Hawaii awaits. Tomorrow we will be there. We’ll be keeping a website. Follow our adventures at refreshrenewexplore.com.

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$20 off mergeweddings triple preset pack!

The mergeweddings triple preset pack is on sale from Thursday, November 27 through Friday, November 28 (11:59pm EST).

The triple preset packs (ACR + LIghtroom) include more than 75 settings from the following three packs:

• the last days of summer
• black and white preset variations
• the greek presets

For two days only all three packs are on sale for $55 (regularly $75)

[ more info about the packs ]

[ flickr preset discussion group ]

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April 5, 2008 is a day that changed my life in many ways. I flew to Chicago to shoot a wedding for the first time with Anne Ruthmann. It was the first time I shot with a fisheye lens on my camera. It was revolutionary for me to work with and talk to Anne, who further convinced me to work the contact manager and calendar apps that are already integrated into my macbook. Most importantly, April 5 was the start of a valuable and inspiring friendship.

I love to see birds released at a wedding, though releasing animals can have mixed results if not handled properly. Moreen and Tommy’s parents surprised them with a dove release right after their wedding ceremony and the looks on their faces was priceless.

Moreen and Tommy, both Chicago police officers, were married at St. Mary, Star of the Sea Parish in Chicago, IL. Their reception was at Chicago Gaelic Park in Oak Forest, IL. I have a lot of random photos as the second shooter, but just wanted to show a few of my favorites here.

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Posted in for photographers, inspiration, personal 1 Comment »

Here’s another outtake from the current juxtaposition session I am proofing. How creepy!! I usually try for some different types of posing and expressions in these sessions (that’s the point of the fearless bridals) but sometimes I try a concept that just doesn’t work in any way.

(I’ll have photos from this gorgeous bride soon, and you’ll see how amazing she is!)

Sometimes other photographers ask me why I post outtakes and bloopers. They can’t imagine ever showing an image that does not meet their standards of excellence, or one that shows a client in a less than flattering way. While I agree that my responsibility is big, and making fun of the way someone looks in a photo is pretty much wrong in every way, laughing at my OWN bad posing or an in-between expression provides a wonderful relief from life’s seriousness.

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This weekend was the third and final time I will have been a wedding guest in 2008. We traveled to New York City for Jason and HyeYun. Although Jason had always said he wanted to hire me to photograph his wedding, as I predicted, in the end they chose a Korean team of photographers to document the day.

I will admit I was aghast at the aggressive style of shooting employed by the Korean photography team [observe]. Two photographers were literally onstage, walking around and getting inches from the couple during important moments of prayer, vows, and ring exchange. The principal photographer (who, incidentally looked and carried himself like a Korean soap opera star) blocked the congregants’ view of the kiss and rings, which is a personal pet peeve, and continuously followed up his very obvious photos by conspicuously checking the image on the back of his camera (we call it ‘chimping’). He even walked between the two mothers who had done the unity candle thing, almost knocking them away from the altar in their elaborate Korean dresses after they had delicately bowed to the congregation… because he suddenly noticed that the bridal party was coming into the sanctuary. In a major moment of faux pas, he stuck his camera over the shoulder of the pastor while the pastor was praying and shot close in at the bride and groom’s face. I was later told that this is a normal way for a Korean photography team to act.

This entire experience caused me to think about being a wedding photographer who was NOT asked to photograph a wedding. As part of my daily routine, I am in contact with large networks of wedding photographers. There are camps on either side of the “will you photograph your friends’ or family members’ wedding?” question (my answer is yes, I would love to… but not for free) and it is often discussed whether as a wedding photographer we would bring our gear to a wedding we attend as guests.

Some heroic individuals claim when they attend a friend’s wedding they just want to drink and dance, and maybe bring a point and shoot camera to take arms’ length selfies with their spouses. Some of us don’t even own a point-and-shoot, and would never attend a major event without camera in tow. A passionate group of individuals, few of us wedding photographers will ever admit to ego issues on the topic of our relationship to images from the wedding day.

I think it’s kind of inevitable… most of us bring our gear to weddings and think in the back of our heads that we’re going to get much better photos than the chump our friends hired, even at times we are determined to take the day off. Since photography is our life, it is natural that we would continue taking photos of our friends as usual and we want to give our photos as a wedding gift, which cloaks our real intentions. Subconsciously, we’re either offended we were not asked to shoot the wedding, or want to save the day if the hired photographer messes up or appears to be doing an inadequate job. Which of course, they always are. And thus we wedding photographers as wedding guests often ironically become our own nemesis… the friend with a camera (or ‘uncle bob’ in industry-standard terms).

I say most of the above tongue-in-cheek - my friends hired talented artists to document their day and I am confident all got beautiful images and albums. I do not presume that I am the best photographer or that everyone should hire me… also, not every wedding photographer has ego issues. My own realization and the point of laying this all out there is to share my self-discovery - I have become more astutely aware of my own ego as a wedding-photographer-turned-wedding-guest. And also more aware of my own dedication to unobtrusive wedding day coverage.

In preparing for the wedding, I decided to bring only one lens. Since I shoot with prime lenses I had to decide which focal length would suit the day adequately. I chose to bring my new 35mm lens which is a current favorite… this also meant that I lost the opportunity for tighter detail shots from far away (such as from sitting in the middle of the congregation during the ceremony). And then I took my personal challenge two steps further by bringing only a 2GB memory card, and then limiting myself to taking only 50 images throughout the entire wedding and reception (even as a guest I go into default photographer mode and usually end up shooting 500 or so on several 8gb cards!!!). I got the 50-frame idea from brilliant Vegas photographer John Michael Cooper, and I actually succeeded in limiting myself… except for blowing the image quota when they busted out the traditional Korean bowing ceremony at the end.

This wedding was a wonderful but mixed experience. As mentioned above, I did have a really difficult time watching the photography team throughout their work. My stomach was clenched and I felt a little nauseous after the ceremony - a physical reaction to the felt horrors of what I was seeing. From my perspective, the wedding threatened to become all about the photographers getting their images rather than a natural progression of traditions and community centered upon the actual covenant and the joy of the couple becoming one. The images I linked above aren’t even the worst - I was limiting myself to only take a few photos and didn’t do the in-your-face photography justice. During the reception, traditional moments were paused, posed, created. This is so different from my own candid editorial style during the course of a wedding, although I did appreciate that they were giving the couple something they obviously wanted and I could not provide (macro shots of the ring exchange, for example!).

"Wait... where are they? I can't see because there are FOUR photography people in that small room."

Limiting my own camera use was a really interesting and humbling exercise. It forced me to choose my shots carefully. One go at everyone walking up the aisle, only a few images to represent the beautifully choreographed first dance. I did in fact end up dancing with friends during the after party because I wasn’t guarding a bag full of equipment or trying to hide behind my camera.

There were a few images from the 50 that I absolutely adore. And there are 30 images I have chosen to represent the experience from a guest’s perspective. More on that in the next post.

Posted in ethnic wedding, for photographers, personal, wedding 9 Comments »

I am thrilled to finally have the official release of the first MERGEweddings preset packs! I’ve been developing these for the past six months as I go through wedding and boudoir sessions looking for artistic ways to present the imagery and make the photos pop. In particular, I’m proud of the black and white settings pack, as I have found that I can find a strong conversion for almost every photo using one of those settings.

packs

last days of summer ACR preset pack $37.00 mergeweddings black and whites ACR preset pack $24.00 the GREEK presets $20.00 all three preset packs $75.00

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER preset pack
$37 - ACR and LIGHTROOM
There are 40 of these settings! They’re fun and delightful
to experiment on finding color and light in your session images.

(click images to view larger)

MERGEWEDDINGS BLACK AND WHITES preset pack
$24 - ACR and LIGHTROOM

13 settings range from brown tones I use in boudoir work to harsh sepias
and various deepness of black and white conversions.
Settings can help even on images that are overexposed or underexposed.

BW pack sample images in all their glory here

THE GREEK PRESETS
$20 - ACR and Lightroom

I developed this preset pack on honeymoon in Greece…
when I was processing JPG photos from our time in Athens and Crete.
13 presets give some funky colorated looks to your images.

more samples of the greek presets here

ALL THREE preset packs: $75

To purchase, use the dropdown menu below (or send payment via paypal to rachel@mergeweddings.com indicating which packs you are purchasing). All packs are now available for use in lightroom or ACR. Due to the nature of the product all sales are final.

You can also check out more samples in the mergeweddings presets flickr group.

choose your preset packs…

last days of summer ACR preset pack $37.00 mergeweddings black and whites ACR preset pack $24.00 the GREEK presets $20.00 all three preset packs $75.00

Posted in for photographers 1 Comment »

Hello Photographers!

I am thrilled to finally have the official release of the first MERGEweddings preset packs! I’ve been developing these for the past six months as I go through wedding and boudoir sessions looking for artistic ways to present the imagery and make the photos pop. In particular, I’m proud of the black and white settings pack, as I have found that I can find a strong conversion for every photo using one of those settings.

Take advantage of the ‘last days of summer’ sale for the introductory rates to these charming and colorful settings and rich black and white setting options.

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER preset pack
$22 ($37) - ACR only

(click images to view larger)

MERGEWEDDINGS BLACK AND WHITES preset pack
$16 ($24) - ACR only

13 settings range from brown tones I use in boudoir work to harsh sepias
and various deepness of black and white conversions.

BW pack sample images in all their glory here

THE GREEK PRESETS
$14 ($20) - ACR and Lightroom

more samples of the greek presets here

ALL THREE preset packs are now $45 ($75)

Introductory rates are good through 09/31/08, at which point regular pricing applies.

To purchase, send payment via paypal to rachel@mergeweddings.com indicating which packs you are purchasing. Be advised that the black and white and last days of summer packs are Adobe Camera Raw only. Due to the nature of the product all sales are final.

You can check out more samples in the mergeweddings presets flickr group.

choose your preset packs…

last days of summer ACR preset pack $37.00 mergeweddings black and whites ACR preset pack $24.00 the GREEK presets $20.00 all three preset packs $75.00

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