Great Article: To Hire a Pro Photographer for your Wedding, or have a friend do it?

Posted by Liana at 12:32 AM

One of the writers for Seattle Bride Magazine, Cody Ellerd, writes an article about her experience photographing a wedding among the pro wedding photographers. She's had some experience taking pics from the magazine, but not a full time wedding photographer.

***CHECK OUT THE FULL ARTICLE HERE****

I love that there are pictures taken from the same scene (from her and the pros) at the bottom.

An excerpt:
I now disagree more than ever with the digital-age adage that “now everyone is a photographer.” Tens of thousands of dollars in education, equipment and experience separate me from the pros. Professional photographers, like any other artists or business owners, need to spend money to make money. When you hire them, you’re helping them pay for their investments.

“Photography is a very equipment-intensive business, and the equipment is expensive,” says Scott Squire of NonFiction Weddings, a Seattle-based photography team with 10 years of experience. To each wedding, he and his partner bring six or seven top-drawer lenses, a handful of strobes, three camera bodies, one backup and innumerable accessories. (In contrast, if my equipment had failed, my backup would have been my camera phone.)

Staying on top of new technology in the digital age is its own challenge, one that takes a professional commitment and expense. “The rate of change [in digital media] can be stupefying,” laughs longtime Seattle-based wedding photographer Sharlane Chase. She keeps up with the flow of information at annual weeklong workshops and seminars, and it shows in her final product.

Congratulations Jessica and John!

Posted by Liana at 8:52 AM

Jessica and John got married here in St.Simons Island, GA yesterday and it was such a wonderful day despite the rain and change of wedding locations. We somehow managed to get a bunch of pictures outside still - between thunderstorms - and their hotel made an awesome backdrop for the first look.

Here's a sneak peak of a portrait from right after their first look.

Laura and Mark are Married!

Posted by Liana at 12:04 PM

Last weekend Laura and Mark were married at Mt.Paran Church of God in Atlanta, GA with a reception following at the Cobb Galleria.

They have such and amazing story how they came together at the perfect time - when Mark had turned it over finding his wife to God and Laura had just moved to Atlanta and also was at the same point. Their ceremony was one of the most emotional ones I think we've witnessed. You know that moment when the groom first sees his bride walking down the aisle? Even though we did a first look with Laura and Mark earlier in the day, I must say that moment during the ceremony was JUST as emotion-filled. WOW.

We had a team of four of us covering this event as it was rather large. Dana who is working with me this summer came along as did Scott who teamed up with Mike.

Now for the pictures to tell the story, starting with their first look.



















Mike captured this one at the same time I captured the photograph above. The following image is Scott's.






























There are SOOOO many other pictures I wanted to blog - it would take up five posts!! To see more, check out their client page where you can see their slideshow and album too!!

Laura and Mark, it was a huge honor to be there to document this day for you and your families! We wish you the best of luck in your new adventures together in California!

What Changing Names and the death of my MacBook Pro have in common...

Posted by Liana at 11:49 AM

What does Changing Names and the death of my MacBook Pro have in common??

(Part of) the cause of my silence on Liana's Bananas lately!!

I have LOTS of stuff to blog including:

- Three Awesome Weddings
- Adventure Portrait Session
- Portraits of one of my favorite wedding client's TWIN girls!
- StudioWed happenings
- How I added 5 lbs to our waistlines since we got married and spoiled my hubby rotten with hearty meals
- How to create a emergency back up plan for when your computer burns your hand, then dies!
- Why it's good to pick a business name that you don't have to change when you get married and change your name.
- How to make a jalapeno plant and herb garden grow 3-feet in three weeks
- Recipe for my new "secret sauce" that me and Mikey put on everything now!
- Pics from Jessica and John's wedding that we'll be capturing in a few hours here on St.Simons Island

While my name change is still in limbo, l and I do not have a computer to use (and must beg Mikey for use of his).... business goes on and blogging shall too!

Laura and Mark got Married Tonight! Sneak Peak!

Posted by Liana at 12:03 AM

A random final photograph we made this evening at Laura and Mark's AMAZING Atlanta wedding. This was taken about an hour ago. Now we are home, and the computer is heating up as an unmentionable number of images are downloaded overnight. More coming soon...

Sarah and Charles are Engaged!

Posted by Liana at 4:31 PM

The past few weeks I had the opportunity to do not one but TWO engagement sessions with Sarah and Charles!

Sarah is the amazing owner of Pampered Pet Care Atlanta (rated #1 in by Atlanta Magazine!) - needless to say she and Charles are huge animal-lovers so they've got four darling pups of their own. After our first session together, she didn't feel quite right that they didn't bring their canine companions along for the ride - so we promptly schedule Part II with all six of them!

I couldn't believe how well-behaved these guys and gals are! We even managed to get smiling portraits of each one of them with Sarah and Charles individually and they sat for group portraits too!

Here are a few of my favorites from the two sessions. ***CLICK HERE*** to view a slideshow with more!

This one took some creative shoot-without-looking balancing!




We opted for a 7AM start time for the second session - it ended up being the PERFECT time of day to shoot with glowing light and without being too humid and hot out.



They were all so smiley!!


This restaurant that they are standing in front of is where they'll be having a bridal shower so it was neat that we got to take pics there (before security chased us away!!)


The Whole Family












At the end of the session we did a special portrait - Sarah's had this little lady since she was 14 years old!! They were great sports and went down by the river with me for a few final pictures. We have lots of smiley pics but I love this one especially because it's one of the in-between shots that shows their personalities even better.



You can also check out the draft for their Engagement Signature Guest Book ***CLICK HERE***