Your questions answered

Thank you all for posting questions in my very first Q&A, and so here are my answers! These questions are so fun, I’ll probably hold another Q&A the next time a contest comes around. Also, as a result of your participation, the comment winner on August 15 gets 5 extra free prints, yay!

Emily asked: What are your top 3 photography blogs that you read and which photographers inspire you?

I can easily name a dozen blogs that I follow for various sources of inspiration, but the 3 I chose to pick below all have something that transcends beyond their photographic talent:

1. Laurence Kim Photography – He was one of the very first photography blogs I stumbled upon. He’s based in Seattle, and what really struck me was how much he was willing to share in terms of technical specs behind his photography. Now, I know that technicality is only part of the equation, but for someone just starting out, sometimes it felt like technicality is everything! Laurence gently teaches his audience that while technicality is important, it’s also just as important to be able to direct your clients and also have good editing skills. He also answered one of my e-mails when I first started out, and it felt like getting a reply from a rock star, I was so happy that there was someone out there who wasn’t so competitive that they would look down on a beginner like me! Plus, his photos are extremely natural and not over-the-top, stuff that lasts! Seattle is also difficult because the weather is unpredictable, and I always appreciate a photographer who can work in so many different settings as Boston is also finicky (there is one particular post where a bride’s veil was uncontrollable due to the wind… I can’t find it right now, but I totally loved it!).

2. bobbi+mike – If timing and money are on my side, these are the people I would hire as my wedding photographers. Based in Indianapolis, IN, Bobbi and Mike Sheridan are funny as heck, and work great as a team, they epitomize what a husband + wife wedding photography couple should be all about! They capture the right angles, are energetic, are not afraid to be whacky, and are all around just fun to follow. I looove their editing style – it’s a little more edited than most, but the way they push the colors, they know which ones to pick and which ones to leave alone, and their images are tack sharp!

3. Jasmine Star – Perhaps one of the most popular wedding photographers out there, can you believe this woman only started out a couple years ago? She’s spunky, beautiful, energetic, and writes well.. I don’t really know how she shot to fame so quickly – girl works really hard, I’m sure! – but what struck me much, much more is her genuine heart. She shares it with the world, she shares it with her clients, she shares it with the multiple people who are so enamored with the way she has achieved success… I really like photographers who bring others up. She even responded to a question I once posted. Her photos are simple and classic, but she also has the advantage of California sun! Regardless, she really makes you feel like she is talking directly to you, which is what makes her blog stand out from so many.

Alex C. asked: Do you have a “dream” camera that you’d like to have…and if so, what is it? :D

Funny that people always think that equipment makes the photo. I try to emphasize that equipment is part, but not all. In the first couple years of when I was a hobbyist, I focused most of my energy in learning how to take photographs, I held back on buying equipment and milked everything I could out of what I had – I only upgraded once I hit a technical limitation. I actually LOVE my Nikon D700, I don’t have the means to splurge on the highest-end D3 and I haven’t hit a technical limit with the D700, so I don’t need to. I wish I could have better lenses!  Some of you notice that I keep talking about my prime lenses. I love my primes (the 50mm f/1.8 and the 85mm f/1.4), I shoot with them 80% of the time while I’m saving up for the higher-end zooms (the 24-70, 70-200, and a 35mm, and I wouldn’t mind adding another D700 body). So the final answer is… I have dream lenses, not dream cameras

Casey asked: Your photos are so vivid – do you like shooting in black and white as well? What is your favorite?

I work digital, so shooting in black and white is actually a post-processing Photoshop conversion rather than a film choice. However, there are certain shots that I frame in my mind when I take them that I already know might end up as black and white. This includes a lot of silhouette shots. Other shots I often like to turn black and white are where the background is not too busy, or where the composition lends itself to a more classical artistic expression. I think that black and white is a wonderful medium, but my style tends to be much more about color!

Elizabeth asked: How do you capture the unique personality traits of the people you photograph?

Haha, funny that you should ask this question =P I think one of the key things about being a photographer – or a service person in any industry – is the ability to communicate and also quickly detect the personality and needs of their clients, and this means doing a lot of upfront work!

I think I got a lot of really good training through my full-time consultant job on this – we have demanding clients all the time, we need to ramp up quickly on their needs and issues, and we need to do so with professional integrity and a strong presence [i.e. if I actually have no clue what the project is on, I still better sound like I know what I'm saying or at least I'm asking educated questions!]. I also often have to conduct interviews with industry experts in various markets where I have no real academic background (plastics manufacturing? women’s hair wigs? prostate cancer vaccines? airline maintenance repair? yeah, my economics major toootally helps with that…)

Translated to my photography business, this means learning who my clients are upfront either through in-person or over-phone meetings. I do a lot of research and I write down a lot of notes – not because I am a stalker or anything, but because I truly care about what they care about. If they share their blogs or websites with me, I go to every page and read it! I look at past photos of couples to see how they naturally appear. Then during a photo session, I get chatty! I try to talk to you not because I like hearing myself talk (ok, maybe I do), but because I want to make you comfortable and get to know you during our time together. From our conversation I can understand quickly how you think, what makes you happy, and from the first couple of frames, I can start seeing how the couple likes to be photographed and how they like to hold one another, and I work off of that.

Karen asked, I love seeing your pictures and recognizing certain places in Boston and Cambridge. Is there a place where you haven’t photographed yet that you really want do a photo shoot? Btw, your pictures are amazing and looking at them is such a great way to procrastinate. :)

Thanks Karen for your nice words! And yes, there are tons, TOOOONS of places I’d like to take photos but haven’t had the chance to do some. Some of them are specific locations: Land’s End in Hingham, DeCordova Museum, Mt. Auburn cemetery, some architectural places around the Boston University and Boston College campus (*cough* senior shoots, that means you!), town centers of suburban towns – Lexington, Concord. Some locations are more conceptual – farms with old paint-peeling barn doors; urban streets with multi-colored doorways (surprisingly, I think the area near Cambridgeside Galleria works well for this); big, wide fields with nothing obscuring the background (Midwest); beach dunes with wavy beach grass (Cape Cod); cute family homes with brightly painted walls and graphic furniture. These places would need some driving around to discover, which I don’t currently have the luxury of doing, but maybe in the future!

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