It’s Labor Day holiday weekend so I thought I’d share a few teasers from Elisabeth’s (a.k.a. Bizzy!) & Michael’s amazing wedding.  They had a big hit of a party with their great friends and family.  It was a pleasure working with my photo team Julia and Ryan, Blue Sky Films, ADominick Events, and Union Station Events. I’ll share more details and photos about their big day in a full blog post within a week or two.

Until then, here are a few photos I’d like to share.

The warm Annapolis breeze made the 90+ degree temperatures manageable for this happy couple as we walked around Annapolis for their wedding photos.  Annapolis has always been one of my favorite cities to photograph clients. Enjoy a few from their photo shoot!

Book at least a $5500 wedding photo package with me and receive a free 16GB Wi-Fi Apple iPad!

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Spread the word, tell your friends. Promotion ends July 7, 2010. New customers only.

By the way, this wedding season I’m always observing how challenging it is for some of my brides to manage a wedding day without help. If you’re searching for wedding event coordination, look no further than one of Washingtonian Magazine’s best in the DC area – Wish Special Events.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Wish. Like me, they’ll bring peace of mind to your wedding!

Rachel and Michael live in NYC but decided to have their wedding here in the DC area.  They found me through a past bride and friend Grace Chou whose wedding I covered in Minneapolis almost two years ago.  It was great to see Grace and Jason again at the wedding.  Rachel and Michael’s event had two really cool things I haven’t seen yet at a wedding –

1. A personalized coat hanger for the bridal gown that was molded into the words “Mrs Providence”.
2. Handheld signs with well wishes written on them for the happy couple to see as they depart the Washington Golf and Country Club

Of course you’ll see these items in the photos below.  If you’d like to check out the entire gallery, register at Pictage.

Brooke Carpenter of Magnolia Events kept the day running smoothly as the couple celebrated one of the most important days of their lives with friends and family.  Molly Jones at the Washington Golf and Country Club did a fabulous job managing the on-site catering events.  Here are some of my favorites from the day…

I recently had the pleasure of working with my friend Julia MacInnis photographing Georgette and Jason’s wedding as a second shooter at the fabulous Chesapeake Bay Beach Club.  I always enjoyed the views and the afternoon light at this venue which is located right on the Bay (hence the view of the Bay Bridge you’ll see in my photos).  It’s great having a few select photographer friends to assist, Julia is a true professional to work with and I look forward to working with her again when she assists me this September.  Here are a few of my favorites from the shoot…

(all images for Julia MacInnis Photography)

Rana and Ali are a fabulous couple celebrating their wedding on three different continents, starting in Washington DC and ending their journey in Trinidad-Tobago where they’ll settle and call home.  It was a privilege to be a small part of this important celebration for them and their family.  The day’s weather could not have been better for photos at the US Capitol and the elegant historic Omni Shoreham hotel in DC.

Photography Tip: When shooting in strong mid to late afternoon sunlight I recommend off-camera fill flash, especially when dealing with a huge reflective surface like the US Capitol building – on this day around 4pm the sun was hitting the west side of the building head on, reflecting light right back at my lens.  This poses exposure challenges – how do I control that reflective light?  Answer: expose, or meter, correctly so that the US Capitol doesn’t appear totally washed out.  But then you ask yourself, if I expose for the Capitol, it affects the exposure for my couple, how do I control that?  Answer: Off-camera light!  Off-camera flash opens up a world of possibilities, but most importantly it helps you get good exposures when working with less-than-ideal conditions.  While natural light is great, In my opinion I believe this simple off-camera flash method should be standard knowledge if you’re a professional photographer.  For Rana and Ali’s photos they really wanted photos of the US Capitol.  I had very little time to set up any fancy lighting – ideally I’d love to bring some scrims and a softbox with a 800 watt White Lightning strobe in it to tame the available light and overpower the reflective surface of the US Capitol building.  But for the sake of ease of mobility and speed I simply went TTL with my lighting using my 

My clients are looking forward to their weddings this year, but they are excited about their engagement photo sessions as well! These are fun and relaxed photo shoots that help the couple get comfortable with being photographed and for us to get to know one another better. Most shoots are only an hour or so, but it’s time well spent.

I usually recommend couples to wear comfortable clothing in solid colors. Just be themselves while I provide some direction, but mostly just setting them up for a shot or a moment is all I need. Every couple is nervous before the photo shoot, but after about 10 minutes they realize how fun and easy it really is. I like to keep them moving and smiling, makes for some great photos they can enjoy for a long, long time.

I created a video last year to give couples a sense of how these are done and what to expect.  My friend Natalie joined me just for fun and shot along side of me. Enjoy it!

Some of my clients purchase Signature Guest Books for their guests to sign at the reception.  But there’s more than signing going on because each book is custom designed with space for writing anything they want.  Clients can enjoy reading what their family, friends, and guests wrote after the wedding day is over.

I’m excited to share some great news about my recognition by my awesome clients and WeddingWire. Thanks to all my clients for making this happen!

Here is the announcement from WeddingWire…

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Armin DeFiesta has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Award™ for photography.

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

The ARMIN | photographer brand is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that ARMIN is among the very best photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. I would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating me for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

So what are some tips to bring peace of mind to your wedding photography investment?  One thing would be to choose the best photographer for the job.  Here are some steps to do that…

THE LAST THING YOU SHOULD WORRY ABOUT ON YOUR WEDDING DAY IS THE PHOTOGRAPHER

A wedding can be an important part of ones family history, and the wedding album is a keepsake for generations to enjoy.  With so many photographers to choose from, trusting that responsibility to an experienced, responsible, and professional photographer is even more important today than ever before.  The photos are the real tangible things that preserve your wedding day after all is said and done.  Most wedding planners will agree that if you find a photographer you absolutely want to cover your wedding, do what you can to have them document your wedding day.  It’s about having peace of mind at the beginning, middle, and end of the day!  The last thing I want my clients to worry about is photography.

REFERRALS, REFERRALS, REFERRALS!

There is no denying that wedding photography today is not the same it was 5 or 10 years ago.  More and more couples today are placing higher value and higher expectations on their wedding photographers.  My clients do and so do the clients of several of my colleagues.  For one thing there are more of us (wedding photographers) than ever before, especially in large city-regions like Southern California or the Washington DC and Baltimore regions.  With the influx of photography “businesses” growing exponentially in numbers every year, competition is fierce.  It’s no wonder that engaged couples are becoming more overwhelmed with the number of photographers to choose from and the number of referrals they get from their friends.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of wedding photographers in my DC metro area alone.  I personally have met a good number of them.  There’s still no denying that getting referrals from your friends or your wedding planner is the way to go.

CLOSE THE GAP OF UNCERTAINTY

Nothing beats seeing and loving the work of an actual photographer that shot an actual wedding you attended before you even hire them (I get a lot of my business that way actually).  The reason is that you already have a sense of how they work and what they’re all about.  The gap of uncertainty is always there when a bride-to-be is searching for the right photographer.  But when they have a sense of who the photographer is because they watched them work, it makes things so much easier for everyone, especially the bride.  Or if you happen to have watched their intro video on their website, then that’s another way to close the gap.  Several of my brides were confident in choosing me because of my video alone!

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

Now that you’ve chosen your photographer, it’s time to discuss fees.  This can bring a bride to a stressful point in the wedding planning – among many stressful points – the investment in photography.  And like any smart spender a bride will have to ask herself “why?”  A few months ago Evan Reitmeyer of MyDeejay asked me that same question, “Armin, why is wedding photography is so expensive?” There’s no short answer to this. It’s like asking BMW, “BMW, why are your ‘M’ cars so expensive?” Or asking Apple, “Apple, why are Macs more expensive than some comparable PC’s?”  We could go on all day about brand, value, and customer service. But we don’t have all day, so let me sum it up with some reassuring words like I did for Evan…

“The value of wedding photographs preserves important memories that can span generations. Cliche, but so very true. Those that understand the high value of wedding photography also understand the pressure and responsibility placed on the wedding photographer to document and create these important memories for their client. There’s no “take-two” on the set here folks. Weddings happen in real-time. Selecting the right photographer should be on the top of a bride’s list. Many wedding planners recommend to NOT skimp on your wedding photographer and prepare to invest in the one you really want.

There is more to it than just showing up and taking pictures at a wedding. Wedding photography today has evolved to a higher standard, almost an art form requiring the right equipment and skill set. Not only is it a physically and mentally demanding job on the day-of, but there are behind-the-scenes work going on before and after the wedding day the client does not see. It’s not unlike hiring an attorney to represent you in court. You’re not just paying him/her to show up on your court date right? You’re paying them for their level of expertise, education, the resources they have access to, and the time and labor put into building your case and executing the mission before and after the court date. It’s a professional service business, very similar to a smooth running photography business.”

I deliver a brand of peace of mind to my clients throughout the entire experience.  The last thing I want them to worry about is photography.  The clients I cater too have a high hopes and set high standards for their wedding, the photography is no exception.

Yes it’s the review that many of you have been waiting for – my review of the new Boda V3 lens bag from GoBoda.com!

If you’re ready to purchase this amazing high quality bag now, visit www.GoBoda.com and enter my coupon code B1210DeFiesta and get $30 OFF. The code is still good as of today February 15th, thanks GoBoda for the extension!

Here are my first impressions:

1. High quality build and materials
2. Stronger molding seems to enhance rigidity and durability
3. The new molding increases the overall size of the bag (compared with previous Boda bag models) without sacrificing comfort
4. The new shoulder strap totally rocks – thicker & wider, it provides improved weight distribution and comfort
5. Easy access to the media pocket (no more flap to deal with like with the previous Boda Dry “V2″ bag)
6. Metal rivets at the bottom of the bag for enhanced support and protection
7. High quality fray resistant zippers
8. Retractable lens cloth – way cool =)
9. Larger side pockets that could play double duty as a place for extra lenses
10. Locking hinges keep the straps securely fastened to the V3, plus an overlap strap to prevent the shoulder strap from twisting over

What’s my favorite enhancement of the new Boda V3 lens bag compared to previous Boda bags? The answer is BUILD QUALITY.

Actually, there are several enhancements and improvements that GoBoda thought about based on customer feedback, and simply because they are not one to rest on their laurels. They put a lot of thought and effort into making the Boda V3 a better bag. This would prove to be a challenging task due to the huge success of the now sold out Boda Dry V2.  I LOVE my Boda Dry V2. It’s a staple in my photography life! Can the Boda V3 really prove itself to me? We’re going to find out very soon, but let’s learn more about GoBoda.

In 2007 GoBoda introduced a series of lens bags that changed the photography industry. The brainchild of award-winning photographer Jim Garner and his interpretation of feedback from hundreds of working photographers, Boda lens bags were designed to provide photographers with a practical solution for quickly and easily accessing their equipment during a photo shoot. In 2008, version 2 (V2) of the Boda bag launched with several enhancements and the bags sold out. A cult following began to grow and Boda bags started appearing in journals and blogs. Today, the Boda lens bag has become a staple for many of the world’s leading photographers. Most camera bags are designed for storage–Boda bags are designed for activity, enabling photographers to focus less on their gear during a shoot and more on the moment.

MY REVIEW OF THE BODA V3 LENS CARRYING SYSTEM

One thing I noticed right away is the bag feels ROCK SOLID! The new high strength molding and material does add some bulk to this highly anticipated successor to the Boda Dry V2 lens bag. As a result the Boda V3 is larger, taller and deeper, and not as low profile as the previous Boda bag (Boda Dry), there is no denying that. I was expecting the added bulk to be uncomfortable to carry and affect my shooting. But after almost two weeks  of using the V3 I was pleasantly surprised and happy to be proven wrong -  the Boda V3 lens bag was very comfortable to carry and easy to use. The high strength molding maintains its shape enhancing form and function. Another pleasant surprise was the confidence-inspiring feel of the bag. My lenses seemed better protected than ever before. This is due to the Boda V3′s new high strength molding which seem to help the bag maintain its shape and protect what’s inside even more. Ballistics Cordura has been proven in the field time and time again as a strong, durable and lightweight material. Combine that with the Boda’s high strength molding and weather proof materials and you will have improved gear protection as a result. Many of our roller bags and camera bags are made of this material and similar molding already so this should be familiar territory. The folks at GoBoda listened to photographers’ feedback during their research and development for the new Boda V3 lens bag. After all, Jim Garner (owner of GoBoda) is a photographer himself so he understands photography gear and requirements. A lot of thought and effort went into improving, developing and manufacturing this bag without sacrificing quality and function. One look and one touch and it really shows. I created a video review for you to watch, it’s almost 10 minutes long so give it some time to load. For quicker video loading, watch in “normal quality”. Take a look to get a closer look at the V3…

COMFORT – the new shoulder pad and the padded top cover are my favorite enhancements. The shoulder strap alone is worth the investment! It consists of a strap and a thick and wide ergonomic shoulder pad that distributes the weight very nicely. This results in much improved comfort, especially for long photo shoots. Purchase the new Boda V3 Waist System and you can take the weight off your shoulders and distribute it along your hips. Also, the padded top cover when in the open position and tucked back provides added comfort along your hip and back. A very nice touch indeed.

Photos courtesy of GoBoda

SECURITY – Improved security and protection of your precious gear is enhanced by the durability and strength of the new high strength molding and Ballistic Cordura material. The higher level of protection is much improved over the previous Boda bags. My old Boda Dry bag served me well and none of my gear was ever damaged. But I always felt I had to be delicate with my previous Boda bag. The previous bag was more flimsy and thinner compared to the new V3′s thicker and stronger molding. The good news is that there is no significant weight added or any sacrifice in comfort in the new Boda V3. The new V3 also continues its tradition of being weather proof. I have already subjected my V3 to snow and rain and all my gear stayed dry, no moisture seepage at all. The sealed weather proof zippers still do a great job!

EASY TO USE – Like its predecessor the Boda V3 is easy to use. The new molding helps the bag maintain its shape, therefore making it even easier to take lenses in and out without any snags. All the pockets are in the same places as the Boda Dry bag – business card slot, pocket for your mobile phone, external hard drive pocket, water bottle pouch, paperwork pockets, wallet style organizer, and a large deep front pocket for anything that you can fit in there.  Speaking of pockets, the two large exterior side pockets are much larger than its predecessor’s – actually they’re huge! It’ll be much easier for photographers to store extra lenses in there as so many have done in the past with their Boda Dry bags. Even the Boda V3′s “phone” pocket is bigger. I also like how GoBoda got rid of the front flap and exposing the awesome media pocket for easy access. And speaking of that, the media pocket is larger and deeper so you can hide other things in there with your CF cards. Overall I really am pleased again with the functionality of the Boda V3.

SUMMARY

GoBoda listened to customer feedback and worked hard with the best manufacturers to find ways to improve their products and make them more effective.  The Boda V3 Lens Bag is an overall improvement over the previous Boda bags in terms of comfort, security, and ease of use. The new two-piece ergonomic shoulder pad is worth the money alone. The stronger molding with Ballistic Cordura and weather proof materials takes gear protection to the next level in lens systems. And the simplicity and functionality that made the Boda bags popular is clearly evident in the new Boda V3 lens bag. While the added girth may make some photographers think twice about the bag, I feel the enhancements outweigh the bag’s size increase.  GoBoda will be launching the smaller Boda Jr. bag soon for photographers wanting a smaller solution, I cannot wait to check that out!  In addition, GoBoda will be launching a new product that will save on-the-go photographers both time and money: the BODA MODULAR STORAGE BAG.  This carefully constructed roller bag is the perfect solution for traveling: the lens bag will fit right into it… hmmm sound familiar? =)

The previous Boda bags were a proven success for many photographers. I believe the new Boda V3 will continue this success and surprise many photographers with its improvements. When you’re ready to purchase your Boda V3, visit http://www.GoBoda.com and use my Coupon Code B1210DeFiesta and receive $30 off.  I will be showing this bag to my photographer friends at a photographer party within a couple of weeks.  I hope to share some of their first impressions with you soon!

Just when I thought there wasn’t much to improve on the Boda Dry V2 lens bag, GoBoda proved me wrong! And for once, I’m happy that I’m wrong

Thanks to Jim, Katarina, Claire, Lanae and the rest of the GoBoda team for their support and continuing with this great product!

Check out GoBoda’s promo video: