Celebrating Love Since 2009

Some people really hate Valentine’s Day. For me it holds a tender place in my thoughts. Valentine’s Day was the first “legit” date I had with Nate. We can just say his Chicken Alfredo won me over. But that’s not the only reason I don’t cringe when this holiday rolls around. On February 14th in 2009 I photographed my very first wedding. 

I was reflecting back on that time in our lives recently. So much has changed, we have grown so much and in so many ways. I was still in school and had very recently changed my degree from Journalism to Art so I could have the opportunity to take more photography classes. I really had no interest in wedding photography but was willing to give it a try once.

Since that eventful day six years ago I have fallen in love with creating portraits, especially weddings. I have also fallen in love with two munchkins. I guess it is not surprising that my two daughters changed the way I look at life, and love for that matter. Photography isn’t simply about selfishly creating beautiful scenes. It is a tool in our battle, and eventual failure, of remembering. I am deeply humbled to help families and lovers remember moments that would otherwise fade to gray. 

So cheers, to all of my clients, past and present. Thank you so much for choosing me to photograph your grandest and simplest moments. The future is full of adventure and I eagerly welcome continual growth and change. 

Here is a behind the scenes video Nate put together to celebrate the sixth anniversary of our business. :)

Why Print Photos?

Sometimes…I worry that most people think we are just trying to sell them something when we talk about why it is so important to print photographs, rather than just store them digitally. The crazy looks some people give us is what gives it away. When you hear things from people like Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google, say things like he fears our century will be a “digital dark age” in history for our descendants, it grabs my attention.

 “We have various formats for digital photographs and movies and those formats need software to correctly render those objects. Sometimes the standards we use to produce those objects fade away and are replaced by other alternatives and then software that is supposed to render images can’t render older formats, so the images are no longer visible.

This is starting to happen to people who are saving a lot of their digital photographs because they are just files of bits. The file system doesn’t know how to interpret them, you need software to do that. Now you’ve lost the photograph in effect.

If there are pictures that you really really care about then creating a physical instance is probably a good idea. Print them out, literally.”

So you might say I buy into Vint Cerf’s concept of “Digital Vellum”, but every DIY archivist out there can admit, that despite limiting the probability of data loss, the larger problem for our generation now is curating the massive amounts of digital garbage we are storing thinking it may be valuable to someone (or ourselves at least) in the future. “Individuals rarely view their own stuff as requiring curation: curation is for objects in museums.” Wrote Catherine C. Marshall, Senior Researcher at Microsoft Corporation, in her article titled “Rethinking Personal Digital Archiving”. “Most people prefer to treat their personal artifacts casually; they are aware that some of the things they save will be valuable to them or their families in the future, but they don't have the time or the patience to invest the upstream effort, nor do they have the prescience to know which things they will eventually care about”.

So that wedding album your photographer won't shut up about, is not just a physical photo archive with a long shelf life, it is a full curating service for one of life's most important milestones. All of us have tons of digital photographs and we are backing them up so someday we can hand our kids a monster capacity of the future usb or external hard drive of some sort. So is a photo album really a family’s first heirloom? As cool as it sounds to be handed a hard drive with all of your parent’s photos for the past however many decades, ponder this: If you aren’t willing to curate the photographs of your own fond memories, will your children?

Las Cruces Bulletin's 2016 Wedding Guide

We are so thrilled to have our work featured in the Las Cruces Bulletin’s 2016/2017 Wedding Guide!

Seeing our couples grace the pages of a magazine is quite the treat.

Throughout the Bulletin’s wedding guide, our photographs not only highlight our beautiful brides and grooms but also the wonderful vendors they have selected to work with. I want to take a moment and give them a shout out because they are such a crucial piece to any beautiful wedding.

Here are the local vendors featured in our photographs that appear in the wedding guide.

Venue: Meson de Mesilla

Flowers and decor: Floriography

Make Up:     Allison Shrum Makeup Artistry

Hair: Brittany Evans, hair stylist at Cheeky Chicks

Dress: BHLDN

Officiant: Rev Emma

Photo location: EPIC Railyard Event Center

Venue: Red Hawk Golf Club

Dress: My Rich Sister's Closet Boutique

Make Up: Salina at Salon Pure

Photo location: White Sands National Monument

Make Up: Allison Shrum Makeup Artistry

Hair: The Spa, Alamogordo

Make Up: Allison Shrum Makeup Artistry

Flowers: Flowerama

Dance Floor: Enchanted Occasions Event Rental

Dress: J. Crew

DJ: Las Cruces Party DJ

Photo location: New Mexico Farm and Ranch Museum Ballroom

Photo location: New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum Courtyard

Cake: Let them Eat Cake

If you are planning a wedding, these are a few of the great vendors Las Cruces has to offer!

2015 in the Rear View Mirror

"Don't let the process drain you. Don't let rules or money or the will of others push you so far down that you forget what you are here for. Remember why you started what you started all those years ago. You love what you love for a reason because it drives you. It makes you feel alive and that spirit is contagious, it's electrifying, it's the realest thing there is and the closest you're ever going to get to channeling angels or capturing the essence of a universe beyond it's lightning, it's fire, it's passion and truth. It's a kiss between two strangers that changes everything forever. Now go out and sing it from the rooftops my friend, my brother, my sister, my child. Light the sky with your words so loud and powerful that every last everyone joins hands and weeps tears of joy right along with you." - Dallas Clayton

This was a momentous year for our family and business. This was the year we jumped. Nate left the corporate world on his 34th birthday and we let go of 60 hour work weeks, commuting in rush hour traffic, weekends apart, and nearly single parenting.

We learned again why we are each other’s best partner. We are still learning that unique and somewhat mystifying balance of working like a crazy person and finding time to renew.

My heart swells with gratitude when I think of how many wonderful people we have been able to work with this year. You (yes, I am talking about you!) are our success. From those of you who have been with us from the start to all the new members of the Taylor’d Photography family, we say thank you. You have given us so much and we are humbled and honored to work with you.

I have a feeling that 2016 is going to be another great year, but 2015 will always remind me that some risks are worth taking.

You Might Want to Tell Your Wedding Guests "We Already Hired Photographers"

This is actually a trendy movement right now, they call it unplugged weddings. The bride and groom explicitly ask for wedding guests to sit in their seats, keep their cell phones off, and just be in the moment with them. Some photographers even require this and it’s included in their contract. So what’s the big hype? What problems does it solve? And how could anyone ask guests to do this without crossing into the bridezilla territory?

Why Would You Unplug Your Wedding?

In your mind you already have the perfect picture of your wedding day, pause your favorite moment, and imagine the back of your uncle bob’s head behind an Ipad taking up half the frame. Unfortunately, we get this picture a lot. Not just Ipads, phones, and point and shoot cameras, but the entire person using these devices essentially photobombs the bride and groom’s moment for a picture we know is going to include us in the background as well. This hiccup is all too common to the point where you can find stories like this on the news, in numerous photography blogs, and just about every website dedicated to the wedding industry. Recently a photographer from Australia, Thomas Stewart, posted this picture along with a corresponding message of frustration:

Photograph created by Thomas Stewart, from Thomas Stewart Photography (http://www.thomasstewart.com.au/)

“Look at this photo. This groom had to lean out past the aisle just to see his bride approaching. Why? Because guests with their phones were in the aisle and in his way.”

This is just one photograph, imagine what a video would look like. The Knot helped put the situation in context: “One faux pas we've been hearing about a lot lately is guests getting in the way of professional photography and videography. Considering that photography is often one of the biggest expenses couples will spend on, it's an issue that's harder to ignore than ditched seating assignments.”

Stewart went on to express that guests taking photographs is not only the photographer’s problem, but “these same guests will get in YOUR way. You will miss moments of your own wedding day because there’ll be an iPad in the way”. Put simply, do you want to see your wedding guests’ faces at your wedding or their favorite tablet/mobile device/camera?

It may seem advantageous to get as many pictures as possible from your wedding, I know, those guest candid photos right? For our wedding, we thought it would be cool to have disposable cameras on all the reception tables. We thought everyone and anyone could be a photographer and take great pictures of everyone having fun to get those candid moments that our photographers weren’t getting. Out of all those cameras, we got one decent picture, that’s it. And it is nowhere near as good as our hired photographers’ photos. Obviously we hadn’t read Cracked’s article naming Photography as one of four “deceptively difficult jobs that everyone thinks they can do”.

How to Have an Unplugged Wedding

Asking your guests to unplug for the entire wedding is a little much (we do love our selfies after all). Simply ask that during the ceremony all photography and video be left to the wonderful professionals you have hired. Use a combination of these tips from the Huffington Post article, 4 Ways to Get Your Wedding Guests to Put Away Their Freakin' Phones, to send your guests the right message so that they understand you want them to enjoy your wedding, and not be a vendor at it.

• Put a note in your wedding program

• Ask your officiant to make an announcement

• Ask your DJ or band leader to make an announcement

• Put a sign on the reception tables

Finally, for close family members that insist they must get pictures on their new camera, assure them they will have access to the photos created by the photographers you hired.

In Conclusion…

We aren’t trying to pick on you, or your guests. We just know setting the right atmosphere with the right tone at your wedding will allow you to focus on being in the moment you spent 6 to 12 months planning. Now it’s time to sit back and enjoy it, without getting photobombed.