Tomorrow is my first bridal session of the year.  Heck, It’s my first shoot of the year, too, and I can’t wait to work at the incredible Laguna Gloria again.  I’ve been shooting bridals for years, and know all the tricks to get you to relax in front of the camera.  I know hundreds of poses to find the most flattering angles for you.   I know all the best photo spots, too.

But this year I’m adding something special to my shoots.  That je ne sais quoi that takes the pictures to the next level.  Something that makes you look at an image and just know that it was taken by Eric.

All throughout last year I began to prepare for this year.  It started during the typical wedding slow time in the late winter, when read Outliers: The Story of Success.  I was so inspired and motivated I bought and read and the rest of Malcolm Gladwell’s books. Mastery he says comes after 10,000 hours of a task.

10,000 hours? Thats 5 years of 40 hours a week (or 1,250 8-hour weddings)

But I had an ace up my sleeve. I was going to shoot 150 different couples over the course of the year, and with each one I evaluated everything: what time of the year, and even the time of the day was the shoot? What was the location they choose to have as their backdrop, and where were the best photo locations within that location? What did they wear, and even how did their bodies move?

I began to tweak my style, ever so slightly, heading in a different direction than I had been shooting in the past.

Now, this year, I’m excited to share that with you, and the rest of the world. Stay tuned. I think you are going to LOVE it.

It’s New Years day.  I’ve eaten my black eyed peas, and kissed my wife at midnight.  Yesterday I declared one of my 2012 resolutions, I have several more, but they are private and not related to weddings or photography, so I’m not going to share them – Yet…

But, right now, as I enjoy my first steaming cup of coffee for the new year, writing in the pre-dawn light with my two dogs snuggled against my side on the couch, I begin to think about resolutions, and risk.

I think back on all my new year’s resolutions:  exercise more,  learn how to sketch, or finish the bathroom remodel this year (all previous resolutions of mine).  I also think about bigger risks I took like getting married, or moving to Austin, or starting a wedding photography business.

Funny thing is – on all the little risks, I’ve struggled, and failed (I can barely draw a recognizable stick figure), but on the bigger ones, I’ve been amazingly successful.  Sure, it’s not always easy, and the rewards to the risk aren’t always incremental.

But how does this relate to wedding photography?  That’s what this blog is about anyway , right?

Sure is, and that’s why I want to chat about photography risks.  How do you know your photographer will get great shots?  Odds are you’ve never done this before – had a professional photographer take your picture.  It’s a huge risk – your wedding is the one day you NEED great photos.

I’m going to suggest you build time into your day to allow for great photos, and take a risk to trust your photographer.

If you want great portraits of the two of you – set aside time for that.  Did you spend a lot of time planning details and decoration?  Give your photographer a list of all the details, and carve out 20 minutes in the schedule to allow them to photograph them once they are all in place.  Perhaps you want pictures of all your guests – You guessed it – plan for it, and then let me do my thing.

Risk isn’t something that should even be a thought when it comes to photography.  It’s not for me.

… was how the insert read.

Every time a new the Thing arrives, I get excited.  They always arrive in a simple brown cardboard box that’s sized to fit the contents – Triangle, tube, rectangle, and clearly stamped with red ink.  There’s no mistaking the branding.  I don’t really track when they will be coming, which enhances the surprise, but I’ve always kept my address updated with them because I never want to miss one and have a lapse in my collection.  I’ve got each issue, and treasure them all.  I even have a little ritual opening them – clearing off my worktable, and carefully cutting open the package with my exacto knife…

Nobody ever knows what you’ll get, but everybody gets the same thing.  Every few months.  A new piece of art in the mail from some exciting and creative individuals.  Great stuff.  It’s the adult version of sticking your hand into a box of cereal to grab the prize at the bottom of the box.

My loyal readers and friends know that I love unique spectacles.  For the last few years I’ve been wearing my trademark ic Berlin stainless steel framed glasses that don’t have any screws in the hinges (I’ve got several pairs, including some new sunglasses with tinted lenses).  When I unwrapped this issue, I saw a familiar site – a spring loaded blue glasses case.  But I’ve learned that anything could be inside that box.  It could be glasses, or it could be a spring loaded snake that will pop out at me when I snap back the cover.

But inside this bright blue glass case was a magical pair of glasses which I immediately put on.

Included with the specs was a leaflet with  instructions on the care and maintenance, as well as 12 items describing a chaldron (as I had never heard of one) – I learned that a chaldron is an impossible object, and that it is impossible to win one on eBay.  I was actually following step 11 at the time due to the weather.  Of course, I’m wearing them right now as I write this, and as you read this, and, yes I can see that indeed I am surrounded by chaldrons, as you are, too.

Chaldron Optical System - I love the blue color of this glass case. It's almost the same as my logo color

Every detail is thought of - including imprinting the Thing Quarterly inside the glass case on the red velvet

I discovered that the inside of the frames were inscribed...

Will you know a chaldron when you see one?

With these glasses you will know a true one.

I’m running a little experiment here.  The other day I was reading some Madcox archives, and then noticed that he titles his site:  thebestpageintheuniverse.  Which got me to thinking – who has the  ”The Best Website on the Internet“.  So I googled it, and guess what, he does. Be aware if you click on his link – some of his stuff is NSFW (Not Safe For Work), and most of it is pretty offensive.  If you are thin skinned, easily offended, or super serious about life, don’t read his blog.  You will just become upset, and then get upset with me for suggesting his link.  None of us want that.  You’ve been warned.

So what’s the experiment, you wonder?  Well the next 572 websites listed below his for that particular search phrase are sites that review websites: places like Time Magazine’s top 50 websites of all time, the blogger choice awards (for which I have a grand total of 2 votes as I write this (one of them is mine)) – Did you see the nice use of double parenthesis BTW, and other link gathering brainstorms.  

I don’t have a Pagerank of 10 (who does have a PR10 anyway), or a fancy SEO campaign.  All I do is write a post almost everyday, in plain english, about stuff  that I think would be interesting, helpful, or funny to at least one person.  Just like the Google Webmaster guidelines suggest.

I’m just curious to see if I even appear in the top 100 or 1000 if I write a post and title it with the search phrase.  Check back in a few days, and let’s see,

This is my blog.  I own the domain www.EricHegwer.com, I pay for and manage my own server space, and I write and create all the content.  My website is a combination of my life, job, travels, hobbies, and whatever else I decide to write about.

How often should you leave a comment on a blog?  I encourage you to leave a comment on every single page, or at least every time you visit.  It’s OK to post comments frequently.  I know I do.  It shows me that you are visiting my site, and find it at least sort of interesting.  A comment is like an internet pat on the back.

If you see a photo you like, you can say something simple like: “neat shot”, or “great color”.  If you feel so inclined you can ask a question like “what lens did you use”, and I guarantee I’ll get back to you with an answer.

If you want to know more about a technique I use for home repair, or photography, just ask, and I’ll be more descriptive.

Statements like “great site” will cause me to think twice  - those two words are almost equivalent to Free Cialis, or Mexican Viagra.  It’s a common trick spammers think they can use to get their foot in the door and begin to take over.  

What is not cool is to use the comments in a bad or malicious way.  I know a TON about the internet, and when you decide to write something that isn’t on the up and up, I get your IP address.  You can put in a fake e-mail and website, but behind the scenes, your computer is automatically sending me your computer’s unique code that identifies it from all the other machines on the web.  With your IP, I know exactly who you are – and I have friends all over the world, so be careful, you don’t want to wake up to hot coffee spilled all over your keyboard, or worse.

I also moderate all comments.  So if you think you can publicly humiliate me into getting you your wedding photos or albums faster, forget it.  Everybody gets incredible customer service.  That’s just how I do things.  But sometimes I make the creative process sound easier than it really is.  Just be patient, you don’t want me to rush and do a crappy job on your wedding photos, right? (Even if you did, I wouldn’t do that anyway.)

I won’t discard authentic negative comments.  If you know of a better way to do things, I’d love to hear about it.  If you find a particular photo not to your liking, and want to say so, do it!  I want to hear what you have to say, it helps me become better.

Finally – Sometimes I close comments, If you want to post a something about an entry that doesn’t allow comments DON’T add it to another post.  Please stay on topic.

Whew I feel better.