Lesson Learned

I tried an experiment yesterday during the wedding of Marsha and Joshua… Could I share their wedding day with friends, near & far using tech? Well, I left home equipped with my Blackberry, laptop, Sprint phone card and excitement.

WEDDING LOGISTICS — the Challenges

Wedding: St. Timothy’s Catholic Church / Reception: The Sofitel Hotel, Beverly Hills

I knew going in that the church would be the X factor. Most churches have rules of engagement. Some Catholic churches are especially tough to work in. In this case, I could not use flash and I had no access to a frontal view of the couple during the service. I brought along a remote camera, but I could only place it in the balcony. It was pretty dark inside this beautiful church, so the 50 f/1.4 lens was my lens of choice. I ended up using a 50mm f/2.5 lens on the Canon remote from the balcony. I would have used something wider, if I were covering a church service there. Very few wedding couples have the deep pockets to fill the seats of a big church like this for their wedding day.

The Sofitel sits across the street from the Beverly Center. Celebrities hang out there, so hotel security was on my mind every time that I entered public areas. I get Paparazzi treatment sometimes at venues like this. Maybe, that's why the lobby is so dark... lots of black walls and tones to help the stars hide. I saw rap artist Heavy D in the valet area when I was leaving. By daylight, the hotel restaurant is pretty low key. When I left, the velvet rope was up, and bouncers were turning away people from this spot.

It’s a beautiful hotel, but cell service is pretty spotty inside. I encountered a problem uploading images during the reception and asked about securing Wi-Fi… no Wi-Fi in the ballroom. Solution… I moved the laptop closer to the window.

A quick note on ambiance: A beautiful location like Jamaica... this church & hotel are best viewed with light. Darkness, or challenging light make it really difficult for both photographers and videographers to tell the story. I used remote strobes fired by Pocket Wizard remotes to shoot most of the reception. It was still pretty dark. People in the room will remember how fab the setting was, but a dark setting will rob distant friends from sharing in the experience.

TECH CHALLENGES

I was able to post images and updates flawlessly using my Blackberry and UberTwitter to both Twitter and Facebook. The nice part about UberTwitter was the ability to geotag the photos.

I also used Tweetdeck from the laptop to post a few images. One problem… the tiny URL led to a photo of a moose instead of the wedding image that I selected. Care in typing is critical when adding a message to a tiny URL posting. I probably changed one character in the tiny URL by mistake. I had to pull that posting from Facebook quick, once I found out... Thanks Isidra!

SmugMug rocks! I had created a SmugMug gallery for Marsha and Joshua on Thursday right after our session at Manhattan Beach. I sent that link to Marsha via email and posted it on her Facebook Wall. I made sure to add a note with the posting that I would be updating the gallery on the wedding day, so friends and family could follow. During the reception, I was able to add photos quickly using the laptop/Sprint card. I added video today.

I also created a gallery on Facebook. That gallery was still empty when I got home from the wedding… nothing but problems. Java this… error that… The Facebook uploader would not work for me from the hotel. Fortunately, the SmugMug link was on her Facebook page already and it was working.

LESSON LEARNED

I knew going in that there would be a few challenges. I’m pretty pleased though with the results. I was able in the end to harness the internet and use it to broadcast emotions and images of the wedding to distant family… not the next week… not the next day… but, during the wedding on the wedding day.

I will be using this technology during June from the Playboy Jazz Festival and also from Chicago when I cover the NAWBO national convention. I plan to even use my blog to post profiles of women in business during the NAWBO event. I’m loving tech right now!

CAMERA BAG – TECH STUFF

2- Nikon D300 bodies / 4 lenses / 6 SB speedlights
1 - Canon 40D / 50 2.5 Macro
A few light stands, umbrellas, 2- Lumedyne power packs, 4- Pocket Wizard remotes, & a Sekonic meter. I brought a tripod along so that I could set up a remote camera. I also had the Canon G-9 in my bag for video. I’m not a videographer, but I thought that a few clips would be a nice touch.

Making The Sale

The last time that I created a headshot for local realtor Janice Mills, the California real estate market was booming. These are very different times! The good news according to Janice… “Things are getting better for first time buyers.”

Well Janice was in need of an updated headshot, so she stopped by yesterday. Thank you Janice for allowing me to use this image to provide instruction for young photographers.

I used 4 Nikon SB 800 speedlights to create this image. The main light [1] is bounced into a small 32 inch umbrella. You still can’t beat the light quality and portability of an umbrella. The fill light [2] is fitted with a LumiQuest Ultrasoft. It’s like having a small soft box on the strobe. It attaches quickly by Velcro and fits nicely in my camera bag. I used a new item, the HONOPHOTO grid on my hair light [4]. It gives you a focused beam of light, which is the surest way to avoid lens flare from a hair or kicker light. Finally, I used a LumiQuest Pocket Bouncer on the background to provide a little subject separation.



The last time that Janice and I got together, the Dynalight light system was my lighting option. But these small speedlights, triggered by Pocket Wizards is growing on me real fast. Let's see... fifty pounds vs. less than twenty.

I’m heading to Chicago next month for the National Association of Women Business Owners [NAWBO] National Conference and I sure would love to leave the Dynalights at home.

Again, thank you Janice. Check her out if you need a local realtor. Just a closing thought... Even during the Great Depression, farmers were fertilizing and planting seeds. A new headshot... social networking... blogging... or just trying something new... can reap wonderful harvests!

Janice J. Mills

A Little Planning Pays Dividends!

I photographed finance guru Mellody Hobson on Saturday at the AARP Financial Freedom Tour stop in Los Angeles. She is simply amazing to watch! More on that in a minute.

A few portraits and group shots are required at most events. The plan Saturday was to take these shots before the event in a small meeting/green room. Most meeting rooms are boring. So my plan was to find a spot close by that could work better. Fortunately just five steps outside the room was this wonderful location

It was near the pool, but private enough. There was a small overhang above the area that could work well for bounce lighting. So I first took a reading of the ambient light with my light meter… f/5.6 @ 1/60 sec. @ 400 ISO. I set up one SB800 on the ground behind the subject position for a little kick on the background. To complete the lighting, I bounced one SB800 from the overhang and had another SB800 in the hotshoe.

Sure, I could have used on camera strobe… and I could have taken the photo in the small meeting room. But I was looking for something just a little different. Plus, that option was already available in the event that my client didn’t like my preferred option. I’m sure glad that things worked out! The lesson here for young photographers is to look for other options and be prepared if they don’t work out.

Now a few words about Mellody Hobson… First of all, she is brilliant! I listened while she talked finance to an AARP group and was mesmerized by her insights and life story. Then she showed images from her school [Ariel Community Academy] in Chicago where the students are taught about finance. The results are amazing! Before ending her address, she spoke about an upcoming special on ABC, “Unbroke: Everything You Need to Know About Money,” to premiere May 29 where everyone from Will Smith to the Jonas Brothers will join forces to talk money. The most touching moment for me though was when she went into the audience to give hugs to a few people. Smart, beautiful and down to earth.

The AARP Financial Freedom Tour – Next stop NYC on May 9, 2009