Michelle + Nick

9.27.08

Michelle's friend and groomsman liked his pants so much, he did a happy dance. :)










I am totally mesmerized by this photo of Michelle's mom who looks down for just a moment as Michelle
walks the aisle toward Nick, standing just behind.

Jennifer + Rich, Part Deux

9.21.08

Our beautiful Matron of Honor, Nicole (and a former TSG bride - yay).




Yep - still a sucker for Daddy/Daughter moments - Jennifer's Dad sees her for the first time in her dress.








































...and the poor groomsmen who took a trip to urgent care that very day. :)

WARNING!!!!!

SAD BUT TRUE

I spend a great deal of time in Detroit and during a recent adventure I received a parking ticket. A small inconvenience, one would think, but certainly nothing of real concern. This is where the story gets interesting...

I opted to pay this ticket using their online payment service via a rarely used credit card the very day I received it. BIG mistake. Within hours my credit card info was heisted by a rather fabulously upstanding City of Detroit employee to charge all sorts of fun things from online grant searches and gaming, to filling up his or her iTunes library with over $400 worth of music. I am now in dispute with the credit card company over all of these fantastic purchases and I think (more like hope) it will be cleared up very soon. While this IS stressful and very upsetting I wanted to take a moment to spread the word and send out a warning - DO NOT under any circumstances give the City of Detroit your credit card number via its online payment service (or for any reason for that matter). While I understand that credit card and identity theft may be common it certainly doesn't make it acceptable; not in my world anyway. Just be careful and make wise choices. I should have known better...

We've Been Blogged!!

Pearl's Events, a fabulous wedding and event planner in Grand Rapids, MI, took the time to blog about us and named The Shooting Gallery Photo Blog of the week! Click here and check it out!


Thank you, Aletha!

Christie + Jeffrey

Life's Soundtrack

While I edit in the late (and wee) hours I listen to music (or have True Blood episodes playing in the background thanks to HBO On Demand). At this moment I have the headphones on so that I don't disturb the boys in their slumber while exporting hundreds of files. In Jr. High & H.S. my taste in music was much different than that of my cohorts. While they were listening to Bon Jovi, Poison and the Beastie Boys I was stuck on U2, Erasure, Yaz, The Waterboys, Souxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Sex Pistols, R.E.M., The Beatles, and the list goes on and on. My taste in music is fairly diverse and people sometimes ask what I listen to that inspires me. The answer? Just about everything. Currently I am spinning the following tunes, all of which I recommend highly.

Ain't No Reason - Brett Dennen
Alive in the World - Jackson Browne
All I Want is You - U2
All of My Days - Alexi Murdoch
Hello - Tristan Prettyman
Call Me - Shinedown
Love is Noise - The Verve
Look at the Sky - Ulrich Schnauss
We Own the Sky - M83
Hold You in My Arms - Ray LaMontagne
Numb - Linkin Park
Rise - Eddie Vetter
Heavy - Collective Soul
After Tonight - Jason Nozuka
Cold Ground - Rusty Truck
Sour Times - Portishead
Electrical Storm - U2
Breathe Me - Sia
Little Bit of Feel Good - Jamie Lidell
Dita Dimone - Pop Levi
Underneath - Alanis Morrissette

Just to name a few... : )

MARCH OF LOVE

I realize that we've not even celebrated Halloween yet but I see holiday lights going up all around and I can't help but think about the coming season and it's true meaning. In honor of the holiday season, which reminds us of all we have to be so thankful for and to share our gifts with others, I am offering FREE wedding photography to a loving couple in need who will be married in the month of March, 2009. Yes, FREE. No strings attached.

WHAT THE COUPLE WILL RECEIVE:
Up to 8 hours of coverage provided by yours truly (that would be me) and a complete set of digital files on disc. No other obligations exist!

WHO QUALIFIES:
A couple on a tight budget with a wedding date in the month of March, 2009 who would not otherwise be able to secure a professional wedding photographer for their special day.

ARE YOU THAT COUPLE?
If you know of a couple, send them to this blog info. If you are this couple, please follow the instructions listed below carefully. Each couple that meets the requirements and provides the information below no later than December 7, 2008 will be considered. Once we have all of our entrants we will post a brief story on each couple and ask our blog readers to vote for who they feel most deserves free wedding photography. The winner will be notified by January 5. That's it!

REQUIREMENTS:
The happy couple must send an email to "info@theshootinggallery.com" which includes the following:

1. Full names of bride and groom
2. Wedding date
3. Ceremony and reception location
4. A brief story about how you and your fiance met and how you became engaged
5. Let us know what makes you tick - what is important in your lives and how you spend your time together as a couple.
6. While it is certainly not required we would love to put faces to names. This is NOT a beauty contest and I'm certainly not looking for glamour shots. I'd much rather see a silly picture or a likeness of the you that IS you. :)


Looking forward to hearing from you!

And Now...A Word From Your Photographer

Hello wonderful people!! I wanted to take a moment to discuss two very important items: availability and delivery.

AVAILABILITY: Words cannot express how genuinely grateful and altogether excited I am to have so many wonderful weddings coming up in the remaining months of 2008 as well as 2009 and into 2010. For those interested in OPEN dates, look no further (well, no further than just below this sentence anyway).

2008: BOOKED! :)

2009: All of March, November and December are currently available. April thru August is currently booked aside from a few Friday and Sunday dates (please inquire).

2010: I've booked three weddings for 2010 and inquiries are becoming more frequent. If you are interested in booking for 2010 please let me know and we can talk about scheduling a meeting. I would love to talk with you!

DELIVERY: As my clients know, about 80% of my wedding photography is comprised of documentary images. That said, I shoot a great deal of photographs at every event which are then processed and delivered to my couples. For an average eight hour wedding we will deliver approximately 1,000 photographs. That number of photographs requires a significant amount of post processing to deliver what I consider to be a quality, print ready product. With over 60 weddings per year along with portrait sessions and e-sessions, initial consults, final wedding planning consults and album consults- that fills up much of my calendar. Currently, I do most of the editing and although I am in the process of looking for someone to take over basic post processing there, of course, will be a training period once I find that perfect person whom I trust will handle them with care. We (Andrea, my part time right hand, and I) also have print orders, retouching and album design to add to the mix along with the standard day-to-day operations of running a business and keeping in touch with clients. I've always delivered as quickly as I could and generally in the early part of 2008 a wedding was posted online within 4 weeks. Currently, however, we are delivering in about 5 to 6 weeks as this is the busiest time of year for us. I know my clients are anxious and believe me when I say that I'm anxious to get your photos completed and in your hands to enjoy, but a job well done does take time. I hope all of my fabulous couples who are biting their nails will soon appreciate the time I've spent to make their images uniquely their own. In the end, I'm doing all of this for you because I feel your day and your images are more than worth that time. ; )