Faces

Photo contests never excited me, however, some knowledgeable people say some of my images are winners. The question in my mind is, it worth all of the time and trouble of printing to EXACTING standards, wrapping and shipping the prints as if they were made of glass to prevent damage, and a zillion other rules?

yata, yata, yata. I have a business to run.

But hey, that was the analog world and now today’s language is digital. You can enter with 2-300 clicks on your computer. So I did.

The contest is “,Faces” with a celebrity category. To win any contest, you need an “eye catcher.” And it takes a great deal of luck to capture the image. Most Americans know one of my candidates very well. Her photograph is called a “A Woman in Love” and the other is known to the Brits, her name is “HRH Anne, the Princess Royal.”

Arlington Cemetery, the Bitter and the Sweet

Photographing a funeral is never easy; it is like walking on eggs. You want to make a record of the event but you do not want to intrude. It is even a greater challenge when you know the deceased well, like 12 years, as part of your work family. When the survivors tell 100 mourners no photographs, except mine, you try your best, your very best.

Full military honors are a beautiful ceremony; I agonize if I want this as a final tribute for 24 years, 4 months and 11 days of service. Besides the burial team, bugler playing taps,and firing squad, there is a band, a marching platoon, and the colors. All in all, there are a lot of people involved and it is a ceremony that has no mistakes allowed or tolerated.

The weather cooperated, the sun was out after a day of rain, the mud won, and the tears flowed, as should be. Don’s minister was eloquent, the bugler crisp, the final volley jarring as it always is, and a grateful nation paid final respects to one of it sons.

Snatching Victory Out of the Jaws of Defeat Part 2

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If you read part one, you could have guesed that the hitches in this couple getting hitched were still there and tying things up. The wedding was postponed a week and rescheduled for the following Saturday. On Thursday or Friday, a small voice, popped up onto the phone:

ahem, cough, pause, could we reschedule to Sunday? Since all was paid for, the answer was a standard, absolutely. And so it went, Sunday came around, the bride and groom, resplendent in pink, arrived for some outdoor park photographs, DONE.

Then the schlep to Waldorf MD, 50 miles from the studio for the wedding. The church was one-step below a MEGA CHURCH in size, HUGE! Remember, this is a two person wedding. The minister, several deacons, and two other women were present. My suggestion was, walk yourself down the aisle. That is what she did, the wedding went off without a hitch, and they are hitched. DONE!!!!!!!!!!

The bride, now wife, left the next morning for a week of business travel, hubby stayed home. Such is the life of a Washington bride. OBTW, there was a Robin Egg Blue bag for me. Monogrammed cufflinks; classy woman. 

July 12, another wedding, same couple, 120 guests. Not done.

3 Yankee Photgraphers

an entry by Associate Rachel Fus

Have you ever heard that phrase "a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square"? Well, when Don approached me a few weeks back about doing a different sort of project a similar thought went through my mind: 

An album is a book, but a book is not an album.

Don FTP'd me the takes of three different photographers (himself included) from a trip they took together to Charleston and Hilton Head. His guidelines were simple: a softcover, coffee table book, 5.5 x 5.5in, illustrating the different perspectives the photogs had on the same scenes. 

Through an extensive filing system using keywords in Bridge, I edited down the 900+ images to less than 50. There's a lot left to do (TEXT!) but here's the first draft.

Jacob #2

Yakov Gindin and Katie Palmer photographed this Bar Mitzvah.

Yakov and Katie photographed this Bar Mitzvah. It was in a hotel, and very different from the Synagogue’s morning’s service. The Havdalah service is the closing service for the Sabbath and the highlight is the lighting of the candle which signifies the close of the day of rest and the start if the first day of the week. Having two photographers at an event provides customers with a four eye perspective. We miss very little that way.

Jacob #2 used a beautiful, specially made prayer book for his Bar Mitzvah that excerpted the evening service and nothing else. This allowed the guests to take it home as a remembrance of the service and Jacob’s torah reading. It’s Hebrew and English prayers were annotated with the reader’s name, making it meaningful for the many people participating in the ritual.

When you look at all the photos of the party, you know the kids had a good time.

Jacob #1

When you have two Bar Mitzvahs the same day with the young men having the same name you have to be creative in your filing system...and blogging. So for the ease of all, Jacob #1 is the morning affair and Jacob #2 for the evening event.

Peter photographed Jacob #1. He did his usual masterful technical job, perfect exposures, great lighting, and an emphasis on the emotions and relationships in the family and at the party afterward. He communicated with the DJ and made sure all was ready for the Hora, where the celebrant and his family are jerked into the air on a chair by 4 husky males and are waltzed around the room rising and falling to the whims of the carriers. What is fun to see is the look of shock and wide-open mouth as the chair jerks into the air and the stomach stays where it was, on the floor. A man made air pocket, same unexpected feeling.

Writing Blogs

Many people have a hard time writing their blog. This is not one of my issues, for me it is time to write and reflect. 

Back in my sophomore year of SSHS, I sent a column in to the now defunct Chicago Daily Calumet, one of the country’s oldest daily neighborhood papers. The story was about the school’s rifle team. They sent me a check $for $1.00 and asked for more. More what? That buck got me very creative, motivating me to cover the entire range of athletic events in the school, INCLUDING women’s sports before most paid any attention to them. 

Reporting on girls’ volleyball, swimming, and square dancing as competitive sports increased my opportunities to earn that buck. If our school competed with other schools, it merited a story. The editors loved it. Students loved it, seeing their name in print the first time. Parents loved it, buying papers to send to grandparents, and at a buck a column, my camera, toys and darkroom loved it.

Bring on the blogs.

34 ACTIONS TO GO

Did you know there are  approximately 17 actions a professional photographer has to go thru in his “workflow” after the photographs are captured and before they are ready to leave the studio to go to the processing plant or be delivered to the customer?

 OBTW, none of these chores are “glamorous” by any stretch of the imagination. 

First there is downloading and making the back-ups. At Keith and Associates, Fine Photography, we make 3 duplicates of all images, one for our hard drive and two on DVD, which we place in the archive. A simple chore is combining all of the photographs in a time sequence from both photographers cameras (this usually means 4 compact flash cards but it could be 6 or 7) but if camera clocks do not match before the event, it becomes a nightmare. 

Then comes editing, re-numbering, and placing into user-friendly buckets for upload to IMAGEQUIX. Burning client DVDs is next. 

Whew. We try to have all actions completed in 3 days. No matter how fast we do it, someone wants it faster.

SNATCHING VICTORY OUT OF THE JAWS OF DEFEAT

My cell rang at 7:20 PM Friday night. Sheepishly a little voice, "we have been, cough, talking, cough cough, ahem, throat clearing, COULD YOU PHOTOGRAPHY MY WEDDING TOMORROW?” Yikes!! Unfortunately, the day was full, so it was an east-west head nod. Sorry. Thank you. Good-bye. 

Ring ring. Me again. Can you take some photographs of us in our hotel late in the afternoon, in Herndon, the next town over? ABSOLUTELY! Price and time agreed.

Fast forward to Saturday 11 AM. 

Change in plans, can we just come to your studio and take some photographs? ABSOLUTELY, 1 PM agreed. 

1 PM 

Ring ring.  Just leaving house, no groom, no photos, money for shoot next weekend. Okaaaaaaaaaay???????

Slow forward to 2 PM. 

Knock knock. Wedding # 1: paid in full. Wedding # 2 (in July): deposit placed, contract in works.

Keith and Associates, Fine Photography treats all customers with dignity and respect. It really pays off.

PS: The deposits came in a beautiful, hand written thank you note. SWEET, classy lady.

Published in Modern Bride

Vinita and Lewis came to me with an unusual request. Could I ph0t0graph both of their weddings, a Naval Academy church wedding on Saturday, back to back with a traditional Hindu ceremony Sunday?

Of course! OBTW, we need two albums. Moreover, our budget is XYZ. I gulped and said yes.

The result was a great primer for four other Hindu weddings I photographed. 5 of Vinita and Lewis's imaged were even published in Modern Bride.

You never know what the day will bring. My lessons in ethnic wedding protocall was nothing; the groom had to go to dancing school.

Volleyboys

The last time I visited South Lakes High School was when my daughter went to Flint Hill Prep and the several members of the school's basketball team were in a summer league there. Some of these pleayers went to the NBA (Dennis Scott, Grant Hill, Randolph Childress, George Lynch, and Serge Zwikker). Roll after roll of their photos are in my archives.

On March 25, South Lakes will host a fundraising event. Volleyboys is a twice-annual event that draws a large crowd to watch teams of boys representing each class battle it out for the title of Volleyboys Champion. A silent auction is part of this spring event and when the coach asked me for a donation, I said Count me in!

I will donate a family portrait session for the auction.

An album for your mother

an entry by Staff Photographer (and general assistant) Rachel Fus

I was just thinking I needed to refresh my graphics skills when Don asked if I could do an album for him. I was admittedly rusty to begin with but coupled with new layout software (on a PC, no less!) and a bride who prioritized 300 images as "must have, "and this job started to take a little longer than expected.

Mpix, the program from Miller's Professional Imaging, was easily downloaded (once I acquired all the correct account information) and turned out to be very user friendly. But then came the images. As I started laying out each page I realized our bride had chosen several images of the same pose instead of choosing her favorite expression of the series.

Dear Future Bride laying out her album, I DON'T KNOW YOU! I DON'T KNOW WHICH EXPRESSION YOU LIKE THE MOST! WHAT "SIDE" IS YOUR BEST!

...I did my best.

As I got deeper into the project, I realized there were key items missing. I do a series of spreads by significant event: getting ready, walking down the aisle, exchanging rings., etc. Those were all there, but the first dance wasn't and neither was cutting the cake, which leads me to my second point:

Dear Future Bride Laying Out Her Album, An album should be more than just a conglomeration of pictures. An album must tell a story without the benefit of words; the sequence of events, the emotions must be conveyed through images alone.

So here's the product thus far. It's been edited by Don and now it's off to the bride herself. Check back to see if she makes any changes!

When scouting locations

The staircase was BEAUTIFUL, but all of the backgrounds had exit signs, support columns, abrupt color changes, fire enunciators, and various other background killers. Outside? No dice. 360 degrees of telephone wire, IHOP signs and construction equipment. I covered most of it up with careful placement of the body of the person I photographed. Still, there are some that will have to be croped out or "shoped"* when printed. The moral of the story, when you scout a location, scout the backgrounds.

Small in Size, Large in Class

The bridesmaids' dresses were a rich chocolate brown, gelato-like. The men had classy suits that matched. The bride was relaxed and that added to her smile.

The glitch came as the bride and the chocolate ladies arrived by streeeeeeeeeeeeetch limo. They popped out of the rent-a-fantasy-ride and just stood in the front door. As the guests arrived, each had to hug and kiss the bride. There goes the make-up.

Trusted old photographer comes to the rescue. The bride thought it was a hoot, hiding out in the coat room. SNAP!

The rest of the day was smooth as silk, including me getting chocolate icing on the bride's new ring. She forgave me :)

A Factoid to Blow Your Mind

According to Fred Molesworth "something over 90% of all images taken on today's digital cameras are NEVER PRINTED."

Wow! I thought about that statement and quickly realized that he was right! I have terabytes of personal photographs that have never seen the inside of a print, wet or dry!

I guess you could say I'm making a subtle pitch for selling an album but it's more than that. Even if you transfer the images to gold archival DVDs, there is no reason to believe that any one will have a machine to read the DVD in 20 years. And what if the power goes out? Will the grand kids be able to flip through your old photos by fire or flash light? It's just like 8mm movies and BETA.

So, I know it might seem silly or wasteful to print those images now, but think about the future and please think about how you want to leave your treasured images for your kids.

What's your channel?

While you were sleeping, I was working like crazy on my web presence, trying to get my organic Google score higher, trying to be recognized on the internet where it's all happening. I decided to create my own YouTube Channel where I can post videos of our work and of me working at actual weddings.

Right now, I'm creating 4 to 6 videos and as I reviewed the material, one thing became clear. Brides ask for photojournalistic photographs and then order traditional photos for their albums.

When brides ask us how we shoot, my response always is, “however you want." Typically, we take 20% of the photos as formals or portraits and about 80% as photojournalistic or candid. Yet, when it comes to the albums, brides order the reverse. Maybe the photo of your cousin, all sweaty in a wild dance move, is not what you want to remember about the most important day of your life or show the kids when they ask to see your wedding. You want to point out all the family members, especially those who have passed on.

So what's behind this new trend? Is it the proliferation of digital? Is it the celebrity culture we live in? I will let you know when the videos post.