The Photog Blog

And yet another good reason to photograph all the portraits before the wedding….

thephotog — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:44:40 +0000

I found this obscure video on yahoo! I don’t know if it is real or fake – most of the viewer comments lean toward fake. But what a great convincing reason to photograph everything that can be photographed before the ceremony….

http://video.yahoo.com/people/5042814

Don’t you just love it when….

thephotog — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:06:47 +0000

I often wonder if people think my camera is a magic wand? I just love it when I do a portrait presentation or deliver portraits and the client say,

250 pound client: “Oh my gosh, I look so big.”

75 year old client: “Oh my, I look so old.”

This is my all-time favorite: “It looks just like me!”

For the love of God, it’s a camera. It doesn’t have little fairy dust inside that I can sprinkle on them to make them 100 pounds lighter, thirty years young, or not look just like them. I always wonder, ‘who did you think it was going to look like?’ Sorry, I couldn’t make you Jennifer Aniston today, that special ended yesterday.

Don’t get me wrong, if a client has paid me to create beautiful images for them – that is absolutely my goal. And, yes I absolutely want them to be thrilled. I want them to show everyone they know and my name just roll off their tongue when all their friends and neighbors rave about the portraits. My real website is full of great testimonials from very happy clients. But every now and then I have Mr or Mrs Unrealistic for a client.

This actually happened last month at a wedding sales presentation. The family has gathered to be presented with the beautiful images from the wedding day. I actually love the work – thought it was great. But the mother and the bride both comment on how disappointed they are – “You made Dad look drunk” – to me they say that. (Side bar: We had to pull Dad away from the bar for the portraits – waited twenty minutes for Mom to re-tuck his shirt and push up his tie. He was MIA during the before-wedding formal portraits) Now, seriously…. did I make Dad look drunk? Again I say, it’s a camera – not a magic sobering-up wand.

So forgive me if today I cannot make you look like your favorite celebrity, drop 50 pounds, or bleach away your grey hair. Photographers are merely mortal after all. Who knew? – Peace, The Photog

Welcome to my world!

thephotog — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:52:42 +0000

I’m not sure why or how you got here, but welcome. This is the brainchild of many years of repressing thoughts and feelings as I have had as I’ve gone about my routine professional photography business. I am primarily a wedding and portrait photographer, although there is a varied mix of other ventures. Every so often there is that bizarre client encounter or something happens that makes you go, “WTF?” I’m thinking it the whole time I am blogging about how beautiful the bride was…how romantic the wedding was… how cute the kids are… Those other thoughts I repress and become politically correct. Sometimes it’s just those little irritating things that happen – like the uncle who’s falling down drunk-… that’s all I can think about when I’m blogging about the wedding reception. But, clients hate when you blog about that! So I have to repress all the politically incorrect thoughts. My therapist says this is unhealthy.

I don’t want photography to be unhealthy – I actually love photography. I am more in love with photography now than I was twenty years ago. So, clearly I need not to repress all those thoughts and feelings. Hello, and welcome to my therapy! No more repressed thoughts and feelings!

Mainly this is my journal. If you are intrigued by it or enjoy it – great! We can all use a little break from our own reality every now and then. So for whatever reason you are here or however you came to be here – enjoy. Comments are welcome! Just don’t critique the grammar / writing structure – I’m a photographer not a journalist or author! – Peace, The Photog