Stunning florals of yellow and ivory were provided by Michael Angelos of South Bend.

The ceremony was followed by a lovely reception at the Palais Royale with entertainment provided by Blake “DJ Sticky Boots” Eckelbarger of The Music Place.

photography by Melissa Brentlinger & Fehren Johnson of Jennifer Mayo Studios

Please contain your laughter for the end of this post.  Despite what you might be thinking, I am NOT a professional model.  But I was in desperate need of a new head shot.  I thought about having Jami do it or maybe asking one of my photographer friends to give it a whirl, but I really didn’t want to bother any of them, and then it occurred to me… digital SLR cameras are soooo easy to use, I’ll just have my daughter take the picture.

Meet the Photographer

This is Sydney.  She’s 5.  She likes watercolor painting, riding her bike and building forts out of pillows and blankets in the living room.  Until this weekend, she was strictly forbidden from touching any of my camera equipment.  But then I thought, what the heck, lesser qualified people do it, why not her?  After a brief explanation of Canon’s auto-focus system and the mechanics of shutter release, Sydney was in business.  I should point out in the above picture, Sydney was giving me some direction from behind the camera about body posture and what I should be doing with my arms.  The resulting image was a variation on the ballerina pose that she suggested.

Photographer vs. Button-Pusher

The problem with the final image is that the person who pressed the shutter release doesn’t know why the resulting image looks the way it does.  She cannot recreate the image if she tried to do it again.  She has no idea why she chose to shoot it at f/6.3 rather than f/2.8 or f/16 or why the exposure was 1/200 of a second and not faster or slower.

The reality is that modern camera technology has made it considerably easier to take a good picture with little or no training.  Even on consumer-grade DSLR’s, setting the dial to “P” (P stands for Program, by the way, not Professional) pointing your lens in the right direction and pressing the button can frequently yield a pretty decent shot, at least if the lighting scenario isn’t too complicated.  Throw a bright sky into your background,  a dimly lit church, some very bright mid-summer-day overhead sunshine, a fast-moving subject or patchy shade and you’re probably going to want someone with the experience to deal with those scenarios… consistently, particularly if it happens to be the most important day of your life where retakes are not possible.  I suppose my point is that creating an accurate exposure, something a button-pusher can do, is not the same thing as manipulating light and shadow in a creative and deliberate way.  From a client standpoint, the difference between the two can often be difficult to ascertain since even a button-pusher gets lucky often enough to build an adequate portfolio.

You have to Start Somewhere

This post is not intended to be mean-spirited or even a slight jab at photographers just starting out.  You have to start somewhere and my beginnings, by no means, are all that much different than those just buying their first “real camera”.  Most, if not all, photographers start out as button-pushers.  Button pushing is where the intrigue begins.  Button pushing often results in happy accidents… those shots where what you got was much different and much better than what you were expecting.  Shots that make you wonder “how do I do that on purpose next time?”

I’ve seen a lot of cyber-bullying amongst the photography community lately, no doubt cultivated by our unfiltered access to social media, but I think it’s highly unproductive.  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the like have provided photographers and prospective photography clients with a unique way to connect.  These outlets are tremendous tools to foster mentorship, collaboration, and client education, and yet, in many cases, I’ve seen it used to non-constructively criticize photo enthusiasts who may just be finding their way.  Some of the best talent I’ve seen coming into the field are incredibly young (maybe not 5, but not a whole lot older) and ambitious button-pushers who, once they acquire a little more experience, better equipment and learn to be more compelled by light and shadow than the tricks of which Lightroom and Photoshop are capable, will probably make all of our heads spin.

In the meantime, Glamour Shots® better watch out, in a few years, Sydney may be able to give them a run for their money.

The ceremony was followed by a trip with the wedding party down to Tiscornia Park, one of St. Joe’s most popular wedding photo destinations.  It was a mostly overcast day which made for better mid-day lighting conditions at the beach.  We concluded our portraits with the newlyweds with a trip to Notre Dame to capture a few of the photo hot spots on campus before heading to a lovely reception at The Blue Heron at Blackthorn .

The reception was adorned with beautiful flowers and details by Beikmann Associates Floral.  Sheri Beikmann and her team put together some incredible floral designs which are always a pleasure to photograph.

St. Joe is just a short drive up the 31 Bypass from South Bend and it was a great day to take in the best that two different communities have to offer.  Congratulations to Amanda and Garrett!

… “OF COURSE!  Come on over!”  We met Andrea and Greg (if you’re really good friends with him, you can call him Brian) a couple of weeks ago.  They’re planning a fall wedding in St. Joe with their reception at the always fun Shadowland Ballroom and Silver Beach Carousel.  It has, of course, been a mild winter, so we knew the opportunity might or might not happen, but Andrea and Greg really wanted to do a snowy engagement session before Spring.  Last weekend, while definitely snowy didn’t work out for any of us so we jumped on the chance to do it this afternoon.  The couple even brought their dog, Maizey, along for a few pictures.

Last Monday night I had the opportunity to attend the Twin Cities Camera Club’s January meeting in downtown Saint Joseph to judge the members’ photo submissions this month.  The Camera Club was established in 1933 and has almost 90 members ranging in experience and photography interests from throughout Southwest Michigan.  Judging one of the Camera Club meetings is always a fun experience in the winter when things slow down a little.  Last week’s photography topic was “creative”.  Members entered a variety of images from portraits to landscapes and architecture.  The above image was created by club member, Jim Lynch, and was among many beautiful photos presented at the meeting.

Wedding photography tip:  When photographing a wedding party at the most popular wedding photo location in Chicago, rather than trying to shoot around the six other wedding parties that are there (most of which probably did not have permits ) , just use them as a design element.

This isn’t really my post from our wedding last Saturday, but I thought it was a fun example of troubleshooting at a crowded location.  Check back soon for more from Michelle and Jeremy’s big day!

We had our first beach wedding of the season this past Saturday.  Cindy and Chris were such fun to work with.  This was the first beach ceremony I’ve photographed right in my own back yard at Hagar Park in the Lake Michigan Beach area at the very northern edge of Berrien County.  It was unseasonably cold for mid-June, but Cindy and her bridesmaids braved the cool weather for lakeside pictures.  The reception was held at Cravings Catering‘s new reception room at their Cassava Restaurant in downtown St. Joe.   Lighting design provided by Mod Events really tied the couples color scheme together for a beautiful reception.  As always, the flowers by Crystal Springs Florist were lovely.  We’re off to a great wedding season!