5 Things Brides Wish Their Wedding Photographers Knew

1) “I have no idea what to do with my body when you are taking pictures. I am not the photographer—you are. I cannot see how I look— you can. Unless you instruct me exactly how to place every limb, finger, and tilt of my head, I will nervously stand there with a less than convincing smile because I am not confident in my pose. I am going into this with the assumption that you will tell me how to do everything.”

The best thing to do is keep the bride’s mind occupied on anything other than how uncomfortable she feels. Keep her relaxed. It will show in the photographs if the bride enjoys herself. Talk her through it and constantly direct her. If she is perfectly posed and doesn’t require any more adjusting, then tell her that too!

2) “Please tell me the photos are looking great. If you spend an hour straight shooting me and never once tell me that these photos are turning out, I will begin to lose confidence in you.”

The bride has no idea what is running through your mind. You must constantly reassure her that you are in control and that you love the look of the photos and that you are enjoying coming up with ideas. You don’t need to tell her that you used the same poses last week. Assure her that you are giving her your full ability, ingenuity, and attention, and that you are loving every minute of your work.

3) “Your pre-rehearsed jokes are not funny and it would be better if you didn’t say them at all. All you are doing is making me feel even more awkward than I already feel. Please be original and genuine and if you aren’t funny— that’s fine, just don’t try to be funny.”

Pre-rehearsed jokes are abominable. Even if you think you can make them sound genuine, you can’t. Do not use them. Instead, work out of the moment and try to have a goofy mind when you are socializing with the couple. Without becoming unprofessional, you have to be willing to make a slight fool of yourself; this will put the bride at ease and it will result in better facial expressions and body language, which of course results in better photos.

4) “I do not feel comfortable posing pictures in front of everyone. Please find a quiet, private place to take my photos—especially if you are shooting just me, or just my groom and me together. I definitely do not feel comfortable posing a kiss in front of other people.”

This is absolutely necessary! The bride and groom already feel a little awkward about all the fuss over them (most do), so you must whisk them away for their couple’s photos. This will also be a much needed breather for the two and probably the only time that they have together away from all of their guests and wedding party. Ideally, when shooting formals, work from the largest group and then whittle it down to just the bride and groom. As you are finished with each group, send them away. We typically begin with the family, then move to the wedding party, and then to just the couple. Be clear but polite that you want everyone to leave as they are finished. You may have to put your foot down with some people, but remember that you are working for the couple, not the family, wedding party, or guests. Your couple will appreciate it—but only if you deliver high quality photos!

5) “I want some candid shots and I want them to look natural. There are a few things that I have seen online that I want and I expect you to know exactly what I am talking about and I expect you to be able to recreate it beautifully.”

You need to know the current trends even if you don’t like them. I personally prefer coming up with my own ideas, but your bride almost certainly has seen something somewhere that she wants you to duplicate. You need to know what she’s talking about and you need to be able to deliver. You don’t have to use it in your own marketing, but you do need to be able to perform that for your client.


Source FStoppers.com written by Dale and Jill Lempa of Lempa Creative

Tell the Lizard Brain to f#off

The lizard brain.

If you have ever heard me talking about the lizard brain and didn't have a clue what I was talking about then here's a short disruption.

The term Lizard-Brain is a light-hearted way of describing the most primitive part of our human brain.

The human Lizard-Brain has been evolving for around 285 million years, and is similar in power and concept to the total brain capacity of a modern lizard, which is why I will refer to it as the Lizard-Brain.

Our Lizard-Brain sits at the top of our spine and is command control for the human body, it is 'pre-verbal' and 'tells' our body what to do and when to do it, automatically, using chemical and electrical signals. We are lucky that it is automatic as we don't have to put up with messages going through our Thinking-Brains getting us to, breathe in and breathe out ect. All the routine functioning of our body is done by the Lizard-Brain, behind the scenes, without our knowledge or intervention.

However, our Lizard-Brain's concept of danger is based on the education it received in a society far removed from the modern one we currently live in. Today, the little reptilian controller lurking in our skull, will quite often cause us to perform primeval actions that actually endanger us or those close to us.

It is also this part of our brain which tells us to to take it easy and just sit on the sofa in stead of working. It's the nagging thought in back of your head giving you excuses not to run or to even quit. It our brains way of preserving energy as it believes food is limited. It's also those caveman urges to cram our faces with food.

Tell the Lizard Brain to f#off

Update on my 365 miles in 2013 in a little behind but in sure ill catch up!

Update on my 365 miles in 2013 in a little behind but in sure ill catch up!

Jan: 24miles - I Did 18.1
Feb: 25mile - if I stick to plan I should do 22.8 miles

The rest of the months look like this..
March: 26mile
April: 27mile
May: 32miles
June: 36miles
July: 36miles
Aug: 15miles
Sep: 36miles
Oct: 36miles
Nov: 36miles
Dec: 36miles

Larger Family Portraits, "Modern Family Shot"

People ask me to take large family portraits but sometimes it hard to get everybody in the picture, all at the same time. This is when I break out my secret weapon, and I call it the Modern Family Shot.  I have based in on the main group shot from the SKY program, which looks like this, 

I do this by taking 2 or 3 individual portraits and then joining them together in post.

Portrait 1, Left

Portrait 2 Right,

Portrait 3 Centre,

And the final Result,

A very Modern Family Portrait

Hope you enjoyed this post and if this something you wanted me to do for you please get in touch.

A little injury!

I rounded the corner and ran into a crouch high bollard, I cursed quietly under my breathe which was probably a scream as I had my headphones on much to the disgust of the families picnicking whoops.

My hip bloody hurts but I'm sure it's only skin deep.

My favourite type of run!

Did my favourite type of run today, no doubling back just one way. I had a set destination and a set time to be picked up.

Total distance distance planned using walkjogrun was 3.66miles and actual distance taken from my nike plus watch was 3.18miles.

Total distance time based on 14min mile ( my last long distance time ) planned using walkjogrun was 51min and actual time taken from my nike plus watch was 44:18min

Unlike most of my runs the route was all down hill so I was hoping to do it all without interval but when I stopped to cross roads it was hard to get going again.

I also banged my leg at 3.1 miles and it went dead so a 0.5 mile warm down seemed like a good plan.

I was really please with my effort and the results.

TTFN.

Fatso has been catching me up.

My diet has gone off track in the past couple of weeks and as such I'm just maintaining and not loosing, would love to drop a few more pounds before the summer.

Piggy Piggy Bum Bum

I have eaten like a pig today,
I've had;
3 slices of toast with peanut butter
1 cake
1 sandwich
2 bags of crisps
1 bottle of coke
2 small chocolate bars

For tea I have a large slag Bol and I'm still hungry.

Someone please intervene.

Help

Today will be my first run of week 3 and I will pass my 100milemilestone.

So today I will be going out and doing week 3 day 1 of my own self imposed running program.  I didn't know how far it was going to be until I rechecked my blog and noted with horror that it was 3miles.

I will try my best but we will see how I get on.  Another thing about todays run is that I will pass 100miles and that is a huge thing for me.  I have done so much in 100miles and I can not believe the progress in such as short amount of time.

Anyway check out my video and I'll update with how I get on.

One thing I tried today was eating 30min before my run. Normally I run before breakfast or at then of the day before dinner. So I made 2 toasted pesto pasta and cheese raps.

Soooooooo,

The run went well and I blitzed the 3miles by doing 4.14mile.  I did cheat a little by doing 10min Run 2min Walk Intervals but Hay Im training so Its all good. The most important thing is to be out on your feet just Doing it.

My ideal timetable for a Civil Wedding

Below is what I consider to be an ideal time table for a civil ceremony with a midday ceremony. A church wedding will be approximately 45mins longer for the ceremony and travel time would be need if the ceremony is in a different location to the reception.

These times are tight but adequate, reducing the time set aside for photography will obviously result in less photos. However we can always move items around or even do a few at the night do.

Day

11:00-Meet Groom

12:00-12:30

Ceremony Civil

12:30-13:00 Mingle

13:00-13:45 Group Photos (Approx 10-15)

13:45-14:15 Couple Pictures

14:15-14:30 Bide and Ground check room and mock cutting cake.

14:30-15:00 Speeches

15:00-Meal Photographer Leaves

Evening

19:30 Start Evening Reception

19:30-21:00 Catch with group shoots

20:45 Buffet

21:15 First Dance

22:00 Photographer Leaves

Pre wedding meeting done!

Just back from a pre-wedding meeting with soon to be bride Michelle Cox and her groom Sam Jefferies really looking forward to it, and enjoy helping to put the final touches to their itinerary. These meetings are so important!

On top of just being a Good photographer to be a Good Wedding Photographer you also to need to be;

On top of just being a Good photographer to be a Good Wedding Photographer you also to need to be;
A digital Artist
A business man
A marketer
A project manager
An accountant
A public relations expert
A negotiator
A shoulder to cry on
A friend to drunk
A peace maker
Patient
Happy and always smile

Then you need to be able to be;
Good with;
Vicars who don't like photographers
Registrars who don't like photographers
Kids
Adults
Old people
Animals (don't ask)
Drunk people
Uncle Bobs
Demanding Mums

Most of all You need to love what you do and be just a little Crazy!

Hayley's 30th at the Aztec

I had the pleasure of photographing Hayley's 30th Birthday Party at the lovely Aztec Hotel & Spa, Bristol, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol, BS32 4TS.

If you would like similar coverage please let me know.

Click Here for Details

Regards
Rich