after a long string of posts dedicated to wedding photography and other shoots, i’ve decided to post a blog or two to update everyone on what i’m up to personally, etc… you know, what’s been happening in the whirlwind that has been the past few weeks. :)

yesterday i took a day off editing. i had just finished nichole and kevin’s wedding and was about to start the con-way freight edits, so it’s nice to take a break in between large projects in order to refresh yourself. one can only spend so much time immersed in photoshop. that reminds me, a lot of people ask “what do you mean by ‘editing’?” editing simply means (in my business) color correcting, making little touches like blurring edges or making something black and white, fixing any blemishes requested by the client, etc. obviously a wedding is going to have more artistic touches than say, a banquet event, but most require some miniscule editing. some don’t. it just depends.

also – in other photography related rantings – i saw a post online the other day for a bride looking for a wedding photographer. she wanted the wedding photographer to take engagement shoots, bridal shoots, and shoot the 9 hour wedding for close to free because she didn’t want to pay “these insane prices professional photographers are asking.” she ranted for a while about how we shouldn’t charge anything because it doesn’t cost us anything to take pictures. really?

my first digital SLR…aww, the memories. now part of an extensive equipment backup team, just one of the many expenses of a photographer.

now i understand that wedding photography is expensive, but not only are you paying for the photographer to be there and work all day at your wedding (which involves posing people, gathering groups together, creatively framing shots, organizing formal shots, contacting your other vendors to make sure we understand the wedding timeline as to not miss anything, etc.), but you are also paying for editing time, wear and tear on camera equipment, assistant fees, travel fees, website fees, advertising fees and other micellaneous expenses (DVDs, CDs, labels, shipping fees, telephone bills, etc.). and this is just for the business. :) since most photographers support themselves through photography as their full time job, they also have bills of their own to pay. i believe that some photographers do charge ridiculous prices, as do a lot of professionals in every career imaginable. however, i’d like to think that most of us charge reasonable rates for all of the issues and expenses listed above.

none of my clients have ever complained about expenses and i believe that most brides are reasonable people and understand where the money is going. however, i just wanted to bring up the subject just so people know where their money is truly going because weddings really are expensive and most people are on a budget. it is completely different to try and book an affordable photographer and to try and make a deal with them due to budgetary constraints. most photographers will gladly work with you to compromise and meet everyone’s needs. i just wanted to put a good word out there for the photographers and try to justify our prices a little bit. :) i stayed out of this whole online conversation but did follow it out of curiosity. in short, several other photographers replied to her post and some nasty words were exchanged to which she retorted how she is “the bride and can’t believe anyone would treat a bride like this. everyone needs to be nice to the bride no matter what.” now… i’m a photographer and a bride, and i am totally on the photographers’ side on this one. :) woah.

um, anyway. :) yesterday, on my day between editing projects, i decided to get stuff together for our own wedding instead of someone else’s for once :). unfortunately my friend sent me links to a couple conspiracy theory websites that had me occupied for several hours and i got little to nothing accomplished. but it did feel good to relax… if you can call becoming increasingly paranoid via conspiracy theory websites relaxing. we are getting married in an art gallery (artspace!) in downtown raleigh in october 2010. all of the vendors i’m working with so far have been wonderful and super helpful. i’m grateful that all of the people are so nice. i will eventually be posting a master list of who we are working with in order to help their local businesses and give you recommendations. we’re excited!

so today i uploaded the pictures from the con-way freight banquet and discovered some ones i took of dolfy and buckles that i had forgotten about. the boys are doing fine and have recently discovered balls of yarn from my old school knitting days.

while dolfy played with yarn, buckles decided to show his unwaivering support for the team this past sunday. buckles shows his love, even when they lose:

well, maybe he was a little upset…

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