First and foremost my clients.

I find inspiration from a huge variety of photographers, but usually from their drive and creativity more than any particular thing they did with a photo. Mediastorm.com has been giving me lots of inspiration this week, even though little of it directly applies to my work.

Yes, but it doesn't have to be from a school. Never let schooling get in the way of your education.

I use as simple a setup I can but no simpler. Generally bouncing and occasionally a light on a stand as an accent. If my assistant isn't doing other things, we sometimes to light-stick work. But I keep them pretty busy.

I charge exactly what the law calls for, which can be complicated sometimes. In New York state, most wedding packages will demand sales tax on the full package, and so I charge that even though it doesn't make sense to me.

Basically a huge part of this business is learning to find aspects of days that will psych you up, even if you're sick, the weather is terrible, things are going wrong, etc. Generally if I focus on people and personalities I'll always find something new and entertaining. Now on my 18th hour in front of a computer…

SU-800 works if you're indoors or in low light, otherwise I use pocketwizards. I want the Joe McNally version that twists the hotshoes so you can have all the sensors facing in the same direction.

A wedding. Far better to have a photographer without a wedding than a wedding without a photographer.

Get a great accountant right off the bat.

If you have 2nd shooters (a really good idea when faced with that policy), you should probably be right in the center with a 70-200, off to the side so you don't interrupt the processional but then you can get her coming down the aisle, his reaction, and most of the best angles of the ceremony.

Probably the balance between the drive that constantly makes me want to be better and the negative sort of competitiveness that doesn't get you anywhere. "I can't complain but sometimes I still do." It doesn't take much to remind me how insanely lucky I am to be able to make my passion into a great life.

Yes, in fact I started coming up with a concrete plan for some at the recent DWF conference in New Orleans.

I'll give you a hint: I saved a LOT of money by deciding not to have one.

I would welcome feedback from anyone, but I'm pretty technically sound so at this point it would likely be a difference of opinion, especially if it was an image I considered good enough to deliver.

I say 600-1000 for a full day but sometimes it's more.

ShootQ was a great decision. The $40 ShootQ iPhone app that crashes was not. My favorite side of it is the shooting, so I structure my business so that I do a lot of shooting. My least favorite side? Well, I'm answering these questions when I should really be finishing my paperwork for the auditor, so that gives you an idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiSxkrqMgM&t=0m5s

Play

I think it holds up remarkably well. The D3s and presumably D4 have better color at very high ISOs, but my God, what people would have done for great ISO 3200 in 99.99 percent of the history of photography. Great camera, and lots of people are still cranking out fantastic work with it. DQ studios love theirs still, and they actually sweat money.

Weird. It might simply be that you're a bit more careful with your aim from a vertical position. There can be a difference in the vertical versus horizontal AF sensors, but that should only matter at the outer focus points, since the center is cross-type. Do you use the edge focus points a lot?

Yes, but not by wedding guests. I had an 85mm f/1.4 and a flash stolen while I was shooting in a park back when I occasionally didn't have assistants on weddings. Now I always do.

I have custom picture controls I use with ViewNX, and my Capture One curve mirrors it almost exactly.