Can't wait for Spring!!! {60}

Looking through old photos & videos of springtime senior pictures, it reminds me how much I love these beautiful Spring evenings! If you're a senior and still need senior pictures, contact us for info & availability! {info@memorymp.com}

We found this field out at the ahtanum mission park in west valley right at sunset. 

I think you can even hear the birds chirping in this video?

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Headshots {59}

 Need a headshot for your business card, website or portfolio? give me a call! I'll make you look good :)

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A blank canvas {58}

FINALLY! After a year of searching for the perfect house and studio space, we have purchased a home in the historic district of Yakima. We needed a designated large gallery room, office and bathroom separate from the rest of the house to use for business and having our clients over. Finding this in an older home wasn't easy. We really had our heart set on a home from 1920-1940, but most of them only had one bathroom, and one living space. This house has this large space for our gallary AND a family room off of the kitchen. It was a perfect match for us!

I'm so excited to have this space to work with to put all my creative studio and house ideas into action. This is the "before" picture. A blank canvas and I'm about to splash it with color. I'll post pics soon once we finish the room!!! Pin It Now!

2 wedding photographers = awesomeness {57}

Wondering whether or not to have two photographers at your wedding?

Two photographers = 2 perspectives, 2 different ideas, 2 different types of lenses, 2 different types of pictures, 2 places at once.

For this photo, Tavis was shooting with a wide angle lens, using flashes, and he captured the beautiful blue sky and the nice day. (on right) I was shooting with a telephoto lens, natural light, focusing in on the details and the emotions. (on left) Same moment, different types of photos.

For this photo, Tavis was shooting with a wide angle lens, using flashes, and he captured the whole scene (on right) I was shooting with a telephoto lens, natural light, focusing on individuals, capturing the laughter in between the planned shots. (on left) Same moment, different lenses and different people capture different things.

For this photo, Tavis was up front getting everyone coming down the aisle (on left) I was shooting behind the scenes, and got a shot of the groom looking up because it had just started to rain right before the ceremony (on right) Same moment, two places at once.

{This post simply contains my own thoughts, ideas, and insights. Each photographer is different, and everyone goes about photography differently. This blog's content is copyright of Memory Montage Photography. Please do not copy or republish this text without written permission to do so. If you would like to share this post, please include a link directly to our blog's URL. Thank you!}  Pin It Now!

Yakima Baby Photographs {56}

Weddings, families and seniors are our thing. I'll be the first to admit that babies & maternity are not my strong point in photography. I didn't want to totally rule it out before giving it a try so I shadowed a friend on a shoot with some newborn twins last month. Although they are completely adorable and I enjoyed watching them.... handling, photographing, and editing babies is a totally different scene than weddings are. The images turned out great, but it did confirm for me that I am not a baby photographer.

My favorite local baby photographer is Samantha Deyette. As a mom of 5 she is so great with kids and captures all of the sweet expressions of kiddos like no one else can. Anytime someone inquires about having us photograph their babies, I send them to Sam.... she's great!

Photo by Samantha Deyette: samanthadeyette.com

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Semiahmoo Wedding Photos {55}

These are my favorite moments of wedding photography in order of appearance:

1) meeting with the couple, hearing their story, and talking wedding (I could talk about weddings all day long, I love it.)
2) when the bride and groom see each other for the first time at their wedding = my absolute favorite part of the day.
3) presenting their final edited wedding collection of 500+ images to them, and hearing the oohs and ahhhs. 
4) designing the album

Photos look great on the computer screen, but seeing the images in an album is magical as well. Here are some spreads I designed for Aaron & Ashley's Semiahmoo wedding.

This is the cover image of the 8x8 album

This blog is a part of my 100 blogs in 100 days. Want to join me in this journey? Amanda Laplante and Nickles Photography have. Email me if you're taking  the  challenge as well! info@memorymp.com Pin It Now!

Family Portrait Arrangements {54}

One of the advantages of hiring a professional photographer for family portraits is the product knowledge & expertise that comes along with each shoot. Some may be under the impression that anyone with a "nice camera" can take a good picture and produce a good product... but there's quite a bit of stuff that goes into every session, helping the families plan for wardrobe, location, and timing.... and then after the session: helping them choose photos, decide on types of products, and making wall arrangements.

Here are a couple of arrangements we came up with for some clients recently for two different wall spaces.There are a total of 12 canvas gallery wraps from this session that they purchased for their home.

 

  

Here are a few of those images so you can see them a little bit closer (along with a few extras of my favorites)

Getting this many kids to look at us all at once was quite the challenge. I definitely had to merge a few photos together to get this final image :)

 

This shoot was in late December when it was very very cold outside. Thanks to Amy at the Fontaine Estates Winery for letting us use her indoor facility for family photos! Pin It Now!

Rollin' Fun for Everyone {53}

Skateland lives on. My parents skated there, I skated there as a kid, and tonight our kids from youth group enjoyed that same roller rink.

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Product Photos! {52}

We don't just shoot weddings & portraits.... we also do a few product photos too! From time to time people will ask us to photograph little things for them for their website, etc. These are some photos we took for Sara Holtzinger with Sarai Jewelry. She sells her jewelry locally here in Yakima, you should check her out!

 

 

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laughing. joking. funny. silly. {51}

Look at this cute engaged couple!!!!!!

Breanna & Jordan were the lucky winners of our portrait giveaway last month, and the goal of the session was to answer the question, "What are you known for, what are your funny quirks, what do you love to do, what makes you, you?" I really think this photo shoot captured their personalities PERFECTLY. I don't think I've ever met anyone in my life that laughs as much as Breanna. She was probably laughing in 99% of these shots which made things really easy for me!

5 Words to describe them: (according to Breanna)

1. dorky

2. loving

3. busy

4. hockey

5. talkative/outgoing

Before the session Breanna told me that Jordan is camera shy & hates taking pictures..... I had a feeling I could get him to warm up. :) She also said that he is very ticklish and hates getting tickled, so of course I told her to tickle him so I could take some pictures! - and he was a good sport for it :) This photo looks staged but it was a real life action scene... a whole 30 seconds of massive tickling.

Before I'd met Jordan Breanna told me he was a hockey freak. She says, "He loves Hockey… um… the hockey channel… oh and how could I forget his XBOX which he also has his hockey game he plays!! ( I told you he is a hockey freak) Haha."

He loves her. She loves him. He loves hockey. She loves shopping. .... and they both lived happily ever after.

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Another Montage Giveaway!!! {50}

To celebrate my 50th consecutive post in this series of "100 blogs in 100 days" I have another giveaway! Last month our giveaway was a portrait session, "whatever you do" - This time around it's a more specific photo shoot giveaway.... but this is a very sweet deal for TWO deserving couples.

I call this, the UNCLE BOB giveaway.

What is Uncle Bob?? In the professional wedding photographer world, we often refer to certain individuals as Uncle Bob. “Uncle Bob” is typically a relative or friend of the family that happens to take lots of pictures and becomes a nuisance to us professional photographers from time to time. Either we a) lose weddings to this person or b) have to work around them throughout the wedding i.e. when they’re trying to take the same pictures as us and we have to wait for them to get the shot when we're ready to move on. Either way, it can really mess up a wedding day and interfere with our pictures. However, the biggest thing that bothers me is when Uncle Bob offers to take a couple's photos as a wedding present, and at the end of the day, the couple is left with images that disappoint and are often just plain snapshots......nothing like what they imagined their wedding pictures would look like. I have heard of people that have looked back after Uncle Bob shot their wedding only to find out that many images were out of focus, underexposed, and there weren't many photos of the bride and groom. There are just plain horror stories about letting someone who ‘happens to have a nice camera’ shoot a wedding day.

My Uncle Bob giveaway is aimed to get those couples at least one nice image of themselves as a couple that they can frame and PRETEND that it came from their wedding. So here are the details!

Who: Any couples married in the past 10 years with proof that they had a friend/family member shoot their wedding. Images will have to be provided to prove to me that you did in fact get someone that was less that stellar which will be used on the blog along with the new images to qualify for the free shoot. No couples will be accepted that hired a professional photography studio for their wedding photography unless that photography studio went out of business and did not provide photographs to the couple.

What: This giveaway will include a 2 hour photo shoot in the style of a wedding day couples session, 1 full size digital image and online hosting of all images.

When: This giveaway will run until the end of February 2011. All photo sessions must be scheduled in March, April, May, October, November or December of 2011.

Where: There are no limits where I will travel for the giveaway but all travel costs more than 30 miles from my home in Yakima, WA will be paid by the couple.


TWO winners will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday, March 1! Get your entries in before then!


Here’s how to enter to win:

Send me an email {info@memorymp.com} and title the subject “Uncle Bob Giveaway.” Please include your names, phone number, story behind your wedding photography, at least 3 pictures from the wedding that Uncle Bob provided you, and list all of the additional ways you entered the contest. (subscribed to blog, commented, became a fan on facebook, etc.) This email alone will give you one entry in the contest, but don't forget about the 5 additional ways to enter!!


Additional ways to enter: 

1. Subscribe to our blog. (1 entry)

2. Become our fan on facebook. (1 entry)

3. Update your facebook status about this giveaway. (1 entry)  Examples of status updates:

• “Memory Montage Photography is having a giveaway! www.memorympblog.com”
• “I entered to win a bride & groom session with Memory Montage Photography. You should too :)”
• “I hope I win a session from memorympblog.com. Giveaway starts today!”
• …..Etc.

4. Blog about our giveaway (1 entry)

5. Comment on this blog telling us how much you want to win (1 entry)

Like I said, the two winners will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday, March 1! Get your entries in before then!

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Why do photographers cut heads out of pictures? {49}

Sometimes when clients are browsing through our photos they love the detail shots where we focus on one portion of the photo but leave out the heads, but every once and a while someone just doesn't understand why on earth we would "chop the heads out of the picture"

Here is my reason: Usually when people glance at a photo, the first thing they look at is the face. Which is fine.... but a photograph can hold so many more details and emotions in other parts of the photo as well.

Take this photo, for instance. Look at the delicate way he is touching her back with his right hand. Or look at the detail of the green ring on her right hand. Or you could focus on the lace of her dress. By the way that I cropped this photograph you can still see that he's looking at her.... and you can imagine his expression and feelings as he dances with his new wife. All of these things could easily be overlooked in a photograph if all you see is their faces.

Here's another great image. It may bother some people that you can't see her face..... but I photographed it this way to draw attention to her flowers and the details on her dress. There are a million photos of them that day with their faces showing... a few intentional detail shots without faces won't hurt :)

I love this photo. I love the colors, the textures, the bouquet, and the shoes. All very great details worth accentuating by composing this photo in such a way:

Why do photographers cut heads out of pictures? Some may do that because it's their preference, or it's a popular shot.... I do it personally for artistic reasons, along with the idea of creating a more diverse range of photos.


{This post simply contains my own thoughts, ideas, and insights. Each photographer is different, and everyone goes about photography differently. This blog's content is copyright of Memory Montage Photography. Please do not copy or republish this text without written permission to do so. If you would like to share this post, please include a link directly to our blog's URL. Thank you!}   Pin It Now!

Newlywed Interview with Julie Walker {48}

I interviewed newlywed Julie Walker about her wedding day to give some insight for those currently planning one! Julie & Chip tied the knot on May 1, 2010 in Olympia, WA

Q: If you could go back, what are one or two little details would you change?
A: Honestly, I loved everything about my wedding. There were some hiccups, but nothing major. If I had to change one thing, I would change the temperature of the room our ceremony was in. I thought it was too hot, and very uncomfortable. 

Q: What was your favorite moment from your wedding day?
A: Our favorite moment from the wedding was the reception. Mostly because we were able to let go of the stress and have fun!

Q: What do you wish you would have spent MORE of your budget on?
A: I wish we would have spent more money on flowers. I would have liked a bigger bouquet. 


Q: What do you wish you would have spent LESS of your budget on?
A: I wish we would have spent less money on the venue. It was a bit pricier than I wanted. But in the end, it turned out perfectly.

Q: What was your favorite planning resource (magazines, websites, advice from others, etc.)
A: My friends were my greatest planning resource.

Q: How did you go about choosing your venue & date? Do you recommend the beginning of May for a wedding?
A: We had heard about the venue through the grapevine, and after looking at two other venues, it was our favorite. We were married at the beginning of May, therefore we had to compete with prom and mother's day. But we booked the venue so far in advance that there weren't any problems. I would recommend getting married at the beginning of May.

Q: What other advice do you have for people planning their wedding?
A: I would advise future brides to find out what they like and don't like. It helps if you go to other people's weddings because you can then determine what you like or don't like about their wedding. Also, put your foot down. Don't be bridezilla, but fight for things that you really want. In the end, you may be also working with your mother and mother-in-law, and it can be difficult to please everybody, as well as yourself.

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