Back Home with Something New
We made it back home to Richmond safe and sound after a wonderful jaunt to our of our favorite haunts, Charleston, S.C. While we did bring a camera, we didn't take any pictures so I guess we really did need a break!
When we returned there was a box on the doorstep with something exciting inside. We are always on the hunt for better proofing options and we finally found something we like. Savitri and Mike were kind enough to serve as guinea pigs for a new proof book option so we gave it a spin.
Proof books are historically large, heavy books with several volumes. At first this sounds great (the more the better, right?). And it is great...until you have to travel with them to show family... then they just get heavy. And to add insult to injury, you lug these things around and then no one even looks at them all, defeat sets in after the family portraits and if a viewer really has stamina, he/she might flip ahead to your first dance and cake cutting.
Prints in a box are easier to travel with but the prints fall out of order and many of them mysteriously disappear. Moms and sisters are usually the culprits so check their purses before they leave the building.
And while we still encourage couples to keep the volume down by selecting their 300 favorites for custom printing and binding (keeping their viewers' attention as well), choosing 300 is becoming an increasingly time consuming task it seems. Perhaps its really our fault, we keep uploading so many good choices ;)
We may have finally found a good solution. While I don't have a catchy name for it yet, I took some time out today to take pictures of the new book before Savitri and Mike walk away with it tomorrow morning. Its a single volume, 9"x9" offset print book with all the pictures we uploaded to their event, 1250 total in their case, printed 4 pics to a page. And its still a manageable book, check it out:
Here's our honest critique:
Pros: Great size, great image quality (considering they are not custom printed), sleek binding (the linen edge is a nice touch), very professional and visually appealing, especially for a proof book. The matt leaf in the front is a nice touch.
Cons: Pages are a wee bit thin (which must be everything fits into one volume) and there are some design limitations with the cover.
All in all, this is a great option for those who want it all (like me).
A Brief Vacation from 7/24 - 7/26
We're closing the office from Monday, July 24th through Wednesday July 26th for a brief vacation, we'll tell you all about it when we return...
Erin and Mike's Wedding on Saturday, July 15th
We traveled to Harrisonburg to shoot Erin and Mike's ceremony at Harrisonburg Baptist Church and reception at the Spotswood Country Club. If you think that a church wedding and country club reception has to be traditional, this wedding will encourage you to think again!
For one thing, Erin took color coordination to a whole new level: each bridesmaid wore a dress in one of three bright wedding colors (magneta, orange and green) with a sash that matched another bridesmaid and a bouquet that matched the sash. Each groomsmen wore a tie that matched their escort. The boutineres incorporated all three colors. Erin's bouquet was red, matching her mother's red dress. Mike's father wore a lime green tie to match Mike's mother's dress. Mike's sister brought him down the aisle and Erin's brother brought her down the aisle - both siblings matched in turquoise. Everyone was tied to someone else through color.
Erin, Mike and their entire wedding party were a lot of fun to work with. The groomsmen showed up to the church with moustaches and promised Erin they would shave them off just before the ceremony, which they did. Here's a "before" shot and a "clean upper lip and tie" portrait:
At the reception, the wedding cake was replaced with frosted cupcakes and there were pictures of Erin and Mike all over the room. It did not escape our attention that one of their pictures was prominently displayed over the cheese plate:
Don't get us wrong - it wasn't all silly. The ceremony was officiated by a close friend of Mike's from U of R, making it especially meaningful. Erin and Mike returned to the front of the church after recessing to dismiss each pew and greet each guest, a creative solution to a receiving line. Mike, a jazz guitarist, played his own rendition of "When you Wish upon a Star" for Erin during the reception. Mike's passion for music and Erin's passion for art were expressed through both sound and color.
If you don't think that a wedding can be both classy and camp, elegant and fun,
check out a slideshow preview of our favorites, the proof is in the pics! If you would like to be notified by email when E&M make all of their pictures available online,
click here.
Introduction to the Catch Series
hook, 30"x60" c-print
lure, 30"x60" c-print
line, 30"x60" c-print
Its official: I will be exhibiting the Catch series at
Artspace, a gallery in the Plant Zero building over the Manchester Bridge, from September 22 - October 22 of this year!
I am looking forward to finally seeing this series to completion, its been three years since I started and dang it if it isn't time to finish. Last year I was awarded a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship for my work on the series and while I had no problem spending the grant money on lights and other items, I did have a problem spending the time. Not that I am complaining: I am happy to have a growing business.
Now that its crunch time I'm hoping that by blogging about the series, I will get myself pumped for the show and hold myself accountable for its progress. But in order to explain where I am going with it, it makes sense to tell you more about where it started.
It actually began with outlet shopping, oddly enough. Sam had just taken up fly fishing with a passion and was looking for a new rod for his birthday so we drove out to the Orvis outlet to see what we could find. I quickly lost interest in the rod when I saw a clear, plastic locker with something brightly colored in it... When I opened the drawer it was full of bright purple lures (which I have learned to call flies) made up of feathers, sparkly string, glitter and googly eyes. I was enamoured. I hastily reached in to pick one up, forgetting about the hook. It drew blood. I put it in a little plastic bag - I wanted to buy it but wasn't sure what I wanted to use of for or why, there was something really interesting about what had just happened.
Sam didn't find what he was looking for so we hopped back in the car and a song by Frank Sinatra and Anotonio Carlos Jobim was playing in the CD changer called "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" and I heard,
"...sparkle, spangle... her heart will sing sing-a-ling-a... wearing baubles, bangles and beads... she'll glitter and gleam so.. make somebody dream so... that someday, someday I may... buy her a ring ring-a-ling-a... I've heard thats where it leads... wearing baubles, bangles and beads..."
And then I thought about all the fishing vocabulary that is already part of dating - how we compliment someone on a "nice catch", how we break up and there are "other fish in the sea", how we fall "hook, line and sinker"....
GAD-ZOOKS.
It seems like a rather peurile comparison, fishing and dating, and my first few attempts were simple too. I picked out some flies and dressed up as their fly girl counterpart and made plays on words common to both dating and fishing. I put both the fly and fly girl on white backgrounds without context and took very straightforward shots in terms of lighting and technique to make it feel more like documentation or examination. Finally, I put vignettes on each subject to suggest a private viewing, perhaps you are looking through a microscope or binoculars or maybe even a peep hole. Its sterile but there is the possibility of something elicit. At first I was disappointed with my own awkward and rigid modeling abilities but when I put them up next to the picture of the fly, it was a perfectly plastic and inauthentic match. I included some of these early attempts at the beginning of this post.
As I learned more about fly fishing through Sam and thought more about my role as a wedding photographer (someone who documents the big catch every weekend), the comparisons became... more complex... and I think more interesting. So stay tuned...
Beryl and Brendan's Wedding on Sunday, July 2nd
Colonial Williamsburg is a significant place for Beryl and Brendan: Beryl was studying at the College of William and Mary when they began dating and Brendan would make the drive from Northern Virginia to spend many weekends there with her. So it was an obvious choice for the location of their wedding, which was held at the Wren Chapel on W&M's campus.
Beryl chose a palette of citrus greens and wore a gown with lovely beige trim. After the ceremony we took a few pictures at the Crim Dell, a bridge on campus where legend has it that if you cross as a couple you will get married some day. We took some engagement portaits on that bridge so it was fun to go back on their wedding day and confirm the prophecy.
An elegant reception at the historic Williamsburg Inn followed the ceremony. While the room was set up for dining rather than dancing, the family still managed a mini Hava Nagila dance by doing one chair lift at a time!
Click HERE to see a slideshow preview with some of our favorite shots from the day. To recieve an automatic email when all of their wedding pictures are available,
Click here to sign their guest book.
