Hey friends. After my last posting, I broke this thing. I tried to upgrade to a new version of Wordpress and everything fell apart. I couldn’t get in to write posts. Or do anything, really. But I finally sat down and tried to fix it. It seems to be working again. For now. I had been writing stuff down to post to this space while things were down, so I’m going to post-date those as appropriate. Things are going to get weird for a little while as posts start appearing in the past, but I want to go ahead and do something will all the writing I’d done in the meantime.
Seriously, this thing should come with training wheels. Or a helper monkey.
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. 
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.
Yesterday afternoon, I shot a backyard barbecue at a small horse ranch in Canutillo, just outside El Paso. I’m not often hired to shoot informal family events like this one, but I’m always happy to help out where I can. The owner of the ranch was recently diagnosed with brain cancer and has refused treatment. He’s spending time with his friends and family across the country.
Anyway, as I watched the family interact, I spent a lot of time admiring this man and his attitude. Even in this rough and uncertain time, he was upbeat and positive. He joked and laughed with his siblings and cousins. He ran the grill and made sure that everyone had plenty to eat and more than enough to drink.
I thought about all the time I spent stressing out about the smallest things. I thought about all the time I waste away from my family and friends. And I’ve determined to do my best to live my life with the same joy and attitude that he has in these hard times.
