Had the very awesome opportunity to shoot with {b}ecker this past weekend in Newport, RI.

What a great opportunity, they don't come much better than {b} - still one of my favourite photographers!

Inku,

Win for the Shooting opportunity...
...but total FAIL for the blog post.

Or that's my unsolicited opinion anyway.

Here's the text from the post (if it's a problem that I reposted it here please let me know and I will gladly edit my post):

Oh and if you're not interested in having your blog post torn to shreds (hey, I'm only doing this so that you can maybe edit it quickly and make it better... assuming you agree with me) then skip the rest altogether.

Ok, so I got home from Newport, RI a few hours ago and have been looking through and processing some images from the wedding I shot with {b}ecker yesterday. I don’t even really know where to begin. I shot alongside Leah Haydock, a fellow member of The {B} School.

I never would have thought that I’d be able to learn so much from just hanging out with someone for a few hours and watching them work. First, I was kind of nervous as I was putting tremendous pressure on myself to perform flawlessly. Within the first 5 minutes of meetin {b}ecker, he told us both to relax and have fun, no pressure. That took some of the pressure off, but let’s face it… when you’re shooting alongside someone who is as well-known and established as {b}ecker, you want to bring your ‘A game’.

Kelley and Larry, the bride and groom, had their wedding at Saint Augustin’s Church in Newport and the reception was held at Belle Mer. The bride, Kelley, was one of the dancers on the Lord of the Dance tour. Get this – the best man of the groom was Bill Burton the Deputy White House Press Secretary, whose wedding {b}ecker shot 2 years ago. On top of that, the wedding band had performed at Barack Obama’s Inauguration Ball. How freaking awesome was this wedding?

Ok, enough of my rambling… on to the pictures!

The major problem I see with this blog post is that it's unclear who the target audience of the post is.

If I had to guess the post is targeted at both FELLOW WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS ... and at those people who can't get enough of the cable "Celebrity and Almost-celebrity" gossip programs.

You spent too may words describing how freaked out you were about shooting with {b}ecker. That would have made a GREAT FM post, but if your blog is meant to target brides, then maybe you should focus more on coming across as being concerned with making them look like the goddesses that they are rather than describing yourself as a sissy about to piss his pants in the presence of greatness (yes I'm exagerating for emphasis... you gotta let me make it fun no? )

Nothing wrong with mentioning that it was an exciting opportunity to be shooting alongside someone so well known in the industry, but you can do that WHILE keeping the underwear dry

Worse, in my opinion is the other messages that your post is sending:

1. To the Bride and Groom - Dudes you know I couldn't think of a single thing that was special about your wedding in terms of how it was planned, what you did, special touches... all I could come up with is that the Groom has a semi-famous friend and that the bride either is or was a dancer (and by extension is presumably hot - what are the odds that a Lord of the Dance dancer looks like the south side of a north facing cow?).

2. To other potential clients without the semi-celebrity cachet - Hum... I suppose you could TRY to have an awesome wedding... but really if your best-man is a nobody and if nobody ever paid a ticket to watch you do your special skill... maybe "Awesome" is off the table (yes this one is a TOTAL stretch... but really if you mentioned some specifics... maybe simple specifics... others could relate THEIR Awesome wedding to THIS awesome wedding)

3. To other potential clients with Celebrities or semi-celebrities in the wedding/audience - Oh no, I totally don't think I need to ask if the celebrity is cool with me mentioning that they were in the wedding. Why you think I should ask (or mention that X celebrity was totally down to earth and said it was fine for me to mention their presence on my blog)

All... humorous commentary aside...

(and I really hope that I AM getting across the message that you indeed should be thrilled about this AWESOME opportunity ... oh yeah and some TERRIFIC photography to boot ... but that maybe the post could use a little tweaking)

I would edit the post to reduce the fawning over {b} ... increase the complimenting of special things the B/G did for their wedding, mention the celebrity but work in somehow the fact that you were specifically authorized to divulge their presence (this both makes it seem MORE IMPORTANT and also makes YOU look more CONSIDERATE and celebrity-wedding-friendly).

Again... Fantastic opportunity, great photography!

Ciao!

Not Lisy

Balanced post Lisy.

If i can add, if you do take up Becker's pose where he squats the bride for a head shot shoot it at a 45 degree angle. I notice sometimes does this flat on and it's bad posing.

Congrats on the opportunity though.

Yeah, I didn't really post this up to have the text portion of my blog post critiqued, but all good points and well taken. Thanks.

Neat images!

lisy78 wrote:
...snip

Not Lisy

Nah, blog post was appropriate. His blog, his posts, made it more personal.

Inku, gorgeous dress on the bride. My fave out of the bunch is what you posted up. Great sneak image of the bride and groom being in their own world despite in the middle of all the chaos.

njjuliano wrote:
lisy78 wrote:
...snip

Not Lisy

Nah, blog post was appropriate. His blog, his posts, made it more personal.

Inku, gorgeous dress on the bride. My fave out of the bunch is what you posted up. Great sneak image of the bride and groom being in their own world despite in the middle of all the chaos.

People can write what they like on their own blog but Lisy's comments were spot on and said between friends.

Really nice pic but my eye keeps getting drawn to the girl drinking. Have you tried flipping this horizontally?

Alex

still trying to figure out why people put a ton of text on their photo blog.

Sergio Mottola wrote:
still trying to figure out why people put a ton of text on their photo blog.

SEO?

Nice, Lisy78. Very thoughtful critique in many ways. Thanks for keepin it real dude.

Sergio, text used to be great for giving a sense of one's real-world personality. However, I suspect brides have become leery of what has become this inauthentic "awesome--amazing--omg" standard so personally, I rarely bother with text anymore.

Ink, your details are stunning. Your cable car hero shot is a bit soft, though I think its in sharpening range. The guy shot is great. Congrats on shooting w/Becker, he's one of my fave photodudes.

-m

I think text can be good if done right. Someone like Jasmine Star would be an example, she really uses it as part of her identity and branding.

lisy78 wrote:
Sergio Mottola wrote:
still trying to figure out why people put a ton of text on their photo blog.

SEO?


Ding!

Thanks for the comments everyone...

Maurice - yeah, that shot is a bit soft, but it was too nice of a moment to leave out.