I’ve started photographing and listing the lost dogs and cats at the Clay County Animal shelter and was particularly moved by these pups, found in a ditch in Flora.  I listed them Thursday and both were adopted Saturday.   I  wish more people would turn animals over to the shelter correctly, to the animal control officer, and pay the $15 per animal fee, rather than dumping them.

Here is a link to a current listing of pets needing homes at the Clay County Animal Shelter.  And here is a link to the Facebook Fur a Good Paws site, where we list adoption events and post more pics.

The best thing about people photography is the people.   I get to meet such interesting people who I wouldn’t have met otherwise, such as Ross and Lynn from Newton.  I’m working up images now of their new addition, Eli.    There are so many cute ones, but I wanted to post a couple of the baseball baby pics I was particularly proud of before Ross heads off to spring training.

I’m still catching up blogging sessions from late last fall.  Here are some photos from Elliot Kessler’s session that I love.

With bridal fair season upon us, I’ve been fielding a lot of e-mails and phone calls about wedding photography.   I trust that anyone who talks to me on the phone gets that I try to be helpful.  I’m more interested in helping people find a good photographer for their wedding than I am in “bagging” the wedding.  I’m not greedy, and I only want 5-10 weddings a year, so that I can give them all the attention they deserve in and around my portraits and life.  So, I try to help people when they call me on the phone.  Some things I realize that I’m saying often enough I should just go ahead and make a blog post about it at the risk of offending some fellow photographers.  If so, apologies are offered in advance.  This is just my opinion, and if it offends, I’d rather be open about what I think.

My wedding prices range from $2000-$3000 for wedding coverage, an engagement session, table cards, my time at the wedding, a gallery online and an album.   By looking at the other established wedding photography studios available within a couple of hours, I’m charging the “going rate” or the average charge, but hopefully far exceeding ordinary expectations.   That said, I know that southern Illinois is a cheap market, and increasingly I field a lot of phone calls and e-mails from startup photographers about how to do things and how to get into this market.  What amazes me is that many, if not all of these people starting up in photography start with weddings.  They start with weddings because the money is “good,” because someone begs them to shoot the wedding, because if they don’t shoot the wedding, they are told noone else will.  And then next thing you know, they’re a wedding photographer.  They charge from between $500-and $1000 and they think that is “a lot of money.”  And a lot of them shoot pretty pictures every once in a while, so how can it hurt?

I’m as much of a bargain shopper as the next person, but I like to know what I’m buying.  With that in mind, here are some very important questions to ask everyone, but specifically  the $1000 wedding photographers.

First, how many weddings have they shot?  Otherwise stated as, do you want to risk being one of the first five weddings in a photographer’s possibly very short photography career?  It could work out just fine, but it is a gamble, because shooting a wedding is not  easy.  And more importantly, shooting a wedding is in conditions that most people, even avid camera buffs or new photographers have never shot in before.  Most churches are far darker than they are used to shooting in, and trust me, you don’t want them using flash for your ceremony after the processional, so they are going to have to have the knowledge, the experience and the equipment to handle shooting in low light conditions all day long.

Second, what kind of camera are they shooting with for their main camera, and what is their BACKUP camera?

Without getting too technical, most $1000 wedding photographers use $1000 cameras (or less)  and cheap lenses.   This might seem all fine and well, and great photographers can take great pictures with the worst camera, right?  RIGHT! GREAT photographers, with TONS of experience CAN take great pictures with crappy cameras, because they know how to work within the restraints.  But, new photographers need all the help they can get.  About three years ago, the digital slr market made a huge jump in its ability to handle something you should care very much about:  low light shooting.  Because that is precisely what your wedding ceremony is going to be.  I won’t even use my cameras older than three years in a ceremony or have junked any images accidentally taken during that time by second shooters, because the images were either out of focus (slow shutter speeds from low light) or too grainy (high iso from low light)for me to consider acceptable.

With Nikon, the jump came with the Nikon D3, followed by the D700, the D3x and the D3s.  With Canon, it started with the 5d and is in the Mark series cameras newer than three years.  Basically, I wouldn’t have anyone shoot my wedding with anything older than a D3 or D700 (unless they were someone who I consider a photography master).   My reason is because the files themselves in low light conditions will look bad.  I could care less what camera people use shooting portraits, and in my opinion that hardly matters, because for portraits, the photographer can choose and control the  conditions within which they know they can work.  But weddings aren’t like that.  You have to be able to shoot in whatever lighting conditions you’re given.

And, for the record, the cameras that I consider acceptable are all $2500 or up, with the D3 series in the $5000 range.  When I’m at a wedding, I have two D700’s and now a D3s on site along with backup gear and a case load of lenses, almost all $1000 and up.  Do I buy these things because I like camera equipment?  YES!  But, I buy these things for weddings, because they enable me to take BETTER pictures for my clients.  And THAT’s what I really care about.

After the experience and the camera question, I’d want to know about their external  flashes.    They have to have at least two flashes,  in case the first one goes out, which happens, and you don’t want to have it happen at your wedding.  Then I’d ask how they light formals, and I’d look at their reception images closely to see if they’re using off camera flash during the reception so that their reception pictures don’t look more or less like the “happy snaps” your friends take at the reception.

Then I’d talk to them about timeline.  Make sure you can shoot your formals how you want without a penalty if you don’t want to see one another beforehand.   Find out what is included.

Make sure the images you’re looking at are by the photographer who would be shooting your wedding.  I know of one fairly local photographer who advertises a cheap price, books himself up, then tries to book other brides with associates who he’s training and will “oversee” in post-production.  That’s ridiculous.  If you can’t see the other photographer’s work, don’t book them, because if they screw up your wedding pictures there is no fixing them after the fact, no matter what they’d have you believe.

Photographers are like anyone else, they’ll want to show you their best work.  Make sure you’re looking at sample images from ALL portions of a wedding, unless you plan to get married in an open field under a tree somewhere, in which case, feel free to disregard the regular ceremony, reception and formal pics.

Bottomline, I care about helping people and am only writing these things because I think there’s a lot of uncertainty in our market about what you’re really paying for and how to compare photographer one to photographer two.

I know it seems overwhelming at times, and I hope this helps a few people tell the differences in the market place other than pictures and price.

Here’s wishing you all the best.

I’m working at adding my fall weddings to the blog.  Until then, you can see  images  from my weddings here on my FB business page.  I’ve become a fan of  tagging brides and grooms in their wedding photos on FB, and need to catch the blog back up.

Wow, am I ever behind on my blog!   I’ll get started on posting some favorites from recent sessions and weddings.  My nephew, Graham, is a senior this year at Effingham High School.  We’re going to do some football pictures in the spring, but did some outside and studio pics before the weather turned cold.  Here are some favorites.

The Allen Family came in for a session with their girls, Keisha and Kirstin, who had a bad case of infectious laughter.   These images make me smile.  Thanks, girls!

I ran across this great Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai article (website here) this morning on a friend’s blog, and received permission from Cheryl to post it.  I have long found Cheryl’s work and approach inspiring.   I find this advice to aspiring photographers as relevant now, if not more so, than when I first went into business.  Many thanks to Cheryl for writing this and sharing it.  I’m very happy to pass it on.

I get asked all the time, during workshops, in e-mails, in private messages, what words of wisdom I would give to a new and aspiring photographer. Here’s my answer.

- Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don’t look outward for your style; look inward.

- Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It’s like money; you only have it when you don’t need it.

- Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a consensus.

- Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don’t fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you’re stressed and anxious.

- Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can’t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.

- You cannot specialize in everything.

- You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful. If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.

- Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don’t, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that’s tough.

- Accept critique, but don’t apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn’t not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent.

- Leave room for yourself to grow and evolve. It may seem like a good idea to call your business “Precious Chubby Tootsies”….but what happens when you decide you love to photograph seniors? Or boudoir?

- Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”.

- Gimmicks and merchandise will come and go, but honest photography is never outdated.

- It’s easier to focus on buying that next piece of equipment than it is to accept that you should be able to create great work with what you’ve got. Buying stuff is a convenient and expensive distraction. You need a decent camera, a decent lens, and a light meter. Until you can use those tools consistently and masterfully, don’t spend another dime. Spend money on equipment ONLY when you’ve outgrown your current equipment and you’re being limited by it. There are no magic bullets.

- Learn that people photography is about people, not about photography. Great portraits are a side effect of a strong human connection.

- Never forget why you started taking pictures in the first place. Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject.

- Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.

- Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacence.

FW7 from Vladimir Chaloupka on Vimeo.

I’m still processing what to say about Foundation Workshop.  I’m one of those people who tend to go all the way around the subject before finding the way straight through the middle.  I don’t want to bore you all, so I’ll keep thinking on it until I can write about it directly.

But until then, I’ll link to this amazing video shot at Foundation by and made by the Brilliant Vlad.  Thanks, Vlad!  Enjoy!

I just found out last week that I could use my pocket wizards to fire my camera remotely.  This may be old news to most, but I haven’t had a remote for my camera for a couple of years and several camera upgrades, so this is big for me.  (And no, that self-timer business just doesn’t work for me.)  Those of you with digital slr’s and pocket wizards and an alarmingly small number of photos of you with your kids (you know who you are) get a pre-release cable, if you don’t already have one.   I bought mine for under $30 from flashzebra.  It works like a charm.

So, I took the camera out on a tripod and went tromping up and down the snowy lane next to our yard with my daughter, Ada.  I was amazed how well the trigger worked, since pocket wizards do not require line of sight like infrared triggers.  And why am I not posting said pictures?  Well, because the first thing I thought looking at my five pictures (about the time it took before Ada got cold and had a meltdown and wanted to be carried home) was that who knew, but those jeans I was wearing made my butt look big.   And that hat I was wearing, while warm, should probably never be seen beyond the outskirts of Bunnyville.

Good to know!    I will try again.  If not for me, for Ada.