Time flying

Time has been flying over the last few weeks. Lots of things have been going on, family functions, weddings, parties, and school functions. I thought I would change this weeks posting to something fun.. A trip to the zoo is the subject above.. Just a few pictures, more are on http://flickr.com/georgestarrphotography along with lots of others be sure to check out Split Rock Nature Conservatory too...

Flowers are always a good subject, they always seem to smile :) And with this one I got a bug to boot.

Dragon Flies are a bit tougher of a subject because they seem to never rest.

Birds are easier, but also very quick... This guy showed up and decided to eat one of my other subjects.. Well not directly the one I was focusing on, but one close to it.

Elk Creek Winery

Had a great time Saturday at the Elk Creek Winery located West of Dry Ridge, Kentucky. The weather was great, maybe a little too sunny but we all survived, slightly red around the edges but that beats a wash out!! Actually it was pretty nice, had a breeze blowing, and the AC inside felt great!

We had the chance to do an engagement shoot with this couple, it was really great, if you have read our past blogs you probably have seen their picture. At the end of reception our last picture was a pose that we did in the engagement shoot that was a fun moment. We are like our couples, we like to have fun too, and these "fun" shots are always great for that. We got a lot of great pictures for the couple and hope to have them all posted up for their viewing very soon.

On a personal note, our son graduated Kindergarten Friday morning, it was really cute to see all the kids in his class perform their show for us parents. Sunday we went to the Zoo with our son and our nephew's family and had a great time with just a few sprinkles, we got to see Curious George at the zoo, the kids just loved it as did most of the adults!! (yours truely included)



We are looking forward to some upcomming photo shoots, weddings and parties coming up this summer. We do have a few dates open for your parties or special events, so give us a call or email for our rates on what you need. We also can still schedule family, children, maternity and Boudoir sessions over the next few weeks. Give us a call, let us know what you want and we will go from there.

Name the couple and get 100$ off deposit.

There are times

I talk to a lot of photographers, it seems those that enjoy weddings are a rare breed. Most consider them something they have to do. We don't see wedding this way, we enjoy being with the wonderful people we meet, seeing them get married. We enjoy meeting their parents, their friends and family, and sharing their stories with them.

Of course like with anything there are times I question if this is something I want to continue, There is a lot of work not releated directly to photography involved with our part of the weddings. All the paperwork involved and then keeping up with orders and the like during our busy seasons. There is a lot involved with weddings too, I spend about 3 hours doing equipment checks, verifying everything is loaded in the car. The wedding itself is the fun part where we do what we really enjoy. After the wedding it takes time to get all the pictures ready for presentation, in most cases about as long as the wedding and reception it's self. I do this because I refuse to simply give our clients RAW work. If there is an album involved it can take even more work and time, depending on the number of changes they require.

Sure this is the reason most photographys don't want to do weddings, but for me, I can't wait to get home and in front of my computer to see the images we captured, and when and album comes together the feeling is great. Next is my favorite part, delievering the prints to the customer and getting their feedback. It makes all the other work we do totally worth while.

In 10+ years it's all been good, I've had one issue with one bride that took a long time to get her album approved, and with some changes made to it that went wrong where I sent the lab my original copy of the album to print and had to get it back from the customer to have repaired which took a while. She loved her Prints, and got the Digital Images very early on so I guess she wasn't in a big hurry to review the album and then got impatient. I guess with all the bad news about fly by night photographers assumed she had been taken and wasn't getting her album or something.

Anyway one complaint in 10 years from someone that loved her pictures and is taken care of. I guess 1 out of all the wedding over the last 10 years that we have done isn't bad.

Even with all that is involved, we both still love shooting weddings, and always have a good time with them, and capture lots of nice images. The image above is just one of many cake portraits we do, we cover weddings totally and gets several different views of most shots, we never know what will look best to a clients in their album until everything comes together.

I try to add something personal to my blogs from time to time, not just all business and my rantings about different things. Here is my son, as he was standing on 1st base saturday at his first T-Ball game of the season. If you have met with me before and seen some of my portfolio work you will now that his pictures is the last page in one of them that I love to show people. I keep his picture there to remind me why I do this, besides the point that we like it, it does help pay for the extras in his life.

Family is important and we believe this and we really do like being part of your family for a day.

Thank you to the brides I've delievered work to over the last month, it's your kind words that keep us motivated to keep doing this!

Weekend in the Country

Had a refreshing wedding Saturday out in the country on a beautiful little lake, with a gazebo and a small group of the couples families and friends. It was a really nice time, the couple made us feel at home. The reception was held at a winery. The couple was kind enough to feed us and the food was great and although I didn't taste the wine I did take a sniff of the Raspberry wine and it smelled really good.

On Sunday we went to breakfast and followed it up with another day in the country, this time at a family birthday party for one of our three year old great nieces.

Two for one

We had a busy weekend but it all turned out well. We had a great time with both weddings, everyone showed up on time and everyone was in a good mood and the pictures turned out great. They are both posted up for the couple and their guests to preview within a week of their wedding!! We always shoot for a week, althought we quote two.

Looking at one of the couples pictures they posted up on facebook made me think that while it is good to have a pro take your pictures because of the quality of the images it is good to have family and friends take some too. While as professionals we try to get everything we can your friends know the people better and sometimes get a shot that we might not get. However, don't depend on them to get all the shots you want, or in the quality that you might want to hang on your walls or in an album. While small digital cameras have improved over the years, they don't replace having profesional cameras and professionals taking your photographs.

It's is always fun for us to see the pictures your friends and family take, so feel free to include us as your friend on facebook or myspace or just shoot us an email with a link if they use something else to share them.

If we are doing an album for you and they have one that you just love we would be happy to include them with our images.

We have one wedding this weekend coming up and I'm looking forward to it and hopefully the weather will hold out.

A new Season Starts

Our first Wedding of the season (not of the year thought) is this coming weekend. Actually our first two is this weekend with weddings being scheduled on both Saturday and Sunday. We have kept busy over the winter months with other types of shoots. We enjoy both, but our real love is weddings and we are glad to be starting out new season out with a bang.. Granted, we will be busy though June, but we love it!

We've been sharpening our skills with some new training materials and classes too. And look forward to putting our new skills into practice.

We are going have a few price changes, basically the prices are remaining how they are, just a little less confusing for our customers and us too. Maybe a few more options but easier to decide what you desire. We are not really adding any new products this season.

Locations - Hidden Gems in and around Cincinnati

Over the years, we've shot in lots of different churches, and halls, and neat locations. Above is a picture taken in the Packard Museum located in Dayton, Ohio. It's a very neat location for the car lovers amongst us.

We've shot at the Phoenix, The Madison, and a lot of the Standard places, and some of the not so "Standard" places. I put that in quotes because even though you might not think of a location for a wedding it doesn't mean that it would not make a neat location. There are a lot of hidden gems around our fine city for locations. You can also travel to a scenic spot for your pictures if you leave time either before your wedding ceremony or between it and your reception. Devou Park and other locations along the river are wonderful for that. Sharon Woods, Ault park, Mt Airy, and a lot of other parks make a great spot for pictures and/or your wedding. The Lodge at Sharon Woods is a wonderful place for an wedding/reception.

Other locations we have shot at and were surprisingly beautiful are, The Benchmark in Covington, The Carnigie Center in Newport, Mill Race Banquet center in Winton woods (pictured below). Todays blog is not a listing of locations we have shot, or even the only ones that we think are hidden gems. If you have others you like let me know and I'll add another blog post.

We also like simple... Like the small church pictured below. There are lots of other locations around for weddings, Take you time and find the one that is perfect for you. Remember to book early for all your wedding vendors and locations. Photographers book quickly, but the location you want might book up even quicker.

We've even shot in a church so small that we didn't have room to sit up any additional lighting equipment. But the picture turned out great anyway!! We carry with us a lot of optional equipment that helps us with difficult jobs. We have loaned out our backdrops to one bride to give her privacy while changing in a room with big windows and no curtains. Rest assured that no matter what your locations is we will get you good pictures.

One of the most challenging weddings we have had was an outdoor wedding in the rain, It's hard to protect cameras, stay dry, and get good pictures at the same time, but we managed.