Who’s an ecstatic photographer? Me. Totally me. Voila my new photography set-up: a 5D and 24-70 mm 2.8 L. This is my first full frame camera and my first piece of “L” glass. L. Luxury. It just sounds right. This set-up weighs about 4 times as much as the camera and lens I’ve been toting lately, but even the added neck pain can’t make me put it down. If you need me I’ll be gazing adoringly at my new stuff. Perhaps petting it. And making incomprehensible noises of general glee.
Long, long ago, in a kingdom far, far away (more specifically October 2009; Moncton) I attended a portrait workshop with Maurice Henri as part of FotoExpo 2009. I didn’t really take many photos that day – the photographer to model ratio was something like infinity to 1, and jockeying for position really isn’t my style. I got home, looked at the images I shot, and then abandoned them. I figured I’d wait until some late winter month when business was slow and the blogging intermittent. Now is that time.
This session is unique because Lisa will probably never see these, and it’s a shame because I think she may have liked them! So I’ll send my thanks out to the universe and hope she gets it. Beautiful girl, stunning model.
So I haven’t typically been posting stuff like this but it does interest me and is relevant, and more importantly will keep me from bouncing off the wall as I wait for my order from Adorama to be shipped. The following are two videos which are recently viral in the photography world and my comments thereupon.
In this video, Judge Joe Brown rips apart a photographer for their “unprofessional” job of shooting a wedding. Now I’ll admit that the first time I watched this video I laughed gleefully, I love schadenfreude as much as anyone. But even discarding the fact that Judge Joe Brown is hardly precedent setting law, the evidence presented and the judgment borne don’t really bear up under repeat viewing. I’ve rethought it, and now I feel bad for ever having laughed at all!
Yes the photographer was rude in the court.
Yes the equipment the photographer used is widely considered entry-level.
(And yes I wonder why, if the photographer has photographed “hundreds” of weddings have they not reinvested in better gear…)
BUT! As far as the Canon Digital Rebel XTi is concerned, it’s a fine camera capable of taking excellent pictures, and yes it can print enlargements. The 8×10 Joe holds up is an enlargement, for that matter. Joe asks the photographer “what happened to your 1-series”? To which I say “hahahaha!” Lest any brides-to-be get the wrong idea about what equipment they can reasonably expect, let me tell you Frederictonians, the 1D series of Canon digital cameras is the best of the best. Absolutely the best line of digital cameras money can buy. The pro-est of the pro. And if there is a single photographer in all of New Brunswick using one to shoot weddings, I will… well, not eat my camera as I nearly wrote, but I would be absolutely shocked.
The 5D series of cameras is the gold standard of modern wedding photography. The photographers who get featured on Style Me Pretty daily? The Jasmine Stars, the Jessica Claires, people closer to home like Red Leaf Studios, Applehead Studio, and my personal favourite photographer in Canada, Pink Sugar Photography – they all use the 5D Mk II. And you won’t book any of them for $1300 all-inclusive. Manage your expectations.
(A little bit of eye candy for you there, by the way)
You don’t go to the dollar store to buy diamond rings. Why should you expect a discount photographer to have high-end equipment? And before I go letting any more assumptions out into the wild, just because the 5D series is the standard (as far as Canon is concerned) doesn’t mean that other cameras aren’t up to the task. The 7D is the new hotness, and XXD is also excellent. As with anything, you need to know your equipment and how to use it to achieve the desired result. Giving a puppy a 1D Mark IV won’t turn him into Richard Avedon.
As for the lenses mentioned, yes they are slow. However, I actually use the EF-S 18-55 surprisingly frequently. It does limit me. I have recently invested in its replacement (see above re: order. Eeieee!). BUT. There are photos in my portfolio right now shot with the EF-S 18-55 and I would challenge anyone to identify which ones, or to determine that they are collectively worse than the photos shot with other lenses. The only part of this line of questioning that I would consider damning is when Brown asks the photographer how fast her lens is and she replies that she “doesn’t know.” I wouldn’t expect, as Brown does, a photographer to “note the f-stop” of every photo taken, but I would expect a photographer to at least know the names of the pieces of equipment they use.
The main question I have after watching this video is a line of questioning that Judge Joe Brown never pursues. What photographs did the bride see in the photographer’s portfolio before signing the contract? The bride did say that she saw good work, but was it actually better than what she received? Did she see the photos of someone else entirely? Given that the photographer stated that she and the bride met in advance of the wedding (and another question, why can’t the bride and photographer agree on how they met?), and that the bride was made aware of the equipment used by the photographer, and given that the photographer showed up to the wedding, took the photos, behaved professionally, processed the photos according to the bride’s wishes, and provided them to the bride… well I just fail to see what part of the contract was not delivered.
At the end of all this my advice to brides is simple. Examine the porfolios of your photographers closely, because their photos are not going to magically get better on your wedding day. Be clear and specific about what you want. And if what you want involves high-quality, original photographs shot with professional equipment, be prepared to pay.
Which segues nicely into my next video.
Unlike the previous video which was something of a teachable moment, this one is simply a 100% accurate representation of my views on the matter. Having just deflected yet another request for use of one of my photos – all-media, world-wide, in perpetuity, attribution-free use of a photo OF ME for FREE, replace every instance of “writer” in this video with “photographer,” and I salute you, Mr. Harlan Ellison.
Recently Ryan Brenizer (awesome NYC photographer, check him out!), wrote a post on realizing that he is a “green” photographer. Reading his post I found myself coming to exactly the same conclusion: I’m “pretty darned green here,” and it never occurred to me to try to market that fact.
Witness:
5. My marketing done entirely online and via word-of-mouth (okay, except for business cards – see below).
4. With the exception of my contract, my photography workflow is entirely paperless.
3. I deliberately chose a carbon neutral host for my website and blog.
2. My business cards are on 100% recycled paper.
1. I don’t own a car. When having a car is necessary (i.e. weddings) I rent one, and buy the greenhouse gas offset.
But you know what? Maybe I don’t even want to market this. I’m here blogging about it, but this is just my life; the choices I’ve made. There are many, many more ways in which I’m green in my personal life, but I don’t think it is relevant to my business, I’m especially not interested in green-washing. If potential clients are looking for an environmentally-conscious photographer, I may well be that person; if they aren’t, at least I have peace of mind knowing that I’m making the best possible decisions for myself, my business, and my environment.
All I know is that when I came to this realization, it felt really good.
When I met Annik & Chris in January it was for the second of a planned three maternity shoots to show the progression of Annik’s long-awaited belly baby (see previously: 21 weeks).We hung out at their house, took some shots of the nursery, just relaxed and captured some images of the happiness, the distinct… dare I call it a glow, that Annik had. It was a mini-session, and as I said, we figured we had one more session to go.
These pictures were taken at 32 weeks. Alexis was born 12 days later.
