I have been building my photography business for a few years now. I thought I would like to shoot pretty weddings, for people who are in love, that want images with feeling and an artistic style. Special pictures for special people.  What I have encountered, about 30 percent of the time, what looks to be like a rude email. “What are your rates? I am on a budget!” No Dear so and so, no Thank you, no sincerely and most importantly, no I love your work and it is exactly what we are looking for.

I received an email yesterday along those lines, with another similar to it, that said, I only want to communicate through email. My response, delete delete! I am not a desperate photographer or artist. I do it because I love it. I don’t have to make a living at it. I only have to create work I am proud of.  I am free to choose whom I want to spend time with, whom I want to photograph. I can’t express how great it feels to be free.  People don’t understand, I have to like my subjects in order to capture great pictures. Why? Because I am going to bring my perception of my subject to the image. Ansel Adams said, the image is a marriage of the subject and photographer. I don’t do email because I need to hear the tone of my client’s voice. Voice tone says everything. I can determine from the first conversation whether it is yes or no for me. If we like each other, then we meet and the deal is usually sealed. I am interviewing them too. 

Once I did a wedding for a bridezilla. Once and final time. I knew it when I booked her, but I thought it would be OK. I was with her for 9 hours and that was doable, but I had to look at her face in the editing room for another 40 hours. Every time I looked at her I was in a bad mood. Never again. 

For this reason, to stay true to my compass, I have taken on the job of managing our local chamber. Which allows me the creative freedom to work with whom I want, when I want? The condition of  my job is the Board’s flexibility to allow me to photograph weddings, they were very generous with me about this. My issue is time. I must be discerning about how I spend it and with whom.

Dave called me a few months back and explained he was a photographer from Chico. Creative imagery is very important to him.  That he has also photographed weddings and that he was looking at the regional talent and he found that my work impressed him most. We had a great first conversation and then a really nice meeting where I met Karen. I felt great about them after our meeting and we booked each other for their October wedding.

I  realize with this attitude I won’t be shooting 6 weddings a month for a thousand each and I really don’t want to. What I am and will be doing is one or two a month for for 3k to 5k  and working with people I want to spend time with and who also want to work with me. Maybe I sound like an ass, but I have worked very hard for a long time to find this sweet spot.

I am confident I can shoot anyone, but I can’t shoot for everyone. My clients know who they are and what’s more important is I know who they are and we like it like that. They are looking for special pictures and I am looking for special people.

Beau was here last week for his senior portraits. I photographed his sister a few years back. What I like so much about portraiture is I am given the task of capturing the person’s essence and seeing them at their best. Setting them at ease is key, having a camera in your face is daunting to most. This takes a little time and finesse and a genuine openness on my part. At 46 allowing a person to see me is OK. I am what I am and am OK with that for the most part. This allows them to be the same in my presence. It is such satisfying work that given I didn’t need to make a living I would do it for free. I never tire of people and I am always happily surprised by what I find.

I saw Beau as beautiful and talented. We will see great things from him. An exceptional guitarist  and self taught; I know the kind of dedication that takes. I felt honored he allowed me to see him so that I may document this moment, a passing of a mile stone, his senior year, for all in his world to remember.

Gulp Gulp I always get choked up getting to see people in their stages.

Beau’s pictures are some of my favorites so far and I know, I say that about all the boys.

Mike and Alexia contacted me through the Knot and we booked the wedding over the phone. We photographed their engagement session at Sutro Heights above the baths at Ocean Beach in San Francisco a few months ago. When I found out their wedding details I was completely excited to be able to document their wedding. It seems the wedding was designed to be sweet, beautiful, tasteful, classic, chic and without airs. The Hastings house boasts stunning gardens with a clean cottage to get ready in and has the beach as a backdrop, the Farallon Restaurant’s Beluga Reception Room at The Kensington Park Hotel doesn’t get any more classic, tasteful and quintessential San Francisco than that. Completely up my alley and the thing that synced it for me was Alexia said they liked my work because it felt alive the other work they looked at seemed soulless. I think it’s still one of the best complements I have ever received. I respect her politics tastes and her amazing education. Alexia and Mike are a wonderful couple who seem to operate on courtesy, partnership, mutual respect and an honest friendship. I learn a lot about people at weddings and Ian I left wanting to be more like them. After hearing Alexia’s mother’s speech about how her daughter chose a husband I wanted my daughters to learn from Alexia. Ian and I also enjoyed them immensely. It’s a day for us either will soon not forget.

We ate a very late dinner at the Farallon restaurant and it was one of the most amazing meals of our lives. I can still taste it.

I am in love with my job as a photographer. I love photographing weddings and I especially love creating portraits with people who allow me in. I am also in love with my family and where I live.  I have been told often that I should move back to the Bay Area to gain more notoriety and bookings because my work stands up with the best there and where I live is so remote to say the least. For the last year I have deliberating about my next move. What to do? What to do? Money? Family?  I miss San Francisco very much and I miss my extended family and friends very much, but I think I would miss my husband, children, dogs, home and gardens just a little bit more. I really want to keep photographing but I don’t want to photograph the cheese and I don’t want to bicker over rates. I would rather have an hourly wage job than shoot for people who will tell me what photographic style I need to be shooting them in. I like being able to decide whom I want to work for. I turn bookings down if they don’t feel like a good fit and I negotiate rates with those that feel like a perfect fit.  I am an artist and I need my artist’s freedom to create. Being financially desperate is a creativity killer for me.

So when I saw the job for our local chamber manager position advertised I leapt at it. Seems like it would be a great fit. I am a transplant like most here and I know the area very well. My background in marketing and the internet helps.  They are flexible about my weddings schedule and my photography business. My commute will be by bicycle about 2 miles west. I applied in late May and I start in mid August.  I  am excited about it because I don’t have to take a booking if it feels cheesy over controlled or wrong. I can’t apologize for saying I don’t want to work for people who have never seen my work and want to negotiate rates. There are so many mediocre wedding photographers out there who will shoot a wedding for cheap cheap cheap, granted it looks cheap cheap cheap to me, but I have a trained eye. Some people don’t know the difference between good photography and great photography anyway, they are just price shopping and that’s ok. I can joyfully say I don’t have play that bit.  I don’t have to change my style or my rates because I am desperate to pay the bills. I am creatively free and grateful for it.

Beautiful Heather Greene now Upton’s  Wedding in Lake Almanor is finished. It was such a beautiful wedding and day. I feel so lucky I was able to photograph their wedding.

I was wondering if I should advertise in my local Costco Store ad. I thought it worth giving a shot. I’ll try anything once. Liz called me because of that ad and we had instant phone repour. I liked her very much over the phone and so we decided to meet in Chico rather than have them drive all the way to my studio we met at Starbucks. They called me a few days later and I was booked. We met in Chico again and photographed their engagement session at Bidwell Park. It was their I took one of my favorite engagement photographs. Ian and I covered their wedding in June it was such a beautiful day, beautiful ceremony and beautiful bride and groom.

My friend Natasha Jacobsen is putting together her floral design site. She is a cutting edge floral design artist out of Sonoma. She has been doing floral design and weddings for 20 plus years. She asked me to cover one day of weddings in her life. I feel so lucky to work with her. Her artistry is undeniable and I have so much to learn from her. Her floral designs breath. I love flowers so much photographing them was really all my pleasure.

Ian and I had the great joy of photographing Alli and Cory’s Wedding in Albion on the Mendocino Coast a few weeks ago. It was a perfect day, the weather could not have been any better. They are a really sweet couple together and are best friends.

I heard from Jane she was getting married and I couldn’t stand the idea it wasn’t going to be documented in a special way. It was a Sunday wedding, I wasn’t booked and she is my photo shop tutor, fellow community member and fellow artist.

Generally a photographer is usually the last to get booked for a wedding and not the obvious priority until 5 years down the road when it becomes a big regret that it wasn’t covered. I can’t tell you, seriously, how many times I hear  ”I wish we knew how important it was” or “we didn’t really pay attention to style or our photographer sucked” or “we were so uptight , because he was  weird and dominating”.

It’s really an odd industry I have entered into because the buyer doesn’t realize they have a need. Time and time again I see it in regret.

I adore Heather, she’s a lovely girl and I couldn’t let her regret not having had this day documented in the beauty it was presented. She is in love with her Ian, there needs to be a photo of that.

In the case of the wedding photographer,  ignorance isn’t bliss. Bliss is seeing how blissful we were. And with that said I am making a commitment to photograph the bliss in my family more.

So a bit of advice.  

Book a pro photographer even if it’s for just a key few hours. Uncle Ed has a great camera but you are his experimental subjects for his little photo hobby, if it was really just about the camera there would not be a pro photo industry and is that what you really want to be an experiment?

Look at the work this pro photographer does, if you are in love with it,  call them. If you like them over the phone, meet them eye ball to eye ball. Would you enjoy spending time with this person?  Because they are going to be part of one of the most special days of your life?

Heather is gorgeous, that is obvious, but she radiates a sunbeam of happy energy that discounts all the exterior pretty and draws us in. I loved documenting her special day and feel honored she let me pressure her into it! Hopefully she’ll live to be grateful for it. 

Beautiful Heather and Ian 10 years together and now married!

I hated having to go to Chico fair grounds for the wedding fairs back when I was promoting the Bidwell House as a wedding venue. I am snob when it comes to my taste preferences. I am. I used to feel bad about it, now at 46, I have accepted the things I like to eat, look at, listen to are what I prefer. Right wrong indifferent…it is me. So going to the wedding fairs and watching vendors set up and promote “the cheese’ was enough to make me puke. I hate the cheese. The only real joy was watching her. I’d be set up in 2 minutes. Table, flowers, photobook brochures. Then I had nothing better to do than watch as she would put together, from scratch an elaborate  stunning display of food and flowers in a way that was so unique and  fresh. This was 1o years ago and she was arranging with fruit in flowers.  Not only was her booth breathtaking, but her food delicious. She also served cheese but there is nothing cheesy about her or her business.

I have been dieing to work with her ever since. Last Saturday she brought me in to cover for her and document her end of the event she was creating. I had the opportunity to watch her team and Salvagno’s team transform and create a first class wedding reception in the middle of a yard at The Bell Ranch. Amanda Leveroni at Bacio in Chico is a first class act. I watched her team of 50 people pull off a plated and served filet prawns dinner for 250 + like they do it everyday. I had so much fun watching how they did it with precision, respect, kindness and beauty. She has to be a super hero of a boss to have people work that beautiful and hard for her. I really respect what she can do and who she is!

Catering  Amanda Bacio

Flowers Design and Planning  Terrie at  Salvagnos

Cake Melissa at Mims in Chico

I have been building my photography business for a few years now. I thought I would like to shoot pretty weddings, for people who are in love, that want images with feeling and an artistic style. Special pictures for special people.  What I have encountered, about 30 percent of the time, what looks to be like a rude email. “What are your rates? I am on a budget!” No Dear so and so, no Thank you, no sincerely and most importantly, no I love your work and it is exactly what we are looking for.

I received an email yesterday along those lines, with another similar to it, that said, I only want to communicate through email. My response, delete delete! I am not a desperate photographer or artist. I do it because I love it. I don’t have to make a living at it. I only have to create work I am proud of.  I am free to choose whom I want to spend time with, whom I want to photograph. I can’t express how great it feels to be free.  People don’t understand, I have to like my subjects in order to capture great pictures. Why? Because I am going to bring my perception of my subject to the image. Ansel Adams said, the image is a marriage of the subject and photographer. I don’t do email because I need to hear the tone of my client’s voice. Voice tone says everything. I can determine from the first conversation whether it is yes or no for me. If we like each other, then we meet and the deal is usually sealed. I am interviewing them too. 

Once I did a wedding for a bridezilla. Once and final time. I knew it when I booked her, but I thought it would be OK. I was with her for 9 hours and that was doable, but I had to look at her face in the editing room for another 40 hours. Every time I looked at her I was in a bad mood. Never again. 

For this reason, to stay true to my compass, I have taken on the job of managing our local chamber. Which allows me the creative freedom to work with whom I want, when I want? The condition of  my job is the Board’s flexibility to allow me to photograph weddings, they were very generous with me about this. My issue is time. I must be discerning about how I spend it and with whom.

Dave called me a few months back and explained he was a photographer from Chico. Creative imagery is very important to him.  That he has also photographed weddings and that he was looking at the regional talent and he found that my work impressed him most. We had a great first conversation and then a really nice meeting where I met Karen. I felt great about them after our meeting and we booked each other for their October wedding.

I  realize with this attitude I won’t be shooting 6 weddings a month for a thousand each and I really don’t want to. What I am and will be doing is one or two a month for for 3k to 5k  and working with people I want to spend time with and who also want to work with me. Maybe I sound like an ass, but I have worked very hard for a long time to find this sweet spot.

I am confident I can shoot anyone, but I can’t shoot for everyone. My clients know who they are and what’s more important is I know who they are and we like it like that. They are looking for special pictures and I am looking for special people.

Beau was here last week for his senior portraits. I photographed his sister a few years back. What I like so much about portraiture is I am given the task of capturing the person’s essence and seeing them at their best. Setting them at ease is key, having a camera in your face is daunting to most. This takes a little time and finesse and a genuine openness on my part. At 46 allowing a person to see me is OK. I am what I am and am OK with that for the most part. This allows them to be the same in my presence. It is such satisfying work that given I didn’t need to make a living I would do it for free. I never tire of people and I am always happily surprised by what I find.

I saw Beau as beautiful and talented. We will see great things from him. An exceptional guitarist  and self taught; I know the kind of dedication that takes. I felt honored he allowed me to see him so that I may document this moment, a passing of a mile stone, his senior year, for all in his world to remember.

Gulp Gulp I always get choked up getting to see people in their stages.

Beau’s pictures are some of my favorites so far and I know, I say that about all the boys.

Mike and Alexia contacted me through the Knot and we booked the wedding over the phone. We photographed their engagement session at Sutro Heights above the baths at Ocean Beach in San Francisco a few months ago. When I found out their wedding details I was completely excited to be able to document their wedding. It seems the wedding was designed to be sweet, beautiful, tasteful, classic, chic and without airs. The Hastings house boasts stunning gardens with a clean cottage to get ready in and has the beach as a backdrop, the Farallon Restaurant’s Beluga Reception Room at The Kensington Park Hotel doesn’t get any more classic, tasteful and quintessential San Francisco than that. Completely up my alley and the thing that synced it for me was Alexia said they liked my work because it felt alive the other work they looked at seemed soulless. I think it’s still one of the best complements I have ever received. I respect her politics tastes and her amazing education. Alexia and Mike are a wonderful couple who seem to operate on courtesy, partnership, mutual respect and an honest friendship. I learn a lot about people at weddings and Ian I left wanting to be more like them. After hearing Alexia’s mother’s speech about how her daughter chose a husband I wanted my daughters to learn from Alexia. Ian and I also enjoyed them immensely. It’s a day for us either will soon not forget.

We ate a very late dinner at the Farallon restaurant and it was one of the most amazing meals of our lives. I can still taste it.

I am in love with my job as a photographer. I love photographing weddings and I especially love creating portraits with people who allow me in. I am also in love with my family and where I live.  I have been told often that I should move back to the Bay Area to gain more notoriety and bookings because my work stands up with the best there and where I live is so remote to say the least. For the last year I have deliberating about my next move. What to do? What to do? Money? Family?  I miss San Francisco very much and I miss my extended family and friends very much, but I think I would miss my husband, children, dogs, home and gardens just a little bit more. I really want to keep photographing but I don’t want to photograph the cheese and I don’t want to bicker over rates. I would rather have an hourly wage job than shoot for people who will tell me what photographic style I need to be shooting them in. I like being able to decide whom I want to work for. I turn bookings down if they don’t feel like a good fit and I negotiate rates with those that feel like a perfect fit.  I am an artist and I need my artist’s freedom to create. Being financially desperate is a creativity killer for me.

So when I saw the job for our local chamber manager position advertised I leapt at it. Seems like it would be a great fit. I am a transplant like most here and I know the area very well. My background in marketing and the internet helps.  They are flexible about my weddings schedule and my photography business. My commute will be by bicycle about 2 miles west. I applied in late May and I start in mid August.  I  am excited about it because I don’t have to take a booking if it feels cheesy over controlled or wrong. I can’t apologize for saying I don’t want to work for people who have never seen my work and want to negotiate rates. There are so many mediocre wedding photographers out there who will shoot a wedding for cheap cheap cheap, granted it looks cheap cheap cheap to me, but I have a trained eye. Some people don’t know the difference between good photography and great photography anyway, they are just price shopping and that’s ok. I can joyfully say I don’t have play that bit.  I don’t have to change my style or my rates because I am desperate to pay the bills. I am creatively free and grateful for it.