Paulo Jordao Photography - BLOG

Here is the video for our last week Trash the Dress Workshop and Photoshoot. I hope you like it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtaWn9hzWUM

If you are a photographer looking to distance yourself from the competition and boring everyday images, you need to keep your mind and eyes opened for opportunities to make some amazing and unique images.

Here is a photography workshop coming up to Fort Lauderdale - Miami area on April 18th; “TRASH the DRESS - Light and Location”

Here are some images from my previous sessions…

I Hope to see you there…

Paulo Jordao

http://www.paulojordao.com

Here is one of my published articles:

You have planed carefully for months and months all the details of this special day that is your Wedding. You booked the church and the reception place; you found your perfect dress and the most gorgeous flowers, you selected the food and drink list, hired a DJ and a Photographer.

The stress of something going wrong at the last minute is not small, but on this article I want to teach you how to avoid at least one of them: The wedding Photography Fiasco.

Let start from the beginning…

1- Before you hire a Wedding Photographer, be sure that he/she is a specialist in Wedding Photography, and not just another photographer that shoots everything, including some weddings.

2- Start doing an Internet search on Google or Yahoo to find few Wedding Photographers not to far from where you live.

3- Look for samples, and testimonials on the Photographer’s Webpage to be sure that you like his/her work and that few other clients also liked him/her.

4- Before you meet the Photographer, it is a good idea to call him/her to be sure that the date is still available and to talk about your budget and what would be included in your Photography Package.

5- When signing the contract, check all the little details and don’t be afraid of asking for further explanations. On your contract, should say all the information about your wedding like; location, date, what time the photographer should be there and what time he/she would end his work time, what kind of album (pages, quality, size, etc) and when you would get it.

No matter how good written the contract is, you just have to trust that you did your best and that nothing wrong is going to happen.

Trough the years of your childhood up to the present day you might have felt once or twice that life gave you some second chances. But there are times and occasions when something goes wrong, and no matter what, not even life itself can help you. You can say that Wedding Photography is one of these occasions.

You have waited and dreamed about this magical day for your whole life. The day that you were finally getting married to the man of your dreams, your price charming. You have made so many special plans so you would have the perfect ceremony and reception, the most beautiful dress, flowers, etc, etc and etc.

Now it is time to choose your Wedding Photographer. Note that it didn’t say to you to choose just a regular photographer, neither someone like your friend or uncle just because he or she has a camera. Wedding Photography is a very detailed specialty inside the photography business and if you really care about the only memory that you are going to have from that day and that you can show to generations to come, here are some tips:

1- A Good Plan

You need to start planning ahead before you go checking websites for samples, prices and etc. You need to put together all the information that you already have, like; wedding location, date and time, details of flowers, dress, etc.

2- Style

Once you go through some wedding pictures that you’ve found in few different websites and magazines, you will need to start selecting what kind of pictures you would like to have of your special day. Don’t just say that you want a Photojournalistic or Traditional Style, because this is an old way to define Wedding Photography. Today’s Top Wedding Photographers go beyond old styles incorporating some artistic, modern and creative style to their collections creating the most beautiful piece of art.

3- Finding a Wedding Photographer

Do a simple Google, Yahoo or MSN search: “Wedding Photographer in ____________ (name of the city)”. This will bring hundreds, if not thousands of different sites that you can start doing your research. Start filtering all that information avoiding sites that don’t say the name of the photographer on its description. You want to connect with a Top Wedding Photographer, not just another search engine channel or some photography studio trying to get you into their studio without saying the name of the photographer. If the Photographer is good, his name is going to be there.

4- Samples and Testimonials

Once you’ve found few different Websites with pictures that match the style that you are looking for, go ahead and write down the name of the photographer and the phone number. It would be better if the samples that the photographer is showing in his or her website came from at least few different weddings and different areas. The Photographer might not post any negative testimonial in his or her own Website, but it is always good to check what other clients had said about that specific Photographer and how good was the connection between the photographer and the previous clients.

5- The Budget

This is one question that most of the brides get it wrong and most of the Photographers are terrified to explain it to them. There is a simple rule for that; you should spend between 15% and 20% of the total wedding costs. This a general figure that works very well in most of the cases, but once a while you can go a little lower or a little higher. The investment for the Photography Packages of a very basic and simple wedding will be totally different from the investment for the Photography Packages of a wedding were you are investing a huge amount of money, time and expectations. You can expect spend between $3,000 to $30,000 on your wedding pictures, depending on the wedding Photographer that you are hiring, the photography package and/or extras.

6- Contacting your Photographer

Once you check the website samples and prices, it is time to call the Photographer to check if he/she still has the date available and to set up an appointment. It is recommended that you meet the photographer in question as soon as possible, so you can be sure that he/she would still have the date available for your wedding.

7- Signing the Contract

Since you already saw the Photographer’s Webpage, the samples, the testimonials and the prices, the only logical thing to do now is to meet the photographer and be sure that there is a good connection between you and him or her. You also might want to check some more of his/her work, ask few last questions and if everything seems fine, just sign the contract. Remember that Wedding Photography is not a Department Store and that you are not going to find another Photographer like that one. You already did your homework, you know that you came to visit this Photographer because his work, prices, style are exactly what you were looking for. There is no reason to not close the deal.

8- Final Product

Imagine if few years ago, when digital cameras didn’t exist, would it be ok if after you spent a huge amount of your time and money to create the most romantic and perfect day of your entire life, the photographer just gave you the negatives and you would have to develop the pictures yourself? I don’t think so! As we live now in a digital era, most of the Photographers have digital cameras, and most of the cheap photographers will try to make a good deal and give you just a CD with all the pictures from your wedding on it.

Is that what you want?

If you forget everything else from this article, I hope you remember at least this one…

Don’t treat your wedding photographs like the pictures that you took on your last vacation. The ones that you didn’t even had time to print or the ones that you printed in a cheap department store.

The beauty of Wedding Photography is when the Photographer makes the transformation to the pictures and memories that were once captured through his lens, to create the most beautiful and elegant Costume Designed Story Telling Album that you and all your family and friends will cherish for the rest of your lives.

Peggy Chase Jordao, owner of Style by Chase Inc., is one of the Top International Photo Stylist living in Fort Lauderdale - Miami - South Florida.

Her work has been published in several nationwide catalogs and prestigious magazines, and she is being represented by two of the most important agencies in the country (Ford Models and Team),  with her list of clients including names like Macy’s, Frontgate, Office Depot, Nike, McDonald’s, and many others.

Peggy has just updated her Website http://www.stylebychase.net/, where she shows samples of her work; Fashion Laydown, Soft Goods, Furniture, Outdoor, Tabletop, Holiday, Fashion and Kids.

If you check her Website you will learn more about this unique artist and why she is requested by most of the Top Commercial Photographers in America.

If your company has a project that requires a Top Photo Stylist or Product Stylist, and you want to be sure that the job is going to be done right at the first time, you need to contact Peggy Chase Jordao!

CLICK HERE TO CONTACT HER

I want to update my Website, but first I need to finish this one that I started creating to my wife.

Peggy is a talented Photo-Stylist (CLICK HERE to visit Peggy’s Website) and she has been traveling all over the country helping her clients to create a personal and unique image for their catalogs and commercials. She works with clients like; Nike, The Home Depot, Kmart, Frontgate, McDonald’s, Macy’s and so many other companies and celebrities that it would take to much of your time if I have to mention all them here.

Anyway…

She has two very strong agencies representing her: Team and Ford, but once a while she has some other stylists or photographers asking asking her to see her work.

This week she asked me if I could create a website for her, so she could organize some of her work there to people see them. It might take few days until I finish the whole project, but I wanted to show you what the Landing Page will look like.

let me know what you think. OK?

Any Comment?