Captivating Imagery: Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer and Professional Photography Services

A friend of mine, and fellow photographer, sent me a fun exercise today to help with marketing my Pittsburgh wedding photography business. The point of these simple questions with no punctuation, just words, is to encourage honest answers without thinking too much. I plan to use this information as I draft up some goals for 2011, but I thought it might be fun to share.

why photography

because it helps to remember

why weddings

because I’m girlie and I like them

why portraits

I like to help people look their best and feel confident

who are you

a woman who lives in Pittsburgh and wants to serve God, family, and enjoy life

favorite things (no nouns)

dancing, singing, laughing, eating, traveling, helping, sharing

favorite food

mexican

how did you get here (with a camera in your hand)

i’ve always enjoyed being creative – used to create mini musicals with my cousins, dance recitals with my barbies, once I had a camera,     that was just as fun

first picture you remember taking

a self portrait

what’s next

I want to keep making photos and I want to do something with my skills that helps others – maybe organize a non-profit for photographers     who happen to go on mission trips to educate people about poverty or other issues and also to help promote missions

what’s behind

a bumpy road and loving family and friends who’ve helped me along

This past week, I spent time in NYC for the PDN PhotoPlus event. It is the first major photography conference I’ve attended and I came away from it with a lot of inspiration for my Pittsburgh wedding photography business and I’m so grateful for an awesome experience. My family was a little bit leery about me going on this trip alone (because of my child-like tendency to often get lost in the moment), but I survived! And for anyone who is thinking about going to NYC, but is hesitant about reports of bed bugs, I stayed in a hostel and it was bed-bug-free and very tidy, I might add.

Anyway, back to the conference. This is a great conference and it’s easily accessible if you happen to be living in the North East. As a wedding photographer, I have given a lot of thought to which conference I’d try first and I have to say, I have no regrets. I took the Megabus (which is awesome) from Pittsburgh and was within walking distance of everything. On top of that, I made some friends and learned a lot. So for other photographers out there who might be considering a conference next year, I give this one a thumbs up! Here’s the Javits Center where it takes place:

My favorite speaker? Joe McNally. I’ve read his book Hot Shoe Diaries and knew he would give a great seminar. Now I have tons of notes for new things I’d like to try—too bad the wedding season is winding down. I may need to schedule some test shoots if there are any past clients out there who would like to have some fun and let me experiment a little. Just let me know if you’re interested.
(more…)

I’m taking a break from my wedding blogs to share a DIY project to keep cameras secure for my fellow photographers who use the Black Rapid camera straps. Camera straps made by Black Rapid (and a few other companies out there that I am less familiar with) seemed to be the must-have accessory among my wedding photographer colleagues in Pittsburgh this spring. As we geared up for the coming wedding season we were all looking for ways to save our backs because the equipment we lug around all day can be quite heavy. I know at least a handful of photographers who decided to go with one of the Black Rapid camera strap varieties, so I decided the $130 double camera strap might be worth it if it saved me from having a sore back on Sunday mornings.

The double strap does wonders if you’re a two-camera shooter with one on each arm. The strap balances out the weight—and I’ve found that because you no longer have to hold your body in awkward positions to keep the regular camera strap from slipping off your shoulder, that my lower back and sides are less sore too! That in itself was a major breakthrough in comfort on a wedding day.

The Black Rapid straps were working out very nicely until a few weddings ago when my D700 and 70-200 2.8 lens suddenly (or so it seemed) came unscrewed from the fastener. Luckily, I was in a grassy area so the camera and lens are fine, but I was not a happy camper. How could I continue to trust camera straps that do not securely hold my camera?

Doesn’t this photo make you feel uneasy? Here’s a close-up of the fastener:

The images from this post are SOOC (straight out of the camera) with no special lighting because I just needed to get this post out and move on.

Anyway, I contacted Black Rapid and after an exchange of several emails, they sent me a new double strap since their fasteners had been updated. I can’t complain. That’s pretty good customer service. But I decided that until they come up with some kind of safety feature, no fastener would really hold all day. When you let your cameras hang by your sides and you are moving in and out of limos and up and down stairs, there is a lot of movement that can cause the fastener to slowly unscrew and I wasn’t going to chance dropping my equipment again. If I had been standing on pavement when my camera dropped, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Oddly enough, I had just finished putting together a leading line on my front porch so that my dog, Brownie, could be outside with me on the porch. He’s a sweet dog, but if he sees anything suspicious, he throws caution to the wind and runs out into the street. Now I keep him tethered to a leading line when we’re relaxing on the porch.

I’m not exactly handy, so to make the leading line, I got my supplies at Home Depot and asked for help with crimping the ferrule and stop set. Now, before this trip to Home Depot, I had no idea of what a ferrule was. Kudos to them for walking me through how I could put it all together! Anyway, this all relates I promise!

I used 1/16″ coated cable and to loop the cable through the pulley. The helpful people at Home Depot showed me that I could use a ferrule to close the loop. This requires a swagging tool to crimp the ferrule tight. Because I didn’t really have a need to purchase the tool, they used one in the store and did it for me. I went away happy knowing that I had found a place to go when I need help with such odd projects.

After some thought, I realized that I could use the same materials for the leading line to make a safety cable to keep my cameras secure with the Black Rapid straps. For $10 in supplies, I can now rest assured that my cameras will be secure.

As you can see above, I attached one of the quick links to the ring that holds the original camera straps and fished the other end through the opening for the nylon strap above the fastener and attached the second quick link to the ring on the other side of the camera.

To make your own safety cable, you’ll need a 1.5 foot piece of 1/16″ coated cable, two 1/8″ quick links, and a 3/32″ ferrule and stop set (they come in pairs). You’ll need to double that if you want to make two safety cables…

Oh, and you need a helpful hardware store employee who has access to a swagging tool and knows how to use it. That last part is free if you’re friendly and know of a good hardware store.

While I’d rather buy ready-made safety cables for this purpose, I feel like they’re not out there. I’ve looked a good bit. If Black Rapid or Think Tank were to sell them, I’d pick some up right away. A friend of mine mentioned that my DIY cables could scratch my camera body where the quick links rub. I’m open to suggestions, so please share! For now, I can at least rest assured that my gear will be safe. I’ve used the safety cables for a couple of weddings now and they don’t really get in the way and when my camera came loose again, the cable supported it until I could screw the fastener into the tripod socket again. My decision making regarding purchasing the camera straps, and the very nature of this blog post, have developed in a very roundabout way, but I think I’m in a happy place for now.

Today is the first day of spring and I can not hide my enthusiasm about this.  Each time I hear mention of this on the news, I do a little dance.  And here are some photos to commemorate this long-awaited day.

This is the first photo I took at Mellon Park yesterday afternoon and it was a gift from God, I’m sure. I love photographing nature and often get caught in a trance, waiting for just the right moment when the bumblebee hovers over the flowers. This moment was within seconds of finding this hillside of blooms. I couldn’t believe that the bee stayed just long enough for me to compose, focus and adjust the exposure. Sweet!

This is the newly renovated walled garden at Mellon Park. I went there yesterday to scout the location for an upcoming engagement session for a bride and groom who are getting married this summer. It looks as though the garden renovation is complete and a dedication is planned for the spring – not sure of a date, though.

This is a beautiful park for on-location photography. It’s one of my favorites because I have a sweet spot for formal gardens. I loved The Secret Garden (movie and musical) growing up, but had never seen a formal garden in person until the summer I spent in London in my early 20s. And Mellon Park in Pittsburgh, captures some of the whimsy and romance that I grew to love about the gardens in London.

Even the gates have beautiful floral details.

This is the other walled garden at Mellon Park. The walls are falling apart, so I hope it will be a future renovation project. For now, it has more of a rustic charm.

This is from the daylily and daffodil garden. The little daylilies look so triumphant with the sun illuminating their form. I can’t wait until the daffodils bloom. They are my favorite flower – I carried a bouquet of daffodils for my wedding, just like I dreamt about as a little girl.

This bird was curious about me and my camera. I think the noise of my shutter clicking is what interested him.

Happy spring!

Through a connection by my friend and fellow blogger of FoodBurgh, I picked up a fun job earlier this month: photographing beer.  This assignment took me to the Rivertowne Pour House in Monroeville, one of several locations where the beer can be found on tap.  I set up a mini studio in a small banquet room at the back of the restaurant and got to work.  Here’s one shot of the six varieties I photographed that day.  The brew master there referred to this one as Blonde.

The beer is isolated on white for graphic design purposes, as Full Pint is getting ready to produce and market their beer for distribution.

While there, the brew master offered me a taste and I happily tried their mango beer because I love mango and was curious about how it would taste in beer. Well, it’s delicious! I am definitely heading back to the Rivertowne Pour House for dinner and another mango beer. To other mango fans out there, you’ll have to head to Monroeville too, because the mango beer is not one of the varieties that they will be distributing.