Wedding Withdrawal

I am so excited for the wedding season to get started! I feel as if I am having withdrawal not having had a wedding to photograph since New Year's Eve. Although this is the time of year that newly engaged couples are booking their photographers so I am very busy with that aspect of the business, but nothing beats being busy photographing weddings. In a previous post of one of my favorite images of the year I stated that the picture was actually from a series of pictures...well this is that series. I can't wait for my first wedding this year:)

A Visit to the Citadel

Almost every Friday at the Citadel, there is a parade on campus and cadets are reviewed and inspected. It was finally a warm and sunny day here in Charleston so we got to the Citadel early and wandered around the campus before the scehduled parade. In the center of campus there is a huge field were the parade takes place and at 3:45 the cadets march out of their barracks. Unfortunately for most of the 45 minutes the cadets were standing at the opposite end of the field from where we were sitting, so it was hard to get good pictures of them. At the end of the ceremony they marched in front of the stands so each unit could be inspected by the 2 officers that are seen here. This was the best opportunity to get some close-up shots of the cadets. It was an interesting event and I really enjoyed the band which had bagpipes.

Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Today we decided to drive outside of Charleston and visit a historic plantation. There are three in the same vicinity so we chose the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/. While the tour of the plantation home was very good and the grounds were beautiful with the camelia's in bloom, I do not think it was worth the $21 per person to get in (and that didn't cover everything). We chose to just access the grounds and have a tour of the house, but there is also an Audubon park there and a nature tour which cost extra. I'm glad we went, but I don't think we will visit the other plantations.

Charleston, South Carolina

Brendan and I are taking a much needed vacation and spending a week in Charleston, South Carolina. Unfortunately the weather has been somewhat overcast with periodic rain showers, but this afternoon was beautiful, sunny and warm. This is such a beautiful city with lots of historic sites to visit. Just wandering the streets and looking at all the old houses is fun. As we walking around the exploring the city, Brendan pointed out this black cat, who was justing sitting in the driveway of one of those beautiful homes that I wished I owned:) This cat reminds me of my cat Magpie who disappeared about 4 years ago. I love black cats and Magpie was a great cat, but a bit of an explorer and I think on one of those explorations got himself into trouble. I do miss him, but we now have a new cat, London, who is a Maine Coon Cat and the most affectionate cat I have ever owned. I am sure he is very mad at us right now as he is sitting in a kennel, while we are having fun in Charleston!

A look back at the wedding season - 10.8.2005

This is one of my favorite images from the year. It was taken right after the ceremony and is actually part of a series of images that I captured. Cortney and John got married at the Asticou Inn in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Cortney and I had never met before their wedding day. We spoke on the phone and emailed each other a lot before the wedding day so I could get an idea of what she really wanted in her photographs. The inn was located just outside of Acadia National Park right on the harbor and had beautiful gardens overlooking the harbor, so Cortney really wanted a lot of pictures outside which I was really excited to do. Unfortunately it rained the day of their wedding, and not just any rain...it poured buckets:( As I was driving to the inn, all I could think about was how she was taking the weather situation and hoping she wasn't too disappointed. I arrived to a beautiful, smiling bride, who was just ecstatic to be getting married and didn't let the weather bother her at all. The interior of the inn was beautiful so we were able to get some wonderful images inside. I even went out in the pouring rain to capture this image. The DJ, Dana Wilson of Bangor, Maine, was kind enough to hold the umbrella for me:)
After the wedding and I mailed them their pictures, I received a very nice thank you note from Cortney...."Jennifer, We are thrilled with your work. I feel so glad that I chose you as our photographer. The pictures are just amazing and I really didn't even know you were there taking them. We all thought you were very nice and we're very satisfied."

Congratulations Cortney & John!

A look back at the wedding season - 10.1.2005

Diane and Ron got married at the Alvirne Chapel in Hudson, New Hampshire. The couple was uncomfortable signing my model release agreement so I unfortunately I cannot post any images from the wedding day. I thought this was the most beautiful church (although the interior was VERY dark), so today I went out and took some pictures of the church after the huge nor'easter we just had.

Photoshop Actions

I found this great site where you can download a ton of Photoshop Actions to create some really unusual and creative images. The site is http://www.atncentral.com/ In this image I used the Midnight Sepia action, which I think gives it a dreamy and mysterious look. I have been testing some of these actions on different images and it really takes the right image for certain actions to look good. This is the original image before the action and cropping.

I actually like both images and the original image looks really good in b&w.

Advertising

This year I decided to advertise in Modern Bride Boston which was a big commitment. Advertising in magazines is much more expensive than on the Internet, but I thought it would be worth it. Besides advertising in the magazine throughout 2006, I also receive online advertising on www.modernbride.com, www.elegantbride.com, and www.brides.com. These are great sites to look for vendors and they also provide lots of wedding planning advice.

I had to submit my ad in September for publication this year and of course I really liked it when I originally sbumitted it, but now I that I see it in print, it really needs some work. I thought it looked great on its own, but when you put it in the magazine it looks so different when it is next to other ads. I think the pictures need to be bigger for more impact and the JS is too big. Next year if I decide to stay with this advertising I will rework the design.

A look back at the wedding season - 9.24.2005

Sarah and Ken got married on a bright, sunny day at New England Outdoor Center's Twin Pine Camps on Millinocket Lake, which overlooks Mt. Katahdin. The site is located in northern Maine so by the end of September autumn is beginning to set in, so the day was cool and windy. I caught this picture after we finished the formals and all their guests had headed to the reception... a few quiet moments to enjoy each other.

Wedding Albums

For the past few months I have been doing a lot of research on wedding albums and looking at different companies to add to my packages. My main focus was on finding a company that offered coffee table style albums. I already offer Renaissance Albums, which are traditional matted albums.

I have been hesitant to offer flush mount albums as I would think they are not as durable as coffee table albums or the traditional albums. Flush mount albums can look very similar to coffee table albums but the photos are printed and then adhered to the pages. I am worried that with no protections on the edges and corners, flipping the pages might cause some wear on the album and damage to the prints.

After much research I settled on AsukaBook and I just finished my studio sample and sent it to them for printing and binding and I can't wait to get it back. I love designing these albums, they really tell the story of the wedding day. These are some of the pages I designed.

A look back at the wedding season - 9.17.2005

Well it's time to get back to looking back at some of my favorite pictures from last year's weddings. Alex and Kelly got married at the Norumbega Inn in Camden, Maine. It was a beautiful location right on the coast, unfortunately it was a rainy day. A light rain fell throughout the ceremony, but cleared just in time to get some formal photographs outside. I love this shot taken immediately after the ceremony. Kelly's glow and beautiful smile made this a great shot.

Bigfolio

I just finished making a slideshow presentation on www.bigfolio.com and then adding it to my website www.jstonephotography.com/featuredwedding.htm. It was so easy to use and I really thinks it adds a nice presentation to my website. They have 3 templates to choose from and you can use up to 20 images with transitions, add music and use different colors to personalize the site. When I put the show together I did not realize you could actually embed the show in your website, I thought I was going to have to link to it, so I'm really excited about that feature.

I have now updated my site with the bigfolio slideshow from a Katie & Patrick's wedding on New Year's Eve. I've also added some more pictures on the different pages and I decided to put my pricing on it, to make it easier for couples who are doing their initial research for photographers.