Every once in a while my primary contact with a couple is the groom-to-be.  You know, not to say it’s the traditional role of the bride to handle the photo arrangements but 98% of the time, it’s the bride.

I told Craig this, but through his emails, I had a totally different impression of him than once I met him.  I thought for sure he was going to be a TOTAL nerd!  Not that there’s anything wrong with that!  I mean, I’m a complete nerd and I’m awesome, so how bad could that be?

Turns out Craig is a likeable and outgoing Canadian super-jock, ex-University of Michigan hockey star and one time NHLer.  This is why you don’t prejudge people, I totally blew it!

You know the kind of person that attract people around them because of their personality, that’s Craig.  C+N’s whole group of friends was that way, outgoing and fun to match C+N’s personalities.

The wedding venue was Las Caletas and the wedding planning was done by Kelley of Adventure Weddings.

(24 Photos Total)

This was my first trip to Playa del Carmen.  I’ve been nearly everywhere in Mexico, and until June, the Yucatán and the Frontera, were just about the only places I hadn’t been.  I had such a blast in Playa del Carmen, the best decision I made was to stay at the Hostel Playa.  I might have been the only American among the forty or so foreigners staying there.  Everyone was friendly, I had a great time.

Part of the fun and reward of my job is achieving the best possible photos for my clients.  The fun is strategizing and shooting.  The reward is pulling it off.  Stephanie and I had already talked about the lighting situation at the Royal Playa del Carmen, read not good, and there’s a really interesting article covering it on the BDW forum here if you’re interested.

For all my clients I want you to have something different, and for  Stephanie and Michael’s post-ceremony photos we did a little mini-TTD excursion off the resort : )

But where to go?  I scouted out the area around the RPDC the morning of and wasn’t impressed with the hyper-tourist mega-complex of Quinta Avenida.  I thought to myself, “All we have to do is walk right outside the resort, but how many couples have had their photos taken here?  ALL OF THEM.”

Conventional Mexican resort town wisdom told me that if I walk half-a-mile inland there shall be no tourists and much more authentic, fun, and clean looking backdrops.  And that’s exactly what I did, and after the ceremony we hopped in a taxi for a two-minute ride, got out at an awesome location I found and started shooting.  Now Stephanie and Michael have some original wedding photos : )

Look below for this mini-TTD, there are seven photos including the one up top.  And if you thought this mini-TTD idea was rad, wait until you see the actual TTD we did two days later.  I used my day off to scout locations and with a rental car and a fun Norwegian girl we took off down the coast before sunrise, to the beach at Tulum and the Mayan ruins of Muyil.  All of which will be featured in Stephanie’s actual TTD photos to be posted on Friday ; )

Enjoy!  (30 Photos Total)

For a while now I’ve been watching clients upload their photos to Facebook.  That’s the great part about me sending you a disc full of hundreds of high-res files.  You can do with them what you want!  Without any retouching you can print, usually, up to around 16″ on the long side and the images look great!

What these high-res photos are not good for however, is uploading to Facebook.  Take a look at the above two images.  Guess which one was uploaded to Facebook?  It’s a trick question.  The bottom image clearly came off of Facebook, look at the dull colors and the overall lack of sharpness.  What you might not guess is that I pulled the top photo off of Facebook as well.

Why the difference in quality?  The top photo I optimized specifically for Facebook.  The bottom image I optimized specifically for printing.

I want my clients to look their best.  I want my product to always be presented in the best possible way and “optimized” is just a fancy way of saying that.  If you’re going to be printing an album, I provide you with photos optimized for printing.  I optimize all my photos I post on my blog specifically for my blog.  And now, you have the opportunity, when posting photos to Facebook, to present yourself in the best possible way.

If you’re a past or current client, I’ve reactivated your online galleries and I’ll be providing you with instructions via email on how to go about ordering as well as discount codes for orders of 25 or more and up to 50% off in some cases.

Not convinced?  Below I’ve provided a collection of examples.  The top image is always the “Facebook Optimized” image, and the bottom image is always a high-res file, the kind you get on your client disc, but uploaded to Facebook.

If you’d like to view these same images in an actual Facebook album, you can visit this album here on my Facebook Fanpage.

Feel free to contact me with any questions about this!  I’m always looking to help.

When I talk about people who support what I do, Kathy is one of those people.  Kathy is so genuinely nice, you can tell that’s just who she is.  I mean, Kelly is nice too, but he doesn’t send me encouraging messages from his work desk.

I think before I met girls like Kathy the BDW forum intimidated me a bit.  Maybe I felt it was just a little overwhelming.  But all my BDW brides have been some of my biggest supporters and they’re all so cool!  So today, in honor of blogging Kathy and Kelly’s wedding, I’m signing up for the forums and I’ll update this post once I get a username and such.

*Note:  I might need help! : \

Ok, so back to these two being awesome people…I hope I get to see them again soon.  Kathy and I talked briefly after exchanging a few comments in an earlier post about doing a trash-the-dress down at a driftwood creek near Newport.  Totally my style if you’ve ever driven on U.S. 101 at sunrise or dusk and seen the still water.  Very dream like.  Totally Broshot material.

On to the photos!  (15 Photos Total)

Jess was one of the first brides t0 book with me when I went out on my own last summer.  So long ago and what faith she had!  I had a great time getting to know Jess and Matt and they had some really awesome friends too.  I’m all for making new friends.  The next day we hit up downtown and Conchas Chinas for a Trash-the-dress so check back in for that.

In other news, I just lost my three-and-a-half year win streak again food poisoning in Mexico!  Damn you Huatulcoooooo!  (shaking my fist as I write)

No, but seriously, as I’ve said in earlier posts, in order to keep doing what I’m doing it takes the constant support of people like Jess (and Kathy, yours is next!)

Enjoy!  (28 Photos Total)