Erin and Matt

So. It happened. I photographed a wedding. Let's just say it was...

Terrifying.

But, while terrifying, it was still successful. Not every picture turned out perfect, but all in all it went well. I edited a handful to share while I work my way out of the pile of editing I am accumulating.

These guys were smiles, smiles, smiles, tears, smiles, in every picture. And they were really nice. And their son is adorable. And they are adorable. And I cried during their toasts. For real. I cried at a stranger's wedding.

Barbie's Senior Pictures

This weekend is big. Like, crazy big. As in: OMG, people are trusting me with these responsibilities? I'm photographing my first wedding tomorrow. Tonight I shot a wedding rehearsal, then tomorrow morning I have a "getting ready" shoot with Bride #1. Then on to Bride #2 for an entire wedding in Elm Wood park. I'm very anxious about the whole day.

To ease my nerves I went though Barbie's pictures. It helped calm me. Her pictures turned out great. She was fun, laid back, unique. I wanted to get a few proof out that I thought captured the shoot. Here are just a few, but I'm really loving these!

Maddex

I almost made it through June's sessions before I started on July. Almost. I got behind on poor Maddex here. He turned 6 months in June. At first he wasn't too thrilled about getting his picture taken, but his dad cheered him up enough to get some smiley pictures.



Here it comes...







Maddex is neighbors with Grant, so they also took some pictures together. Grant spent the entire time trying to eat Maddex. It looks like they're hugging in this picture, but Grant is really slobbering all over the side of his face.



And here's this because I seriously cannot go to someone's house and leave without taking a picture of their dog. I can't. I'm simply unable.

Graycen's Three Year Photos

I'm slowly but surely making my way through last weekends pictures. I took over 1000, so it's going to take some time.

When I edit down pictures, I start by viewing a batch in iPhoto. I go through and throw out all the unusable pictures (blurry, eyes closed). Then I scroll through the batch and save the top ones to a separate folder. That takes a particular batch from 350 pictures to maybe 60. I then edit those 60 in Photoshop, lightening eyes, adding some color pop, erasing stray hairs. Upon closer inspection, some of those 60 turn out to be unusable or just aren't quite good enough in my opinion, and I'll end up with a solid batch of 50. I'd rather give someone a smaller number of amazing photos than give them a ton of mediocre ones.

It's easy for me to see clear improvement over the last year. Before I would take 300 pictures and have maybe 20 that I thought were good. I was lucky if 10% of my pictures turned out. Now I'm getting about 20-25% great pictures out of a photo shoot. These pictures are from Graycen's three-year photos. I've only been able to edit a few, but I was really excited to share them so I asked her mom if I could post them. I am so pleased with these pictures. Hopefully her parents love them as much as I do!

G-Man's 5 Month Pictures

Every month it gets harder and harder to take his pictures because I'm too preoccupied with playing with him to really concentrate. The kid is an absolute doll.



We took this month's pictures over at Grandma's house. By the time I got there and started snapping away he was already worn out from all the over-stimulation that comes with a room full of adoring grandparents.



Even Great Grandma was getting in on the action.



And then of course I couldn't resist taking a picture of the dog.



Keep an eye out on the blog next week, it should be full of all kinds of new stuff. I have three sessions this weekend!

Wedding Portraits: Jen and Mike

I went out with Mike and Jen and got some fantastic wedding portraits of them. Sometimes couples don't have an opportunity to go out and take more intimate wedding portraits on the day of their wedding, so they'll go out at a later date and snap a few keepsakes. It's actually a whole lot of fun. The pressure from the wedding is off, everyone is relaxed, the couple isn't nervous... Sure, they aren't "authentic" wedding day pictures, but that's your little secret!

Weddings!

Hey everyone! I want to start photographing weddings. They're beautiful, sentimental, romantic and one of the most important days of your adult life. I think that I would do well as a wedding photographer. A great wedding photo captures emotion and style. Something that I pride myself on. Of course to be a "wedding photographer" I have to have a wedding to photograph. I need a starting point and some great images for my website.

So... Here's the deal:

I'm looking for couple getting married on a budget who would be willing to let me photograph their wedding, knowing that this is my first one. I'm offering up my services for $150 (to cover editing time) to a couple who otherwise may not be able to afford a photographer or who doesn't plan on hiring one. I will photograph the whole day: wedding party shots, bridal portraits, ceremony and reception and provide you with a disk of edited images for you to print on your own or through my online printing services. I love any type of wedding. Traditional, offbeat, courthouse, country, etc, so there are no limitations on what I'm looking for. I only ask that the wedding be in the summer of 2009, roughly between now and September. (I know that is kind of soon, but hey - I was a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants bride and I left all my planning to the last minute. Literally, as in "standing outside the wedding tent while the music played" last minute.)

If this sounds like a fit for you or anyone you know, please contact me at cburright {at} gmail {dot} com. And as always, examples of my current portrait work are available at christinemcguigan.com.