Photographer's Blog

Amber and I strive to provide our clients with unique and original photographs, and we spend an unbelievable amount of time behind the scenes brainstorming to come up with creative ideas.

This past weekend, we had the pleasure of photographing the beautiful Rebecca Compton, a senior at Man High School. The night before the shoot, I was trying to think of something really cool to try with her.

For some reason, I was mentally stuck on doing something crazy with picture frames. Having her hold a picture frame in front of her would be cool. Making her appear multiples times in the same scene holding picture frames would be more interesting. But since I'm a Photoshop freak, I really wanted to produce a special effect with enough visual interest to make people say, "How in the world did they do that?".

After a while, I finally decided upon the effect that I was going to try to pull off.  I then had to spend even more time planning how to pull the shot off. Then, I spent the next morning manufacturing a big pair of picture frames in our garage. The black paint on the frames was still wet when I loaded them in my truck and headed to meet Bek for the shoot. I was worried that she would end up with black paint all over her, but luckily they had dried by the time we used them!

Here's the final shot produced, and I have to admit that I'm quite proud of how it turned out:


We had a great time photographing Bek, and we hope she wasn't too exhausted following her shoot! She endured a lot, but she had a great attitude, and it allowed us to capture a ton of breathtaking photos of her. Keep an eye on the gallery here and on Amber's MySpace for more samples from Bek's photo shoot!

It's been a few weeks since our last blog, so I thought I'd take a break for a few minutes from editing photos and update everyone.

First of all, Senior Night at Logan High School was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed meeting a lot of you and answering your questions. Addison Dalton was the big winner of the very nice Nikon Coolpix camera that we gave away. So congratulations to him! Pictured below is Amber giving away the camera to Addison.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 9th) we will be at Logan High School's Senior Night, and we will be giving away a brand new digital camera to one lucky senior! All you have to do is show up and fill out a FREE entry form! At the end of the night, we'll draw a winner, and it could be YOU!

If you haven't booked your senior portraits yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!  Tomorrow at Logan High School will be the BEST time to book your senior portraits!  And we're not kidding around!  If you book a Platinum package with us tomorrow, you will receive a FREE iPod Nano!!!!  Better yet, it will come pre-loaded with all of your senior photos!  It'll be the perfect way to show off your photos to your friends!

Also, if you're interested in a Silver or Gold senior package, if you book tomorrow, you'll receive 24 additional wallets absolutely free!

If you're not a senior at Logan High, but are interested in booking senior portraits with us, we'll honor these specials throughout tomorrow.  But you have to call and book your session tomorrow. Feel free to come see us at Logan High School tomorrow evening beginning at 6pm.

Your parents will love our easy-to-understand, straight-forward package prices!  Our photos are top-notch. Our prices are awesome. You get two young photographers who will give you a fun and memorable experience. You get to see teaser shots from your session as soon as the same night as your shoot! (No 6 weeks of excruciating waiting!) And if you book tomorrow, you'll get lots more.... like an iPod NANO.... and maybe win a digital camera!!!!!

What are you waiting for?!  You won't find a better deal elsewhere!  See you guys tomorrow!!! 

First of all, let me say - I laugh and cry at almost every wedding. I can't help it. There is something about daddy giving away his little girl - mixed with the sweet songs and the anticipation for the bride finally making her entrance. It is all great. I love it all.

My usual beginning to any wedding is putting the boutonnieres on the guys. It is always a forgotten task, but one I kind of enjoy. It helps me get to know the wedding party and laugh a little with the groomsmen so they are ready for pictures (guys hate pictures by the way, and ladies, let me tell you they hate to wear a tux).

Then, it is off to the bride's room to meet the bride (who is nervous and everything is going wrong and I hate the world.......and sometimes, it's true). I love telling the bride they are beautiful, because they always are. It is their day and they have worked as hard as they can to look pretty. The bridesmaids are everywhere - the bride's mom has blood shot eyes because she has been up all night decorating the reception. It really is lovely....honestly, it is. It is a true wedding atmosphere. Every time.

This one wedding, though has really stuck with me. I cried almost the entire time, I am almost sure of it. It was between Jacob Robinette and Brandi Lafferty of Man. They have been sweethearts all through school. They have an outstanding faith in their church. Most of all, they really love each other and it showed all day.

When Brandi turned to me before the wedding and said, "Do you think I am pretty enough?"
I just want to look pretty enough for Jacob." My heart sank. She was so pretty and he was so lucky -and- he was just as nervous as her.

The wedding was to start - and she had forgotten the "goblet" and juice to do communion during their service. She was in a panic. Let me tell you. "The most important part of my ceremony and I forgot it! I can't believe it!" Needless to say, I start digging in every cabinet. Nothing. No juice - no cup. Every other day of the week, they would have it - except 5 minutes before a wedding. Long story short - a couple of the Elders ran out, got the goblet and juice and the day was saved.

Their wedding was just a constant display of love. I can't even tell you. Their ceremony was wonderful - their communion and vows were enough to make me cry - and then, the best part was - there wasn't a dry eye in the house, including the groom's.

It really was special and I was honored to be a part of their day. I wish them the best in everything they do.

Amber Gore
Photographer

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of shooting Taylor Miller, a senior at Chapmanville High School. We got a lot of really great shots that day, but the one above ended up being one of my favorites. Judging from the photo, you would never believe the kind of chaos that was taking place behind the scenes. The story behind it is somewhat interesting, so I thought I would take advantage of this shiny new blog tool and share it with everyone.

Taylor was so much fun to work with, and her willingness to try anything led to some really great shots. We started her outdoor session later in the evening than we usually do because of the extremely hot and humid conditions that day. The delay didn't help at all. I sweated like... something that sweats an awful lot! :) Luckily, I was the one behind the camera. Taylor handled the temperatures well, and her accompanying family helped tremendously by acting as her on-site make-up team! More powder! :)

She loved the camera, and the camera definitely loved her. We were having so much fun that time got away from us, and the sun started sinking quickly behind the mountains. Normally, this would have been the end of the shoot, but we knew that Taylor desperately wanted shots on the railroad tracks. So we loaded up our equipment and rushed to the nearest railroad tracks, which were several miles away.

By the time we got to the tracks, it was practically dark outside. I had very little hope of capturing any decent shots, but Taylor was up for trying it anyway! (That's the attitude that we love for our clients to have!)

Taylor's family helped freshen her make-up, and Amber and I went to work setting up a makeshift studio on the railroad tracks. It was so dark that I kept tripping over our power cords and sync cables. At one point, I set the camera down and ended up stepping on it a few minutes later because it was so dark that I couldn't see it! And when I say I stepped on it, I mean I stepped on it. I stepped off the tracks and directly down onto the lens of the camera! Luckily, Nikons are built rock-solid.  So the only thing I damaged was my pride. However, some of our other equipment wasn't so lucky that night.

It was also a little windy outside. And we had two high-power strobes attached to two light stands that were extended to about 12 feet in the sky... with giant umbrellas attached. So needless to say, it wasn't long before the wind decided to topple one of our lights. During the fall, the attached power cord yanked our portable power supply over, and it broke apart. Luckily, the umbrella softened the fall, and the strobe wasn't destroyed. The umbrella wasn't so lucky, though. After a few minutes, I was able to reassemble the power supply.

We finally had our equipment set back up, with Taylor's family holding tightly onto our lighting equipment! We were beginning to take test shots when we heard a train whistle ring out. In the distance, we could see the light from a train engine rounding the bend in the background of our setup. Taylor was freaked out about being on the tracks with a train approaching, but I knew that it was a great opportunity. So after quickly persuading her not to run for her life, she instantly turned into a supermodel and started striking poses. I only had time to fire off several shots with the train approaching in the background. Fortunately, Taylor had modeled exceptionally well, and I was able to get the above shot.

I can only imagine what the train operators were thinking as they approached us in the dark with our giant strobes firing rapidly. I know we definitely got their attention, as they were literally hanging out the windows as they passed us by!

We stuck around for a little while and shot a few more poses. Some turned out really cute as well, but I just love this shot with the train.

Hopefully this gives our upcoming seniors some insight on what to expect. We are not your typical photographers. We want you to have an unforgettable experience filled with fun and excitement, and we guarantee that we'll make you feel like a star.

To see more samples from Taylor's shoot, check out our online gallery.

Amber and I have been wanting a blog on our web site for quite a while, but I just haven't had time to implement one.  In case you haven't noticed, we've been staying pretty busy with weddings and seniors!  We didn't have a wedding booked for today, and our senior session for today was rescheduled, so I decided last night to take on the task of finally implementing a blog.

I had a working blog rather quickly, but it took me a while to alter the look and feel to provide a seamless integration with our web site's minimalistic style.

If you have any comments or suggestions on how to improve our web site or blog, please let us know!

Thanks!
David