Brown Photographic Blog

Holly and Jeff Oliver Nashawtuc Country Club - Sneak Peek

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:01:54 -0500

I just got in from shooting a wedding on an incredibly warm, sunny day for early March. Here are just a few sneak peaks of Holly and Jeff's wedding...

Thanks to Rich Pizzuti for being a model human lightstand!

Lindsey and Adam Speidel Wedding, Granite Links Golf Club

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:05:00 -0500

Hair & Makeup: Salon Saveria - Walpole, MA
Dress: Allure Boutique - Westwood, MA
Reception and Ceremony: Granite Links Golf Club, Quincy, MA
Event Coordinator: Linda Blackmore
Music: Boston Music Works
Florist: Judy's Village Florist - Foxboro, MA

I learned about Lindsey and Adam through Suzanne and Todd who's wedding I shot back in '08. Back in late Autumn, Lindsey, Adam and I headed out to the Minuteman National Park and then into Beacon Hill for their engagement session. There wasn't one serious moment and that definitely set the tone for their wedding!

It was a cold, grey January day as I drove up the hills south of Boston to the Granite Links, with the clubhouse perched atop a northward facing slope towards Boston. I met with my assistant Doug (second photographer and man-with-the-light for the day) and we scoped the place out before meeting with Lindsey, who was relaxed as ever!

As the getting ready, ceremony and reception were all being held at the club, the preparations proceeded at a calm pace with no stresses about time or worries about traffic. Adam arrived downstairs at the bar, so Doug headed down there while I took some photos of Lindsey with her very attentive bridesmaids, before Adam popped out of the lift. Breaking with tradition, they decided to make use of the day and get some of their formals and couple photos out of the way before the ceremony, so after a non-teary, and funny first-meet, we dragged everyone outside into the cold for some shots on the hillside.

Alas (and for some reason often the case with winter weddings) the pathways to the best views weren't clear, but we found a good clear view of Boston with the bridal party on the grass and us shooting and lighting from a deep snow bank. I'm not really sure if snow in my shoes is the best way to start a wedding, but sometimes to get that angle you've just got to make sacrifices! With bad weather on the way and a rather damp chill to the air, we knew we wouldn't be outside for long and the party braved it for just enough time before we all headed back in as guests arrived.

A lighting-fast paced ceremony ensued with tears and a lot of laughing (do they ever stop?) from Lindsey and Adam as the sun went down. With plenty of time to spare after group photos, everyone headed off to enjoy their cocktail hour before making a very different entrance to a packed reception room that surprised their guests and ourselves.

After some cracking speeches the party and food ensued. I experimented a little with the 5DMKII's HD video capabilities and put a little surprise in the slideshow for Lindsey! During the course of the night, we headed out with the newlyweds onto a windswept balcony as the wintry elements rained down around us, before rounding out the evening.

Congrats to Lindsey and Adam and we wish you all the best on your journey together! To see all of their photos and purchase prints, click here.

To view the slideshow below, enter Lindsey's maiden name for the password. You can also see all of the photos in their online gallery by clicking here.

Slideshow (warning, contains music, so plug in the headphones! Click the button in the bottom right to go full screen).

Self Portrait Contest

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:28:02 -0500

Happy Valentines everyone!

As the wedding bookings flow steadily in I thought it would be great to offer a HUGE giveaway for future and past clients...

Well I said giveaway, but you do have to do a bit of work... just join the contest on Facebook (details below) and upload a photo of yourself with your better half. The little twist is that it has to be taken by yourselves... yes that means arms outreached, camera on a tripod or rock or whatever else you can find to rest it on (just not someone else's hands!). Of course it is tough to tell sometimes, but I trust you'll be good honest peeps and humour me with the best shot you've taken of yourselves. Your Facebook friends vote, then the winners are announced on April 15.

You could win one of these:
- Grand Prize: Custom Wedding Photography Package worth $4150!
- Second Place: Engagement Shoot plus a 9x12 art book.... worth $1000!
- Third Place: Online print credit worth $300!

The really cool thing is that if you win, the person that referred you on Facebook also gets $300 of online print credit! So even if you don't win, but you referred someone who did win, you could still get the $300 print credit as a referral prize!

These are the steps:
1. Become a Fan!
2. Enter the Competition and upload a photo of you both and read the Rules. Don't forget to mention who mentioned the competition to you, so they can win something too!
3. Get your friends to vote on your photo... they can vote only once per submission; a maximum of 10 votes.
4. Sit back and wait for the results on April 15!

So why a self portrait I hear you ask? Well I was scratching my head about how I could engage competitors' artistic side and try to get a feel for who they really are and allow people voting to immediately see who they were voting for. Words just seemed boring and a standard photo competition had been done, done and done some more... and I wanted something challenging.

So something I always have trouble with photographically is one of those 'reach out with your hand and shoot yourself' photos, especically with your other half in the frame. My wife actually has an uncanny knack for it... see this shot she took of us in 2006 when we were dating:

Yep, likely better than I could do, though I did shoot this with my hunker-lunker Canon 1Ds in one hand out of the window of a friend's Austin 7 driving around the Cotswolds...

So it doesn't matter what camera you take it with, you just have to take it yourself and get a ton of your facebook friends to vote for you in order to win one of these amazing prizes! The more you spread the news about the competition, the greater liklihood you have of winning the referral prize!

The sooner you enter, the more votes you can get, so get snapping!

Submissions for photos will be between today and March 14 2010
Voting starts today until April 14 2010
Winners announced April 15 2010

Just click here to enter the contest!

For rules: click here

Reliable data storage for photographers: video of a Drobo disk replacement

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:25:00 -0500

I have a number of different readers to my blog and they mostly fall into two camps: other photographers and my clients / potential clients.

My clients are of course rightly concerned that their precious images are held securely; my peers are often interested in the technology I use to store images on. So I thought a post about how I store my images would be useful. I won't talk that much about my actual procedures of backing up (that would bore most people senseless!), but more about the actual hardware technologies that I use. As a photographer, I am also an image librarian, ensuring that the images I take are kept safe and to do that I always ensure I am on top of the latest technology that will deliver the safest, most efficient solution.

Data storage is pretty cheap these days and you can almost guarantee that next year the same amount of storage on a hard disk will be half the price. Now, while folks at home and those shooting for fun may get away with just storing the images on their laptop disk or external drive, things get a little more complex and expensive when you regularly shooting two or three thousand images at a wedding. Not only does one have a huge amount more data to contend with - especially when shooting RAW with 17 and 21 megapixel cameras - but one also has to think about how to keep those images safe.

So there's the obvious problem of fire, theft or other physical loss and we can simply prepare for that by keeping our images duplicated on a backup disk(s) that we keep off-site. When I shoot a wedding or portrait session, after downloading my cards to my computer, I make an immediate backup and take the disk out of the house. So we've immediately doubled our storage cost.

Then there's the problem of data loss on disks. Now whatever medium you use, be it the classic magnetic hard disk, the newer 'solid state' disks, or on a CD or DVD, your data is never really completely safe. Just as your film or slides rot in the shoe box, data on a disk is not impervious to tiny errors that can cost you big.

Let's look at the method most of us use for storage: the magnetic hard disk. These disks have been with us now for what seems like an eternity, and while there have been a few changes to the basic interfaces, underneath the way in which data is stored on a disk as ones and zeros (a bit) has not changed. Each bit of data (see this description of how it works) is stored as north (0) or south (1) and with millions and millions of these bits being stored, one of them is bound to go wrong! Slight shifts in the earth's magnetic field, close placement to a radiator or loudspeaker, or someone dumping something magnetic right on top of your hard disk and you could be in trouble.

So here's where most of us go wrong. We use single disks to store our data and when that disk fails, either in a glorious puff of smoke or more commonly with just a few bits being messed up on the disk we run into problems. Sure, some of us run backups right? Well that's fine, but what if you run a backup each week, overwriting what you had on your backup disk... what if you overwrite it with data that's gone bad?

Enter redundant storage drives. Now these drives have been around for a while and are commonly referred to as RAID (redundant array of inexpesive disks). A bunch of disks the same size and type are stacked together in an array and a RAID controller, configured to one of several different options will allow you (under the right setting) to store your data across all of the disks as if they were one drive, plus offer redundancy. So if one drive goes down, you stick in a new one and carry on. Or if data goes bad somewhere on one disk, it can be rescued automatically from another. There are a couple of problems with RAID: 1. You have to know a little technical junk to get the thing to work for you in the right way 2. As you are limited to using the same sized disks, when you run out of room you are forced to buy a new RAID system (or a very large single disk), then copy the data over, then start again with larger disks.

Enter Drobo. This rather interesting device has taken the digital creative marketplace by storm. As people that often have huge files and many of them, we commonly require extremely large storage drives, but with a way of growing them. Very often we don't have a big IT support group backing us, so a) we don't have the money for a lot of storage up front b) we commonly don't know what a RAID is, but we hope it isn't a raid by the IRS c) even if we did have a RAID we just don't have time to administer it... and just what the heck is it anyway? So as a photographer a few years back and struggling with storage options myself (back when digital photographer had already taken off but the storage hadn't caught up) I came across a video on youtube about the Data Robot (Drobo) and instantly knew this was going to make waves in the photo community. It took a good few months in 2007 before it was available, but as soon as I could I purchase one, with four 500GB disks (each one a couple of hundred $!). I didn't want to throw in too much storage; I couldn't AFFORD too much storage, so 2TB it was, which gave me 1.5TB total storage with 500GB of protection.

A few years later (as in last week) and my Drobo was showing an orange light and it told me to replace the disk with the least space. I ignored it and the other day it turned red (meaning I was really running out and I'd better do something about it!). So I headed down to Micro Center in Cambridge, bought a couple of disks and set about replacing them. Below is a video of how I did this:

Edit:

As you saw, you have to hold the lever aside when inserting a new disk (duh!) - always read the manual, as they say :)
My 1.5TB Green Disks actually ran at $120, not $80 (getting confused with the 1TB price).
Also, when you replace drobo disks, do them one at a time only!
A solid red light denotes that you're lack of storage is critical; a failed drive flashes red.

So the Drobo is a pretty cool device and I've trusted it for a while to protect the important images of my clients. It isn't an entire solution - you still have to back-up off-site and you will most likely want to use the drive inside your computer for editing as it isn't that quick (at least the USB2 only option that I have isn't!). However, it does hold EVERY bit of data I have created since 1997 on it and it works away, even while the computer is turned off, constantly ensuring my data is safe from the dreaded bit-rot. When it comes to making an off-site backup, I can rest easy knowing that the original data on the Drobo is completely intact as it had started out life, making the off-site backup a lot less worrying

Drobos now run at just $350 for the standard Drobo with USB2 and Firewire 800 or for $795 for the Drobo S with those same interfaces and eSATA (50% faster than firewire 800). If you have a need for even greater storage, they also have rack mounted versions. You have to purchase the disks seperately, but with 1 to 2 terrabyte disks running at extremely low prices (between $80 and $200), you really don't have to worry too much about a big hit. My suggestion is to buy enough storage for a year, then when drives get less expensive next year, just buy a couple more when you need to.

Bottom line: Drobo is the best archiving solution for professional photographers in my opinion. Low cost in the long-run (you can mix and match drives), simple maintenance (you just leave it plugged in; you don't need an IT background), easily upgradeable.

... and my clients can rest easier at night knowing that I've invested a lot of thought and money into the premier storage solution for creative professionals.

Oliver says...

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:53:21 -0500

Happy February (dribble dribble)!

It is a good job you're cute Oli, because we're not getting much sleep around here!

Lindsey and Adam Sneak Peak

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:10:12 -0500

more to come soon...

The Cullens

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Daniel got in touch back in the summer to get a portrait shoot with two sisters as a surprise gift to their parents at Christmas. Fall in New England is a wonderful time for outdoor portraits and the backdrop of the Minute Man National Historic Park, with the beautiful old trees and river running towards Concord is a perfect setting. Merry Christmas to the Cullens!

Got family? Get Dropbox!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:15:09 -0500

Do you live a couple of hours apart from your family, or like me another continent?

Do you have kids and want to keep them and your closest friends in touch?

Have you tried online sharing services, but just don't have the time to upload?

Do you have more than one computer and need to sync documents and application settings without having to be on the network at the same time?

Do you always forget to copy those files over to your laptop before a client meeting?

Here's a great solution! I've been using this great service called Dropbox. It is really cool free online storage that mirrors a folder on your disk. You can use it as online backup, a way of sharing files between your home and work computer... or to share photos and video with your distant relations.

Dropbox is a little different - you basically just drop files into a folder on your computer and the files upload automatically in the background. To share them you can either share a private folder (with an email invite) or a public file, simply by right clicking on it!

Download dropbox for free here: http://bit.ly/9JuvlT

Once installed you will find the Dropbox folder in Finder on a Mac, or desktop, or My Documents if on PC. It works great on both.

Sharing a folder with email invites (best if you want to keep totally private):
- This option requires that the recipient have Dropbox installed as well. It is great if you have regular people that are wanting to see your photos or video, because every time you drop something in your folder, the automatically get the file in their dropbox too!
- Go to the Dropbox folder and a folder to put your files in.
- Then just drag your files (like movies) in there.
- Right click on the folder (not the file) and Go to the Dropbox menu (see screenshot) and select Share this Folder. Your web browser will open and you can then type emails to recipients. When they get the email they get a link to the folder and everything contained within it.

Sharing a file with just a link:
- Copy or move the file to the Public folder in Dropbox
- Right click, then choose Dropbox, then Copy Public Link
- Go to your email and paste.
- When the recipient gets the email, they click the link and automatically download the file!

Sharing photos:
You can do the same with photos - just drag the images that you want into the Photos folder (into a sub folder if you want to get organised).
- Then right click on the folder, select Dropbox...
- Select Copy Public Gallery Link.
- Go to your email and paste - it will paste the web address.
- The recipient opens the email and views an automatically generated web gallery online!

Here's a sample: http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/117989/2/Website%20Portfolio/weddings%20best%20of%202009?h=a47d2b

So that's it. Really, once you've installed dropbox and you've done the above once you'll get the hang in no time! Just drag, drop, right click and paste!

And for the photographers out there with more than one computer, you can even sync your application settings, documents and even bookmarks between your computers (windows and mac) by means of a symbolic link with this finder plugin. I use it to do all of the above and love it! Especially great if you have Lightroom or Aperture on two computers and want to sync the preferences, presets etc!

Let's say you were working away at your desktop on a few files, then have to rush off to a client meeting. You head off, with your laptop under your arm and you open it but remember you didn't copy the files over! Oops! No matter, as soon as your laptop connects with the internet the files instantly sync to your laptop. You make changes in front of your client and those changes are automatically backed up to the cloud and will be present on your home computer as soon as it goes online. Genius!

Improving the quality of your work

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:46:04 -0500

I just posted my favourites wedding photos of 2009 and thought it was worth a nod to explain what it takes to keep improving the quality of your images year upon year. How does one keep upping the ante?

If you are looking for a few tips on how to give your photography a kick in the pants in 2010 here it is:

- Take more photos. Even if you go out with a compact. Get the creative side of your brain engaged and shoot every day. I carry a small camera with me every day. It doesn't match the quality of my Canon gear, but liken it to the difference in quality of 35mm vs medium format film: perfectly adequate. Small enough for portability, but powerful enough to make 'keepers' that even I am happy with:

- Don't take yourself too seriously: listen to your peers, be honest with them about their work and ask them to be honest with you about yours. I'm lucky enough to be part of a great community here in Boston and a handful of us head to a monthly critique night at Mike and Kate's.

- Get on Flickr! No it isn't Facebook without a wall and annoying widgets. Flickr's been around for yonks (well at least since woolly mammoths were wondering the internet). It is a great way to stay connected to your photographer peers and explore billions of images for inspiration. Sure there's a lot of rubbish, but there's an incredible amount of amazing work that will stimulate the brain, especially on these cold days. I'm there (http://flickr.com/brownphotographic)

- Lastly, invest! No I'm not talking about chewing up all of your $ on the next big lens. Every year or so, invest in yourself, peel yourself away from flickr, twitter and facebook and enrol in a workshop. Ask your peers for good options. I've been on a couple recently:

Photo Biz Bootcamp run by Liana Lehman. Great 2-3 day (by day I mean long hours, but fun) course to get yourself on track, establish goals and make sure you are running a business solid enough to support yourself and your family.

Roots Workshop - a visual storytelling workshop run by Emilie Sommer and taught by an insanely talented group of working photojournalists. I continually wax lyrical about this workshop and for good reason. See my full report here. The quality of my imagery has gone up tenfold, I've keyed my brain in to visual storytelling and I cannot contemplate not have invested in this one. They sold out for 2010 in just a day, so for a chance to get on the list for 2011 you'd better pay attention to the blog www.rootsworkshop.net . A 5D2 or D700 may be high on your list, but if you're looking to improve your storytelling rather than getting lower noise, drop the money on this workshop and have an incredible time doing it.

Best of 2009 Weddings

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:30:54 -0500

I've posted this over in my portfolio, but here it is on the blog for all ye people who live in a feed reader.

A selection of my faves from 2009:

Get your prints in time for Christmas!

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:22:43 -0500

Everyone appears to be loving my new online print store as the orders are coming thick and fast! Just a quick note to everyone about deadlines for ordering prints and which shipping option to choose (within the US; for my UK and Australian friends please order by Sunday 13):

1st Class Mail: December 13th

USPS Priority Mail: December 16th

FedEx Next Business Day: December 20th

Add on an extra couple of days for custom framing (you can choose a custom frame and visualise how it will look when you get to the checkout; just click on the Frame and Mount blue button, choose a frame type, matt and normal or non-reflective glass).

... and any blog post wouldn't be complete without a cool image. I shot this Christmas 1997 on a dawn drive in the Masai Mara (Kenya) using a Minolta 7000, 70-210 f4 (at 210mm, wide open at f4) and Kodak 400ASA film... and no back then EXIF didn't exist, I just remember that stuff! That African adventure really kick-started my passion for photography.

Morris family

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:40:25 -0500

The Morris family live just a couple of houses away here in Winchester and I was delighted when they asked me to take photos of little Pierce who is just a few months old. A very proud mum and dad are enjoying the experience of bringing up the little guy and their beautiful brittany spaniel, who is certainly (as all dogs are) an important part of their lives was on hand. It looks like Pierce and our own Oliver will be playing together before too long!

It is such a great idea to not only get a family portrait, but also get a record of the goings on in your house during that special first year of your child's life. Although life can be a little hectic, there's no extra time required to have a documentary photo session; I just turn up when a nap is finished, document with candid photography for an hour, then take a family portrait at the end of the session.

Nicola is one!

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:13:33 -0500

The O'Sheas are just in town for a year while they study. Nicola just turned one and mum and dad couldn't resist the pumpkin hat and mitts! It was great chatting with them both about life in Canada while an inquisitive Nicola played. Enjoy your time here!

Chase at 3 months

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:43:10 -0500

We met Wendy and David while out walking our dogs around our neighbourhood. They live the other side of our back yard and after many, many times of walking Luna's favourite route we've come to know them as good friends. We were so excited to hear that they were expecting a child and along came little Chase, who I photographed in the spring in his first week. A few months along and in mid September I returned to photograph this handsome little guy. I'm sure he and Oliver will be riding the streets of Winchester in just a few years. Lots of fun to come...

Now that I'm One!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:27:39 -0500

It pays to be flexible...

When I first met Max (very soon to be 1) and his parents his usual nap didn't pay off and despite a few keepers we decided it would be best for me to come back the week after. His true colours came out and we got the little man's cheeky personality captured to mark his first year. While I was there it was great to take a few stories and tips on board for our own future child!

Meet the Nelsons...