Dan & Anne

On July 12th, we were honored to host 10 photographers in our home for our first-ever teaching experience!

We never had any intention of teaching, but we had reached a point where we just didn’t have time to answer all of the e-mails we were receiving from photographers — and we hated sending canned “we’re too busy” responses, or ignoring people altogether.

Our solution was So, You Wanna Shoot Weddings?, a class geared toward giving new photographers some of the info we wish we’d had when we first began.

We started the day in Cabbagetown, shooting with one of our favorite couples, Joni and Chip.  THANKS, you guys, for being our models!!!

We spent some time talking about posing, and finding different images within a single setting.

Above photo from East Main Photography

Above photo from East Main Photography

Above photos from Captivating

We talked about finding good light, and paying attention to the backgrounds of your photographs.

Interacting with your subjects was a big topic of discussion.  Joni and Chip, like all clients, are real people, not models.  Connecting with each couple is key to creating images they will love.

Above photo from East Main Photography

Look at all those cameras!

Above photo from East Main Photography

Above photo from Captivating

We touched oh-so-briefly on off-camera lighting:

Above photo from tinaRae Photography

Above photo from East Main Photography

Before the day got TOO hot, we headed back to the air conditioning at our loft.  :)  All told, we spent more than 12 hours with THE most awesome group of people!  We tried to cover everything from contracts and paperwork, to pricing and products, to client relations, to branding, editing and post-production.  When it was all over, we were EXHAUSTED — but we had a truly incredible time, and we are SO glad we took the plunge and stepped outside our comfort zone to hold this class.  :)

Above photo from East Main Photography

We have to give a HUGE thanks to Kevan, Leisa, and Lindsay who shared some of their “behind-the-scenes” photographs with us.  It’s crazy to see ourselves in action!

And to EVERYONE who came and gave us this chance to share, THANK YOU!

Leisa and Kristen from Captivating Photography
Dawn from Daybreak Photography
Kevan and Rebekah from East Main Photography
The fabulous Laura Barnes
Molli and Nathan from Moment Photography
Lindsay and Christina from tinaRae Photography

You guys are awesome!

**UPDATE:  The class is full!  Thanks to everyone who has registered to attend!  We’re looking forward to spending the day with you all!**

Over the past 5 years, we’ve watched our wedding photography business grow from a part-time side-job into a full-fledged career. Along with that growth have come plenty of struggles, but we’ve also been blessed with excitement, companionship, and creativity in a way we never could have imagined.

We cannot even begin to describe the number of e-mails we receive from photographers who, like we were 5 years ago, are building a business from the ground up.

We wish there were enough days in the year to accept all the requests for coffees and lunches, but there are only the two of us and, alas, work calls.

This July, we’re excited to announce that we will open our home to a handful of photographers to share the ups and downs of our own journey, and to pass on some of the hard-won knowledge that we would have loved to have had when we first began.  Keep reading for all the details!

When: 
Sunday, July 12, 2009
8am – Late Evening/Whenever  **NEW TIME!!**

Where:
Our Loft in Grant Park – Atlanta, GA

How Much:
$275 per person
or
$375 per 2-person studio team (This is specifically intended for couple-run businesses. Please, no tag-along friends or part-time assistants.)

 

This will benefit you if you have questions about:

Getting started. (You know how to shoot, but you’re clueless about how to build a wedding portfolio. There ARE ways to begin without relying on other pros to give you assisting gigs — trust us, we did it.)

Keeping organized. (Having all your ducks in a row is key to maintaining a business in the long run. Contracts, forms, invoices… we’ll share the stuff we use and help you create your own.)

Shooting. (We’re not geniuses. But we CAN share some helpful shooting tips that we wish we’d known when we first started. We’ll have a couple on site to act as our models for the day, so bring your cameras! We’ll also make sure each photographer goes home with a headshot.)

Editing. (In our experience, editing can be the bane of a photographer’s existence. We’ll walk you through the basics, and share our methods for creating the perfect end-product for your client in a timely manner.)

Basic Branding & Marketing + Photoshop. (When you’re starting off, you might not be able to spend a fortune on a graphic designer. We will share simple lessons on creating your own basic marketing materials as well as showing off some of our favorite post-production techniques. You’ll make the most of this if you bring a laptop with Photoshop installed, but it’s not required.)

 

Register:

Registration is full!

Space is limited to 10 photographers/studios.
PayPal your registration fee to info@almasyphoto.com
Registration is non-refundable.
Please include your contact information so we can send you additional details!

Don’t hesitate to email us with any questions. We’re looking forward to sharing with all of you!

 

 

**UPDATE:  The class is full!  Thanks to everyone who has registered to attend!  We’re looking forward to spending the day with you all!**

Now, this blog isn’t really “for photographers”, but since we know there are a lot of you out there reading, we thought the easiest way to share would be a blog post.

We get a lot of e-mails from a lot of different people asking about lighting. How do we light… What gear to we use… Etc. If you’ve ever written us one of those e-mails, then you’ve gotten a reply that included our five-star recommendation of Zack Arias’s One Light Workshop.

Zack’s currently working on a One Light DVD, which is going to make his teaching more accessible to a wider audience of photographers. You can now see a 7 minute preview of his DVD on YouTube.

Zack was a huge inspiration to us when it came to on-location lighting, and especially was instrumental in encouraging Dan in his self-taught education. We shoot very differently from Zack, and we adapted some of his lighting techniques to more effectively fit our style, but the foundation he offers in his workshops is valid for ANYONE who wants the ability to create light where there is none, or manipulate the light that is already there.

Enjoy!

Well, it’s been almost a year since the last facelift, and since it’s Spring-cleaning time, we thought it was a good idea to knock out some of the bugs and kinks here on the blog.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the fresh new look and feel, and a repair to images being overlapped by the sidebar, which was a problem that we let go on way too long. Seriously, if you see us it’s ok to give us a slap in the face for that one.

Annnnyways… poke around, and have fun. We’re still tweaking some stuff on the backend, but you shouldn’t notice much from a reader-standpoint.

We’re SO excited to help launch Southern Wedding Style Magazine with THREE fabulous events that will be taking place throughout the southeast over the next few months!

WHAT:
The Southern Wedding Style Magazine Premiere Event & Bridal Showcase

WHEN:
April 1, 2008
7pm – 10pm

WHERE:
Myspayce the Event Place
12 East Garden Street
Pensacola, FL

WHO SHOULD GO?
*Brides and Grooms
*Photographers
*Florists
*Videographers
*Event Planners
*Caterers
*…and anyone else who loves, lives, and breathes all things wedding and wants to PARTY!

Visit Southern Wedding Style Magazine online for drawing, tickets, and event information.

And if you can’t make the Florida debut party, stay tuned for the ATLANTA launch party, to be announced soon! We hope to see you there!

Anne and I just wanted to give an update on what we’re doing behind this scenes here, because we’re really excited about going into this 2008 wedding season.

First off, Collections are back! We’ve worked really hard to re-arrange our pricing and structure so that folks end up with more for their money. We really think we have some fantastic coverage and product options available, and now it’s really easy to bundle it all together so that you come away with exactly what you want. As always, our main thrust is providing you with your Digital Negatives and that will continue with the new Collections. Existing clients whose weddings we haven’t completed yet will have an opportunity to take advantage of the new stuff too – more on that soon.

Second, we’ve introduced some new Books and Albums from some really great vendors. We spent a lot of time researching and trying out tons of different companies, and after exhausting every resource, we really feel like our current products are truly the best we’ve ever offered. There are now a full-range of choices including flush-mount albums, matted albums, coffee table books, and our brand new Look Books. (A Look Book is just our name for a proof book, but we really love these things, with their cloth covers and superior binding quality, they make a fantastic way for you to quickly browse through your hundreds of images — or thousands if you’re Lauren & Mike). Look Books are included with every new Collection.

So, to sum it all up, we’re really excited about the new things we’re doing for 2008, and we hope you guys like what we’re doing too. Be sure to head on over to our main site and check this stuff out. We can’t wait to fill these new products with the amazing images from all of your weddings!