I remember one large wedding I was hired to do several years ago in Savannah, GA. The bride was in tears because the groom was about an hour late and her make-up was beginning to run a little!! Top that off, the pastor was becoming irritated. I sent my lady assistant to go get our make-up kit (yes, I carry a make-up kit) and be prepared to touch her up once her face is dry and she was sparkling again.

Finally, the groom arrived and he and several associates were rushing into the dressing area along with the tuxedos for the 12 groomsmen. Now, here we go; none of the tux were fitted correctly! None! OMG, the panic, mayhem and phone conversation the groom was having with the tuxedo renter. Those words I will not reveal here. I informed my 2nd assistant to inform the bride and pastor that the groom has arrived and he’ll be ready soon. Where was the wedding coordinator? M.I.A. when the panic started an hour earlier.

I sent one of my assistants to the suburban for the sewing kit (yes, we always carry a sewing kit). I had all of the groomsmen to swap outfits that would closely match another groomsman. We then began to rip seams, nip and tuck wherever possible. I had pretty much decided that few wedding images would have any images below the ankle photographed. We would work the 2/3 zone with most images a groomsman was photographed in. Why? Although we managed to get everyone fitted, not all pants were of the proper length.  In addition, the bride’s make-up was re-applied by her sister using our kit.

The wedding was a bridal success and the reception was full of laughs about the pre-wedding panics. The entire wedding party showed Jazzyshots Photographer’s much love for our part in helping out. We sold many great images, soft cover books and single images to the wedding party members and others that attended. That would not have been possible if the wedding had ended in a tragedy. Today the family and party members continue to send friends and family in our direction for their special events.

I have more than a dozen of these stories I can write about, but I’ll save it for my “Wedding Photographer’s Novel” I dream of publishing one. Maybe, this blog could serve as the starting point for that book (LOL). But, seriously, as a wedding photographer, you have to be ready to assist where you can as long as it does not cause you to miss those all important “must’ images. Why should you keep your eyes open for opportunities for failure? So you can notify the right person and if all else fails, make it right yourself. Can you imagine trying to sell images, beyond the orignal agreed sets to newlyweds of panicked, miserable or sad faces? Although, not our fault as photographers, the chances are good that we cannot call this another successful wedding because the images are not loved and no new referrals are being sent our way, all because we failed to be “More Than Just The Wedding Photographer.”

The Big Picture

Had a great model session recently with one of my favorites, Thereza Santelics and a newby to Jazzyshots; Melanie Agcaoili. We decided to make a full venture of this session by doing outside portraits, studio fashion and urban wear. This session required two photography assistants, a stylist and makeover artist.

The session was close to three hours, which included three dress changes and three makeovers, a lot of giggling and goofing off and some great ideas being developed by all of us. I made several lighting changes to reflect what I was envisioning. The session worked with only two studio backgrounds; white and black, and a few studio props. Changing the lighting around became somewhat of a challenge, as I had to continuously light check.  A few times I also pushed the ISO and caused some yellow hues to blend from a general top light into some of the images, ugh.  that was not noticed until their last dress change; ugh!! I did compensate accordingly during the next set, the previous 40 or 50 images, photoshop became king again (LOL).

In the end, we had a great Jazzyshots Photography model session. I cannot believe that after nearly 3.5 hours of shooting and changing that Theresa was not ready to wrap it up; LOL. I guess that’s why she is one of best; always ready and motivated.

Thereza and melanie; Jazzyshots AngelsThereza of Jazzyshots Photography

My first blog post is about the world’s easiest model; my uncle Willie. I was looking for a subject that defined strength, loyalty and no-non-sense. I was looking for a look of distnguishment, intelligence and strength. I doing something around the house and ran by one of the images we had taken together and “BAM” I knew my subject. So, I called him up and said ‘Hey Unk! I need you to be my model for my exercise session. what’s up?” he, replied, “hell yeah, no problem nephew; what you want me to wear?” I asked him to keep it simple and nothing fancy, I want the real him and he was glad to hear that because he didn’t want to try to get fancy, LOL. We had a great session in the urban streets of Augusta, GA and completed the session in less than an hour including set-up and break down. He was almost flawless because he was a natural. The more he jived talked and laughed the better the images became. We had a great time, I got some great images and I hope we can do it again in 2012. Thanks uncle Willie.