Fall Family in the Mountains

I had a lot of fun photographing a family up the canyon. It might be Fall, but it is still a great time to go outside shooting. Take a look at this beautiful family photo.

Utah Heart Gallery

I attended the opening of the Utah Heart Gallery on Wednesday. It was great to see all the photographers come together to donate their time and talents to photograph these great kids who are looking for a good home. I had the pleasure of photographing Sean. He is a terrific young man and I wish him all the best. You can check out the Heart Gallery info at https://www.utdcfsadopt.org/heart_gallery.shtml.

Bride Access.com Column

Bride Access.com recently asked me to write for their blog on the value of a professional photographer.  I do have some good stories.  Here is the first:

Wedding Lost……..

It happened.   I knew it would eventually, but it has finally happened.  Sadly, it happened to a good friend of my wife’s family.  The bride went about her routine finding the best wedding dress, the best flowers and the best reception venue.  Then it came time to decide on the photography.

As a family friend I offered my services.  The bride, feeling that she could get a “better deal” opted for a less expensive photographer.

After her engagement portrait session I reviewed the pictures.  Immediately, I saw that the pictures were out of focus.  I told the bride of my concerns about the quality of the photography.  The bride asked the photographer about it and the response was that it was for “creativity.”  The bride decided to give her photographer another chance and had her do her bridals.  Again, the pictures came back out of focus, poorly composed and not properly exposed.  Bridals were redone, yet again the pictures were substandard.  I explained to the bride that this was not “creativity” and suggested that she might take a closer look at the photographer’s ability to creatively and professionally photograph her wedding day.  Although I had given my advice and my opinion to the bride, she decided that she was getting a great deal with her photography and to stick with the photographer.

The wedding day came.  The photographer with a second “candid” photographer came to photograph the wedding.  Since my wife knew the bride and groom I attended the reception.  Truthfully, it was hard not to watch the photographers and critique.  It is natural for photographers to critique one another.  Many professionals do so to improve their own photography.  Here’s what I observed:   They were not appropriately dressed; they were having difficulty organizing the group in a timely manner; they were continually fidgeting with their equipment.  It seemed as if they were unsure about what they were doing and I feared that the photographers were not capturing the wedding in a creative and professional way.

My fears became a reality a few weeks after the wedding when the bride had a hard time getting the images from the photographer.  After being asked many times by the bride, the photographer finally admitted that she had lost all her wedding photographs.  All of them.  The whole day.  Gone!  Even the second photographer’s images were lost.  It was devastating.

The bride asked me what she should do.  I told her that a full refund was the only thing she should accept.  The photographer talked her out of the refund and instead offered to recreate the family portrait group image.  How does a family portrait make up for the loss of wedding memories?  How can one image replace the hundreds that were lost?  It can’t.

Sadly, this story is often repeated by brides everywhere.  In their excitement they don’t realize until too late that great photographers are worth the price and going with the least expensive photographer will too often leave you disappointed, or worse, empty handed.

I am a professional.  I relate this story to other brides so that they may recognize that professionalism is important.  You can’t redo your wedding day.  As a professional photographer I care about your wedding day.  Check out my work at www.ryancummings.com and call me at 801-864-0987.  I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have and discuss how a professional photographer benefits your wedding day.

Ryan Cummings
www.ryancummings.com

Fall Family

Fall is such a beautiful time to do portraits outside.  We found such wonderful colors that made this image so much fun.  The family was great to photograph.  We were able to create a truly magnificent family heirloom for them.

Business Portraits

I had the pleasure recently of taking business portriats for some really nice people.  The session was enjoyable, and the results were great.

Red Sky Solutions Photo Shoot

I recently did a photo shoot for John Legge at Red Sky Solutions. It was quite fun photographing John for his corporate portrait. It was also great to work with Vince at Red Olive Design again.  It was Red Olive that did the nice work on the layout for publication.  They do great work and I love seeing the final results.   Here is the final layout. Below is the portrait I did for him.  His web site can be found at www.redskysol.com.

John Legge - Red Sky Productions

On the Farm

Farms in the Spring are great.  I had a lot of fun photographing at Wheeler Farm recently.  The couple was great; playful and spontaneous.  It was not hard to get great images of them.  I’m looking forward to the wedding day.  I’m sure it will be equally fun.

Brenna's Engagement Session

Engagement Portraits at Union Station

Ogden is a fun place to photograph.  I found myself at the Union Station in Ogden for an engagement photo session.  We had great fun exploring the historic building and trains.  Of course we got a lot of great shots.  The couple was a lot of fun to work with.  They were very easy going and made the whole process quite enjoyable.  I have included a few of my favorite shots.

Jimmy and Nicole

Jimmy and Nicole

Kendall Graduate Portraits

Early spring turns out to be a great time to do graduate portraits.  We got lucky and found a day with no rain.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening with wonderful light.  Kendal was great.  He was willing to climb all over boulders, across a dry river bed and down dusty trails to get the great shots.  We both had a great time and Kendal now has some great images to remember this time in his life.  I’ve included a few of them here.  I hope you enjoy viewing them.  We enjoyed taking them.

Kendal Graduate Portrait

Kendal Graduate Portrait - Full Length

Marne Pehrson Wedding

So January 2nd turned out to be a beautiful (and warm) day for a wedding in Salt Lake City.  The bride and groom were having a great time and were very affectionate, which of course made taking the pictures quite an enjoyable experience.  Thanks to the bride and groom and their families for a making it a wonderful day for everyone.  It was a pleasure to be a part of it.  Best wishes to Marne and Michael in their new life together.