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High Hand Nursery Engagement Photos - Sharon and Mike |
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Engagements
Posted by Jennifer - 8/17/10
Photographed by Jennifer, Cory
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posted by Jennifer |
Cory and I met up for engagement session #2 with Sharon and Mike at High Hand Nursery in Loomis California. I've photographed there before and I knew it was absolutely gorgeous. Michelle gave us the go ahead to take photographs after hours.
I love the glass artwork that they sell for gardens. Aren't these amazing? |
| The nursery itself is so awesome. I wish I had a green thumb - it might make we want to buy some of these. But I have no green thumb at all, so instead I just prefer taking some photographs to share. |
| Sharon and Mike didn't need much encouragement to play and have fun. We saw the little wagons and away we went! |
| The green walled building was a perfect backdrop. I would love to live in a house such as this. |
| Mike was showing off his height superiority. |
| And showing off Sharon's beautiful engagement ring! |
| See no evil, speak no evil....hear no evil. |
| I think this is my most favorite photo of the whole night! |
| The train was coming by just as we were almost done. And the flag seemed so fitting since both Mike and Sharon served in our military. |
| Okay, I lied, this may just my favorite photo of the entire night. :-) |
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August Meteor Showers and 4 Planets Viewable |
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Personal Musings
Posted by Jennifer - 8/15/10
Photographed by Cory
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posted by Jennifer |
| So we read on Yahoo about the "Spectacular Meteor Shower and Rare Planet Alignment Coincide" and we were all over it. We headed to the hills where we didn't have city lights. We not only got to see Mars, Venus, and Saturn, but also Jupiter all in one night. And we were enjoying the night air as we watched the many meteors streak across the sky on Friday night. Give this animated gif a second to load, and then you'll see how 30 second shutter speed set on time lapse captured some great meteor streaks. |
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Taking Better Photographs - Photo Tip Tuesday Tip 6 - Horizon Lines |
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Office News
Posted by Jennifer - 8/10/10
Photographed by Jennifer, Cory
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posted by Jennifer |
We're going to continue down the path of composition in photos. Last week we talked about Leading Lines. You can review our past Tuesday Tips on the blog. This week, we're going to talk about the use of horizon lines.
Take a look at this photo from John and Nicole's wedding from January in Capitola-by-the-Sea. Does it make you want to lean your head to the right to straighten out the horizon? It's a bit unsettling... and it's not that great for those of us who have neck issues! |
| Now in comparison, how does this image make you feel? Whenever you have the horizon showing in photographs, it's important to know that our brain knows inherently that it should be straight. |
| Here's another example of where our brain knows that lines should be straight. In this case, it's the up and down lines of a building. |
| Verses this version...doesn't this just feel better? It's important to consider the architectural elements that are purposely part of your composition and by default should be part of your story. (read our story telling photo tip). This image was shot on purpose with the use of this "Morning Glory Cottage" with our model Rachel as the ad for Bella Donna Bridal Salon. |
| Now in this last example, the building is not part of our story. It's not important. I don't think it's off-putting or unsettling to have the tilt you can see (because I'm telling you, else I'm thinking you wouldn't even notice it) of the building lines. |
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Preparing for your Wedding Photos - Tip 3 - Why do an Engagement Session? |
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Office News
Posted by Carie - 7/21/10
Photographed by Jennifer, Cory
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posted by Carie |
For this Wedding Photo Wednesday post I want to talk about the ever important Engagement Session. Occasionally we get a couple who want to skip the Engagement shoot due to time constraints or just a lack of interest. At The Memory Journalists, we include an Engagement Session in all our Collections and we actually "require" it. There are several great reasons to do an Engagement Session. From a bride and groom's standpoint, it's a great way to get some beautiful photos of the two of you just for fun or for a custom guest sign in book. Some couples like to have a large print at the entrance to their reception and what could be better than a professional photo of the two of you during a Date Night session (as we call them at The Memory Journalists)?
The Date Night session is designed for photographers and their clients to get to know each other a little better before the big day. The clients get to know the photographers style of shooting and the photographer learns of any insecurities their clients might have about being photographed. For example, maybe the groom doesn't like the way his nose looks from the left side. Or, the bride feels she looks prettier when shot from the right.
Noemi and Sam (2010) were a little nervous about their Date Night session. Shortly after the session started, however, they were very comfortable with Jennifer and Cory and relaxed tremendously allowing our shooters to get the below great shots and many, many more. You can see a transition from the first photo to the others. They eventually felt comfortable enough for a little smooching in front of the camera!
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| Check out what Marcia and Alan (August 2007) had to say about their Date Night Session with us. "Oh my GOSH!!!!! I LOVE THEM, I love ALL of them!!!! Thank you for such an awesome afternoon/evening. We had a great time, it was like "falling in love with each other" all over again. Just like you said, it was truly a date night for us. I saw the blog and the pics on the home page, I must say, they were everything I had dreamed for." |
| For Shawna and Jeremy (July 2010) instead of a Date Night session we actually did a Date Day session. Jen and Cory and the lovely couple took a little road trip together, shooting in a few locations. They all felt like old friends in no time and Shawna and Jeremy had all kinds of fun with the photos. We love getting to see the goofy side of people and capturing it through our lens. |
I just love it when these tips really hit home. I can tell you from personal experience how important it is to do an Engagement Session. My husband, Matt and I got married on the beach in Maui. I was a very low key bride and while I hired a professional photographer, I wasn't educated on the subject at the time. We didn't meet with her in person before the wedding, I hired her over the phone. Her work was good and she seemed nice enough. She did a great job on wedding day but I have to be honest, we were a little put off by the way she told us what to do. She was just doing her job and had we done a quick session with her before our big day, we would have known that and been more comfortable with her. In our proofs, our discomfort showed in many of our photos. Thankfully there were many great ones as well but I can not stress enough how important this Engagement session is for brides and grooms to get to know their photographers way of shooting before the big day!
Now that Jennifer is in our lives, good photos are not a problem for us. Matt doesn't like having his picture taken at all but when we did our Fisher Family Photo Session with Jen, he was all smiles. It's all about the comfort level. Matt likes Jen and knows her style of shooting and is totally relaxed in front of her camera. Just look at the results of being comfortable with your photographer! I swear, Matt usually never smiles for pictures. |
| At the end of your Engagement Session you should feel comfortable enough with your photographer to tell them any style of photos you don't like. A good photographer will not want to waste time on shots you are not going to be happy with. So, set aside time for an Engagement Session brides and grooms. You won't regret it if you do but you will wish you had if you don't. |
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Preparing for Wedding Day Photos - Tip 2 - Having 2 Photographers at Your Wedding |
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Office News
Posted by Carie - 7/14/10
Photographed by Jennifer, Cory
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posted by Carie |
Brides and Grooms in preparing for their wedding day photos should consider having 2 photographers at the wedding. Some photography companies include a second shooter in their packages and some do not. This is something you will want to ask at your consultation with a potential wedding photographer.
We recommend having 2 photographers for a few reasons. The first reason is merely for back up. If anything were to happen to the primary shooter's photo card or equipment, there would still be an abundance of photographs from the second shooter's cards. This has never happened to us at The Memory Journalists (knocking on my wooden desk) but we love having back ups just in case.
The second reason is we love to offer a variety of angles. Check out this shot of Melissa and Michael (August 2008) that Cory got from his angle behind the ceremony. Cory's angle really captures Melissa's expression and without a second shooter, we might have missed this beautiful photograph. |
| The storyboard below is another great example of a second shooter capturing a cool angle. This is another time when Cory was second shooter and caught these great shots of Kim and Scott (July 2009) while hiding in some bushes with a zoom lens. These ceremony photos are some of the favorites from the day and made for a great spread in the couple's album. |
And, last but not least, another reason to have 2 photographers at your wedding is to catch "action and reaction." A great example of this is we love to catch the groom's reaction when he sees his bride for the first time and at the very same moment capture the bride's expression (or action) as she approaches her groom. These are some of our favorite and most authentic moments at a wedding and we don't want to miss any of them!
Below is a storyboard from a Date Night session we did with Christine and Rich. They are getting married in September this year. This Date Night session was built around both of them cutting off their dreadlocks for the first time in years. We caught this "action and reaction" with our cameras. The top row is the primary photographer's angle and the bottom row is a second photographer's angle. See what you can capture with 2 photographers? We didn't miss any of his or her expressions during this terrific moment between them. |
| It is important to know that we are referring to having 2 photographers from the company you hire for wedding photography, not hiring 2 different companies or 2 independent photographers. Most photographers have a "sole photographer" clause - meaning they can bring a 2nd shooter from within the same company, but it's not ethical to hire two different companies or photographers. The reason is that it will be a competitive issue of who is suppose to get what shots, and also from a publishing perspective, only one photographer can have the copyright to submit a wedding. This would be a big mess on your wedding day, not to mention very expensive. :o) |
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Learn more about Cory on the team page
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