Tom Sapp Photography

I did a photography “how to” video!!

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:48:37 +0000

Last week i was asked by the original owners of MySpace to participate in a new site they are creating called “Ask the pros”. I had a film crew come in to do a “how to” series. The night before i was emailed 15 topics which i had to talk about for 3 minutes each. I couldn’t just talk, the words i said in the 3 minutes needed to be informative and factual. The whole thing lasted 4 hours of consistent talking. With only 3 minutes there is no room or very little room for error. If i didn’t get it right or paused we had to do the clip over again. Most of the topics/questions were mundane for me like “what are the 4 basic types of light” or where do I recommend purchasing digital equipment. One of the questions i had to do a lot of research on before i could give a professional response. The question if you are wondering was, “what is diffractive photography”. Most photographers when you hear diffractive immediately relate “fractive” to manipulating light such as “refractive” which is bending light and is the basis for how photography lenses work. Diffractive is spreading of light and in modern lenses is what causes them to be not so sharp when wide open or closed down. The sharpest point of a lens is going to be the middle apertures like F/16. An example of what diffraction does is to look at the old powder guns when the gun powder is lit and forced through the barrel it doesn’t continue on the same path after it passes through the end of the barrel. The smoke spreads/expands and eventually dissipates. The more common reference is water through a garden hose. The water will spread and slow down as it comes out the other side. Now there is a new kind of photography or rather old kind that is becoming more popular. Diffractive photography is based on the pin hole box camera method of photography. You take an image from the internet (easiest way) consisting of a group of circles called a zone plate and stick it to a wall. I say get it off the internet because the distance the circles are from each other is precise and can not be changed if you want your image to look correct. The distance is relative to a few variables so for now we’re going to say get it off the web and print it on white paper. You then photograph this plate using various different exposures and multiple frames. Then develop the film a with a few different develop times adding more or less contrast to get the circles to appear very dark. You can either shoot large format film or have the image transferred to large format film if you have a lazy side. The point of this is so light will bounce off the opaque surface but enter through the clear parts of the film and expand. The plate must be a specific distance from the camera. To do it correctly you must first determine the aperture and lens you want and that will give you the size of your rings. There are various websites that have detailed algorithms on how to do this properly. The result is a slightly soft/blurry image so this definitely isn’t for everyone and it is very time demanding but if you have time and don’t know what to do with it … give it a try. Also, If you look online you will find people with websites on this like one called “diffraction photography” yet the contents of these pages have absolutely nothing to do with the title. If you are going to try it i recommend doing extensive research because like i said it is a precise style of photography or one could say it is a science as is all types of photography. There is a reason why everything happens …

Also, you can get a silmilar look by using gausian blur in photography. Add a lot of blur until you can almost not see the image anymore then hit ok and fade it back using edit/fade gaussian blur

Wedding Photography In Charleston, SC - “Isle of Palms”

admin — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:36:44 +0000

The past few weeks have been very busy and twice as interesting. A friend I use to take photos of for modeling called me about her sister’s wedding. They said they would take care of everything all I needed to do is show up and shoot. I asked where … Charleston SC. I was excited to be in Charleston because as many of you know it is truly beautiful. When we arrived in Charleston and tried to find the hotel we were guided by GPS through the Isle of palms into a gated resort community. I tend to hold my tea cup on the bottom, this was definitely a pinky out environment. I told the car attendant he wouldn’t be taking my car and the bag boy not to touch my camera bags. They both looked at me like I was uncle buck pulling up in an RV. I understood though, the place was magnificent. The image attached of the hotel is shot from my room on the 4th floor. You had your choice of renting a hotel room or a private villa with a golf cart to get around. Anything you needed was on the property in golf cart range, except pizza after 11pm. If you’re hungry after 11 you have 2 options; wait till morning or drive 45 minutes to a gas station. The day of the wedding was BRIGHT sun and HOT however what the bride’s sister didn’t tell me was the bride was very beautiful girl. It’s nice to photograph brides that are naturally beautiful as all my brides are. To give you a better idea of what I am saying without chewing on feet I can reference what I have been told. In school my photo teacher said “Tom, if you can’t take a good photo of a pretty girl you might want to try a different occupation”. If you can’t understand what that means he was saying as a photographer you have exposures, angles and what’s in front of you. If what is in front of you is already beautiful angles don’t really matter all you have to get right is exposure and timing. If you can’t get a correct exposure then you’re not doing what you are meant to be doing in life. For beginner photographers beauty is something to look forward to so you look better than you are. For a seasoned professional with expectations attached to a price tag beautiful people actually make being a photographer a touch more stressful. At least that is true for photographers who care about producing high quality work. Then you add the groom who is a successful doctor. So at this wedding I had super bright sun, high heat, extremely high expectations and something new I had not done before. This wedding really kept me on my toes. Before I make it sound like a negative event let me say that these were some of the sweetest and easy going “real” people I have known. It was a pleasure to work with them which also made me care about producing quality that much more. But not just with the photography. The bride wanted video too but didn’t decide on video until last minute which made finding a pro very hard. For one reason or another she asked me if I could do video as well. I have had my assistant do video for me when I needed advertising material and I am “almost” professional at using final cut pro (video editing software) on my MAC. However, being good at something is really a matter of who you’re being compared to in my opinion. Last year I did a horse event where I had a video “partner” who decided to bail on me half way through the event because he didn’t want to edit all the footage without a predetermined amount on his paycheck. A mentality like that doesn’t make it long in the self employed world. I was able to get him to stick around till the end but then I had to figure out how to edit video with a one week deadline. That’s another story. For this wedding I asked Em to go with me and do video at the wedding. On the way up I purchased a second camera to do the job right. I can’t just do something. If I know there is a better way it drives me crazy. So I’m shooting all day and trying to coordinate things for video as well. If you don’t know what liability means read my post a few down. This job came with a world of liability. Everything worked out really well. Em took awesome footage. I over compensated on the photo end just a touch shooting close to 7k images using 2 cameras. That is my record to date. Quantity isn’t want matters, however when you can shoot freely and have fun without worrying about disk space you WILL get better, more personal and interesting images. My exposures were all dead on. All 7k images are solid in terms of exposure and timing with very little blinking or motion blur if any. Still, no one wants to look through that many. We edited the count down to around 2.5k for the bride. If I take out anymore she will be without moments I feel she would want to see and remember. The disks are ready to be delivered so keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ve already emailed her a few so I’m 90% sure she’s going to love everything. For those of you who don’t know, there is nothing worse for a photographer than getting an email that says “the photos came out ok”. This bride was so excited the day after the wedding she emailed me asking to see a few from the end. The reception was at the state aquarium on the riverfront in Charleston next to the port with the bridge and battleship in the background. The aquarium was landscaped with waterfalls and fountains covering every wall on the exterior. Just before the reception was over I had the bride, her sisters and the groom out dancing on the wall. I put the people in silowhet with the lights already in the waterfalls lighting the background. The bride and her sisters are professional Indian dancers. The situation was really cool for both print and video. If you’re in the Wilmington NC area I’d love to show you what we captured. Call or email anytime! Tom Sapp 910-794-9819 mail@tomsapp.com

Destination Wedding Photography

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:13:24 +0000

The past few months I have been neglecting my blog. I apologize to those who check my posts for updates. As many of you know I am a one man show these days. I have had many assistants and some years a team of people working for me. This past year many photographers have fallen short on work and cut back due to loss of work. For me it has been just the opposite. I have actually found with the work flow I have developed I can offer more work by doing the post production on my own. When I have people working for me it seems like most of my “free time” is spent training when I could be accomplishing the same goal in half the time. Beach Portraits are in less demand in the winter months so my schedule is very different from the sunrise and sunset portrait session schedule during the summer months. The past few months I have been working very hard at getting the images needed for an equine book I have been hired to do. I have not been in the studio very often because of the traveling involved to complete this assignment. I have also been doing destination weddings. This past weekend I flew to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico for a beautiful paradise wedding at a secluded Villa. As always a photo shoot with Tom Sapp is not a shoot unless there is a story to be told. I always advise air travel leaving at least a one day buffer incase flights are delayed. Well this trip the flight was canceled when I arrived at the airport due to high winds. The airline rep punching my information in the computer said “we’re sorry but the flight is canceled so we will have no other option but to put you on standby for the next flight”. The groom had gotten there at about the same time and was going through a similar conversation, only he had a little more muscle behind what he could do with 7 bridal party members flying on the same flight. The airlines put us all on standby and I overheard the other reps putting the remaining 100+ passengers on standby so I aggressively said “how many people are on the flight we are on standby for?” The airline rep replied “the flight is currently overbooked and at most 2 people might get on”. The groom said this was unacceptable but there was nothing he could do. However, the two people that got on the standby flight were the groom and myself. At the Aguadilla airport we were greeted by the taxi driver holding up a sign with the grooms last name. I was under the impression this would be like most destination weddings I do were we are escorted to a hotel in a populated section of the island. As the driver drove 20 minutes into jungle like back roads I asked the 2 other people with me if they had seen the movies hostel or turistas. Anyone who has seen these two movies would know exactly what I was referring to. We were being taken to a place where no one would know how to tell anyone to find us, nor did it matter because our cell phones would not work at this villa. Personally I love adventure so this was just the coolest thing in my mind. When we arrived the main office had a driver take us to a golf cart and drive us to our cabana. Only these were no huts. Each guest stayed at their own separate condo. The rest of the bridal party arrived at 6am the next morning which was the day before the wedding. And there we were, in paradise. The water was crystal clear with a beautiful blue tint. The waves were crashing on coral rock like I was looking at the world’s largest saltwater aquarium. I put my 600mm lens on to photograph the parrots nesting in the trees above the villa while I walked down to shoot the rehearsal dinner. The only time I have seen plants that green is when I turned one of the rooms in my house into a terrarium for the winter. The first day we played on the beach then there was another wedding but the second day the first wedding people had cleared out and it was like the couple I was with had reserved the entire villa for their guests. It was really a beautiful event. This couple really deserved it. The bride and broom were both amazing people. The bride would look at me and smile like I was her best friend even though I had only talked with her during consultations for about 2 hours total before the wedding. She had one of those smiles that makes you feel proud to be who you are. The groom, I can’t explain the amount of respect I have for this man. He’s a pediatric oral surgeon. While we were waiting in line to have our carry-on bags checked (abused would be a better title) he showed me photos on his digital camera from the last few surgeries he had completed. These children were no more than a year or two old with deformities that are inconceivable. He showed me the before and after. The after images minus a few sutchers rendered a perfectly normal child. Without this man these children would look in the mirror and see a monster for the rest of their lives. What he does … well it’s something I would not believe had he not shown me the images still in the camera. The wedding day took place on the beach under a gazebo next to the villa beach pub. I know what you are thinking, “Here he goes describing another perfect wedding”. I know from being on the reality TV show no one wants to hear about the perfect wedding day. I assure you, for the bride and groom it was 100% perfect. When I said earlier it was an adventure, you are about to find out what I was referring to. The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun. I was there to shoot the wedding so the bride and groom asked me about every 15 minutes if I had a drink like it was my job to consume wine. The venue brought out food in small portions every few minutes as the 30 or so guests sat at 2 tables in an Indian style setting. I can’t tell you what the foot was but it was all very good. Later that night after the bon fire i returned to my room with a stomach and chest pain. Not your normal drink the pink stuff feeling to say the least. It was more like the well known seen from the movie Alien. It was painful like something was trying to get out from within. Worst of all the cell phones didn’t work and the only number the groom gave me was a cell number. The main office/emergency phone line was closed until 7am the next morning and I had no idea where the bride and groom were staying. Even if I new I probably would not have troubled them unless there was blood involved. I didn’t know if it was the water so I didn’t drink anything. I suffered through 6 hours of finding ways to keep the pain at a minimum. To limit the description I will say I was very dehydrated by morning. Then the phone rang at 6am. It was the masseuse asking if I was the groom. He had booked my room so the front desk gave her my number by mistake. This was very lucky for me as I told her to have him call me when she reaches him. A few minutes later he called. After I told him the details he said be ready to answer the door in about an hour. He had sent his mother to the local CVS to pick up a variety of prescriptions for me. I had never felt so lucky in all my life. I took one of everything he had sent me. Shortly after that I passed out into the deepest sleep I have had in years. The phone rang. I thought, “Ut-Oh” as i looked at the clock. I had to meet the bride at her cabana/condo around 2:30pm. I was safe by an hour. It was the groom asking if i had taken one of the pills he had sent. Turns out it was some kind of really strong pain killer that takes 8 hours to wear off and he forgot to tell me to wait until after the wedding to take it. As it turns out that little pill making me sleep so deaply possibly saved the day. The first 2 hours were bridal prep time. The girls were laughing at me most of that time because I was obviously off balance. The really funny part is the photos were some of my best work, very creative, sharp and well lit. Luckily just before the wedding my balance was on point and the energy kicked in from the steroids that were in the CVS mix delivered by the mother earlier. Somehow my situation had become the hot topic of conversation before the wedding even started so just about every conversation I had that day started with “so how are those aches and pains now” or “nice to see you’re feeling better”. Most of the people at the event were in the medical industry as pharmacist, chemists and various types of doctors. They new what the groom had prescribed for me without me saying a word like there was a mass meeting about my condition. It was a little strange. I didn’t mind though. I was just happy to be feeling so well after being so incredibly miserable. I still do not know what it was but it hurt. No one else got sick that night so it wasn’t the food or the water. At the reception the groom told me the guests kept commenting on how good my photography ability is. I responded with “how can they tell if they can’t see what I’m shooting”. The groom said, “because you’re all over the place and we can tell you haven’t missed a single moment, we have had so much fun working with you”. Keep in mind I just returned last night. Right now they haven’t seen any of the photos yet they say they are 100% satisfied. I told them it might be a few weeks before I can edit though all the images but they’re so confident they said to take as long as i need. Total I think I captured around 3k and will show them around 1k of those. I returned to more work than I had before I left. The first thing was to burn the photos sessions to disk from shoots last week and get them to fedex to be mailed to the lab for web hosting. I also had to get a disk ready to send out of an engagement session a brides mother has been calling me about every day the week before the trip. It took me 5 hours to reply to all the emails I received over the weekend while the phone rang every 10 minutes. Most of the emails were from prospective brides wanting info about my wedding services. Every email needs to be personalized so it takes time when i get 4 or 5 new inquires a day on average in addition to the 20 or 30 past client emails to reply to and 50 to 60 spam emails to sort through. Then there’s the phone calls to respond to. Most people communicate through email these days which is nice but some things are best left to verbal communication. I still get around 10 call a day. After 4 days of not being in the studio things start to add up. Other photographers have asked me how I do what I do all my myself. The only answer I can think to respond with is that I don’t know how to do anything else. I went to school for computers. That didn’t work out for more than a year or two before I picked up a camera. Photography is all I have known from the beginning. When you do something every day for so long it defines you molding your way of life like an evolving organism. I took a break after the emails and treated my girlfriend to dinner at a local sushi bar followed by a walk around the wall and a trip to Lowes to get a new backdoor for my house. Then returned to pull and rename all the images requested by the publishing company for the equine book. Writing a quick note in my blog seemed like the right thing to do. I feel good, refreshed and top of my game. Spring is just around the corner, I have all the latest equipment including a Nikon D3, 70-200 VR 2.8 lens, enough digital cards to shoot 3 weddings without missing a beat and a new computer I build that makes a folder of four thousand 6 meg digital files from the D3 view like a movie. This computer has a server board, 2 Xeon 771 3 gig quad processors, 16 gigs of FB-Dimm DDR2 800 Ram, thermal cooler on everything including the Ram and I’m running a 64 bit platform. I have 4 DVD burning drives installed. When I burn 4 DVD’s at the same time the memory and processor stats read 2% usage. This computer is hot and running very cool. I put all the best parts into it because I was tired of dealing with lag time building a new computer every year to keep up with the new cameras I keep getting. I figured if I build a Bad-A$$ computer that will last me several years it will pay for itself with the time I same in production. So far this has been a very true statement. This computer has zero lag time now matter what I throw at it. Check it out next time you’re in the studio. It’s the big black box with bright blue lights coming out of it. Yes, I put blue lights in it! When you spend as much time and money building something I want people to see it Till then I wish you all the best with your goals and hope every day will bring a new adventure.

Myrtle Beach Wedding in Murrells Inlet SC

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:19:55 +0000

Shot a really cool wedding yesterday in Myrtle Beach. It was almost cheating because the weather was perfect. The wedding took place at 5pm and the clouds were just thick enough to create a very soft light effect on the environment while keeping people eyes in relaxed state. The images came out so well I put the card on the computer at the start of the reception. I did no editing what so ever to the images. Every image that was shown as exactly as I photographed the day. I told a few people I didn’t have time to edit through the images. Their response was “I haven’t seen one I don’t like yet”. That’s really nice coming from the father of the bride. Everything just went so well. The wedding was held at Waccashaw Plantation. The very professional and easy to work with coordinator said I would definitely be on the list of recommended vendors. After shooting there one time I was amazed I would get such a status being located in Wilmington NC over one hour away. I also had a wedding on Friday; the Myrtle Beach wedding was on Saturday. Fridays wedding was in Kure Beach. It was a small wedding with about 15 people total. The couple’s personality type matched mine so well it was almost strange. I could really relate to their easy going goofy personality types. They asked “what do we do” so of course I said “jump” .. and sure enough all 15 people jumped as high as they could. So I said lets go chase the birds. They did that too! We created some of my coolest images this summer with one of the smallest weddings I’ve done. Having a good personality match with your photographer really does keep the images popping. What really made me feel good at that wedding is when the groom said “I’m really having a lot of fun with you as the photographer, we’re really glade we chose you” … then the very next day in myrtle beach the bridal party of 14 said the same thing. The funny part is I’m really just trying to do the best job I can as a wedding photographer. I think it’s the people that allow me to help them make it fun. Then again it is possible the 2 java monsters I had before the ceremony helped with my energy level. I love coffee. Java monsters are my #1 drink for any occasion. The best children beach photographs I have created were shortly after a java monster … there seems to be a connection between having a high energy level and people enjoying their photography experience. The times have changed, it is no longer about posing and taking 2 or 3 images. people want variety and they want quality with nice expressions and above all … good hair. One of my hardest tasks when standing behind a camera is posing or anticipating a photo where the hair will fall the way it is styled. I have created some amazing photos with ok hair but when I show a female a beautiful image with less than perfect hair there is only one response I get … ”No”. I did another portrait session on bald head last week too. We did images in front of old baldy with a family or 7. I was worried that the light would be too harsh. When I looked at the images on the computer I was sooo excited. I can’t wait to show the family. on the way to the beach as we were riding in the golf carts I saw a patch of sunflowers on the side of the road. The person who hired me has a 1 year old son. We put him in the middle of the sunflowers. They were small, only about 2 feet high or less. If you have ever been to Bald Head Island you know the road down the middle is dark. I think it’s federal street if I remember correctly. That’s where the sunflowers are. There was a beam of light shooting right at the sunflowers through the trees. I did a few back lit then moved around to the light side. There I created images that will surly make the mother cry. They are just adorable! All these photographs I am mentioning will be online on my website very soon. I always make sure the family or client is finished ordering before I post images online for the world to see. I need to see what kind of comments people will say about images of themselves. I never put an image online if the subject does not approve. This week I’m bouncing around from topsail Island where I have a few portrait sessions then to Wrightsville Beach for portraits then back to topsail then to Wrightsville again ending with a portrait session next Saturday at Carolina Beach. I’m excited about this week especially because I had to order a new monitor for my studio. My CRT retouching monitor has died after 4 years of solid service. I never turn my monitors off so 4 years is good in my book. This Wednesday I have the best retouching monitor made arriving. It is a Lacie flat screen 24″. I am hoping to get out of the studio Tuesday night for shag night at the Carolina Lounge here in Wilmington NC. Yes, don’t laugh … I like to dance. It keeps me on my feet when I’m not in front of a monitor editing photography.

Professional Photographer Liability; What does it mean?

admin — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:14:50 +0000

The definition of liability is the state of being legally obliged and responsible.

My goal in this post is to educate people in the seriousness of photography for assignments that can not be rescheduled or in anyway recreated. It is important to have someone behind the camera who knows what they are doing with digital technology which is why you see the higher prices when searching for an experienced professional. The truth is it easier for the average person to get higher quality images because of digital, being able to see results instantly, the price we pay in terms of consequences falls heavily on the liability end. If an agreement is made to produce photographs in a verbal or written form then it is considered a legal contract and it is the photographer’s obligation to produce these images … point blank, no exceptions unless otherwise agreed to before the assignment. Because the images can not be recreated another day the risk factor is very high causing the labor fee to increase to justify the risk the photographer has agreed to. When an image can be recreated and the risk factor is not as high the labor fee is generally very low. For weddings and family reunions the labor fee is generally higher because of the consequences faced if the photographer does not produce what is expected. One bad job could mean the end of that photographer’s career in a small town. There is a lot more that goes along with being a professional wedding photographer or family portrait photographer than people in general realize. I believe this is a result of so many people picking up a digital SLR and slapping on the professional status like a washable tattoo. If it doesn’t work out as a photographer they can simply wash the tattoo off and go back to their 9-5 jobs. Professional photographers who do photography for a living do not have this option. If every client is not 100% happy the consequences can be horrifying. To the consumer not producing the images could mean not being able to reference their family as a whole when the family is spread apart across the US and only get together every 10 or 15 years. It could also mean never knowing how beautiful your wedding dress looked on you if you did not receive images from your wedding day. These are very serious matters.

Liability explanation:

The short version is explained by simply asking a question. How would you feel and how far would you be willing to go if you hired someone to photograph your wedding or family reunion and they did not show, or at the end of the event had no photographs to show? You might think, “Today we have digital, how can anything go wrong?” Everyone today has used a computer at some point. Even if you have only used a computer once you can understand and/or relate to how fast computers can malfunction or render corruption errors. Now think about someone who only uses one digital camera at a wedding and what would happen should that camera malfunction before the ceremony. I see photographers pop up every day as professionals who have not been doing photography long and suddenly decide to start offering services with their new toy to make a little extra money on the weekend. Then I hear people saying how horrible their photographers were and how they wished they would have paid the extra money for someone more experienced. Before digital photography rolls of film were lost, exposed to light or drop in mud. The more common problems were film would be incorrectly exposed or incorrectly processed. Liability is not new to photography because of digital but there is no doubt the game has changed in terms of what we need to be prepared for. Inside that digital camera is a very sensitive computer. Would you want the guy with no backup camera to photograph your wedding? I have 4 digital cameras. When I am on the job I have 2 with me at all times. It is a day that only happens once meaning if something is missed … it’s gone for good. Still there are other variables that increase a photographer’s responsibility even more; like photographing near, on or around sand and salt water. The wear and tear on the equipment is much greater than being in a secure studio environment. If a photographer has something happen where the images get erased from the digital cards or images are missed after the bride and groom specifically put the images on a contract, at that point there is means for action, full payment refund and legitimate public degradation. Wedding photography comes with the highest level of liability of any genre of photography. On average 3 professional photographers in the US get sued each month, 10 photographers have to pay 1k per gig to have images recovered from a faulty hard drive or flash card, and 5 photographers each month go out of business. I take photography very serious because it is all I know. It is what I do every day and how I eat. I am a very easy going person. I have a lot of fun as do my subjects when I am behind the camera because I am relaxed and confident in my ability to meet and in most cases exceed my client’s expectations. To date I have never had a wedding go bad (knock on wood) as you can see from my online reviews and other wedding websites. If you look at the online reviews of other photographers you will see negative comments that dramatically hurt my competitors business. I know this because I get the business they would have had those comments not been written. Online comments are easily written and can not be erased. One bad comment online in today’s web based world, placed in the right spot, can destroy a photographer’s once reputable career. It is very disturbing the power we give the search engines. You pay for this ability as a consumer when you pay the high prices of a professional wedding photographer. From the photographers perspective the risk is worth the average wedding package price of 4k because 4K will cover the cost of any recovery or legal backing needed should something go wrong. The is the reaon many photographers today set 4k as their entry point.

The hats we wear

admin — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:52:46 +0000

What makes up photography is an endless list of job hats most people do not realize. My time spent learning about computers has helped me a grate deal with cutting cost in today’s digital world. I build my own machines to make sure they are capable of pushing the sometimes 500mb to 1.5 GB files. Permission from the government to be a photographer is another hat all to itself. Photographers like all business owners have taxes to deal with and an endless list of PR work to maintain the exposure and keep inquiries coming in so we can give 30% of what we make to uncle same. Printing is separate from photography. Just because you can make a baby smile and capture a solid exposure does not mean you can produce a print capable of winning awards. There is a step between shooting and printing that is often missed. Being able to sell the work that is created is 90% of being a photographer. Not everyone understands why one image will print better then another or the twenty million options for final presentations you have to choose from. Selling when done well leaves a customer with a feeling of being overwhelmed with options but satisfied the option they chose is the right one for their needs. Giggles and grins we all like to see brings up another job hat. In order to bring out a subjects personality we have to ask questions and talk to people. When people start talking you never know what to expect. Everyone goes through hard times with different issues in their life. These are the easiest things to talk about. More often then not photographers will have to play the roll of sociologist friend to comfort subjects to help explain why things are happening in someone’s life to get the subject back to a happy place for a nice expression. Each genre of photography comes with a new set of hats to wear and each hat I put on makes me a stronger person and a better photographer. Photography found me at the age of 18. It is my job, my career, it is who I am. I wake up every day and check my email wondering if I will get an inquiry for something new. Will it be a wedding in Ashville or a commercial job in Charlotte or maybe a magazine editorial where I’ll have to fly to California to shoot an image for a hot new story? Whatever it is you can promise I will try my hardest to do my best and be the best at getting the job done with the highest respect for quality. As a photographer Qality is what counts more then anything else as in most industries to seperate professionals from those who pick up a camera for the first time and slap a label on their door. Some people go through the motions in life, some try hard but only hard enough and others simply push. The ones that push are the ones that produce what is considered quality. A comment that sums up how i look at what i do would be “do not just do somthing, do it so well others want to do it too”. I do not remember who said this to me but it stuck. Every day no matter what hat i wear i have this statement echoing in my head.

Always changing

admin — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 07:38:50 +0000

I am excited every day to wake up and learn about the changes that are made in my life by simply doing what I know how to do. Photography is all I know. If you care to find out how i got started and why, this is my story. After high school in Arden, NC I attended WCU. Like all freshmen who graduate from boarding schools where they prep you with an ego before sending you off into the world, I thought I would be an easy “A” student majoring in computer science; that was not the case. I left high school working on a pretty intense graphics program helping other students with Photoshop needs. Shortly after my first few months of college I found a SLR camera at a friend’s house, a cannon rebel film body like the ones they use to have at Wal-Mart. My friend sold me the camera at a give away price which was all i could afford at the time. The short version is, I never put it down. That did not work well with teachers wanting homework and perfect attendance. I didn’t care, I had something I needed to get good at. I didn’t know why I had such a drive to use this new device and when I had the camera in my hand I felt a peace. My camera was like a beer or a cigarette for most people. It was my addiction and my comfort zone. I had found something that made me stand out. There are many different personality types out there. Mine is the type that starts something, develops a strong desire to have a solid understanding, fulfils that understanding then moves on to see what else life has to offer. When I found the camera on my friends coffee table that day I had no idea what I had found. For the price tag he gave me of $30 I figured it would simply be a fun way to fill the time when I was not working or doing homework. The camera provided a way for my personality type to explode. It gave me a reason to explore the world. For the first time I new what it was like to enjoy learning about something. Not learning to impress or to get a grade but learning because I wanted to show others what I had seen while on an adventure. At the time I was going hiking to water falls around North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway. I would find a waterfall i had not been to on the internet then get a group of friends together from my dorm and take off on an adventure simply because I could. I can’t just find a bug and take a photo. When I photograph something new, it reveals a whole new world of lessons to learn. For example you can’t just shoot a face, a face has a nose and eyes with eye sockets. Noses are a form of texture and to create shape the dimension in that texture you need to create shadow. Then you learn the different patterns for how to light a nose in a pleasing manner so the eyes will shine without shadow falling on the pupil and the image will be appealing to the subject and/or the viewer. When you photograph horses the head and legs have to be in correct formation so the horse looks well bread. Metal needs to look like metal and not blown out or have funky reflections. Underwater photography creates a haze on the capture created by light shining through the water which needs to be fixed in post production if you are shooting in ocean water or a pool with chlorine. If you can work with the haze you still need to stay down long enough to get the shot. Bugs never stay till! The closer you get to a bug the more detail you see. The first time I photographed a spider I was terrified. Photographing a praying mantis close up can seem almost comical because of the way they move. Every type of photography starts with a single photo. For some the process moves on to a print being put on the wall where the process then ends. For me the learning process can go on forever. It is a constant battle to stay ahead of my competition at the genre’s that pay the bills and to learn the tricks to photographing new things. I want to know why the subject is beautiful in the image I have created, why is it scary, why does it make you feel excited or emotional. Photography is my way of life. It is all I know and all I understand. I have tried learning other things. My brain does not seem to absorb relative information like it does with digital photography related education. I tried to learn horticulture a few years ago. I can’t remember a third of what I learned. Yet I can recall word for word what my teachers at Hallmark institute said to me in nearly every lecture I sat through like it was a recording in my head. If i were still shooting film I would probably not be a photographer right now. In school and for the few years after when I worked with film the process was to slow and time consuming. Finding a negative in an envelope of 20 rolls use to drive me crazy.

Wedding Photographer On A Party Boat!

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:58:19 +0000

This should be fun; I just booked a wedding for May 2nd on a party boat. I use to fish at night on my boat up until about 8 months ago under snows cut bridge at Carolina Beach. There was always a boat that went by with music and disco lighting and people screaming at me. I remember thinking to myself, “that would be fun to photograph.” If nothing else it would be interesting to be on the release side of the flying beer bottles. I love being a photographer because every job is different and everything I do keeps me pushing to be better as a person and as a professional. If you read my previous blog you might find it interesting this bride also wanted the thin magazine style coffee table book. I also just booked a wedding in Ashville NC and another in Silver City NC shooting a photographers daughters wedding. I think a little time on the road will do me good. Shooting for other photographers always lights a fire under my feet to be more creative. I’m currently putting together an album for a landfall wedding in between phone calls and emails. I have also booked a family portrait today for august 9th at ocean isle. It seems Ocean Isle and Topsail photographers are in high demand right now. I’ve been shooting at both of those locations about 3 times a week for the past 2 months. I just received another email for an ocean isle portrait session and will be calling in a few minutes, wish me luck and thanks for reading!!

Consultation and Emails

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:38:59 +0000

This morning i woke up to my dog Reesy trying to tell me something, it sounded like “wraw wraw wraaaw” fallowed by a very enthusiastic ”wake up” lick. Being a pet photographer i had an urge to grab the camera, then i realized i had a consultation in just under an hour and Reesy has been shedding like a wild dog lately. I jumped up and grabbed the vacuum, started a little jack Johnson gave Reesy some food and went on a dog hair removal mission. The phone rang a few minutes later. It was the couple letting me know they were in town early and wanted to come. I had finished my mission and started feeling excited to show my creations so i said ok. Reesy Greeted the couple as they pulled up with her tail in full wag mode. I could tell they were pet people by the way they took to Ressy almost instantly. The couple came inside and introduced themselves explaining how their wedding would be at Fort Fisher and the ceremony would be at the North Carolina (NC) Aquarium. I recently did the promo work for the NC aquarium so that was the first thing i showed them. Then we sat down and looked at albums. Times are changing with Albums. I started offering a thin coffee table book with thin pages and a basic page layout design. I show this album in addition to the several others that cost $1000 or more. This new book is only $500. The common comment is “those are nice but the thin coffee table book is more us”. Personally i would probably get one for myself if i had the need, now that i think about it maybe i’ll put one together using all the images i have taken of Reesy. After showing the albums, prints, matted images, left over wedding wallet favors and digital slide show the couple seemed very happy. They had been together for 10 years already and seemed just as sweet to each other as couples that had recently fallen in love. I think these guys were a very good match and from the sound of their last few comments I’m feeling good about seeing them again. I ended our meeting with a little help from Reesy. If you’ve seen our myspace photo on my personal profile http://www.myspace.com/tomsapp you’ll see she’s a talker. Random noises and showing off her abilities are her specialties. The couple laughed for a minute then said their good byes. They were heading over to the Aquarium for a meeting with Terry Bryant. She is a wonderful event coordinator and the NC Aquarium is such a cool place. When the couple left i checked my email. It turns out I’m doing a wedding for a bride that works with Kyle mentioned in my first blog posting, the aspiring photographer. They work at South Beach Bar and Grill in Wrightsville Beach together. She emailed me letting me how happy she is with the engagement session, another email was letting me know i have a comment already on my blog from Tiffany Strickland. I did her wedding about 2 months ago then saw her at her friends wedding i shot in Greenville, NC 2 weeks ago. She was such an awesome bride to shoot for and now she’s taking the time to write me a blog comment, that is just awesome. If only i could get every day to start out this well!

Group of 19 and a new assistant/aspiring photographer

admin — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:15:30 +0000

Aspiring

Yesterday I did a photo shoot with a family of 19 at the north end of Carolina Beach. The shoot was a little different because I had a new helper with me, Kyle from Wrightsville Beach. Kyle is an aspiring photographer at the age of 17. He has a spark in him; an element of excitement for what will come next that makes me remember how I was before I went to photo school and started my own business. We had a blast running around rolling in the sand and getting the kids to be silly. The family members were having so much fun I had people from around the Carolina Beach pier come up and ask me for cards. It makes me feel good when I can bring enjoyment into peoples lives like that so much so others see what I do and want me to do it for them. There was a little girl at this session that did not like to have a camera pointed at her. The parents wanted a family portrait but she was not having it. I told them to let her run for a few minutes when I got her playing and being a silly goose I told the parents to come in next to her, I called her name as the camera was in focused shooting position … CLICK …. The perfect family portrait. I’ve had so many family beach portraits lately time has flown by without me realizing what day it is. Today is the first day I’ve had in about 3 weeks where I haven’t photographed someone standing on sand. It was nice to take a breather but at the same time I have so much fun when I shoot I feel energized for tomorrow’s session. At the end of the family portrait session Kyle told me he had learned a great deal about getting really awesome portraits, “what’s that” I said, “you have to be super animated and have fun!” His comment made me laugh. I told him most of that was the cup of coffee I had before the shoot. He is right regarding the session we had just done because there were kids involved and that is the style they wanted based on a phone conversation with the grandmother earlier that week. That is also why I had a cup of coffee before working with 19 kids and 7 of them being between 14 and 2. It’s not often before a session I have people point to a photo and say “I want that”, if they did it wouldn’t be special. I felt the 19 people on vacation I was photographing simply wanted fun memories. Later that theory was backed by a dunking session into the ocean. Every shoot is different, as a photographer it is my job to get a feel for personality and try my best to understand what my subjects are expecting. If a little girl doesn’t like to have her photo taken getting a timeless portrait in 5 minutes is not the most likely thing to happen. I was very lucky in this situation the parents were open to my suggestions. It is better to let the energy out, find a happy place then try again. For that reason I try to take more time to work with kids like this and sometimes adults to help them feel relaxed and comfortable. There was another little girl that was the complete opposite. I played a game where the kids jumped in front of the camera and made faces at me to get giggles and grins. The last little girl to go couldn’t have been more then 2 years old. She has poses better then national editorial models I work with. That one little girl made 20 people laugh for 5 minutes without a comments. I can predict but in truth I never know exactly what to expect. I carry all the backup equipment and lighting or gear should something go bad. Nothing can prepare you for a 2 year old comedian female with pigtails. When laughter hits, I must be ready! After the session I ran into my photographer buddy Matt and Wilmington NC Videographer Pete Bruno at McDonalds. I sat down to a glass of cold ice tea then got an invite to a lawn movie party next to the Carolina Beach Lake. It seems there is a weekly movie watched on a giant blow up screen with rear projection. After the awesome shoot I had I was ready to wind down a bit. The movie was spider wick chronicles. I would recommend this movie to anyone of all ages. Definitely one of the better movies I’ve seen in a while.