Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the employees at Paul Boyd Photography! May you have a safe Holiday season and a healthy 2009.

Regards,
Paul and Jean

Fall Family Portraits

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Christmas Season is in full swing. We also had a busy fall portrait season. There were several outdoor photo sessions at a nearby park, and another indoor session when the weather did not cooperate. (Always have a plan-B!) I've included a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

What are you paying for?

I'm sure you've discovered this by now: weddings are expensive. Ok, my marketing department would correct me by saying "weddings are a large investment." And they're right, but it boils down to the fact that you are shelling out your money to various people, and in return, you expect them to shine on your wedding day. Caterers, florists, bands, chefs, coordinators, celebrants, photographers...we all have an important part.

You expect your photographers to shine on your wedding day. Not a best effort, not a college try. You expect us to perform. In addition to our artistic abilities, this is what you are paying for. You may have been initially attracted by our style, but you are hiring us because of our professionalism.

So what's our value? (i.e. why do we ask the prices we do?)

• Our business is insured. We hire and retain a professional staff. Our business practices are open and transparent. We use plain-English contracts. You know what you are getting and we know what we have to deliver. Attention to detail and custom tailored service are our hallmarks. When you hire us, you know exactly who will be shooting your wedding.
  
• Long before your wedding day, we are doing "R&D" with the latest camera gear, computers, software, and techniques to ensure you have the newest, proven equipment. Gone are the days when a photographer could invest in a Hasselblad that would last 30 years. Digital camera bodies have lifecycles similar to computers. And the software to manage these cameras and their images gets updated weekly. We stay on top of all of this for you. Everything has been carefully maintained and tuned.
• We maintain and upgrade our production processes. Websites, ordering software, lab relationships, shipping, receiving - everything that goes into producing the end products, whether online or physical, must be maintained.
  
• We check in with you several times in the weeks leading up to your wedding to ensure that there are no surprises and that you are comfortable.
• The night before, we are charging batteries, cleaning lenses, checking equipment, reviewing logistics, printing mapquests, loading film, checking the weather, loading camera bags. Then we double check everything.
• We leave very early for your wedding. Trains, road construction, accidents -- you never know. We'd rather be early.
  
• 2 or 3 photographers come to your wedding carrying 5 or 6 cameras. We have extra film, batteries, memory cards, flashes, and lenses. We have backups for our backups. (In fact, when we press the shutter on our main cameras, the image gets written to two different memory cards simultaneously to minimize risk of data corruption.) We do all of this while maintaining a professional demeanor and low profile.
• We take well over 1000 shots during your wedding and we are prepared to do this inside or out, in any lighting or weather conditions, while working with the other professionals you hired.
• We post-process and deliver about 300 of the best shots - all fully corrected and ready for print. You and your guests have access to a beautiful online slide show and proof gallery. You receive a digital proof album and real 24 karat gold archival DVDs containing your image files. We don't hold you hostage - you can purchase prints and albums from us or create your own. We deliver all of this within 3 weeks.
  
• If you do order an album from us, it is archival grade. Real leather bindings. Quality matte-boards and papers. All images are spray coated and mounted. It's built for future generations.
  
• We maintain your images on our computers for at least a year, and of course we have backups of our backups for a lot longer than that!

If you've made it this far, I'm assuming you are out shopping for a photographer. We are certainly sensitive to the economy and are willing to work with you to meet your price point, but we hope this blog helps you understand what goes into your wedding photographs behind the scenes. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and best wishes on your upcoming wedding.

Jori & Jeff

We shot Jori and Jeff's wedding last month. Unbelievably fun. This is yet another validation of my first rule for great wedding photos: choose a photographer you click with.

Below are some of my favorites. You can also view a slide show if you prefer.



We met the bridal party and Jeff at one of the bridesmaid's houses where they were getting ready. Jori arrived via limo with her mom. When the bride and groom see each other prior to the wedding, you not only get better opportunities for photographs, but the rest of your day flows much easier.




We went inside for a quiet moment in the foyer.



On to the ceremony, where Jori's grandfather and Jeff's father were the celebrants.


It was an outdoor reception in Geneva, Illinois. Beautiful day!



Never saw this before. They had a bluegrass band from Wisconsin. It was "call out" dancing where the band taught the crowd how to do the dance, then everybody participates. It's one way to keep the dance floor full!



Thank you Jori and Jeff!

Monica & Chris 6/7/08

Monica and Chris were married at Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Illinois. June 7th was one of those days where the sun was shining one moment, then thunderstorms popped up the next. It's difficult to photograph under constantly changing lighting conditions, not to mention going (running!) from outdoors to inside.






The ceremony had to be moved indoors but we managed to get some outside formals and candids in between the showers. In fact, due to a tornado warning during dinner, all the guests had to leave their tables and head down to the basement for 20 minutes. That was a first for us!



Through it all, Monica and Chris were wonderful sports and kept their cool. Their family and friends were fantastic too! When the evacuation announcement came, most guests stood up, grabbed their wine glasses and bottles, and calmly walked downstairs. Their spirits and humor translated into beautiful pictures that they will cherish for a lifetime.


If you would like to see more than these few favorites, check out their slide shows: pre-ceremony, ceremony, reception.

Ballet Recital

If you can't take beautiful pictures of ballerinas, it's time to hang up the camera and figure out something else to do. Every May, I have the privilege of taking portraits at the Company-C Dance Studio in Lemont Illinois. The girls range in age from 4 to 16. The sittings are scheduled a few weeks prior to their big end-of-year dance recital, so it gives the girls a chance to try on their costumes and makeup. I structure the portraits so that the girls are done in 10-20 minutes, but they still receive a full session tailored for them. There's much more individual attention than the typical team or event photo session. We mix it up between headshots and full lengths, and throw in a couple different background options to boot.


The proofs from the individual sessions are ready for pickup at the rehearsal the day before the recital. At the rehearsal, I take class pictures and some action shots. My daughter Lucie is in the troop, so I look forward to the show. Enjoy these sample pics.

Fun family portrait session

Business is picking up as we finally start to get the nice Spring weather we earned after that long Chicago winter. I'd like to share some favorites from a recent family portrait session.

Kelly, Eric, and their son, Ryan, plus their extended family, had me over in early May. The inside of their house was very cozy. "Cozy" for a photographer means "very tight with a lot of furniture to move." With the weather being damp and cold combined with 3 kids under the age of 3, that meant making the cramped quarters work.

With all our portrait sessions, we try to do a scouting trip and client consultation ahead of time so we have a rough idea of what we're going for. Kelly's main goals were to 1) get a picture of her and her siblings, and 2) a family portrait of her, Eric, and Ryan. Anything else was a bonus.

Fine. I setup the lights inside for the "formal" portraits, and readied another camera to capture the candids that occur whenever kids are around. I started off with a formal shot of the siblings, then followed this up with other shots of the kids and various combinations depending upon which kid wasn't melting down at the time. (Photographers who only take pictures of adults have it easy!)




To break things up, I suggested the adults step outside for a few minutes for some more casual shots. When I asked Kelly about her siblings, she said she wanted a portrait that captured their playful relationship. I think I did that here.








Finally, we came back inside and I took more shots of whoever was willing to get in front of the camera. But I also saw Ryan being lit by some beautiful natural window light, so I asked Kelly to go outside and play peak-a-boo, and managed to capture this image. Those eyes tell the story.







Since Ryan was in a good mood, and took this opportunity to take care of Kelly's second main goal - her family shot. Ryan was tough to get a good smile, but Kelly's sister made some goofy faces over my shoulder and voila.



If you would like to view the complete slideshow, follow this link. Enjoy.