Elephants and Baby

Newborn baby sessions are so much fun because the finished product contains such contrast and tenderness. Yes, newborns sleep a lot, which is helpful, but their immediate needs take priority which means the photographer gets to wait sometimes. I try to make the most of the environment regardless.

Here's my routine: Get to the house, check out each of the rooms and yard for air temperature, distractions and lighting. Move furniture and curtains a bit to make 3 options for session, get equipment out and relax. Now I am ready but are baby and parents ready?

Parents are dressed nicely and ready, now wait for baby to finish feeding and fall into a deep sleep, maybe. This afternoon the newborn was wide awake half the session and sound asleep the other half. Fabulous and perfect!

Love the shots of dad's big hands holding his little one so tenderly. This little one's room is covered with adorable gray elephants plus the dad got an elephant tattoo in honor of his firstborn son.

 

Videography

Videography is expanding immensely these days and it makes sense. Our minds capture in milliseconds so when we want a replay of a favorite moment, video does it...almost. Nothing is as good as truly being there. Our minds can record even the smell and the emotion of that moment when we first heard that song as he said “I love you” or saw the new baby for the first time.

Good quality video is the next best thing to reliving the great memories of our lives. With good sound (none of Uncle Bill passing gas), just the best parts of the action (not Aunt Betty's snide remarks), good transitions (like no bathroom trips), chapter marks and a great ending, you have all the fixings of a short epic movie on a disk or flash drive to be saved for all times. So how do you get something that looks like a Clint Eastwood production within a real person’s budget, not multi-millions? Enter the highlight videography.

Highlight videos are a series of the best parts captured in high-definition video in the order they happened, shown briefly on the screen, that lasts anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes total, depending on the opportunities and the budget. Do you need to see every step the flower girl made up to the front or hear the whole song played before the vows were spoken? Not really. Hearing your daughter tearfully say “I do” and watching that smile on the groom’s face as the couple turns to face the crowd is worth watching again…and sharing with grandma back East.

Videography production is intense work, often taking 4 hours to process each one hour of raw footage, with splice, fade, cut here and there. With the intensity of the work, the price is determined, therefore videography is generally more expensive than still photography but definitely irreplaceable. Stills are vital for that large framed print on the wall but videos show more of what makes us human, the emotion, excitement and fun, because they include motion, flickering lights and sound. I personally recommend both for any wedding if at all possible. I love fabulous wall art of my loved ones AND I love watching those special moments on anniversaries to renew the memories of the earliest days.

I wonder if one day in the future, video will also include smells? Will that make it Smellography?

See some samples of video work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDCXtudqykw

Brief dancing clips at Grandpa’s 90^th birthday party

https://vimeo.com/135019338
Slideshow of wedding stills
 
https://vimeo.com/125170760

Brief promotional video with voiceover.

 

https://vimeo.com/103814391 

Highlight fusion (stills and video blend) video of public event for organization’s website.

https://vimeo.com/92386515 

Fusion promotional video made from hidden camera captures using natural sound in a very low-light, colored-light setting.

 

https://vimeo.com/32190478 

Multi-camera video with separate miked sound used for digital audition.

Family in the Country

A text on Thursday night turned into a family reunion shoot on Friday night. Did I say how I love spontaneity when it works?

So off to the country I drove but I had no idea it was that far out. How high are we? Oh, my. But the family session went very well and was so much fun. Grandpa had his special jeep in pristine condition that was the "learning to drive" tool each grandchild had enjoyed.

Lastly, a fun picture in the sun of all the grandsons with Grandpa and their rifles. This is what memories are made of. Thank you, Richard and Terri, for calling on me to capture this fabulous time. You are truly blessed with so many awesome grandkids!