The Only Thing You Will Regret After Your Wedding

The Bulletin of Las Cruces puts out a great Wedding Guide annually, and this year I was interviewed in regards to videography. If you haven’t read the article, Memories in Motion, by Bonnie Shranz, here is the link. The article was well written and I have a few quotes in there so I just want to take the opportunity to elaborate on the thoughts I shared, and give you a complete view of how the only thing you will regret after your wedding, is not having any wedding videos.

You will only remember saying “I do”

It takes months sometimes years of planning to get one day just the way you always imagined it. You have laughed, cried, sometimes even fought with your spouse over every little detail from the guest list to the bridal party, the colors, the DJ, the cake, the flowers, the place, the cost. There are ups and there are downs, but it’s behind you. The planning is done. It cost more than you wanted. Definitely more than anyone who said you could do it cheaply said. And you have learned the hard way that your DIY friends betrayed you with their farfetched ideas that it would be worth it to do one aspect yourself to save some money. It would have been worth the cost, you will say. But that’s ok. All stress aside the day finally comes. It’s going to be all about the two of us today. Then the day ends, and all you can remember is saying “I do”. The vows, made me realize how committed I am to love this person forever. The speeches were so heart felt they made me cry. And the way Grandma danced to that one song…But I can’t remember what my vows are, or what was said during that speech, and wouldn’t it be great if we could watch Grandma bust a move again. Photographs don’t capture that.

This is a significant lifetime event

I am surprised how many movies are made just to tell the story of falling in love. They all end the same, with that warm feeling, and they live happily ever after. Sometimes I wonder if people realize that the happily ever after is the meat of a relationship. Until marriage, there was never a real commitment. There was never a deep growth and acceptance of another person being there every day in your happy place that used to be a solo domain. Love on the surface, gets you to marriage. But true love as they say, is something much deeper. It takes great sacrifice of pride. It’s honor and respect in words and actions. It’s forgiveness, it’s forgetful, it’s patient. It’s keeping quiet at times so you can listen. It’s understanding someone to the point people confuse your empathy for telepathy. It’s communication beyond constraint. It’s deep like the roots of a giant redwood tree, and it takes years to cultivate. I know too many people that see this love between their parents and are looking for the right person to feel that same love with. You can’t experience that love with the roots of a sapling! This is what is around the corner. This is why you are celebrating with the largest party ever thrown in your honor. Your love has taken root and the next few decades are going to fly by so fast, but the whole time your love will grow. Happily ever after is the best part, it’s remembering how you got there that tends to fade away.    

At one point in my life I thought I knew everything, and that my parents were horrible. Then one day as I was learning more than I ever could imagine, I realized I knew nothing in comparison to all the knowledge out there. One day I realized how great my parents were. And now I try my best to be as good of parents as they were to me, to my kids. I sit and watch family videos with my girls all the time. They ask to watch them. “Can we watch the kite video”? And we will sit down and watch one after another. They love it. When a couple comes to us for a video, I am not thinking about how high tech can I go with this production, instead I am focused on telling their story to their children. What their children are going to want to see and hear is my approach to telling their story. 

Videography is expensive but priceless

It seems in every wedding budget the one negotiable option is wedding videography. I get it, it was ours too. I mean it would be nice to have wedding videos, but they are just so expensive, right? But this isn’t a Hollywood production costing millions of dollars. This is your wedding, all the blood, sweat, and tears you put into planning this day, and now you are going to leave it up to a few random cell-phonographers to hopefully get some footage where you can make out someone’s face. I have news for you, they are never close enough to get good footage. And with a cell phone you need to be right there in someone’s face, with good light, and no noise, to get the kind of video worth showing your future children. Well it’s better than nothing someone would say. Yeah I guess so, someone with real wedding videos would reply with eyes wide open. If you are getting married, the chances are that someday you will have kids. And one day in every child’s life, they want to know where they came from, how their parents came to be. Their family’s history. Now you could tell them with your memory’s best recollection, or you could show them, how young and in love you were when you got married. Eager to live happily ever after.

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?

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. 

How to Have an Amazing Family Photo Session and Still Love Each Other When it's All Done

Family photos; the annual ritual often dreaded by Dad and thrown together by Mom. Mothers really are the true heroes of family photos. Ultimately, it is their effort (namely blood, sweat, and tears) that gets a family in front of my camera to create the images that will become a part of their history. Remember when you had braces and your little brother really was little? Thank your Mom for preserving that era of your family. Here are a few tips for all you warrior moms out there who would love beautiful, authentic family portraits with a little less blood, sweat, and tears.

Coordinate, Don’t Match

I know figuring out how to dress and style multiple individuals can seem like a daunting task. Here’s how to keep it simple: think in terms of coordinating your outfits instead of matching. Select a color to work with and use its different shades and hues to provide a unifying direction. Let’s take blue as an example. A mixture of sky blue, navy and Chambray can work very well together. Then you can add variety with pops of another color in your accessory choices. Using our blue example, you could add a bright yellow necklace for mom and yellow flats for daughter to make a fun and casual look. Or add a pair of black heels for mom and a classic black blazer for dad to dress it up. The key is to start with a solid foundation by coordinating colors. BONUS TIP: Check out www.design-seeds.com for all the inspiration and color eye candy you could ever want. DOUBLE BONUS TIP: The app Polyvore has a ton of outfit inspiration boards. Start creating your own outfits or browse what others are thinking up.

Give Your Photographs a Purpose

What do you want to do with your images?  Thinking about how you would like to display your photographs before your initial consultation will help with the planning of your session. Do you have a blank wall in your home that you would like to create a gallery display? I can help you determine a layout with sizes and orientations then create the exact images we will need during the session. If you would love an album we can focus in the planning of your session on ways to highlight story-telling elements. Including story-telling elements, such as props or sentimental items, will translate well into the album’s layout. For example, Ashley and Ben made sure to bring the first books they traded with each other to their engagement session to show how their relationship began. Planning your session with the photographs’ purpose in mind will create images that lend themselves seamlessly to how you envision enjoying them in your everyday life.

Try not to be a Ball of Stress

Easier said than done, I know. But seriously, relax the grip, drop your shoulders, and breathe, baby, breathe. An easy way to make the session more enjoyable for your children, and therefore less stressful for you is to bribe them. That’s right, I said it. Nobody is judging your parenting skills here! Promises of ice cream cones have been known to work wonders.  You can also consider incorporating an activity your kids love into the session like blowing bubbles or tickle fights. Thinking of your photo session as a fun family date will keep everyone’s mood more light and cheerful. BONUS TIP: Schedule your session on a day when you will not be rushed. Running late and feeling hurried will not help your stress level and if you are stressed at your photo session it is going to show in the images.

Love your Real Life

One of my mother’s favorite photographs displays her children’s personalities through facial expressions. In the photograph, I am grinning with every single tooth in my mouth, my brother is sweetly and mischievously smiling, and my sister is giving her trademark pout face. It helps to remember that not every photograph needs to have everyone smiling perfectly for the camera. Some of your favorite images will be created when true emotions emerge, whether that is belly laughing or your five year old’s pouty face. Approach your session with the goal to just be yourself and I am confident you will love the authentic feel to the images.

Let the Photographer Lead

Just like skillful dancers, someone’s role is to lead and other’s is to follow. Give the leadership role to your photographer. Once you arrive for your photo session Inform your kiddos that “the camera person” is in charge for the next hour. Now you are off the hook. All you need to worry about is enjoying being with your family. It is not your job to keep your kids’ attention or make them smile. That’s what I am here for!

From mother to mother, I sincerely hope these tips help you enjoy your next family photo session.

P.S. TIP: Do not wait until December to schedule your holiday photographs. Last year I was fully booked for the dates I had available before December.

The Most Effective Way to Brainstorm for a Marketing Video

So somewhere along the way either through an article, friend, colleague, or video, it was brought to your attention that video content marketing is the way of the future. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index, “74% of all internet traffic in 2017 will be video”. Chances are you have thought over your own marketing video throughout your spare time and have come up with an idea for what the perfect video would look like, and the idea is just bursting out of your head because you are so excited to get it going. But before you create this baby, you need to backtrack slightly. Sit down and dedicate a solid hour of your time to clarify what the ideal video should do. Slow down and take some time to consider how the video is going to impact a viewer by clarifying a clear intent. This process should be painful or you are not doing it right. Use the following questions to guide your thought process.

What is the client’s need that this product fills?

It is easy to get carried away with features in our perfect expectation of a video, focusing primarily on the product or service we offer without considering the true need the product or service is filling. But if you want to make a great video, this is the first question you need to consider as well as how the video can convey the resolution of this need to the viewer. Ultimately, that is what you are selling. The product or service is merely a means of resolving a client’s need. Approaching the video from the client’s perspective will help the viewer relate to the overall message of the video.

How do you want the video to affect a viewer? What do you really want the viewer to do after viewing it?

You could have a great technical video, beautifully shot, perfect audio, great color, extremely informative, and amazing quality, but if the viewer can’t relate to the video, then the video will fail to inspire the result you are after. On the other hand, how many times have you seen a video that lacked in technical quality, but when you finished watching the entire video you reached for your wallet? Keep in mind, poor quality video is uploaded all day long online. Viewers are accustomed to watching poor quality videos while still receiving emotional value from the content portrayed. Which is quite opposite from the most hated videos which come across as commercials. Rather than strive for a goal of selling a product, aim to create an emotional investment in the product, service, or brand.

Does the video establish credibility?

Imagine going to a doctor, telling them you are sick and without asking your symptoms or checking your vital signs, they prescribe medicine. How confident would you be that whatever medicine they gave you is going to make you feel better? When is the last time you discussed your doctor’s credentials? Probably never. Based on the discussion with the doctor, you figure a normal person would not talk to me like this, they must know what they are talking about. Basically, you want the video to be believable. The best way to do this is to establish credibility. I am not saying a video must show credentials, I am just saying the content must pass the “sniff” test. If the viewer thinks it smells fishy, they won’t tell you why, they will just walk away. As you are considering what content to include, remember it is better that a message comes across genuine, rather than as a commercial.

Shift mindset from selling to showing

The field of dreams method of marketing has come and gone (and seriously should have never worked anyway). The “if you build it they will come mentality” doesn’t work when marketing to a generation of millennials that disdain being sold anything. When it comes to video content marketing, to make a video that impacts the viewer in a profound and thought out way, you need to connect with the viewer first, in order to inspire and motivate specific action. It is more effective to use an Inception technique: you need to go three levels deep, plant a seed, an idea, nurture that idea like you would a fragile plant and patiently wait for the fruits of your labor to develop their own roots. The largest mistake in creating a video is jumping straight to harvest when it is time to plow the field. Dedicating an appropriate amount of time to brainstorming and planning, when it comes to video content marketing, will be the most important step in creating a successful video campaign for your business that will inspire and motivate your clients and potential consumers. So if you don’t rush this process you will reap large dividends.