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Houston Wedding Photographer

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Respect the Past, Create the Future

By gmiller | Published September 2, 2011

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 | Also tagged amusement park, digital photography, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, wedding Comments Off

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 fine art wedding photographer, wedding ceremony, wedding reception Comments Off

5 Successful Engagement Photography Tips

By gmiller | Published August 27, 2011

engagement photograph

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 | Also tagged bride, engagement, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, groom, wedding photography 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 fine art 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 fine art 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 fine art wedding photographer, wedding photography 3 Comments

Photography is Not a Commodity

By gmiller | Published August 24, 2011

i give you money

Everyone seems to be looking for the best deal. We want to buy things at the lowest possible price. While that may work for some items, especially products that are all the same, that approach does not work very well when it comes to services, like wedding photography. Too often customers looking for a wedding photographer will make the mistake of going after low price without realizing that they are sacrificing many things and will more than likely not be pleased with the level of photographs that they receive. You should read my post ‘Why Wedding Photographs are so Important.’

In my experience everyone who is making a buying decision is looking for three things; high quality, great service, and low price. I have found, and I would think that you have too, that you can not get high quality and great service at a low price. The equation will never balance out. Low priced items are cheap, both in cost and in workmanship. Yet people mistakenly believe that they can go out and look for the lowest priced photographer for their wedding. Or worse yet they have their cousin Joe or their hobbyist neighbor do the job. This is a bad idea on several levels. So which part are you willing to give up. High quality, great service, or low price? Which ones are the most important to you?

Wedding photography should be done by an experience professional photographer. You do not want a jack of all trades. Your wedding is a very special day that will only happen once and you want to capture those memories in great, creative photographs. Those are precious memories that you and your family will have for a lifetime. Now do you want your cousin Joe with his $200 digital camera to do that job for you? I hope not. You see, wedding photography is not a product. It is a service, and with services the high quality, great service, low price equation is in full effect. Too many people make the mistake of seeing photography as a product. Well it is not. I am a fine art wedding photographer with years of experience. My business partner and I at Red Photo have years of photography experience in the wedding, portrait,commercial, and fine art worlds. We know what we are doing. We have been there and captured beautiful, timeless images before and we will continue to do it. That expertise and experience demands a higher cost.

People have to see the value in something before they are willing to pay more for it. If I show you two oranges and tell you that one of them is 50 cents and the other is $1.50, which one are your going to take. Most people will go for the lower priced one. But if I told you that the $1.50 orange is organic, has more flavor, more vitamin C, lasts longer, and does not have mold like the cheaper orange, you might change your choice.

Photography is not a commodity and you should not be buying it based on price alone. Wedding photography is an important service and you should buy it based on what you want and the level of product and services that you need.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography | Also tagged commodity, fine art, fine art photography, wedding photography 1 Comment

Anatomy of a Wedding Gown

By gmiller | Published August 24, 2011

vera wang wedding dress

Being a wedding photographer I get to see my share of weddings and record the events and details. The more time that I spend working at weddings the more that I learn about every aspect of the day from the bride and groom preparing for the day, to the wedding ceremony, the wedding reception, and all of the little details in between. Many times wedding couples are not very familiar with all of the aspects and traditional of their special day. So I find that it is very helpful if I can tell them some information. I have studied wedding traditions like the white wedding dress, the wedding cake, and the bouquet. You can read more about these in my posts ‘It’s All About the Wedding Dress‘, ‘Let Them Eat Wedding Cake‘, and ‘Bridal Bouquet Photographs for Spring.’ You can also see my article ‘Trends in Wedding Dresses for Spring 2011.’

For many brides the wedding dress is the most important item of the day. Brides-to-be spend a great deal of time search and shopping for that perfect wedding dress that fits their style. In an attempt to learn more about what seems like a simple dress I wanted to give you a small anatomy lesson of the wedding gown and its various parts. I will probably have to expand on these areas in a later post, but for now let’s just get down the basic parts.

1. silhouette

An important aspect of any wedding dress is its basic overall shape, referred to as the silhouette. This shape really sets the mood of the dress and can quickly classify it as modern, vintage, sexy, or eclectic. Common shapes include ball gown, with a fitted bodice and a very full skirt (think Cinderella), empire, with a high waistline and slimmer skirt, a-line or princess, which has vertical seams from the shoulder down to the flared skirt which gives an inverted V shape, sheath, a form fitting shape, and mermaid, which is form fitting at the top and then flows out around the knees.

2. bodice

This is the body of the gown, the section between the neckline and the skirt. Common forms include corset, empire, halter, midriff, princess-line, surplice, and tank.

3. neckline

This is the most noticeable part of the dress, especially in wedding photographs. It is the part of the dress that people notice first and frames the bride’s face. The neckline really adds character to the dress. Higher necklines include the bateau, mandarin, and jewel/T-shirt types. Low necklines include the portrait, one-shoulder, and sweetheart types. Halter styles wrap around the back of the neck and create deep armholes. The scoop is a U shaped neckline that works well for all body types. There is also a V neck style.

4. train

From long, opulent, royal style trains, to no train at all, this elongated back part of the gown can really send a statement and create a majestic appearance. Longer trains bring with them a more formal style. I have noticed that many brides that I photograph are wearing smaller trains, or none at all. But I think that wedding ceremonies are becoming a bit less formal overall. Train types include, from the longest to the shortest, royal, cathedral, chapel, court, sweep, and watteau.

5. hemline

The hemline refers to the length of the gown. Traditionally dresses were floor length until around World War 1. In the 1920′s the hemlines of wedding dressed rose along with the styles of the day. Since then they have moved up and down with the fashion styles of the day. The longer the dress, the more formal, with floor length gowns being considered the most formal of all. Knee length and shorter is considered informal.

Well that is a starting lesson. In the future I will look at fabrics and details some more. I will also be interviewing some experts at local bridal boutiques and passing on their great information. So stay tuned for our next wedding class.

Gary Miller

Eye Candy and Brain Veggies

Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, photography, wedding photography | Also tagged bride, wedding, wedding dress, wedding gown, wedding photography 1 Comment

Why Use a Wedding Planner?

By gmiller | Published August 24, 2011

fine art photograph of wedding rings

Wedding are very special events. There are important moments in someone’s life and therefore they take a great deal of planning and preparation. I have written before about the vital importance of having great wedding photographs taken to preserve your memories for a lifetime. You can read about this in my post ‘Why Wedding Photographs are So Important.’ Unfortunately some people think that they will save some money by hiring a less expensive wedding photographer. That is a mistake because you are not going to get high quality and service from an inexperienced, low priced photographer. I am especially sensitive to this because I get to hear the horror stories about people who skimped on their wedding photography budget and received a CD of lousy images that their neighbor could have taken. Please make the investment in a good, competent and experienced photographer. In the long run the extra investment will be well worth it.

Recent I was speaking to a wedding planner, Alexia McWhinney with Savvy Consulting and Event Management in Houston, TX, about this very thing and she mentioned that people are also trying to save money by not hiring a wedding planner. Again, this is a mistake as I see it. Wedding planners and coordinators are well worth the price that you will pay for them. They are professionals with the experience to make your wedding day run smoothly. So often when I am photographing at a wedding the couple is asking me what to do in which order and when. A wedding planner provides the knowledge. She/He can tell you when things should occur and keep you on track. Their experience is valuable. Along these lines, that level of experience will allow the bride and groom to be freed up more to enjoy their day. The bride and groom should not be worrying about when the cake cutting should take place, etc. Let the planner handle that.

Planning a wedding takes a great deal of time. Some brides really enjoy it, but a planner can take a great deal of that burden from you. They know many competent vendors, like Red Photo, and can help you to book the right people for a great event. They do not procrastinate or get inundated with the opinion of ten different relatives. They know how to schedule themselves and build a timetable. There is actually a logical order to setting up a wedding ceremony and reception. I think that creating a great wedding is really an artform. A planner can also provide a bride with moral support and a solid outside opinion. They have been through this before and can help you.

Many people think that wedding planners are expensive, but as I mentioned before, hiring them can save you money in the end. Their connections can bring you discounts or special advantages and access that you might not have on your own. Their vendor connections will bring you reliable people who will perform a great job. Their attention to detail will really add that finished dimension to any wedding event.

So if you have been considering saving a little money on your wedding by hiring a cheap photographer and leaving out a wedding coordinator, I caution you against both moves. You wedding is a very special event and you deserve to have great people supporting you and working to make it a beautiful and memorable event.

Gary Miller