Oh 2010.... you're oh so very... unpredictable. This has been one strange week.
I found myself watching hours of CNN, feeling helpless, crying until my face was red for the people in Haiti. Feeling incredibly guilty for spending $8 on lunch, for being able to fill my dogs water dishes up until they over flow. Watching CNN scroll the statistics on how incredibly impoverished that nation is... feeling like an idiot for spending money on silly things. If I had any sort of medical training I would be there in a heartbeat, but I don't, so I donated a bit of money to the Red Cross. It's what I could do at that moment.
Then there is the late night debacle to lighten the mood. For the record, I am Team Conan in the Leno/Conan battle. However, when it comes to late night programming in general, my heart belongs to Jimmy Kimmel... his response was pure genius.
Today I found myself needing to take my eyes away from CNN & the computer, so I took up a challenge that my photog friend Joshua White had posted on his blog "Take 50 photos in one day"... below are the results... some good, some great, some not so great, and some just to make you smile.
Hope everyone has a great weekend and is constantly thinking about how beyond lucky we all are to live in this country.
Click on the first thumbnail then use the arrows on your keyboard to scroll through the images... enjoy!
I love the couples I was able to photograph in 2009... thank YOU for allowing me to do what I love! Thank you for trusting me to capture the most intimate and special moments in your lives. All of you are the ones who make me want to challenge and push myself further out of my comfort zone with every shoot. It is truly impossible for me to express in words how lucky I feel to have the clients that I do, you're all amazing people.
Here's to 2010!!!
This year has been such a learning experience. Figuring out workflow, taxes (ugghh), dealing with equipment issues... I have a feeling that every year I will learn through trials and tribulations... I will never sit back and say, YES! I now have it all figured out. Won't ever happen... and I don't want it to.
One huge thing I learned this year was the importance of THE album. I have memories of looking at my parents wedding album, opening up the plastic covered white silk album, the corners adorned with metallic photo corners... one huge print per page. It's funny how certain things stick with you. That memory made me want to make sure everyone of my couples had a wedding album... and that's what happened... though they all may not have them yet, they will soon. :)
Midway through the season, I reworked my workflow. The first thing my couples saw after their wedding wasn't a blog post or their gallery full of thumbnails, it was their album design. I designed the biggest, baddest album without any limitations and presented their wedding to them in story form. They saw their wedding for the first time how I visualized it while shooting. This has been the biggest and most rewarding change to how I do my post work.
I design the album 100% in Adobe InDesign from scratch, no templates. InDesign makes it extremely easy for me to design a modern album in hours. I know the spacing is perfect and it works seamlessly with Photoshop & Bridge, so I can easily make sure the photos will look great in print. All the spreads have white backgrounds, are completely clean and modern. I don't want the album to look dated in 5 years, and by keeping it simple, about the photos and not the design, I know it will never look trendy. Pro DPI (an environmentally conscious pro lab) does the printing of my spreads, sends them to me to so I can approve the color and quality before I ship them off to Renaissance for the production of the album.
If you'd like to look through a couple completed albums, take a peek at the albums page here.
3 comments so far
joshua says:
is it weird if i call that thing sexy?
Mary says:
red silk?! it's hot!
Jenn Stark says:
Hi! I've only just started offering albums as an option in my packages and just wanted to thank you for sharing some insight on your album production workflow! They are beautiful!
We are now offering 7 fabulous holiday card designs that give you the look of letterpress without the outrageous cost of letterpress.
These fabulous design by Millie Holloman Photography fit our style perfectly!
Login to your gallery and get some! Deadline to get them by December 21st is December 14th. Also, all print orders intended for holiday gifts, must be ordered by Monday December 14th to have them in time for the holidays!
Here's a peek at two of our favourite card designs...
These fabulous design by Millie Holloman Photography fit our style perfectly!
Login to your gallery and get some! Deadline to get them by December 21st is December 14th. Also, all print orders intended for holiday gifts, must be ordered by Monday December 14th to have them in time for the holidays!
Here's a peek at two of our favourite card designs...
I shot my first real wedding, totally on my own, in July 2007. I was nervous out of my mind, felt sick to my stomach on the drive to the venue.
It wasn't that I felt nervous of not being able to make solid images, but anyone who has shot a wedding knows that feeling of being terrified of the unknown... especially the first few you do. It was also the first wedding of my second shooter/assistant/sidekick Abby, a film school homie who I somehow coerced to give up most of her Saturdays to shoot weddings with me.
Over the past 3 wedding seasons, Abby has shot the majority of the weddings with me. I can't imagine the perspective she's had watching my style of interaction, posing, and confidence evolve over the past few years. Her solid technical abilities have saved my butt a number of times, and she has definitely had her own equal photo evolution.
Ms. Abby is in her final semester of college, taking a slightly longer path than I did ;) In a few weeks she's saying sayounara to Toledo.
I know you'll rock at whatever path you take in Georgia + beyond! It won't be the same in '10 without you shooting with me, making fun of me, and being stoked about the veg lasagna.
Here are a few photos from a mini photo shoot on our way to a wedding reception.... I'm sure Abby would have preferred to have an actual photo shoot in street clothes... perhaps a Georgia cotton-scooter sesh in the future???
It wasn't that I felt nervous of not being able to make solid images, but anyone who has shot a wedding knows that feeling of being terrified of the unknown... especially the first few you do. It was also the first wedding of my second shooter/assistant/sidekick Abby, a film school homie who I somehow coerced to give up most of her Saturdays to shoot weddings with me.
Over the past 3 wedding seasons, Abby has shot the majority of the weddings with me. I can't imagine the perspective she's had watching my style of interaction, posing, and confidence evolve over the past few years. Her solid technical abilities have saved my butt a number of times, and she has definitely had her own equal photo evolution.
Ms. Abby is in her final semester of college, taking a slightly longer path than I did ;) In a few weeks she's saying sayounara to Toledo.
I know you'll rock at whatever path you take in Georgia + beyond! It won't be the same in '10 without you shooting with me, making fun of me, and being stoked about the veg lasagna.
Here are a few photos from a mini photo shoot on our way to a wedding reception.... I'm sure Abby would have preferred to have an actual photo shoot in street clothes... perhaps a Georgia cotton-scooter sesh in the future???
1 comments so far
abby troxell says:
*sniffle* nobody in life has taught me more about photography and "professionalism" than you have mary! wish I was going to be around to enjoy 2010. I know what an amazing photographer you are and love not only your artistic sense but also you knowledge of the technical aspect of photography. Seeing MWP blossom has been a thrill for me and I was/am always willing to help! p.s. my mom wants that last picture... ha! me looking into my southern future! can't wait to reunite with you south of the ohio river! plenty of cameras in tow on some scoots with our amazing guys in a haunted ol' city! thank you for everything!