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Ed’s note: Continuation of Jerry’s Preston Castle Series
Working with these models was definitely a highlight of the day. Some of them had modeling experience, and for one of them it was their first time. Some may say that working with a model is different from working with a bride, but in my experience the feeling is quite the same.
On any shoot my mind is constantly racing to look for the good light, then the backdrop, then figuring out where to crop the backdrop, which leads to lens selection, then f-stop and shutter speed, then angle and in camera composition. All the while I’m trying to talk to the subject and keep the energy going so that the subject doesn’t get bored or disconnected from me.
As you can imagine this is enough to fry your brain, and by the end of a shoot my brain is nearly dead. So whether it’s a model shoot or a just another bride, by the end of the day I feel like a bus has ran over me. And then you get your work back and it’s all worth it a hundred times over.
I was graciously invited by Caroline and Dan of Tinywater Photography to come shoot with a group of photographers at Preston Castle in Ione. I know, Ione? I don’t know. But it was a shoot to remember. The hair, makeup, dresses, and models were “i liiiike very much”. I was reeling from the amount of eye candy all around. We had to break up this post into 5 parts because of all the goodies. So everyday we’ll release a new one!
Our first post is some of the getting ready. Just some teasers to whet the appetite. Stay tuned…
Oftentimes when people learn I am a wedding photographer, their immediate reaction is some variation of: “It must be nice to work just one day a week!” Ha! I wish. That’s definitely not true, especially with digital photography.
I love digital for so many reasons, the least of which is the added work flow to download, cull and tone four times as many images as I take now versus just tracking rolls of film. Before, I used to drop off my used rolls of film at the photo lab and pick the developed prints up a few hours later. Today, memory cards for digital cameras allow for an insane amount of photographs, all of which are captured with a standard grayish cast that needs to be adjusted with computer software. There is also a tendency for dust spots on the images even if you are careful to clean your camera’s sensor before each event (the camera sensor attracts more dust if you change lenses when the camera is on).
A typical week for me in the summer goes like this:
Weekend: photograph wedding
Monday: download images, back up to disc and external hard drive, import into Lightroom
Tuesday: cull and tone ~3000 images down to 900-1200, export from Lightroom, upload to Pictage overnight
Wednesday: finish any of Tuesday’s tasks that might still need tending to, burn disc (2 copies) of edited wedding, back up edit to external hard drive, pull favorite images together for a slideshow, search Triple Scoop Music for slideshow song
Thursday: complete slideshow, create blog post, publish blog post
Friday: images are ready to view on Pictage
Some weekends I have two weddings myself and nearly every weekend J and Whitney are booked with their own weddings as well. Add that to the schedule above and you can see that my work flow is mighty crazy. Some days I spend 12 hours at the computer, hardly ever getting the chance to experience why people live in Maine during the summer as I’m plugging away indoors.
Enter Jenny and Nicki.
We just love these adorable custom labels by Bottle Your Brand! You can transfer the overall theme of your wedding day to your own, personalized bottled water - even incorporating calligraphy or monograms. The labels are printed on synthetic material that is completely waterproof, self-adhesive, and won’t tear or smudge. Bottle Your Brand offers quick and easy service, with a 5-day turnaround for water bottles. You can also order the labels alone to use as you wish, and the digital printing is always picture perfect!
This is a wonderful idea to complement your maps in welcome baskets for weekend extravaganzas or to provide in your guest hotel rooms!
Thank you to Erika at Bottle Your Brand for introducing these fun and fresh labels to us.
Traci Romano, you’ll recall, is my guardian angel who saved me from my wedding dress emergency by graciously offering me anything in her store in Connecticut last weekend. This weekend, I drove back down to pick up my dress, check out the minor alterations it needed (looks fantastic!), and meet veiling specialist Sara Gabriel who was in town for a trunk show at Traci’s boutique (bonus!).
Although Traci’s primary business is event planning, her retail space is a bridal haven of designer dresses, chic accessories, high-end invitations and creative gifts, all perfectly placed in an historic yet modern waterfront building. It’s the sort of atmosphere that caters to the individual with champagne taste, not the masses (speaking of, we had mimosas!).
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