whatever. And while I can find appreciation in a different style of music it does not mean that it has to become my favorite. Bollywood or russian or opera or rap or inde will never become my favorite styles of music. But I can grow from learning to appreciate them.

Therefore I appreciate someone like Daniela (pictured) who said she wasn’t very into Opera but she went with me anyway and ended up liking it. I’m not a big opera fan but I go to expand my likes and to experience the things that other people love and find “of good report” specially if they are people who’s opinions I respect.

I believe strongly that this influences how I take pictures and makes me better at my art.

Example
I was happily surprised that daniela went waltzing on into the deep cold snow banks in a not warm outfit with little moccasin like shoes. Sure she’s a tough German girl who is accustomed to some cold… but even still she did so without any trepidation… happy for the chance to trust me to get really great pictures.

These pictures are symbolic of that attitude in my opinion. And when we got back to the car I pumped up the heater. But she didn’t let what many others would consider problems get in her way…
Another KEY: we were judicious and smart… no reckless abandon is needed to find joy in being creative and trying new things.
Just because hiking two miles farther in the snow in dress shoes and flip flops would be technically “NEW” doesn’t mean it’s something we should have done.

To me being open to the wonderful things in the world is what other people call “trying new things” It has nothing to do with peer pressure or thrill seeking… to me it means understanding that there are so many things that can make us better and to not limit ourselves.

Kudos to Daniela for this very small symbol of character … you can tell she is a very happy person.

Here’s a couple others that I shared the other day on G+ and facebook

Small things that make us better is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

To My Wedding Photographer Peeps
Me sharing some ramblings on Google+ and the wedding industry

Warning Please note: It’s a long post … but at least I’m taking the time to discuss things, there will be spelling mistakes and maybe even be wrong on an idea or two and it could be organized better… but hey I need to get back to editing now. So if the lack of perfection bothers you I’m more than happy to give the money you paid me back
Pasted from my Google+ post found here

Lopsided representation
There are TONS of photographers on G+ sharing and interacting on a daily basis. BUT…
Let’s face it: My wedding photography peeps haven’t really gotten on the bandwagon yet. Meaning: They are mostly NOT on Google+ yet. Yes there are a few… but there are sooo many more out there (aspiring and established)

A few of them have profiles but even then they don’t use G+ very frequently.

I shouldn’t complain
Granted I don’t suppose I should complain too much since I get calls about weddings all around the world because of Google+ and have become known as “Jarvie: The Wedding Guy” (Which aint bad branding)

Some thoughts on Wedding photographers
Wedding photographers are a diverse group… sometimes they’re social but often they do quite well for themselves and decide to seperate business from their personal lives (I know tons of Amazing wedding photographers in Utah who have a very selective group of friends) and aren’t very social amongst other photographers. (Let’s be fair sometimes it’s because they want a life outside of photography and they prefer non-photographer friends)
Somtimes it’s just because wedding photographers are among the most busy photographers of any out there. They take and edit crazy amounts of pictures… more than most others. Who has time to do the other stuff? right?

Some come from the old world where they view helping other photographers is like shooting yourself in the foot by helping your competition. (something I can understand but isn’t my personal philosophy) those that do socialize seem to do so based on a dollar numbers only… they’re trained to do so when economically advantageous.
It’s actually kind of the Joke at the WPPI conference/tradeshow that you always end your presentation by pimping your workshop, book, video or training organization.

(again I don’t fault them for trying hard to be successful… yes there are appropriate ways to get people to want your services or product)

But being on google+ doesn’t really mean fast money to anyone as of yet. it’s an investment into yourself, into other people and into a system that they’ll have to have faith will still be there for them 4yrs from now. Many people don’t have the vision or are simply more than happy with where they’re at… that’s a lot of them. They’re happy with their past investments and their position in the mediums they’ve found themselves.

As for me
It’s kinda fun being the big fish in the small pond (even though the pond is 90 million people big) Twitter was harder because it wasn’t really about how awesome your pictures were. But google+ people are more apt to recognize that because the pictures are much more in your face.

Yeah I’m not technically a huge fish like the 30 or so other amazing photographers that got on the Google+ suggested users list. (with good reason) (And got 300-400k because of it) But I am aware and appreciative to be the most followed photographer Not on those lists and that’s cool and is pretty amazing to me. But my creativity, hundreds and hundreds of hours of work and many hundreds of posts probably had something to do with it.

Frightened of Weddings
What’s neat is that let’s say 90%+ of the photographers on here wouldn’t touch wedding photography if someone bribed them a lot of money to do so. (isn’t that so +Trey Ratcliff +Colby Brown +Thomas Hawk +Jay Patel ?) But those people still get requests to do weddings… and some photographers even get married from time to time. All around the world… which should be nice with my lack of a travel charge for weddings.

I’ve invested hundreds and hundreds of hours sharing, teaching, and helping to organize a community that I know it will all play out well in the end. And if not I’ve still made lots of friends and gotten better at my craft with the push to share and help others.

FACEBOOK – TWITTER: A historical perspective

I was an early adopter to facebook… in fact I used to get a lot of weddings through ads on facebook back before anyone else tried. (Been years since I’ve done that.) Then all photographers started to realize how helpful facebook was. Then they came out with FB pages and now every photographer seems to have a page.
I still use facebook a lot because that’s where the more typical clientelle are and that’s where my clients are and where they put their pictures.

I remember the first WPPI where there were a few of us that would meet up because we knew eachother through the new site called twitter that was already getting attention in the media but photographers hadn’t quite jumped on yet.

* #wppi searches*
WPPI is a conference for wedding and portrait photographers… it’s like wedding photographer spring break. It’s heavily talked about on twitter these days and even amongst my friends on FB but isn’t really showing up on Google+ yet.

Give-away
I was gonna do a giveaway of passes on my account with +SmugMug’s help
But the people just aren’t on yet. So now I’m wondering what to do… and that’s what prompted this write up.

It will take time
I understand why wppi is not showing up on searches yet.
I remember a few other topics that I would search for on Google+ and they would barely show up and every week I check and more and more content is showing up on those themes each time.

So it will come along eventually. Specially when photographers know they can post with their phone. Though granted conferences like WPPI have horrendous cell phone/internet reception and using twitter via text is not a pretty thing. so twitter can sometimes be much easier and will continue to be most prevelent this year.

Soon they’ll come to Google+
Granted there are ALREADY hundreds of thousands of photographers on G+ along with lots of early adopter types I just don’t know if the rest of the wedding world will jump on til probably late this year or next year.

I have little doubts that they’ll come and those that made the investment now will be benefited in the long run if they play their cards right.

Understanding the Google+ crowd
But they’ll need to understand that the crowd on Google+ is much more accommodating to people that share and the crowd is more discerning on great work and great personalities. So some of the old twitter / blog tricks will have to be adapted. But hey there is still a decent cult of personality which let’s face it exists everywhere. Yes I admit that many of the leaders of the wedding industry have actually abandoned doing wedding photography and they’re heavily followed because they spend their time teaching how to be successful in business above teaching photo-skills. (And I can understand why people love this) But it’s a different crowd on Google+

They’ll come when…
1. I think they’ll wait for there to be vendors giving away things on Google+ or some talk about it at WPPI in las vegas. Then they’ll all rush to it.

2. They will come when they understand that posts to Google+ will help their content show up much higher on Google searches specially among their friends.

3. They’ll come when they know how much better a location Google+ is to present their pictures and how much more social it can be. They don’t know that they can connect with all sorts of clients and clients friends with Google+ and not have the clutter that connecting would create on FB or twitter. I can understand why they’re sticking on FB where they’re used to high levels of interaction and many or most of them will just wait to follow the crowd to wherever they go.

4. They’ll come when their heros come this way… when the people they know and respect come this way.

Follow the leader
Think about it your landscape/travel people are who are here on google+ but the big names in the wedding world aren’t the people that talk at conferences at WPPI are not. None of them. Not a one. I am not one of those guys.

not even the organization WPPI themselves is on. They don’t even have an account.
If they do have an account they’ve written something like this 4 months ago:
“Hey folks, I think I am over Google+. I’ve reached the Facebook friend limit, but you can still subscribe to my public updates at http://www.facebook.com/thebecker I won’t be updating this page or checking it anymore (not until G+ catches on to the masses at least). Connect with me on FB or Twitter @thebecker.”
Funny because these were some of the pioneers in things like blogs and twitter and facebook before they reached the masses and they didn’t have a problem then.

They used to be the thought leaders… and now they’re getting comfortable is my theory. There are many that with their influence just want to dictate what the industry should get into and where it should go. It’s easier than leading by example and taking a temperature and relating that info.

About me
I’ve just been silently doing weddings for years now and never ventured into the national/international scene until Google+
I am the high end photographer for the mid/low-range wedding. (It makes me happy but it doesn’t make me known) I don’t submit to wedding magazines or the wedding blogs that act as king makers. (Style me pretty, 100 layerd cake)

I don’t mind if they don’t come
It’s alright … I don’t mind at least getting a head start and being here with just a few of my wedding friends… there’s some pretty amazing wedding photographers out there… all the great ones have very good and sometimes unique styles. A rising tide

But when they do come
I will be happy.
It’ll be great… more awesome photographers to share with us awesome wedding photography. A rising tide
Wedding photographers are very talented… they use their skills in many arenas beyond wedding photography. They can be good at so many different styles because they’ve been through the fire/gauntles of being a wedding photographer.

And when they join I hope at least my personality and willingness to share keeps me ahead of the curve. haha

Until that time… Who are those Wedding photographers who are going to be at WPPI or want to go but need a pass?

Let’s get our G+ “Clique” on at WPPI
And share my ramblings with your wedding photo buddies if you so desire.

Wedding Photographers and Google+ is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

Ashley played it smart and said that since her fiance is no fan of pictures that she would use her good will on the wedding day in a couple months in Texas.

So we only shot for 30 minutes in pretty much one location of the library and we were done.

But hey we got a bit done didn’t we?

Full gallery here

30 Minutes in the Library is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

One of the two weddings I did at the San Diego LDS Temple in December

We did beach shots in Ocean Side and the reception was in Orange County at Dana Point.

To see lots lots more go here… there are 150+ uploaded so far

Yes they’re an incredibly good looking couple and that always makes for nice pictures.

I already knew his family really well so it was fun to get to know her family… they were awesome and we got along so well… helps they loved my photography! With several of the sisters being pretty awesome at photography.

I love when I get to shoot without being rushed at sunset… being on the coast is a bonus!

The famous seagul picture

Middle of the day it’s always nice to have a place where you can find some shade.

Yep I’m jumping back and forth between temple pictures and couple pictures at the beach and later that evening.

More family pics

Did I mention they made it to In-n-out that day too!

San Diego Wedding is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

My big news for 2012
I no longer charge travel costs for a wedding.

One Price: Yep just one price for anywhere in the world.

Because most of my weddings have me traveling far from my home state (Utah) I’ve decided to have one price, it avoids complication, encourages travel to exciting places and makes me unique.

Why? To me it’s not about costs incurred traveling, it’s more it’s me being indisposed for other weddings traveling 2 days… and therefore the price is included.
Because traveling during 2 days is how it always is… ergo the cost will be the same, because everywhere out of Utah has me traveling during 2 extra days.

Besides… I love traveling … and like I said it sets me apart.

I’m proud of the following points: (About Me)

• The one word that describes my photography: Personality
• I don’t charge by hour – I’m ALL day… to the very end
• I edit every picture I give to the client. (This is a big deal)
• You get a ton of pictures. I can’t remember the last wedding where they got less than 500 pictures. (Sometimes I do lots more… it depends on what they have organized)
• I’ve been doing weddings since 2005 so I’m experienced but still excited about weddings.
• I have an editing style all to myself I describe it as: bright and full of colors.
• I teach photography and have had over 20 interns in the past few years.
• Things I am most well known for teaching: Workflow, Editing, Off Camera Flash, Interacting with clients, Lightroom and SmugMug
• I can handle very difficult lighting situations.
• I always succeed. Therefore there’s a lot of trust/confidence in what I do. My clients know they’re for sure going to get awesome pictures.
• Fun: People get along with me… and not just the wedding couple, everyone. I’m laid back and I don’t get stressed on the job.
• You will end up with the usage rights (and files) to the pictures. (This is also a big thing)
• And of course: No travel costs
• I am conversational in 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese… in that order) I’ve studied many others.

DISCOUNT OPTIONS

• Utah: I’m discounting the cost for Utah because I have two extra days where i’m not traveling and can do 2 times more weddings in Utah.
• Students/Military: It’s something unique I’ve done ever since I’ve started and the tradition will continue.
• Ol’ Friends: Again something I’ve done ever since the beginning.
• Trade/Barter: I’ve been known for my belief that a fair exchange doesn’t have to be 100% federal reserve notes (dollars) and therefore I’m willing to talk about options for trade.

On a budget? Hard to say what this means. Budgets range dramatically … I’ve dealt with all ranges.
It doesn’t hurt to email or call.
If you feel your budget might be a bit low… just be honest and let me know what that budget is. I’ve helped people out that had their heart set on my photography and I’ve also helped connect people to other amazing photographers.

WEDDING PACKAGES

• 1. Formals (wedding pictures of just the couple on a separate flexible date)
• 2. Wedding
• 3. Wedding with Journalistic Book (120pgs)
• 4. Wedding with Leatherbound Fancy Album (40pgs)

Pricing will vary greatly, so personally, I say you should simply contact me.
Range: Formals start in the $1500 range. On the higher end for example a wedding (anywhere) with 3 Press-printed journalistic 120pg books is about $8400
So you might be somewhere in between that range.

Additional things to consider (All are heavily discounted with wedding purchase)

• Pre-wedding photoshoots (Engagements, Bridals, Formals)
• Second day options
• Parent copies of the books/albums
• Prints
• Additional Photographer (Not common for me, but I have lots of connections if the wedding calls for it)

CONTACT ME
I’m way easy to get a hold of and I’d like to think pleasant to talk with.

Call: 1-801-362-6372

Email: jarvie@jarviedigital.com

Google+ : Probably the best way to follow me and what I do and who I am: http://jarviedigital.com/plus
(You do not need to have an account to view my posts… but you will to contact/interact with me there.)

Facebook: http://facebook.com/jarvie and my oft-neglected fan-page is http://facebook.com/jarviedigital

MORE EXAMPLES

2012 Wedding Pricing (Introducing… No Travel Costs) is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

Know someone getting married Jan, Feb or March?

I just offered this to a couple getting married on Feb 29 (Leap Year)

So I’m going to offer it to anyone!

Please share with your friends and specially those you might know getting married during this time.

Half off wedding day photography!

Other Details:

• This applies any late notice Utah weddings… if yours is out of Utah we can still work out something awesome!
• It’s a pay up front type thing and bartering will be a little more limited.
• Add engagements or bridals for half cost as well.
• Again it’s for wedding during Jan-March only and some days I’ll be gone.

WHY?

• It’s late Notice.
• I decided not to go on a 2-3 month road trip and now have more availability.
• It’s the slowest months of the year.
• There was a new $6k camera announced that I’m looking to get.

Winter Wedding Deal – Half Off is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

From families to couples to individuals.

Groups ranging from 1-7ppl

To see all the pictures see the highlights first gallery OR the by shoots chronological gallery

LOCATION

1. Engaged Couple

2. An Individual

3. A Family

4. A Random Family I don’t know

5. A couple and their cousin

6. Married Couple

7. Sisters

8. Random Highschool kids

9. Random College Students

10. Boyfriend Girlfriend

11. Another random family

12. Newlyweds

13. Past Wedding Clients

14. Myself (setup by me and then taken by Jon Barker)

15. A couple

15 Groups – Charitable shoot 2011 – Day 1 is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog

TITLE: Jarvie’s Flash Adventure – Portraiture, Flash and Creative Solutions

(AKA… Experimenting with being awesome)

Short and Sweet Recap

I am willing to go Anywhere (in the world) and teach a full day workshop to a minimum of 5 photographers at a price ranging from $350-550 and I’ll include a 100+pg workshop guide/book.

Now if that seems interesting check out the details below.

If you’re at all interested and want to be updated about future details, locations and dates sign up for the Newsletter. Make sure to select “Portrait Workshops”

UPDATE : Purchase a Ticket NOW – Anything listed in the event itself is more final than this post. Florida – Texas – Arizona

Why Start Now?

After 7 years of learning and teaching myself and several years of teaching and training dozens of photographers (many that have gone onto great things in photography) , after more than half a million pictures and consistently spending 12hr+ days working on and improving on photography I’m ready to go on the road teaching and sharing my passion for photography. I’ve taught for a long time now… but never focused on it as a way to pay bills… mostly I taught so that the student could help me with my work such as with interns.

But I have a desire to travel the country and the opportunity to do so during portions of several months next year.

—————————

Below is my attempt to answer the questions I think you’ll have.

Doing things Different -

Jarvie does things different and this workshop series will be no different.

Different in how it will be scheduled … anyone can get a say.

Different in the presentation and content.

To Make it Happen-

I will go wherever 5 photographers combine to let me know that they would like me to come to their town (or near their town) (Foreign = 6 minimum)

Limit -

The limit on the workshops will be low at abt 10 people. After which times there will be a waiting list. (Check details on waiting list)

Locations -

I’m serious when I say that it doesn’t matter where. I’ll go there. If it’s outside of US/Canada or Europe I’ll simply raise the cost by only $100/us and request a minimum of 6 photographers.

No Travel Sur-charge – Your cost is your cost. I will take care of travel expenses.

Why it’s possible?

How am I able to do the low cost + intimate all day workshop + travel anywhere?

1. Because I’m combining it with a couple other things.
2. Because I’m dedicating several months of doing just this.
3. I will be in charge of the scheduling and I’ll be attempting to schedule them close together.
4. Because I’ll also be offering portrait photoshoots on off days in those areas.
5. Because I am going to do free SmugMug presentations as well.
6. Because I simply want to travel and travel some more and take pictures everywhere.

Waiting List -

I will make a waiting list when the number hits 10. If someone drops out those on the list will get first choice of purchasing the available ticket. If the number hits 5 people on the waiting list I will start looking for an additional professional photographer experienced with flash lighting and then allow the number to grow above 10. That way when we have our on location shooting with models and equipment there will be two instructors assisting and answering questions. The instructional portion will still be focused primarily with me.

+10 photographers -

Every photographer over the limit of 10 (not the initial 10) will be charged $100 extra dollars to justify the payment to the second instructor and the extra flash equipment I’ll be providing.

EXPECTATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP

Equipment Provided (to use not have)

• I will have flashes available to use. Including primarily Nikon.
• I will have an assortment of ways to trigger those flashes. TT5s, PWII, Generic Triggers, Nikon CLS, SU-4, Sync Chords and I-TTL chords.
• I will have an assortment of speedlight light modifiers and lightstands.
• I will even have extra D-SLRs to use

LEVEL of PHOTOGRAPHER

• This is a portrait centric workshop.
• I will teach about a client-photographer relationship but will welcome anyone that does this for purely personal use.
• We will be using  D-SLRs – I will teach with them in mind.
• Photographers interested in the workshop should know how to operate their D-SLR camera and feel “ready” to tackle/start learning flash.
• I welcome any photographers that already knows a decent amount about flash and wants to learn even more.
• Knowing how to operate a D-SLR includes (but probably not limited to) working in Manual mode or Aperture mode+EV values.
• My hope is they already understand the basic concepts of exposure and f-stop.

Booking and Costs

To Make Happen- A non-refundable (but transferable) retainer is $100/person… and like stated there needs to be at least 5 interested in the party.

(This is also what qualifies the person for the Early Bird Special – see below)

The retainers can be paid as a lump sum with someone in charge. But if needed can be done separately. (Pay-Pal or Check)

Schedule – I am in charge of the Schedule… because it’s only profitable for me at this cost if I can book these while on a cross country tour. Price goes up by 50% if you request a specific date that doesn’t match a sequential schedule created by myself.

I will give the group a minimum of two options on dates. And where possible I will give them several more options on dates. The date with the most people interested I will do.

Early Bird Christmas Special - The initial group that solidifies the workshop 5-10 get $50/each off of the cost.

Mid-Week Discount- I plan to do all my workshops on Saturday or Friday but if a group decides on a Mon-Thurs I will discount the cost $50 per person

Refund – Sell

For those not able to do  that date:

I will give their spot to someone on the waiting list and refund their money.

If there is no waiting list…

They can sell their spot in the workshop.

Or…

They can get $50 back from their retainer and the remaining $50 goes towards a retail copy of the Workshop Guide-Book or the digital version.

Costs

Base Cost – Is $475

Early bird group = $425

Midweek Discount = $425

Early Bird + Midweek = $375

Waiting List entries = $550 (or $500 for midweek workshops)

SCHEDULE of the DAY

(A basic outline)

1. Early morning we meet.

2. I give 2 quick presentations to establish my foundational view of photography and how to get the brain in the game and the eyes ready to understand.
The presentations will be visual with many photographic examples.

There’s plenty of time for Q&A during the classes and lunch.

3. We have a simple lunch which will be provided in the fee.

4. We have a presentation about flash

Understanding the ways to trigger the lights.
Understanding the quantity of light .
Understanding light modifiers.

5. We start  discussion about interacting with and posing clients.

6. We all take portraits of the models focusing on using flash

Flash during the middle of the day

Flash at sunset

Flash at twilight

Flash at night

7. The workshop ends but everyone is invited to go to dinner together and ask any further questions they would like to.

CLASSES instead of WORKSHOPS

I will consider doing classes instead of a workshop to accomodate larger groups at a discounted rate.

The minimum is 20ppl and doesn’t have a max limit.

I would adapt #6 in the schedule since only I would be doing the shooting and access to going outside is less likely.

There also would not be individualized one on one assistance but will remain primarily a class environment though there will be Q&A

I could only promise a digital version of the book and a discount towards a physical copy of the book.

The price would start at $100 for the initial 20ppl
Prices would go down based on the amount of people interested or non-weekend days. (Or go up if outside the US/Canada/Europe)

This represents me being able to place the class into my schedule and does not represent a cost if it is based on a desired date that would be less beneficial and more expensive for me.

NEWSLETTER FOR UPDATES

If you’re at all interested and want to be updated about future details, locations and dates sign up for the Newsletter. Make sure to select “Portrait Workshops”

EXAMPLES of MY STYLE

POSTPONED

Workshop + Book

Workshop Guide-Book - I will be making a Book containing over a hundred pgs of examples and writeups that will be delivered prior to the Workshop. To help speed up and more importantly make more effective the instructional portion of the workshop.

Book = Ticket – I will treat the book as the ticket to the workshop. I will emphesize that people read through the book so we can all be that much more advanced at the time of the workshop.

Book Production = The book is presently being made.

Book Promises

You will have a copy of the book prior to your workshop. (Digital or Physical)

You will get a physical copy of the book.

You will be able to upgrade to a larger version of the physical book for book production cost + nominal fee

You will be able to purchase any following editions of the book for almost book production cost itself.

Book Content

A collection of the best of my writeups from years past Including pictures.

It will be Photographically-Philosophical and technical. All writings will be revised and updated.

A selection of example pictures demonstrating the ideas and techniques we’ll be going over in the workshop.

New writeups.

A selection of pictures with corresponding interesting Story and Tips.

Book Expectations - It will contain lots and lots of information and pictures and good info… but I must manage expectations as I am not a professional book-writer and I can only gaurantee that version two will be better than version one.

Jarvie’s Flash Adventure – Portraiture, Speedlights and Creative Solutions is a post from: JarvieDigital Photography Blog