Inside the Tog Life!
So, yeah you may have guessed by the intro.. I am going to talk a little about what goes on behind the scenes in a photographer’s life. See I want to help people really understand what they pay for. No we aren’t going into how much our camera costs or billable hours. This is about what we see, and what you get.
Now some parents during the pandemic are really going to understand this. You are working from home.. your kids are too. So? While trying to do that Zoom conference call with your CEO, little Timmy wants more apple juice, little Sarah forgot to charge her laptop and now she can’t access class, and let’s not forget George the wonderful dog who is currently barking at the squirrel across the street for invading his territory!
Welcome to the everyday office of a photographer! Work from home they said.. it’ll be great they said! every day we are looking at your wedding and family portraits.. designing, tweaking.. wanting to give you the memory of a lifetime and just when we figure out that if we just up the shadows here, tweak the white balance here… BOOM, DISASTER! Or at least one of our girls has had a “life altering problem”.. you know the ones.. they are arguing over who gets to watch what show… we are out of goldfish crackers.. WE DIDN’T HEAR THE ICECREAM MAN! (the horror!)
We create peace for World war 3 and then.. what was I about to do to this picture?
This masterpiece of a wedding portrait now looks like someone took out their good ole Iphone (noooooo) and took a pic? That… is not… what we promise!
But all is not crazy.. sometimes at 3 am it is silent and the real work gets done!
Seriously though, on average for an hour session we take 100 – 300 images. Why that many you ask when your only needing say 15? Because life isn’t planned or posed. Children are unpredictable. Your great Grandmother suddenly started crying in the middle of your dance and I rapidly shot 20 shots of her tears just to find the one I knew that you would look at years after she has left this earth and you would smile and shed your own tears in memory of that moment forever captured in time.
So I go through hundreds and for large weddings even thousands of images to make sure I caught every single detail I could. because over time the pictures in our mind fade, and one picture can relive a thousand memories.
As a child I took so many pictures, my Granny always kept film in her camera for me. And you know what? When she passed, those were some of the only images my family had left, because she herself didn’t
like having her picture taken.. but she never said no to me. So when I am photographing.. I think of that. I don’t want to miss a thing (insert Aerosmith music)
ANYTHING FOR THE SHOT!
This, along with normal family living is what we do! We are constantly learning; online, workshops, and more! We seek to continue to improve and innovate. Your wedding portraits, family portraits, boudoir portraits, newborn portraits, they really are our priority!
We love Las Vegas! We love destination weddings! We love being Photographers and artists!
From start to finish.. on average I would say we spend a total of 24-72 hours on your images. Not days.. but literal hours. Some are 10-14 hour days some are 4-6.
We want you to know that we value not only our work.. but you as a family.. a bride, groom, mother, father, and grandparent. I cannot imagine doing anything else. So many times I’ve wanted to hang your pictures on my walls because I want to relive your happy moment with you everyday! You are one of the Joys in my life.
