Captured Emotion

2nd day trip to Dallas in one week completed. I went to a photography seminar yesterday. I woke up at 3:30am and was in the car shortly after 4am. I arrived precisely on time to register at 8:15am and waited for the conference to begin at 9. Two great photographer's joined forces to give some inspiration to others in the photo biz. Joe Buissink and Marcus Bell. Joe is truly a Rockstar Photographer. He has shot weddings for J.Lo, Christina Applegate, Christina Agulara,...just a couple of weeks ago he shot Stephen Spielberg's 60th Birthday party. He was a trip. I loved listening to him and how he runs his business, a very personable man and highly motivated. He started his business only 11 years ago, in his mid 40's and a buddy of his who ran a local bridal show in the L.A. area gave him a space to rangle up his first wedding. Joe showed up and had some flyers to hand out and some business cards. He looked around and saw that all of the other photographers were showing their photograph's, as he hadn't shot a wedding yet, he sent his friend back to his house to get some of the landscape portraits he had taken. He didn't book a wedding that day, but soon after he found a friend who listened to his vision for their wedding images and allowed Joe to shoot their wedding for free. He went to the creme de la creme of wedding coordinators home one morning with enlargements of some of those wedding pictures. He didn't make an appt., he just showed up and when the coordinator opened the door in his bath robe Joe was holding up his pictures and started showing them one by one, by the 3rd the man invited him in and within a week Joe had booked Kelsey Grammar's wedding. And that was how he got his start. Joe still shoot's mostly film, about 80% black and white, his images are spectacular.
Marcus is the complete opposite of Joe, everything is digital, everything is tweaked, but the similarity is the spectacular images. Marcus is also from my mom's hometown of Brisbane, Australia. Both of these men are artists. I was reading a quote about Marcus by Yervant and he said that Marcus shoots a wedding like an emotional woman. All 3 of those links are worth a look see. Their images bring the pj (photojournalistic style) to a level that others aspire to. My take on an awesome wedding photographer is they are someone who is very emotional by nature, they are intuitive, and they search for the story of the spectacular wedding day to be captured in their own eyes, and because they are driven by emotion, the bride and groom will shed tears when they see the images of their wedding day. There is a connection on the level of the heart. I am not a Joe, Marcus or Yervant, nor do I ever want to aspire to be a clone of anyone else's style, but like Joe said, nobody can steal your eyes, nobody can shoot what you see the way you see it, and in that I find inspiration to be the best wedding photographer I can be. I shoot a wedding the way I see it in collaboration with the bride and groom and family, many times during the ceremony I am shooting through tears, there are many moments to savor in a wedding day and my job is to seek those out and capture. I LOVE my job.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Tammy,
Wow! What a roller coaster you've been on since the day you got the news about the gamma knife treatment! I'm glad that God brought you safely through the darkness, and that he blessed you with times of joy, fun, and inspiration. You remind me of the picture Beth Moore gives of her life-- so fully engaged with what God is doing that you experience both the pain and the fulfillment to the fullest degree.

Your children are blessed that you and Rob throw yourselves so fully into helping them do extraordinary fun stuff. I enjoyed the descriptions of the two birthday parties. But it's also wonderful that you are enjoying so much something that is uniquely yours-- the photography. The convention you attended sounds marvelous. I wonder how you found out about it.

I'm especially glad that you have met the new doctor and are now moving toward the goal of taking care of this tumor. May God give you all comfort and assurance as you undertake this challenge.

Blessings, Gay
Anonymous said…
See, that is what makes you so special Tammy! I thought that the very first time you took my picture. You have a gift in capturing special moments that most people don't notice. I love my wedding album, but have said many times to Kirk that I would have LOVED to have you do our wedding. I just love the way you see things. And to read that you get tears in your OWN eyes while you are shooting weddings...that says it all right there! You have a gift Tammy..you really do. =)

Popular Posts