Natural Style Photography

WE MOVED!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:26:00 +0000

We are super excited to announce the debut of our new brand & blogsite! You can now visit our new blog, Burch Photography, as we'll be posting from there. Be sure to update your bookmarks and RSS Feed to stay updated! And don't forget to visit our new Face book page.

Kenya B.
Southern Oregon wedding photographers

Personal: The Memory Catcher

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:37:00 +0000

I walked slowly dragging my feet one behind the other. I catched a glimpse of my reflection in a window and chuckled. It looked like I got run over by a train, I was covered in sweat, my knees were bruised and my blisters had blisters. Yeah, pretty sexy. And then I wondered, Why in the world do I choose to do this to myself? What possesses me to do this for a living? And darn, why didn't we park closer? As I pondered over all this, Peter reached for my hand.

When I tell people I'm a wedding photographer I get two reactions. There is the...Oh that's nice, so what else do you do, what is your real job? Because obviously photography is not a real job right? You just snap a few pictures burn a disc and you're done. There are also the ones that think photography is such a glamorous and romantic profession.

It's in moments like this I wished they were right. Unfortunately just one look at my apparence after a wedding day is enough to toss those ideas out the door. So why do I do it? I was pondering over this very thing when Peter reached to hold my hand as we walked to the truck after a wedding day. The faint sound of the music filled air. I was tired, more tired than I ever thought I could be after a day of shooting. Yet my heart was joyful. I held my camera tightly, and I was overwhelmed to think that I had their precious memories at my fingertips. In those moments I realized I was the catcher and memory keeper. They depended on me.

I get to capture people when they're the happiest. Being a romantic at heart, I love the look of a mother helping her child put on her cinderella dress. The look of groom when he sees his bride for the first time is priceless. Oh, and those instants when a father is about to hand away his precious daughter can only be treasured memories. I have been known to cry during the first dance or the father daughter song. Thankfully I have my camera to hide behind. My camera is an extension of heart. With every click a piece of me gets embedded into the picture, and that right there is enough for me. The stress, the sick to my stomach feeling and blisters are all worth it, when you measure them against the face of a bride when she sees her wedding pictures. That is why I chose to be a wedding photographer.

True, it's no glamorous profession, I won't win a nobel prize for it, neither will everyone respect what I do. Yet to know that this couple, their children and their children's children will be able to look through their wedding album and feel the love. That is enough for me.

So holding hands Peter and I walked back to the truck and under the stars with the faint music in the background he asked me to dance. I love and I am loved and that right there is the essence of a wedding photographer.

Medford & Ashland Wedding Photographer

Rock'n R Ranch Wedding: Krystle & Ryan

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:52:00 +0000

There are few times in life when one can say they were completely and absolutely happy. Saturday was one of such days for Krystle and Ryan. As she picked up the bouquet that her mother had carefully and lovingly crafted for her, she smiled. The kind of smile that makes any onlooker smile in return. The kind of smile that makes Ryan's heart melt with adoration. That smile never left their faces. They beamed the whole night. And why wouldn't they? It was their night, the night that marked the beganing of a life time of happiness.

Krystle & Ryan, we hope that the happiness and joy of your wedding day sets the stage for your life together. It was a true honor to document your love ... Aloha! Since you are in Hawaii I just had to through that in there. We hope you are sitting on beach watching the sunset and fondly reminiscing your perfect wedding day.

Love,
Kenya & Peter

I love Ryan's reaction to the first look..

what a stunning couple!

First dance with music provided by Justin from Sights and Sounds unlimited

To see more of Krystle & Ryan's wedding see slide show below:

flash slideshow

To be notify when the rest of the photos become available please sign the virtual guest book here

Medford & Ashland Wedding Photographers

Anytime: Courtney

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:26:00 +0000

We are so excited to have Courtney back on the blog! When her mom contacted us about doing a shoot with her and her horse we jumped at the opportunity. Well, more like we tripped on the opportunity. Never done much horse photos before, we weren't sure what we were getting our selves into. Thankfully Courtney had it all under control. She planned everything from the locations to the outfits and everything in between.

Can her dress be any cuter?

Yes it can!

Ashland & Medford High school Senior Photographer

Pacifica Gardens Wedding: Danni & Jake

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:48:00 +0000

She is just what any mother in law wishes for her son, her soon be mother-in-law said as she admired the girl that had won over not only her son's heart but in doing so also her own. Family & friends buzzed around finalizing the details of Danni & Jake's special day. It was the day they waited for and carefully planned for so long. So much love and happiness was in the air that it was almost overwhelming.

Danni and Jake, where do I even began? You are an amzing couple. Everything about your day was absolute perfection. We were so blessed to be surrounded by your loved ones. Thank you so much for allowing us to document your union.

Kenya & Peter

I loved working this this bridal party...what an amazing group of people

I love the first look...

Danni you are gorgeous!

I love the look on Dani's dad's face...

The sand ceremony symbolizing the union of their lives

All the decorations were handmade by the bride & Groom and their families. How awesome is that?

First dance with music by DJ John Tunick

Garter time!

To see more of Danni & Jake's wedding check out the slide show below :

Medford & Southern Oregon Wedding Photographers

THE SUMMER HOUSE WEDDING: JENNIFER & ADAM

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:32:00 +0000

They walk through the world hand in hand. Maybe because her fingers fit so perfectly in between his, or perhaps it's the way they understand each other's sense of humor. Either way they're in love. Completely and fearlessly in love. And so, standing before close friends and family as witnesses they swore perpetual love to each other. They did it in a way only they could.

Jennifer and Adam your wedding day was a true depiction of who you are. We feel most fortunate to have documented your love. Thank you for allowing us to be your wedding photographers.

much love,

Kenya & Peter

Jennifer & Adam opted to do the "First Look". We love it when our clients choose to see each other before the ceremony!

You two are gorgeous!

They flipped a coin to see who would be first to say their wedding vows...

Check out the size of Jennifer's vows!

No way Adam could escape after the best man bound him with a ball and chain

The first dance... with music provided by DJ Jeremiah Ostrander from sights and sounds unlimited

Special thanks to Britt and her staff at The Summer House for beautifully orchestrating the day.

To see more of Jennifer & Adam's wedding check out the slideshow here

Jennifer & Adam

Southern Oregon & Medford wedding photographers

Kisses & Disses: Stardom + Veggie Burgers

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:07:00 +0000

I used to dream of being a singer. That is until I realized I take after my mother's singing abilities.Sigh. Pretty tragic. There is of course no need to say how much Peter loves my singing. Especially when I sing the wrong lyrics to top it all off. It makes him cringe. This being said, I was singing Rose to the top of my lungs while working on my computer...

sometimes life is like a river tada da da da... sometimes life is like a river tada da da da. And so it continued for a few minutes. From the corner of my eye I could see Peter trying to bite his tongue. After the fifth time singing the wrong lyrics he cracked under the pressure. LOVE SOMETIMES LOVE.

huh?
the song, sometimes love it is a river
you mean I've been singing it wrong all this time?

Story of my life. Which leads into this week's kisses and disses.

This Week's Disses go to:

- People that don't appreciate my singing (a.k.a. Peter).
- Genes, they tend to be rather unfair

This Week's Kisses go to:

+ Summer, about time it got here!
+ My sister, for graduating last week.
+ Veggie burgers, there not half as bad as they sound. Really.

In honor of my singing career here is the real song with lyrics if you want to check it out...some say life is like a river tada dada dad

Southern Oregon & Medford Wedding Photographers

FOOD FRIDAY: Ethiopian Style

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 00:19:00 +0000

We love food. There is no denying it. Especially when it come to different exotic foods.
Although half of the time is Peter the one dragging me to such places, I enjoy them nevertheless.
Let’s face it, Grants Pass is not excatly the cultural salad bowl. So when one of our bride’s proposed meeting at an Ethipian resturant in Portland, we were thrilled! Well, Peter was thrilled, I had to do some research. You know, just make sure they didn’t eat crickets or something of that sort in Africa. I was pretty excited to I find out that injera (Ethiopian bread) is to an Ethiopian what tortillas are to a Mexican.

Food is served up in a big, round plate. And I mean big...

We all shared a vegetarian combo. Which was served on top of the injera. The eating utensils? Our hands. What better way to get to know someone that putting your hands all over each others food, right?

We loved it so much we ate there again the following night. Here is Peter proudly showing he cleaned the plate up! Quite an accomplishment considering the size of the thing...

If you are anywhere near Portland and are in mood for something a little different be sure to check out the Queen Of Sheba...

Happy Friday!

K~B

Portland Oregon Wedding Photographer

Personal: Like father like son

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:26:00 +0000

They sit next to each other and I stare at them. Examining their faces side by side. Every line, every smile, every detail. They are much more alike than they care to admit. Peter is trying to teach his dad something about downloading pictures into his computer. Dad looks at me with his kind blue eyes, and I smile at him. I see Peter’s calm demeanor when I look into my father-in-law’s eyes. I fight the urge to tell them how alike they are. I know they won’t agree.

K~B

Southern Oregon & Newport Wedding Photographers

PERSONAL: GRATEFUL

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:31:00 +0000

I’m sitting by myself in a hotel room. It’s early. Too early for the world to be completly awake yet. If I hold still enough, I can hear the waves crashing along the shore. I listen intenly as I hold my breath. I want this sound to be embeded in my memory. I feel enourmesly blessed. In the silence of the morning I pray. I thank God for everything he has given me, a loving husband, a supporting family and amazing friends. I thank him for the beautiful gift of life, and for the sun that is starting to peek trhough the sligthly open window. He has given me much more than I had ever hoped for, and for that I am grateful. As the melody of the world awakening starts to fill the air, I pray that I may never take this for granted.
K~B

Medford & Southern Oregon Wedding Photographers

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: ELINCHROM RANGER RX SYNC SPEED w/ A HEAD

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:23:00 +0000

I have really been hoping to use the "hypersync" feature of the PocketWizard Power ST4 with the Elinchrom Ranger for some of our shots, but it doesn't work as I had hoped (according to all the hype anyways). Not like the sync speed of Speedlights and the Flex TT5, which by the way we use frequently right up to 1/8000 sec with no problem at all. Except for the lack of power. Thats where the Ranger comes into play.

After trying in vane to get 1/8000th sec sync speed to give usable results using the Ranger (I had been trying to figure it out with a photog in Seattle who has the same setup), I finally settled on the fact that, using the "A" head, it is just not possible, unless you have a camera with an electronic shutter (Nikon D70, Nikon D300s, Canon 1D-ancient!) . I've been talking with a photog in the UK who is shooting with the "S" head, 5D markII, 50mm f1.2l and syncing clear up to 1/8000. You can check out his post on sync speeds here.

However, I was able to achieve usable sync speeds using the "A" head of 1/320 and 1/500 using the Power ST4 on the Ranger. I was going to post a shot at 1/1000 just to show the results, but suffice it to say that it's not usable in my opinion. Anyhow, enough talking. Except one more thing- I did throw some speedlights into the mix too.

This shot was taken at 1/500th of a second. If you look at the right side of the frame you can see some shading happening from the camera shutter. It's less noticeable on the sky and more noticeable on the foreground. But 1/500 sec on a full frame camera using a Elinchrom strobe is pretty awesome!

Shot at 1/320 sec- you can still see the banding on the right side of the frame in the foreground, although it is much narrower than at 1/500.

Yup, you guessed it- 1/300 sec sync. Those are four Canon speedlights firing at full power, zoomed to 70mm, about four feet away. If you look at the rim light they are creating on Kenya, you can see they are only lighting from her arms up. They have to throw a tighter beam of light to even be usable in direct sun. The Ranger was about seven feet away and had power to spare and it was throwing a MUCH larger spread of light using a white wide angle reflector....

The light is a little hot in this one- the ambient changed because of a cloud and I didn't adjust the Ranger's power for it in this shot. The Speedlights didn't even fire here- they hadn't recharged yet. The AA batteries just can't keep up with full power firing, which makes the Canons kind of a let down compared to the Ranger RX- which is why we have some new battery packs on the way for them (: Can't wait to try those out!

1/320 sync, Ranger RX camera right, Canon Speedlights camera left at 90deg to me.

Here is my disclaimer- this is not the way things are, just my opinion, so take for what it is. With some cropping I believe that 1/500th sec sync speeds are very usable with the Ranger RX and A head combo. Some day I hope to get an S head so we can sync even faster and maybe shoot wide open during the middle of the day. If anybody has any questions about this, feel free to post them below.

~PB~
Southern Oregon and Medford Photographer

PERSONAL: FOND MEMORIES

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:55:00 +0000

It happened toward the end of the evening. It had been one of the happiest days of my life. The day I married my better half. The cake cutting was the last event of the evening before we headed out. While our guests watched and snapped photos we sliced the cake, tres leches cake to be precise. I being the sweet wife that I am, gently fed my new husband our wedding cake. What followed left me in shock. Mr. Burch took his cake and smashed it right on my face. The eye area to be exact. I stood there trying to figure out if he really did what I thought he did. He laughed. He thought he was hilarious. Yes, that was the man I had just married.

Two years later, as I bake my own tres leches cake this is the memory that comes to mind.
I found this recipe at the food network and is by far our favorite recipe .Here is link to the original recipe

K~B

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
6 large eggs, separated
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk (I use 2%)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
3 cups heavy cream, divided
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

Place the rack in bottom 1/3 of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with the shortening. Add 1 tablespoon of the flour to the greased pan and shake it around to coat the entire pan with the flour. Shake out excess flour. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sugar with the mixer running, beating until stiff peaks form.

Add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each egg is added. In a small mixing bowl, sift together the 2 cups flour and baking powder.
Add the flour mixture to the batter in stages, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. (Do this quickly so that the batter does not lose its volume!) Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and 2 cups of the heavy cream. Cover and blend on high for 45 seconds.
Remove 1 1/2 cups of the milk mixture, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve the cake.
Pour 1/2 of the remaining milk mixture over the warm cake.
When the cake has soaked up most of the liquid, pour the remaining half of the milk mixture over the cake, and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
When ready to serve, beat the remaining cup of heavy cream in the electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the confectioners' sugar and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the chilled cake.
Serve the cake with the reserved chilled milk sauce.

Ashland & Medford Wedding photographer

Personal: Lesson learned from hiking Smith Rock

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:05:00 +0000

My thighs were burning, muscles I didn't even know I had were making themselves manifest reminding me of my lack of condition. I stopped to catch my breath, mostly because my lunch was threatening to see light once again. I was so done, there was no way I was climbing higher. Why did I ever let Peter talk me into this in the first place? I should’ve known better.

Sitting there feeling half dead I looked up. I had been so afraid of tripping and falling that I had not noticed the scenery around me. I stood there mesmerized, taking it all in. Somehow contemplating the huge mountains and the river running through them gave me a second wind. I had to make it to the top. I had to see what was up there.

Slowly I draged myself up. You’re close, you can’t give up now, I kept repeating to myself every time I felt like collapsing. A few painful moments later we made it to the top. In front of us stood a majestic view. Standing there, at the edge of the cliff, made the anguish dissapear. It was worth the pain.

If I had stopped when the pain kicked in, I would have missed out. I was so close, yet I was about to give up. The lesson learned can be applied to all aspects of life. Sometimes we work so hard towards something and go through the struggles and the effort but when we are about to reap the benefits we give up. We quit without realizing how close we really are to the majestic view, to success. I'm not saying it will be easy, but it will be worth it. Climbing the mountain was hard work, there was pain, struggle, doubting wether I could do it or not, and the list went on and on. I had to constantly remind myself of the prize. As long as we keep our eyes on the prize, we can climb any mountain, no matter how big it is.

K~B

Bend Oregon & Medford Wedding Photographers

PERSONAL: Finding my happy place

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:15:00 +0000

Every once in a while we all get the tired-burnt-out feeling that most of us are unfortunatly too familiar with. It’s like we poured out ourselves so much and forgot to fill back up. Eventully we dry up and are left to replenish.

I’ve been having one of those days, more often than I care to admit. You know the kind where all you want to do is lay in bed and forget about work. Fortunatley I have a wonderful husband that pushes me thorough it.

Last weekend he did just that. You might or might not have noticed the blog has been a little neglected. A creativity black hole so to say. I satdown many times to try and write, but nothing happened. Zero.Nada. It annoyed me, quite a bit.

“Get dressed and let’s go” Peter said. I was sitting in front of the computer feeling frustated.
”where are we going? I really need to get this done” I sighed and got dressed. There was no point, writing at the moment felt worse than a root canal.

We drove to the location of our last session. “I need some photos for the background of the album I’m desinging.” With that he left me standing there with my camera in hand. I was so not in the mood for it. I walked around. Reluctanly snapping a shot here and there. Then one shot turned into two and three and I was hooked. I felt alive, content, replenished.

It is behind the camera that I find inpiration once again. I find my happy place :)

K~B

Southern Oregon Wedding Photographer

Grants Pass High School Senior: Brandon

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:51:00 +0000

This session made Peter’s little heart flutter! Along with senior portraits Brandon wanted some action shots with his bikes (ok, mom wanted the portraits and Brandon wanted the action shots). So he loaded his bikes and hauled them around for his session. We couldn’t have been more excited! Of course, we were a little nervous as well since we hadn’t done these types of photos before. Brandon and his dad were very supporting. We love clients like that! We had tons of fun and got some awesome shots to prove it.

K~B

Ashland & Medford Oregon High School Senior Pictures

Children: ELLA

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:59:00 +0000

She's back! Ella is back for her one year pictures and we're stoked. We have been Ella's photographers since she was 12 weeks old. It is amazing for us to see her grow over the past months. We can hardly believe she turned one already...sigh...

For her session we headed to the park since she loves the swings! But we can’t say the same thing about the sand. She didn’t like the idea.at.all. Nevertheless she posed for us long enough to get a few shots. Then we headed to the swings and she loved it!

Look at those eyes!

Grants Pass & Medford Photographers

PERSONAL: KISSES & DISSES

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:01:00 +0000

I’m sitting at my computer browsing through facebook trying to avoid the tasks at hand (Mark Zuckerberg is seriously a genius). As I see it, I have two options. Either I write a blog post which I have been dreading due to the lack of anything worth saying (not like that stopped me before!) or I go jogging (Peter thinks I’m actually working, don’t tell him).

What ever happened to easy options like “do you want fries with that?” Although truth to be told, it is that kind of choice that make jogging a necessity at this point. Curse those tacos and donut holes from the Caveman Bakery (best tacos in town by the way). And what’s up with all those happy joggers along the street, really, they can’t possibly be enjoying the torture. Which leads me to an installment of kisses & disses.

This week’s Disses go to:

+ Happy joggers

+ Procrastinating, if it were a girl it would be my twin sister for sure.

+Facebook, is a love hate relationship

This week’s Kisses go to:

+ Whitney from http://www.whitneydarling.com/ she is an awesome writer, love reading her blog. Plus it gives me another reason to not do what I’m supposed to.

+ My husband for keeping me in check!

+ Tacos of course

Happy Wednesday,

K~B

Grants Pass & Medford wedding photographer

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: ARE YOU CHARGING ENOUGH?

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:01:00 +0000

   We wanted to do a post like this to try and help our fellow photographers to look at their own businesses to see if they are cutting themselves short so to say. The reason I say this is we sat down and figured out how long it takes us to complete a 1hr session and the business expenses incurred, and we were surprised. After all, the question always comes up of how much to charge and it really depends on each business. We hope this gives you some insight.

   We used to wonder if a potential client would think we were too expensive and this made us keep our prices lower, after all, we thought we would lose business to some one else that was a little more inexpensive. Thankfully we are past that now.

   Okay, enough rambling. Back to what we found out about the cost of doing a 1hr session. We figured it took us about 10hrs total from beginning to end. Let me break it down for ya:

Initial contact, arranging for consultation, consultation: 1 hour
Prep for shoot (charging batteries, cleaning equipment, packing): .75 hour
Actual shooting time: 1-1.25 hours
Initial editing and final editing of images: 4 hours
Prepping and posting to Blog and facebook: .75 hour
Arranging and conducting ordering session: 1.5 hours
Placing order w/ lab and finalizing for pick-up: .5 hour
Average drive time: .5 hour
   Total time (average): 10 hours

   Now lets figure in business and equipment expenses per session figuring an average of two 1hr portrait sessions per month.

Insurance for equipment: $10.55
Website: $12.50
Camera use (shutter life): $2.80
Repare/ replace flash, batteries, cf cards: $3.00
Fuel: $3.00
   Total cost: $31.85

   I think $3.00 for fuel is pretty conservative and I also didn't figure in use of lenses, stands, light modifiers (they have a tendency of blowing over and breaking), auto insurance/maintenance, packaging for print/album orders, etc. The time I figured needs to also be modified a little bit, considering that Kenya and I both handle all interaction with clients, we both shoot, drive, we do about 25-30% of the editing together. She handles the blog/facebook, I handle the ordering, she handles prepping the final order. So if we double the hours for everything that we do together we then have a total number of 15 hours invested.

   Our creative fee for one hour is $125. If we add in the $130 minimum order, we arrive at $255  (I'm not subtracting our cost for prints from this figure). Now, to a potential client it looks like we are making $255 per hour which to them probably seems outrageous. So lets put this into perspective: subtract $31.85 (business/equipment expenses) and about $4.00 for packaging/presentation of final order from the $255 and we now have a figure of $219.15 - keep in mind that I haven't subtracted the cost of the prints. Divide $219.15 by 15hrs and we have a total of $14.61 per hour minus another 30% for taxes and we get $10.23 take home and thats not figuring other forms of marketing or investing in the business.

   If we had to replace our 85mm f1.2L II lens ($2218 including filter at B&H) at $10 per hour then it would take us about 222 hours to do so. That's almost fifteen sessions, so at 2 sessions per month we have 7 1/2 months worth of sessions to replace that one piece of equipment without taking any profit for us.
   Is $10 per hour take home worth it to you? How valuable is your time? What value do you place on yourself as an artist? How much have you spent on equipment to make those images? Of course not everyone will do things as we do them. Maybe you spend less time with clients or less time editing, or spend less on equipment. Whatever the case may be, I think that charging a $125 creative fee plus $130 minimum purchase is the absolute minimum that we can do this for. So you see, $255 for a one hour session is actually a bargain for the client. (We hope to up our creative fee soon)

   Then there was the question of if we should give away high resolution image files with portrait sessions. We felt that giving them away was taking away value from what we do as artists. Think about it- who else can make tangible what you see in your mind? Who else can see and capture a portrait the way you can? Nobody. Why give away what nobody else can do as if it has no value?

   I encourage our fellow photogs to look at what you are charging and see if it really is enough. Maybe you have some room to be compensated better for your work as an artist.

   As always this post is just our opinion and we are not saying it's right or wrong, this is just what works for us. Feel free to give your opinion in the comment box below- we are happy to hear what other photographers think.

P~B
Ashland and Medford Oregon Wedding & High School Senior Photographer

PERSONAL: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Dear Peter...Today we celebrate two years. Two years of love, of learning to be brave, of absolute happiness.

You have taught me so many things and I am grateful for every single one of them. If it wasn’t for you I would of never in a million years gone four wheeling, way to scary if I didn’t have your hand to hold on to during those crazy bumps. I wouldn't of ever made it to the top of table rock twice, if you didn’t keep cheering for me along the way when I was ready to give up. Those times when I just wanted to hide from the world you showed me how beautiful the world really is.

Having you as my unofficial cheerleader is what makes me who I am. You push me to go beyond what I think I could, because you believe in me. You see what I don’t see in myself. You give me the confidence that I need to take on the world, and when it doesn't workout you are there to hold me tenderly and make it ok.

You are much more than I ever dreamed you would be. Two years ago when we swore perpetual love to each other I didn’t think I could possibility love you anymore, but today as I look back I realize I love much more now than I did then. It is a blessing to have you by my side. Thank you for sharing you life with me. Thank you for making me the best version of myself I can possibly be. Thank you for loving me in spite of all my flaws. Thank you for being my husband. I hope this is only the beginning of an eternity together; I love you.

Happy Anniversary!

Medford Ashland Oregon Wedding photographers

FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS: ELINCHROM RANGER RX SPEED AS w/Pocketwizard PowerST4

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:30:00 +0000

That title is a mouth full! So I've been labeled a photo-nerd now from some of our clients because of my absolutely stellar and insightful gear reviews (; Well they are right, but this one about the Elinchrom Ranger RX Speed AS is no doubt the best yet! I'm just kidding, it's probably kind of boring but at least the pictures are pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Why did we need (Kenya doesn't think we need it but I do) an 1100watt strobe when we already had 1500watts of strobes stashed away in the closet unused and a few speedlights? Portability and power, and man does thing deliver like a heavyweight's left hook! Now, I've tried using our Canon 580EX II's and 430EX II's trigged with TT5's outside in cloudy conditions and they do okay when using four at time as you can see in this picture below, (we were using a light modifier that cut the power of the Canons in half)

but if the sun is really shining you can't use a modifier and they need to be really close which doesn't give very flattering light. This is where the Ranger RX comes in. Here are some pics from our testing the Ranger RX out in the sun, yippee!

In this first shot the sun obviously is coming in from about 135 degrees from camera right, the four Canon speedlights are 90 degrees from camera left, and the Elinchrom Ranger is about two feet away from my left shoulder.

The Canon 580EX IIs & 430EX IIs are aimed at the right side of the models face (camera left) and they are shooting at full power just outside of the frame. They really aren't doing much at all. In fact after this shot we stopped using them. The Elinchrom Ranger is probably about 3 times as far from the model (7 feet away), shot through a Varistar, and about 1-1 1/3 stop down from full power. This was about 4PM and the sun was very bright. If we had taken off the Varistar and cranked the Ranger to full power she would have been blown out.

We were amazed at how awesome the Elinchrom Ranger RX worked with the Varistar modifier so we had to try it out bare bulb with a white wide angle reflector. I think the light quality bare bulb is pretty amazing as you can see in these images below. These were shot with the Ranger at about 2-2 1/3 stops down from full power.

Oh yeah, we want to give a big thank you to Kenya's sister for letting us experiment on her once again! You rock little sister! We tried giving away free Wreck The Dress sessions for over a year and only had two takers, not including my lil sis. These kinds of shoots are definitely my favorites.

You might notice the black banding at the bottom of the picture above and the two below. This was

because we were testing out our new Pocketwizard PowerST4 which is supposed to let us shoot above our camera's max sync speed. These were at 1/250th and we were getting the black band. I'm going to try some adjustments with the Pocketwizard utility for hypersync offset and see if this helps, but I only hope to get about 1/320th or maybe 1/400th since we are using "A" heads (for speedy flash duration) instead of "S" heads which I hear work better for hypersync because of their slower flash duration. I have to say that it is really nice to trigger and remotely adjust power settings on both the speedlights and Ranger RX with the same transceiver. We are using MiniTT1's and AC3's for this and they work great.

In these bottom two shots we didn't get the black bars. I think because the Ranger and camera were at about the same plane horizontally. I'm not sure though.

And this is what happens when you forget to turn on your radios after changing setups...you have to use photoshop to fill in the missing light! I still think it looks pretty cool though. Kind has an HDRish feel to it.

The Pocketwizard PowerST4 works good as long as you are not more than about 20 feet away from it. After that and it won't fire, so the range isn't that great. Kind of reminds me of the whole 580EX II / FlexTT5 frequency problem. After frying two 580EX II's and having them fixed I decided to get the frequency mod done and now they work great. I wonder if there is a similar mod for the PowerST4?

I have seen a lot of debate between the Ranger RX vs Ranger Quadra thing. All I can say is that for the money I think the Ranger RX is a far better deal. After all, you are getting about 1.5 more stops for only a couple hundred more dollars. The Ranger RX Speed AS pack is pretty heavy at about 20 pounds compared to the much lighter Ranger Quadra, but you can use the pack and battery as a weight for your light stand when shooting outside which is a necessity in my book. We've had too many light stands (with modifiers and lights) blown over because of not enough weight holding them down. If we don't need the power of the Ranger RX then we just use our Canon speedlights ganged together and they work just fine. However, if anybody in the Rogue Valley has some Quadras I would really like to do a comparo just for curiosities sake.

I guess thats the end to a really long blog post. Kenya just asked me if I was writing a book, I just smiled and said, "What did you expect? It's me." If you have any comments or questions feel free to let me know.

P~B

Medfor & Ashland Oregon High School Senior Photographer

PERSONAL: FOUR WHEELING + UNICORNS

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:28:00 +0000

Peter got a new truck. His old one got terrible mileage and with the rising price of gas it just made sense to get a different one. At least that’s what he told me. We took it for a spin on Sunday. With wind blowing my hair and the sun shining in the sky we headed up to the mountain. After all, we had to “test” the four wheel drive. Peter was crawling stuff, going on crazy trails and having a kick, a boy never the less. I on the other side was closing my eyes shut and holding on tightly to my seat. The truck skid a little and I reached for my phone to make sure we had reception, just in case we had to call for rescue. Yes, I’m wild. He asked if I wanted to drive.

“No thank you” I told him in a tone that sounded more like “are you out of your mind? I can’t drive here. I can barely get it moving when it’s flat”. Of course, he persisted. I didn’t want look like a wimp so I reluctantly agreed. To say I was freaking out would be an understatement. I might as well have ridden a unicorn and sprinkled glitter everywhere to prove my girliness.

K~B

Grants Pass & Medford Wedding photographer.

NORTH VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: SARA

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:23:00 +0000

I have to start off by saying Sara has amazing style! She came to her session wearing this super cute red dress and her shoes were to die for. As if that wasn’t beyond awesome, Sara and her boyfriend Matt were matching. They looked adorable. Sara and Matt are planning to attend college in Coos Bay next year. We wish the best for you and thank you for enduring the freezing weather. I think you would agree it was worth it.

K~B

For some reason Matt thought Peter was hilarious...

This photo Peter did is my favorite

Ashland, Grants Pass & Medford High School Senior Photographer

CHILDREN: BRAIDY + TYLOR

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:05:00 +0000

They played freely. They ran. They lived unaware of the world around them, enjoying each moment like only a child can. We were very fortunate to be able to capture Brady and Tylor just being kids, unposed, unrehearsed, real. It was an adventure of its own. I felt terrible because I accidently got Tylor soaking wet. Then he looks up at me with his big eyes and says “can we do it again?” So cute!

Thank you Nicole for allowing us to photograph your adorable children.
K~B

Grants Pass Photographers

PERSONAL: BEAN JUICE + CLEAN COUNTER

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:33:00 +0000

It all started in our kitchen after dinner. We talked, we joked, we laughed and we worked together to clean the counters. I reached to put the parmesan cheese in the cabinet but my fingers let go a little too early. The can landed in the pot of beans that I had left uncovered. Bean juice splashed everywhere and I mean everywhere. I stood there puzzled and soaked. Peter laughed. He then proceeded to remind me how messy I was. As he wiped the floors, walls and counter he gave the usual speech. You know, if you would slow down this wouldn’t happen…You are the messiest person I know… and on and on.

I laugh because I know he is right.

K~B

Southern Oregon wedding photographer

ROUGE RIVER HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: LAURA

noreply@blogger.com (Natural Style Photography) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:49:00 +0000

Laura is a beautiful girl. We were amazed at how good she worked the camera. Click after click she would just kill it! She couldn’t have made our job any easier and we love her for it :) She was so sweet, even when we asked her to pose around all sorts of wet and rusty stuff she was up for it. The best part is she thought I was funny. That is my kind of girl.

K~B

Ashland, Grants Pass and Medford High School Senior photographers