I am so behind on blog posts that I thought doing sneak peeks would be better than nothing at all! These photos were all captured on film using the Mamiya 645 that I rented for the week. It was my first time using medium format. I watched tutorials on how to load the film on YouTube about a hundred times, bungled my way around the really dim LCD screen, and powered through 9 rolls. Film advanced, film rewound, and despite the fact that I probably maybe should not have tried something for the first time at a “live” event, the film scans came back pretty great (thanks RPL)! So great that I am going to get this camera now. Hooray!

Stay tuned for more from this beautiful Vineyard wedding!

Styled wedding shoot for the Jen Huang Photography Workshop, by Jen Huang.

Real-life Couples: Melissa + Jeff, Naysa + Whitney | Venue: Central Park Zoo, NYC
Dresses via Gabriella Bridal: Reem Acra on Naysa, Claire Pettibone (lacy back) on Melissa
Styling: Jackie Weppner, Merci New York | Makeup: Kerry Crawford | Hair: Linsey Synder, FaceTimeBeauty.com
Jewelry: Rent the Runway | Wedding Cake: Sugar Flower Shop | Cake Toppers: Figs and Ginger
Flowers: Saipua | Calligraphy: Paperfinger

Shot on Nikon F100 35mm camera | Fuji Pro 400H & Fuji Pro 800Z film
50mm & 85mm lenses | photos developed & scanned by Richard Photo Lab

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I purchased a used Nikon F100 just before Jen’s workshop and used my existing prime lenses. The controls on the SLR are similar to my dSLR’s so no problem navigating the manual modes there. I only needed someone to help me load the film, ha ha blush. The last time I shot film was in the 90′s using my Canon Rebel SLR and kit lens, and I loaded it with the cheapest film I could find at the drug store, set my camera to automatic mode and to be artsy, I photographed things like tree roots and my friends looking out over there, then had the film developed at the same drug store and probably used a coupon to get doubles for free. Fast forward a million years to Jen Huang’s May 2011 workshop and her meticulously, beautifully styled wedding shoot at the Central Park Zoo. Things were definitely done a little differently. I mean my goodness, look at what all these talented vendors whipped up just for our cameras to eat! I was especially excited to come face to face with creations by Saipua, my favorite florist EVER, and of course Bryn of Paperfinger who did some lettering for my logo. Jen had clients and real-life couples to model for us and they looked amazing and were perfect to work with – patient, confident, so nice and game for anything you suggested. There was no reason for me to be shy but I was. I directed them each a few times but I do wish I had done more…while I had the chance…everything so beautiful…

Some small technical notes: I shot manually and between f/1.4-2.0. I metered everything in-camera and for both 400 and 800 film speeds I metered for the skin and overexposed by a stop. I meant to meter for the shadows but forgot. Baby steps. I should probably learn to use an external light meter. Baby steps. I shot 2 rolls of 400H and for one roll I rated it at 400 iso. For the other I rated it at 200 iso, still metering for the skin and overexposing by a stop on both. So far I can’t tell which image belongs to which roll but I will keep experimenting. These photos could probably have been overexposed some more…if I were the “light and airy” type of photographer. Am I? Maybe I am the “dark and moody” type. I think I’m somewhere in the middle…

What I do know for sure is that I want that Claire Pettibone wedding dress badly, I like things simple and romantic, and I’m officially Hooked on Film! When I received the scans back from RPL I nearly threw up from shock. So this is what all the fuss is about! This is what a non-drugstore photo lab can do! (Many apologies for the comparison.)

Oh and none of the images above were re-touched in Lightroom or Photoshop, EXCEPT for the one of the couple embracing, slightly obscured by the hanging yellow flowers. There was a guy in the background and I cloned him out. And the one of Naysa sitting on the ground in a billowy pillow of white. I cropped that some. But no color corrections on anything. The skin tones are beautiful of course, but I also really love how film renders greens. It’s an aspect of digital that I battle with constantly.

All of this was kind of a crazy (perfect) way to get reintroduced to the world of film, don’t you think? Now I have more boxes of Fuji Pros and Kodak Portras 160, 400 and 800 coming my way. I’m so excited to see what I can do with them. Thank you to Amanda of Ruffled blog for your talk on getting photos published. That’s going to be one of my goals this season! Thank you to Brian of Richard Photo Lab who flew in and gave eye-opening insights into the business of photography in general, film or otherwise. I really enjoyed that and I’m very sorry the first thing out of my mouth to you was to suggest opening an East Coast branch. I am sure you’re sick of that question and you’re right, you ARE local. And the best.

And of course a huge Thank you to the amazing Jen for sharing all her trade secrets, for introducing us to so many talented and smart industry pros, and for coordinating such a wonderful workshop that was a feast for the eyes and the brain. It’s recalibrated the way I think about photography, especially wedding photography, and so now it’s time to take my biz to the next level!

See photos from the shoot by Jen here, here and here on Ruffled.

Well here are a few things I learned. It might require a few shots of whiskey before and during the shoot to relax. That is ok.  It takes some explicit direction to look natural. Ironically. It takes complete trust in your photographer to be comfortable. Complete. But be careful, if you’re so comfortable that you’re able to pretend your photographer is not there, you will inevitably be caught making a face that you don’t want to be caught making. Heh.

So here are some more photos from last month’s bday shoot. This is a corollary too to my Things I Like post on cemeteries. I love colonial cemeteries so much that I based my first outfit around it. We started in the heart of Boston at Granary Burial Ground, final resting place of Paul Revere and other revolutionaries. I found this sweater jacket with a Minuteman-looking capelet. I wanted one more accessory to seal the deal, but a horse was harder to come by.

The best part about being friends with a photographer is that they’re willing to give you their RAW files! Actually I might have demanded it, heh heh.
So these photos are all taken by Lisa Rigby, and post-processed by me!

By the way, I just want to mention that in the above photos, while I am trying to channel an Asian Paul Revere in Anthropologie look, Dan is actually representing the home country by wearing all-Taiwanese garb – from his necklace to shirt to jacket all the way to his shoes. And you can count the scarf too, which was knit by his little Taiwanese wife. :)

{ Now insert a quick stop here at Beantown Pub for an outfit change and a shot of whiskey }

Boston Public Garden

It was interesting to see too the photos I were drawn to as a client rather than a photographer. I know that when I go through photos I take for others – and photos taken by other photographers! – I can’t help but gravitate to non-subject elements first, such as how the sun hits, how the trees frame, how the bokeh of lights blur in the background. I’m looking at the parts rather than the whole sum. As a customer though, I’m obviously looking more at…myself! The Other Stuff that I get hung up on as a photographer aren’t quite as important. Or maybe they are, but more as subconscious enhancements rather than the focal point. It’s more important if we’re smiling or looking happy. This is what I must remember!

Below are some outtakes. We ended the shoot with drinks at Bouchee on Newbury St, and our server really screwed it up. He poured Dan’s sidecar into my martini glass that already had olives in it, poured my vodka martini in Lisa’s espresso martini glass that already had chocolate-covered espresso beans in it, so I was fishing out olives from Dan’s drink and espresso beans from mine. And making a lot of faces.

I will end by saying how much fun it was to be photographed. It’s a nice side effect of being comfortable in front of the camera, which itself is a nice side effect of knowing that you’re in the hands of a photographer you really like. :) Oh and thanks and lots of xoxoxo’s to Dan too for bringing his A-game and playing along. I know some of this frou frou stuff (“What do you mean I have to wear different outfits?!”) must be hard for the mens sometimes!

Bunny and Veebs rang in the new year with a little change of sleeping venue. I moved their cat bed from the office upstairs and placed it on top of the radiator cover in the living room. An extra cozy room with a view! Dan joked that by morning we would have a savory cat pie all cooked up. It started snowing and I caught Veebs taking a break from his pre-nap bath to admire the falling flakes (and then later that night, the New Year Eve’s fireworks. Although he wasn’t really too thrilled with that). Later Dan and I ventured outdoors for a little winter walk and mini photo shoot. Eee! I love shooting in the snow! So crisp, clean and bright. Boston looked like a large-scale gingerbread town dusted in confectioner’s sugar and white frosting. I feel like this is really the first time I’m understanding my camera well enough to appreciate the beautiful lighting given off by the snow.

I’m looking forward to more snowy shoots in 2010!

OK! So the premise might be a little cheesy! She’s holding travel books and chewing thoughtfully on pens, looking off into the distance…not exactly artfully or subtly done! But behind the scenes this was a really enlightening and fun exercise for the both of us. It took awhile for the shoot to get to “fun” because even though it was her idea, Meg was a NERVOUS WRECK the moment I pulled out the camera.  Finding nice spots with good lighting and/or backdrops, fiddling with the camera controls, pressing the shutter were the least of my worries. The subject NOT BREATHING out of nervousness was the biggest.

It is a very symbiotic relationship, this whole subject and photographer thing. I really need to work on ways to make people subjects comfortable. It really isn’t easy being in front of a camera when you’re trying to pretend that you’re not.

So here are some shots. We met at the Boston Public Garden after work and posed at the Swan Boat docks.

What IS she thinking about? France? Spain? The Grand Canyon?

Then we headed to the Boston Common.

Since it might not be clear to the recipient where we are, we took some shots in next to a t-shirt cart. But look, she still has her Italy books! Our “Meg Dreaming of Italy Whilst in Boston” theme remains intact!!

Some shots near Frog Pond in the Common. I was ALL OVER the fading sunlight. Mmm yummy yummy delicious sunlight.

But I showed Meg the photos, and she said, “My head is glowing” in such a way that indicated she did not like that her head was glowing. I was like, WHAT?! That is on PURPOSE. It is sun flare! How can you not like sun flare? Do you know how proficient one has to be in order to shoot sun flare?

So lesson learned is that thoughts like the last one I had isn’t something the subject will give two craps about, if it makes their hair look like “straw.” Or their nose look “honking.” Or their forehead look “in need of Botox.” Or their hips look “terrible.” Hey. I just remembered why I enjoy shooting animals so much! Heh.

But OK, no more back-lit shots. We moved to the bench on the other side, so that Meg was facing the sun. I normally don’t like shooting from this vantage point because everything is just too evenly warm and golden. But the sun was really fading by then, lessening the degree of golden-ness, and I post-processed the image to black and white which I thought looked really great.

I think she looks posed but relaxed and natural.

This is the shot she chose to give her friend. I thought she looked great in all the shots, but this was my fave.

Now that I’ve posted photos I guess it’s only fair now to post some photos of myself that Meg took. I look extremely silly in these. And stoned in one. It really is difficult being in front of the camera, especially without direction!

Makes me appreciate even more just how much a photographer needs to do in order to get great pictures – and lot of it has nothing to do with a camera.