Your pictures are important to us… really important.  Perhaps you don’t fully understand exactly how important we’re talking about here.

We take extra care to make sure that your photos are safeguarded and nothing happens to them.  We want to make sure that you’ve got a lasting image to remember every detail of your special day and so we go to some great lengths to make sure that everything is nice and secure.

First of all, we quickly get the images off of our camera’s memory cards and get copies put onto our image processing computer’s hard drive.  During this import a special file know as a DNG, or digital negative, is created.  I won’t go into the details about what a DNG is and why it is good but we’ll say that it is a file format that has been created to ensure that in 10, 25, 50 years from now we’ll still be able to open that file (have you tried to open a really old file anytime lately… it’s a pain because no one thought to create a standard file format).  Once on our image processing computer’s hard drive the images are backed up onto a separate external hard drive that is kept safe in our studio.  At this point we have 3 copies of the original images from your event (1 - memory cards, 2 - computer hard drive, 3 - external hard drive).

At this point we spend a substantial amount of time going through the images weeding out shots with eyes closed and general editing of the photos.  After going through all of the photos several times (the last wedding we did had over 2,400 photos) we’ll start going through with a fine tooth comb to make color corrections, add artisitic effects, and do final editing.  One of the greatest things about our editing process is that we never actually change the original file from the camera.  Changes are saved separately as modifications to the original so we can go back to the original or any iteration of our edits with no problem whatsoever!  Finally, at this point we’ve narrowed your photos down to a manageable number (maybe 200-400-ish). 

After reviewing all of the photos with our client we put up an online gallery of the final images (making a 4th copy).  We also give a final copy of the photos to the client on CD or DVD (a 5th copy).  We then make two copies of the final edited images for ourselves in addition to DVDs burned with all of the original files on it.  One of the final copies is keept in a fire-proof lock box in our studio and the other final copy along with the DVD of the DNG files is taken to a safe deposit box at a bank.  All in all there will be 7 copies of the images (but the memory cards will be erased after this process is complete and the backup copies are safe at the bank).

What does all of this mean and doesn’t it seem like a bit of overkill?  Well, yes, it is overkill.  Have you ever been working on a school project and something happened with the computer where you lost all of your work - what did you do?  You probably tried to recover some sort of edition of your work or had to start over from the beginning.  When you have wedding photographs the only way to start over is to have the wedding again which isn’t a great option.  So, we take extra care (even to the point where it seems to be a bit rediculous) to make sure that nothing happens to your photos.

So what happens if fire and brimstone rain down from the heavens and all 7 copies of the photos disappear?  It depends… but we do have an extensive insurance policy that does cover us in the case that we did something wrong and messed up the photos.  If that’s the case then our insurance company will pay to have your wedding over again (at least enough to get the pictures that were lost).

I feel comfortable saying that you should rest assured that we’ll take care of the details  to make sure that you’ve always got your lasting memories…. forever.

We’ve recently partnered with a company that prints on canvas producing a large and wonderful artistic print of a photo.  We’ve been very impressed with the quality of these canvas prints - so much so that we want to share them with everyone.  Anyone who books us as their wedding photographer before the end of 2007 and mentions this blog post (or any of our other advertisements) will receive a free canvas print with their final wedding photos.  The canvas is stretched tight around a wooden frame and looks great hanging on the wall - we think that you’ll really enjoy one for yourself so the first one is on us!

Here’s a stock photo that hardly does justice…

We’ve got a sample in our studio to share with you when we meet to schedule your wedding!

A destination wedding would be great for anyone - including a wedding photographer.  There are few things that we enjoy more than taking pictures but, believe it or not, traveling ranks up there pretty high.  We were recently approached by a client that wanted us to travel and so we had to do some serious thinking about how we’d like to go about doing this.  Here’s some of the thoughts that crossed our minds:

• Travel + photograph a wedding = COOL!
  • Let’s face it, everyone would love to do their job and get a touch of vacation at the same time - let’s be real.
• Insurance…
  • Traveling with thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of equipment that is incredibly important to be in tip-top shape for a wedding is a bit of a stressful idea - not to mention the host of other things that could possibly go wrong.  That’s merely one of the reasons why we have a hefty insurance policy that covers not only our equipment but everything that we do (or don’t) do.  Additionally we’ve got an expensive network of peers that are available with loner equipment or can get us to the right store to get new equipment - pronto.
• Reimbursement for travel costs
  • We think that it’s great that you want us to come along with you to somewhere that we don’t ordinarily get to go so it’s only fair that you aren’t gouged on the travel costs.  Some people may feel that if someone else is paying that we’ll take nothing but the best.  On the contrary, we’re rather thrifty travelers and don’t need too much.  After we have a signed contract and deposit we’ll make travel arrangements getting the best deals available at the time and merely asked to be reimbursed for the actual amount of the travel (we’ll even give you the receipt).
• Creative scheduling
  • In order to get the best shots possible the photographer should probably do some scouting of the area and find some of the tiny places that can be the perfect backdrop to your photos.  This can be a bit difficult to do in a strange place and so timing is very important.  If we know the details about what is happening on your wedding day then we can be prepared and have done our homework in advance so that when we’re with you we get the great images you’re looking to see.

 So, are you thinking about taking a trip for your ceremony or are you getting married somewhere outside of the central Indiana area?  Take us along - we’re great travel companions!

We’ve been dying to share the photos from one of our recent weddings with the world but we never share any photos without giving the first honor to the new couple.  Now that the honeymoon is over and they’re back into the swing of things we are able to share a few photos from Joe & Amy Smith’s wedding at Mavris Cultural Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

This wedding was a blast - we had such a good time with everyone and loved working at this venue.  For a photographer, perhaps the best moment is when we are able to share our final images with the new couple.  We were able to show the pictures to Joe and Amy on a Friday night and then we had planned to go out to dinner on Saturday night (we often become such good friends with our clients while working with them that we continue to be friends after the wedding) and they told us that they hadn’t done anything all day on Saturday because they had spent the whole day oogling over their pictures.  They loved their pictures so much that the only thing that made them happier was to see the tears of happiness collect in their mother’s eyes when they shared the pictures with their families that afternoon.  When we can impress the couple and make the mothers cry then we know that we’ve done our job.

Here’s some of the highlights from the rehearsal and wedding but the whole album is available in our gallery.