About Me

Is photography your full-time job?

Yes, I am a full time professional photographer. 100% of my income comes from photography, and most of that from weddings.

How long have you been shooting weddings?

I have been shooting weddings for five years, during which time I've shot over 100 weddings.

How many weddings do you shoot in a typical year?

I average about 25 weddings a year.

Do you have an education in photography?

Yes, I attended the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara for two years.

Why do you shoot weddings?

I consider it to be a privilege and an honor to have the opportunity to photograph a couple's wedding. It brings me great joy to know that I am contributing to the memories of their most important day together. This day has so much going on, from the hair and makeup to the grand exit, that as a photographer, I am constantly presented with new situations in which I can make beautiful photographs. And then the gratitude that I receive from my clients after delivering their album makes it all worthwhile.

Booking

What do we talk about in the consultation?

I want to get to know you, your vision for the wedding, and what you are looking for in your photographer, so I'll ask lots of questions. I want you to get to know me, my approach to wedding photography, and the work that I do, so I'll show you my sample albums and my sample DVD Montage.

What do you require to hold our date?

I just need a signed contract and the retainer to hold your date.

What are your payment terms and how can I pay?

I do a 50% retainer which holds your date, and then the balance is due one week before the wedding. You can pay by check, by credit card (Visa, MC, Amex), or with cash.

Can we see your wedding photography contract?

Yes, I will provide you with my contract when we meet and will also go over it with you so that you understand all the terms.

What are your wedding packages and what is included with them?

Planning

Will you come out and do a site visit at our venue?

Yes, even if I have worked at the venue before, I will meet you there so that we can plan together. Where should the formal pictures be, how is the ceremony laid out, what does the reception room look like? The only exception is with out-of-town or destination weddings, where I don't guarantee the site visit.

Do you have a shot list?

Yes, I have a shot list for the formals that you can fill out and we can talk about. You can also make special requests for certain shots not on the list. This list is not an exhaustive one for the entire day, as there is no need to tell me to shoot the cake, the dress, or the center pieces. But the shot of you dancing with your grandfather, or the formal with your seven cousins from New York, or the cake knife from your parents wedding - these are the kinds of shots we want to write down.

Will you come to our rehearsal?

I do not guarantee coming to a rehearsal, but I will try if I feel that I need to see how the ceremony will unfold to ensure I get the best shots (and if I don't have an event that day).

Will you go to multiple locations on the wedding day?

Yes, I will go where I need to be to capture the action. This may mean starting at a salon, going to a church, going to a park or the beach for formals, and then going to the reception. Unless we are driving long distances, there is no additional charge for going to multiple locations.

Do you want to know the timeline for the day and/or for the reception?

Yes. If you are working with a wedding planner and/or day-of coordinator, I would like to see the schedule that has been worked out. If your DJ has made a schedule for the reception, I would like to see that as well.

Can we ask your advice about how to plan our day in order to get the best pictures?

Yes, please do! I am happy to give you my ideas about this.

Where can we go for our engagement shoot?

The engagement shoot should be somewhere of your choosing, a place that is important to you or that you find particularly beautiful. Of course I can provide some suggestions in this general area. The beach is always a good bet, but there are many, many other good spots as well.

Can you recommend other vendors, venues, etc?

Yes, I have many contacts in the wedding industry and have worked with many of the vendors and at many of the venues in the Ventura and Santa Barbara areas. I often help brides and groom find the right folks to plan and execute their weddings, and I am happy to offer my planning advice if you are interested.

On the Wedding Day

How many hours do you shoot on the wedding day?

I typically shoot a full eight hours on your wedding day. Of course the time could be extended or shortened as you want, but I've found that eight hours is a good amount of time that allows me to shoot the bride getting ready all the way through the end of the reception.

Do you work with an assistant? What does he or she do?

Yes, I always have an assistant with me. He or she helps me maintain my focus on you, such as managing the equipment and lighting, interfacing with the other vendors and/or the venue, and helping pose groups and manage people.

What style of photography do you shoot?

During the wedding day I am shooting mostly in a photojournalistic style, meaning that I am not directing and setting up posed shots. However, during the formals, I step up and create more classic, traditional portraits in addition to the fun candids. Well-composed, well-lit group portraits don't just happen by themselves, and these are important pictures that you are going to want. The variety of the wedding day requires a mixture of styles, both photojournalistic and traditional.

What if we want you to take specific pictures at a certain time?

Just ask. Remember that you have hired me for the day to photograph your wedding, so at any time you can ask me for a certain picture. I make myself very available to the bride and groom - they always know where I am and I am receptive to their ideas for pictures.

Can my Uncle Bob take pictures during the wedding too?

There are more and more cameras at weddings these days, and usually they pose no problem to a professional photographer. If someone is going to be shooting more than a few pictures here and there, then I would like to talk to them so that we have an understanding. I do have a clause in my contract to this effect, if someone is compromising my work, I will ask that person to respect that you have paid me to do this job. Very rarely do I have to do this, and generally the only times I am concerned about this are during the ceremony if I am obstructed, and during the formals if someone stands behind me and pulls eyes from my camera. There is nothing worse than a formal portrait where half the people are looking somewhere else.

How many pictures do we get to see online and on the disk?

For a typical eight hour wedding, I usually end up with 600 images or more, sometimes quite a bit more. It really depends on what was going on during the day. I shoot much more than that because I don't have to worry about the cost of film or processing (although digital images still cost money to store and back up), and then edit down to the final batch.

Do you shoot black and white images?

I do not shoot black and white images per se, but any digital file can be converted to black and white. And many images look great in black and white. As part of the post-production process, I will convert some images into black and white, and you can also request to have certain images converted.

How do you act on the wedding day?

I am professional but I also have a good time at your wedding, which helps get better pictures. When people see me having fun, it helps them have fun too. I also have a lot of creative energy during the day, and I am always looking for unique ideas to create great pictures. The day can be stressful, with a lot of people and personalities coming together, and so I provide a calming influence, diffusing drama instead of creating it.

After the Wedding

How long does it take to get the images after the wedding?

My typical turnaround time to get all the images on my web site is one month. Sometimes it is faster, and during very busy times it can be a little longer. I do not take short cuts with the images. I give each wedding the time and effort that is required to do the best job that I can. The post-production process takes several business days of dedicated effort per wedding. My focus is on creating quality images for the entire day, not racing through the images as fast as I can. There is really no short cut to create the quality and quantity of images that I do for each wedding.

Can I put my wedding images on Facebook, MySpace, etc?

Yes, all that I ask is that you give me credit and provide a link back to my site.

Do we get copies of the digital files? Can we make prints from these files?

Yes, each of my packages includes the high resolution digital files that you can make prints from.

How do we order prints from you?

Prints can be easily ordered on the web site. Each wedding has its own page on my site, and you can scroll through the images (either the thumbnails or the larger sized versions) and add them to an "album." From there you can choose the amounts and sizes of each image, enter your credit card information, and I will then receive the order and make your prints.

What are your print prices?

My current print prices are located at the bottom of the packages page. You'll find these prices to be very reasonable, and by the way, I make my own prints because I want them to be good. So when you make a print order, it comes directly to me, and I make the prints in my office on my professional Epson printer.

What if we want an album style that you don't offer?

We can custom order an album from one of the suppliers that I work with. There are LOTS of albums out there, each one with various options in terms of sizes, colors, materials, etc. If you have a certain album in mind, we can order it.

Do you offer parents albums? What is a parents album exactly?

Yes I offer them. A parents album is typically a smaller album with fewer images than the main wedding album. A parents album for the bride's parents, for example, might focus more on the bride getting ready, the bride's side of the family, etc. A parents album could also be just a smaller version of the main wedding album as well.

Technical

How do you back up our wedding pictures?

The first thing I do is backup all of the images to one of my backup hard drives, and then make copies to DVDs. This gives me two copies of your files. As I work through the images, creating new versions of each original "RAW" file, I make periodic backups. When finished, I make another set of backups of the finished files, one to stay in my office and one to go to an off-site location.

Who makes your prints?

I make my own prints. I like the control of making my own prints; I make sure they are good. I have all of the equipment and know-how to make prints that are equal to or superior to prints that are made at professional labs, all the way up to 16x20 inches.

Who designs your albums?

I do. And I custom design every page according to the images you have chosen.

How long do you keep our wedding pictures?

There is no specific timeframe limit for my storage of your images, nor is there a timeline for how long they are on my website. In other words, there is no cutoff date by which you have to order pictures.

Do you or will you shoot film? Do you even own a film camera anymore?

Yes I can shoot film if this is something that is important to you. I still own a professional Nikon film camera! Every so often I even use it! The advantages of digital these days are such that there needs to be a good reason for shooting film. My personal preference for shooting film is using high speed black and white film because that is a unique effect that is still a little difficult to duplicate digitally.

Do you have backup equipment in case of any problems?

Yes of course, I carry backup equipment because things can break or go wrong. In addition, my assistants carry backup equipment as well. This equipment includes cameras, lenses, and flashes, as well as supplies such as batteries and flash cards.

What kind of equipment do you use?

I shoot with professional Nikon DSLRs, Nikon lenses, and Nikon flashes. My main camera is a Nikon D300 and if you are interested in this sort of thing, I'll tell you all about it when we meet.

Do you shoot RAW or JPEG?

I shoot RAW because of the increased quality and flexibility of the images. If I am doing a Wedding Day Slide Show, then I shoot RAW and JPEG simultaneously so that we can use the JPEGs for the slide show (there isn't time to process that many RAW files same day).

What kind of post-production or retouching do you typically do to the images?

I open each image in Photoshop and make various edits according to what that image needs. This may be cropping or straightening, saturating or making it black and white, sharpening and/or softening, adjusting the color, exposure, or contrast. It may be retouching the skin, removing something out of the image, or bringing in something from another image.