While in Colorado Springs we got the chance to meet Taj, the new addition to Laura and Vinny’s family.
Growing up, we all looked foward to summer break. In elementary school I would head up to Michigan with the family to visit grandparents and extended family. In college I needed a break after spring exams and would head home to a summer job. Now that I’m in the event industry in Phoenix, I get a different type of summer break.
The wedding season ends as the heat of June rolls in and starts back up when the city starts to cool in September. Now I use the summer to finsh all the albums from the spring and meet with other vendors.
Towards the end of summer break I would always get excited for what the new school year held. I still have this excitment for what’s coming next.
As I gear down from my sumner break, I’ll get back to posting more often and clear out my backlog of posts from the summer photos. There won’t be more than one or two posts of the new kitten.
I was catching up on blogs this morning when I came across an article about friend photographers on Seattle Bride.
It really sums up what I tell people about photographer. I’m not saying there aren’t any good amateur or bad professional photographers, just that experience is the key.
were married on Saturday at The Sutherland in Wake Forest, NC. This wedding was a little different for me. It was the first time I contracted out a wedding with de L’oeil Photography. See, I was a groomsman and unable to be the main photographer. I hired longtime friend, Ray Black III, and brought along my trusty assistant, Arielle, to cover the wedding. I’ll soon be adding a gallery of Ray’s photos to the website and he will be our lead east coast photographer.
I met Anup about 10 years ago. Both of us were right out of college and he was new to North Carolina. We hit it off and have been friends ever since. Anup’s friendship is one of those that is just easy. No matter what happened or how long it had been since we hung out, things picked up seamlessly right were they left off. When he mentioned he was dating someone, it seemed odd at first. He was never one to anounce something like that. After I met Amy, I knew why. She’s an amazing woman that is great for him. I’m fortunate to have Anup as a friend and honored he asked me to be in his wedding. I’m extremely happy they now have each other.
The day was a blast, especially after I stopped trying to get out of the way of Ray and Arielle taking photos. I forgot that this time, I was allowed to be in them.
I finally got my wedding website completed and updated. My wedding business is de L’oeil Photography. In french de L’oeil mean “of the eye”. I see this a fitting name. It’s also my family name that was changed to DeLisle in the late 1800s. I choose to have a completely separate site for my wedding photography. The main reason is to not be classified as a wedding photographer by potential editorial clients. There’s a stigma with being a wedding photographer, so if an editor from a magazine comes to check out my site and sees a wedding link they’ll think, “Oh he’s just a wedding photographer, that’s not someone I want to hire.” I don’t want the fact that I shoot weddings in addition to editorial work also to effect my chances of getting jobs.
Since I have a complete website now, I need to start marketing myself. The first membership I applied for was the Wedding Photojournalist Association. I applied on a Monday and was accepted that Wednesday. I was suprised on the fast response, since I expected it could take up to 3 weeks to hear back. I also applied to the News Wedding Photographers site and just found out I was accepted. I also setup a Facebook Profile as part of my marketing machine.
I shoot weddings because I love the energy of the day. I love being able to provide photos that document the day. Photos that when looked at you feel you’re their and part of the event. I do not have a photojournalistic style. I see so many photographers that throw around that term that have no idea what it means to be a photojournalist. I am a photojournalist, a documentary photographer with a artistic style. My background is in editorial work. I’ve covered the best day of people’s lives and the worst.
I tell stories with my photos.