What to keep in mind when looking through the portfolio of a Wedding Photographer

                When we’re putting out online profiles together we’re cherry picking the very best photos from the years of our experience. These are helpful to show you that we can stage beautiful moments that will be an aesthetically pleasing for the casual observer. They show that we adapt to our environment, and that we have an eye for that magazine/magic quality everyone is after.

                What it completely overlooks are those small moments we capture that are going to melt your heart 10 years later. Like that photo of the mother dotting a tear away as the vows areet being exchanged. The father giving his son a final straightening of the tie before he walks down the aisle. The father of the bride giving his new son a sad but approving smile. A small hand squeeze the bride and groom sneak under the table cloth. Weddings are about the bride and the groom, but they’re also about bringing two families together with friends. A photographer keeps that in mind, and is constantly scanning for those moments that are going to bring an “aww” to your lips.

                A good wedding photographer is going to provide you with finished photos of each type. They have the experience and eye to know what will be aesthetically pleasing as well as seeking out those small moments that will tug at your heart strings. The thing that you should keep in mind when looking for your photographer is that these heart melting photos don’t always make it into our portfolios. We’re not going to share absolutely every photo we take of someone’s big day. We often can’t as the father of the bride may not have signed a photo release allowing us to. These are photos we share with the couple that hire us for them to decide what to do with.

                Sometimes these small moments can be the more challenging because we often can’t remake the moment. We must be constantly ready to take the photo because you will not get a second chance. We’re not going to ask the bride and groom to start their first dance all over so you can get the twirl of her dress. Yes, you can ask the best friend to hug to groom again, but now it’s being staged and you have lost some of the glow that was part of the moment. In a wedding the people are very rarely models so they will get stiff when they realize they are being photographed.

                What you should ask yourself as a bride is: Do you want someone set in their favorite poses that are going to focus on getting you each shot you saw in their profile, do you want someone who is going to spend all their time looking for the candid moments, or a combination of the two? Whatever your answer is I can tell you : you’re not wrong. It is what you want, and it is your day!

You can visit our portfolio here: https://tbphotographer.com

Is Rochester safe for children?

Marnie here -again. We took a photography trip to Maplewood Park in Rochester, NY today as I thought the bricks would make very nice HDR images. The problem is that while we were there it turned into more of a political statement for me. The location is right next to a Safety & Training center, a playground, and the Veterans memorial bridge. So I have to ask: Why is it one of the most unsafe parks I have ever seen? I'm glad we didn't bring our dog as I wouldn't have wanted him to be exposed to the unsafe conditions. If I don't think it is safe enough for my dog, why would any parent bring their children to this playground? And why hasn't the City of Rochester kept this park clean and safe?

I will say that it is Feb 26th so maybe the parks will be better cared for once summer comes, but this still isn't acceptable to me.

The first thing I noticed was a hand rail on the ground instead of up as a railing:

Now of course this partially drives me crazy because at the location is a plaque that says this is dedicated to our Veterans. It seems awfully disrespectful to our Veterans to leave it in this condition.

Maybe you don't care as much about Veterans and respecting them as much as you care about the safety of children? Well there's a nice playground on site also:

And really, you would think this would make it a safe place:

Now mind you I haven't bothered to capture images of the litter and general dity-ness of the park. It's only the end of Feb so I will give you another month to clean it up. I will even let you slide on the railing being on the ground. What I find 100% unacceptable and unsafe is this:

That is within 100 feet of that playground. If you think that distance is safe, look even closer. You can see the playground through the railings:

Winter contrast photo for sale

Marnie here again. While looking at the photos that Tim did of Webster Park this past week on my phone they looked like regular old pictures of snow and trees. I mean, how many pictures can you capture of snow and trees? Then I kept looking at one on my computer, and you become more and more engrossed with it the longer you look. I mean: look at this detail when you take the time to zoom in!

So after becoming mesmerized I did a bit of dodge and burn on the photo and put it up on Fine Art America where you get a satisfaction guarantee on all purchases. Once again Tim has shown me how beautiful simple images can be. You see photography of canyons and mountains that are stunning because they are in stunning places, but it takes a lot of talent to take a stunning image in Webster Park in the middle of winter. Click on the link below to see it on FAA, and to purchase prints :)

Day Trip to Corbett's Glen

Seeing as it's been hard to get Tim out of the house since his surgery I figured we were past due for a day trip. I did a quick search on Google Maps for nearby parks, and found Corbett's Glenn on there. It's one of the parks we hadn't been to yet, and what I could see online looked good. We packed up the bags, loaded the dog into the van, and spent a good 2 hours walking about. Below are some of the images Tim got, and the same items can be found on our Ebay page

Art For Crohn's Fundraiser

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281100207638

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/281100181929?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/281100180038?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281100184608?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

I have 3 auctions up right now that 10% of all sales will be donated to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. 

Photo of the day

Photo of the day :

Rochester, NY at night in HDR

Updates on how things are: Tim had his surgery and has been home recovering. I'll pester him to give updates on the blog soon.

landscapes art

Dog with an eye for photography

A few weeks ago it was a pretty nice weekend here in Rochester, NY. Unfortunately the weather had just finished melting all of our snow so the park were flooded. For that reason Marnie (me, posting now) decided we should take a walk around the Art District/Park Ave. While walking the dog stopped and turned around a corner finding us this gate. We never would have noticed it without him, and I happen to think it looks pretty creepy. Tim did a great job editing of course. Side note: being the dog walker on a muddy day left me covered waste down in spots of mud the dog kicked up at me. While the photographer, Tim, remained clean as a whistle.