I had the privilege of shooting with a fantastic photographer named Riz Adit (Adit Studio) while in Fresno. Riz has been shooting weddings all over the world for something like 15 years, and I learned so much just from watching him work and talking to him. Although this is mostly for photographers, I think there is something interesting for other folks to read. I just want to share 2 interesting things I remember him telling me:

“Wedding photography is much different than it used to be. These days, to be a wedding photographer you have to be a product photographer, a fashion photographer, a photo-journalistic photographer, and have a sense of style.”

“There is no small client. You still end up spending a lot of time and energy thinking about each client, planning for their shoot, taking the effort to communicate clearly, and doing a lot of things mentally to prepare for the shoot.”

It’s always fascinating to me when someone is able to articulate experiences in a clear and lucid manner. I’ve experienced these things he mentioned, but putting it into words has really helped me make sense of what it is I do and why some times I feel so discombobulated. :)

I was in Vegas the third week of February this year for the WPPI Convention, and while the Convention was a bit of a disappointment, it was great to meet up with Eliesa Johnson and her good folks of Photogen, Inc. We had an entire dawn photo shoot set up, but as we pulled up to Red Rocks Canyon, NV at 6:15am, there was a sign greeting us saying that the park doesn’t open until 7am. Mind you, all the online literature and the park people we talked to on the phone said the park would be open by 6am. Anyway, with good light, there are always photographs to be made. We lined up our cars outside the gate, parked, got out out gear and started shooting. I took this time to shoot the Photogen Inc. team in action.