This has happened few times to me in my carrie, and it still does. What I am talking about is weather and I mean bad weather. Not only has it happened while at a job as a wedding photographer but also for portraits photography as well.

Some time ago I was on a job photographing models and it was one of those jobs where you could not postpone it because of a tight schedule that I was given. Now this particular job was done in Denver, CO and at end of spring time when weather can change on you with-in 20mins its all up to photographer to know what to do.  That’s what exactly happened. If you follow me on instagram you will see one of the photos with a caption “What do you do when it rains on the day of photoshoot? You create beautiful images at a local parking lot.” Thats exactly what happened, it started to rain, the wind picked up, so I just wanted to quit and wait on better weather. But as I mentioned this was planned months ahead of time and could not be postponed. As a portrait photographer based here in Sacramento I didn’t have this kind of a problem yet, thank God the weather has been good to me so far. But for this photoshoot it did. The good thing was that we were not far from a public parking deck and another plus there were no security guards to stop us.

I do want to say that thanks to the models Jen and Jaime that they were cooperative even though at one point they were sceptical about going to the parking deck. Yet it all comes down to the photographer, if the portrait photographer knows what he/she is doing then even the rain can’t stop the photoshoot.

Photographing at a parking lot does create its own challenges, for example: backgrounds, lighting conditions, wind can be even stronger while passing through the parking decks. But in the end I got the shots and didn’t even loose a single light stand falling over to the wind. Except we did have to have tons of sand bags to make sure that did not happen.

As soon as the rain stopped we went to the top floor for open sky photos. I do love the sky after or before rain because the clouds do have beautiful texture to them. As you can see in the image below.

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Looking for Sacramento portrait photographer? Want to see more photos? Visit our homepage for more Sacramento portrait photography images and contacts via email info@shutteravenue.com or through our homepage to get more info.

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If ever  there has been questions about scams and ripoffs in wedding industry, this is a blog dedicated to all brides and grooms to know the truth.

1. Wedding photographers spend way more than 4 hours on your wedding than the wedding industry says.

Often there is a shock when a couple looks at the price tag which is attached to the wedding services. With comment reaction “I only need you for 4 hours”.

One thing that some couples don’t know is that wedding photographer will spend many hours outside of the wedding day on timeline planning, meetings, travel, communications and  all other necessary coordinations to make sure that the four hours which couple wants would be easy for everyone. Also this would not include the time and investment in education and training to make sure the photographers skills are up to date.

On average a wedding photographer spends close to 65 hours on each wedding, thats according to online surveys. When everything is calculated such as hours a photographer is only making $37/hour and thats with out expanses! This would be VERY close to other professionals such as DJs, florist, officiants, and wedding planners.

When you consider that most professionals in wedding industry on average make less than $25,000 in a whole year, while average cost of a wedding in US is around $25,000. So most wedding professionals are not living large on “wedding ripoffs”, but a charge often lodged by the BIG media.

2. Hire amateur and expect amateur photos.

Now, I know I have talked about this in previous blogs but some how I would like to bring it up again. You are hiring a professional wedding photographer not a commodity item, who have talent, experience, and a unique personality. Thats why professional wedding photographers do charge more because it is worth every penny.

But as I mentioned before, amateurs that are being hired by brides every day for dimes and thats what you will pay for.

Yet, you might get lucky and get the next Annie Leibovitz for the wedding, but in reality, most likely you will get sub-par performance with bargain price.

3.  You pay more for wedding services because you get more.

Much has been made of the so-called “wedding markup,” a phenomenon that occurs when secret shoppers get quoted a higher price for identical services when they are booked for a wedding as opposed to another type of event.  While this certainly can occur, journalists neglect to address the very real reasons WHY this happens.

Providing any service for a wedding is far more involved than a similar, non-wedding event.  Wedding pros make themselves available for planning meetings, calls and consultations, and may well send hundreds of emails back and forth with a single client in the year or more of planning up to the wedding.

This type of time and attention isn’t expected or required for most non-wedding events; the time investment alone is enough to justify a higher price.  The quality of wedding services often requires a greater degree of skill and specialization, not to mention the stress and risk involved should something go wrong.

4. Wedding photographers also stay up at night worrying about your big day as well.

Wedding photographers might photograph from dozen to even hundreds of wedding per year but yours IS important as any other wedding.

Because any wedding can make or break the photographers reputation. Pros do sweat the small and big stuff because its their responsibility. If we mess up on something, because of viral sharing today it just very well destroy our business.

5. Paying attention to what we say might not only save you time but money and stress.

We as photographers know that you have ideas and enthusiasm but also know that what we recommend as changes for your wedding doesn’t mean we what to take over your big day. Great photographers have best interests at heart.

Like in previous blog, I and other wedding photographers who have been married made mistakes, and thats what inspires us to make sure that pain NEVER happens to you.

If you only let us we as wedding experts, who have knowledge and experience can and will save you time, help you to make sure not to make mistakes and even make your wedding better.

6. $10,000 is your budget for the wedding? Sorry but we can’t make it look like you had $100,000 budget.

Weddings can be expensive, and you certainly don’t have to spend a lot of money.  But if you’re going to trim your budget, please don’t expect it to be a carbon copy of the Royal wedding.

It’s not because we don’t want to do it for you…it’s just impossible.

7. Just because we love what we do it doesn’t mean we can do it 24 hours a day.

Wedding industry is HARD work. It can be very stressful because of timelines, deadlines and pressure to make sure everything is perfectly done.

Brides and grooms get anxiety that can give nightmares. Well we get then too, and sometimes we would like a break.

As it was mentioned before, EVERY wedding is important but we can loose our sanity if we do this 24/7. So remember if you want to call your planner at 3am or before freaking out because your text message was not answered immediately know that we have lives as well.

8.  It takes WAY more time and money to imitate those DIY projects and wedding inspiration shoots than you think.

We love that wedding porn as much as you do, but it sets up unrealistic expectations.  Wedding blogs and wedding reality TV misrepresent the details of what’s actually possible for a typical wedding with an average budget…one that doesn’t have a team of expert designers and planners working magic behind the scenes.

The media accuses the wedding industry of encouraging these unrealistic expectations so that you spend more more money.  The truth is that we hate it as much as you do!

It makes our job more difficult, and it puts us in the uncomfortable position of telling you, “No,” when it can’t be done on your budget.

9.  What is not a bargain? Is DIY projects.

80% of the time, when couples think they are going to save money by doing a wedding in a backyard, they don’t consider the cost of booze, silverware, food, tent and so on. In the end the couple will spend MORE than it would be hosting a traditional wedding in reception hall.

The same thing goes for your favors, centerpieces and flowers.  It’s going to take you 10x longer and cost twice as much in reworks and mistakes than you think—especially if you’re a perfectionist. And I have seen and heard of this so many times from previous clients.

So please don’t choose to DIY your wedding for the savings; make sure you actually like being crafty, and that you can adjust your expectations to accommodate less than perfection.

10.  Weddings are not perfect, BUT we will try to make sure it is as close as possible to perfect.

In my experience I have not seen a wedding where at least one thing didn’t go wrong. Groom or bride will be late (that also goes to bridal party), or your guest will forget to take home those favors which you have have sweated over. There are way to many details and too tight of a timeline for everything to be completely be perfect.

Yet, if something does go wrong, we’ll be there to help you make it right.

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Enjoy this post by Sacramento wedding photographer provided by Shutter Avenue Photography offering Sacramento wedding photography in the Sacramento metro area.

Shutter Avenue Photography is not your regular Sacramento wedding photographer. Every wedding that Shutter Avenue Photography photographs is treated with care and creativity not found with any other Sacramento wedding photography studio. Shutter Avenue Photography captures your wedding day in a unique photography style in the Sacramento area.

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Special Thanks To: Stephanie Padovani

Even though I live here in Sacramento and I am a wedding photographer I would like to talk about what is trending in wedding industry. Since I photograph fashion and as well as for boutique wedding shops I would like to give you some insight. Now before I go off and start talking about wedding dresses and what is trending, I would like to say that if you have already bought a dress that you like be proud of that. It is something that you love and you invested your time and money and I am 100% sure you will look fantastic in it.

But this post is for those people who are still looking and would like to know what is trending for 2014. There are tons of blogs by wedding wire, the knot, and other big companies, yet I don’t really trust them because there are there to sell to brides what other big companies pay them for. I will not try to sell anything to you, although as I said previously, I do work with bridal stores. So, I can tell you what brides are looking for, and what is to come from big designers on the block and smaller unique shops.

LACE, LACE, LACE!!! I can’t stress or talk enough about LACE. In my personal opinion lace is beautiful. Ever since Catherine Middleton wore her beautiful wedding dress and it was big deal at that time in 2011, lace has became even more popular in this short period of time. The modern style of a dress with lace that is beautiful, longtime staple, creates a fine art in dresses. Many wedding designers over past few runway show in 2013 have been embracing lace. So why is lace is coming back in style? Because it looks feminine, fashionable and makes a bride look beautiful for any wedding style. If the wedding is over the top reception hall or outside by a barn you just can’t go wrong with lace.

I do have to make a point here that thanks to the movie The Great Gatsby which was released 2013 few months ago also boosted the market for gatsby style of dresses. Yes I will say I am a sucker for lace and gatsby style of dresses. There is nothing wrong with simple and elegant dresses, sometimes and most of the time simplicity does rule over complexity. But if you are looking for more than just simple dress then just google lace or gatsby wedding dresses and you will see what I mean.

Also what is becoming in style is 1950 short wedding dresses. Now some people think “oh I can’t pull that off” but if you are working with a local boutique store, I am sure that the designer will make sure it looks great on you.  But not only are the short wedding dresses from 1950’s are coming back, the combination of lace and short dresses is starting to pick up as well. As you can see on the images posted here.

 So the styles for this upcoming year and maybe years to come will be the 1920’s, 1950’s and my favorite lace will be trending. With that said, you never know what designer might come up next so keep your eyes open but most of all find a dress that fits you and your personality. Because when you look back at photos 10, 20, 50 years from now you would love your wedding dress no matter what the designers say.

Photos Provided by Shutter Avenue Photography

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Looking for Sacramento Wedding Photographer? Want to see more photos? Visit our homepage for more Sacramento Wedding Photography images and contacts via email info@shutteravenue.com or through our homepage to get more info.

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Recently had a wonderful opportunity to photography Vitaly and Vika engagement photos. I love photographing engagements not only it gives me a chance to work with the couple but to deliver images that they will keep for the rest of their lives and pass them on. It brings happiness to the couple and to me as well. The photo shoot for their engagement photos happened not far from Sacramento in Clarksburg, and their wedding will be happening very soon in spring and yes I will be the photographer for the wedding. Which I am very excited to photograph and while they are waiting/preparing for their wedding date I had few question for the couple. So sit back and enjoy this love story from Vitaly and Vika.

How did Vitaliy and Vika meet.

Well, the first time they both met was during a small group. Denis Vika’s youth leader invited Vitaliy to the group and Vitaly came to exactly the one that Vika attended. When Vika came to the group late she thought “who is this new guy?” Denis introduced Vitaliy and other people from Sacramento. Vika, however, didn’t say hi or introduce herself or anything though lol.

Tell me about the proposal. Vika, did you see it coming, did you know?

On Sat. Dec. 14, 2013 we went to Santa Cruz. It was my last Saturday off from having a week off from work and I guess Vitaliy decided that this was going to be the day. After a long day of being at Santa Cruz he took me to a beach where the natural bridges were. And there were so many people there! I’ve never seen so many photographers in one place! We decided to walk down a bit further away from all the people. The sun was setting so we got to see the sunset as we were climbing the rocks on the sides. We came to a place where there weren’t any people and after hanging out, me taking a few shots of the sunset and some selfies, lol, I turned to put the blanket on the ground. As soon as I turned back around Vitaliy was on his knee. It took me a moment to register what was happening, after he told me how much he loved me and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me I said “Yes!”.

How did you feel when Vitaliy proposed to you?

I just couldn’t stop smiling and hugging him! I felt like I was in a dream. I was so excited and happy! I was totally not expecting it to be that day either. I thought he was going to do it closer to Christmas or New Years, but he surprised me.

Vitaly, what made you fall in love with Vika and why?

I didn’t think that she would be my soul mate, but over period of time I think month and a half I fell in love with her. I was filled with joy that I am actually falling in love with this person. I love everything about her even though its very generic answer but her godliness, her beauty, and her humble heart, plus my heart was open to her.

Vika, what made you fall in love with Vitaliy? Is it something that he said or did?

Vitaliy’s love for God was one main thing that made fall head over heels in love with him. I could see that God was working through him in his life and I liked that a lot about him. I can see that he is a leader and that he’s also very caring. I love how he is around his family and I like seeing that he’s totally in love with his mom and sister. That shows me that he’s going to love and respect me as well.

The wedding of this couple will come very soon and I am looking forward to it. Thank you very much Vika and Vitaliy for choosing Shutter Avenue Photography.

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Enjoy this post by Sacramento wedding photographer provided by Shutter Avenue Photography offering Sacramento wedding photography in the Sacramento metro area.

Shutter Avenue Photography is not your regular Sacramento wedding photographer. Every wedding that Shutter Avenue Photography photographs is treated with care and creativity not found with any other Sacramento wedding photography studio. Shutter Avenue Photography captures your wedding day in a unique photography style in the Sacramento area.

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Why?

So why talk about professional photographer or amateur photographer? Well, its not the first or last time I hear about “we hired our uncle (friend) who has a nice camera to be our wedding photographer, to photograph our products, or to photograph our family”. Even at some point in my life I said that as well so I’m not putting anyone down. But when do you choose your iPhone over professional photographer for that event or photo shoot? By this time you might say “Well of course, you will tell me to pick professional photographer” but I will try not to be bias and give you my insight on this without me telling you which side to be on. You as a reader have a choice to choose.

First and foremost let me explain in very few short words the difference between experience/professional photographer and amateur before we get into this mess. An experience/professional photographer is someone who knows what to do in any situation, regardless of what is thrown at him/her and still produce great photo out of the camera (not Photoshop), who enjoys photography and willing to learn new things to sharpen their skill. Amateur is someone who: is using that shutter button like a machine gun hoping for one good shot, someone who is still learning but thinks he/she has enough of knowledge to call him/her self professional, uses only natural light and doesn’t want to know how to use a flash and says that’s enough for him/her,  also spends thousand and thousand of hours trying to Photoshop a photo to make it look good.

I will not talk about how to determine the photographer by price because there are GREAT photographer out there who don’t charge enough and there are tons of sh#*@ photographers who charge way too much for their . . .  (I don’t even have word for them).

Wedding Photography

Wow this is huge, this is something that should not be taken lightly. Take it from experience, hire an amateur and you will be stuck with an amateur for the rest of your life. Before I get into details, I wanted to let you know that me and my wife was there. We had a budget for a photographer when we got married here in Sacramento and it wasn’t huge amount set aside. So we knew a friend of a friend and in the end to say the least it was cheap. Looking at the photos we regret it. Yes the person was just starting his/her career in wedding photography and everyone needs practice but weddings is something the photographer should not practice on without the knowledge.

With that said: to say the least, I too photographed a wedding as a first shooter with almost zero practice. I came home after the wedding and told my wife that I don’t like the photos. That was the beginning and the end of my career in weddings for a long time. It took years of practice in other fields (and weddings as second shooter) before I could say again, I was ready to be a wedding photographer. But my story is just a tip of an iceberg.

Or I see this happen so many times, its not funny anymore. When amateur photographer sits down and photoshops each photo after the wedding just to make them look better and spends hours and hours for what? Before I make this three page essay, I will end there and say this: if you are on a budget slap yourself silly and don’t look back. I would love to say that but it will not be fair to anyone. So my guide to you would be: first thing look at the portfolio of the photographer, then ask yourself would you be able to live for the rest of your live with those kinds of photos? Hiring uncle bob just because of nice camera or your friend who everyone thinks is a great photographer doesn’t mean anything. Wedding photography is so much different from taking photos of family, animals, landscapes. Don’t be fooled, and make sure you are ok with hiring a photographer that knows what he/she is going with his/her photos.

Family Photography / Portrait Photography

Most of the time people don’t think about this and just blindly use their phone cameras or cheap dslr with cheap lens that best buy person sold them by making you feel you have bought the state of an art camera. Me and my wife we use our iPhone like crazy to take photos of our daughter, ourselves, cousins and so on. So hiring a professional photographer on day to day basis would be very costly. In reality, there is a time to hire a professional family photographer or portrait photographer and there is time to use that iPhone camera. As a father, my daughter who is growing up so quickly, I have realized one thing: 70% of the time it doesn’t work trying to running back and forth to start a camera with a timer (or even using a remote) to get those great shoots. Why so, well kids don’t sit still and then teenagers don’t like to be told what to do, but then the grown-ups for them the time has passed too quickly and sometimes there is regret that they don’t have photos of everyone in family photo. Yes you can go to a portrait people studio or sears to get your family photo but those places don’t capture with feelings and they don’t care about you, they are there just to take a photo and be done with it. If thats your things then thats cool with me. There are times when a father or a mother does need to use available camera (iPhone or point and shoot) to capture that moment at the soccer game or school play. Because for professional photos you need a little bit more planning to be done then just “stand still let me take a photo, and we are done” scenario. This is the reason why family photography with professionals doesn’t happen in 15 mins photoshoots. This is where amateur photographer come in handy. Let them practice, usually its cheap to almost nothing and this is great to get those three or five photos of yourself for facebook, prints or what ever. Yet if you want a hand full photos to create an album, or collage, update family photos in the frames, then a professional photographer would be your choice.

Business / Product Photography

Being a business with a brand, a new product, new staff, how are you going to stand out from the rest of the crowd? Especially since most of the business is now done online your presence (photos) speak for you. If you are a starting business your budget might be very tight, so I might turn to amateur, but if you want to reach that next level of marketing then it would be wise to hire a pro. This goes to even business that are runned from home, just because you have home office it doesn’t mean your photos need to look like it was done with point and shoot. Point and case is etsy, restaurant menus and so on. If the product doesn’t look appealing we don’t like it and will not buy it or if a business portrait doesn’t look good we just turn away sometimes even laughing at the photo. Every business makes this mistake and makes a decision with their pocket, but in reality every business should have at least one good photo to represent themselves. Don’t take it to a chance hire a professional photographer. This applies to headshots, business portfolio, politicians, and even run from home blogs.

In the end, I can talk about this all day long how to choose a professional photographer or amateur photographer and make this a 10 page paper. But you have to make a decision why are you hiring a professional or amateur? With every side comes its own pluses and minuses, you just have to wave them all and make a right decision. There is a reason for the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” which words would you like to hear from yourself and others?

Feel free to comment on Facebook page about this post, do you disagree with me, or just have a question, let me know and I will try to give you my best answer.

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Service Information

Shutter Avenue Photography offers Sacramento wedding photography and Sacramento portrait photography coverage in the Sacramento metro area, including but not limited to San Francisco Bay Area and the surrounding areas. In addition, we also offer wedding photography coverage in Colorado and other states. Call for more information.

Not looking for a Sacramento wedding photographer? Please be sure to consider us for your portrait photography and all your family photography needs in the Sacramento area.

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