There’s a photographer I met through flickr who lives in New York and writes a blog for Amazon. I ran across an article of his today that talks about unauthorized use of digital images and the stickiness of copyright law. That’s a big issue (and one I won’t pretend to know everything about), but I would like to talk about it for a minute or two.
We provide all our clients with the high-resolution digital files of their shoot. Always have and always will. It’s my philosophy that if you pay for our service, you should get the results. I don’t like the traditional wedding photographer model that says you pay for the photographer to show up and take pictures and then you pay again to have the pictures printed. Now, not every photographer follows that model (I know I’m not alone!), but that’s sorta like paying a plumber to come fix your kitchen sink and than having to pay him again every time you use the sink. And I think that providing those files is a huge value. So our prices will reflect that.
A few of our brides and grooms have posted their wedding photos to facebook for their friends to browse and enjoy, in spite of the online gallery we had already set up for them. Many more email their favorites around to their friends and family instead of directing them to the website. This is possible because we give them the files on disc. And I know a lot of photographers who complain about this behavior, saying that it kills their sales and hurts their exposure. As long as they’re telling people who took the photos for them, I’m fine with it. It tells everyone they know how much they like their photos, and I couldn’t ask for a better endorsement than a happy bride or groom. 
Published on January 25, 2008
in personal.
It’s time for me to just step up and just admit it: I’m balding. It’s true.
I’ll give you some time to try to come to grips with that. 
I was looking through some of the old posts on Mike Colon’s blog and found this: To Flash or Not to Flash. It may be kinda lame to post something that was put up so long ago, but I love his post. I like to shoot as much as I can without flash. Aside from the quality of the light, I think that shooting sans-flash allows my clients to feel more at ease with having me all up in their grill [so to speak... ]. When I do need to use flash, I go out of my way to make the light look as dynamic as possible.
Published on January 18, 2008
in weddings.
Well, we’re almost a month late with this, but the Austin show kept things pretty crazy for us.
2007 was a fantastic year! Aimee and I had fun at each and every wedding we shot. All of our clients were fantastic; we can’t thank you all enough for choosing us! It was so nice to meet and get to know you all (if we didn’t already know you). Particularly the Jansa family; this year they gave away both their son and daughter and allowed us to capture both events for them. Deborah even invited us to join them for Thanksgiving!
Anyway, I’ve finally managed to put the finishing touches on a year-in-review slideshow. It’s a big one. It’s got all our favorite shots from 2007 (at least one from every wedding!), so it’s more 300 images. Be warned: it will take a couple minutes for the whole thing to download, even on a broadband connection. But I think it’s worth the wait. Please click here to see it. Thanks again to all the amazing folks that we had the honor and privilege of working with this year, from brides and grooms to florists and coordinators. We love you guys!
Here’s to 2008 and all the great people we’ll be working with this year!
Published on January 15, 2008
in personal.
I just got back from the gym and it feels so good to be working out again. Between all the year-end stuff I had going on and all the travel, I haven’t been to the gym for a proper workout in over a month. Here’s hoping I can keep it up. Whether it looks like it or not, staying in shape is a big deal to me.
Aimee and I are sitting in the Austin airport waiting for our flight back to El Paso and I just wanted to take a second to talk about the show this weekend.
We had two booths at the Austin Bridal Extravaganza this Saturday and Sunday. And aside from the name, it was a great show! We met a ton of couples, played some Wii and met a ton of really cool wedding professionals.
I still can’t believe how many couples we had the privilege of meeting. If any of you are reading this, thanks so much for stopping by and saying hello! It was a pleasure meeting all of you. And if I mispronounced your name, please forgive me… I’m bad enough with names as it is, meeting all of you left me a little scrambled in that department. (An extra apology to Tabia (sp?), whose name I especially butchered… And am probably still getting wrong…)
And here’s to Jeff & Lou, Joshua & Stephanie and Tim & Liz, who all signed contracts yesterday during the show. We’re really looking forward to shooting for all of you!
[If you were at the show and you're interested in booking, send us an email this week to let us know and we'll make sure that you can get that discount we talked about!]
Published on January 9, 2008
in personal.
I love to travel. Really, I love it. But I’m in Austin this week for the ad agency I work with, and I’m really missing my girls. Before I left El Paso, I told Ethne where I was going and asked her for a hug. She gave me one very begrudgingly and said, “I don’t want you to go. I miss you when you’re gone.”
I can’t wait until I can see them all again. Can’t wait for next Monday.
Happy New Year, everyone! To celebrate the end of 2007, I’m working on a couple slideshow year-in-reviews. Stay tuned.
