I don't answer questions about post processing anymore. Cheers.

I usually go with the "pale as fuck" preset.

The best way to creating creative vision is to experiment. You need to constantly try new things as well as work on the skills you already have. Some good things will be happy accidents, others the result of knowing your stuff. Sitting around in your room waiting for vision to appear out of thin air won't work.

And you need to be curious, always interested in what goes on around you.

Complacency is creativity's worst enemy.

Vision is an overused buzz word today, people think it's something tangible that they can go looking for. Unfortunately that's not the case. Vision is us trying to explain something we can't really describe.

All you can do as a photographer is take photos you like and do it often.

Chasing vision is like desperately waiting for something good to happen tomorrow.

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans", a wise man once said.

Lack of vision. So many wedding photographers shoot weddings in a way they expect them to be shot. It's like they started out by looking at what other wedding photographers were doing and tried to carbon copy that. There are a million ways to tell a story, but when you look at wedding photographers in general every post is is groundhog day.

I'm not saying I don't do the same, we all do, but it feels like so many wedding photographers completely lack artistic vision.

Shoot it your way.

As wrong as I think you are, it's an interesting subject. When I started shooting weddings (especially), I looked at other wedding photographers for inspiration. I tried to break down exactly what they did to their images, but no matter how close I came to their magic recipe, my images always looked like my images. It was extremely frustrating. I wanted my images to look like theirs, not mine.

But slowly I started to realise that the thing that made my images look like my images was something under the surface, something very hard to define.

Some call it voice, some call it vision, others expression.

Whatever it is, it's something all photographers need to learn how to cultivate. I did the same thing to my writing over my ten year career as a writer.

Over the few short years I've worked as a wedding photographer, my post processing has changed over 100 times. And yet people tell me they can recognise an image of mine from far away. The same way I can recognise an image by Sean Flanigan or Erik Clausen.

Good photographers are intuitive, they have learned to listen to that inner voice or whatever you want to call it. They are in tune with something beyond shutter speeds, apertures and post processing and they keep shooting from that place rather than the obvious.

Getting there is a long journey, personally I think I've only scratched the surface, but that's the beauty of photography, as much as we think we're shooting a picture OF something, we're really just trying to mirror something we have within.

And that thing is what it is no matter what photoshop action you smear over it.

Read the War of Art.

Perhaps because I'm lazy. Perhaps because on a gut level I don't think my ideal client is going to find me by searching in google.

Perhaps because I'm busy as-is.

Perhaps I'm wrong. I think I need to have European Dutch Holland Netherlands Italy Amalfi Coast Hipster Elegant Romantic Whimsical Wedding Photography Photographer in invisible white tags all over my posts so that I get my dream weddings. Or I maybe even better keywords, like, I am Jonas Peterson's Shadow. Or something like that. I'll have to rethink my strategy.

I've taken a long and hard look in the mirror and I've realised I have been short, angry and sometimes a little bitter here on Formspring. There's a number of reasons for this and at times I've thought I had legitimate reasons for my reactions.

BUT.

I do this because I like giving back, I like sharing and I want people to get an insight to why I do this thing I do.

Sure, I think there are too many "irrelevant" questions at times, but who am I to judge? People ask them because they want to know something and that's good, right? There's no reason (well...) for me to get shitty with people because they ask me what lens I prefer to shoot with.

They simply want to know.

So, 2012 is here and I've decided to start fresh. I do this because I love it and I want people to keep asking me questions without being afraid I'll turn into the soup nazi again.

But thanks for your kind words, I appreciate it.

I haven't always been kind on here and that's my fault, no one else's.

I considered erasing all my old answers, but instead I will just have to show people I realise I've been wrong too.

Here's to a fresh start.

But if you ask me what ASE is I will have to slash your tyres, ok?

I'm probably the worst SEO person on this planet. I just use prophoto coupled with the plugins my friends at Nordica Photography told me to use :). I believe it's the SEO friendly pack. If you want info on SEO, def check out Nordica's formspring page here.. http://www.formspring.me/Nordicaphoto Cheers and Happy New Years!

I got a dead squirrel. And yes, we tell the boys all sorts of crazy stuff, Santa is one of them.

Got nothin' but love and respect for Fer. Just met him a month or so ago and he's one of the nicest people ever. Very genuine. Very awesome.

Long johns.

Phew let's see here. This is going to be long... There are a lot of folks but to name a few I'd have to say Gregory Crewdson because of his "off kilter" style, Aaron Nace because the guy is an innovator and insane at what he does, James Nachtwey because he captures the world in a way that few people see, Jonas Peterson because he tells people's stories like one bad mutha, Erik Clausen and Otto Schulze because they are the dynamic duo but both of them are batman, Samm Blake and Dan O' Day because no matter how awesome they are, they continue to push themselves out of their comfort zones and improve their lives/ work while helping others do the same, Fer Juaristi because he's got an insane vision and a huge heart, Joel Flory because the man has redefined how to run a photography business and is not a "business man" but rather a genuine and awesome soul that loves what he does so freakin' much it hurts, Hugh Forte because he shreds and has a sense of humor second to none. When I think inspiration I think of folks that have brought life and love into my heart. That push me to do my best and support everyone around them. So I have to name a few more here that have done just that... Shaun Kardinal, Eric Yerke, Nordica Photography, Jay Eads, Tyler Branch, Drew Willingham, Jeramie Shoda, Mike Smith (Ash Imagery), Gary Bradford, Amari Kenoly, Daniel Chesnut, Gene Pease (Geneoh), Ryan Ray, Anna Kim, Sarah Rhoads, James Moes, and Amber Hughes.

More than you wanted to know I bet ;).

Here are two before and after images from the last wedding I posted.

BEFORE is straight out of camera.
AFTER is after LR and ASE3.

http://jonaspeterson.com/beforeafter1.jpg

http://jonaspeterson.com/beforeafter2.jpg

Hopefully this will make people realise that my images aren't edited much, when I mean nail exposure and WB in camera, I really mean it.

Show what you want to sell.

As far as people, I don't know if I'm really inspired by other wedding photographers quite as much as I used to be, but I do admire some photographers for a variety of reasons. Off the top of my head would be Sean Flanigan, Jonas Peterson, Ben Blood, Sergio Mottola, Jay Eads, the dudes from Nordica, Ken Kienow, Kip Beelman, Jenny Jimenez, Gene Pease, Hugh Forte, and lots of others I'm sure. Each for different reasons and not always even because of their photos, but also them as individuals.

Looking at other's work totally helped me develop my own style in the beginning, mainly borrowing ideas/techniques that worked and not keeping ones that didn't.

I photograph for fun of course, but professionally I'm focusing on just weddings and portraits.

photoshop

I bring it to some weddings, but so far not all. The reason is the added cost.

It all depends on what you're gonna use it for. If you need low-light ability, then go for the 1.8. If you need the wide 20mm, then go for that one.

We don't have any experience from either of them, so it's tough to say.

@jonaspeterson is the bees knees and (!) he has a his own Formspring account: http://www.formspring.me/jonaspeterson