Good Good Words

We wanted to take a quick moment from our usual schtick on the blog of just posting satire. Why? Because we’ve been paid to write a blog post and we love money. Anyway, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get down to business and talk about Basic Invite and their wedding photo guest book. Why is this worth talking about other than the fact that they’re paying us? Dustin and I are both professional wedding photographers. We’ve shot hundreds of weddings between the two of us. Basic Invite is by far the most used paper company that we deal with at weddings. It’s also our favorite company. When a client says they’re going with Basic Invite for their wedding stationery or guest book we breathe a sigh of relief because we know we won’t have to work to make it look good in photos. It will already look good.

Wisconsin photographer Jeannette LePaul burned down her Airstream trailer this week. She was using a Canon R5 to livestream her editing process in 8K. 15 minutes into the livestream she started sweating profusely. At 45 minutes into the livestream she stripped down to just a sports bra and yoga pants and began drinking lots of water. At one hour into the livestream she noted through her sweat that her camera and tripod had begun to glow read. Shortly after the camera began to sink and the HDMI cord leading from the camera to the computer seemed to catch fire moments before the livestream cut out. Concerned viewers called 911. A matter of minutes later the fire department arrived to find Jeannette emerging from a flame engulfed Airstream trailer with a glowing red R5 cradled lovingly between two oven mitts.

As the American holiday of Thanksgiving and the international shopping holiday of Black Friday rapidly approaches, photographers across the world usually scramble to find good deals on new gear and cardboard cutouts of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones that they wish they had while in high school and now can finally afford in an effort to rapidly level-up their photography. This is a time of great joy across the world, as photographers suddenly find themselves capable of reaching that next level without really having to work for it.

An Oregon photographer named Jason Rantz posted an out of focus photo in the Facebook group The Very Best Photographers in the World today asking if he should deliver it to his client. Mr. Rantz said he liked the photo and thought his client would too. When other group members ridiculed Mr. Rantz for not culling out what was obviously a mistake, Mr. Rantz claimed that the couple was out of focus on purpose and that the photo was in fact art. When pressed by other group members for comment on what exactly was the message of the art, Mr. Rantz replied that the photo resonates differently with everyone who views it and that’s part of what makes his art so striking. A cursory investigation of Mr. Rantz’s instagram account and website showed no other photos that shared a cohesive artistic expression consistent with the work posted in the Facebook group.

Adobe, a company best known for designing software intended to slow down webpages and open up users’ computers to a multitude of viruses and scam advertisements, made an unprecedented move this week to help out struggling creatives. The pandemic has taken a toll on many industries, and the photography industry is no exception. Concerned that photographers were experiencing high levels of stress and depression during the pandemic, Adobe stepped up to help out in a big way. They released an app update to Lightroom Mobile for iOS that removes the mental burden of unfinished projects and erases the memories of better days.

In our most recent episode we shared two mask hacks that supposedly make you safer. We cut just those two bits out of our most recent video to create something a little shorter and easier to digest. That’s the video above. So, here are two mask hacks that'll hopefully keep you a little bit safer while you're doing wedding photography during this COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s difficult to stay safe right now as a normal human, just trying to get groceries and make a living. It’s more difficult if you’re an event or wedding photographer during this coronavirus pandemic. As an event photographer or wedding photographer, you might be exposed to crowds of people from all over the country, and in some cases from all over the world, and you have no idea if anyone has COVID-19. Recently someone asked for practical steps wedding photographers could take to stay a little safer while shooting. This is for people who have to shoot, because their clients aren’t rescheduling and they need to make money. Here’s our list of practical steps you can take to stay a little bit safer.