We finally received our new pricing and services booklets, and I wanted to share a few pictures of them! Emma designed these for prospective clients as a way to showcase our work and the services we offer. They were printed at Brandes in Berkeley (all on recycled paper and with soy-based inks) and sewn together by Pettingell Book Bindery in Berkeley. All photos by Adm.
Our last wedding that we photographed was more than five months ago. Five months ago! That's almost half a year! This seasonal nature of being a wedding photographer is one of the things I love, but it's also taken time to adjust to. When we're in wedding season, we are so incredibly busy I have to remind myself to breathe. By the time the off-season rolls around, we are ready for the time off - it gives us time to rest, catch up, and re-charge. And we've done a lot of that during these past few months: we celebrated holidays, went on vacation to South America, completed our re-branding and identity campaign, caught up with family and friends, and spent lots of time with Kiki. I've also spent quite a bit of time preparing for our 2011 weddings. I've scoured all of the wedding blogs and portfolios of other photographers - not just wedding photographers, but portrait, fashion, editorial and documentary photographers as well looking for new ideas and inspiration. I want to continue growing as a photographer, and I am deathly afraid of plateauing, becoming creatively stagnant, and so by the time our first wedding rolls around, I'm chomping at the bit - ready to get back in the saddle.
So, here we are in L.A. getting ready for our first wedding of the year. I always get nervous before each wedding, but I especially feel it before our season kick off wedding. It reminds me of how I felt the day before big softball games back in high school and college. Actually, I use a lot of those same preparation techniques that I learned while playing softball when I'm prepping for a wedding. I remember lying on my bed on a Friday night, eyes closed, visualizing the batters for the opposing team the following day coming up to the plate. In my mind, I saw myself pitching to each batter and watching them swing and miss. I made sure that the last image I fell asleep to was one of me succeeding on the mound. Visualization. It's a mental technique I used to build confidence. Visualization. Now, I do the same thing the night before each wedding. I close my eyes, and in my mind, I picture myself making these amazing images of my couples and their wedding. I do as much mental preparation as a I can before the wedding so that I'm better able to anticipate key moments and have a very clear idea of what I'm going to do for the portrait portion. However, as much as we can prepare for each wedding, things almost always go awry. Gear breaks, the dress rips, the weather changes, there's an accident on the bridge that causes all the guests to be late... the list goes on. Actually, I expect things to go "wrong," and part of what's fun is figuring out how to be resourceful in responding to these unexpected situations. I've found that I'm much better at handling these surprises when I approach each wedding as if we're photographing the "Royal Wedding."
For this Saturday's wedding, we've already quadruple-checked our equipment, ironed our clothes and are getting ready to visualize making photo gems. Let's get this party started.
Remember how I shared pretty much all of my collateral the other week during our "Identity Series?" The only missing piece was my DVD case, and with Margee and Kate's recent engagement shoot, I got the opportunity to finally implement our new design! So, here it is. I love the way the flower frames the cover photo. I printed everything at home, using templates and cases from Jewelboxing.
Utterly Engaged and Ever-Ours came up with a great way to help the disaster relief effort in Japan. They are fundraising for ShelterBox. ShelterBox was one of THE first organizations asked by Japan to help and were on hand on the Saturday after the quake. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items. You can donate HERE.
They're also encouraging a "Bloggers Day of Silence" for Friday, March 18, as a way to raise awareness and respect and acknowledge the devastation going on in Japan. With this in mind, I will not be blogging tomorrow.
Also, remember that Adm and I will be donating 50% of all proceeds from family portrait sessions booked now through the end of April to the disaster relief effort in Japan. Initially, we were thinking we'd donate to the Red Cross, but since checking out ShelterBox, which is doing great work, we're not so sure, and so are open to suggestions.
Here is some more information:
Family portrait sessions are $300. This includes up to an hour and a half of photography at a location of your choice within the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles and Orange County. Family sessions can include babies, children, adults, parents, pets... You can also purchase this as a gift for someone else. The session only needs to be booked by the end of April, but not necessarily scheduled within that time. To reserve your session, a deposit of $150 (which will be sent to Japan) is required. You'll receive a CD of 40 high-resolution images that are ready for print in both color and black and white as well as a private online gallery good for three months. Please email me at alison@alisonyinweddings.com with any questions or to schedule your session.
Below are some of our favorite family session images:
It feels so strange blogging such happy, innocent family photos when there is so much tragedy and strife in the world right now. However, when you look at these family photos, it makes you realize what's important is family. We have been photographing Eli and Lilian since they were six months old, and when I think about that, I also think about the families around the world who won't get to have those memories with their family anymore. It is my hope that in this time of loss, we can all cherish our families and what we have with them a little more.
To help with the relief effort in Japan, I will be donating 50% of all proceeds from family portrait sessions booked now through April 15 to the Japanese Red Cross Society. You can contact me at alison@alisonyinweddings for more information.
How many times do you receive business cards and put them in your pocket only to find them crumpled and completely chewed up in the washing machine? Well, that's happened to me so many times I've lost count. I am notorious for forgetting to empty my pockets before doing laundry. So, then, what's the point of spending money for nice business cards, you may ask? Well, I wondered that same thing, and here's what I've come up with: my goal of giving someone a business card is to leave an impression with them. I want them to remember that card that's in their pocket and go check out the information that's on the business card, i.e., pull up my web site next time they're on the computer. I'm not leaving stacks of cards at coffee shops hoping that random people will pick them up. I'm selectively giving cards out to prospective clients, other wedding vendors and hopefully wedding bloggers and editors. This means that I need my card to stand out, not only to encourage people to remember it and use it, but also because it's often other people's first impression of my style and aesthetic, and we all know how important first impressions are.
Therefore, Emma and I decided to make a card so thick there's no way someone will forget about it in their pocket. I also read that the more texture your card has, the more of an impression (literally and figuratively) it will make on someone just because they end up touching it more. So, here they are. They were created by Twig and Fig in Berkeley. The back of the card is letterpress with Emma's hand sketched floral illustration, and the front is flat color printed, all on recycled paper stock with soy based inks. Check 'em out:
I know I went a little overboard with all the photos, but they are really beautiful, and since most of you can't see them in person, I figured I'd overload you with images. : )
Stationery is up next. I send out handwritten cards to clients and other wedding vendors. Since Emma had created such lovely paintings - the purple one is acrylic and the yellow is watercolor, it was pretty easy to use both as the fronts of my cards. We used the purple painting for flat cards and the yellow painting for folded cards. The cards were printed by Brandes Printing Company, also in Berkeley, and also printed on all recycled paper stock with soy-based inks. I picked up the envelopes from Xpedex Paper Store in Berkeley, and again, they're 100% recycled - do you see a trend here?
Here are the mailing labels that Emma designed. The smaller ones are for the stationery cards - they fold over so that my return address is on the back (Emma is so clever!), and the larger labels are for boxes that I send out. I actually printed these at home on sticker paper and then cut them out. Hooray for DIY!
Emma made some stamps for me. You can never have too many stamps, right? I'll use them for all different things - envelopes, labels, boxes, hang tags... there are endless possibilities!
For some reason, I knew from the beginning of this process that I wanted to use fabric flowers to adorn my print packaging. I found a small piece of fabric with almost all of my colors at an independent store in Berkeley, and followed this tutorial on making fabric flowers from 100 Layer Cake. The only missing color in the fabric was yellow, but some bright yellow buttons solved that problem. Unfortunately, the fabric I have is not unlimited and so once I run out, I'll be on the hunt for different fabric. But that's OK, searching for salvaged fabric is part of the fun, and I like that my look can be eclectic and evolving. As an extra benefit, I glued on pin backings to the backs of the flowers so they can double as pins for sweaters, purses, hair pieces....
The photo boxes are probably the most boring part of my packaging. They're 100% recycled Kraft photo boxes from here. I scoured the internet for other interesting and *affordable* options, and to be honest, there's not really a whole lot out there! However, it's more important to have my photos arrive safely and in perfect condition than to arrive bent but in a pretty box. Hopefully with some creative accessorizing, I've spiced them up a bit.
To complete the look, I found beautiful natural wood hang tags that have each been stained by hand with an environmentally friendly wood stain and hand-dyed cotton from this amazing shop in Indiana called Olive Manna. I encourage all crafty brides to check out this shop as there are lots of ideas for DIY wedding pieces.
And that's it! The only thing I didn't show is my DVD packaging, which I didn't get around to creating and photographing yet so I'll have to save that for a later post. This is the last of my "identity" series. Like I've said, I had a really fun time working with Emma, who is just so creative, and I can't wait to put my new look to use for clients!