As always, no words can quite describe the emotions and love shared on a wedding day like pictures.

When all of the other details of the wedding day have come and gone, the pictures left behind are the key to unlocking the memories of our hearts. The first day of a new beginning.

When all of the other details of the wedding day have come and gone, the pictures left behind are the key to unlocking the memories of our hearts. The first day of a new beginning.

Thank you for perusing through the beginning of their life together! Please congratulate them on their decision to choose each other for life. :)

-Wally

When all of the other details of the wedding day have come and gone, the pictures left behind are the key to unlocking the memories of our hearts. The first day of a new beginning. :)

Details: The DressDetails: The Dress

Details: The ShoesDetails: The Shoes

Groom: The TieGroom: The Tie

The Bride: The Earrings The Bride: The Earrings

A gift: MK HandbagA gift: MK Handbag

A gift: An apple watch gift cardA gift: An apple watch gift card

Three to get ready...Three to get ready...

Three to get ready...Three to get ready...

Silly in her own waySilly in her own way

So wrong and so hilariousSo wrong and so hilarious

Friends and Loved onesFriends and Loved ones

Here comes the brideHere comes the bride

We are gathered here todayWe are gathered here today

Pure happinessPure happiness

AwesomeAwesome

This is obviously a metaphor for me providing you with sustenance foreverThis is obviously a metaphor for me providing you with sustenance forever

Ohhhh!! It's you!Ohhhh!! It's you!

PhotobombPhotobomb

One proud dad and his wolverine sonOne proud dad and his wolverine son

SisterhoodSisterhood

Elegant dancingElegant dancing

Intimate dancingIntimate dancing

There are no wordsThere are no words

Sliiiiide to the left...Sliiiiide to the left...

Dip meDip me

40 years and newlyweds 40 years and newlyweds

Alright. Yalexa, give me seductive. Tim, give me GQ looking off into the distance. Alright. Yalexa, give me seductive. Tim, give me GQ looking off into the distance.

StunningStunning

Sonrisa!Sonrisa!

We didn't choose the thug lyfe. Thug lyfe chose usWe didn't choose the thug lyfe. Thug lyfe chose us

Thank you for taking a peek into the lives of a new couple! Please give them your best as they endeavor in the greatest most adventurous iteration of love we know.

-Wally

Yesssss!!! Total cuteness, right?? How about this?

EPIC!!! What a good looking family!!!

But, like the title of this post, there is power in the perspective. I'm sure some photographers and viewers will notice I'm almost shooting UP at the couple. Like I'm laying on the ground. Of a garage:

There was a quick snap with my iphone ^^. Indeed, we're in a garage. Now go back and look at the first two pictures. NOW you can see we're in a garage, right? You start to notice small details and clues that let you know where you are.... now that you know where you are.

A neutral colored blanket on the floor kept the concrete from becoming a distraction and shooting from below pumpkin level gave the sky an opportunity to open up behind the baby! Voila! Troubleshooting the photographer way! So even though we didn't get to shoot in the grass, I think the pictures still came out looking pretty spiffy :)   These will make great #throwbackThursday pictures for baby Haley when she's grown up one day!

Here's one more picture to show you how much room a garage door allows when you're laying on the ground:

"Totes presh" as a friend of mine says :P

Have an awesome Friday!! If you're a mom, go carve a pumpkin! If you're a photographer, go lay on a garage floor!!!

So I ordered some prints. I ordered a handful of 5x7 prints and three 16x20 prints hoping they would come out to be pretty awesome. My monitor is calibrated and I export from Lightroom using a calibrated color profile, just to be clear.

Ordering: Super easy. This is pretty standard nowadays. The only part of ordering that was less-than-intuitive was their print size selection. But once you see that you can select a photo (or more) and then select the size and add to cart, it's pretty easy to figure out.

Payment: Pretty standard. Cards and paypal.

Shipping: I got my invoice immediately in my email and they have plenty of FAQs that answer the questions about how many days it would take to be printed and arrive at your door step. I ordered on a Monday and had my prints in hand on Friday. To be fair, they're shipping from two hours north of where I live in MD so this level of expediency is probably not normal for every part of the country. Shipping was $7 for orders under $50 and free above that number.

Packaging: Boom! iphone Picture time!

Priority mail box!

Invoice is taped to the protective cardboard.

The prints are in between the protective pieces of cardboard. Taped on all four sides.

The 16x20s were in a protective piece of plastic and the 5x7s were in this small brown paper pouch.

The 5x7s look awesome :) 

Kodak Professional Endura paper...

The plastic covering has a sticky lip to keep everything inside.

The 16x20s look great :)   I can't wait to get frames for them!

Overall opinion: The prints look great and the colors look just like they do on my monitor. I couldn't be more happy with them ESPECIALLY for the sale price. If you're looking for really, really well priced prints that look awesome, check out Nations Photo Lab.

www.nationsphotolab.com/

Enjoy :)

In getting to this point in my photographic journey, I've come to realize that there are (really) two kinds of people in the world. Those who talk about doing and those who just do. We see this everywhere in life. How many times to do we TALK about going to the gym only to wind up on the couch watching an hour of netflix? How many times do we TALK about learning a new skill only to wind up in the "music video" section of youtube? For the photographers, how many times do we talk about setting up a shoot and learning a new lighting technique only to find we've spent a couple hundred bucks on a video workshop we still haven't finished watching?

The only difference between people who have these amazing journeys in their life and the rest of us is there willingness to just DO. Talking about a vacation in Bora bora sounds awesome but actually spending the time to layout a budget, plan, save, sacrifice, and dream about it, takes effort. (Yes, even dreaming takes effort). It takes a ton of small steps to conquer that task and to get on that plane and to enjoy those glass bottom huts! Planning a wedding is no different than planning an exotic vacation. I'd venture to say, you can do ANYTHING if you do your planning homework and start to implement your will in a specific direction. :)

I was going to make this blog post longer (I have so much to say!) but really, at this point, if you understand the concept of just going out there and doing something, I don't really need to delve into it any further. I would like to say that being a doer is as "Easy as P.I.E."  Yes, I'm a sucker for acronyms. Plan, Implement, Enjoy. That E might be the most important part of all of this planning.

If you plan a trip to Bora bora, you'll mentally try to have a good time. If you plan a night out on the town, you'll mentally try to have a good time. So when you plan your wedding, don't forget to mentally plan to HAVE A GOOD TIME. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, some things will still go wrong. Yes, all of that planning doesn't ever add up to perfection. BUT, you can STILL have a great time on the first day of the rest of your life.

The dictionary says it means "a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view."

Photographers talk constantly about perspective and changing your point of view (which affects your framing, composition, leading lines, etc) but I think we forget sometimes that our subjects are real people too, who sometimes can use a little help with their own perspective.As a wedding photographer, I get to photograph the starting line of a lifelong race that two people chose to run together. It's an amazing day that we all know isn't the end of single-hood so much as it's the beginning of a life long adventure.

That little truism is important to keep in mind on a day often riddled with so much potential to go wrong. All the planning in the world won't make the day run perfectly but mitigating the potential for things to go wrong with two venues, a dozen vendors, and a couple hundred friends and family is always a nice thought to keep in mind while planning.

I think that's why one of my favorite moments during almost every wedding I've been a part of is the moment the bride is looking at me for reassurance that everything is going okay. She knows I've taken pictures of the friends and family and vendors and details and every other piece of her day while she's been hiding in a room getting prepped. She takes just a moment to ask with her eyes "Is everything going okay?" and I always answer back with a smile and some reassurance about how beautiful everything is and how amazingly everything is coming together.

I can always honestly answer that way because I know at the end of the day when everything else has been eaten, used, or melted away, there will be a bundle of pictures that I give her that show her just how beautiful the day was. She can see how fresh her flowers were even when the florist forgot a boutonniere. She can see how yummy her cake was when her new husband fed it to her even when the bakery forgot the topper. She can see how much everyone loved dancing to her playlist even when the DJ forget her favorite song. She can see how much she loves that man sitting next to her even if her day wasn't absolutely perfect. Because in the end, her day WAS perfect.

She married a man she loves.
She shared that love with friends.
And she'll share those memories through these pictures with her children, and their children, when they're ready to make the same decision.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do :)

Ladies and gentleblog-readers, Jarred:

Obviously this is a terrible picture taken of Jarred at the wedding we shot last night but since the bride was sick and not doing well at all (and the ambulance hadn't arrived yet), I decided to snap a nutty pic anyways. Not having been a second shooter, all I could do was give Jarred advice about the day and everything it normally entails. Except the wedding day was nothing like a normal wedding day.

Normal wedding days run from 10-10 or so, depending on numerous details, and don't end with sirens. Yesterday's wedding started at 7a, included two ceremonies, a roasted pig (yes, the whole thing), no desire for formals, and trip to the hospital. Let me just say... this being Jarred's foray into the wedding photography world... might have been a crazy left foot to start with. 

When the lovely couple leave in a red box on wheels, you might find yourself wondering if the wedding is over or not. A huge part of me wanted to hop in the ambulance with the couple or at least follow them to the hospital to get some pictures to help document their day. I'm sure a lot of people would think this to be "insensitive" but these are the real moments of our real lives that we're trying to capture for people and as a wedding photographer, I KNOW that means in sickness and in health.

Luckily the bride is doing great this morning but I was really worried. Life is a funny thing.

So back to doling out advice to Jarred...

The biggest piece of advice I could give yesterday? Weddings are unpredictable. Even when you've attended the rehearsal and everything is "set" in everyone's minds, things can change in an instant at a wedding. All of the sudden people might become interested in some very formal pictures or someone can even get sick. That's how life works too though. And we all keep chugging along trying to make the best of it. And we will, won't we?

Here are some teasers from the best parts of the wedding :)

Congratulations to Barbara and Nick for sharing an AMAZING wedding day with me and Jarred. I'm sure their kids and grandkids will love these pictures some day :)

-Wally

Try everything.

I find myself moving further and further from actual instruction during posing and moving more into conceptual posing. I can tell a person to shift their body weight, move an arm, and even flip their hair but I find it a million times easier to give my subjects a concept and let them execute it. I've found this does a couple of things that I really enjoy:

1) It makes your subject part of your creative process.
Face it. People are paying you to bring the best out of them. Why not use them to bring the best out of themselves?

For the picture below, I told the groom to "press her against the wall and go in for a romantic kiss... but try not to look aggressive". Voila. Here is this "film noir" looking image of a groom going for it. I felt it brought out a lot in this couple. The groom is a 6'4" tall guy so making him appear softer was important to making this image work.

2) It gives the subject freedom.
I'm not a fan of feeling like I'm restricted in what I can and can't do so why would I put that type of pressure on a couple. I want them to feel like they can be themselves without inhibition.

"What does a "normal" day on the couch look like for you guys? Let's capture that."  When you ask for concepts, the subjects no longer feel lost or have that feeling like they may be "posing incorrectly". You're going to look your most natural when you're most comfortable. Letting people be who they are everyday is an easy way to make that happen.

3) It leaves room for the unexpected.
Sometimes you never know what the subject will do.

"Hold her like you normally would at home... wait, you normally hold her with her back towards you??"  There's no way I could have predicted that this would be a most comfortable and natural pose for this couple. Period. Impossible. As a matter of fact, shy of sitting against him in a chair, I'm not sure I'd ever post a couple like this standing up. But here it is. Comfortable and natural and full of real happiness.

 I've had great results with this method and rarely have to make small adjustments for strange things (balled up fists, hair, et al). All of this adds up to a subject that is comfortably revealing their true self and great images. :)
 

So what happened? My hyper analytical mind kicked into overdrive especially considering this was the first wedding where I've ever felt this way.

A myriad of factors contributed to my brain's interpretation of the day from unruly kids, drab environments, and even my own struggle with my (sometimes frustrating) two camera race harness but by the end of the wedding... I figured I'd royally screwed up and just offer the bride and groom a few extra sessions of just the two of them.

But then some magic happened.

The bride received the pictures and loved them.

For whatever reason, I was completely distracted this day and couldn't just see everything for what I normally see it all to be: beautiful.

I'm still going to take the bride and groom out for a fun couple session but a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I hope I never get so distracted by the hoopla to forget to enjoy the hoopla again.

:D

As a photographer you find yourself in a constant skills versus tools battle.

When you first start out, you're told by other photographers that skills will carry you as far as you need to go with any tool. This is only partially true. It is true that composition, framing, posing, ambient lighting, and a gamut of other photography related skill have nothing to do with the gear but eventually, to step your game up to the level that the pros are shooting, there will be a shift to some gear that is more capable than the gear you buy as a beginner.

A great example was my post about those new high speed sync triggers that I purchased recently. It made my normal shoot skyrocket to something that people have called my best work. (see this picture? That's the one...)

I got a lot of kudos but all I could think was "is this all that was holding me back this whole time?". The answer of course is kinda. The skills to produce that image were there but I was trying to create a Monet using a toothbrush as my paint brush. Could it be done? Maybe, kinda, sorta. Can it be done well? Probably not.

And here are a couple of pictures I did this weekend with the new triggers that do high speed sync:

So there are a couple of variables that aren't fairly compared in these pictures...

The former weekend was overcast and at one point snowing. So really getting a good exposure for the sky wouldn't have made a difference hence pictures at f/3.2 and 1/200th of a second. I still got nice background separation at f/3.2 by moving closer to my subject.

The later weekend was taken an hour and fifteen minutes before sunset and though the lake was frozen over, it wasn't that cold out. Getting exposure for the sky at f/6.3 and 1/4000th of a second made all the difference between a background that would have just been blown out light and a properly lit subject and a picture with a properly exposed background and an ALSO properly lit subject.

Either way, I had a ton of fun and I'm glad I picked up those Yongnuo YN-622N triggers and receivers!!!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!

-Wally

Introducing the Yongnuo YN-622N trigger/receivers for Nikons. I've been using the RF-602 trigger and receivers for a few years now and love them. Cheap. Efficient. And cheap. Did I mention they were $99 for a trigger and four wireless receivers? I run my lights in manual so I've never wanted anything else out of a trigger... except AUTO FP. For the non-nikon shooters, Auto FP is nikon's fancy name for high speed sync. Imagine being able to take a picture at f/2.8 and 1/4000 instead of being limited to 1/200 or 1/250.

THAT is the magic that the new YN-622Ns bring to the table.

Look, here's a picture of my coffee table with a flash laying on it's side at 1/4000s and f/2.8 with the flash at 1/8th power:

Amazing that you can even see a light!! For the photographers out there looking for a cheap solution for HSS and wireless off camera flash (without spending PW money) the YN622 looks like a great alternative.

Another nifty feature that my old trigger and receivers didn't have that the 622 does have is the ability to group lights and trigger specific groups. The A/B/C on the right side of the receiver means seven (A,B,C,AB,BC,AC,ABC) potential groups for selective triggering!! Imagine being able to "turn off" a flash from across the reception hall without walking across the reception hall! Setting up your lights in advance means less walking around with a speedlight on a stand and more picture taking!

The 622s can also select up to seven different channels to broadcast on so if you imagine seven different groups per broadcast channel...

SWEET.

So how much will this damage your pockets?? A set of four triggers is... *drumroll*... $152 shipped CONUS. Nice, right!!!

I can't wait to use these fancy new features in an upcoming headshot shoot and a Virginia wedding next month! :D

I'll report back when I have more news about these trigger/receivers! Until then, happy shooting!

Here's a gratuitous picture of a 100'x30' waterslide that a bride and groom had setup in their backyard after their wedding ceremony! It's not relevant to this blog post at all but I like it and it's cold in maryland right now.

So the photo dudes over at Fstoppers put out a fantastic article with some truths for photographers worth reading about.
Here is that article in the form of a link you can click!

What I don't think they realized is these principles apply to every day life also. Not just the life of photographers. I tell people all the time to just chase their dreams. Go after what you want because you get one life and who wants to look back and think "I wish I would have..."?

The main topics they talk about are:

1) The fear of failure.

"If you aren’t failing, you aren’t pushing your limits." This is one of my favorites. I've failed at a LOT in life but like most people who fail, you can often find yourself surrounded by people who only see your successes. This happens a LOT. No one wants to focus on the failures it took to get to success but they are real and the less we talk about them, the less people realize they need to happen for learning and growth to happen.

2) The fear of rejection.

"But you’ll never find them if you don’t brave the possibility of a “no.” Rejection happens, but it’s through rejection that we find those that value us the most." Guys understand rejection very well. We should all be so lucky to learn at a young age that the worst answer we can ever receive is a "NO". And "NO" is not that bad of an answer. Life is about coming up with better solutions beyond the "NO".

3) The fear of losing money / The fear of raising prices

"Believe in yourself enough to invest in yourself. If you’re willing to invest in your work, other people will be too." Oh snap! Another life lesson!! I combined these two topics because in life outside of the photography world, this is about valuing yourself as an addition to the human race. Believe it or not (regardless of what your friends, parents, enemies, or self-esteem says) you are valuable to the human race. Your goal as a human is not to skate through life but to ADD to life. Who's life? Anyone and everyone. Naturally you'll affect other people if you do something or nothing. So why not be intentional about the influence you have on the world? YOU are worth it. YOU are worth an investment especially from yourself. Get that into your head. Then go do something amazing.

4) The fear of success

Defining success is important (not everyone wants a mansion. Have you ever had to clean a house with TWO bathrooms??). Just as important as defining success is making sure not to self-sabotage. There's a great article about it HERE. Enjoy that. Sorry for so many links. I enjoy reading a LOT.

Have an amazing day, invest in yourself, and do something amazing!!!

The sooner you compare yourself, the sooner you'll go back to dreaming.

The sooner you DO, though, the sooner you can be yourself.

2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013 (I couldn't pick one!)

Sometimes it feels like your competing with other people but you aren't.

Your biggest competitor is yourself.

Overcome yourself and you'll build something you can believe in even when you can't believe in yourself.

I've never been one to talk much on my blogs but let me outline a few things I want to change this year:

1) Backlinking. Or whatever you cool kids of the SEO realm call it. I want to link people to what they NEED.

2) REAL Networking. I used to think networking was when you use other people to get something you need. Incorrect. Networking is when you have a friend who has a need and a friend who has a service and you put them together. EVERYONE wins. I forget ALL THE TIME to get information from other vendors at weddings so I can network them to brides and grooms in need. I realize this needs to change. Six weddings already booked this year so hopefully it does.

3) Blogging. I generally suck at it but I want to post at least a picture of whatever it is that I've been working on and a short explanation. Just like my old blog but here.

4) Be relevant. Yes, you're here for pictures but I need to give you  more than that. WHY did I take a picture? HOW did I take a picture? What blogs do I read to keep me up to date in the photography world? What magazines? Etc, etc. :)

Those will be the main things that need to change. Hopefully I can make those happen. :)

So as in my classic blog fashion... here are some pictures!!!  As always, ENJOY!!!

I recently was hired to shoot a concert for the legendary (in the Christian music community) Phillips, Craig, and Dean.

Here they are singing a few classic Christmas carols. Can't you tell by the lighting? :)

So the microphone modifier you see there is a 90 degree modifier on it from Granelli Audio Labs out of Baltimore. I know the musicians will appreciate that!!! The djembe sounded great!

I love this picture simply because this tour bassist is rocking out!!

My next blog post? Maybe some pictures from my brother's wedding in December. They hired a photographer in Mexico but I had to bring my camera along ;)

-Wally

Let’s catch up

Craig and Caroline visited from FL for Christmas

Craig and Caroline visited over Christmas

Church has been pretty normal, eh Scot?

Even with the new barista

I visited the Arboretum in DC… even printed this in 20×28 for one friend and 20×38 for my mom on canvas

Model J. Acree wearing makeup by Makeup Artist Kaitlyn Elaine

^^^

Model M. Cancel wearing makeup by Makeup Artist Kaitlyn Elaine

Baby Finley!!!

Baby Finley and the Family

Watched Tyler play a couple football games!

Did some Christmas card pictures for the Kissers

Saw Orion over my house

Granted I’ve been using my Facebook page to launch the LLC and incorporate getting my pictures out quicker to more people. I’ve gotten into dropbox to deliver client photos. I’ve traveled quite a bit. I still shoot as much as I can.

Boring writing, let’s get to the pictures!!!

I’m going to revamp my blog and my website soon. I’m so dark about my layouts and might to lighter… we’ll see.

Kenny and Heather had their baby

We got a new youth pastor at church (Meg Favazza)

ILY project

Senior Portraits for Miss J. Pross

Commercial Food Shoot for a restraurant in Fell’s Point

After NINE MONTHS, my tax stamp for my suppressor arrived!!

My HS friend Sarah and her new Husband Michael got hitched

I photographed a BBQ competition team called “Taste of Grace BBQ”

Captured the madisons!

The Britt’s renewed their 40th vows

An impromptu moment on the freshly built set at church

A public relations speaker from Barseli hospital in Israel came to our church

I went to FL to visit my bestie and his wife and their new three month old, Ethan xD

New “shots” with J. Wheeler

My little bro took me to NYC for my bday this year

NYC

Saturdays Surf NYC

I’ve been looking through the five memory cards worth of pics I took over the three days that I shot and I’m super stoked about this set, the collins set, and the terziu family sets as I work on them all to get them done.

Here’s a teaser from each! As always, ENJOY!!!!

Collins Family Shoot

Sean owning the scene

The Terziu family looking amazing

And introducing Mr. and Mrs. Radford!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Radford!

My new website ( r3t1awr3yd.zenfolio.com ) is almost completely up and running. I’ve got a shoot this weekend and next. Ahhh! Busy busy

Thanks for reading!!!

I have been working on a secret (a new website!!!) that I think I just spoiled lol.

I’ve also been editing pics like it’s my day job lol.

I’ve finished editing the first half of the 2012 Potomac Youth Ministries convention pics AND all of the prom pics for one of my kids at church.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!!!

I also wrote a new song this morning but I think it needs a chill bridge part; we’ll see.

Anyways, on to the pics

w00t w00t!! 2012 PYM Youth Convention!!!

Abandoned

A stroll down memory lane as a current leader is leaving…

Worth Dying For’s guitarist

Worth Dying For leading worship

Happy to go to prom

Prep!

With the date and the makeup artist!

Stoic

Sweet nothings…

That said, here’s a teaser from today’s engagement shoot!! Congrats to Chrissy F. and Lamont B.

I can’t wait to shoot their wedding next year!!

As always, ENJOY!!!

One, two, three... AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!

It has rings that it grows that tells stories of its life. They say by reading the rings of a tree, you can see when it went through dry spells and when it went through easy times. When it had to be conservative and when it could flourish effortlessly.

It has branches that reach far from its roots to nourish and replenish that love. Like any great tree, it produces seeds that can grow into new trees.

Eventually if that love is healthy, you’ll have a yard full of trees.

These next few pictures are of a 50 year old love grown by the Pelletiers.

Definitely, as always, enjoy.

A celebration of 50 years of love...

Family and friends here to celebrate!

Some of the attendees of the original wedding were here that day

Proposing for the FIRST TIME EVER. Back in the day you just knew and got married.

A renewal of vows

A kiss

A dance

Being fruitful, they multiplied

Congratulations to the Pelletiers!!! May they have many, many more years of love to grow!!!

Here are a couple of shots I liked

Tyler on the bass

Akira and family

Nelly and his infamous echo

The inside of the beautiful boordy winery barn

As always, I hope you enjoyed the pics

Oh, hello lazy pic of josh

Yup. A LAZY headshot. Instead of getting fresh batteries for my background flashes, I just let it go half unbalanced grey. Instead of putting some basic gobos on the background flashes, I just shot anyways. It’s been a while since I had to use a lot of post to fix my mistakes but I did tonight.

Here is the same picture, done correctly:

Oh, I'm learning the same lesson a second time?

This is how life works sometimes. Sometimes we learn the same stupid lessons more than once. UGH. I should have fixed it when I noticed it when I was shooting instead of NOW. Let this be a lesson to my fellow photogs…

What if you married someone you knew you’d love… even knowing love takes time?

What if you married someone you hadn’t proposed to… you just knew they’d be okay with that?

What if you waited 50 years to propose to the love of your life… only to already know the answer?

Congratulations to the Sherards and they’re 50th anniversary.

Here’s a sneak preview of the love I’ll be uploading next…

A proposal 50 years in the making...

Fun and fresh!

As always, enjoy!!!

Do you? Do you?

La Tigre?

The family that can post together... goes together!

And one more wide shot because I can’t count….

Awwwwwww