This past year we were loaded with more Fusion weddings than we could have even hoped for. I’m still in the editing process when it comes to my own clients videos! Recently I spoke at the Inspire Boston conference on video editing and the whole process. It reignited a flame I lit almost a year ago. I wanted that flame to be a bonfire. I had big ideas and a grand plan. I also had no time for it. But now with the editing I’ve been doing and the speaking and workshops I’m giving, that little flame started to burn pretty good. After talking to many photographers I realized there may be a need for an editing service. I mean, how many photographers do you know have Emmy Awards for video editing?
So with the big convention coming up in Vegas I figured I had to do something. So instead of sleep, I’ve been working on simplifying and rebuilding the Click4Fusion site I started a year ago. But this time from scratch. I have one more section to finish, otherwise it’s up and running. And oddly enough, even before the current redo, the Click4Fusion website was getting a lot of hits and visitors. It was actually one of the top 3 referrers to my own website!
So here’s to making it better and growing a new seed in this wonderful world of photography.
Wow. I’m still coming down off a conference high. Usually I leave a conference or workshop feeling a little overwhelmed, unsatisfied, or just feeling overdone with it. Not this time. I left Inspire Boston feeling energized. Ready to go and ready to improve what I do. This was such an intimate conference, not just networking with area photographers, but with the speakers themselves. I was one of the speakers and I didn’t want to just speak this time. I wanted to make myself available to all the attendees even if they didn’t attend my class. This was what Inspire Boston was about. Photographers meeting and helping photographers. It was the best conference I’ve ever attended and/or spoke at. I already can’t wait for next year.
The organizers, Matt and Enna Grazier, ask me to do a little fusion video for the wrap party. I didn’t know if I could pull it off! With the help of Tony Yu and James Federico, I did. With the skills I taught in my Fusion course, I opened iMovie and put this together in 3 hours. It was ready for the 6pm wrap party.
Great job on this piece man. So many great thoughts and faces. It helps that it was a great event, but there’s no question but that you did a great thing in capturing it and putting it together in a way that tells the story.
Thanks for taking the time to do it right … Great job again.
Thank you so much for this RE! You and all of the other photographers are such an inspiration to me and I’m grateful to be a part of such a loving and nurturing community of professionals.
I got a little surprise (even though I knew it was coming) in my e-mail inbox today. Triple Scoop Music featured me in their newsletter that goes out to tens of thousands of photographers! I use Triple Scoop Music for licensing all the songs we use on our website, slideshows, hybrid videos, and more. I do not use copyrighted music that I cannot get the rights to use. That’s just stealing. Just like if a musician used one of my photos for their album cover without my permission. Triple Scoop Music is the best solution for photographers.
PS Thanks to the photographers across the US that already called about my upcoming talk in Boston! I may just try and get something online that everyone can see, or maybe I’ll come to a city near you!
The Inspire Boston website is up and running! If you haven’t registered already, January 14th is the last day to use the discount code “bpgfriend” and get $50 off the registraion to make it a killer $189. After tomorrow registration is still only $239!!! This includes 2 full days of classes and your meals!
I will be one of the speakers on Tuesday morning. My class will be how we do fusion weddings, from shooting to editing.
This retreat-format conference is hosted by the Boston Photographers Guild and Lens Pro to Go. Sessions will inspire and provide working knowledge that participants may put to immediate use in order to make their businesses more efficient and successful.
This conference is open to all who are interested in professional photography, but is most appropriate for those who are currently working as professional photographers or who are in the midst of establishing their business. We have recruited some of the most successful photographers in the northeast to lead workshop seminars, give lectures, and lead discussions.
This is an amazing opportunity for professional photographers to learn from peers, mingle with mentors, network with friends, and get inspired! The conference is limited to 150 participants, and registration includes all meals so we are all able to fully enjoy the networking opportunities.
I will be on WTNH’s CT Style with Desiree (since Sonia has officially left!) this Thursday, December 24th. The show starts at 12:30pm. The interview is about our fusion/hybrid service. At the end they ask me about some of my trash the dress photos! Stay tuned!
I was honored this year to be asked to speak at the first Boston Wedding Photographers Guild Inspire conference, February 23rd and 24th. The concept of this conference is just amazing! It’s like a mini retreat with mentors talking about topics that really help you get inspired to shoot and grow the most important part of your business, you. Click the image to go to the site.
The speakers are all from the New England area: The Graziers, StudioFoto, James Federico, Anne Ruthmann, Eric Laurits, and Mark Higgins just to name a few. I will be talking about how I do Fusion (aka Hybrid) weddings from shooting to editing. Click the image below to view the PDF.
Besides the sessions? Continental breakfast, lunch, and dinner on both Tuesday and Wednesday are included in the registration fee of $239. Yeah, that’s it! But if you want to feel super special, I’ll get you in for $189!Just use this link or the discount code “bpgfriend” and $50 will be taken off your registration.
This past weekend was Christine and Gerald’s wedding. This was our first official hybrid wedding this year, even though we’ve done a few. I put this together this afternoon as a little preview of what’s to come!
UPDATE: Only about 30 minutes after I posted this video I heard from Christine:
“Richard!!!!! I didn’t cry that whole day and watching the video i was balling!!!!!!! I love it!!!! I can’t believe how beautiful it is!!! I don’t know how we will ever be able to thank you enough =) I’m calling everyone i know and making them watch it while I listen to them gasp =) lol mother, mother-in-law, aunt, two friends down!! And yes… i’m watching it again!”
The hybrid wedding is awesome. You never cease to amaze me. I continue to follow all the new and magical things you do, over two years after our wedding.
This is Maureen and Joe’s preview video that I put together today! They were married at St Sebastians in Middletown, CT, followed by a reception at the Wadsworth Mansion. You many remember seeing them on my blog from their central park engagement session. Maureen and Joe had a beautiful winter day with plenty of time for outdoor photos. For you photographers out there wondering how this video process went for me, read what I wrote after the video!
Without further adoo… Changing my slideshows to movies, here’s Maureen and Joe:
As you know, I managed to get a 5D Mark II in my hands. With little practice using the camera I shot Maureen and Joe’s wedding last Saturday with the 5D II and my trusty 1D Mark III. What a difference between cameras! The displays are completely different showing a huge difference in what the photos look like. You almost don’t know what to believe! It took some practice using the video feature on the 5D II. Between my second shooter/asisstant and I we managed a few good clips! I recorded the ceremony and reception audio using a mic that records to a media card. The church was really echoie (is that a word?) so I did not use it. I’ll work more with audio next time.
As for editing the video, that’s another story. As most of you know I was a video editor for ABC and NBC news stations and, just for you Robert Norman I’ll mention it, I’ve won Emmy’s for my work. I was psyched to load up the HD video into Final Cut and start editing again! Once I got my settings in the right place, it was game over. My G5 Power PC Mac just couldn’t handle it. My newer Powerbook couldn’t handle it either, which I was really surprised about. So iMovie ‘09 seemed to be my only choice! I learned a lot about iMovie very quickly: my colors got toned down, editing to the music isn’t as easy, forget using verticle images unless you make a new horizontal file from it in Photoshop, working your images within a 16:9 ratio that photographers aren’t used to, and the list went on.
that video was awesome. i seriously had tears in my eyes and i dont even know those people. Beautiful work (and you said it will only get better????!!! lol
very nice RE! And you’re now the second person that I know that I just learned today was an Emmy winner… strange how I never knew that about either of you and found out about both of you today! Congrats!
Rich — this is incredible. No seriously, WOW! Just that little bit of added movement… I’m so jealous!! You’ve set the bar — I can’t wait to see this in some of your future weddings!!
RE this is KILLER! Great photos as always, and you’ve really harnessed the power of the new 5D II and taken coverage/slideshows to a new level. Awesome job.
Great job Rich!! now stop invading my field! Just kidding. seriously, you’re really good at this. what beautiful composition. can’t wait to see your future work. scary to know you’re just getting started.
[...] you haven’t checked out thier video that I posted last week, please do! It took me a little extra time to get the photos done because there was a lot of them. [...]
“I’m not going to buy it, it only has one card slot.” Those are now my famous last words.
Since the 5D Mark II came out, I’ve been wanting it. However, I’ve always said to my friends, there’s only 1 card slot. I’ve been shooting with the 1D Mark III which has two slots so I can have an instant JPG backup to the RAW image. That second SD card saved me twice. Once with a corrupt CF card and once with an assistant that accidentally dropped a card in a parking lot only later to have found it ran over by a car. Both could not be recovered. The one that got ran over had an entire wedding ceremony on the card. Enough said.
So why then would I go and purchase this camera when I was adamant about not purchasing it? First, my 1D Mark III is near the end of it’s life. It will be sent back to Canon to be refurbished, but you can only keep it on life support for so long. Second, and it’s a big one, is it’s HD video recording. This camera is already changing the industry because of it’s video recording capabilities, combined with a digital SLR, and it’s low light capabilities are amazing. It’s simply going to change what I offer as a business.
Here’s my fear. With the low prices of good digital SLR cameras, we’ve already seen a flood of amateur photographers becoming wedding photographers and just undercutting the industry. There’s now the thought of “anyone can be a wedding photographer.” It’s getting near the point of you’re either a standard wedding photographer or you’re a high end wedding photographer (because you actually know what you are doing or are considered an Artist). Like our economy, we’re losing our middle class. Now we take professional photographers and give them video capabilities. I know they will take great video with this camera, but that’s not where it ends. It’s ALL in the editing. Photo editing and video editing are two different worlds. Everyone can photograph and tweak their images, but not everyone can edit.
Go ahead, say it, what makes you think you can edit RE? My answer? My 4 Emmy awards as a Special Projects and Feature Story editor for news. Any questions? Now do you understand why I had to get my hands on this camera?
I did play with the camera for about an hour and I asked some friends of mine who have one their opinions on it. Thanks for the feedback guys! I know before I even have it that it’s not going to be my primary camera. I will still continue to use the 1D Mark III. I know I need to replace my backup camera, a 1D Mark IIn, because compared to todays standards (and my own) that camera has got to go. But to have a 5D Mark II on my side to do some video clips and give it to my assistant and future second shooter to use? Awesome. That’s why I got it.
I will wait for a new 1D Mark ? to be released. I love the speed of that camera. And, oh yeah, the two card slots! Hello?!?!?! But there’s a dark horizon as to when one will be released. Canon is like Apple, you don’t know until it happens. All I can do is continue listening to the rumors. Who knows if we’ll even get a new version this year. I just can’t wait that long when my camera is pushing 200,000 shots taken.
So what changes will I make to my services? First you have to know that the 5D Mark II is NOT a fully functional video camera. Most of the video settings are set on auto and there’s nothing you can do about it. Even focusing can be tricky. Don’t expect your entire ceremony on video, you can only record up to 30 seconds at a time. The video function also slows the camera down and drains the battery. So I’ll be using it sparingly. With that said, should everything happen the way I hope it does, I will have an additional option in my packages to have video clips, not necessarily with audio, to be edited into the still photo slideshows that I offer. The slideshows that I plan on putting together are going to be like watching a movie set to music. I’ve dreamed of combining video and stills since I started my business 5 years ago.
After calling about 20 retailers across the US, one told me to call back the next day once their back orders are shipped. I called back and managed to grab one of the last 7 that seem to be available. I was told I’ll have it by the end of this week, just in time for my trip to San Diego, LA, and Vegas for WPPI. I’ll be sure to post images and video as soon as I can!
Beautiful work (and you said it will only get better????!!! lol
2.25.2010
LOL Richard this is great!! Very nice!
2.25.2010
Thanks Richard! A great way to cap off the conference
2.26.2010
Love it!!!!
2.26.2010
c’monnnnnn….. that was AMAZING!!!!! SUCH a great job, Richard.
Richard For President, I say.
good on ya. and thank you. times a million.
love.
tara (and ben)
hitched studios
2.26.2010
I love that you kept JAG in at the end and added Enna! Great!!!
2.26.2010
Fantastic! Love the energy! You did a wonderful job Rich and can’t wait to do it all again next year.
2.26.2010
LOVE LOVE LOVE this RE! Thank you so much for putting the video together, for being you, and for being inspiring!
2.26.2010
Love it! Just made my husband watch it again with me. You’re the bees’ knees.
Thanks again for your help!
2.26.2010
Richard,
Great job on this piece man. So many great thoughts and faces. It helps that it was a great event, but there’s no question but that you did a great thing in capturing it and putting it together in a way that tells the story.
Thanks for taking the time to do it right … Great job again.
JC
2.26.2010
Thank you so much for this RE! You and all of the other photographers are such an inspiration to me and I’m grateful to be a part of such a loving and nurturing community of professionals.
2.27.2010
Love it!!! You the man!!! Thank you so much for everything you did RE!
2.27.2010
Great video Richard, It was nice to see the good times had at Inspire Boston 2010
2.27.2010
Aw I totally wish I could have made it! Really awesome video!!
2.28.2010
Fabulous! Thanks so much Richard!!