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Michael [mahy-kuhl] – noun
1. A male given name. 2. A witty, charming professional wedding photographer who enjoys movies, exercise, romantic walks on the beach and large pepperoni pizzas.
Maven [may-ven] – noun
1. A connoisseur or trusted expert in a particular field who seeks to pass his knowledge onto others. 2. An intense gatherer of useful information. 3. An individual who demonstrates passion for learning and teaching a specific topic, particularly through a well connected social network.
Thank you for coming to my blog! I update it regularly, so if you ever want to know what I am up to, please come by and take a peek. Feel free to leave your comments below.
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What I do during the week... |
This is a picture of me filming a lesson on photography, not a great picture, but you can see the lighting setup I have for my lessons (Mostly a close key light and reflectors).
My weeks usually go something like this:
Saturday- Shoot the wedding, make and post slideshow as fast as possible.
Sunday- Try to relax . (Weddings can be totally exhausting work, it takes a day to recover).
Monday- Go through all images, begin to post to internet.
Tuesday- Finish posting images, select favorites for couple, print, prepare and send to couple so they will be waiting upon arrival from honeymoon.
Wednesday- Begin Album design (this takes a few hours each day)- Spend a few hours working on video projects.
Thursday- Video projects
Friday- Video projects / relax
Saturday- Repeat.
I am lucky enough to have my own video production studio so I can make my own instructional videos and work on the photography school. Not many of my clients know this, but I actually started as a videographer, and still own one of the most successful wedding videography companies in the state, (I just dont go to those shoots anymore unless I am doing the photography.)
Yeah, usually Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I am working my pet projects. Its a good change of pace and allows to me to learn and teach. These are my current projects:
1. Introduction to Digital Photography with the Canon 40 D DVD
2. The Michael Andrew Photography School (New lessons are almost finished)
3. The Clutter Book
4. And one huge secret project I will not talk about until it is finished. I am actually not programming that one, I;ve hired someone else to, but as soon as its finished I will let you all know.
I know a lot of people think I must have all this free time during the week, but to be honest, I wake up, work all day, usually until 11pm go workout and then try to sleep. Actually...the past week has been great, Ive been getting to sleep around 1am. Its a busy but good life. I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love so much.
PS- HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I decided to be a dashingly handsome wedding photographer. :) |
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Utah Shoots |
| I am coming to Utah for a few shoots in November and will stay extra days. I will be there from November 17th to the 28th. I know many of you have asked me to let them know when my next Utah trip is.....this is it! If you want to schedule a shoot, just drop me an email. :) |
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Andrea and Matt - Day Sub Plots |
| I was going through Andrea and Matts pics today and realized there were a number of interesting Sub plots and pictures that needed to be shared. |
| While Andrea and Matt have killer smiles, they also looked really really good not smiling- so I asked them several times not to smile. It was the first wedding when I found myself saying "dont smile". |
| While we were shooting the guys, I borrowed Matts Nephew for a few test shots. He was perfect- and I just loved this Black and White of him shot at 2.8. |
| James, one of the groomsmen showed up in an Arnold mask, I thought it was hilarious and wanted a group shot with him wearing it after the ceremony, but somehow he said it just didnt feel right...for some reason- strange. lol |
| This was the big one of the day. :) One of the bride's maids had to be sewn into her dress! Somehow, for some reason, which I will not speculate as to why, or who it was.....when she zipped it up (or attempted to) the zipper broke! The solution? Sew her in! This is what you see in the montage when one of the other brides maids had a needle and thread. I loved how they came together to resolve it. |
| Its real- No photoshop. It occasionally happens when I take a picture right as someone else is. |
| This is James, AKA Bruce (as in Lee) without the mask. I always ask the guys for some GQ ishness. I think it looks great! |
| Then I ask "Can anyone do any tricks?" Kyle, the best man comes over and says, "I can do one"- and then he does a flip...in his TUX!!! |
And finally...what would a Michael Andrew wedding be without a little MA Blue STEEL!! :)
For those interested in seeing all the pics, they should be posted later Tuesday afternoon. yay! |
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Trip Home |
Had a great trip home!
I feel horrible putting these regular entries in over Andrea and Matts wedding coverage, unfortunately I have to sooner or later. I will work extra hard to go through their photos this week and have them up for viewing as soon as possible. It was a very very good shoot. It was one of the few times I could look at the images I was taking and see I am getting better. Maybe that sounds odd, I know a lot of people look at my work and may not see the flaws I do. I ALWAYS want to be progressing forward and improving and pushing myself to get better and better, no matter where I am at now. This is what my father calls my two edged sword, I can never feel satisfied with myself, which is good and bad. Good because I keep pushing myself, bad because I can never feel content. I feel extremely driven in three aspects of photography:
1. Take care of my clients above and beyond what they are expecting
2. Push my artistic skills
3. Help and teach others in any way I can.
I am extremely critical of my own work, I usually critique them to pieces and only on rare occasions will I make big steps forward and think to myself, "you are getting better". Its sort of like working out and because the progress is so slow in your eyes you dont notice it as much as others might, but then suddenly a day arrives where you notice it, and DANG it feels good. :)
Laura! I have tons of great pictures of Ashley, Clete and a few of Madison! You are gonna wanna see these! |
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Andrea and Matt - Slideshow |
| The problem with weddings like Andrea's and Matts...wayyyyyy too many awesome pictures. I took 3500+! Its been a couple hours since the wedding but I wanted to get this up as soon as possible. There are hundreds of fantastic pictures, but I had to narrow it down to about 60 for the slideshow. This was another of my favs. |
| Thank you to everyone involved in Matt and Andrea's wedding! It was AWESOME! |
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Andrea and Matthews Beach Shoot |
So Im down here in Panama City, Florida for a wedding tomorrow and we had talked about doing a fun beach shoot between the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. This was a great shoot! I learned two things today:
1. You have to take a lot of shots to get the high risk ones to work, but man when they do it is SO worth it.
2. Communication and persuasion skills are HUGE when it comes to good photography....kinda weird, but I think I was able to help say the right things to get Andrea and Matt to try something daring, and that turned into something wonderful.
:)
Big Wedding tomorrow! Come back for the slideshow! M |
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What is this an image of? |
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Michael's Gear |
Michael Andrew's Gear List
Coming Soon!
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Client Information |
Michael Andrew is an award winning instructor and professional photographer. He is well known in the industry as a mentor/instructor for Beginning to Advanced Photographers. Michael's portrait sessions start at $500 and his Wedding Photography Packages start at $7,000.
If you are interested in hiring Michael for an upcoming shoot or wedding, please click "contact" above to email him.
Thank you!
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Canon Armor |
| Today I received a package from my father which contained his barely used Canon 30 D. He also sent me some Camera Armor, something I had heard of but never seen. Its an interesting idea, basically a rubberized glove that fits over the camera body. I am usually extremely careful with my cameras, but I would have liked this in the jungles of Honduras last year. If you are shooting in wildness, or extreme situations, this would be a great investment. Comes in camo too! |
I have been furiously working on my Canon 40 D video and I would estimate 85% of the shooting is finished. This is going to be a fantastic DVD and will also include the first year of my Michael Andrew Photography School Lessons spliced in with the functions of the Canon 40 D. Its basically "Beginning Digital Photography with the Canon 40 D". Would love to have it wrapped up next week. Again, Ive really dug into this camera and know it better than my 20 Ds, simply because if I am teaching it, I am expected to know it. Ive also learned several great short cuts in the menu which will save tons of time in the future.
A few things I have noticed about the 40 D is that it seems to shoot slightly hot in terms of color saturation. I have turned this setting down to -2 in standard mode and it appears to be closer. Ive also noticed that the auto white balance doesnt seem to be as savvy as the 20D, which is unfortunate. Other than that, it rocks in every single other aspect. |
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