Tomorrow, June 4th 2011, I have the honor and privilege of photographing the wedding of Katelyn & Lucas at Carahills II in Galloway.

I’ve known this lovely couple for almost a year now, since they first came to the studio to book their wedding photography with me, and I’m thrilled that their romantic and exciting wedding day has arrived at last!

I’m writing this just before I head out to their wedding rehearsal, but will add more over the next couple of days, with some sneak peaks etc.

In the meantime, I wish Katelyn and Lucas a very happy wedding day (looks like it is going to be a scorcher!) and a lifetime of happiness together!

The planning is all finished, the romantic engagement portraits and elegant bridal portraits have been captured, and the wedding day has finally come and gone… Congratulations to you both, now husband and wife! There’s only one thing left to do now, and that’s to decide what we’re going to do with all those amazing photographs!

So, What To Do With All Those Images?

A great question! Of the many hundreds of photographs created for you before, during and after your wedding, how will you ever decide which ones to include in your finished wedding book? Which images will make it to your living room wall as treasured display portraits? What to do with the rest?

Fortunately, that’s precisely what I’m here for!

Custom Wedding Book Design

Many wedding photographers, particularly the less expensive ones, tend not to include a finished wedding album in their bridal collections. Sometimes this is to keep the starting cost of their wedding photography services down, or even because they feel intimidated by the process of producing a wedding book. Some photographers just don’t want to get involved in designing an album, preferring instead to supply the images on a CD and move on to the next client, which I feel is a both a shame and a disservice to the bride and groom.

I firmly believe that no wedding photography collection is complete without a finished wedding book, which is why all of my collections include at least one custom-designed album. In fact, it’s the whole point of photographing your wedding!

Great Photography Meets Art & Design

So what goes into producing a great wedding book that you and your family will treasure for a lifetime?

Help! I need to clear out the studio to make way for my new spring and summer photography samples, but my walls are covered in paintings!

As most of you know, in addition to being a dedicated wedding photographer, I’m also an abstract expressionist artist. However, I need to clear out my extensive collection of original acrylic paintings to make way for new photography samples.

To do that, and because I want to clear these out quickly, I’m having a sale of up to 75% off all of my artwork! The prices on these one-of-a-kind pieces will not be repeated, so NOW is the time to grab a great bargain for your home or office!

You can download a copy of my sale sheet, and please feel free to visit the studio to view the artwork in person or to make a purchase. Here are my opening times for this week:

• Monday – Wednesday: 10am to 4pm
• Thursday & Sunday: Closed
• Friday: 10am to 4pm
• Saturday: 11am to 3pm

Because these artworks are sure to sell quickly, I advise you to call the studio in advance at (901) 465-6393 if there is a specific piece you are particularly interested in purchasing.

Calling CLASS OF 2012 SENIORS – you can call me crazy but here it is, something new and really special for High School Seniors!

Now, I’m only accepting 50 seniors for the class of 2012, but here’s the deal: I am offering the first 10 seniors a $195 gift card.

Simply call the studio and I’ll mail you this $195 gift card.

If I photograph you between February and June 2011, you can use it on your session fees and finished portraits!

This is unheard of! $195 FREE for the taking!

So call the studio at 465-6393 for details. TEN calls only and then the offer ends. No strings attached and no fine print.

Don’t wait until they are all GONE!

After all the anticipation of the last few days, the snow is finally here! Memphis and the Mid-South saw a good snowfall last night, with up to 8 inches in many places. For many, this is a welcome day off to spend at home to enjoy family, friends and, of course, the snow!

The first thing many of us will do today is to grab a camera and start taking photos of all the white stuff out there, our pets, kids and the landscape!

So I thought I would offer a few tips to help make your snow photos come out a little better!

Tip #1  – Overexpose the photograph

Because your camera has no idea at all of what you’re pointing your lens at, the camera’s light meter is set to record everything as a middle shade of gray. Of course, snow is white, so if we let the camera take the photo automatically, we’ll wind up with gray snow.

If your camera allows you to, set the exposure compensation to +1 f/stop or more if needed. This will return the color of the snow to white. You’ll need to experiment a little to find the proper setting.

If you can’t adjust the exposure on the camera, then the next best thing is to use your photo editing software to increase the brightness.

Little known fact: the shadows on snow when it’s sunny are purple in color.

Tip #2 – Look for interesting contrasts

Photographs rely on contrast in tone and color to be truly effective, so look for darker subjects on a lighter background, or eye-popping colors. This is one situation where really bold colors can be extremely effective!

Tip #3 – Photograph from a low angle

If you’re photographing your kids or dogs outside in the snow, it’s a good idea to kneel down to get almost on their level. You’ll have a great perspective and also be able to separate them from the background.

Tip #4 – Make use of dramatic shadows

If the sun is shining, then look for those places where shadows are cast on the ground from trees, hills, buildings etc. These can make for interesting elements to include in a landscape photograph.

Tip #5 – Freeze the action

The brightness of the overall scene when photographing snow outdoors allows us to use faster shutter speeds. This means we can freeze the action of a snowball fight or the kids sledding down a hill.

Tip #6 – Use the setting sun as a backlight

At the end of the day, if it’s clear, the sun might have a beautiful orange glow to it that adds a great feeling and atmosphere to landscape or still life images. The shadows in these photographs will be a deep purple, contrasting with the complementary color of orange in the sunset.

Tip #7 – Use a flash

Don’t be afraid to add some flash to your snow photographs, especially when photographing people or pets. The flash will help to overcome make sure the subject is properly exposed, preventing people’s faces from being too dark for example.

Tip #8 – Remember that snow is water

A quick safety tip – remember that snow is water and that cameras and water do not mix well at all. Be sure to keep your camera dry and free from snow at all times. This is especially true for flashguns, which can be a danger if they get wet, not to mention that they might suffer irreparable damage. So, please don’t throw snowballs at someone with a camera!

I hope these brief tips help you get the best from our lovely snowy days! Have fun and please take the time to share your snow photos on our Facebook Fan Page – we’d love to see them!

Although you wouldn’t think so from being outside right now, the start of our long engagement portrait season is only just around the corner, and it promises to be especially fun this year with all the great couples who got engaged over Christmas and the New Year.

One of the questions I get asked quite often is “What should we wear for our engagement photos?” So, I thought I’d post a few suggestions and ideas as a guideline.

This is probably the first time you will work with a professional photographer together, as a couple, which can be a little daunting at first, but if you approach it the way I do, which is to have FUN, then you’ll get a lot out of it! Ensuring that you both wear the most appropriate clothing will guarantee that you both look awesome in your portraits.

#1 – Enhance Your Personality

One of the most important goals for your engagement portraits is that you both look natural, allowing your true personalities to shine in the images. One way to achieve this is to make sure that you both wear clothing styles that are naturally “you”. This is not the time to experiment with radical changes in your preferred style of clothes.

#2 – Be Comfortable

Another way to ensure a natural look in the finished engagement portraits is to choose clothes that are comfortable. You can plan on working with me on your session for at least 2 hours, so you’ll feel much better if your clothes (especially footwear) feel good and are comfortable to wear!

If you feel comfortable then this will show in the photographs, giving a much more natural and relaxed look to the portraits. You will also want to avoid wearing tight clothing, which can be restrictive or make you appear too big for your clothes.

#3 – Bring Comfortable Shoes

There will often be a significant amount of walking as we move from one location to another, for example at the Botanic Gardens, so it helps to wear comfortable shoes. I would suggest that you bring along a comfy pair of sneakers that you can slip on between scenes that will help with walking around.

#4 – Solid Colors Work Best

The main focus of a portrait should be the faces of the subjects, and patterned clothing can detract from the faces by competing for the viewer’s attention. Therefore, solid colors are preferred, although subtle patterns are also okay.

#5 – Don’t Clash Colors

Choose your clothing together, and work with each other coordinate what you plan to wear so that the colors your pick don’t clash with each other. Muted colors, earth tones and pastels are usually better than bold or primary colors in this regard.

#6 – Clothing Appropriate To The Location

Think about the location where your session will take place, and try to choose clothes that are appropriate to that place. My engagement portraits are almost all taken outdoors, and we’ll choose the location together to find a place that suits you both best. Just be sure to consider where we’re going as a part of your clothing decision making.

#7 – Timeless Apparel

Avoiding clothes that are too much in the line of the “fashion trend” can make sure your portraits are as adorable in twenty years time as they are today. Nothing dates a photograph more than the trendy clothes of the period.

#8 – Stay With Your Normal Hair And Makeup

It’s tempting to get a complete make-over before your engagement portraits, but be careful not to be too extreme! If you wind up with a hairdo that you don’t like, you’re going to be stuck with it for some time, and you won’t want your engagement portraits to perpetuate it forever! The same thing goes for makeup too – just wear what you normally would if you were going our for a formal evening and remember that, sometimes, less can be more.

Your engagement portraits are very important and I take them seriously – although having fun on the day is mandatory too. These photographs will be used in your wedding books, or as wall portraits, even announcement cards, so it’s well worth the effort to spend some time to ensure they will be priceless for a lifetime.

If you haven’t scheduled your engagement session or wedding with me yet, then hurry, time is running out! I am only taking on 20 weddings for 2011, so what are you waiting for? Call me at the studio TODAY at (901 465 6393) and we can have a friendly chat about your exciting wedding plans!

My work as a photographer is one of the most rewarding jobs I can imagine, and I’m so lucky to have a job that I love so much; I really wouldn’t exchange it for anything else. My motto, as you know, is “Images Inspired By You…” and, for 2011 I’ve decided to take “inspiration” as my adopted theme – a year to be inspired, as it were.

To get this started, I decided to pose a simple question, “Who inspires you?”

Tokens Of Inspiration - Who Inspires You?

Who Am I Inspired By?

It wouldn’t be fair of me to ask the question of others without being prepared to give an answer myself. There have been many people throughout the course of my life who have been an inspiration to me; some of them friends or family, some of them people whom I’ve never met. First on the list would have to be my parents who taught me the value of knowing there’s little we can’t achieve if we truly put our heart and soul into it. My grandfather, Bill Gittings, was another great influence in my younger days, instilling a love of science, nature and art that has served me very well in all of my endeavors. Charles Lewis, my photography mentor, inspires me to be a better photographer and business-person, and I also look to other entrepreneurs, explorers and leaders for inspiration: Sir Richard Branson, Robert Ballard, Buzz Aldrin, Simon Sinek (from whom I borrowed the title of this post). Then there’s Kathy, my wife, who has been behind me 100% through the difficult times of developing and running a photography business – her faith in me alone is an inspiration in itself…

Who Inspires You?

Share your stories, and let us know who inspires you to be who you are today! Let’s make 2011 a year to celebrate those who inspire others. You can leave a comment here on this page, add one to the Facebook comment box, or both. Don’t be shy, and please share this page with others so that we can spread a message of hope and a positive outlook for the coming year!

I am thrilled to support the efforts of this amazing orchestra, brought together by founder and conductor, Mr. William Langley, and last night’s concert was another wonderful opportunity to experience another great concert.

Although the orchestra has been together for only a couple of years, they sound every bit as professional and polished as any other orchestral ensemble. Their performances are amazing and a thrill to experience, under the expert conducting of Mr. Langley.

The Wolf River Chamber Orchestra

I think last night’s performance was probably the best I’ve seen so far, and it was a real pleasure for me to capture a few images of the players and the orchestra as they played selections from Pablo de Sarasate and Georges Bizet.

Well done to everyone involved and, if you missed out on this one, be sure to get to the next concert for a great evening of musical entertainment.

Today, November 20^th 2010, I had the wonderful pleasure and privilege to photograph the wonderful wedding of Tenee’ and Brandon in Middleton TN. I’ve been looking forward to this wedding now for several months and it’s finally here!

My sincerest congratulations to you both on your marriage and I wish you all the happiness in the world for a lifetime of happiness together! It has been so much fun working with you (actually, it never felt like “work” at all), and I’m very proud to consider you all as part of my extended family.

There were so many great photos from the wedding and I’m really looking forward to diving right in to edit and produce a romantic wedding book from them. In the meantime, here are a few sneak peek photos that I just couldn’t resist posting here! Hope you enjoy them.

A sample of photographs from Tenee' and Brandon's wedding

By the way, if anyone is considering ordering prints from the wedding photos, they should be online within the next week, and I can hardly wait for you all to see them!

If you would like to be notified when they’re available, please leave me a nice comment below about the wedding photos. Include your email address (it won’t be published or shared), and I’ll personally email you when the photos are available.

What can I say? Wow , it has been a real thrill to work with Tenee’ and Brandon on their wedding, and I especially enjoyed spending time with Tenee’, her mom and sisters at the Memphis Botanic Gardens to create a treasured set of bridal portraits in preparation for the wedding.

I am particularly pleased with how these turned out, but that’s all down to working with someone who is naturally fun and creative. We had a perfect day, with great weather and a wonderful atmosphere of excitement to work in. These were all taken in the tranquil surroundings of the Japanese Garden , one of the most picturesque areas of the botanic gardens with a wide variety of backdrops.

There were so many photographs to choose from, but these are some of my personal favorites from the session.

Tenee's bridal portraits taken at the Memphis Botanic Gardens in the Japanese garden

Of course, the bridal portrait session is one of my signature offerings, being an integral part of all of my wedding collections. In my opinion, it is one of the most important aspects of the wedding and deserves to have its own day dedicated purely to capturing those once-in-a-lifetime images. After all, having spent so much time and effort to select just the right dress, it makes sense to pull all the stops out to create the best bridal portraits we can, right?

For more information on my exclusive wedding and bridal photography services visit the wedding photography pages of the web site.