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All responses Most smiled responses
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I have honestly never used it. We have specific editing styles & techniques that can only be performed with certain programs. We like to keep our overall look very fluid so our style is evident right from the start and clients can know what to expect when they book ae. We wouldn't use basic editors unless it was for some quick personal photos. I honestly had never even visited the Picnik site until I received this question. My overall first impression is that it seems like it might be a quick & easy place to do some editing for those who do photography for a hobby and could work well for that, but as far as on a professional level, I don't feel it would provide clients with the best possible level of quality they deserve when paying for professional services. But--that is just my opinion, and I don't have any experience actually using Picnik.
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*Book us only if you trust our work and our style-- if you feel we will mesh well and are willing to give us complete creative freedom on the day. It's very discouraging when we book a couple, go to shoot their wedding, start to set up a unique pose and get the "what the heck is this, this is dumb" look from the couple, as well as the wedding party & family. You booked us because of the unique shots you saw on the site. Those clients gave us the freedom to have fun, be unique and create them. We are non traditional photographers. A lot of people will tell us they want photojournalistic photos and love our style when they book and then change it up right before or during the wedding and describe completely traditional shots as what they are looking for. Just be sure to figure out exactly what is best for you and your style BEFORE booking. You want to mesh with your photographer, and you want them to have the style you are looking for. It's not the best idea to book a photographer and then ask them to change their style at the last minute. I say this so everything is just right for YOU on your wedding day!!
*Understand the time it takes to edit all of the photos and create your products (including lab processing time.) We know you are anxious to see your images, as we are to show you! Things take time in order for all photos to be completely edited magazine style. We've had numerous clients who say they are completely laid back--"take all the time you need, we just want great photos--we know it's a lot of hard work, and you guys are great at it" and then after the wedding, they are calling and complaining right away, pretending we never spoke and agreed to time frames and telling us how long it takes for other photographers to post. Traditional photographers, as well as a lot of other photographers with our style, do not edit the photos before they post. Of course it would be quick to just take them out of the camera and upload them straight to a gallery. We do not feel that is finishing the job. We want to give you the best photos possible--like those you see on the website. If you are more worried about time than quality, but sure to speak up at the meeting or during pre wedding conversations.
*Give us a decent amount for Private Time! It's one of the most important areas of the day. So many times couples will get caught up with the hustle and bustle of the day and just decide to cut out Private Time!!!! Of all things--Private Time!! Then they want every combination under the sun for traditional family shots. Knowing from years of experience, once it's all said and done, you will cherish photos of the two of you (and have a lot more use for them)so much more than the dozens and dozens of extended family shots. Do not cut Private Time... in fact, make it a top priority!
*Be sure to read the contract! There are a lot of points I can make and things I can go into, but the main point is just for you to full read the contract before signing and agreeing to everything on it!
*We do not allow any other professional photographers or people who pretty much could be/want to be professional photographers to shoot the wedding when we are (which is also in the contract!) We do this because most of the time when an important event is happening, any decent photographer will know the best angles to capture it... therefore putting us all in the same place or putting the non-ae photographer in our shots. When it comes to poses we have taken the time to come up with and set up, we don't appreciate them coming over, standing next to us, or even in our way, and taking the shot. Eric and I have carefully worked out how we do things so we always get the best angles and are not in each other's way. This is to give you the best shots possible. When it comes to family & friends that decide to shoot the wedding day entirely as if they were a professional, this is what we think--you paid for our services and we are the professionals. Our cameras are high quality and will be always giving you a better shot that their cameras, so it they get in the way of ours, you end up with 2 bad photos instead of one amazing one. Of course we allow family and friends to snap various photos throughout the day--that is different. ***We had an issue with this at one of more recent weddings. There was an older man there dressed in a suit with a large camera and big lens (because we all know bigger surely means better.) We know he wasn't part of the family but aren't really sure if his was hired or just asked to come shoot along with us or if he was just a friend who was doing it on his own. He was constantly in our shots, in my way, grabbing shots we were setting up, etc. etc. The biggest issue, which will really cause problems for the couple, is the fact that guests were confused and kept going up to him throughout the night to get specific photos taken. When I saw this happen, I would go over and snap one myself (with the guests giving me looks like "who the heck are you" when here I was the PROFESSIONAL!) But, I'm sure this happened plenty of times when I wasn't able to catch it. His camera was big, but not professional. We could tell by watching him that he didn't really know what he was doing. So basically, he was messing up our shots for this couple to get his own mediocre shots. Because he was old and dressed extremely fancy, guests thought he was the professional and treated us like crap. It's very unfortunate. It's in the contract, so be sure to read it and follow it.... and make sure you family & friends follow it! This is in your best interest!
*Be open and honest about what you want and don't want right from the beginning. We say this to give you the best experience possible throughout our entire time working together. Or, if the case may be, to let you know that we feel a different photography service might better fit your needs to ensure you get what you deserve on your wedding day (the style you are envisioning.) Same goes for if there is ever an issue--come to us, talk it out, and we will do everything in our power to correct it. Don't tell us how amazing we are and how perfect everything was and then leave us a review saying things you wish would have been done differently--that being the first we have heard of any of it. It's not the way to get anything solved, and we don't feel it's right to make complaints you never gave us the chance to solve. I know I speak for most photographers when I say all of this. Being open and honest is extremely important.
*Finally, extending the "open and honest" point I made above, be sure to tell us exactly what you want and what is extra important for us to capture on your day. We do send out a form for all of our clients to fill out in order to do all we can on our end to get this info from you. However, in the end, it's really up to you to make sure you've communicated it to us. We want more than anything to give you exactly what you want. But, say there is an uncle at your wedding that flew in from a differently country and you really wanted lots of photos of him throughout the day... there is absolutely no way for us to know that unless we are told! We'd love to be mind readers, but we aren't! We do try to go around and get shots of everyone throughout the day, but we definitely want to be told of any and all things/people/events that are extremely important and need to be given extra attention. Again, it's very hard for us when we weren't told of anything specific and then read a review of a bride complaining that only a couple shots were taken of a specific aunt or uncle they hadn't seen in years and wanted a lot of shots of. I've heard SO many photographers and photography articles go over this, as well.
There are probably a few more things I could say, but I'll stop! These are the most important things! :) -
When they don't consider the hard work that comes along with our service and always think the price is completely negotiable even after we've discounted it. You wouldn't go to the doctor and have him preform a service and then say you only want to pay half--so it shouldn't be done with photographers. This is especially hard when people expect us to work for nothing--having us stay overtime and then refusing to pay the bill. The job we do lasts for months!! It is extremely time consuming and requires a lot of hard work. We love it, but also like to be respected and treated fairly throughout the whole experience.
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asked by MollyKWhitman
I basically started out on my own and did it part time while Eric had a full time job back in 2002. Awhile back, we decided to both go full time with it. We were booking a lot from referrals and quite a bit the advertising we were doing. Facebook is a great tool. It's also a good idea to team up with other vendors that match your style. We have been going full force since then and haven't looked back! We hope to continue doing it for as long as we are able to!! Good luck with your business! It takes a lot of hard work & determination, but if you keep at it, you will get there :)
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hmmm... My guess would be Jarid. Sorry if I'm wrong. It's weird to me that every single question I've been asked has been anonymous. Why is that?
Olive is fine. She enjoys most of her days outside in the sun, comes in for her meal, belches loudly in the same spot every day while walking to her pillow in the living room, and then hangs out on that the rest of the night--minus a few pee breaks. She's smelly, but the best dog ever, aside from Maggie. Seriously - If anyone is considering buying a dog, Bulldogs are the way to go. The are so lazy, loving and easy to train. At least the females ones are.
Eric walks around in his undies (boxers only.... or mesh shorts) all the time. I joke with him a lot, because before I get in the door and set my bag on the floor after a wedding, he's already headed over to the tv is just his boxers. He gets those "dress clothes" off in rapid speed. It's hilarious. I'm sure he won't mind me saying all of that : X
So then, who is this?! -
My favorite meal would be salmon and asparagus. Yum! But, for day-to-day stuff, I love getting soup and a half sandwich (broccoli soup and the Mediterranean Veggie) from Panera. And, unfortunately, dessert is a weakness for me. Oh--also, any big home cooked meal at my grandma's is always something I thoroughly enjoy :)
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What types of props do you sell/make? Do you have a site we could take a look at? We are pretty picky about the props we use, because technically, our style doesn't really match prop usage. There are some things we do like to work with--esp. if they are really funky, unique & vintage looking. It would all depend. Are you looking to receive some type of mentor session from us? If so, we are going to start offering those in 2011. We will not be doing classes, mainly just one-on-one sessions so the clients gets all of their questions answered and receives our full focus. If this is something you would be interested in, please email us from the website, and I will send you more info. Thanks for your offer. I look forward to seeing your props.
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Hopefully in a bigger city and a home that meets our needs. We want to live in an area where our business might attract more of the type of clients that are looking for the style we offer as far as our business goes. Our little babes won't be little anymore. Finn will be off to school not this fall but the next, and we are looking forward to finally getting a chance to be alone all day and possibly getting another studio location or office to work out of. We don't plan to have more kids, but in reality, we don't really "plan" things like that. If they happen, they are meant to be. I'm already missing having a tiny baby to hold... so who knows... maybe we'll have 3 more :)
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Well, for those of you who don't know, Eric was "dared" to ask me out in 6th grade and I was "dared" to say yes... and now here we are :) That's not saying we didn't take breaks. We were little and dumb. We fought all the time, as we still do, but it was the same back then as it is now--we fight and fight and feel so tired of each other, but then we miss each other once we are apart for an hour. We are best friends.
People always thought we were crazy for always getting back together... over and over and over... but they must have realized there was something special there. My parents loved Eric and liked when I was with him. His parents always seemed to like me, and I loved being a part of his family. He's always been like a true big brother to my sisters since he basically grew up with them... and my mom feels like he's truly her son.
I love the fact that when I have a random memory of life that I'm suddenly reminded of, 9x of out of 10, I can go remind Eric about it and we can laugh, because we both experienced it.... together. It's crazy to say we've been together for over half our lives already! We are very blessed.... even when we want to punch each other in the face--which is at least once a day :) -
Haha... that is the entire reason we were going to have a second wedding in 2011. We don't know if that's going to happen now--this vacation is pretty expensive!
I would hire a videographer first thing. We didn't have one, and I completely regret it. I would wait until May and have an outdoor vintage/modern/elegant wedding like I wanted instead of whipping one together in a month and doing it in December : /
I would hire a photography team instead of just having one person, because I know now how hard it is to catch everything when you shoot solo. I would change nearly every decor detail, the reception and ceremony site.... everything. I would hire a band instead of a DJ. Probably a well known one for 15K ;)
The biggest, most important changes would be having my maid of honor be my best friend instead of who I had and having a father/daughter dance. I didn't have one, and it makes me cry at nearly every wedding I shoot when the father/daughter dance starts. I would also change our first dance song, too. I won't even post what we danced to--embarrassing!
My dream wedding is a mix of vintage & modern, very clean like Martha :), a lot of unique touches that people don't see at every wedding, having an awesome dress and looking GOOD (not pregnant!) in it, and having all my family & friends there dancing the night away (instead if sitting in their seats like losers.)
Looong answer! I could go on, but I'll stop. -
a dancer... still wish i could :)
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We have been thinking about it a lot lately, actually. If we did, we wouldn't do classes or groups, we would do one-on-one with a photographer or photography team. We think it would be really fun! We plan on doing new things like that in 2011, because 2010 is pretty packed!
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We've both had a couple classes, but are for the most part self-taught. I really think our style comes from passion. Those that have tons of classes and are all about studio set-ups and lighting and this and that tend to come out in the end having more of a traditional style, and that's not what we're about. We constantly seek inspiration through artists and photographers we can relate to, and teach ourselves new tricks.
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We rarely do anything. We work all day and usually take a lunch break and pick up food or go out to eat somewhere just to get our heads out of our computer for a bit. Then we come home and work some more. We take breaks and watch a little tv before bed. We like Project Runway, a new on Bravo called (The Next Great Artist or something), Double Exposure, and So You Think You Can Dance. We basically just spend time at home with the kids and work :) If we ever get a chance to be alone, we go out to dinner & a movie... if we get to spend a couple days alone, we go to Chicago :)
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Bald Head Island of the coast of North Carolina. It's like a dream. We are staying in a million dollar home. Not too shabby. Now we just have to make sure the kids don't break anything!!
We actually came here with our computers & books in hand, ready to work. I think it will be pretty easy to get inspired and get a ton of work done! I will definitely post a picture on the blog of my view while on the computer. It's lovely.
We are so lucky to be able to take this vacation with the kids! It wouldn't be possible without the help of my mother-in-law, my best friend in the world who's watching miss olive for the week, and our good friends who are house setting our little cave the whole time we're gone. Thank you all! We'll be posting lots of updates on the blog. Be sure to check them out! -
Haha. I wish. I've never really tried too hard, because I'm pretty shy. I'll sing in the car when I'm alone, or when I have the whole house to myself during editing hours... but I'd never sing in front of a crowd. I know I'm not good... but I don't really know if I'm completely terrible. Probably.
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Rap for sure. I don't completely mind country music in the background during weddings... but I've never once listened to it myself (not for me!). I don't really get into any popular stuff, so I rarely listen to the radio. I stick with folk rock, classical on occasion, and some classic rock and oldies. I could listen to Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) every day for the rest of my life :) Amazing. We always listen to Lisa Hannigan, Damien Rice, Kings of Leon, Van Morrison, Red House Painters, The Cure, Annie Lennox, Ben Kweller, Coldplay... and so much more. We are music lovers.
Thanks for giving me something to do! Ask more ;) -
mr. eric hintzsche... followed by mr. mark ruffalo.... and then james franco and the lead singer from kings of leon. hahaha
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a lot, a lot, a lot of time, patience and dedication.
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katie daisy. who else? we love her!
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Ashley’s Bio
Created "ae photography" back in 2002 and now shoot expressive & fun sessions and weddings with my husband. We've been together for 14 years and we are only 26! We eat, sleep, work & play together-truly best friends. We have three crazy wonderful kids :)
