I just received my new Nikon lens. It's the AFS 70-200 f/2.8 IF-ED VR. That's a long name, but it's a long lens too. I rented this lens for a recent wedding and I loved it so much, it became a to-me/from-me Christmas gift this year. I love to-me/from-me gifts.... I always get exactly what I want! This thing has shallow depth of field with a large f-stop, which I really love. You just can't beat pro-level glass.
Ok, here's a very clearly wedding-oriented post. I find myself speaking with brides who are looking for the services of a wedding photographer. I photograph weddings. This should be a good mix, right? Well, maybe/maybe not. Some brides are doing their homework and some are not. The ones that are not seem to simply ask their friends who did their wedding and, if they like the images, call the photog and ask the price. If the price is within their budget for photography, they make a deal. Now, don't get me wrong: word of mouth advertising is the best, but this method of hiring someone to document one of the most important days in your life? Hmmm....not so much. I frequently find myself encouraging the client to look around, do some homework, see what's available, then talk to me again. ASK QUESTIONS!!! LOTS OF QUESTIONS! To that end, I'm in the process of constructing a short list of questions every bride should be asking prospective photographers prior to hiring them. I'm even asking for help from former clients who, in my opinion, did their homework before hiring me. I'll eventually make this list available as a downloadable PDF which any bride or groom can grab from my website for their personal use in making informed choices about the photographer they hire. Anyone who would like to have input on this list is hereby invited to comment on my blog. I reserve the right to agree or disagree (which translates to us/not use) your comments. :) This is gonna be fun!
Ed
OK, today, I'm going to answer questions. I don't do photography as a full-time job, but rather as a profession adjuvant to another profession. One thing I'm frequently asked is, would I like to do photography full-time and nothing else? The true answer is: yes and no. I love my "real" job. I also love photography. The problem, however, lays in several layers. First of all, if I start doing photography as a full time job and my sole source of income, I'd probably have to do whatever jobs come my way and/or move to a bigger centre. I really like the autonomy I get with not needing to accept every job I'm offered. In fact, I often joke that my sales pitch is, "I don't need the money, so hire me because I'm doing what I love to do". Additionally, I might have to put my prices up because the equipment and technology is always changing and the big camera makers, like Nikon (my fav) don't give away their stuff. I currently show up at a shoot with several thousand dollars worth of equipment, and I'm holding it in just one hand! My beloved wife is not too keen on my even spending more time on the computer (although, this might become an excuse to get a new machine, but I digress). More pics mean more processing, more bandwidth, more more more. More fun too, though! On the up side, right now I seem to be travelling quite a bit to do what I do, and that's pretty cool! I don't mind travelling, but I guess I'm not much of a businessman because I hate having to charge extra for all the expenses this incurs. I'd like to go for free, but this just isn't possible.
If anyone IS looking for a free photographer, Chase Jarvis is looking for an interesting idea that he can shoot. He'll go anywhere in the world. Look him up at www.chasejarvis.com . He does some awesome stuff.
Feel free to post some more questions here in the comments section, and I'll try to answer what I can.
OK, I admit it: I actually like sushi. And if you're in Moncton, go to Pink Sushi. Their service is great, and it's some of the best sushi I've eaten (warning: my experience is limited). Anyway, I'm happy so I'm giving them a plug.
Ed
Funny, how I always seem to be "volun-told" that I'm going to be taking pics at home before all the little kiddies go out for their Christmas Formal at school. Oh well, more chance to play with my new studio lights. Heh heh.
Ed
Hi everybody.
I'm afraid I have bad news. The publisher I use for my Premium Albums just notified me that as of January 1, 2009, the price is going to increase. I'm still going to stay with them, though, because they have an AWESOME product and their service is great too. I don't know how much the increase will be, but they state it's going to pay for their recent purchase of new and better equipment. We'll see, I guess. Anyway, if you're interested in a Premium album, better order it soon to stay at the current price.
Ed
Hi Everyone,
Well, everyone being probably the 2 people that show me the kindness of reading this blog...anyway
I just installed a RAID system to my computer set-up. It's great. I'm using the LaCie 2Big which is a great machine. There was a little speed-bump in setting it up, because when you set it to one of its versions of RAID 1, you have to let it sit and rebuild itself which can take up to 12 hours. I was panicking because I was getting warning lights and I didn't think it should take any longer than the formatting process, since the unit contained no data. All was good, though, and a quick email to tech support fixed me right up!
Until recently, I didn't know what a RAID was, so let me provide a bit of background. RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independant Disks. There are several versions of RAID, and mine is set to RAID 1 which means multiple copies of the data. My LaCie drive contains 2 500Gb harddrives inside which are set up to maintain 2 mirror images of whatever data I send to the drive. When (not "if" but "when") one of the hard disks fails, I just need to replace that disk and let the system rebuild itself with no loss of my data. Cool, eh! I realize this sounds a bit paranoid with regards to data backup and security, but when I'm charging people $####+ for photography of their special event and then putting tons of work into their processing, site building and other services, I really need to be sure that the time will not come where I have to contact the client and tell them I had a drive failure and their images are toasted. Being sued would only be the beginning of the havoc something like that would create! No-sir, not for me! Sure, I could pull a failed drive from my machine and send it away for recovery, but that's MEGA expensive and there are no guarantees! For a little over $400 tax included, I bought a large amount (500Gb) of peace of mind.
Plus, it looks cool! Here's a pic I got from LaCie's website to show you. I don't have a specific letter of permission to use the image, but I doubt LaCie will whine about the free advertisement. :)
A few quick pics from Jenny and John's wedding. You just can't take a bad picture of this couple. They were awesome!
More to come,
Ed
Well, the Major Wedding has come and gone, and I'm still going through tons of images. This was great couple and I'm having a hard time finding pics I don't like. They were tons of fun!
It was also quite a distance from home, so I brought my wife with me for the weekend and I've got to say; I've seldom been treated so well. Jenny & John, their families and friends made us feel right at home and it was a pleasure to be with them.
I feel really honoured to be part of their event and I really want them to know how much I appreciate it! Jenny & John, THANK YOU!
Well, gotta go. I hope to have some pics up here this week, so check back often.
Ed
OK, so I'm blogging about this big upcoming wedding.....Why this one in particular? Well, lemme see:
First thoughts: DAMN I have a LOT of batteries to charge!!!!
Second: UhOh....MORE batteries to charge....... and memory cards to format....hope my wife doesn't know I have all this crap ;)
OK! The big deal is, this really nice young lady has contracted me to photograph her wedding this weekend in Gaspe and she's even willing to do a "trash the dress" session on Sunday. I haven't met her fiance yet, but if he's marrying her he's got to be a great guy.
I know, this sounds like a real load of (you know what) but when we had our first client meeting, it was like... Yeah, I want to do this wedding, I know we're going to have a great time. That's a big deal to me because if I'm really having fun, I know I'm also being really creative and I'm making my best images. This is too big a day in these people's lives to get second-rate service from me, or anyone else, and I know I'm really going to be on my game this weekend. I feel good about that.
This is going to be a long weekend with photos on Friday, the Big Event on Saturday and TTD on Sunday so it's MAJOR work, but like I said, I'm psyched because it's also going to a MAJOR blast!
OK, enough babbling on for now. Maybe another post before the weekend, but DEFINITELY pics afterward (so I can show off).
Later,
Ed
My new Logo has arrived, and will be adorning my future images. This is really just more of the "branding" business type stuff. Anyway, hope you like it. And, thanks to Paulette Hachey for her great work.
Ed
OK, my new Nikon SB-900 is here! This is the new flagship portable flash from Nikon. It's HUGE... a BEAST! But, there's increased zoom range, power and battery life. I took some time to play around with it today and it's even easier to use than my SB-800! My poor dog is probably still seeing spots from all the flashes going off. :)
None of the reviews I've read talk about the new case that comes with it, but I gotta say, it's way way better designed than the last one, plus it's padded to protect your investment.
Men love toys, preferably shiny!
Now, if my RadioPoppers would just get here...........
Ed
Hey everybody,
Stay tuned for a new concept for my Logo! Yes, it's true, I actually asked for outside help. There's a great team of creatives on the job and so far, the suggestions are all so good I'm having a hard time choosing. When the time comes, there will be a slight change here as well as one on my website. It's all for the good, though.
Until next time,
Ed
Hey!
Yeah, I know I've been slacking off with the blog posts, but...........well........... OK, no excuse. Anyway, the lawyer finally finished my new contract, so it's all good now. Contract, you say? Yes, I'm a big believer in saying what you mean and meaning what you say, so I like to put things in writing. No Surprises! Especially if there's $$ involved.
Go ahead, post a comment to tell me what you think on that subject.
Sometimes, ya just gotta stop and look around at where you are. This spring, on vacation, we just took the time to soak in our surroundings and the result was a few great images of some local vegetation. At least, I think it was of local origin....it was growing there anyway!
