If you read the last post you saw that I took ninth place out of thousands of images from some of the top wedding photographers in the world in the first WPJA contest that I entered, which is very exciting.

I love all of the images that I entered so here are the images that did not place, enjoy!

The winner!

Check it out, I ended up winning 9th place in the ‘best light’ category for the year end WPJA contest. This was the first contest that I have ever entered, I was a little surprised by what the judges chose and didn’t choose. I’ll post up the images that I entered that weren’t chosen too, since I think they are all great!

Enjoy… and imagine how cool this would look as your wedding photo. Have a great day!

Being in business, I have first hand experience with how important it is to deliver great customer service. This past week I was on the receiving end of a caring company and it was great!

I have been working with an album company out of New Zealand. They make all of their books on a custom order by order basis, they have no stock of standard books. They can literally make anything happen and this is why I think they are such a great match for my artistic style of wedding photography.

Here is the story of why I love the company even though I have never even seen their products…

These books have a standard 2 week turnaround time (half of that of a standard American company) with a 2 week sea delivery time. I have a meeting planned with a local client and I ended up getting a call from a client out of NJ who is coming to the area for a meeting in just a few days, they said that they wanted to see my albums before they decided who they were working with. I had to email my album company and tell them that I needed these books as soon as possible so they pulled some huge strings for me.

They made two custom books in two days, one is 12×12″ at 40 pages and one is 8×8″ at 24 pages. They did not charge me the usual rush fee for the very fast turnaround time. I told them that I needed these books in my hands by Tuesday at the latest; they said I needed to upgrade shipping to get them in time. I got an email from the company after they got back from the courier and they were upset to tell me that it would be several hundred dollars to ship these books to me via air mail. I told them the order was critical and that I would pay it. At around 5pm I got a phone call from one of the employees telling me that they were going to cover the upgrade of the shipping so I would not have huge out of pocket expenses.

Needless to say, without even seeing these albums I am very impressed with this company. They handled the situation extremely well, possibly even better than I would have if I were in their position. In all likelihood they did not make any money and may have even lost some on this order since they paid several hundred dollars out of pocket to mail these AND they rushed the work without extra compensation.

I called the US Customs office today trying to find the import duty on these albums and the officer said that according to his computer there is no import duty on these albums, so I may have saved another 12.5%, we’ll see when they come in.

I took a risk and ordered these samples without ever having seen one of their products. I have to assume that part of the reason for them taking such amazing care to make a strong first impression is that they know I will spread the good word about them. I honestly don’t believe that a company that sold poor products would take care of a customer as well as they did for me, I have high standards and I think that this company may have actually exceeded them.

Now I wait to see if these albums are truly as high quality as what I expect them to be. If they are then this company has guaranteed a long term relationship, if they are not, then I appreciate their hard work though I will partner with someone else. I will let you know the ending when I get the books later in the week.

Bound to Last

Have a great day!
Brady

I took a great two hour long hike today through the nature preserve by my house with my father. I pulled out my massive Mamiya RB 67 medium format camera for some fun black and white landscape photos. I may have pulled a few muscles while trying to carry it, since the Mamiya weighs in at around 95 pounds!

These are some photos from my nikon digital camera, I’ll have the film processed in a week or two.

Enjoy the images!

I saw this link on Neil Cowley’s blog and strongly suggest taking some time to view this site

Enjoy.

MTV is looking to find the right couple for their upcoming documentary series. The new show will feature a young couple (18-21 years old) in the process of getting married. The idea behind this show is to tell a coming of age story, not so much “a wedding story” that you’ve seen on other networks.

Within this documentary, MTV will get to know the couple as they proceed through the last few weeks of their wedding planning. The television network will discuss the issue of age and marriage with the couple and their parents…does age matter or not? Of course the highlight of the show will be the couple’s wedding day and the celebration of their marriage. MTV has assured us that they will be completely supportive of the young couple and remain true to their story; this is NOT a reality show!

MTV is specifically looking for a cute, articulate bride and groom both 18-21 years old. Ideally they will be getting married in March or April. This is a nationwide search only (within the 48 states). MTV will travel to the couple to capture them in their own environment. While the nature of the show does not allow MTV to give the couple anything to participate, they will give the couple a copy of the show. MTV has also promised that their small crew will be discrete and not distract from the couple, especially on their big day.

Contact me if you are one of my clients and would like to have your 2006 wedding information submitted to MTV.

Have a great day.