How seriously do you take wedding photography?
This is our livelihood. Your peace of mind is everything to us. From the first consultation to the final delivery, we get it, this is a huge investment and leap of faith to take. We understand the stress as we were, ourselves, once in your shoes. True, wedding photography is a luxury, but considering that you're only renting the food and drink, the cake will be cut up and dispersed, the flowers will wilt, the hall, DJ and limo services will all reset for the next event, your dress will be stored or sold and all the rented items returned, your photographs will be the only remaining link to that wondrous day.
Standing the test of time you will fondly look back at how immeasurably happy you were, Seeing the faces of long lost relatives or reliving the adventure that you took with your spouse for the very first time as a married couple.
Wedding photography is loaded with nuance. "Getting it right" requires an almost supernatural command of your environment and a deep grasp of the human factors involved. You need an eye for composition and a keen sense of how to utilize light to its maximum potential. But most importantly You hire experts like us because of our intuitive sense of timing for capturing all of those important moments. I realize I'm tooting our own horn but, in truth, we are talented and confident photographers who have spent thousands of hours perfecting the very thing we are selling. with us, you're in very good hands.
Why are two photographers important?
Utilizing two expert wedding photographers is not something every company can provide to you. brass key photography can! Now, Besides the expertise and redundancy, having two different points of view and angles of coverage is a necessity these days. Depending on your package - Nicole starts with the girls around the time your makeup starts and Ryan starts with the guys when they decide to get dressed. Having two photographers also means having two points of view. For instance utilizing multiple angles during the ceremony allows Ryan to focus on the VIP's and for Nicole to focus on the parents and family reactions during key moments of the ceremony and the reception.
What is typical of coverage you provide?
Experience has taught us that the best time for us to start is towards the end of hair and makeup. Honestly, no one wants pictures of themselves in their "just woke up" look. After which, we're with you all day long and we'll leave the reception once all formalities are complete and we feel that we have sufficiently covered the festivities which is usually, around 90 minutes before the end. The amount of time included varies in each package but we will help you with your timeline to maximize your individual coverage.
DO YOU FULLY EDIT OUR IMAGES?
Yes! Every single image is fully edited. We boost color, dynamic range and light among 20 or so other tweaks each image receives while keeping them looking natural. We also provide, FREE tooth whitening and blemish removal. On many photos we take it a step further by utilizing our artistic ability to manipulate the image and create something extraordinary and unique, like our B&W for example. Painting with available light is a true art form and we've become very good at it. We also personally spend around 20 hours each on editing the average wedding in order to deliver a fully customized final product.
Do we have a fail-safe in case of disaster?
Yes! We're part of a 36,000 member strong group of professional photographers, of which around 300 members are local to Cleveland. Having shot over 340 weddings over 10 seasons we have never had an issue or any reason for us to not show up. Barring catastrophe, either Ryan or I are more than capable of shooting your wedding solo. We cut our teeth shooting dozens of weddings alone before we quickly realized that teaming up was the very best way to cover a wedding. We also created and manage a group called Northeast Ohio Wedding Resale on Facebook. It currently contains 43,000 members... Including 3,000 wedding industry vendors. Our social media presence is strong.
How many weddings do you book a year?
We average around 20 - 30 weddings per year. We only accept weddings from April to November and December through March are our vacation months. We take off for most holidays too and some family get-togethers through out the year. For the most part we only accept one wedding per weekend. We've scaled back over the past couple of years to focus more on expanding our two other business and raising our 3 wonderful children.
What kind of redundancy do you have built into the day?
Ryan and I both drive separately to the event in case of an unforeseen vehicle breakdown. We each use two cameras in a gunslinger configuration where we actually have our secondary/back up cameras attached to us ready to go in a split second. Our cameras utilize dual card slot technology. So the instant a picture is taken on one card it's automatically backed up on another. Each camera body carries a different lens used for different reasons. ALL of our equipment is high end. We each show up wearing around $12,000 worth of gear. The lenses are the best in the industry and the bodies are full frame. Once we arrive home from your event the images are loaded onto our personal NAS. Which is just a fancy way of saying they're backed up again on our network array of hard drives. When not in use we store the memory cards containing your raw images in a fire safe at all times.The raw images themselves are also kept on the 256 GB memory cards until your final product is stored permanently on a server at Smugmug.com. We never erase your wedding from those cards until you have your images safe and sound.
What happens to our images once they are fully edited?
We load them to SmugMug.com. Where you, your family and your friends can view them and purchase prints from their large selection of options. We organize your images into chronological order but, we select what we consider to be the highlights of the day displaying those first. Once completed, we will generate and share a download link so you can download them to your computer at which point you can make prints and albums on your own or share them with whomever* you wish. You also have the option of ordering prints and many other customized products that are shipped to your home via SmugMug.com. Your friends and family have those same options too. And as a bonus, should you lose your images, your images are backed up safe and sound in the cloud and on our personal network here at home. *If other vendors from your event inquire about photos for their personal or promotional use, we are happy to provide the high resolution watermarked image to them.
What kind of lighting do you use?
We each carry on our person 2 of the most powerful speed-lights Nikon makes used mostly indoors where ambient light is insufficient. Depending on your package or separate order - For an additional $100 fee we can also set up 2 off-camera flashes to add a more dynamic value of light to the scene and to better counteract the effects of a dark reception if the room calls for it. This must be prepaid ahead of time. For the most part however we rely on natural light to light our scenes and subjects. Especially outdoors. Fortunately for you understanding light and how to paint with it is an essential skill we've become very proficient in.