Choosing your wedding photographer can be daunting and very stressful.  Look for a style you both like and then interview the photographer. Remember, he or she will be with you the entire day so it’s always a good idea to know beforehand if your personalities will mesh.

My wedding photography style is a mixture of editorial, journalistic and portraiture.  I manage the color process 100% of the way and my workflow and equipment will guarantee that your images will have the look and feel you want and not end up like a snapshot. Invest in the moment, years later you will be happy you did.

I have the following services available for all my clients:

• Professional Color Correction
• Custom Invitations, Save The Date Cards
• Programs and Book Design
• Retouching and Restoration
• Slide & Negative Scanning
• Digital File Conversion
• Image Archival

Since these services are provided in-house I am able to pass the savings on to you. Additionally each of these services is available for your collection of personal images. You can expect the same quality of work we put into our own photographs.

Steve Lents Photography

Your Life, Your Way

Finding the Perfect Photographer

Advanced planning is paramount and it’s all about proper scheduling. October and May are the busiest months for weddings so if you are planning to have your wedding in either of these months you need to plan at least 9 months ahead. Choose your photographer early because while florists can do several weddings in one day, a good photographer only does one.

Can you Trust a Referral?

Most photographers grow their business through referrals from friends and family of current clients. While relying on internet research is a good start you will need to compile a complete and thorough list of appropriate referrals. It’s a great idea to get recommendations from clients who have worked with the photographer, seen the actual results and know how they will interact with guests and the bride and groom on the big day.

Style and personality

Most professional photographers have the talent, but it’s important for couples to find one with similar taste. Ask to see their work or go to their studio. Preview their samples and see how formal or informal their finished work is. Looking through albums can tell a couple how a photographer works, and it’s important to ask who will be shooting the event, some studios have multiple photographers. And make sure you have an agreement in writing about who will provide the artistic direction.

A great way to see if a potential wedding photographer will work well with you and provide you with the style of finished photos you want, is to book an engagement session with them. This way you will be able to gauge comfort levels and to see their work style first hand.

Essential Issues

When booking a photographer go over every detail on the pricing structure and various packages. Study each package closely so you will know what services are included and which will require additional costs. Services like retouching, artistic enhancements, online galleries, turn-around time and receiving a CD with all the images will vary with each photographer.

Album styles like traditional hardcover albums, story book albums or coffee table books can be priced differently, as well as gallery-wrapped canvas prints and framing services. But the most important issue is to make sure you have a written agreement and that each service you want is spelled out and clearly communicated.

Your day will last for years in the finished photographic works that are created during your special day. Make sure you choose the right wedding photographer.

Wedding photography has changed in recent years toward a more artistic creation of imagery, stepping away from posed formal shots. The “photographie du jour” is to incorporate a storytelling approach that summarizes the entire day. See my article – The New Wedding Photographer.

Most newlyweds can expect to pay from $600 to over $5,000 to have their wedding day professionally recorded. And while price is a major consideration when hiring a wedding photographer, a key factor in this decision is that you like the guy behind the camera. It’s important to get along with your photographer because he or she will be with you the entire day, so make sure there is a connection. The synergy is two way, we have to like each other, or the magic just won’t happen. It becomes an almost spiritual thing.

Part of the determination of whether or not you will get along with your wedding photographer is to preview their work and make sure the style is in keeping with how you envision your wedding pictures. I offer a no charge initial consultation so we can discuss what you’re looking for and it gives us time to go over my style and show you examples of my work. I also include a free 11X14 engagement photo along with digital copies for publication, when you book your wedding with me.

Most of my clients are seeking a more creative imagery approach and my style fits very comfortably here. They don’t want the photos you find in their parents wedding album. They want crazy themes and they don’t like posed. What today’s bride wants is very nontraditional.

One of the most important discussions I engage my newlyweds in is the “must have” list of photos. It’s a big help to me and together we go through the list and make sure that nothing gets missed. Portraits of the bride, groom and wedding party may include popular local settings with unusual architecture and beautiful natural surroundings with manicured gardens.

My packages vary from simple to the complex and all the details are discussed during the first consultation. Why not call for your no cost consultation today?

Gone are the days when the wedding photographer lines everyone up and yells, “say cheese.” Instead today’s bride wants images that are beautiful moments in time that capture the emotion of the day. She wants playful images, candid and not posed imagery.

My photographic style is journalistic in nature; it comes from my early experiences working as a news photographer. I enjoy capturing images as they happen, quickly and precisely. My work process is to advance in a three stage progression, pre-wedding, wedding ceremony and post wedding sessions.

My real work begins several days or even a week before the wedding. I usually meet with the couple once at their home and once at the chapel or church where the ceremony will take place. What I try to do is build history with them, create common points of interest. This way I will better understand what they like and what they don’t. I also enjoy meeting their family before the big day.  This way I’m more like a friend coming to their wedding, rather than a stranger showing up with a camera. I usually talk with them about any series shots they want and any concept shots they would like to have captured. All my sessions are centered on the couple, their families and their expectations.

During the pre-wedding phase I capture things like the building, the rings, her shoes, the guys out back and the girls fussing over the bride. I don’t do every shot as a candid because many of the details need to be captured in a precise manner. This is where I combine my experience as a commercial photographer, action photographer and studio photographer. In effect I act as a set director and construct a moment in time and create the imagery the couple want.

Throughout the wedding ceremony phase I only use a flash when all parties agree; otherwise I use special low light techniques to record the complete ceremony. When the post-wedding phase begins I typically create the concept shots we talked about the week earlier and any candid shots that ‘happen’ during the rest of the day.

My motivation to do wedding photography is that I love working with the people. In many ways a wedding is like a complicated portrait session with dozens of people. I love the creativity it allows me and I love making new friends.

This week’s photo is of Anita, a young bride who was married at the Bell Tower Chapel near Sandy, Oregon. The setting started out as an experiment in light for me. The ceremony had concluded and most of the guests were outside at the banquet celebration. I found Anita walking, alone, back into the chapel. I think she was looking for her newly acquired husband. Don’t tell her but I saw him out with the boys, I think there were cigars involved.  Anyway, when I saw her walk through the chapel after the pews had been cleared I thought the setting would create such a beautiful portrait. So I had my assistant attach a remote wireless strobe to a pole and had her raise the strobe very high and aim the light down at Anita at about a 45 degree angle. The only thing left was to adjust the camera so the ambient light was as subdued as possible. The idea was to have the strobe light accentuate her and her gown. I think it worked perfectly. The only post processing I did was to use Photoshop to darken the edges a bit to help further draw your eye into the center and then I added a little Gaussian blur to reduce the distracting background.

If you would like to know how I made the light stick, eMail me and I will share my specifications and the recipe for a wireless remote light-on-a- stick.