Need any more reasons?  Ask about adding a photo booth setup to your wedding reception!

The cost for the day is $200.  If a 2nd person from your studio attends it is just another $50 for them.  Here is a rough outline for the day:

9:00AM – 11:30PM

~  Work with models, walk around using different light

11:30PM – 12:15PM      Lunch

12:15PM – 1:45             Business

~  How to market in this economy
Where to spend your advertising dollars, how to save money
Standing out in the sea of photographers

~  Getting Published
Two Bright Lights
Wedding Blogs
Magazines

~ Social Networking
How to use Twitter for your business effectively
How to use Facebook for your business effectively

~  Branding
Making everything flow and match (online and print)
Design & Printing Marketing for less
Ideas to set you apart

~  Organization & Customer Service
Emails
Cards
Data Base & Keeping track of where you are at with each one

~ Creativity
Other processes (Collodion & Polaroid)
Thinking outside of the box
Inspiration
Shooting for yourself & for client

1:45PM – 4:30PM  Shoot with Models

4:30PM – 5:00PM    Wrap Up & Last Questions

Obviously that is subject to change, but that’s the basic idea.  Also, I might guest teach a small section.  That’s still in the works.    Also, I know we have people coming from Missoula and Bozeman, so the start time might get adjusted slightly – we will keep you posted.

Email Angie with questions or to sign up and make it official – andy@a-a-photography.com

Oh, and we nee a couple to model for the workshop – email me if you are interested.

Thanks!

Chris

The Little Black Book is the vendor guide on Style Me Pretty, which features some of the very best wedding vendors each area.  Most of the vendors are hand picked and invited to join – after being recommended by another vendor or vendors.  Before being invited you have to pass an internal review by the SMP staff, and then also a review by some of the top vendors on The Little Black Book.  If you get a thumbs up from everyone, then you get an invite.

All that to say that we are proud to be the first photographer in Montana to be in the Little Black Book, as well as featured in the Idaho section of the book.  We look forward to connecting to even more future brides using this very well thought out guide – you can’t go wrong with vendors in the Little Black Book.

Anyhow, just a little bit of news I thought I’d share.  We’ve been busy shooting a lot the last couple weeks, so there will be lots of new work to see very shortly!

Chris

We really wanted to have a model for the shoot, and so I put up a quick notice on Facebook to see if anyone was interested.  Well, we got more than we bargained for, in a good way.  We got two models, which was awesome, and we got to make some great new friends on top of it!  Angela and her sister Tegan came along with us to see what kind of fun we could dream up.  Angela also happens to own Timeless Photography up in Choteau, and is an awesome photographer.  Big thanks to Angela and Tegan for coming along and rocking it as our models for the evening!

All of the shots I am posting here were shot on film.  And as promised, I’m going to do a little explaining as to why you’ve seen so much film talk on here lately.  First a few reasons why I’ve been shooting some film: For starters, I love the look that some of the new film provides.  And, working with a great lab (thanks Richard Photo Lab!) means I get great, consistent results in the scans I get back, which means getting images that look great right of camera, so I spend less time in front of the computer.  Which is a good thing, trust me.  Secondly, shooting film forces me to slow down more and really think about the shot I am trying to get.  Shooting film isn’t cheap, and that really makes you think about what you are doing, and why, before you click the shutter.  Third, I am really falling in love with the 645 format (and my Mamiya 645 AFD).  The format is a bit more square-ish than 35mm, but not too square.  Hard to explain – it just fits the way I shoot and the way I see.  Finally, I feel like there is a look and feel in film that is hard to copy digitally – so why not just shoot it on film anyhow?

So, that’s all great for personal work.  Are we going to be shooting our client work on film?  Yes and no, for the time being.  All of our weddings booked for this year (thus far) will be shot digitally, with some film shot alongside just because.  We are looking at transitioning to shooting more, or even mostly, film at our weddings for 2012, but the logistics of all of that aren’t quite sorted 100% yet.  We will let you know.  (and if you are a booked wedding client for 2011 and want to talk about us shooting your wedding on film, just let us know!)  For portrait work, you will likely see me shooting a lot of film, or even all film, depending on the type of session and so forth.  I’ll address more of the specifics of shooting film for client work in another post coming up soon.

Alright, after that mountain of text, it must be time to get to the images, right?  Yup!  There were all shot on 120 film with my Mamiya 645, and developed and scanned by Richard Photo Lab.  The only adjustments I have made have been slight curves adjustments, resizing for the web, and touch of sharpening.  All were the new Kodak Portra 400 (shot at box speed), except for the last two which were Fuji 400H (and overexposed 1-1.5 stops).

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we did shooting them!  Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave some feedback in the comments.

Chris

And the Fuji 400H shots…

I went to Las Vegas last month for the WPPI convention with a few photographer friends.  While I was down there, I got a few rolls of the new Kodak Portra 400 in 35mm.  (They were giving it away at the Kodak booth… Bonus!)  We had already set up a fun little shoot on the strip, so I decided to leave my trusty D700 behind and just shoot this new film in my F100.

I have to say – my initial impression is this film is pretty awesome.  Great color and skin tones, very forgiving to work with, and very fine grain.  Almost perfect!  Or at least a lot better than films from days past. Don’t know what else to say about it – if you want to shoot some film, this is a great one to start with.  And if you stumbled across this little review, you are probably looking for some images…  Well, I won’t disappoint you.

This first set was shot at box speed – ISO 400 – and developed and scanned by the great people over at Richard Photo Lab.  Nothing has been done to them other than some (not all) have a very slight curves adjustment, and then they are all resized for the web.

And this second set was rated at ISO 800, and then developed normally.  To clarify: it was shot at ISO 800 and NOT pushed at all in development.  Pretty fantastic results.

We are looking for a couple who is getting married sometime soon; April or May would be great, but perhaps even early June would work.  Ideally they still need a photographer, and are willing to let us come in and photograph their wedding.  They will get killer images, a breathtaking album, and all the usual other stuff.  And they will get it a price that works out to about half of what we charge for all this normally.  The catch?  We have a few stipulations on how we shoot the wedding, and the way things will be delivered.  Nothing crazy, by any means, but just a few things we need the freedom to do.

So…  What do we need from you?  Well, if you know of, or happen to be, a bride or groom who fits the above description, then have them contact us!  We are really only looking for one couple, so don’t hesitate…  Details will be discussed with you if we have the date available and we feel like you might be a good fit.  Please pass the word around!  We’d love the chance to work on some new ideas, and at the same time give a lucky couple their dream wedding photographs for a killer deal.  What’s not to like about that?  A $4500 wedding package for about half the price…

Again, this is a one time offer, for a single bride and groom, so if you know of someone, get them to email us ASAP.  Thanks so much!

Chris

I have so many blog posts to do, I know.  And I can’t wait to get them all done so you all can see all the images.  So many amazing weddings this year!   We’ve been blessed yet again this year with the most amazing clients – I couldn’t ask for any better!

Also, it is coming up on time for the Helena Wedding Showcase again – looks like we will be there!  We missed the Spring one, but this time we will be there with lots of new samples to see, so come say hi!  I believe it is October 17th.

Time to go get ready to head to Bozeman…

Chris

First off, I have to say that Andy and Angie were a pleasure to work with from the very beginning.  We spent a good bit of time back and forth via email trying to get a date sorted out, and also just what we wanted to cover during the day.  Angie covered most of this with us, and she was even nicer in person than she was via email. 

Also, we had some trouble getting a rental car for the day we had scheduled, and in the end they just offered to come to the airport and pick us up – which was a huge blessing and also saved a lot of headache.  I did offer to pay them, but they refused.    So they picked us at about 7:45 that morning, and we headed off to get some breakfast (which they also would not let me pay for) and talk a little bit about the day, and our business.  We had decided to spend the morning talking about business and SEO related subjects, and spend the afternoon shooting and going over some off camera flash techniques.

After our breakfast Q&A session, we moved down the street to a coffee shop to talk in more detail about SEO and biz related matters.  (We also randomly saw a good friend of mine at the coffee shop – small world – Hi Addy!)  The morning session was awesome.  I learned so much in a short amount of time!  And and Angie were very knowledgeable when it comes to SEO, and had great advice for business in general as well.  They were also totally transparent when it came to questions about their own business, which was helpful and refreshing.    I really think the morning session more than made the trip worth it all on its own.

So, after we grabbed a snack for the road, we met up with Andy and Angie’s assistant, Charlotte.  She was going to be our model for our afternoon lighting session – which she did a great job as and was a totally trooper!  Once again I think both Janna and I found that they were very knowledgeable on the subject – and even more than that, they were patient and kind teachers.

I think that it is worth noting that throughout the day we found Andy and Angie to be a total pleasure to work with.  They have a passion for teaching that shows, and they do it well.  They were (and still are!) genuinely interested in seeing us succeed and helping us better our skills and our business.  There was no question that was off limits, and even more important, I think, was that there was no stupid questions to them.  It was the kind of environment that you felt like you could truly learn in – and we did!

To top off the evening we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (which they finally conceded to let me buy) before we had to head back to the airport.  Nothing like a good meal to end a good day!  We learned a ton, and also had a ton of fun in the process.  I think I can safely say I would recommend Andy and Angie’s workshop to anyone looking to spend the day with some quality people and learn a few things.  Or just hang out for a good time!  Thanks guys!

And because I promised…  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon – feel free t leave Charlotte some love in the comments section!

Chris

We did all kinds of fun things with the kids… Went to the beach, went to the zoo, took them to the flight museum…  And, of course, being the good photographer dad, I was trying to document all of this along the way.  FAIL.

Ok, so not a complete failure.  I did get some fun and/or cute pictures of the kids.  But, what I did learn is that is quite difficult to participate in and document the same event.  Or at very least, it isn’t a lot of fun!  Maybe it is the wedding photographer in me, but when I am trying to take pictures of an event, it seems that is what takes over.  So, towards the end of vacation I opted more times than not to simply leave the camera for a while, and just have fun.  And I did. 

Chris

We have a couple openings in June still, so we thought we’d give you last minute brides a little something special.  We are going to have a a few options: free upgrades to larger/bigger albums, free framed canvas print, or up to 20% off on a package deal.

So, please pass along the info if you know someone who might be interested.  Again, you have to be getting married in June of this year, so you better hurry, as the remaining dates won’t last long!

Chris