I just reorganized the portfolio section.  It's usable and is easier to use than before, but it still will get more improvements.

Check it out.

Couples looking for wedding photography services have a lot of things to think about.  Often, the top two things on their mind are portfolios and prices.

And that makes sense.  It's importand to find a photographer who can prove their abilities with a portfolio that they like, while staying within your budget.

I make those two factors easy for you to check out on this website.  You can freely look through my galleries of real jobs as they happen--not just my best shots.  And, you can see all of my pricing openly posted so you know if can meet your budget.

But there's so much more to think about, like quality of print products, personality of the photographers, timeline, payment schedule, image editing, aspect ratios of images, file format, and many, many other things.  Most of these items will only be of interest to you at specific times throughout our project.  For example, the wedding, after you receive a DVD with all of your pictures, you'll probably want to know if you have low resolution pictures to email and post on facebook, and how big you can print the high resolution pictures.

I intend to provide you with a wealth of information through this blog.  It's probably too overwhelming for you to read through it all, but you can easily search for topics, or I might point you to particular articles.

This blog is still new so many of the topics are yet to come.  Here are some of the upcoming posts.

• Print Products
• Online Ordering
• Online Galleries
• Project Timeline
• Wedding Day Schedule
• Files on DVD
• Photographers' Personalities
• Photographer's Styles
• Editing Services
• Business Partners
• Formals List
• Wedding Day Expectations
• Galleries versus Albums
• Albums versus Galleries
• Files versus Products

A little off topic...  Here's a just a quick shout-out to the crews at XAMPP and concrete5.

XAMPP is a "free and open source cross-platform web server solution stack package, consisting mainly of the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and interpreters for scripts written in the PHP and Perl programming languages."  That's geek-speak for a free web server bundle that simplifies setting up your own web server.

I'm using XAMPP to run this web site.  I couldn't be happier with it.

concrete5 is "an open source content management system (CMS) for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets."  That's geek-speak for free website framework used for website design.  It's an easy way to create web content.  I tried Joomla and Drupal, but found them to be awkward and cumbersome.  They're highly developed packages, so I won't take anything away from them.  I think they do what they intend to do pretty well.  But in my humble opinion, concrete5 is, well, just better.  It's simple enough to get things going quickly, and powerful enough to do what I want.  Very customizable and fast.  Great support and a super-karma user community.

And while I'm on my soap-box, I may as well give thanks to Apache, MySQL, PHP, FileZilla, and a bunch of other awesome and free tools and applications.  It's amazing to think of how many developers contributed to the awesome free tools that I simply download an use.  I am truly humbled.  Many thousands of people contributing hundreds of thousands of hours...  Did they know it would benefit so many people so far from them?  Well, in the case of concrete5, they're in my backyard.  And, I randomly found out that the guy I work with (separate industry) is friends with one of the concrete5 founders.  Small world.  But you get the point.  So thanks to all!

Everything you see on this website is designed on concrete5 and "served up" by XAMPP on a normal Windows 7 computer.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm not an expert, but I'm happy to help.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program...  Wedding Photography!

Here are some ideas and locations for engagement sessions in the greater Portland, Oregon area.  Feel free to suggest your own.

Engagement Locations in and Around Portland

Gardens
Washington Park Rose Garden
Rhododendron Garden
Japanese Garden (restricted)
Chinese Garden (restricted)
Parks
 - Laurelhurst
 - Director Park
 - Pioneer Square
Academic, School or University
 - Portland State
Beach (Columbia River)
 - Sauvie Island
 - Marine Park
Golf course
Bridges (on, around, under, background)
 - St. Johns
 - Hawthorne
 - Steel
Broadway
Waterfront
 - Easbank Esplanade
 - West Esplanade
 - Docks, marina, boats
Zoo
Aesthetic Restaurant
Aesthetic Hotel Lobby (non-busy hours)
 - Governor
Scenic Urban Sidewalk
 - SW Broadway
 - NW 23rd Ave
 - NW 21st Ave
 - SW Hawthorne
Personal Location
 - Your house and yard
 - Parents’ house
 - Workplace (e.g., classroom, coffee shop, machine shop)
Hobby Environment, (e.g., softball field, art studio, cooking class)
Church
Wedding Gown Shop
McMenamins (Edgefield, Grand Lodge)
Urban/Industrial location (like graffiti covered train car, or worn down brick wall)
Train Station (restricted)
Vineyard (grapes)
Winery (wine tasting room)
Brewery
Pioneer Square
Ice skating rink (Lloyd Center)
Max or Portland Streetcar (e.g., inside, out, platform)
Theater (outside, lobby, seating)
                Bagdad
                Schnitz
                Center for the performing arts
                Armory
Library
 - Multnomal Central Libray
 - Smaller local library
Bookstore
 - Powells
Retail Store
 - Chocolate (e.g. Moonstruck)
 - Coffee
  - Botique
Pet
Pittock Mansion
Skamania Lodge
PGE Park (during off hours)
Portland Saturday Market (Closed Jan-Feb)
PSU Portland Farmers Market (Saturdays: March 21 - Dec. 19)
First Thursday's Art in the Pearl
Arcade
Timberline Lodge
Multnomah Falls
Jantzen Beach carousel:  http://jantzenbeachpdx.com/store-directory/carousel.html
Gym
Rock climbing
Weights
Aerobic
Basketball
Historic building
Pool Hall
Go Karts

Just as a reference, currently Google is only kind enough to rank BriteFoto.com about 650 in a search for Portland Wedding Photography.  I suppose that isn't bad considering there are over 2 million pages found with this search.  Well, for now I'll just have to stick to the idiom "Diamond in the Rough."  I'm targeting at least top 200 within a few weeks, and top 100 in a few months.  Possible?  Why not?  I wonder what it costs to get into the top 10.  Whatever the case, I'm saving my SEO (Search Engine Optimization) dollars for now, and passing the savings onto you.  I'm a photographer, not a web developer.  That's a good thing for you.

Adam & Erin's engagement shoot was great!  Absolutely beautiful weather.  I'm a big fan of winter sun--luxurious and deep.  It brings out rich, healthy skin-tones, and provides depth in all the right ways.  In contrast, midday summer sun provides depth in all the wrong ways.  More on this later.  But for now, I'm happy to report that Adam & Erin were easy to work with, and it showed in their simple, comfortable demeanor.  Thanks, guys!  You brough the fun and smiles, I brought the camera.  Check out the results in the profile section or just click here.

I was the sole photographer for this shoot.  We always shoot weddings with two photographers.  We shoot about half of our engagements with two photographers.  But since this one was just me, you can get a good feel for my style.  I like to capture the environment, generally mid to wide shots.  My close-ups are usually at least head and shoulders.  I usually get direct eye contact.  My framing is conservative, as is my editing.  But black-and-white and sepia toning also bring out enhancing elements, so you can see how I used them in this set as well.  At weddings, Chippy adds an element of romance, delicate touch and up-close-and-personal with her telefoto lenses and inconspicuous way of getting the right angles without anyone noticing.  She's more likely to capture a longing gaze of eyes wandering in thought, as opposed to my more traditional direct shots.  It's always a pleasure to combine our two styles.  But this engagement shoot gives a great opportunity to see exactly my style.  Enjoy!

Watch this blog for helpful information on current events, pricing, products, free sessions, promotions, style, guides and other valuable information.  A summary of posts can be found on the blog list page.

This web site is being redesigned to make it faster for you to find what you need, and to give you better information.

The galleries are easier to navigate.

Pricing is clearer.

The blog will allow me to give you much more detail than before.

There's still a few kinks to work out, but we're just about there.