Laurence was talking about making money (a primary goal of any business) and how there are so many ways to make money that cost little to nothing; goodwill being chief amongst them. And he’s exactly right. It astounds me the money that business will regularly throw at catchy advertising, focus groups, or redesigning a logo; and yet, the experience these endeavors seek to create is derailed when a prospective client walks into the store and is treated with rude indifference by an employee. It’s ruined when business talks “premium” products or provides a guarantee that they then refuse to stand behind. Worthwhile as all of those “marketing” endeavors may be, they are nothing next to the power of sincere, personal service. The golden rule, really – treating others as you would like to be treated yourself.

It seems like we encounter examples of business that can’t, or won’t, put that simple concept into practice. Just last week: my family and I have long been a fan of Toyota, owing to their overall quality. Yet oddly, the handle to the rear hatch of our Sequoia has broken off not once, but twice now. A local Toyota dealership charged us $480 (!) to replace the handle the first time, and nearly two years later, it broke again. Would they warrant their work, we wanted to know, since it seems unreasonable that the door handle would break once, let alone twice, in the span of two years? I wonder how many tens of thousands that dealership spends on advertising; I’ll drive several hours to avoid spending a single dime there, ever again. (footnote: the dealership finally agreed to discount, by 75%, the repair cost … which was the exact same quote I had received from Aarrow Radiator, in Hilliard. I cannot recommend Aarrow enough for any of your car repair needs.)

And what about wedding photography? I regularly meet photographers who seem to go out of their way to alienate the people they gush all over themselves about “serving” on their website. My friend was married in Dayton last year and she enlisted one of the more prominent, higher cost photographers in town. While her pictures were very good – not perfect, but definitely just about everything they were hoping for – in the months following, the photographers were total jerks to her and her husband. They took weeks to return routine phone calls or emails with answers to basic questions. They did a half ass job with their (expensive) album. Will she ever refer these photographers to her newly engaged friends, despite that their actual photography was arguably upper echelon? Not a chance; in fact, she left them reviews detailing both the sour side of her experiences as well as the positive.

I take great pains to be exactly the kind of photographer I would like to work with; reliable, prompt, stress-free and in tune with you and your vision for your photography. But whether or not you work with me, I encourage you to spend time checking out the person or people you do choose to work with. Photography – and especially wedding photography – is much more than the photographs themselves. Life is truly too short to stress over a-holes.

I had a blast shooting with you both, Monica and Aaron! I really look forward to seeing you both again soon!

In short, who needs an occasion to take fun pictures? Shari is my sister and thankfully, better looking than I am. Daniel is her awesome boyfriend and they both happened to be in town a few weekends back. After weeks of pouring rain, soggy grass and cold temps, I welcomed – no, CRAVED – the chance to get outside and shoot for a few. Enough said?

New pictures and updates coming soon!

From my family to yours … I wish you all a happy, relaxing, loving, fantastic, fun and yes – warm – holiday!

I’ve been finishing processing a buncha’ beautiful weddings, engagement shoots and designing a few albums to boot; I hope to blog each and every one within the next few weeks. So until then, because every post is better with a picture, here’s a favorite from my recent shoot with Selvi and Lamar … an awesome, fun couple who made it an equally awesome, fun shoot:

Be back soon.

Okay, so I’ll never ghostwrite for Charles Dickens, but I snapped these pictures months ago and just found a few while cleaning out my hard drive …

This bird was perched literally 50 feet away from me, but I was in the midst of fiddling with my settings and he flew off before I could get a beautiful close up. D’oh!

I hail from Houston, Texas and while there are some things I miss about my former life there, I was happy to leave behind the absurdly hot weather and boring, concrete landscapes.

My friend Coty (of Henry Photography) and I decided to meet for some dinner at B-Dubs and then shoot around for a few around the Powell area. These were the result.

While these photos aren’t going to win any awards, I very much enjoy the process of just shooting without a specific result in mind (well, mostly, there was one particular picture I wanted to get.) Just grab the camera and hit the road, see what there is to see!

In a sense this was an evening of the unexpected – I mean, it’s Powell, Ohio, so I know I’m not going to see any polar bears marauding about. But when I’m walking  along, I don’t really know sights what might jump out at me!

As a wedding photographer, I’m always working both to stretch my creative boundaries while doing what I am already pretty good at. It’s an at-times delicate balance and when it’s someone’s wedding at stake, I’m gonna err with the safety of my comfort zones.

Any way, I hope you enjoy and may you soon find yourself out with a friend, or a bunch of friends, or even just by yourself, shooting pictures of what strikes your artistic eye!

We spent the morning and afternoon with great friends of ours, and I took a few pics of the kids as they set off in hunt for easter eggs … and candy. And coffee cake … oh wait, that was me.

If any one is wondering, my wife is the one who likes to stick her tongue out at people (seems to be a theme on this blog.) Not just at husbands behind cameras but random passerby as well. Her very good friends Linda and Tracy are the ones who know how to smile.

Aw, but she really can smile. Duotone, any one?

Kids never cease to amaze me at just how much energy they have. Or maybe it’s how much I don’t have … I’ll blame it on Tracy and her cake.

This is pretty much how I still eat, to this day: