Tag Archives: houston fine art wedding photographer

Houston Wedding Photographer

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Jessica and Antonio’s Amazing Houston Wedding

By gmiller | Published August 31, 2011

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 | Also tagged Briscoe Manor, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding ceremony, wedding reception Comments Off

Jessica’s Houston Bridal Portrait Session

By gmiller | Published August 26, 2011

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 | Also tagged bridal portraits, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding photography 1 Comment

Dedication and Wedding Photography

By gmiller | Published August 25, 2011

bride and groom dancing at their wedding reception

I am always amazed by the number of people that decide to become wedding photographers. I think that many of them are a bit misguided and are getting into the business of wedding photography without really knowing what that entails. Because there is nothing stopping anyone there are unfortunately many people who just go buy a decent digital camera, get some business cards printed, and they are in the business of photography. These people are in for a big shock because most of them do not know much about photography, the fundamentals, the technical aspects of it, or business. No one should ever go into business without fully understanding what it means to run a business properly. That could be why 80% of new businesses fail within the first three years. People get an idea, get an impulse, and think that it is easy and they are going to be rich. This is like watching a skydiver, thinking that it would be cool to do it, going out and buying a parachute, and then jumping out of a plane the next day without any training or knowledge. We all know how that is going to end.

Many people that have no business doing wedding photography have been coming into the market at a rapid pace. They charge low rates which attracts many potential customers. But these photographers are not professionals, are poorly trained, have inferior equipment, and will disappoint their clients every time. I have written several post related to this subject including ‘Hiring the Perfect Wedding Photographer‘, ‘Why Wedding Photographs are so Important‘ and ‘Service in the Photography Business.’ I write about these subjects so much because there are tons of lame photographers out there and I do not want people to be disappointed in their wedding photographs. Unfortunately, when a couple chooses the wrong wedding photographer those special memories of their wedding day are lost forever. I am very sensitive to this because you can’t do it over again. If you had one chance to get lifesaving surgery would you just go with the cheapest surgeon? Or do you want to go with the best, most competent one you can find? I know my answer.

The Red Photo team photographed the beautiful wedding of Jessica and Antonio a few days ago. I will have an entire post with images shortly. After working over 14 hours photographing in three different locations, traveling 100 miles, and sorting through a few thousand images the word dedication came to my mind. If you want to be a good wedding photographer, or any type of photographer, you have to be dedicated. This is in addition to other attributes that I have spoken about before in ‘4 Simple Truths of Photography‘ ; passion, persistence, patience, and practice. Many photographer-wanna-be’s will also lack dedication. They are in it for the money, the quick turnaround, and are willing to put in as little effort as possible. I have been at this for years and I am constantly studying and working to improve my images. That is passion. That is dedication. That is what you should look for when you hire a photographer.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography | Also tagged dedication, fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, passion, wedding photography Comments Off

Hiring the Perfect Wedding Photographer

By gmiller | Published August 24, 2011

a natural light portrait of a bride and groom in houston, tx

Too often people are quick to hire a wedding photographer. In most cases they either hire the first person that comes along, because it is easy and they want to get it out of the way, or they hire the lowest priced photographer that they can find. I recently wrote a post about the pitfalls of hiring a low price, inexperienced, non-professional wedding photographer. You about that in my article ‘Photography is not a Commodity.‘

To help people find the right wedding photographer I recommend the following six points.

1. hire a pro

We live in the digital age and one of the downsides of this great technology is that anyone can go down to their local store, buy a cheap digital camera and lens, and then instantly go into the wedding photography business. Weddings are tough places to photograph and you want to make sure that you hire a professional photographer with the proper training and experience. Don’t take changes here or your precious wedding memories could be lost forever. These special moments only happen once. Are you going to trust that to some poser?

2.look at their work

Don’t just take someone’s word for it. Look at lots of samples of work including website images, Facebook posts, and blog posts. A blog, like the wonderful Red Photo blog, will showcase the photographer’s work and give you a sense of their true style and breadth. Look at their non-wedding work to to get a real sense of their skills and style.

3. meet face-to-face

We are all strapped for time, but take the time to meet with the photographer candidate face to face. Anyone can post images, but you need to know that you and the wedding photographer are on the same page, that you get along, and that you like each other. People who like each other will create a better working environment. Remember that you are hiring a person first. They need to have a good personality and good manners.

4. make sure they are insured

The easiest way to spot an amateur, or a weekend photographer want-to-be, is to ask them if they have insurance. Any reputable, professional photographer will have liability, indemnity, and equipment insurance. You can read more about the different types of insurance in my post ‘Photographer’s Insurance.’ If they do not have these then they are fools and they are not serious about their work. Please do not hire uninsured photographers. This is a recipe for disaster. Venues do not want an uninsured photographer on the premises.

5. hire someone who is good

This may sound so obvious, but make sure that the wedding photographer that you hire is good. They should be competent and skilled. Who wants ordinary photographs? I know that I don’t and I strive to do everything to produce unique fine art wedding photographs all of the time. I am constantly looking to improve my work because I am totally obsessed with producing great photography for my clients.

6. find a good fit

Just because a photographer is good does not mean that they are right for you. Just because your friend loved him/her does not mean that you should work with them. Most of the time a recommendation is the way to go. But make sure that you fit with the photographer. If you love country and they are rockers you might want to consider someone else. It just depends on personalities and you need to make sure that you both get along and are on the same page.

I hope that these tips will help you to hire the perfect wedding photographer. If you take just a little time and do some legwork you will get the right photographer, a professional, experienced, insured, one and you will have great images that will last a lifetime.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography | Also tagged fine art wedding photographer, houston wedding photographer, wedding photography 3 Comments

Why is it Called Red Photo?

By gmiller | Published August 5, 2011

why is it called red photo?

Many people have been asking me why the name of our wedding photography business is Red Photo. For fun I have been giving people all types of answers like, red is the color of passion, or red symbolizes power and romance. But here is the real reason behind the name. We wanted to be different. When Jim and I were trying to come up with a name for the business we started with the most obvious ones. These would be ones that had our name in it. Now when there are two photographers this is difficult because we have to use two names. Stevens and Miller or Miller and Stevens, or the laughed out S&M Photography, just did not work. So next we looked at words that would evoke the feeling of a wedding photography business. Well things like Evoke and Allure and Romantique were already being used by everyone and their brother. Then the idea of just Red Photo popped into my head. We liked the simplicity and elegance of it and that it did not sound like the name of a wedding photography business. We also do commercial work, so we did not want to be tagged to a wedding sounding name. I also like all of the things that the color red represents. There is a lot of symbolism behind it. Here is one exerpt from a color symbolism site that speaks about the symbolism of red.

“Red can symbolize many things; from blood, to love, to infatuation. Basically red symbolizes strong emotions, or things of strong emotions rather than intellectual ideas. For example, red can symbolize excitement, energy, speed, strength, danger, passion, and aggression.
According to Henry Dreyfus, it is popularly felt that red, the color of blood and fire, represents life and vitality. Red also signifies the color of the sun: a symbol of energy, radiating its vitalizing life-force into human beings. Red is also looked upon as a sensual color, and can be associated with man’s most profound urges and impulses.”

Yeah, that sounds like us. I wanted a different name because Red Photo is different. Our name sets us apart and so does our photography. Both Jim and I have extensive experience in photography and have been photo educators for years. We are committed to providing every client with customized services. I encourage people to see the difference that a little red can make. Visit our website or contact us to set up an appointment. We guarantee you some eye candy and some brain veggies.

Gary Miller

Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer