Payton Ruddock Photography Blog

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“Is this real, or am I dreaming…”

-Dave Matthews Band, “Crash”

I was listening to this song as I was writing this post and I felt like it really makes you wonder when you’re in a situation like this if you really are in a dream.  I never thought I was going to experience anything like this, so it really does make it hard to believe that here I am 180 degrees from my daily life in Singapore, SG!  It’s crazy!

Today was a pretty relaxed day.   Not too much to report from today.  Mom and I woke up a little earlier than the rest of the Ruddock crew and headed out from the Botanical Garden.  It was a decent walk there and back, but we helped a nice couple on the way there, and the walk proved well worth it because the garden was beautiful.  I was expecting something much like the arboretum where I shot Callie’s Bridals earlier this spring, and it was nothing like it.  Instead it featured a various amount of green life from the natural rainforest as well as an orchid garden, plenty of waterfalls, and some beautiful flowers as well.  It really would be a great place to get married and Mom and I actually witnessed a couple getting their wedding photos done there.  I’m not sure who the photographer was but the setting was gorgeous!  Another must for any Singapore visitor and resident!

After the arboretum, we all got cleaned up and headed to Arab street and the Wet Market.  Both were another experience much like Chinatown and I, unfortunately, didn’t take any photographs of the experience because I was busy living the moment for myself.  Selfish, I know, but it was truly an experience that I want to live twice.  Once for myself and once through the lens of my camera.  I’m hoping to get much more comfortable with taking photos of random strangers on my own, and to be honest I see myself being able to do it more as an individual than with my family.  No idea why, but I’m sure there will be more shots from Chinatown, the MRT, walking Singpore, and Arab street than I commit to in this and past posts.  So, stay tuned and be fascinated because it’s another beautiful place!  The fabrics being sold on Arab street are absolutely gorgeous and it almost takes planning to decide how best to photograph them and I hope to do a better job (obviously) than I did the first time through with more time, patience, and thought.  So, stay tuned to subsequent posts for more photos from these places!

Anyways, I’m out for tonight, take it easy and keep it real for more from Singapore!

~Payton

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So, obviously this post is a little late, but I had a lot of photos to get through and have been going, going, going since we got here.  Finally having a moment to get through a little more stuff and the photos from the past few days, I figures I’d take the time to catch back up on the Singapore blog.  So, here it goes…

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To start off I just want to say that the Singapore zoo was the sweetest zoo I’ve ever been too!  Seriously, the Omaha zoo is absolute crap compared to the Singapore Zoo!  It doesn’t matter how amazing you make an exhibit, as long as the animals are still behind wire or glass, you still feel separated and somewhere bored by the experience.  Am I right?  Well, from the moment you step into the Singapore zoo you are met by uncaged tamarins, parrots, and roaming Guanas or monitors (not sure which pending on what species is native to Singapore).  It was freaking amazing.  From start to finish, Me and my entire family was enthralled, amazed, and encaptured by how close you could get to almost all of the [safe] animals in the zoo.  Once again I found myself only feet away from tamarin, parrots, butterflies, flying foxes (almost had one land on me!), peacock, lemars, red panda, mousedeer, and plenty of other animals throughout the day.  It was absolutely amazing and I’d suggest anybody who visits Singapore to definitely visit the zoo.  The zoo is HUGE, the staff is great, the exhibits are beautiful, and there are plenty of areas where you can literally interact with the animals unabated by cages or glass.  It’s great for children, learning, and photography in every sense of a zoological experience!  My entire family was thrilled and impressed by it, and I know I’m repeating myself over and over here but I just can’t explain how cool it was!  That said, it was absolutely hot as hell and humid but a quick Tiger beer midway through the visit did a great job to cool us off.

Back at the car we decided to head back to the apartment to have a little wine, beer, cheese, fruit, and crackers by the pool and swim.  I was actually quite impressed with myself doing close to a 1000m swim for the first time in a while on a full stomach of wine, cheese, and pretzels.  Gotta love Singapore!

We did a quick Japanese buffet for dinner (and stuffed ourselves) and enjoyed a lite night together before hitting the sack.  So, until tomorrow, I’m out ya’ll!

~Payton!

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I never thought I was ever going to see wild monkeys, but today that definitely changed.  Our family decided that today we were going to go hike up the mountain at the Bukah Timah Nature Reserve about 20 minutes from my parents’ place.  It was absolutely beautiful…

The day started out just has almost every other day has so far - slow wake up, a nice breakfast, go for a morning swim, etc. - then we headed off to a food court where we had a choice of a few different places and styles of food.  I went with some more Korean BBQ and rice (finally starting to get this whole eating rice with chopsticks thing down!) along with Dad, and Mom and Chase went with a more Singaporian style of food.

After lunch we headed out into the ridiculous traffic again, and again I feared for my life as Dad weaved and dodged the traffic, which seems to come from every direction imaginable, and we arrived safely at the base of the Bukah Timah Nature Reserve.  It was amazing to see how the Urban and Natural jungles of Singapore could just meet at a parking lot and split away from each other so easily.  One moment you feel like you’re in downtown New York City, and the next you’re deep in a rain forest full of monkeys, snakes, unimaginable amounts of flora, and plenty of other animals I’m sure we would never see if we explored it everyday for the next two weeks.  The sounds and textures on everything around us was amazing, and once again I found myself overloaded with the realization of where I was at.  I felt like I was stopping every 3 steps to photograph something else and even then there was so much more that I could have photographed beyond that!

Let’s back up though…

As we entered the reserve we were met with tons of people (who we continued to see on our way up and back down) getting their daily exercise walking up and down this insanely steep mountain, and every single one of them was completely drenched in sweat.  I think we all realized that we would be in the same boat eventually as we looked up and the first 200 meters of the climb were up an incline I don’t think my car would have survived.  We got our workout up the first hill and as you were walking you were leaning so far forward you basically felt like you were parallel to the ground.  It was difficult, fun, and exciting all at the same time and I really enjoyed working up a nice sweat after all of the eating I’ve been doing over the past few days.  Carrying the 40D and my video camera did not make it any easier though!

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We finally made it to a fairly level spot and as we did so we heard something in the jungle just off the trail.  After a little bit we saw a monkey emerge followed by a few others… then a few more… and basically before we knew it, it was getting difficult to keep an eye on all of them and with some straight up monkey lovin’ occurring right in front of us, there was some aggression present among the males and Mom was a little freaked.  Chase and I were absolutely intrigued, however, and I found myself inching closer and closer to my small, hairy, distant cousins wanting to try and photograph their faces, eyes, and personalities.  I honestly think I could have sat there and studied them for hours just shooting pictures and watching them interact, play, and swing through the trees that were all around me.  Finally we decided to head on though, knowing that we’d be back through the area on our way down.  We didn’t make it far before we found a map and decided on a choice course that would take us off the main trail and down through some serious jungle, but first we had to make our way back through the troop of monkeys.

The second time through, the troop had almost doubled in size and Mom and Dad (ever ready with a stick) were a little more comfortable with how close Chase and I were willing to get for our photographs and video of this rare experience.  How often do you get to sit just a few feet from wild monkeys!?  It was awesome and I actually found Mom encouraging me to get closer and really focus on their faces and interactions.  I was absolutely fascinated and completely content with my current situation.  The troop finally moved on, however, and so did we.  Unfortunately, I think the monkeys had a better idea of where they were going than we did…

We headed down the “green” trail which was supposed to loop out around the main trail and put us back out near the bottom of the mountain close to the car.  We were all already drenched in sweat (probably close to 100% humidity and very little breeze if any at all) and our legs were killing us from the long, steep climb into the reserve.  After a pretty significant distance we found ourselves in an opening in the jungle that I can only guess was a service entrance for clean-up crews and park authorities.  Basically, we were lost.  Mom whipped out the map and I decided to just take the time to sit down and take a few more pictures of the surroundings before we figured out where we needed to go.  Unfortunately, Dad wasn’t as relaxed as he HATES(!!) wrong turns and lost time almost as much as he hates extended periods in heat and humidity.  So, needless to say, our hike back to the main trail was much quicker than our hike out to the middle of nowhere.  We stopped at a small shack and Chase spotted a 6-7 in gecko chilling out on one of the support beams.  We couldn’t get it positioned for a photograph though so its species will have to remain unknown.

The walk back to the car was all downhill and much easier than the climb up and we were back in the car and air conditioning without a problem.  After stopping briefly at Dad’s office for him to pick up a phone charger, we headed home and out to play some tennis.

After a family game of tennis we headed up for a nice couple of glasses of an Australian Zinfandel and a few pieces of homemade pizza, we were all dead tired and ready for bed.  So, here I lay ready to pass out after another long, amazing, and eventful day.  I hope that my photos and thoughts are expressing and showing Singapore the way it should be shown, and if those of you who have been following have any input, feel free to comment below or email me at pruddock@paytonruddockphotography.com - that’s all for today and the Singapore Zoo is tomorrow!

~Payton

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Sleep finally came easy last night and I woke up around 9:30 to find my family missing and using the calm half hour to get some work done, answer some emails, and work a little on my favorite shots so far.  I’m planning on creating a nicer gallery including only my favorite images at the end of the trip when I’m back home and at my desktop computer to do some REAL editing and photo work.  Chase and Mom got back home from getting Chase some sushi for breakfast and we all decided to just chill out for a bit and wait for Dad to get home.

After Dad got home we went to My Mums, Dad’s favorite homestyle Singaporian restaurant, for lunch and had some very interesting and tasty delicacies.  I had a black pepper soft shell crab and noodles and we all shared a plate of shrimp and crab meat rice as a side dish.  For appetizers we tried some chicken and pork and shrimp dumplings which had a much crispier shell than the dumplings I eat back home.  It was all very good and very filling.  I felt absolutely stuffed and was finished eating a little early so I decided to have some fun and snap a few pictures of the family while we were eating (Chase has asked that I not post photos of him on here or facebook anymore so he will no longer be included, sorry everybody).  After lunch we walked the mall a little bit and decided to drive over to Chinatown.

Ok, to start things off driving in Singapore is CRAZY!!!  I would die, no questions asked.  Nobody uses turn signals, there is no such thing as a following distance, the lines on the road mean absolutely nothing, and motorcycles are allowed to drive down the lines, flying in and out of traffic.  Absolutely insane!  Dad somehow managed to get us over to Chinatown alive and after saying a quick prayer of thanks, we all headed towards Chinatown.  We got lost about 20 times and after about 45 minutes of wandering around we found out that Chinatown was really only 1 block away from where we had parked.  Figures.

Here is where I have to apologize.  I had a very difficult time taking pictures because I wasn’t sure how to do the place justice.  There were so many sounds and the smells were so interesting that I just didn’t know how to capture Chinatown in a way that would really describe its true essence.  How do you show, through photos, all of the smells and sounds of a culture?  I had a very difficult time answering the question so instead of just randomly snapping hundreds of photos (which I could have), I decided that this was a place that I would be visiting again and photographing after having time to really absorb it all and filter it effectively.  So, I apologize because I really didn’t take many photos from Chinatown because I was just absorbing and processing everything going on around me.  The hundreds of tailors and camera store owners wanting me to come into there store and give them my business.  The multitudes of people packed into such a small area, the beautiful fabrics, scarves, skirts, dresses, and Chinese handworkings were all just amazing to me and it really took all of my senses to just melt away into it and absorb it all.  It was truly an awesome experience and one that I plan to revisit with an eye and affinity that I was lacking on my first trip through the area.  I hope ya’ll can bare with me here and look forward to another chapter from this diverse place.

After walking Chinatown for a while we stopped for a Tiger beer and a break before heading back to the car to go home and get cleaned up for dinner.  We were going to go eat at Jumbo’s for a dinner that Mom and Dad have been raving about for close to 5 years now when they first went there and experienced Drunken Prawns and Chile Crabs.  I have to say, there was absolutely no overstatements on how delicious all of these dishes were.  It was so amazing that we had to order a 2nd helping of Chile Crabs!  Everything was washed down with a firm helping of more Tiger beer, the local Coors or Miller, and followed by Kai-Lan cooked in an amazing oyster sauce.  Everything was delicious and one of the messiest dinners I’ve ever had but there was no stopping.  I could have eaten myself to death and truly hope that I’m able to eat there again because it was such a blissful meal.

For a nightcap we decided to have the cabbie drop us off at the Hilton on Orchard.  After a few Martinis, we walked back past the “Four Floors of Whores” and got to walk by and get a quick kick out of the ladies working their corner, and even more of a kick out of the number of guys actually stopping and showing interest.  No first amendment, but turning tricks at the corner is as legal as can be.  Gotta love the difference in cultures.  I was absolutely beat after the culturally rich day we had just experienced, and nothing more than a hot shower and curling up in bed sounded better.  So, until tomorrow, I’m out.  Keep it real and I want to try and encourage something that I learned today.  Culture surrounds us everyday and we pass it by without thinking.  It took me standing in the middle of Chinatown in Singapore to really realize how sitting on a bench on Northgate on a Friday night can show just as much of an interesting culture as a 20 hour flight around the world.  Don’t pass it by next time, stop and take it all in and recognize whats going on around you.  The people here embrace their culture so much more than we do back home and it’s so interesting to witness it and try to realize how it applies to my own life in boring College Station, TX.  I’m sure I’ll be talking more about this over the next two weeks and sharing my own realizations with you as I go.  Anyways, enough of my ramblings.  I’m going to bed.  Have a great day everybody!

~Payton

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For day 3, we decided to start out the day by taking the MRT (subway system) to learn a little more about the city and do some exploring.  We hopped on the train and headed towards the center of town to visit The Asian Civilizations Museum and learn a little more about the history of Singapore and the different cultures present here.  The MRT was something I haven’t experienced in a long time, and I wish I could get past my hesitations to take photos in there because it could be a very interesting to see the different people on the MRT and see the emotions and lack there of on people’s faces.

Arriving at our destination, we walked to the museum and just inside the door was an interesting Photo Contest that had just been held by Epson Printers and Steve McCurry for Steve McCurry’s traveling gallery, The Unguarded Moment.  I say the name and many of you may not recognize it but I know all of you have probably seen the photo The Afgan Girl.  I’d insert the photo, but I don’t know how to do all of the copyrighting stuff and attributions, so just check it out for yourselves.  The Unguarded Moment exhibit was the first as we went upstairs and Steve’s work is absolutely amazing.  The beauty, lighting, colors, and travels that are expressed through the photos on display are beautiful and the Epson printers did a great job at displaying Steve’s work in an elegant and representative manner.

We then entered the area where Singapore’s history was explained and there was such a richness to the culture that I don’t think I’ve really ever encountered in America including the amazing Texas heritage I’ve studied and learned over the years.  So many different cultures that are so old, traditional, and beautiful in history that it was hard to even take it all in, in just one visiting and I think we’ve already decided we need to go back before we leave just to take in the stuff that we were to overwhelmed to take in the first time.

After the museum, we walked outside and heard a childrens’ drum line singing and playing under an overhand and stopped to watch and photograph them momentarily.  We then walked around to try and find something for lunch.  Chase wanted sushi again, but Mom and I were looking for something a little different so we decided to stop and try a Korean BBQ restaurant.  We ordered beef and honey pork, and the way it’s presented and eaten is by grilling it in front of you and with TONS of small side dishes.  Basically the meal is just like a Korean version of fajitas, but instead of grilled peppers, onions, and tortillas there are about 20 different sides and sauces to go along with the meet and you wrap is in lettuce and eat it.  It was absolutely delicious and all of the different tastes and textures worked very well together.  Chase wasn’t a fan though, so after Mom and I had lunch we took the MRT to a different side of the island and walked around for a bit before finding Chase some sushi (again) for lunch.  We enjoyed a Tiger beer and let him eat his fill (snacking a bit ourselves) and Chase and I both tried some fairly raw baby octopi.

We headed back home after that and went to the pool with Mom and Dad for a while before going up and enjoying a nice meal of pork, potatoes, salad, and baked beans.  I have to admit, a nice home-cooked, American style meal was great after so many new and strange tastes.

I’m off to bed now and looking forward to Chinatown tomorrow and what I’m sure will be more interesting food, smells, culture, and places.  I’m also trying to play around with this new NEXGEN imagebrowser for all of the pictures and having a hard time, so if they look grainy, feel free to check them out on Facebook at the Payton Ruddock Photography Facebook Fan page linked below.  That’s all for tonight.

~Payton

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So this is basically an extension of Day 1 because Chase and I never went to sleep.  See, in order to reset our clocks and try to overcome jet lag, Chase and I decided to just push ourselves to stay awake all night and through the next day so we could go to sleep at a decent time and try to to get our bodies on Singapore time rather than taking a few days to really adjust.  This said, it definitely was NOT easy!

We started off the day fairly early and found out the Singaporians are very late sleepers.  Most places don’t even open until 11 for breakfast!  Most people don’t start work until 9 and as we were ready for a lunch of sushi at 11, most restaurants weren’t even serving their morning meals yet!  Crazy!  So we spent about an hour searching the shops and marts along Orchard RD (the 5th Avenue of Singapore) and finally sat down and had a little sushi for lunch.

Now, Orchard Rd. was like nothing I’ve ever seen!  This place was fast paced and I don’t even think I saw a “normal” store.  Everything was top designer brands and huge galleries that were just beautiful.  You definitely got the feeling for truly how much money there is in Singapore and how much Singaporians love to shop.

After lunch we decided to go back and put on our swimsuits to go lay by the beautiful pool at the apartment complex and get a little sun and relax a little.  I decided to go for a nice run to try and get some adrenaline going through me and make it through what felt like was one of the longest days of my life.  After the run the pool felt beautiful and I had brought the 40D and 30D with me in my bag, so we walked through a little area by the pool and took some shots of the flowers.  There is so much beautiful flora just around the apartment complex that I can’t wait to visit the botanical gardens and nature reserves and really see some beautiful wildlife from this side of the planet.  Anyways, you can see some pictures of Chase, Mom, and the flowers in the gallery above as well as some other random shots of the building and surrounding areas.

We came back to the apartment after that and chowed down on some more sushi with Dad for dinner.  After talking to Sam very briefly and incoherently it was time to pass out (Chase was asleep on the couch when I came in from talking, ha!  I won!).  So, not much to report from the first day, but with some sleep I’m definitely excited for what’s in store over the next two weeks.  More reports and pictures tomorrow.  I’m out.

~Payton

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Part 1 – The Seventh Hour…

Well, I have absolutely no idea what time it is right now or even what time zone I’m in to tell you if I did, but here it goes. Basically Chase (my brother) and I have determined that we’re somewhere over BEAUTIFUL(!!) Alaska right now and are checking out the mountain ranges outside our window every few minutes or so. But, before we get into where we’re at right now I should probably catch you up on how the day has been going so far…

To start everything off, we woke up a little late but made it in the car at 8:45 like we were hoping so everything was looking good and my beautiful (and already missed!) girlfriend was driving us to the airport. After some confusion and the much needed help from a Garmin GPS unit we made it to Bush Intercontinental on time. Here comes the first experience of our fascinating trip and comical day. Can somebody please tell airline companies that putting people with 75 IQ’s in charge of checking people’s tickets for them at the automated ticket booths is the STUPIDEST idea I’ve ever seen. This lady was trying to help “speed” the process up and failing miserably at doing so when Chase and I finally decided to take matters into our own hands and use a stern voice to make her press the right buttons, read our passports correctly, and basically get out of our way. Ahh.. the American way… After that fun little incident we were off and on our way to the gate.

The flight to Minneapolis was fairly uneventful and the first 3 hour leg of our trip was over and done. We landed and found Chase a power converter for the airplane (which we ended up not needing) and headed over to the international gate we needed to get to. After unsuccessfully trying to get into the Business Class Flight Club to wait in luxury for our flight – apparently you have to be 21 to even enter which put Chase out of the category and both of us at McDonald’s awaiting our flight. Just as Chase was going to plug in his computer and pay for an internet connection to unlock The Tales of Monkey Island for our flight, our gate was called and it was time to board. The journey begins….

We boarded the flight and looked for our seats – 80J & K – and after walking through what we thought were the only Business Class and First Class seats we were faced with A LOT of economy class seats and becoming even more fearful of the next 21 hours of our lives. We asked a flight attendant where our seats were and were directed to head to the upper level! WHAT! Already we’re looking at each thinking this is awesome! So we found our seats and freaked out playing with all the cool mini tubes of toothpast and socks in our diddy bags for about 15 minutes, drinking bubbly as we did so. After fighting with the charging outlets and waiting on the tarmac for the next 30 minutes, we finally took off.

So, here I sit 7 hours into our first flight somewhere over beautiful Alaska looking out over a baron landscape and typing this blog post for later tonight when I have internet. I’ve thrown a couple of links in here for ya’ll as well as a few shots from our window of Alaska. I’m sure I’ll probably be adding Part 2 of the blog later in the flight (and probably more frequently) and taking more pictures to keep myself entertained as we move into the next 14 hours.

Part 2 – Tokyo

I’ve survived the first 14 hour flight and Chase and I are sitting on our third flight of the trip waiting to head from Tokyo to Singapore. Snapped some more photos of Japan from the window of the airplane as we were coming in and landing, and neither of us could believe how lush and beautiful the landscape of what we saw of Japan really was. After just seeing the brief snapshot from the airplane window I know its a place I have to go back to and visit somebody just because the landscape itself was so brilliant.

Unfortunately, we were unable to experience much more of Japan since our flight was running late and by the time we had transferred from the plane and through security again (you don’t have to take your shoes off for security in other places!) we had to run to board our next flight to Singapore. So, not a lot of time to experience Japan on this trip, and here we go on the final 7 hours of our flight.

I think most of this part of the trip is going to be constituted by sleep and we’ll see how tomorrow goes with the jet lag because of the huge time difference (13 hours) between Texas and Singapore. So, not much more for now but a couple more pictures and another 7 hours of sitting and sleeping. Until later – Payton

Part 3 – The Arrival!

We’ve arrived. I sit in my parent’s living room looking out over the building that has so elegantly been names the “Four Floors of Whores” (yeah, can’t chew gum but hookers are legal… gotta love it hahaha) as well as the rest of this beautiful city. The trees are absolutely beautiful and the city is already intriguing me and I’m only seeing it in the dark! I can’t wait to grab the camera and just experience and photograph everything I can. So, I’m absolutely exhausted and ready to try and grab at least a little sleep before the start of my first day in Singapore and I’m going to call it a night and post the blog from Day 1 of the trip. There’ll be more updates and photos tomorrow so keep it up and shoot me a comment or an email if you want to see something or just interact with me while I’m on the trip.

EXTRA – Guys, ya’ll have to get excited because I’m working on some photos from a shoot a LONG time ago and will have a bunch of Psychonauts concert photos finished and posted to a gallery in the next few days and will be working in cooperation with the band to choose the photos we’re going to show to the public from their shoot. So, keep checking back for more updates and keep following me on my trip to Singapore!

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That’s right!  I’m heading to Singapore for 17 days starting July 11^th and I can’t be more excited!  I’m taking the camera with me as well and, of course, I’ll be posting to the blog EVERY NIGHT!!   Every night I’m going to try and post new photos and videos so you can follow me around and see what I’m seeing while I’m in Singapore visiting my family.   I can’t wait to capture the culture and commerce in this beautiful city as well as the natural environment, flora, and fauna.  I’ll be keeping you fully updated via Twitter, Facebook, and the Payton Ruddock Photography blog!  This will be my first overseas photography experience and I’m hoping to take thousands of pictures to document the entire trip.

If you want to experience the action as well, Subscribe to the blog via  RSS feed.  Follow on Twitter @paytonruddock.  Find me on Facebook at the Payton Ruddock Photography Facebook Fan Page.

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With the advent of high megapixel digital cameras more and more people are asking this question about their Wedding Photography.  Wedding photography can be an expensive part of any wedding and many couples think that they can save money and get the same results by asking a friend or relative to photograph the event. But, with so much on the line this is a very large risk to take.  Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life and the photography at your wedding is, most of the time, the only tangible memories you have of that moment in your life.  With a professional you know that you’re not just getting a photographer who is going to take fun snapshots throughout your day, you’re going to get an artist who’s sole job is to itterate and capture your day as it unfolds in a way that reflects who you are and what that day means to you.

Hiring a professional College Station wedding photographer has many benefits.  The photographer has provided you with previous work (hopefully) and you know that they are going to capture your day in a style that you feel reflects your personal feelings on the day.  They have been in the situation before and knows what high stress shots they need to get and is in the right place at the right time to get them.  Timing is a very important factor in wedding photography, and many times amatuers who have never photographed weddings before can miss moments because they didn’t understand the timing or the lighting that was going to occurr at that moment.  Using a friend or family member who is not trained and does not have experience can result in these types of unsatisfactory photos and missed moments.

Another great reason, although a semi-shallow one, to hire a professional wedding photographer is that they will have the equipment necessary to photograph your wedding with the premium amount of light, contrast, and image quality because they are, or should be, using professional equipment.  Equipment can make a big difference and the point-and-shoot cameras that most people own don’t record the same amount of contrast, sharpness, clarity, and overall cleaner, prettier photos.

So, for your wedding don’t skimp where it really counts.  Photography can be one of the most important and by far the longest lasting and most memorable expense you’re going to have at your wedding as it is a way to remember your Wedding Day the way it was meant to be seen.  Let a College Station Wedding Photographer capture your moments and let you remember you day for the rest of your life!

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I’ve been working weddings from many different perspectives over the years and one of the most overlooked, important, and time consuming tasks of the day is the wedding photography.  Most couples tend to forget about leaving time in between the ceremony and the reception for formal photos as well as bride and groom photos.  This can end up in very rushed looking photos and, in my experience, makes for more uncomfortable people and poses.  Timing is one of the most crucial factors in the wedding and the best advice we like to give our clients is that EVERYTHING WILL TAKE LONGER THAN YOU PLAN!  People seldom move as quickly as you hope and if you’re hoping for a very regimented, time-tabled wedding then you’re in for a very long stressful day.  The best thing you can do is overestimate time and end up exceeding people’s expectations!

Timing between events is not the only crucial planning for wedding photography.  Photography is merely the use of a camera to paint with light.  They key factor being LIGHT!  Make sure you’ve talked to your photographer to make sure that your wedding is going to be photographed in a lighting setting that not only sets the mood of the ceremony itself, but also allows your photographer to make beautiful photographs.  It’s my practice, and the practice of most professionals, to not use flash during the ceremony because it detracts from the event itself and distracts you and your guests from your special moment.  This completely contradicts the entire purpose of the photographer capturing YOUR day!  So, the photographer is left to rely on available light throughout the wedding and you can help this by talking to your photographer about location, timing, and lighting in your consultations.  There is a great medium that you’ll find gives both parties the optimal results and leaves you with amazing memories!

A couple of factors can change the amount of time needed for wedding photography throughout your day.  One major factor is how traditional you feel about seeing your significant other before they walk down the isle.  While it is entirely up to preference, if formal photos and more time appropriate bride-and-groom photos can be done before the ceremony it can make for a seemless transition from the ceremony to the rehearsal dinner and keep you guests from awaiting your arrival for an extended period of time.  If you’re not wanting to see your significant other before the ceremony, you can still speed up formal photos (and have a little more fun with them) by taking the groom only and bride only photos before the ceremony so those are not taking up any time during the bride, groom, and wedding party formals after the ceremony.  These two options can help tremendously, and all it takes is getting ready a little sooner than you would otherwise to get these photos out of the way.  Remember ladies, He’s going to get dressed a lot quicker than you are so take that into consideration when planning these types of pre-ceremony shots.

The style of the photographer and the importance of more on-location style photos contribute to the timing and planning needed for wedding photography as well.  If you and your spouse-to-be are wanting to do very intimate, set-up bride-and-groom poses in a prettier setting, then you will want to take the timing of the shoot into account. i.e. is your wedding at dusk so there will be no available light to shoot with outside or are you having a morning wedding so the photographs will be taken in the middle of the day when the sun is harsh.  The style of the photographer can vary the amount of time needed as well depending on how many assistants they have, if they are wanting to control you and your planning throughout the night, or if they are taking a more photojournalistic approach where the only time you really see them is during your formals!

As you can see, there is a lot to take into consideration when you are planning for your wedding photography and talking all of these things through with your photographer in pre-wedding consultations can help the day go smoother and less stressful resulting in more fun and better photos!  If you’d like some free consultation on how you can better plan your wedding Contact Me!

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