"Nathan is insanely talented and has a natural ability that makes the engagement photo experience comfortable and fun! Our confidence in him grew within the first few clicks of the camera, as it was so clear that he knew what he was doing. We were very impressed with his professionalism and the care he took to make our photos fit our personalities. We are so pleased!" Alison & Will

Last week we took a look at the albums we include with all of our wedding collections. Today, I thought we would look at another detail included in every one of our wedding collections: Engagement sessions or “e-sessions” for short.

Let me just say: {yelling} WE LOVE E-SESSIONS! {coughing from yelling}

Here’s why:

An e-session is relaxed. There is no pressure to get any specific shots during an e-session. We will just try out a bunch of different locations and types of shots and see what sticks.

An e-session is romantic. An e-session is a date you don’t have to plan. We will decide on a location and time but then spontaneity takes over. We just walk around, find cool places to take pictures and the rest is up to you . You guys get to spend a few hours as a couple just enjoying each other’s company while I take pictures.

An e-session is great practice for you. We all have little quirks in front of the camera. Whether it’s a weird eye thing or not knowing what to do with your hands, we all have them. An e-session is perfect for learning what they are and correcting them.

An e-session allows us to be creative. On your wedding day you may only have 20 minutes to get shots of you and your fiance…it’s the nature of a very busy day. An e-session is a great chance for us to take some chances and see what looks best. It will pay off in a big way when your wedding day rolls around and we are crunched for time.

An e-session trains me. This is a big one! Even if you hired the most famous photographer in the world you still hired them to take your wedding pictures. I know that my style will be infused into the pictures, I can’t help that. But I can learn what types of pictures you like the most. Once the session is over you will tell me what pictures you love (and which ones you didn’t) and I will know to focus more on those types of shots for your wedding. Kinda cool, huh?

An e-session forms a bond between you and me. There is no greater way for people to get to know each other than to share an experience together. I need to have a real relationship with you in order for my style of photography to work best. As we walk around we’ll talk, laugh, share stories and just generally get to know each other.  By the end of it we’ll feel like college roomies…okay maybe that’s a bit much but you get the point.

So to answer the question, “Why is a complementary engagement session included in every package?”  Well, we have found that wedding pictures of couples with e-sessions are almost always truer to who that couple is than the pictures of a couple who did not have an e-session.

*Call or email us today to talk about how we can give you an AMAZING engagement and wedding photography experience.

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You be the judge.

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If you are like most brides-to-be you are consumed with all the details of your wedding. You’ve picked out the venue that sets the right mood, the flowers that accent your style, the dress that makes you look fabulous, the songs that will make em’ laugh and cry…all the details are in order (or at least you’re getting there). You’ve interviewed caterers and cake designers and printers to make sure your wedding has all the little touches that make your wedding yours. You’ve put in hours, days, weeks, months of preparation for the biggest day of your life up to this point.

You are working your tail off and at the end of it all, no matter how great it all was, it will eventually be over. What will you have to show for it? Memories? Maybe. Dried flowers? If you can remember where you put them. An 11×14 on the wall of your first home? Yeah, until you have kids and it gets replaced with the family picture.

A wedding is a TON of work and you should have something at the end of it all that does justice to what an amazing experience it was for your and all your guests. We have a little formula around here that we have found to be scientific:

AMAZING PICTURES + GORGEOUS ALBUM = JEALOUS FRIENDS

We aren’t trying to help you make your friends jealous, it just happens. 5 years from now you’ll pull out your album your friends will ohhh and ahhh like your ceremony happened yesterday. They will tell you how they wished they had sprung for the better photographer and the nicer album. You’ll hear things like “I don’t even know where my album is”. Or “Our album started falling apart 6 months after our wedding”. Or, the saddest by far, “We never even ordered our album because we ran out of money”.

Your album tells your story better than any slideshow, video or print ever could. After all your wedding is a story. The story starts early in the morning and ends when you drive away as a married couple for the first time. There are ups and downs, laughing and crying and through it all we are there snapping pictures to help you remember. Once its all over we think you should have a “storybook” to help retell your story to anyone and everyone who will sit still long enough to look at the pictures with you.  Your album is the storybook.

We believe so strongly in the album that we include it in ALL of our collections.

So what’s so great about our albums? Thought you’d never ask.

• They are custom designed for every wedding story. Your album will not look like any other album out there. We don’t plug your pictures into a template program or randomly select anything. Every picture placement, page layout and background choice is there for a reason.
• They are timeless. We only offer albums that we know will stand the test of time. We shoot our pictures with the future in mind and that’s how we design our albums as well. We know hair and clothing styles will change, its inevitable. We don’t want your album to go out of style as fast as fashion will. People should be able to look at your album 20 years from now and know that you chose a good product.
• They are made with high quality construction and materials. Each page is single print. You may have several pictures on one page but they will be seamless. This keeps pictures from bending or falling out. It also allows your pages to lay flat in the album which protects your album for a lifetime. Each print is mounted onto foam core so there is a weight and durability to every page. You can trust that your album will last.
• We have LOTS of options. Whether your like a more modern album or a classic leather album we have the right choice for you. Lots of colors, styles, bindings, fonts, etc. to chose from. For you ultra-contemporaries we even have one album that has a stainless steel cover. We help walk you through your selection process so that, at the end of it all, your album will be yours.

Sometimes we get phone calls or emails from couples that ask, “How much can we take off the price if we exclude the album?”. I always tell them that I don’t even have an answer for that. We don’t offer a collection without an album. It’s that important to us.

Your wedding is your story and your album is your storybook. No matter what photographer you go with make sure you get a great album to help you remember forever!

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Cincinnati, OH | Withamsville On Saturday I got the chance to meet a precious little 12 day old named Colten.  His parents Ashley & Jerald were so sweet and seemed like they had been parents for years, even though this is their first.  It was so beautiful to see how much that little boy is loved.  I always tell people that newborn sessions are great for photographers because there’s nothing you can do to make a newborn un-cute:)  That was especially true with Colten.  It was a really great afternoon and I think we got some really great pictures…enjoy you guys!

Here’s the sneak peeks:

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Does anyone else just LOVE hearing stories about people trying creative social experiments? I found this video today and thought it was brilliant!

Check it out and let us know what you think! Would you take the stairs? Does this make you want to go watch “BIG”?

Found this video the other day at Portable Film Festival’s website… Thought it was crazy cool graphically… The song is great too, I was just really impressed with the graphics.

Check it out! Let us know what you think… a.k.a. Leave a comment below.

{photo by Nick Rider}

As 2009 turned to 2010 I was left with a lot of things to think about and reflect on.  So I sat down and wrote a letter to my “year ago self”.  You can read it here. In the letter I focused on lessons that I learned, or wished I learned over the last year.  It was really a pretty powerful experience for me.  I even cried a bit…I know, what a baby:)  As great as this exercise was one thing it didn’t do was help me focus on goals for this year.

I’m not a great planner. I’m not really the kind of guy who’s ever been good and sitting down and outlining goals for any given period of time.  I am sure it’s a great exercise for planning and preparing for a new season but I’ve found that life never goes as planned.  Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly thinking about the future and what it looks like (just ask my wife, I can’t switch it off).  I have always let my goals arise kind of organically, meaning: I always have places I want to go in life running through my head so that if it looks like I might be able to get there I go for it.  Sometimes when I do set goals I find a way to force the issue and things get off the ground before they are ready, which always spells disaster.  It might not be the best “business school” way of approaching things, but its who I am.

I like things that defy logic. I’ve always believed that the “norm” is dumb.  I question lots of assumed things (again, drives my wife crazy).  One of the assumptions is that photography, especially wedding photography, is a cut-throat industry where all photographers hate each other.  This is definitely the logical way to view things because that stuff exists.  I am sure that there are plenty of photographers out there that don’t like someone else because they under-bid a wedding or trashed their competition to get a job.  It’s the reality of business.  In spite of this assumption one of my business philosophies is “There is no such thing as a scarcity of resources.”  What this means is we live in a world, especially a country, where there are an abundance of opportunities, weddings, dollars, etc.  No matter how bad the economy  or how saturated the market people are still going to get married, want pictures and spend money.  If I do my job well no one can convince a client that is looking for me to book with someone else.  I am me, you are you and there are tons of people looking for both.

What does scarcity have to do with goals? Well. I’ll tell you.  I have lots of ideas swirling about what I want to do this year: consistent branding, more weddings, price increases, hire a second photographer full time, take a real family vacation, get tight on the business side of things, etc, etc.  Like I said, I am always thinking about all of these things because they are so important to me and my family.  Those things are great but I am going to leave them in my head for now.

I need a community of competitors. The one goal that I am going to officially set is to find or create some kind group of peers that learns, laughs and loves together.  I have been to plenty of “networking” functions where everyone has their name tag on and fakes a laugh because they think it might help their business.  That’s not what I am talking about.  I’m talking about a group of “competitors” that meet, share ideas, stories, drinks and some genuine laughs.  Yeah, you heard that right.  I want to tell my competitor’s what ideas I have for next season, next year, next decade.  I know, it’s crazy.  But remember: if I’m doing my job well, no one could convince a client to use a competitor…they want me.

Photography is a lonely business. It’s especially lonely if you work for yourself, by yourself.  When things get tight or slow you start to think that you are the only one experiencing it.  You need a group of people to say to each other, “I haven’t booked a wedding in 2 months”, “I had a card corrupted and had to reshoot a family session”, “I’ve been so focused on answering emails I haven’t taken proper time for my family”, “I don’t know how to use Photoshop the right way”.  These are all things only we can understand.  We aren’t alone.  But we think that because we’re “competing against each other that we can’t share this stuff.

Let’s do it! So I am proposing that if there are any Cincinasty photographers out there that think they might want to join in on something like this I will take the lead.  I will schedule it, remind everyone about it, find a cool place(s) and people to come talk to us about photography or come up with topic for discussion, etc. Basically, I’ll do the hard part.  You do the easier (but still hard) part by clearing your calendar once a month to show up.  “But wait, I don’t like commitment, that’s why I work for myself”.  No worries, come if you can, don’t if you can’t.  It will be so awesome that you want to miss it after the first one, so I’m really not that worried:)

So email me right now if you are interested and we’ll get this thing started.  And if you are sitting there thinking, “Yeah right, that’ll never work.”  Awesome.  That’s what makes me think it can.

Found this the other day and was thoroughly impressed. This guy recreated Michael Jackson’s song “Thriller”… vocally. Pretty crazy.

Cincinnati, OH | Blake first contacted me about photographing his June wedding.  As we got to know each other he told me he was a musician and needed head shots for resumes and promotional materials.  I was delighted to be able to help him get some that don’t look like all the ones your normally see.

We had the privilege of shooting them at Michael Wilson’s warehouse studio.  It was the perfect setting for what Blake was looking for and I loved the aesthetic.  If you have never had the chance to check out Michael’s work please do so.  He is incredible and was incredibly gracious to let us use his space.

Here are some of favorites from the short session:

Have you ever seen a movie, heard a song/album, read a book, attended an art exhibit, etc… that you felt was SO incredibly, amazingly beautiful that you NEEDED to tell everyone you knew? And I don’t mean WANTED… I mean NEEDED… As if your life depended on it… Or maybe, better yet, you just KNEW their journey through life would be sadly lacking were they unable/unwilling to experience it…

Well I have. Actually, I think it happens to me a bit more than other people I know… I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I have some obsessive tendencies. Who knows. What I do know is that there is SO much beauty in the world, and, for the health of our soul, we NEED to see it… Otherwise all we focus on is the ugliness. And who needs that?

Anyways, I say all of that to call attention to the elephant in the room which is my tendency to get really passionate about things. (My opinion is that that is not a bad thing… But that is for another conversation.) With all of that in mind, there is something that you NEED to see.

Last night I watched this movie called Once… again… I saw it a couple years ago when it first came out, and was completely blown away. And as I watched it again last night, I realized, this is seriously one of the best movies I have ever seen. I am not going to go into too many details here, because I seriously just want you to watch it. But I will tell a little of the story of how it was made.

The director had an idea for a movie that he wanted to do on a short budget… $100k. The original idea, I believe, was to make it and sell it concerts for the Irish rock band The Frames. (Great band… Check them out for sure.) Anyways, the lead singer from that band co-stars in the movie along side a female musician friend of his. And, WOW! It is an indescribably beautiful movie! They actually won an Oscar for Best Original Score or something like that… The music, which is mostly what the movie revolves around, is amazing!

OK, well I am going to shut up about it now.

But, before I go, I just want to stress again that this movie is one you absolutely NEED to see.

If you have seen the movie please leave us a comment saying what you thought!
And, if you watch the movie, PLEASE come back and let us know what you think!

I might go watch it again right now…
P.S. The actors/musicians from the movie have formed a band called The Swell Season and have release 2 albums. Both are amazing and well worth the money.