I hope everyone is bundled up and getting ready for a great holiday weekend!
For the first time in five years, I'm going to give myself permission do the same! I have two projects to finish, some phone calls to make, and then I'm taking the rest of the week off so I can enjoy the holidays with Wolfgang and his family.
Dan, Caroline, and I wish you a wonderful Holiday!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Helen + Rob's wedding ~ sneak peek!
My favorite bride-and-groom portraits are always the candid shots. I think this one of Helen & Rob making their way back down the aisle is probably my favorite from their wedding. More from their Malibu wedding coming soon!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
MISSING CAT! Westerville area - please look in your garages!
One of my couples has lost their cat - he ran out of their house on December 5th. His name is Buster, he's 10 years old, medium sized, short-haired, orange & white, and his nose is half orange and half white. He has an orange patch on his right shoulder. He has been neutered. Front paws are de-clawed. He's shy & probably won't come to you, but should you see a cat like this, please let me know! If you live in the Westerville area, please check your garages in case he snuck in for warmth.
Please call me or email kitty at maerstudio dot come if you see him.
If you know anyone in the Westerville area, please pass on the message. I can't imaging someone not having their pet during the holidays...it's just too heartbreaking. I hope this little guy gets home!
Please call me or email kitty at maerstudio dot come if you see him.
If you know anyone in the Westerville area, please pass on the message. I can't imaging someone not having their pet during the holidays...it's just too heartbreaking. I hope this little guy gets home!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Katie + Bob's wedding!
I have to say how thrilled I am when I see "Style Me Pretty" on the referral line in an inquiry email... The Style Me Pretty blog has no shortage of inspiration on how to incorporate personal and unique details into your wedding. They're very big on dyi and environmentally-friendly weddings, so I was really excited to hear about Katie & Bob's wedding at Thorn Creek Winery in Aurora.
I love how Katie and Bob's classic wedding day aesthetics went so well with all their locations - the woods, city gardens, church, and the prairie setting of the winery.
Some great details: hot pink shawls for the girls - it got pretty chilly in the evening, wine opener favors that doubled as seating cards, an old cart wagon with family wedding photos and a tree for hanging messages from guests. The cart later held apothecary jars with cookies for late evening snacks on the ride home. The band, Frederick Davis, played on through the night and had everyone out on the floor. (Perhaps someday I'll figure out how to edit the impromptu video I shot of the groomsmen going nuts...it was awesome.) And those cupcakes...oh, the cupcakes....
Favorite moment of the whole day: amongst the festivities on the dance floor, seeing Katie spin around to face Bob with this enormous grin on her face, grab his hands, shake them, and jubilantly yell "I LOVE YOU!!!"
I love how Katie and Bob's classic wedding day aesthetics went so well with all their locations - the woods, city gardens, church, and the prairie setting of the winery.
Some great details: hot pink shawls for the girls - it got pretty chilly in the evening, wine opener favors that doubled as seating cards, an old cart wagon with family wedding photos and a tree for hanging messages from guests. The cart later held apothecary jars with cookies for late evening snacks on the ride home. The band, Frederick Davis, played on through the night and had everyone out on the floor. (Perhaps someday I'll figure out how to edit the impromptu video I shot of the groomsmen going nuts...it was awesome.) And those cupcakes...oh, the cupcakes....Favorite moment of the whole day: amongst the festivities on the dance floor, seeing Katie spin around to face Bob with this enormous grin on her face, grab his hands, shake them, and jubilantly yell "I LOVE YOU!!!"
Julia + Angelo's wedding! {Kitty}
Well, shame on me...I put these up on our Facebook page, but not here!
Much fun was had by Dan and me at Julia and Angelo's wedding. Orchestrated by fabulous planner Emilie Duncan, the day went by smoothly. We had plenty of time to run around with the wedding party for photos!
Often I hear "we're thinking about a photobooth..." Yes, yes, YES!!! I'll get tons of photos of your guests enjoying themselves at the reception...but chances are, they'll be on their best behavior, especially if they know there are cameras (ie evidence) around. Not so much with the photobooth, where they have carte blanche to let go and be silly.
Much fun was had by Dan and me at Julia and Angelo's wedding. Orchestrated by fabulous planner Emilie Duncan, the day went by smoothly. We had plenty of time to run around with the wedding party for photos!
Often I hear "we're thinking about a photobooth..." Yes, yes, YES!!! I'll get tons of photos of your guests enjoying themselves at the reception...but chances are, they'll be on their best behavior, especially if they know there are cameras (ie evidence) around. Not so much with the photobooth, where they have carte blanche to let go and be silly.
Friday, December 10, 2010
cori + robbie's wedding!
It's rare I accept two weddings in a weekend, but Caroline and I still talk about how happy we were that I did just that in late September.
Cori & Robbie are awesome. The weather was sketchy all day and they just took it in stride. When Cori walked into the dressing room, she was cheerful and all smiles...and Robbie was the same way while waiting to see her in her dress.
The light right after it rains is phenomenal at Darby House. And the wedding party was so easy going about running out and in and out again so we could get some group shots between sprinkles. (And, uh...I want that hat.)
It's not every couple who start laughing when it suddenly downpours during the ceremony - on queue right as Cori's brother (who was officiating) said something about how sometimes in life, God throws obstacles in your path. {I love the last shot of C&R running in the rain. It was photographed by Will Figg who was shooting along with Caroline and me.}
Never losing sight of the purpose of wedding, they ran inside (still laughing, as you'll see), everyone found a place to stand or sit, and the ceremony continued as if nothing had happened. Often when things don't go as planned it wields much more memorable moments.
Love these little "guest book" rocks!
Congratulations, Cori & Robbie, and many thanks for letting us take part in such a wonderful day!
Cori & Robbie are awesome. The weather was sketchy all day and they just took it in stride. When Cori walked into the dressing room, she was cheerful and all smiles...and Robbie was the same way while waiting to see her in her dress.
The light right after it rains is phenomenal at Darby House. And the wedding party was so easy going about running out and in and out again so we could get some group shots between sprinkles. (And, uh...I want that hat.)
It's not every couple who start laughing when it suddenly downpours during the ceremony - on queue right as Cori's brother (who was officiating) said something about how sometimes in life, God throws obstacles in your path. {I love the last shot of C&R running in the rain. It was photographed by Will Figg who was shooting along with Caroline and me.}
Never losing sight of the purpose of wedding, they ran inside (still laughing, as you'll see), everyone found a place to stand or sit, and the ceremony continued as if nothing had happened. Often when things don't go as planned it wields much more memorable moments.
Love these little "guest book" rocks!
Congratulations, Cori & Robbie, and many thanks for letting us take part in such a wonderful day!
Saturday, December 04, 2010
katie + bob's wedding ~ sneak peek!
cori + robbie's wedding ~ sneak peek!
Just a quick sneak peek at Cori + Robbie's wedding at the Darby House this fall. More to come soon!
welcome home, *Print!
So...some new changes coming up in 2011! We've done a lot of restructuring over the last few months to make our service a lot more efficient and to make your experience with us a lot smoother. {woooo, this is waaaay longer than I'd intended, but need-to-know stuff, I believe!}
First, my sister-studio *Print is coming home and rejoining my own studio. What does that mean? ONE website, ONE blog, and - this alone has improved our operations ten-fold - ONE EMAIL ADDRESS! (It's this one: hello at maerstudio dot com - please put it in your address book!)
So from now on, you'll be seeing new work from Dan, Caroline, and me right here.
Other new stuff:
1. New computers! Yeay! It's a complicated business, this...you see, every time we upgrade camera equipment, the files get bigger. Bigger files = more harddrives and slower processing, which in turn means it takes us longer to deliver your images, longer time spent designing books due to rendering, etc, etc...you get the picture. So once we wrap up this season, we unwrap the new digital-darkroom-machine and monster harddrives. When we do the swap-overs, we'll announce it here, because we're going to take a few days off production in order to do it properly.
2. New FASTER workflow! One of the first things out of my mouth when meeting with inquiring couples is this: "Just so you know - we are not fast." It's by no means an apology; we aim to deliver images that will remind you for the rest of your lives just how amazing your wedding day was. To do that to our standards takes quite a bit of time. And the response is usually, "Oh, that's fine! We want you to do what you do - it will be worth the wait!" (But....I know when I order something online and I choose 7-10 day shipping, I still check the mail box everyday. I know it's not going to be there on day 4, but the anticipation kills me.) So, we also aim to keep learning and continuing our education so we can improve everything we do. At the end of October, I attended Pictage's PartnerCon. And oddly, where my own presentation and demonstration was on retouching, from the classes I attended myself, the number one thing that stuck with me is that "immediacy trumps perfection" and that my couples probably care a lot more about enjoying their photos and sharing them with their friends and family as soon as possible than they do about a few stray hairs and an exit sign I feel I can't live without retouching out. So...I still refuse to batch process your images and I'm still going to tweak the hell out each one. But I'm going to save the all-out perfecting for my absolute favorites and YOUR absolute favorites (ie the images that go in your book or the ones you want printed over 8x10.) This means you get your photos weeks earlier and you still get your favorite images perfected.
3. New pricing! The economy still sucks. I don't know a single person who hasn't been affected by it in some way. In reality, all one needs to get married is a significant other and a marriage license - weddings and everything that goes with them are luxuries, not necessities. So in the last couple of years, many couples have had to be more careful and bypass what they want for what they need. Also in the last year, I've had more couples tell me they need great photos...the day is going to happen once, they can't go back and do it over once they're more secure in their finances. They want a book or a large canvas, etc, but later when things settle down and they can look at their finances and have time to save. So our new commission rates structure is geared to give you what you need now and what you want later. Now you can hire us to show up, document your day, process your images, and give them to you archived on discs. If you would like a book, prints, canvases, you can come back to us at any time. Also, with Dan from *Print and now Caroline (joining the ranks this year) there are several options to fit your budget.
4. My work schedule! Please don't feel bad when you get emails from me at 3am. 9pm-5am is my 9-to-5. I've always been a night-owl and I get three times as much editing & design done in the still of the night than I do in the day when phones are ringing, the email "ding" is constantly going off, the kids next door are screaming right next to my window, and Wolfgang is trying to show me funny videos on youtube. When the rest of the world is asleep, all I have to think about is the photos and how awesome your wedding was. Caroline and I will of course still be taking phone calls during daytime-hours. And email will still be checked in the day, but twice a day instead of 50x. Again, working when I'm most productive will speed up delivery of your photos!
Well, we'll be posting more about the changes going on over here as we delve into them. Right now, I'm going to get back to work - I've been dying to give Katie & Bob their sneak peek!
First, my sister-studio *Print is coming home and rejoining my own studio. What does that mean? ONE website, ONE blog, and - this alone has improved our operations ten-fold - ONE EMAIL ADDRESS! (It's this one: hello at maerstudio dot com - please put it in your address book!)
So from now on, you'll be seeing new work from Dan, Caroline, and me right here.
Other new stuff:
1. New computers! Yeay! It's a complicated business, this...you see, every time we upgrade camera equipment, the files get bigger. Bigger files = more harddrives and slower processing, which in turn means it takes us longer to deliver your images, longer time spent designing books due to rendering, etc, etc...you get the picture. So once we wrap up this season, we unwrap the new digital-darkroom-machine and monster harddrives. When we do the swap-overs, we'll announce it here, because we're going to take a few days off production in order to do it properly.
2. New FASTER workflow! One of the first things out of my mouth when meeting with inquiring couples is this: "Just so you know - we are not fast." It's by no means an apology; we aim to deliver images that will remind you for the rest of your lives just how amazing your wedding day was. To do that to our standards takes quite a bit of time. And the response is usually, "Oh, that's fine! We want you to do what you do - it will be worth the wait!" (But....I know when I order something online and I choose 7-10 day shipping, I still check the mail box everyday. I know it's not going to be there on day 4, but the anticipation kills me.) So, we also aim to keep learning and continuing our education so we can improve everything we do. At the end of October, I attended Pictage's PartnerCon. And oddly, where my own presentation and demonstration was on retouching, from the classes I attended myself, the number one thing that stuck with me is that "immediacy trumps perfection" and that my couples probably care a lot more about enjoying their photos and sharing them with their friends and family as soon as possible than they do about a few stray hairs and an exit sign I feel I can't live without retouching out. So...I still refuse to batch process your images and I'm still going to tweak the hell out each one. But I'm going to save the all-out perfecting for my absolute favorites and YOUR absolute favorites (ie the images that go in your book or the ones you want printed over 8x10.) This means you get your photos weeks earlier and you still get your favorite images perfected.
3. New pricing! The economy still sucks. I don't know a single person who hasn't been affected by it in some way. In reality, all one needs to get married is a significant other and a marriage license - weddings and everything that goes with them are luxuries, not necessities. So in the last couple of years, many couples have had to be more careful and bypass what they want for what they need. Also in the last year, I've had more couples tell me they need great photos...the day is going to happen once, they can't go back and do it over once they're more secure in their finances. They want a book or a large canvas, etc, but later when things settle down and they can look at their finances and have time to save. So our new commission rates structure is geared to give you what you need now and what you want later. Now you can hire us to show up, document your day, process your images, and give them to you archived on discs. If you would like a book, prints, canvases, you can come back to us at any time. Also, with Dan from *Print and now Caroline (joining the ranks this year) there are several options to fit your budget.
4. My work schedule! Please don't feel bad when you get emails from me at 3am. 9pm-5am is my 9-to-5. I've always been a night-owl and I get three times as much editing & design done in the still of the night than I do in the day when phones are ringing, the email "ding" is constantly going off, the kids next door are screaming right next to my window, and Wolfgang is trying to show me funny videos on youtube. When the rest of the world is asleep, all I have to think about is the photos and how awesome your wedding was. Caroline and I will of course still be taking phone calls during daytime-hours. And email will still be checked in the day, but twice a day instead of 50x. Again, working when I'm most productive will speed up delivery of your photos!
Well, we'll be posting more about the changes going on over here as we delve into them. Right now, I'm going to get back to work - I've been dying to give Katie & Bob their sneak peek!
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