letterpress signs made by Nightingale Handmade

The first time I photograph anyone, there is a certain amount of trust that must to be built. While it may seem like the majority of work has to do with the actual act of photographing, it really has more to do with working with people than taking a picture. Most people’s natural reaction when they are in front of the camera is to turn off their personality, emotion, and reaction and start as a blank canvas. Well, that can be good and bad. I don’t want people to forget who they are and turn into someone else, and I also don’t want to make them act differently than they normally would. It’s a fine balance to create an environment that allows people to be comfortable with the camera, but these are some of the ways that I do so:

1. talk. I give people a run through of what the session will be like, and then talk them through the first steps once we jump in and get started. I often ask questions and get people talking in order to help them loosen up and think about something else besides the fact that they are being photographed. It also allows them to have more natural expressions and reactions, which is one of the things I look to capture.

2. direct. I love a relaxed and candid portrait, but sometimes it can take direction to get there. Especially when starting out the person being photographed doesn’t know how to act, where to look, what to do, and some of those questions need to be answered. I start by giving more direction, either to be unscripted, stand closer, think of their wedding day, etc… to help elicit a reaction.

3. change. I find it helps to have a change of scenery, either by walking over to another location or planning a few different steps to the shoot so that it doesn’t get stale. Starting in a new location gives people something different to work with and a new place to start especially if things weren’t working out where you were. Of course I love to photograph the walking between places – and those other moments that are unscripted and natural.

4. improvise. Once I place people in the right setting, good light, etc… I love when they improvise, or act natural. Some couples catch on sooner than others, but what I’m going after is the interactions and expressions that come when they have fun, act like themselves, laugh at how awkward they were when they first started, think about the time the first met, and dream about what their future together.

5. be myself. Last but not least, I try to be myself so that my subjects can follow suit. I’m honest and open during the session since I ask people to be the same.

I’m pretty candid on this blog so any reader can get a sense of my personality and make their own judgement on if I’m a person they would like to be photographed by. It took me a while to accept this, but I can now say I know I am not the right photographer for everyone. What I bring to the table is going to be different from anyone else, in both my photographic style and experience, and my life and interactions with people. I love that everyone can pick up the same camera and see things differently, and I work best when people want my perspective not just the camera that I use.

If you’ve ever wondered the who, what & how behind my photos, today you’re in for a treat. I wanted to post the specs on the images above and give you a little insight. So, meet Zach. While he was pretending to be a J.Crew model I snapped a few shots and love how warm and summery the images turned out. We headed in to the backyard originally for him to get a little camera practice and take a picture of Matt and I, but it didn’t take too long before I stepped behind the camera.

A good friend for several years, Zach has been in front of my camera before so it was easy to capture some natural photos of him. We took these around 4:00, so I placed him in a shady spot where the light would be diffused and not so harsh. You can see how blown out the grass right behind him is, but with the balance of the darker green bushes higher up I don’t really mind it. I like to shoot in natural light, and normally I would shoot a little later in the day, but I found a good location with the light we had, something I’m used to doing with weddings and the different schedules they have. I used my canon 5d mark II and 135mm 2.0 lens for these images, and I like the 135 because it compresses the background into the nice smooth backdrop you see above. I use that lens a lot with candids at a wedding, since it allows me to shoot in close, at low light, while being farther away. We all know how awkward it can get when someone doesn’t know if you are taking their picture or not – so this allows me to go unnoticed. For both of these images my settings were 100 ISO, 320 shutter speed + 2.0 for the aperture, and the focal length was 135 since the lens is prime so there is no zooming in or out. The files were RAW and I did minimal editing in camera RAW – the photoshop plug in for raw editing – that included adjustments to white balance and contrast before saving them as jpgs to share with you here. So, hope you enjoyed – if so let me know so I can add relevant posts to this genre… time to go make some pesto pizza (and if you aren’t sick of the food posts, I’m going to be sharing that on here soon). see ya!

The most common question I get is where to start. Whether it is related to having a business or not many people are interested in photography and how and where to start and improve. This usually is accompanied by a question about equipment, and for good reason since there are about a billion camera choices out there. While quality gear does make a difference many people get confused and think the camera, software, and equipment make the photos and not the photographer. So my number one piece of advice would be practice – with what ever you have. However if you’re looking to purchase your first SLR, upgrade your current camera or are wondering what I think here you go.

(I’m giving canon rec’s since that’s what I work with and know best. There are many other options out there as well so shop around, although Nikon + Canon probably have the market cornered in the area of pro+prosumer dslr’s + quality lenses.)

Starter Camera: Canon Rebel T2i (body only)

• 18.0 MP CMOS (APS-C) Sensor
• Full HD 1080p Video
• Advanced Live View
• 3.0″ 1.04 Million Dot Clear View LCD
• Up to 3.7 fps RAW, JPEG, or RAW+JPEG
• ISO 100-6400, Expandable to 12800
• 63-Zone Metering / 9-Point AF System
• Compatible with SD, SDHC, and SDXC
• Eye-Fi Menu Status Indicator Support

This is the most current model of Canon’s entry level dslr’s. It is basically the first digital camera I bought (although an older model) and an easy one to learn on. While it gives you the option of shooting in portrait, macro (flower), action mode, etc… switch it over to manual (M) aperture priority (Av) or shutter priority (Tv) to learn the ropes of the camera.

Mid Range Starter Camera: Canon 7D (body only)

• 18.0 Megapixels
• 3.0″ LCD
• HD Video Recording
• Selectable Video Exposure + Frame Rates
• Dust & Weather Resistant
• 100% Viewfinder
• Self Cleaning Sensor
• High Sensitivity (ISO 12800)
• 8fps Burst Mode

You can see it a little in the pictures. This camera is clearly a step up and has improved construction – as you can see it is dust and weather resistant and if you picked it up you would notice a difference over the t2i. It also doesn’t allow you to cheat and shoot in a mode that does everything for you (macro, portrait, action, etc…).

Professional Starter Camera: Canon 5D Mark II (body only)

• 21.1 Megapixel Full-Frame Sensor
• 3.0″ High Resolution LCD Display
• Live View Mode
• 1080p Movie Mode
• Dust & Weather-Resistant
• Self Cleaning Sensor
• Broad ISO Range (50-25600)
• 3.9 fps Burst Mode

If you are serious about photography, you’re going to want to shoot with a full frame sensor, which is one of the big differences between this camera and the other two. If you don’t know what that means, then you should go look up the answer before you start your photography business :)

You’ll notice that I listed cameras that are sold without a lens. Why? The reason is the “kit lens” that comes with the camera is good, yes – it will take pictures – but honestly you should invest in a lens that is worth it and not one you try to sell on ebay 4 months later. If you are buying your first camera, then sure get the kit lens and learn with it, you don’t need more. However, rather than getting a lens that tries to do everything (that’s what the kit lens does) you should one quality lens and use it as much as possible until you can add another to your arsenal. More on that later!

…I took yesterday was a long exposure of the night sky at Barren Ridge Vineyards in Fishersville, VA. I think I love night photography, since even the smallest bit of light can illuminate in an amazing way. If this photo is any indication of how the rest of the pictures look (which it is) we’re all in for a treat.

Before I do a full post on Ryan + Christie’s session I wanted to share this image in particular, taken with my lensbaby. If you’re not familiar with cameras you are probably wondering what in the world a lensbaby is… and to find out more you should follow the link. The basics are that the lens moves and allows you to have one point in focus with everything else being dramatically out of focus (I guess you could say it’s like a trick lens…  like when you listen to the song and start to hear robotic voices… that’s what I’ll compare a lensbaby to). Anyways, when I bought my lensbaby I was excited but it took me a while to use it. Since it can create such dramatic images at first I think I didn’t use it because I wasn’t sure it would meld with my style and the other images I captured. I didn’t want robotic voices in the song for the heck of it (and we’ve all heard those songs + seen those images), but after seeing what I captured (from the ones that are in focus – it’s super tricky manual focus) I love how it looks. Now you can expect a few robotic voices, just enough to keep things interesting.

I love that I get to share this with everyone. I’ve been wanting to incorporate film into a session and Mike and Nikki gave me the perfect opportunity when they brought along their twin lens reflex for their engagement shoot. You might not know this about me, but when I studied photography in college I only used film for my work (and I’ll admit digital was just really taking over the scene) so I was fairly resistant to switching over to digital. When I finally made the switch it was a slippery slope and of course with the ease of digital and the complexities of the darkroom I haven’t really gone back. Now I’m looking forward to finding ways to incorporate film back into some sessions, and this was a great place to start.

The tri-x 120 film that was used for these images was sent off to a lab, developed and printed as proofs. I love the different approach film photography brings; the fact that you don’t do any editing on your computer, that the anticipation builds as you wait for the film to return, and the slower pace to which you approach image making. This approach is different from the fast paced impulsive image making process that has become the trademark of digital photography, but I think there are things to learn from both mediums. Experience in both has only made me a better photographer.

Without further ado I invite you to look through a few of the images captured on film. We had one roll, which meant 10 square images and only a few to share with you… which is all part of the romance of film that is coming back and sweeping people off their feet.

This wedding shoot was pulled together to combine amazing flowers, creative letterpress, and modern photography. I showcased the flowers before by Sassafras in Rochester, New York, but you’ll see a few of the images again because I love them so much! It was fun to pull this together with Sarah + Margaret (who’s engagement session you just saw below) and they set most everything up and arranged for things to happen. Margaret created all of the signs that you see and we’re excited to give the one you see above away. Just leave a comment and the most convincing person will win! (how does that sound?) Erin + Ben were our lovely models and made looking good look really easy… thanks so much for being a part of the shoot!

Erin is gorgeous, hilarious, and super smart. She was kind enough to squeeze this in her busy doctor schedule.

Ben is a talented musician, soft spoken, and thankfully the kind of guy that agreed to be in photos with his wife! I’m counting it as an anniversary shoot for them.

more fun signs by Margaret – the above reads “til death do us part” and the bride + groom signs below are also up for grabs if you want to leave a comment for them!

oh yes, and there were horses… well we got lucky and their owners lent them to us for a few shots. thanks! I’ll leave you with this last dreamy shot and leave some comments if you want to win a set of signs!

Welcome to the second part of Margaret + Luke’s Rochester engagement session, the night portion. I had been wanting to do this for a while, but it involved a lot of set up and was harder to pull off, which is why you haven’t seen it earlier. On that note, if I have any couples who want to do something similar – I would love to! We’ll just have to figure out the logistics.

For this night engagement session, we kept our picnic set up and strung up some lights for something more romantic. Long exposures and light writing completed the set of photos, and let me tell you it took multiple tries for Margaret to write love backwards for the camera – but it was worth it! I love this romantic set and we created a fun save the date for M+L where they wrote out the numbers for their date.

take 2 of the heart shot… two of many :) Save the date for 10.2.10 and can’t wait to see you then!

Let’s start with some of the boutonnieres, and featured below you see variegated parrot tulip, mokara orchid, ranunculus, phalaenopsis orchid, variegated tulip, muscari (grape hyacinth) & succulent, dendrobium orchid & lilygrass twist, muscari & ranunculus bud. (thanks margaret for identifying everything!) I love all of them, but if I had to choose both of the boutonnieres second from the left are my favs.

We had a letterpress theme going on for the wedding shoot so I used some of the wood type Margaret brought for these next few, and I love how it turned out! Margaret does letterpress and works out of the Genesee Center for the Arts in Rochester as well. She made a few signs for us that I’m excited to be giving away – look for that when I post the wedding shoot!

Now let’s look at one of the bouquets, which include hellebores, ranunculus, light pink tulips & white and pink parrot tulips…

This bouquet was so soft and dreamy with tons of detail and texture. I looove ranunculus – those are the flowers that are both open with the yellow center, and closed with tons of petals (right below the open one on the right, above)

and a few more of a trio of boutonnieres… I think they would look amazing for a wedding party.

…and finally the gorgeous succulent bouquet that Margaret + Luke had for their engagement session. It was soo amazing and unique. The big funky plant is a succulent (called echeveria), the tall twisty flowers are foxglove (poisonous!), the green lilies are green goddess calla lilies and the others are aubergine calla lilies, the cool yellow flower is called pincushion protea. If you want to run away with this bouquet you’re not alone, I’m in love with it. I hope this gives you some inspiration for your wedding flowers, and I seriously think anyone planning a wedding in Rochester, Buffalo, Finger Lakes or the general western New York area needs to talk to Sassafras to see what they can do for you!

I love when I have a second shooter at a wedding with me. I frequently travel for weddings and have a very unique schedule, so it doesn’t always work to bring someone along… and honestly I have photographed the majority of weddings on my own. That doesn’t change the fact that when I do have someone working with me, it’s usually very helpful.

A second shooter can be added in to a wedding photography package so that additional coverage takes place for the whole event. Shooting in two different places allows images to be captured like the one you see above (shot by Kaylan Buteyn for me at Brendan+Stephanie’s wedding). I would highly recommend this for weddings that are larger events, or if you just want additional coverage. They also help carry gear around, set up any lighting, and organize bridal parties and families (large groups take extra help).

So, how do I find second shooters or assistants? It’s usually people that I know and are familiar working with. I wouldn’t bring a complete stranger with me because I can just imagine the horror stories I would be telling afterward. That being said, if you are someone who would like to work with me and join me for some weddings, let me get to know you and see if you’d be a good fit to work with. Email me at hello{at}marydougherty.net with your name, location, experience, $ requirements, and a few samples of your work and I’d love to talk! If you think you would be interested in interning I would love to hear from you as well, although at this point I can’t promise any credit fulfilling positions but perhaps we can work something out in the future.