Geek out about pictures.
It's okay.

Our pictures are the best ever! We received many compliments from family and friends on how incredible the quality of the photos were.... Thanks Joel for leaving us with fantastic memories!

Johvanna

Absolutely amazed by the quality of your work!

Stephanie & Jeff

The quality of his work is unique and exceptional.... He takes time to make sure everything is just right while shooting the images, and the end result is beyond what we were expecting.

Jodi

1. Whom you're sending to the line.

The responsibility of a wedding photographer is like a championship game with 0.5 seconds left and a free throw could win it. So let's not mince words.

Them: On blogs and e-zines, Web popularity contests, shooting for editorial police, mass media consumption.
Me: On your coffee table, paired with a good wine.

Them: Modern, candid, photojournalism, chic, fine art, classic, vintage, edgy.
Me: Primal.

Them: "We'll capture every moment perfectly."
Me: The thrill of discovery.

2. This wasn't on 
their shot list.

I commit extraordinary time to developing custom plans and lists, as my clients will testify. And there's an element of tradition to what I do. But there's no list for what we may discover on the wedding day. If you want something different, leave behind what you know.

3. The best ingredients 
come from you,
not a computer.

This is how Shannon, a grad student and scientist, looked through my lens at the time of capture. Your look is never determined by canned, universal filter effects in a computer and only by in-camera artistry, with gentle color correction and the occasional straightforward black-and-white conversion. This means a purer expression of life and an experience more specific to you.

4. "We want help."

"We want a photographer with creative input who's easy to work with," "We want direction/ideas," "I don't like getting my picture taken" and "I don't know what to do in pictures" are things my clients commonly tell me. I tooootally get you. It's human.

If there are three words in a photographer's vocabulary that strike dread when a camera's pointed at you, they're "Just be yourself." Like, yeah, if only I'd thought of that.

The way you do something, your location, your fashion and the light may inspire a simple suggestion. It won't interrupt anything naturally magical. You'll be able to go about your day, breathe and perhaps absorb more of it because you slowed down to savor the time in pictures.

5. No "inspiration shoots"
or styled shoots.

You've probably seen faked wedding photos somewhere on the Web without knowing it, where photographers, models and vendors get together and stage the "perfect wedding" to inspire you and build their portfolios, except some unethically blend the pictures into their real portfolios.

I can't think of anything more uninspiring than an "inspired" shoot, which is why I've never done one. What keeps things fresh and interesting is what I can do for my own clients at real weddings, where adapting and creating on the fly is essential.

6. Your wedding is as beautiful as you feel.

Spend five hundred bucks on your wedding, or spend one hundred thousand. It's a level playing field inside my 35 mm viewfinder. I'll treat your wedding as if it were a fairy tale you spent a lot of time and effort dreaming up and making happen, whether it's in your back yard or a palace.