Going In and Out of Photography

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography Tagged digital photography, documentary photography, Europe, fine art photography, Houston, philosophy, photojournalism, slides, wedding |

Bad Wedding Photographs are Everywhere

October 8, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

someone's bad wedding photograph

I have to say that I just don’t get it. Everywhere that I look I see it. There it is in plain sight for anyone to see. Don’t people notice? Don’t people care? I am talking about bad wedding photographs. I do not understand why wedding photography has become like that old joke about people who can’t do anything, teach. And people who can’t teach, teach gym. Well it seems that we have come to the point where people who can’t photograph very well, and are not willing to learn to improve their skills, photograph weddings. I think that I get the most upset about bad photography when it comes to weddings because a wedding is such a special and important event. Those photographs are your lifetime memory of the event. People only get one shot (not pun intended) at it. If someone hires a poor photography then they are stuck with poor images. You can read more about this in my post ‘Mediocre is Unacceptable.’ If you could buy one car for say $15,000 an another more reliable, better looking, lower maintenance, longer lasting model for $25,000 would you go for the cheaper one just because it is cheaper? If you think that there is no difference you should read my post about ‘Why Wedding Photograph are so Important.’ These unskilled photographers are cheating their clients. They are willfully deceiving them just to make some money. And that stinks for everyone.

Unfortunately anyone with a camera can have some business cards printed, created a poor website, and they are instantly a wedding photographer. What about knowledge and skill? What about years of practice and specialization in wedding photography? Why does everyone think that it is so easy? Wedding photography is actually one of the most difficult photographic areas around, and I have done many types of photography including corporate/industrial location work with high ranking executives and high pressure deadlines. Wedding moments happen in a fraction of a second. You have to know what you are doing, have the right equipment, and the right knowledge to get those great photographic moments. Then you have to have an artistic aesthetic to make them look great, with great lighting, mood, emotion, and composition. That is why I am a fine art wedding photographer. I have many years of photographic experience. I know what I am doing. I have insurance. I have professional level photographic equipment, way too much of it, including backup systems to cover any malfunctions or problems during the wedding day. I take the time to get to know my clients, their likes and desires, and I deliver a custom fine art wedding album of the highest quality along with fine art wall prints. You can’t just hire a photographer because you want to save money, or you like them. Look at their work. No, really look at it. People can tell a good photograph from a bad one? I hope they can.

I am a real photographer and I am not ashamed to say it. I am getting tired of all of those wanna be’s entering the wedding market. They are land mines just waiting to explode during some wedding ceremony and you will have lovely blurry, crappy images to cherish for the rest of your life. Hiring the wrong wedding photographer is a big mistake. Spend the money and get a competent wedding photographers! I do not know how much more I can keep saying it and shouting it to the rafters. I am tired of all of those lame photographers out there. Go away and stop cheating your clients!

For more advice on how to hire the perfect wedding photographer you can read my post ‘Hiring the Perfect Wedding Photographer.’

Posted in digital photogarphy, philosophy, photography, Uncategorized, wedding photography Tagged bad, bad photograph, lame, lame photograph, wedding, wedding photography |

Photography Technology, More or Less?

September 5, 2011 by gmiller | 1 Comment

old meets new in photography

Photography, like many other things, is very linked to technology. From the start, because photography was more of a scientific instrument, it was linked to the technology of the day. As technology changed from metal plates and paper coated with light sensitive silver salts, to flexible acetate film, to now digital sensor based cameras, photography has joined right along. Now, as we are firmly in the digital phase of photography, that technology is ever changing. It seems that even other week a new camera comes out. At first it was just smaller packages or more megapixels, or both. Then is was the addition of high definition video capabilities that showed up first in the Canon 5D Mark II camera. This one small event has had a very dramatic effect on the photography industry and we will see more and more video come into play in both the commercial photography and the consumer photography world. This one technology could forever change the balance or the medium. Photography has remained mostly a still-based medium. I know that there have been movies around for a hundred years, but the division between a moviemaker, a filmmaker, and a photographer has always been distinct. Now, those lines are really blurring. Just look at people like Vincent Laforet or Philip Bloom. Both of these guys have fully embraced the HD video DSLR technology and have really pushed into new visual territory.

In my field, wedding photography, I am seeing more cinematic video pieces like those from Joe Simon. Joe produces beautiful, artful work that I really love. The days of boring wedding videos with ugly lighting and a full on documentary style are falling to the new aesthetic produced by the DSLR cameras. At Red Photo we have begun producing fusion video pieces. This is where we take stills, video, audio, and music from the wedding ceremony and reception and combine them into a multimedia presentation. It is a hybrid of the current technologies of still photography and videography. So once again the technology link of photography is pushing us into new creative territory.

There are many people, professional photographers and videographers, who fear the change in the medium. It was the same way 170 years ago when photography came onto the scene in 1839. Prior to the invention of photography if you wanted a portrait or an image of your town, you had to hire a skilled artist to paint it. Photography changed this overnight and many artists were afraid that photography would cause the death of art. If anything, it actually helped free up art and lead to Impressionism, my favor style of art. Artists were no longer confined to realism. Photography could capture realism better than they could. Many classical artists moved on with the shift in the media and benefited from it. Many did not move on and they faded away.

In the end we have to remember that it is not the technology that we cherish in a wedding photograph. We reward the vision, the art, and the creativity, and hopefully, no technology will ever replace that. That is where artists are unique and should continue to grow. This is where being a fine art wedding photography is more about passion and vision and less about technology and toys.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography Tagged digital photography, film, HD, HD video, impressionism, Joe Simon, Philip Bloom, technology, Vincent Laforet, wedding photography |

The Neverending Journey of Photography

September 5, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

the neverending highway

I have been photographing since I was a kid. Like many photographers it was just something that I fell into during my curious childhood. There wasn’t a specific reason or person or incident that I can recall that sparked my interest. I have always been creative and photography was just another form of creative expression for me. I went through many different phases beginning with landscape, then more abstract, like Pete Turner or Jay Maisel, documentary, commercial, black and white, fine art and now fine art wedding photography. Each phase has taught me something about the world and about myself as an artist. I never consciously moved from one phase to another but rather I just drifted into it. I let my creative part guide me all of the time.

For me photography is a neverending journey. To many people that does not seem like something that would attract them to it but rather something that would deter them. Many people cannot start something unless they can see a firm goal in mind. They want to know when we are going to arrive at our destination and in the process they forget that the journey is much more important than the destination. Now I am not advocating being goalless, aimless, some kind of new age artist that is riding the wave of life man. I lived in California for five years and I have seen many of those people. While I admire their free lifestyle I never saw them going anywhere except in circles. Photography attracted me, still does, because there is no end in site. There is always something else to learn, another photographer or artist to study, another level that you can take your skills to, another whatever. There is always another challenge. You can read more of my thoughts on this in my post ‘Never Stop Learning No Matter What.’ One of mentors/teachers in graduate school, Jim Wood, used to remind us that every time that someone goes to the gym they don’t use the same weights over and over again. Hopefully they get better, stronger, more in shape, then they have to increase the weights or something else to continue to stress the body and to grow. There are too many lazy photographers out there who reach a level of complacency and then they stop growing. They have lost their passion for photography and then it just becomes another job. Well that is not for me. The day that I am totally satisfied with my work, or I lose my passion, or I stop growing, is the day that I will stop photographing. And if I have my way that will never happen.

I encourage all artists to continue their journeys and enjoy the challenges that are presented to them along the way. There are many reasons why I now do wedding photography. I want to help couples capture those special memories of the day to keep forever. But I also do it for the challenge, because it makes me grow as an artist and as a photographer.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography Tagged fine art, fine art photography, houston wedding photographers, Jay Maisel, Pete Turner, tutorial |

Respect the Past, Create the Future

September 2, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

fine art photograph from an amusement park

Photographing wedding always reminds me how important our memories are to us and our family. We need to make sure that these are preserved and I prefer to do that with fine art wedding photography for my clients. I have written before about how important wedding photographs are, for keepsakes, for lifelong memories, for respect of our family members. You can read more about this in my post ‘Why Wedding Photographs are so Important.’ That is one of the reasons why I really prefer to deliver custom designed wedding albums to my clients. They are tangible, physical, you can feel them, touch the leather. They are an integral part of the fine art process for me. There are so many more cameras around now, even in phones, and so many more casual pictures are being taken by everyone. But these digital images are becoming very temporary. They are easy to work with, post online, email to friends, but they are also easy to loose. I talk about this in great length in my post ‘Back Up or Be Sorry‘ because most people are not archiving these images. Even professional photographers, and so called ‘professionals’, are either not backing up their images or not backing them up properly.

So all of your digital photographs, your memories of fun times and historical records, could be lost, misplaced, killed by a virus, etc, in a fraction of a second. At least in the film and print days you had the prints. Who is going to find a box of CD’s or DVD’s in an attic twenty or thirty years from now? And if you did will you even be able to read that disk? Maybe you left all of your images on your high tech laptop. But twenty years from now is someone going to be able to boot that thing up and actually work with it? Chances are no.

We are living in a very disposable society where technology has made things easier, but there is always a price to pay. We need to protect our memories, our images, and our past. They will help up create the future. I love looking through old family photographs , finding those albums that my parents or grandparents kept. I cherish old wedding albums. What will the experience be like for us in the future? We really need to think about that now.

One of the most importance functions of photography is historical record. It is the main way that we know what things, people, buildings, places, looked like. It will always serve in that role unless we let it slip away. The image above is from the Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park in Chattanooga, TN. It is eighty-six years old. That is history that we want to preserve.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography Tagged amusement park, digital photography, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding |

Jessica and Antonio’s Amazing Houston Wedding

August 31, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

bride and her father on their way to the wedding ceremony

fine art wedding dress photograph

groom preparing for the wedding ceremony

a make up session for the bride before the wedding ceremony

We have been working with Jessica and Antonio over the past months leading up to their wedding. We photographed their Civil Wedding ceremony dinner, their engagement session, ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Photography Session,’ a bridal portrait session, ‘Jessica’s Houston Bridal Portrait Session,’ and finally their wedding day events.

I think that it is important to spend quality time with clients in order to help produce unique, fine art, wedding photographs. Besides learning more about your client’s likes and dislikes, it puts them more at ease in front of the camera. I like to take a lot of photographs, so I imagine that it can get a bit tiresome to some people to have be around someone who is photographing all of the time. This is an integral part of my documentary photography style.

The wedding preparations took place at the Marriott in Sugar Land, TX. It was fun to spend time with Jessica, her family, and friends. The make up artist, Thea Pheasey, from Kayo by Thea, and a hair stylist prepared eight members of the bridal party. It was fun spending hours with ‘the girls’ and watching the transformations. I also photographed the guys getting ready during the same time period. This made for a tight schedule as I had to leave the hotel for an hour to go over to the groom’s house, then come back to the hotel to photograph Jessica and her father leaving for the church in a beautiful vintage Rolls Royce.

The ceremony was held at St John Vianney Catholic Church in West Houston. This is where all of the formal portraits were taken. After the ceremony we were off again to the reception at Briscoe Manor, in Richmond, TX, just outside Houston. Briscoe Manor is the same location where we photographed the bridal portraits. It is a lovely, pastural setting. The wedding reception was full of wonderful food, great latin flavored music from Salero, out of Austin, and loads of energy. Despite my 14 hours of photographing and driving about 75 miles total, the day was great and Jessica and Antonio were wonderful clients. Congratulations to them both.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, photography, wedding photography Tagged Briscoe Manor, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, houston fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding ceremony, wedding reception |

The Communication Power of Photography

August 30, 2011 by gmiller | 1 Comment

petroglyphs in Monument Valley photograph

petroglyphs in monument valley, az

Photography is a powerful medium, but many people forget how important it is in its role as a communicator. Photography is all around us most of the time. Pick up any newspaper or magazine, go to any website, wall around any store or mall, and you will be surrounded by photographs. We now use our phones to take pictures and nearly every person in the industrialized world has a camera. We use photographs for many different reasons. As a fine art wedding photographer my job is to capture the memories of people in unique photographs so that they will be able to look back on these images and remember a special time in their lives. I freeze moments, fractions of a second, of details and emotions, and places. So it alarms me that many people do not take their wedding photography very seriously and they look to spend as little as possible, and in the end get little in return. You can read more about my thoughts on this critical area in my posts, ‘Hiring the Perfect Wedding Photographer‘ ‘Why Wedding Photographs are so Important‘ and ‘Photography is not a Commodity.’ If you have been following my blog at all you know that I am a big proponent of educating the public about not hiring lame photographers who are not experienced professionals just to save a little money. The memories that are being captured by your wedding photographer as your memories. They will communicate the wedding day tomorrow and for years to come. Many couples are so busy and occupied during their wedding day that they are genuinely surprised when they see the images from the ceremony and the reception.

Besides photography serving to preserve memories, this is part of the history recording aspect of it, it is a form of communication. I used to teach a Visual Media class at Texas Tech University. We covered all types of media. Many students were not surprised when we spoke about art, printing, movies, TV, and graphic design. But many were surprised when we spoke about photography. It is everywhere, as I mentioned above. And it is so powerful that people rarely see it’s strong communicative side. Photographs can influence society and laws. When Jacob Riis photographed child laborers and slums in the early 1900′s in New York, laws were enacted to change things. That is the power of photography, that is communication.

The image above is from some petroglyphs in Monument Valley, Arizona. This is a very ancient form of communication, the photography of the day if you like. Like photographs these petroglyphs recorded history, opinion, and daily events. These were memories that were important to the people who put them there. For us today, photography is fulfilling that same role. Even though there are many other media out there, some newer and some older than photography, I still think that photography remains the most powerful and the most cherished.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques, wedding photography Tagged communication, fine art, fine art photographer, houston wedding photographers, Jacob Riis, Monument Valley, petroglyph, Texas Tech University, Utah |

5 Successful Engagement Photography Tips

August 27, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

engagement photograph in houston, tx

Part of being a fine art wedding photographer, and photographing weddings, is that I photograph engagement sessions. These sessions are always important to me because I like to spend time with a couple before their wedding day to become more at ease with them and to learn more about them. It gives me a chance to see if they are nervous in front of the camera or more natural. I can see if they like being posed or respond better to a more casual photojournalistic approach. It also gives the couple a chance to begin to get used to having a photographer around taking lots of pictures. For may people this is a unique occurrence, even if they like having their photograph taken. Many couples do not realize that an engagement session, or a portrait session, can be tiring.

The engagement photograph above is from a recent session with Jessica and Antonio and was taken in Sugar Land, TX, part of Houston. We decided on a more casual outdoor feel and ended up photographing in three distinct locations. You can see more images from this session in the post ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Photography Session.’

Here are some tips to help couple get great engagement photographs.

1. Planning

Make sure to have a game plan when it comes to your engagement photographs. You should discuss this with your photograph prior to the actual day of the session. Make sure to have several alternatives. It is always better to have more choices. Please don’t wing it, and don’t let your ‘artist’ photographer talk you into figuring it out on the fly. The best times to photograph are early and late in the day and you will only have a small window of great light.

2. Relax

The engagement session should be a calm affair. If you have a plan that will help a great deal. If you have a good, competent, professional photographer, that will help alot. You can read more about hiring a professional photographer in my posts ‘Hiring the Perfect Wedding Photographer‘ and ‘Photography is not a Commodity.’ If you hire the right photographer you can relax, knowing that you are going to get great images and have great memories preserved. Spend the extra money to hire someone who is good. It will pay off big in the long run.

3. Have fun

This goes hand in hand with being relaxed. Don’t forget to have fun during the photography session. In fact I prefer more of the documentary style and do not like to pose or stage my couples. I want them to be as natural as possible, have fun, and show their love for one another. So leave any troubles behind and really enjoy the great moments.

4. Be yourself

I am never happy with photographs that do not show the true individual, the real people. Just be yourself. It is fine to become something for a photography session, but I think that the best value lies in the true individual. It is part of that fun, relaxed thing that I mentioned before. People should be real and approachable. If you want to do a high fashion thing make a separate photography session for that.

5. Know your style

Knowing your personal style, your likes and dislikes, and telling the photographer, will make your images better because they will resonate with you more. Let you photographer know if you are really into the Texas country thing, grunge, or an urban feel. This will really feed into the choice of locations and could even influence which photographer you choose. On the flip side I do not recommend that a photographer take on a style that they either do not like or are not feeling. Forced photographs from either the subject or the photographer will always look forced. So be honest and open. You may even have to use a different photographer for the engagement session than for the wedding. It is unusual, but it may be the best thing in certain situations.

These tips should help your engagement photography session go smoother and help you to have great images and a great experience. Don’t discount the importance of engagement photographs. They are not just important for their memory-value, but they will make your wedding photographs better. I always recommend that a couple spend the time and the money on an engagement session.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, photography, wedding photography Tagged bride, engagement, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, groom, houston wedding photographer, wedding photography |

Jessica’s Houston Bridal Portrait Session

August 26, 2011 by gmiller | 1 Comment

jessica at the chapel at briscoe manor, houston, tx

a detail photograph of a beautiful wedding gown

bridal bouquet and wedding dress

flowing veil and wedding dress detail

I have been working with Jessica and Antonio on their wedding for several months now. You can see some of the photographs from their engagement session in my post ‘Jessica and Antonio’s Houston Engagement Session.’ As I mentioned in that post we like to spend adequate time with our clients leading up to their wedding day to help them become used to being photographed and to help us to learn more about their likes and dislikes. We care about our clients and want to provide them with the highest level of fine art photographs that will preserve their wedding memories. To get this level of imagery you have to invest the time before, during, and after photograph sessions. This post is about the bridal portrait session that we did with Jessica at the chapel at Briscoe Manor, located just outside of Houston, TX. Since this is where the wedding reception was to take place, and they have a lovely attached stone chapel, we thought that it would be a great place for a bridal session. With the weather in Houston already hot and humid we look for indoor locations, especially for bridal portraits. We like to keep our brides comfortable and relaxed. Briscoe Manor provided the perfect setting with a beautiful bridal preparation room and a very cooperative staff. It is a wonderful place to be married, have your reception, or any other type of special event.

The portrait session day was a complete one. We were allowed to photograph at the chapel from 9-12. But Jessica was going to have her hair and make up done beforehand. This process can take up to 2 hours and then there was about 30 minutes of travel time from her home to the portrait location. This meant an early start for me, the make up artist, the hair stylists, and Jessica’s friends who were there to help. I am so glad that she had some people around to help her get dressed and to give her support. I attended the make up session to take some preparation photographs. The make up and hair styling was going to be done again on the wedding day, but at that time there would be seven other people involved and you can never be sure how much time, or room, you will have. I wanted to cover myself by photographing the first make up session.

Once we arrived at the Briscoe Manor Jessica was able to quickly change into her wedding gown and we were able to get started. The chapel had lots of natural light so we had many options for our portrait session. Jessica did a great job posing and we are all excited with the results. I purposely have waited to post these photographs. Many people do not like to show off the dress until after the wedding. I will be posting images from their wedding reception shortly so stay tuned. During the session we covered both conventional and fine art photographs.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, photography, photography techniques, wedding photography Tagged bridal portraits, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, houston fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding photography |

Popular Wedding Dress Trends

August 26, 2011 by gmiller | Comments Off

maison de mode bridal boutique in houston, tx

a lovely jeweled top wedding gown

ruching on a wedding gown

lace detail on wedding gown

wedding dresses

The wedding dress is such an important part of the overall wedding celebration. Many women spend a great deal of time finding their perfect dress. As a fine art wedding photographer I get to see and photograph many dresses and it is always interesting to see the current trends. The wedding dress is so important that I have written several posts on it. You can read ‘Anatomy of a Wedding Gown‘ for some basic information on the parts of the dress. You can also read ‘Trends in Wedding Dresses for Spring 2011‘ and ‘It’s All About the Wedding Dress.’

To find out some more information about wedding dress trends in Houston I spoke to Emily Poole at Maison de Mode, 2431 Rice Boulevard, in Houston, TX. Maison de Mode is a wonderful bridal boutique with great personalized service and a beautiful selection of unique bridal gowns. It is refreshing to see that in this age of large, impersonal chain stores, that you can still find personalized service and high quality products.

GM: How is Maison de Mode unique?
EP: We try to pick something that is going to be different. Not so different that no one will buy it, but different enough so that it doens’t necessarily compete with the average store.

GM: What types of things are popular now in the Houston market?
EP: Ruching is very popular. This is the gathering or folding of fabric to one side or straight across the dress. It tends to be form fitting and flattering to the girl’s figure. It can show up on any part of the dress.

GM: Besides ruching what other trends are you seeing?
EP: For the gown silhouettes, the dropped waist and fuller bottom are very poplar. The ball gown shape is not as popular right now. We are seeing more form fitting styles. Girl’s are wanting to show off their figures more than trying to cover it up with the big ball gowns. They may incorporate both with the body of the dress being form fitting and then the bigger style bottom. We are also seeing the convertible gowns where the bride can take off a larger skirt after the ceremony, like having two gowns in one…Because of the heaviness and the train girls are going more towards the really light end gowns.

GM: I’ve read about a trend now where wedding dresses are not white or off white. Are you see any request for dresses with color?
EP: More along a blush or ivory, more along the pink side. Girl’s will typically purchase the ivory or the white I haven’t really seen the colored dresses being requested. It takes a while for people to see what the major trends are with the designers…I don’t think that they will ever go with the blues or yellows. The light pinks are probably as far as they are going to go…I think Reese Witherspoon wore a blush pink tone dress.

GM: Have you seen any of the influences from Kate Middleton’s royal bridal dress with the long sleeves and lace?
EP: Not really. American designers really don’t do sleeves very much. It is very uncommon. You can find sleeves in a Spanish designer that will have a more extravagant, elegant-type look versus American designers who are more voluminous. Spanish designers are going to be more likely to use more lace. You can pick out who the Spanish designers are because they do a lot of lace and a lot of full skirts.

GM: What do you think is the most popular style overall right now?
EP: Our most popular style is more of a trumpet look, narrow through the hips and bigger at the bottom. I think that it is very figure flattering for most girls. And of course strapless dresses.

Thanks again to Emily Poole at Maison de Mode for all of the great information.

Gary Miller