matthew whitlock | photography

Wedding Day Ruminations

I've been photographing weddings now for nearly 9 years, and some days it still awes me the ammount of time, effort, planning and coordination that goes in to planning a wedding day.

There are so many moving parts to a wedding day: Photographers, Lodging, Entertainment, Decor, Flowers, Cake, Food, Ceremony venue...the list goes on and on and on. And since planning my own wedding nearly 8 years ago I've gained an immense appreciation into the skill it takes to pull off a succesful event.

With the knowledge of just how much has to be coordinated, occasionally I will step back in awe that all of the involved vendors actually show up and fulfill their promises. Please don't take any of this to mean that I expect any of the awesome people I'm privledged to work with week  and week out wouldn't deliver exactly what they've promised (and in most cases we ALL do our best to go above and beyone for our customers); it just amazes me that everyone showes up. 

And in the end, we're all doing it for you. I understand that this is our job, but we all take it very seriously. We know how important your wedding day is and we want to make sure that we can in some way contribute to making your day more memorable, more joyous. It amazes me that so many people are willing, nae, WANT to put in that little extra bit in order to make your day truly special. 

In the end, I suppose it's a bit humbling. 

This rambling rumination started out as a reflection on how astonished I am at how a wedding day comes toghter and it seems that it's transformed into a thank-you. To all of my Brides and Grooms over the last 8 years: Thank You. Thank you for your trust, your faith and your willingness to include me in the collection of other amazing people entrusted with making your wedding day awesome. It's been a blast. 

To my future Brides & Grooms: Thank you for putting your faith in me - I can't wait to work with the awesome collection of people you've to insure your wedding days are amongst the best days of your lives.  :)

What a great weekend!

I got two great thank-you emails over the weeeknd that I absolutely HAVE to share - 

I occasionally do pet portraits for Northern Lights Sled Dog Rescue. Having great portraits of the dogs really helps people connect with the animals and get these beautiful dogs adopted into their new "forever homes." On Sunday, I got this email from the president of the rescue:

"...wanted to thank you SO MUCH for the beautiful photos you took at Kris J's!!!  I will tell you we had a potential foster for Harrison who thought he might be "too old" -- 'til she saw your photos!  He is doing great in foster!

 

We so appreciate you taking time to do this for us!"

This is just one of the photos I delivered for Harrison:

It's amazing to know that my photo helped a dog that needed a home and a family to love get a chance he would not have otherwise had. 

 

I often get thank-yous from, Brides, Grooms and parents after photographing a wedding, but this email was from one of the Groomsen at Friday's wedding - A truly unique missive in my experience these 8 years shooting weddings.  :)

"Good Morning,

 

I was a Groomsmen in the Obering-Van Hoegarden Wedding this past weekend, and wanted to share my thoughts on how the photography session went.

 

At each wedding I go to, I undoubtedly take away something that will forever remind me of what that day was all about.  Music, food, venue, or other...something always sticks out to me where I can say "That was so and so's wedding!"  After seeing Matt work and being a part of this photo session, I can say that I'm certain I will never be a part, of or see better wedding pictures in my lifetime.  The experiences during Matt's shoot, from location to the overall fun we were having as a wedding party is unmatched.  The pictures I've already seen are fantastic and I can't wait to see the rest.   Matt's ability to capture the people, places and things that make up such a  special day are fantastic!  Keep up the great work!

 

Sincerely,

 

Stuart"

Every wedding I shoot, I put everything I've got in to making the best photos possible, and the biggest smile I can get is when that effort is recognized and appreciated. Thanks, Stuart, you really made my day!  :)  !!

Wedding Bookings In A Bunch

It's always a good feeling when I get a bunch of bookings over a couple of days. I'm really excited to be shooting Katie & Jack's wedding this November and Erin & Ben's wedding in July 2012 - Thanks for choosing Matthew Whitlock Photography!

Back in the 'Bend

Today I'll be back in South Bend to shoot Steph & Mark's wedding at St. Anthony's in South Bend. I've been shooting in Chicago so much this summer I've almost forgotten how to get around South Bend!

It's going to be another hot & muggy Michiana day, but I'm pretty sure that we're going to have a great time regardless. I can't wait to get out and behind the lens. :)

Changes a-comin'!

As I look forward to the start of my 8th year documenting weddings in Michiana, it's become obvious that my name seems to hold in my customers and collague's minds much better than my Studio name, so I've decided to make a change.  Over the next few weeks you may see some strange things here at the Zeta-Alpha Studio blog & website. I'm making a shift in the name of my Studio to Matthew Whitlock Photography. Rest assured, that's the only thing that's changing. 

2010 Montage Year in Review

I've gone back thru all of the images I made over the course of 2010 and picked one of my favorites from every event I photographed - the montage above is the result.  :)  Thanks to all of my wonderful 2010 Couples, Potrait Subjects, Editors, Pets and everyone else. I've made a ton of images this year that I'm incredibly proud of, and I couldn't have done it with out all of you.

If you'd like to see all of the images a bit bigger, head on over to the gallery!

Hard at work

Here's a quick accidental Semi-Self-Portirat from the getting ready shots (Sarah & Eric's wedding day) at Bangs Salon last Saturday:

Winter Portrait Special

Only $100 for a one hour portrait session, inside at the Studio or out in the snow. I love to photograph both people and pets, so feel free to bring your dog, cat, bird, snake, llama, or whatever you love.  :)

This offer is good thru January 31 - call or email today to schedule your portrait session!

 

The Test of Time

Yesterday I was contacted by a customer who's wedding I photographed nearly 7 years ago. They'd put off ordering wedding photos and their album, and in the craziness of life had forgotten to follow up. They're now interested in wrapping up their wedding photos and having me design an album and I'm thrilled to be working on producing an amazing album for them. 

At the same time, I was a little nervous; after all, I documented their wedding almost 7 years ago, on cameras that are generations old using (in internet terms) computers and software that are millenia old. I've changed my post-production workflow completely since photographing their wedding, and I had to fully re-edit their entire wedding gallery. Below are a couple of my favorites from the re-edit.

What is amazing to me is that even after 7 years of doing this, two things have stayed constant: my overall documentary style was just as good when I started photographing weddings as it is now. 

And the photos themselves are still great photos. From a 7-year-old wedding, I captured photos that I consider today to be 5/5 star images. Those 7-year-old photos rank among some of the best I've made, and I feel great knowing that even though my equipment, knowledge, software and technical skills have been growing and evolving over the last 8(!) year's I've been documenting weddings, I've had the skill, talent and knowledge from the start to make beautiful photographs that stand up to the test of time. 

It seems that my Fine-Art degree really did pay off, after all!!

Back to Basics!

I've been using facebook for blogging purposes since February and it's really killed traffic to the ZA Studio website.  :(  So, I'm back to giving my regular 'ole blog a second chance at life. The facebook page will live on, but it will be subservient to the blog on the main page from here on out. I'm excited about getting my wedding and portrait customers back on the frontpage at the Zeta-Alpha Studio website!