Written by Matt S. on January 26th, 2010
Right after Christmas we packed up the family and headed over to Tacoma. One of the biggest reasons for this trip (besides the normal holiday festivities) was to say goodbye to my brother’s family as they were getting ready to relocate in South Carolina in a couple of weeks. One of the blessings of traveling back (besides always having someplace to stay) is getting all of the kid cousins together. Even though it may have been months since they last saw each other, they instantly go back to playing like they’ve never been apart.
We’ll miss seeing them next time we go back to visit.
So one of the important events this trip was getting a family photo of the four boys and our families. Of course it rained the entire week. After driving around looking for spots to get it done we ended up downtown in a parking garage where graffiti artists are welcome to show off their skills. As you can see, the kids had a blast (like always).
Since these are more of a personal project I felt I could take some liberties and edit these in a style that’s a little different than my own, but I felt the hyper-contrast look worked perfectly with the urban environment. I doubt I’ll be adopting this style for my other work.
Posted in Families, Personal, Portraits, mobile studio | 4 Responses »
Written by Matt S. on January 24th, 2010
With many, many thanks to the people over Print NW in Tacoma, WA I now have two great business cards (wedding & portrait) & a beautiful wedding brochure. So I figured I should take some photos of them. If you have printing needs, go check them out. They will take great care of you and their pricing is outstanding. Plus if you just have a basic idea Greg will figure out how to make it work—and work well.
A benefit of being a graphic designer as well as a photographer is that I can design my own materials (& website). The hard thing is that I’m rarely satisfied with what I’ve done and I’m usually saved from constant redesigns by a deadline of some sort—I’m always my own worst client.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see other photographers make is that they try to design their own materials without any design training—a DIY approach. It’s a natural reaction while trying to save money. But ask yourself, would you invest thousands of dollars in a business who doesn’t recognize the importance of a professional look. I wouldn’t. I do feel a little jealous of CPAs who start photography businesses because they already have the bookkeeping training that I desperately lack. So, I guess what I’m saying is that we all need to learn our strengths & weaknesses and apply our strengths and outsource our weaknesses. For example I’m not a great writer. I know that. You’re reading this, so you know that. Understanding this, I had a friend who is a great writer redo my text. I can’t explain how much better her version is than what I wrote.
In addition to the brochure & business cards, the guys at Print NW also printed 2 inserts for the brochure. A little ad explaining the importance of the engagement session and one explaining exactly what the trendy “Trash the Dress” (TTD) session is and whether or not you have to run your gown (hint: you dont).
I’m also adding an image of my ad that’s featured in the 2010 Wedding Resource Guide. Pick it up at most any inland NW bridal shop. Many thanks to the extra sets of eyeballs that took a look at it and gave me some great feedback.
I couldn’t be more happy with how it’s all turned out. That’s why I’m so happy to share.
Posted in Design, studio | 11 Responses »
Written by Matt S. on January 22nd, 2010
Generally I prefer to get my photos on location, but sometimes timing, weather, and circumstances add up to equal taking the photos inside. Fortunately I have the studio setup now that allows me to accomplish the photo taking without relying on nature at all—plus I love having absolute control over my light.
This time the Osborn family needed their family photos done and we decided it was a perfect time to get in the studio and get some use out of it since the weather has been on the cold/rainy side. First I set up the lights against the 9′ wide white seamless paper background and had Reagan stand in to test things (the last photo is a couple of these test shots). Once they were good, the Osborns showed up and we got to shooting. They were lots of fun and everybody did great in front of the camera. They all have such great personalities which makes my job easier since I don’t really have to do anything but catch it—you know, like karate kicks and stuff.
Finally I got a couple of photos with my daughter Gwyn hamming it up with her friend—which didn’t look like it was going to happen since Gwyn was being a bit of a brat. Of course she saw how much fun everybody was having and decided it was ok to be a part of it.
Even within the confines of a small studio I think we got some great portraits and I can’t wait to use it again.
Posted in Families, Portraits, studio | 6 Responses »
Tags: dance, family, jump, karate kick, kids, portrait, seamless, studio, white background
Written by Matt S. on January 16th, 2010
Sometimes you get to pick when to take family photos. Sometimes you have a small window of when everyone will be together and you just have to get it done. Such was the case with the Priebe family. They were all in town for Christmas so we headed out to the 20+ degree weather to get some photos. It really was a beautiful day in spite of the cold, which was bearable—until the wind picked up (which also picked up my umbrella from the light stand and carried it about 20 feet).
The Priebes are a great family and a celebration of what families can be. So I was honored to be able to capture them all together.
To the photographers out there who read this, this session was a great example of the importance of back-ups. I had an extension cord, 2 umbrellas, and my wireless flash triggers (and their flashes) all fail. Fortunately I had backups of everything and we were still able to go ahead with it—thank goodness.
Thanks to Reagan & Kelsey (and various Priebe family members) who held down my light stands suring the shoot.
Posted in Families, Portraits | 2 Responses »
Written by Matt S. on January 11th, 2010
What a great weekend! It exceeded, not only my expectations, but my dreams as well. The booth was beautiful (more on that coming later) and ended up looking better than the design I had in my head.
Thank you to all of the future brides that I talked to over the last 2 days. Hopefully you’ll take a look around and see that we’re a good fit, if not I hope you find exactly what you’re looking for somewhere else—you deserve exactly what you want on your wedding day. If you look at my work on my websites and aren’t sure or have any questions, please send me an email on the contact page or give me a call—the sooner, the better as the dates are starting to fill up.
A very big thanks to Jamie & Regy, Justin & Nicole, & Naomi & Sean for entrusting me with your special day. I can’t wait to capture your moments.
Another thank you goes to the many vendors I got to meet at the bridal expo—especially to those I was only virtual friends with before finally meeting in person. I look forward to working with all of you.
Posted in Announcements, Weddings | 8 Responses »
Written by Matt S. on January 8th, 2010
Trust is a great thing.
This was one of my all time favorite sessions I’ve had because of that reason. These guys trusted everything I threw their way. They know it was my job to make them look good. I think trust goes both ways too. I trusted that they would work with what ever I threw their way and they’d just work it. Plus I trusted that they’d look as fantastic in the camera as they do outside of it.
On our way to the first location I told them that the pressure is on me when I have great looking clients, because if something goes wrong and the pictures don’t look fantastic, I don’t have any excuses. I didn’t have any excuses. Danielle mentioned that she didn’t feel terribly comfortable in front of the camera. Never has there been a person who had less reason to be uncomfortable getting photos taken. Danielle has a perfect face for photos. No offense to Cory—he can hold his own (he’s family, what am I supposed to say?), but Danielle is stunning. Fortunately, trust came in to play and 5 minutes in, they forgot about the camera and did what they do best—look good.
One of the reasons for the wedding dress shots was that they made the cardinal mistake of hiring somebody they weren’t in love with as their wedding photographer. To all of you future brides reading this, take heed. The pictures suffered because of it and they ended up with wedding photos that they don’t really enjoy. The only solution was to get the photos after the fact—I’m glad they entrusted me with that. Because of it, I took some of my favorite photos I’ve ever shot.
This also technically counts as a “Trash the Dress” session. Notice they didn’t really ruin the dress, they just made the photos the priority rather than keeping the dress immaculate.
After covering my camera—and feet in ocean water and sand (you can tell my camera is wet in the left side of photo #5. See the softness around her dress—wet lens. Also you can see the fog/rain in the atmosphere behind Cory’s head) we headed back so they could change and take some head shots before heading out to the bridge. We only got to shoot a few minutes since the rain started coming down and my lights kind of frown on that.
I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them. Cory & Danielle, You guys freaking rocked it. I’m glad I had the chance to work with you.
Thanks to Gina for her help carrying lights and holding them down so they didn’t blow away on this wet & windy day.
Posted in Photography as art, Portraits, Trash the dress., Weddings | 12 Responses »
