Sony Diaries #950: A Ballet

the ins and outs at a wedding in a banquet hall. November 14th.

Sony Diaries #893: Scenes from a wedding in the country

The Niagara Escarpment, Milton. September 26th.

Jamie (and Jeff)

Music by Bill Withers, "I Want To Spend The Night"

Shooting solo with 2 cams all day: Sony a57 for B-roll and Sony a99 for main cam. RodePro Mic on a99, RodePro Mic and Sennheiser e100 on a57 using a Beachtek pre-amp. Burning 3x the calories as the Stills shooters. Shot for Boston Avenue Weddings: arguably one of the best outfits in Toronto!

Scenes from a backyard wedding

 

 

 

 

 

Kitchener, Aug 17th

Wedding Photography: a shooter's look into the future

This week, the Toronto Star had an article on wedding couples crowdsourcing wedding photos. This past Saturday, I was a guest at a wedding where there was an official photographer (OP) as well as place-cards encouraging guests to upload  to Wedpics.com. Here then is my take into the future of the business of wedding photography.

As phone cameras (and cameras with wifi capabilities) get better, and image quality expectations go lower, there will be a rapid increase in the use of crowdsourcing as way for couples to obtain their photos for free. As a bonus, crowdsourced photos have a unique look and feel that may be an art form in itself.

In addition, the turn-around time for the images is as fast as the shooter can upload, whereas the OP can take 2-6 weeks to deliver. The excitement will be there when photos show up on Facebook, Twitter, or on the predetermined gallery on one of many crowdsource sites, e.g., wedpics.com and Shootaround. The excitement may not be there when the OP delivers the photos a few weeks later. 

I can see 3 classes of clients:

Class #1: Will only use a professional photographer. Expense is not an issue. Proper decorum is a must and the use of iPhones during the ceremony is looked on as declasse.

Classs #2: Crowdsourcing is tolerated and is encouraged but photo  memories are considered too precious to be left to chance. Expense is a consideration but there is money in the budget for an OP; the best value in photography is sought out.

Class #3: Expense is a primary issue. A budget photographer may or may not be hired, and crowdsourcing is actively demanded.

How does an OP compete in such a scenario. Arguably, the OP will have the technically and artistically superior images but will not have the instant gratification factor. As consumer cameras get better and cheaper, guests (likely shooting over the shoulder of the OP) will take the credit for "wowing" the bride and groom with pics the very next day! When the OP delivers his DVDs in a few weeks, the WOW factor will have dissipated.

The solution is for the OP to offer next-day-edit! The OP's  images will be showcased in the same venue as the crowdsourced ones; the OP's (hopefully) superior images will shine in comparison and will most definitely be primo great advertisement! The OP's images can be rough edits; the colour-corrected, print ready files may be delivered weeks later. 

How is this doable for a photographer tired from a 15-hour Saturday wedding? Or worse, for a studio with a stable of photographers out shooting on a Saturday? Well, time will have to be set aside as I feel that this will be the new reality in the wedding industry. For cameras with 2 card slots, 1 slot will have to be dedicated to  medium-res jpg files. For cameras with only 1 card slot, cameras will have to shoot RAW+medium jpg. The jpg files can be rendered overnight using Lightroom (read: fast computer required),  and quickly edited for uploading on Sunday. This minimalist workflow rewards the photographer who produces "almost-ready-to-go" photos that require minimal-to-no post-processing. A photographer who "gets" the in-camera- metering with a camera that gets excellent AWB is well worth it!

I honestly think that this is a seismic paradigm shift in wedding photography and I, for one, will be rewording my offerings to reflect this new reality!
(Photo taken with a Panasonic Lumix LX3, 1/3 crop from original image. Not bad for a small 1/1.7 sensor... must be the stabilized Leica lens!) 

Louise and Nic

A dreamy, magical, spring day in Kitchener where two beautiful, compatible souls tied the knot surrounded by friends at the historic Walper Terrace Hotel.
Music:  "Angel" by Jack Johnson , and "If You Were A Sailboat" by Katie Melua

50th Wedding Anniversary!

That's right, Fifty years of loving and living together!

These days, more and more couples are into alternative living arrangements: common-law, "shacking-up", open relationships, etc. The fact is, couples are not cementing their partnerships by getting married. Statistically,  50% of marriages end in divorce. So it is quite rare these days for two people to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary in fine style, in good health, and with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as well as with friends from Canada, the Philippines, and from around the world.

It was indeed a privilege to take part in this rare feat of a  celebration! Please click here for more photos!

Frame Grabs from a video shot

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the frame grabs from the Sony a65. I used either the Minolta 100-200f4.5 or the Sony 16-50f2.8. Video shot at 1280x720 60P. If I had known I'd be grabbing frames, I'd have shot at 1980x1280 60P. Frame grab using MPEG Streamclip, with the stills processed in Photoshop CS5.1. Frames have been upsized to 6"x 4" @ 300dpi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 4th.

Jamie & David's First Dance

Beautiful medley of moves by two people who are truly made for each other! At the Montecassino, Oct 5th.

Bob Nicolas and his wedding videos

Not unlike most wedding videographers, I browse through other videographers' works, hoping to be inspired and learn a few things that may be applied to my style of shooting: one camera DSLR, photojournalistic style. I came across Manila-based Bob Nicolas' vimeo site; I am bowled over by the consistency of high quality in his massive output. 

Doubtless, his way of working is different from mine: multi-camera with a crane, dollies and steadicams, much higher budgets and fees. And yet, I admire his point-of-view: the angles, the close-ups, and the smooth seamless editing (audio-video syncs, the choice of music). 

But most important of all, it is evident in the expressions of his subjects that he does his filming in a most unobtrusive manner. This is a quality that I admire most in a Stills photographer (and which I try to apply in every shoot I do) but which I have always thought was near impossible to apply when shooting video, with its inherent and attendant need to shoot a story line, as opposed to capturing moments. This is even more of a feat to achieved in Philippine culture where being discreet is expected (as opposed to the in-your-face-shooting, whatever-it-takes culture in Toronto/Canada).

I love his work and it is something to emulate. As they say in my Cebuano: pwerte kaayong pachadaa!

A nervous cool guy

Nick is a cool guy but there's no hiding his nervousness on this very important day!

Nick getting ready from Diogenes Baena on Vimeo.

iPhone Diaries #462: July wedding

Wedding guests on the elegant grounds of the Toronto Hunt Club, perched on the Scarborough Bluffs overlooking Lake Ontario. Original photo taken and processed with PS Mobile, in-camera. July 7th.

Shooting a wedding.... as a guest.

Kamal and Lamis' wedding on June 30th, in London, ON. This is the first wedding in years that I have  attended as a guest. Throughout these years, I have taken scores of weddings as a photographer, for both my business as well as (mostly) for Boston Avenue Weddings.

Initially, it was excruciatingly painful to keep still and not be involved in capturing key moments during the day. It was like, "there's a shot...there's a shot... what the hell is the photographer doing... where is he for that shot...." 

Not too long into the day, I started to feel great as a guest and it was a lot of fun soaking in the good will that pervades these happy events.

I did bring a small camera to shoot with, but as a guest, one is constricted in two ways: one's movements and the lack of the proper photo tools.

All in all, I wish I had more weddings to attend to as a guest.

I have a wedding to shoot this Saturday at the Toronto Hunt Club. This will be a more familiar Saturday territory.

Photos taken with a Sony NEX 5N at ISO 3200, cropped down to 1/3 of the whole image, 18-55.

Mabelle & Nick's First Kiss(es)

Here's a teaser video from Mabelle and Nick's wedding last June 9th. Lots of footage shot and lots of editing time coming up.

M&N_First Kiss (and 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th).mov from Diogenes Baena on Vimeo.

The Best Wedding Studio in Canada!

Boston Avenue Wedding Photography

Why wedding photography costs the way it does!

A bride from Puget Sound, Seattle, posted this on craigslist, wondering why photography costs the way it does. (as it appeared in dpreview.com)

Here is  response to the craigslist posting from Nikki Wagner, a photographer from Erie, Pennsylvania.

Here is my own pricing strategy and why it is lower than most other photographers.

Not even taking into account the unquantifiable (in money terms) talent, energy, and artistry that goes into creating the images that you'll have for the rest of your lives, today's digital weddings require equipment (cameras, computers, hosting service, etc) that doesn't come cheap!