Oceano and Pismo Beach :: Family Photographer Preview

Yesterday we met up with Tod, Christina and their two kids for a family portrait session.  Here's a preview of what's to come.

Print Photography For a Lifetime

Two weeks ago I attended a portrait photography seminar hosted by Gold Coast Professional Photographer's Association.  The speaker, Tim Meyer, started out the day discussing a disturbing trend in the photography business.  The discussion wasn't about trendy photo editing that wont last the test of time or hobby photographers pretending to have the skills of a professional; it was about the importance of having artistic, professional photographic prints to display in your home or place in an album to be cherished for years to come.

Think back to your childhood home.  It's likely that somewhere in that house the walls were decorated with personal photos of loved ones.  My wife's childhood home in Lompoc is wall to wall with family portraits, baby photos, elementary school photos, high school photos, and wedding photos.  My father in law was in the Marine Corps and there's even a photo of him, nearly 30 years ago, in his dress uniform.  Those photographs are some of the most cherished items in their house.  Thanks to those photographs, Ashley can look back on her father when he was only 17, serving his country.  She wasn't there the day her parents were married but she can look through the photos and experience it as if she was.  In a couple of years our little girl will look through those photos and experience grandma and grandpa's wedding too.

We live in the era of digital photography.  Where are your photographs?  They're probably on your computer's hard drive, Facebook, or a CD-ROM.  None of those are good answers.  

• Computer hard drives fail constantly.  I've lost two hard drives in the last 5 years and I'm extremely glad my wedding photos weren't on them.  
• Your great grand children won't have a Facebook.  I doubt your grand children will, and even if they did, you will probably have forgotten your password.  Websites come and go.  Don't depend on them to keep your cherished memories.
• CD-ROMs are the best of the above options...for the short term.  Why do I say that?  If you're 30 years old or greater, you probably remember the 5.5 inch floppy disks.  If you don't remember them, you're helping to prove my point.  Digital media changes frequently and there's no guarantee that you'll be able to read that format in the future.

Photography that you can't access is useless.  For your sake, I implore you to demand more than just some files on a CD.  Invest in print photography so your memories can be shared with the future generations of your family.  Those photographs are just as important to them as they are to you.

Here's a photograph of my great grandparents on my dad's side.  Both of them died before I could get to know them.  This photograph is my only connection to them.  Everything I know about them, I know from this picture.

Check back next week for part 2: the difference between consumer photos and professional print photography.

Petersen and Banks Family :: Arroyo Grande Family Photographer

Three years ago, I was the photographer for Alex and Riana's wedding.  Earlier this month, Riana called me up (actually, I think it was a text message) and said she wanted to get a group photograph of her cousins.  At first, I was amazed that all her cousins live nearby.  I come from a military family and the idea of family photography was impossible.  Someone was always overseas or in another State.  Fortunately for Riana and the rest of the Petersen cousins, it only meant a drive from Lompoc or Santa Barbara to get the job done.  After the photography session, Christi and Jason even invited us over for breakfast.  Thanks so much for a wonderful Sunday morning!  Don't forget to watch the video at the bottom of the blog.

Santa Maria Photographer :: with Santa Barbara Photographer Tim Meyer

This past Sunday, I attended a photography seminar in Santa Maria that was put on by the Gold Coast Professional Photographer's Association (of which I am a member).  The topic was portrait lighting / posing and the speaker was Tim Meyer, an excellent teacher from Brooks Institute.  Tim was funny and relevant to the style of modern photographers.  The seminar was a total of 6 hours and included instruction on natural and studio lighting, including how to best blend the two for the look you want.  The afternoon session covered posing techniques for men and women, which I look forward to using with the upcoming Senior Class of 2012.  Anyway, here's one of the models from the day, Megan from Lompoc.  Until next time...

BenQ Portraits :: Santa Barbara Portrait and Wedding Photographer

What do you write about for your very first blog entry?  I could do my best to convince you that I'm an awesome photographer, worthy of photographing you, your friends, and your family, but I won't...yet.  This first entry is a little introduction into my world and I might include a photo or two.  Future entries will be almost nothing but that awesome photography I'm not going to tell you about.

I live in Orcutt, on the Central Coast of California.  Is "Central Coast" supposed to be capitalized?  I don't know.  I am not an English major.  If you are, please comment below to correct me.  If you don't know where Orcutt is then look on a map at Santa Barbara and pretend you're driving on Highway 101.  Drive for an hour and you'll get to Orcutt.  I am currently 31 years old and I've been married for 5 years.  We're expecting our first child in November.  The doctor says she's going to be a beautiful, healthy girl.  Well, he said she's a girl but I said the rest.  God has blessed my wife with good looks and health so why wouldn't our baby be the same?  My wife and I are huge dog lovers.  I'm slightly bigger than her though so I'm a bigger dog lover.  We have two pups named Lani and Gypsy.  Both are rescue dogs and I highly recommend you rescue a dog instead of purchasing one.

Ashley, my wife, is critiquing this as I write.  I don't know how she's going to have time to do this when the baby comes.

Moving onto the purpose of this blog; PHOTOGRAPHY!  I've been a photographer for 7 years and have captured everything from kids to weddings to people's pets to surfers.  I enjoy it all!  It will be impossible to update this blog daily but I'll try.  I will include photographs from events, weddings, portrait sessions, and anything else I do in a professional photography capacity.

I look forward to keeping you updated and interested in BenQ Portraits.  In the meantime, have a look at our website by clicking the logo at the top of the page or here.