Tuesday 16 February 2010

The WeddingPhotoChileMobile

The WeddingPhotoChileMobile

 

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Same Sex !!, Different Location !!

Same Sex ! Different Location !




It has been just under 5 years since I last worked at a same sex wedding but, I can’t wait as it brings some different challenges. As a wedding photographer it is my job to capture images of love and moments reflecting split second glances , actions and reactions to report the event in its entirity.



Andrew and Tim contacted me through another same sex couple that I covered their wedding in Los Angeles about 5 yeas ago. They are all friends and they loved the photographs I produced back then. Andy and Tim are a very laid back pair, both succesfull professionals they know what they want and are very clear about it. I love it when a couple have a very clear understanding of what they are looking for as it gives me a directive and a goal to hit and go beyond to satisfy the client.



Andy and Tims marrage will take place in a wonderfull event centre overlooking The Bay Area then after the ceromony and meal its back to their wonderfull hilltop house with spectacular views and a roof terrace for The Party. With over 120 guests at the house I think It will be a blast to be there and to get some really cool photo journalistic style photographs.



It is so nice to deal with these guys as they are so organized, right down to the smallest detail. The more info I have about each of them and the event itself, the better informed I am to report the event and the people involved. I could not believe that just 1 day after receiving their deposit, I received the tickets for myself and Mauricio (Assistant Photographer) for our flights in July.



Our second Same sex shoot this year (so far) will be in London in October, Not so warm but great for the autumn images the clients are looking for. Using the wonderfull park locations in central london this is a wedding photographers dream shoot. Liane and Stephanie have been a couple now for 8 years and decided its time to tie the knot. The remote church 26km south of London will be the stage for a quiet informal service, then back to central for the formal wedding photography in the park. Using the fall colours and the great open scapes of the park can create some of the most beautiful and natural images for weddings. Both Liane and stephanie are very much nature lovers and expressed this theme as a preference in their special day.



One shot I can’t wait to capture is there little dog “woody” who will be bringing the rings into the church on a specially made cushion which fits to his back…kinda unique !.



So….this is our Same Sex, Different Location….as opposed to same sex different position !!!



As a destination wedding photographer covering same sex marrages there are some slightly differentapproaches required to enable things to run similar to other weddings. Depending on the clients photographic needs it is my job as the photographer to establish for example, who…if anyone leads in the dance. To create the perfect photos it is important to pose the couple in appropriate positions depending on there status/role within the relationship to assist in appropriate role deffinition within the images.

This can be a tendor subject and sometimes needs to be approached with discretion, and in other cases, some same sex couple make it very clear to me…either way…its all part of the differences that same sex wedding photography brings.



Gardner Hamilton

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Free Wedding Photography / Fotografia de Boda Gratis

Yes its that time of year again....

Every new year we re-introduce 2 main elements to the wedding photography. First is the opportunity to win your wedding photography for 2011. Already with several bookings and over 20 clients waiting to finalise some details 2011 will be another very busy year for www.FotografoBritanico.com and www.WeddingPhotoChile.com .

Our aim once again is to ensure that one lucky couple who book with us in 2010 for their wedding photography in 2011 will win it free of charge...this also includes destination wedding clients national and international. Last year Sylvain and Jennifer from Boucherville in Quebec, Canada were the lucky winners getting married in the historic Quebec City about 2 hours north of Montreal. The total prize was worth over $5500.00 dollars

The prize draw as with last year will take place on the 24th of Dec 2010 and the lucky winners will receive the good news almost like a Christmas present...nice eh !!

As usual the  little 2 month returns offering a 15% discount on all Chile based weddings booked for 2011 provided the booking is made and deposit received before 31st March 2010 so there's two months remaining.

Since I know that the service provided by weddingphotochile / fotografobritanico is somewhat unique in Chile and we know that our prices are not the cheapest we hope this little offer helps you in making a quality choice when selecting and budgeting for your wedding photographer in Chile.

Good luck and we look forward to meeting you

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Sample fotos from Saturday Wedding










The black eyed bride and the black eyed photographer...see previous post for story







Saturday wedding at parcela, Villa Alemana, Chile 23/01/2010
Eileen and Linus

Sunday 24 January 2010

2 Black Eyes , a Swimming Pool and a Portrait in the Gents Toilet

Well this week brought quite a variety to the table…..it all started off on Monday when I was doing my usual research to sourch anything photography in Chile. Scanning through the pages of related items in the hope to find a printing company that can hit the mark on my rather anal quality standards for printing I stumbled onto a photographer, who, for his own sake will remain without name. I could not believe that this person who markets themselve as a professional wedding photographer in santiago and throughout Chile has the main photo on the website as a self portrait, taken in a mirror in a gent toilet with a line of urinals in the background. I was a little surprized to say the least as I know things are different here but who in their right mind would hire someone who portraits themselves and their business in this way?...beyond my reasoning.. I persued a little deeper into his website to see his wedding photography and within about 5 images I decided his portrait was the best so without saving to favorites…I exited rapido!
Friday night I received a disturbing message from Mauricio (2nd Camera man)..While on a location shoot in Villa Alemana he was approached by 4 young men or wannabe men, they procceded to try to rob him and hit him across the right eye with a bottle which thankfully never broke. Mauricio got more than his share of marks from fighting back and a corker of a black eye as a reminder of how shooting in the streets of Chile always brings a risk. As a sign of his professionalism he managed to keep posession of all his equipment…..Ive always said…stealing a camera from a tourist and stealling a camera from a photographer are 2 completely different things…..we bite back….with big teeth!! Ha ha ha…anyway Mauricio escaped with probably more damage to his pride than anything else and he lives to tell the tale and work yesterday at the poolside parcela wedding.




Eileen and Linus had planned carefully to ensure there day was very relaxed and felt like they were a part of the day with everyone involved rather than being the stars of the show. The beautiful parcela located just outside Villa Alemana was the perfect set. With a very natural and country feel to it, everyone was so relaxed and just totally kicked back. The swimming pool added a great element to the day….In the early stages it served to keep the younger kids amused but as the pisco started to flow it became a playground for all ages. Eileen had insisted that we (the photographers) brought our swimming outfits, which we actually did and had them in the truck, but the event was buzzing and there was too much going on for us to drop the cameras so we kept on working right through..




The 2nd black eye in this unusually titled post came during the wild and funkie dancing under the tents in the garden…with a sudden change in the music everyone stepped it up a notch including one young guest to the left of the bride who, in a very fast spin proceeded to catch the bride directly on the nose with her right fist. The bride held her feet and stayed standing but only just….what a smack!...i could not believe she did not go down. Within a few minutes, even after ice and cold towels etc etc…the swelling on the bridge of her nose and the blackening of here eye began…WHAT A WEEK !




Eileen is a real sweetheart and a trooper too…she got herself fixed up…a quick retouch of the makeup and party on…Linus, you’re a lucky man !

Next week 2 weddings in V Region…..Quillota and Concon one very informal and one very formal, back to back…
Watch this space…

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Wedding Club Fach Santiago

Upon meeting Julio and Marianela several months ago I just knew this wedding was going to have that certain touch of class about it. A good friend of mine, Ignacio (DJ and producer) introduced me to the couple at there appartment in providencia where we bahed out ll the details and put our game plan down on paper. Marianela had a very clear idea of what she liked and did not like and Julio was very methodical in making sure everything went smooth on the day...Other than a small invasion of guests during the closed formal shoot all ran like a swiss watch.


The locationCLUB FACH in Santiago is like other military buildings in Chile but has a superior exterior and location making the 1am street shooting rather fun. Due to the elections being the following day, Santiagio was a ghost town on Saturday night...

The cake at this event was stunning...the most artistic cake yet encountered in my southern hemesphere shooting....a shame to cut it!!!
Below you can see just 5 of the 200+ images prepaired for the couple consisting of portraiture and photojournalistic images.

Next week very different wedding in a counrty parcela...watch this space.....




















 


Sunday 17 January 2010

Club Fach 16/Jan 2010 Santiago Wedding Photography





What a great couple, What a great location, What a great night.
This was the first time Wedding Photo Chile had the pleasure of working in Club Fach in Providencia, Santiago. The building holds lots of great features and elements perfect for creating some very cool wedding photos. Since it is Sunday at non and I got back at 4:45am heres a couple of sample shots editied just for the Blog.
During the undertaking of the formal portraits , about 5 photos in....the room we had setup as our "shoot space"was invaded by about 70 guests which put the shooting on hold for about 30 mins until we could convince them to leave, but not before one of our lighting units got knocked over and broken ...and expensive accident but as usul...we had a spare.The lighing challenges were many at this event due to the start time being 8:30 at night leaving no available day light outside, or entering through windows. The old and coloured walls made for some colour casting when using reflected light but this is all recoverable and the end results for this wedding will be a very elegant set of formals with some great party shots to fit the clients requirements.
The Santiago air quality yesterday was particularly bad, so the long drive home at 3:30am with the roof open and the windows down was very welcomed after a full days shooting....all in all  a damn fine day!


Saludos / Regards

Gardner Hamilton

Friday 15 January 2010

8 Weddings in 5 Weeks

So begins a non stop run of weddings between Santiago and Vina del mar and a few places in-between and round about. This is going to be a very busy session for us.

To be able to handle this volume of work with consistency, energy, attention to details and overall gusto takes mental and physical preparation as well as a highly systematic image post production and archive handling system.

Over the years in www.GardnerHamilton.com covering press photography for some of the worlds biggest big agencies I have honed my skills and systems into running like a Swiss watch. This is paramount when dealing with multiple clients in a short space of time. With www.fotografobritanico.com and www.weddinghotochile.com the emphasis is always on having the right energy and synergy on the day for and with clients to assist in creating the right images and equally as important, following a strict file handling and post production process to ensure everything runs smooth.

To be honest, I'm a systems junkie...every process I do in my working life has a process which I follow as tightly as possible. This allows me to monitor accurately what service my clients receive and how it can be improved upon...If you don't monitor it....you can't manage it....right?

Over the coming weeks will entail handling 100's of gigabytes of images so in anticipation..all file folders for receiving files from the various (numbered) cameras are ready...along with file folders to store primary, secondary and tertiary level image selections before continuing to the edit folders. This way anyone in the team can access any image from any event quickly through the main storage server. This also provides a tight photo logging system which is highly important when creating the final discs for the clients.

The DVD discs for each event with custom laser etching are already prepared for these 8 events, the cover templates also just awaiting a selected image to be embedded from each event , then print to complete the disc sets.

With approximately 50 man / woman hours going into each event it pays to be ahead of the game. with all this preparation complete it leaves myself and the team free to concentrate on what matters to you...great photos...properly edited...delivered promptly. A friend of a friend in Chile who recently got married 20 somethingth of October 2009 is still waiting to receive her disc and wedding photography album. I have seen a few tasters and to be honest...what I have seen ain't worth the wait.

When you reserve with a wedding photographer be sure to clarify the production time, while you should not want to pressure or rush your photographer into doing a fast edit...especially if it is a one person business, you do want to ensure you get your images within a reasonable time frame...the normal maximum accepted in most of the countries I have worked in is 6 weeks, as a maximum...but you should expect 2-4 weeks depending how busy he or she is at the time. Our target is to have the images ready within 10 days but never at the cost of quality. If your going on a honeymoon we try to have them ready for your return.

With the case of international clients, of which we served 19 of in 2009, we make an excreted effort to ensure your images are ready to take home with you...we take pride in handing them to you personally rather than mailing them. So we, where possible, stay at your location for some extra time after your wedding day and edit our little tooshies off before returning home...recently the case in LA and in Buenas Aires but hey...never in a rush to leave either...

Tomorrow is a very grand event with many many guests...some great music features and some international cuisine....I can't wait...Santiago  here we come.  now...I'd better get that hotel booked!!!!



Saludos / Regards

Gardner Hamilton