Brandon. Shane. Warren.

Blaise’n

Brandon S. Warren — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:26:28 +0000

This might be the coolest kid ever. He for sure has some of the coolest parents ever. This is what happened when I was hired by them to cover some portraits.

For Brides. For Industry

Brandon S. Warren — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:03:05 +0000

So, its Thursday Feb 4th. Time is passing way to fast and I feel like its standing still at the same time. I am waiting eagerly for some contracts to flow in and make my purchases for 2010. A few of those purchases include some awesome lenses, Lenses that turn my stomach when I look at the price.
On to my next point, Camera equipment seems to be getting more expensive while photography, specifically wedding photography is getting lowballed . We all know the guy who bought a digital camera and a web address and started offering to take YOUR wedding pictures because he or she thinks they are capable of anything with their new canon or nikon high end prosumer camera.

I always wonder how a person could offer such a service knowing in their mind that they have maybe one or two weddings under their belt and probably not even as a lead photographer. The reason people think they can offer this service is because it looks like ALOT of money……

Mr. Greentree photographer – ” I love my new _______ Camera, It set me back $2500 bucks, how am I going to pay for this!…Oh wow 1000 dollars to shoot a wedding! Thats alot of money for 1 day of just taking pictures! I should do that on weekends to support my ______ addiction. I can even market while at work, Im a popular guy this will be Grrrrreat!”

My Reply - ” Do you understand your camera and all its capable of , I know wedding photographers that had no clue what continuous and single focus servo did. Do you have a backup in case it fails? or does just using the program or manual mode work for you. Much less…. do you really understand the amount and time it takes to shoot a wedding? Yes $1000 dollars is alot of money to shoot pictures for a day…….. But stretch that $1000 into 1-2 weeks of editing and processing , setting up online albums – and don’t forget the wedding day – typical 8 hours barely a break enough to get water, on your feet moving all day lugging all your equipment on your shoulder, no bathroom breaks, if you eat it has to be quick….all this and you are still expected to smile , enjoy your work and be artistic….. $1000 Most people make this amount of money in 2 weeks at a day job, no over head, taxes paid, all theirs.

After its all said and done. A real wedding photographer who has vision and passion and values his work ,purchases prints, signs over rights, pays assistants and saves for the future of his industry standards will probably only pocket at best 400-500 of this. Now who do you know has a skilled job as described above and can dedicate 2 weeks of their time , Maybe more …… for $400 ? Mcdonalds employees Make these wages on part time every 2 weeks.

So now we can get a clear picture why alot of Real wedding photographers are upwards of 1600 -3200 .

The warning for the Overnight photographers, is, if you are really passionate about photographing, please go find a mentor, work for them for free just to get the experience, learn the ropes and then make your mark on the industry. Please respect the industry and the Clients we value and do not offer a service you are not equipped for. You would not buy an amazing car jack then offer to fix everyones vehicles , would you? or would you? Because you know how to use manual mode , does not make you pro…. if you can use manual mode, aperture/shutter priority and understand exposure comp, and know when to apply it , you may have a good start. The camera is just a means to a capture, to understand light is to understand photography. My advice to anyone who likes photography, get out and experiment, don’t do the same things over and over, create your own style and signature so when people see a picture they know its yours…..

*in picture – Jason Luby , MD Wedding photographer of 20 years.

New Things.

Brandon S. Warren — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:06:25 +0000

So all this past week I put some stuff on hold to put together some stuff for my first bridal show, it was a small one, which was good for me for a first, my next one is HUGE, so this was a good break in . I want to say it turned out pretty well but 80% of the brides already had photographers , which is not so bad cause I still could promote my portrait work as well to them and the people I met. So I guess time will tell.

I have a few finished pictures I can post from last week. So after completion I showed to a friend photographer who does alot of baby portraits and is awesome at it. I needed a critique and I told her to be real and harsh, and the info she gave me could have changed my entire outlook on what I have been thinking when going into these generic areas of my photography, like newborns. I can elaborate on that as time goes on.

Here are some of the finals. Enjoi.

-Shane

Somewhere over the Rainbow.

Brandon S. Warren — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:43:51 +0000

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There’s a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can’t I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can’t I?

Full post in the following weeks.

Enjoi -

Shane

Baby Days. part 2?

Brandon S. Warren — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:49:21 +0000

Yea you got it right, I shot 2 babies this week, for this occasion I shot Blaise . What a cool baby. He was so laid back and ready for his first modeling session. Every time we thought we had him figured out he would change up his favored position. It was good though , we made due with what we had and got some cool shots . This whole set up was my portable studio set up in there dining room. So Awesome. Till next time. Comments Please!

Baby Days

Brandon S. Warren — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:21:44 +0000

Take a look , I don’t get a chance to do baby portraits very often (this would be the 3rd?) and when there are babies the ladies in the industry harness this passion for infant photography and I let them do there thing…. So here I was in a world all new to me. I can admit it was tough and I like tough. I’m pretty satisfied with what we got and A big thanks to Dan and Abbey for letting me transform there den into a mock studio. We set out on the journey of photographing there baby girl Ryleigh Noel , She was fantastic for her first modeling session . She loves her binky but not when we took it away for the shot and by the end of the night we had wore that little girl out. Surprisingly she was hardly fussy, and we did work. Here is a teaser shot. more to come.

-Shane

Orlando Wedding.

Brandon S. Warren — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:57:06 +0000

After the holidays and all the wonderful days off with the family and friends, I am glad to post my most recent wedding from the Orlando wedding in Charlestown ,WV . This was the wedding I found my self shooting after a call from a friend Selina about 3 hours before aisle time. Probably goes down as one of my favorites, The people were awesome, the couple was so cool and allowed me to capture there day and never showed worry even though they had previously not seen any of my work, so it was a good time. I was humbled when I got to these pictures at the amazing skills of my wife who only picks up a camera at weddings for me, I set her up and she goes to town, Her level of composition is so high. I thank her for her service to my little company and for being a wonderful mother and wife. I’m working at Daily Grind today , and about to get kicked out of my spot. so here goes. Enjoy! -Shane

Wind was the nemesis, not the unknown.

Brandon S. Warren — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:35:20 +0000

Jan. 2nd I met up with some long time friends for a portrait session, we had originally planned for an outdoor shoot, but with the wind and bitter cold that came through , We found a indoor space local to the shoot destination. This was one of those shoots where I could want for everything to be perfect cause its for friends, but It is never that simple , instead throwing me right into my element , and that is in the unknown. The entire reason I love what I do is the unknowing random factor ….. a many photographers hate not knowing whats going to happen or how things are going to be, and those are the ones that find themselves shooting in the same places every shoot to avoid the “unknown”. I find I am addicted to situations of unknowing and shooting on the fly. That is what makes me a passionate wedding photographer I think.

But anyways, enjoy, these are a few from the shoot. My first work fresh into 2010. More to come.

A big thanks goes out to Tommy, Sean, Cara, Seth, Jake, Tom, and Peggy. For dealing with me as a reckless teen , letting me into their home like I was one of their family and always being a source of inspiration. You guys rock!

Thanks to all other who like me and or my work for Loving, Stalking ,Hating, whatever you do. Thank You

-Shane

Fresh MJ fan. 2009

Brandon S. Warren — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:11:25 +0000

She can do the moon walk, glide and robot better then most thanks to Mike.

Snow and Emergency Weddings.

Brandon S. Warren — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:56:31 +0000

So today took me by storm , just like the recent weather. I would never make a real good landscape photographer cause I am not the guy who wakes up to shoot. But I thought today I would wake up and head out to find this overlook everyone tells me about. I used my friend brads directions that I could remember and I ran right into it and took some pics standing in a snow drift up to my thighs while wearing tennis shoes. It was awesome. Then I return home and think about shoveling the driveway, I start my shovel style and after 20 minutes of thinking about the likely hood of landing a winter wedding and getting to shoot in the snow, I jump in my wife’s car and pull it out the drive for her. I get a call while in her car from a friend of mine out here named Selina,

.”hello?”

.”Hey shane what are you doing?”

.”not much , shoveling”

.”My cousin came in from Louisiana to get married in Charlestown and their wedding photographer backed out cause of the snow. Want to shoot a wedding?”

Ok So, my thought process says, “Man I am wet and cold I just want to sleep.

” Then it clicked, I just questioned the likely hood of this and now it is in my hands. So I excitedly said Yep!

The wedding was 3 hours from the call, I rushed to get the gear I could charged up and ready to rock, planning to travel light, I just took the essentials and my portable shoe flashes. The wedding was smooth and fast. Everyone seemed laid back even though the photographer and DJ called out. So I met the bride who was bulgarian and had her parents and sister flown in from Bulgaria, Them not knowing english it was a curve for them, I wanted to make sure they had some awesome shots during the event. We stopped traffic on the main street of Charlestown to take a picture of them kissing in the street. I was very pressed on time here and only got one shot here and one shot there , but I had to expect that with the circumstances, The couple really wanted to get people out the door before the roads froze up. I don’t blame them, it was a rough ride for alot of them.

Well Im done. That was my day. super amazing and doing what I love. A million Thanks goes out to my amazing and beautiful wife for helping me out and dealing with me. Love you honey! huh huh huuuuh.

-Shane