arisings

"Beauty... as it occurs naturally"

I like the idea that I garnered from Buddhist thought, that life arises spontaneously from moment to moment, influenced by many factors. We plan, we prepare and then when the day comes, things always happen somewhat differently than envisioned.

That's what I love about weddings, lots of creative energy goes into the planning. The day is invested with the love, joy, hopes and dreams of not only the bride and groom, but also the family and everyone in attendance. So... in a way, the day is pregnant with potential for the birth of spectacular moments. This is the expectation that I take with me when I pack up my camera bags, get dressed up and venture off to my next wedding. I can't wait to see what sort of beauty will arise out of this wonderful mix. I love it!

Speaking of life arising moment by moment:
I picked up my camera just a few minutes ago to capture my young dog's furious romping with the big boy lab, Stonewall from down the hall. This is my daughter's 12 week old Labrador, Yeshe Ani... the fire dog!

What a hoot!

Every dog has his day.

It was December 17th, and it was cold!!! But inside the Gallatin Gateway Inn the fire was roaring in the huge fireplace as well as in the hearts everyone at Courtney and Brian's wedding. Most especially Big Red, the brides beautiful dog that played an honorable roll as ring bearer, in the couples wedding ceremony. Enjoy my latest Album Showcase!

Courtney and Brian's Album Showcase

"Shoot and Burn"

Are the prices of some wedding photographers too good to be true?
Or, are the rest of us exorbitantly over priced?

With digital cameras filling the bags of most wedding photographers these days, there has come about a new phenomenon some have termed "shoot and burn". It's the scenario where a photographer shoots your wedding for a steal of a deal, burns a CD or DVD with all of the images and hands it over at half the price of their competitors. Great deal, right? Or so it seems, until you decide to get some really nice prints made and you find out that the files need to tweaked, adjusted, color balanced or worse yet the exposures are too far off to produce a nice print.

As an educated buyer of photography, you should know that most professional photographers spend 4 to 8 hours editing and adjusting the digital files after the wedding, before they go to the lab for printing... or at least before the final album prints are made. Some shooters claim they can do it 3 hours, which I can believe, but only after developing a lot of skill through experience and I might add, accurate exposures. The idea that you can just send those little files right off the card, to any old lab and expect to get beautiful results is based on unreality.

You should also know that making proper exposures with the digital camera is much more demanding. In the making of a properly exposed image (that will print beautifully) there is much less latitude than with film. In other words, your exposures have to be right on! It's a fact. Ask any pro that has experience with both film and digital. They'll tell you the same thing.

So, when you are shopping for your wedding photographer, sometimes a "Great Deal" may not be such a hot idea. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is. As a smart buyer you should ask a lot of questions and look at a lot of prints. Price and compare. Look at the results. I can't tell you how many recently married couples I've talked with, that come up to me while I'm working and tell me how disappointed they were with their own wedding photos. And, it's usually because some photographer pulled the "shoot and burn".

Buyer beware!

A new Showcase Album.

A couple of weeks ago I promised to get this new Wedding Album Showcase on line... well, here it is. Enjoy!

Jennifer and Kevin's Album Showcase

I would include a photo but unfortunately Blogger is not allowing me to Upload at the moment. Some sort of technical glitch I think.

New hope for one of my favorite couples.

As some may know, I have very dear friends in Tibet. I met them in May of 1999 when I journeyed to Lhasa Tibet on an assignment to photograph an orphanage that I wanted to support. The images were used to raise awareness and funds for the school. The long and the short of it is that Bangri Rinpoche and Nyima Choedren founded an orphanage in Lhasa for homeless children. They had 60 children that they loved, cared for and educated. Rinpoche and Nyima came to the US to raise support for their work in the summer of 1999. Upon returning to Lhasa they were imprisoned by the Chinese authorities and the orphanage was closed. Read the whole story here. Bangri Rinpoche imprisoned



The good news is that the sentence of Life Imprisonment has been reduced, giving a release date of 2021. You might think that this is not much in the way of "good news", but it is. It means that the Chinese are lessening their stance, however so slightly, towards this Buddhist Monk. It brings hope for further change and even an earlier release than 2021. Read the latest good news here.


See photos of my trip to Lhasa Tibet and read of the jouney.

Happy Birthday Brookie!

This has nothing to do with weddings, just a surprise online birthday card for my daughter.

Lauren is an accomplished soccer player, aspiring photographer and has strong interests in orthopedic surgery. What else can she do??? Well, just about anything she puts her mind to. Go get'em Brookie!

Exciting Changes!

I've just added a really exciting feature to my wedding packages and my web site... and I'm jazzed. The Wedding Album Showcase is a new way for me to share my album designs with current couples and future clients. You will soon see a new page on my web site with a growing number of Showcase Albums. I'm trying to build an album a week so you might check back next week to see the second one.

Here is the first Wedding Album Showcase. Check it out; you'll get the idea. You can watch the album as a slideshow or... in the bottom right of the page is a Gallery button. Click it and you can see all of the album spreads and choose the one you want to study for as long as you like.

Functionally, it's brilliant. Here's how it fits into my Wedding Photography Package. During the week following a wedding, I go to work and design the "first draft" of a client's Final Album. Then, I post the Showcase Album to my website for the wedding couple to look over carefully and contact me with their first edit. I make the requested changes and re-post the Showcase Album for their approval. Each couple has the option of three edit sessions, which allows them to edit, personalize and influence the design of their album. When it's complete and approved, the prints get made and the album is
handcrated by one of the finest album builders in the world, Leather Craftsman Albums.

Even after the Final Album is complete and bound, this Showcase Album will stay posted on my site for friends and family to visit as they like, and re-live the beauty of the day.

This is revolutionary! I love it.