Amanda & Jeremy 06.07.08

I have to say, I have the BEST BRIDES!! I've been looking forward to this wedding all year, in fact, for a couple of years! Amanda first contacted me about her wedding back in 2006 (it's never too early to plan!). We've been emailing back and forth since then so I knew this was going to be a fun and emotional day.

After a full Mass at Our Lady of Peace we headed out to Robin Hill Park for a few special pictures. With temps in the 90's my experience shooting for national magazines paid off -- we were able to do all the shots in record time so nobody was in the heat too long. After that it was time to party!

Thanks guys, it was so much fun to be part of your day. See you soon!




Amanda's dad did a pretty good job holding it together




I love the sun as it gets low in the sky!


The cake was awesome thanks to Carol's Cakes


Party time!


Some of the young ones couldn't hang...


Others found a different way to hang

Phipps Conservatory shut out and Photoshop overload

OK, I'll admit it. I'm a Photoshop geek. But I have reason to be, I've been using the program (off and on) since version 2.0. Macs, back in those days, were self contained beige boxes with five inch black and white screens. A far cry from the dual 23" cinema displays I use today.

Just because I've used the program so long do I consider myself an "expert" user? NO WAY! This program is SO deep I don't even scratch the surface. I know just enough of the workings to get lost playing around for hours at a time.

Megan and Matthew wanted to be photographed at Phipps Conservatory for their engagement session. Unfortunately the folks at Phipps only allow professionals to make photos if they pay -- $200 for 45 minutes. They also only allow you in one room -- of their choosing. Of course, if you want to take pictures of the flowers and don't look like you know what you're doing (or don't have fancy camera equipment) you can do whatever you want (within reason). Oh, and membership does NOT have any privilege in this matter.

So we did the next best thing and shoot around outside. No fees involved.

The weather was a bit shaky -- dark clouds, steel sky, overall yuck. But, with a little imagination and a bit of Photoshop pixie dust ; ) a pretty cool picture was born. My only regret is I didn't save a screen shot showing all the layers involved -- there were a LOT of them! But in the end, the vision for this image came through.


Color version. Maybe a bit surreal?


Sepia option. More of the mood I had in my minds eye.

PS. I know some in the photo community believe in the "better to ask forgiveness than be denied permission" motto. I'm not one of them. I try very hard to play by the rules. It was how I was raised. But that's a debate (rant) for another day...

Strobist lighting

The weather Tuesday morning was oh so typical crappy Pittsburgh -- dark, gray skies with little definition. Not exactly exciting to shoot under, especially when I planned to include a good portion of the sky in the frame. So when you're handed a lemon the only thing to do is make lemonade!

I started by setting my Canon 5D to a tungsten color balance. This way any daylight would be rendered as blue.

To light the subject I placed my main light, a Canon 580 EX at 45 degrees to subject on my right side. To balance the tungsten setting I place a full CTO filter over the flash, but since I wanted the main slightly warmer than normal I added a 1/2 CTO to boost the color.

The second flash, also a 580 EX, was placed low and pointed up at the Bonsai tree. The tree light was covered with a full CTO to bring it back to normal. The flashes were set to "slave" and triggered by a hot shoe mounted Canon ST-E2. Camera exposure was 1/200 at f14, about two stops below "normal" ambient exposure. The main light needed a 1 stop boost in exposure compensation to achieve the desired exposure. The lens was a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 MK II L.

The only Photoshop work I did on this image was darken the edges slightly, run an overall sharpen and definition action, boost the blue a bit and tweak the facial color. As is my normal workflow, all PS work is done on 16-bit TIFF files, then converted to 8-bit Adobe 1998 for client delivery or JPEG, sRGB for web.

Lemonade from a lemon of a day. Gotta love it.



For many more super cool tips and tricks check out the Strobist blog.

God is in the details

I saw this sign today while doing a portrait for an upcoming editorial piece. Sometimes it's good to be reminded of the incredible gift we have in this life. God is in the details. Indeed.

And in case you wondered, the "things" hanging from the sign are leaves. Very cool leaves.

Pittsburgh Professional Magazine

Hot off the presses! The latest edition of Pittsburgh Professional Magazine is out and one of my photos is on the cover!

Lisa Roundabush is the General Manager of the Mon Valley Works for US Steel. Pittsburgh, as the world knows, has a great heritage of steel making and Lisa is almost evangelical on the point -- big steel has not left Pittsburgh. I hope you will pick up a copy of the magazine. It's a good read.

FREE STUFF!!!!

I have a problem and I'm bringing it to the blog for help. I have too much stuff. There, I said it. Some things I haven't been able to let go of in spite of my rapid and early embrace of all things digital. Now is the time, I hope. What I'm referring to is darkroom equipment. Yeppers, I have professional grade enlargers, stainless steel processing tanks, dozens of 35mm and 120 film reels, film washers, print washers, trays, timers, etc. Basically, the works! If ANYONE is interested in setting up an off the hook home darkroom to experience the magic of seeing a print develop PLEASE CALL 724.266.2411. Pick up is required, but everything is FREE!

Pittsburgh skyline

It's been said we have the only city in the world with a front door. It's so fun to hear visitor's gasps when they see our city for the first time as they come out of the Ft. Pitt Tunnel.

How ever you see the Pittsburgh skyline, once you do, it never leaves your heart -- which is possibly why Pittsburghers are unique in having so many pictures of their city proudly displayed in homes and offices. I asked a friend who lives in San Francisco how many photos of SF hang in his office. He looked at me oddly and said, "we don't need photos, we have windows!" How boring! As I told him, "we have windows too, of course, but from our window we only see ONE view, with pictures we get to see many views all the time!" He didn't get it.

Thursday evening was so nice I had to take advantage of it by photographing our skyline. It also helped that one of my commercial clients recently asked if I had anything new of the city (we're changing the skyline rather quickly these days!). So a little before sunset up I went to one of my favorite spots. I thought you'd like to see the view, in case you didn't make it out.

PS. In case anyone is wondering, yes, I do sell stock for commercial use as well as prints for home or office decor, custom greeting or post cards.

University of Pittsburgh eSession!

I love to shoot engagement sessions. First, it gives me the chance to get to know couples I'll be photographing at their wedding. Also important, they get to know me and how I work so, on the day of their wedding, nobody is surprised when, without warning, I throw myself to the ground to get an cool angle! But mostly, they're fun!!! We have a great time exploring an area (or areas) that are important to the people I'm photographing.

Teresa and Eric are an awesome couple and asked to be photographed at their Alma Mater, the University of Pittsburgh. We wandered, we shot lots of pictures and afterward, by chance, I asked if they would like to have dinner at LuLu's Noodles. Teresa almost teared up -- that was where they had their first date! A perfect ending to a perfect evening. But not until we did just a few more shots at the Carnegie Museum on the way back to our cars. When the light is that "juicy" as it was Tuesday, you just have to make one more.

Janelle and Christopher

First off, to all the Veterans out there, thank you for your service and dedication to our country. God Bless.

My Memorial Day weekend started with the uber cool wedding of a great couple, Janelle & Christopher. They were married at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oakland and held their reception at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association. It was truly a picture perfect day with temps in the low 70's and an occasional puffy cloud to provide just the right amount of shade (especially for the large group shot on the church steps).

Hope you enjoy the show!

Bethany and Jet -- Fox Chapel Golf Club reception

Hi folks! It's been a LONG time I know for one simple reason -- the busy season has begun! But (thankfully) because of a last minute schedule change I found myself with a rare, non-shooting weekend. Woo Hoo! So what did I do with this time of leisure you ask? I stayed inside and caught up on my digital processing, of course!! I know, not very exciting, but I managed to complete five commercial jobs along with several wedding orders. Oh yes, and blog again!!

Two weeks ago I shot a fabulous wedding for a great couple, Bethany and Jet. His name isn't "really" Jet, but he's from Norway and Bethany started calling him that shortly after they met. According to his Viking friends who were attending, the name fits.

And if you're wondering, yes, the couple lives in Norway. Oslow to be exact.

Hope you enjoy the show.

And PS. I'll be photographing Bethany's sister's wedding in a couple of months.


Click on arrow to play slide show

Cooking at Bella Sera!

I'm so juiced, it's WEDNESDAY!!! So why be so excited by the middle of the week? It's a cooking night in Pittsburgh! For the last several weeks I've been attending cooking classes at Bella Sera in Canonsburg. My good friend and super chef : Jason Capps and Nick Borelli invited me to come out and participate in the fun, well, who am I to turn down (1) a good meal, (2) an educational experience, (3) great fun! There are still some classes left so if you're interested in any or all of the above contact them at 724.745.5575.

And of course, I took some pictures, too. Here's a peek at the fun...





I wonder if Jason is saying the same thing I do when chopping... "not the finger, not the finger, not the finger!!"

Calligraphy fun

Many of you know my love and passion for script, or as my daughter calls it, "swirly writing." Here's a fun little vid I found at that wonderful tube place... enjoy!

WPSBC Easter Egg Hunt

I consider myself extremely honored the kind folks at The Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children have allowed me to photograph their events for the last few years. What goes on there is nothing short of amazing. You can feel the love everywhere. It's that experience I hope I can capture in my images. Last week they held their annual Easter Egg Hunt. Watching these children delight in chasing down beeping eggs was something beyond my ability to put into words, so I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.

Bethany and Marc

Saturday evening I had the honor to photograph Bethany and Marc's winter wonderland wedding. They are such a fantastic couple and SO in love -- you can feel the electricity around these two!

The wedding and reception were held at the uber cool Bella Sera in Canonsburg so (thankfully) we didn't have to travel in the snow. The ceremony was even more special because Marc's father was also the officiant. Thanks so much guys, it was awesome to share your special day.

Happy Birthday Ansel

Ansel Adams spawned a generation of photographers concerned with not only rich black and white imagery, but a deep concern for our natural environment. He was an avid conversationalist throughout his entire life.

Black and white images, along with nature photography, have always had a special place in my heart. Early in my career it was my good fortune to study under one of Ansel's printers. While Ansel printed many of his negatives himself, he also had people he trained and coached in the art of the darkroom. Learning from one who had touched the master's hand was not easy. I remember printing the same negative for weeks before I produced an acceptable print. "Again," was about the only word I heard in that time. At the end of a year my mentor gave me the greatest compliment by saying, "you now print better than I."

It was very traumatic when I said goodbye to silver based photography, leaving behind decades of tradition and craft. I love digital imagery in many ways, but I still miss the acidic smell of the darkroom and the magic seeing a print rise slowly from a blank sheet of paper.


Moonrise over Red Rock, Page, AZ


The following is from the February 20th edition of The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor:

"It's the birthday of photographer Ansel Adams, born in San Francisco (1902) and best known for his black-and-white Western landscapes, many of them shot in national parks. His nose was broken in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and never was set properly. It jutted to the left. As a boy he loved to hike around Golden Gate Park and along Lobos Creek, or out to Baker Beach - a boy who didn't care so much for school, who wanted to become a concert pianist. But when he was 14, his parents gave him a Kodak Brownie camera, and that same summer he saw Yosemite for the first time. He went back every year from then until he died at 81. He joined the Sierra Club when he was 17 and became their photographer, publishing his first pictures in the 1922 Sierra Club Bulletin. He supported himself with commercial photography, but he's remembered for his images of the Sierras and Yosemite. Ansel Adams said, "A good photograph is knowing where to stand."

Nick & Sarah 02.09.08

Nick and Sarah were married Saturday at Bella Sera in Canonsburg. And can you believe it, the weather was almost balmy! What a wonderful way to start the 2008 wedding season! I'll be posting more through the week but in the mean time enjoy the slide show.

Death of the ‘Roid

Polaroid announced Friday they were closing down film production facilities in Massachusetts. The closure will lay off 150 people. In Polaroid’s hey day they employed 15,000 in the state.

It’s a sad day for me. I love Polaroids. The colors are totally unique -- no matter how you shape, twist or manipulate digital you just can’t match it.

You can walk around any street in the world and make people smile with a Polaroid. A Polaroid camera is just one of those “friendly” things people gravitate toward.

I used SX-70 cameras for fine art as well as some commercial assignments. I would manipulate the emulsion while it processed to create series of “mini-Monet” renderings. It was artistic and therapeutic. You just couldn’t have a bad day when you were toying with a toothpick on a Polaroid.

Sadly no one will ever have that experience again. Time marches on.

When I made my conversion to total digital production almost a decade ago I knew the world was changing. I knew many of the things I loved would soon be going away.

Goodbye dear friend, I’ll miss you.

Cindy and Anthony

Cindy and Anthony were married on November 17th, my last couple of 2007! Their ceremony took place at St. James Catholic Church in Sewickley with a reception following at the Edgeworth Club. Cuttings in Sewickley provided Cindy’s beautiful flowers. Carol Decanini of Carol’s Cakes created one of the most outstanding wedding cakes I’ve seen. It was just stunning!

While the weather was typically Pittsburgh in the late fall – dark, cloudy with a touch of rain, we made the best of it by photographing under a walkway right outside the church. The light was truly amazing!


Nice relaxed natural light portrait of Cindy...


And for Anthony


Together at last (who could tell it was raining!)


Awesome flowers by Cuttings.


Beautiful (and delicious) cake by Carol's Cakes in Center Township


Check out this detail! It was almost too beautiful to eat, but don't worry, it tasted as good as it looked.


The first dance via a remote camera in the balcony.


The dip. Guys, you should always do a dip on your first dance. It's cool and makes for very cool photos. Just don't drop your bride!


The end! And this is exactly why I like to stay to the absolute end of the reception (or beyond). You don't get the whole story when you leave early. This little guy was a real trooper. He danced and danced and danced some more. Finally, he couldn't dance another step. How cute!

Rant against "good enough"

Warning, this is a rant. Sorry, I don't do this too often but when it seems right I have to speak up.

What has happened to us? It seems America has become accepting of inferior quality.

Recently, I purchased a new Frigidaire refrigerator from Loews, one of our nations large box stores. This purchase was intended to replace a 30 plus year old fridge that, while still running strong, showed it age with many scratches and dents. I thought a bright shiny stainless steel look would be just right.

To my surprise the new fridge ran louder than my old machine! But wait, there’s more. The fit and finish of this new cooler was not even close to my three-decade box. Sharp, unfinished edges, glue (or insulation) coming out from the seams and handles that didn’t line up were just some of the new “features.”

Dissatisfied, I called the store and requested a replacement (they have a 30 day replacement warranty). Today the replacement machine arrived and I noticed very little improvement. The noise level is nearly the same, although the clunking sound when the compressor starts is thankfully absent. The fit and finish is actually worse on machine #2 than on #1.

Over and over people tell me same thing: “They don’t build them like they use to.”

Why? Why has craftsmanship been replaced with mediocrity? Why do we put up with such nonsense? We should DEMAND better! Better from business, from each other and better from us. We deserve it.

Last week a friend who studied a lot of the “gurus” of business and marketing told me one of the things he learned – when dealing with the public, good enough is good enough. WHAT? Is that really what we’ve come to in this country? Is that were we want to be, what we want to be known for, how we want to be remembered? I don’t think so.

There are times I really do feel like the odd man out. I still do my own picture editing and processing. I design every album spread by hand, without templates or third party designers. I do this because it’s a better quality product. My albums are designed to tell a story from beginning to end. They are not just parking lots for pictures. If no one else notices, I do, and that’s enough for me.

Uh oh, gotta go, my new fridge is making a weird popping noise…

Postscript: I have to say kudos to all the folks at Loews I've dealt with, they have all been helpful, courteous and professional. This rant is not about any individual or even Loews itself. The store is not building these things, they're just sell them.

FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

To honor the men and women who are serving our Nation in any branch of the Military, now through the end of February I’m taking applications for a complete wedding package.

The package includes:
• e!Session
• Ten hours of wedding day coverage by me
• Online posting of the images for three months
• A 24-page leather bound wedding album
• Your retouched digital negatives with full reprint rights delivered with the album
• I will cover all travel costs

The Rules:

1. One of you must be on active duty or in the reserves of any branch of the Military.
2. Your wedding must be on one of my open dates in 2008.
3. You must be having a full dress Military wedding.
4. You need to send me your story along with a recent photo of the two of you. The winning couple’s story will appear on my blog.
5. The decision of the judges is final.

To apply send your story and photo to me at info@terryclarkweddings.com

The winning couple will be contacted the first week of March.

Good luck to all and thank you for your unselfish service to protect our Freedom.

Autumn-Lynn & Jonathan

This wedding could also be titled under The Best of 2007! Autumn-Lynn and Jonathan were SO much fun. We had an absolute blast shooting their wedding back in October. To help cover all the angles of the day I brought in my good buddy Kelly Crawford.

Without further ado, here's a peek at some of the thousands of shots we made...

And PS. Stay tuned for my Saturday post --
FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY IN 2008!

Enjoy!


Our lovely bride Autumn-Lynn


Nice relaxed portrait of our groom, Jonathan


It got so emotional saying their vows Autumn-Lynn asked for a time out to regroup


First dance


A toast with lots of tears


Jonathan and his mother dancing... so much LOVE!


A few romantic moments


And a few beautiful details

Happy New Year!

Long time no blog. Apologies. I've been working crazy insane hours trying to accomplish a crazy insane amount of stuff. Goodtimes though, everything is coming into place very nicely.

So many awesome things to show & tell I just cannot dump them all into one long blog so stay tuned, I will be power blogging the next few days in order to catch up. I will give you one tiny peek into what's coming -- FREE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY. Nuff said for now, gotta build that excitement ; )

Pictures, pictures, pictures. Yes, that's what I do. In the last three months of 2007 I shot like 30,000 images on various projects including weddings, commercial jobs, advertising campaigns and private individual portrait commissions. Now that the dust has more or less settled I can start showing some of the cool shots!

I want to start with one of the sweetest couples I've had the pleasure to meet, Emily & Bryon. They were married October 13th at Heinz Chapel in a beautiful late afternoon ceremony with a reception following at The Children's Museum. Helping me again as second shooter was my good friend Ed Macko. What a great time! Because their ceremony was late in in the October day they decided to see each other before the wedding and have a "First Look" session. I love those! It's a chance for the couple to see and interact with each other for the first time in the day and BE ALONE, well, except for me, but I keep my distance and just capture the emotion, which always is gushing. After they had some time to themselves then the families arrive for the traditional (and necessary) group photographs.

Here are a few of the many emotional images we captured that day...


They meet...


A quick portrait...


The first dance...


Grandfather's dance...