Sowing Seeds of Love

On Saturday, Ellen and I photographed the wedding of Sarah and Andy Mussack at Keuka College on Keuka Lake with a reception at Kings Catering. I first worked with Sarah and Andy last year for their engagement shoot which we did at a winery on Seneca Lake and then their hobby farm in Seneca Castle. An amateur gardener myself, I was blown away by the size and quality of the garden they had going in their backyard. This past Spring, Sarah was one of the students at several of my photography classes, so it was like photographing the wedding of old friends more than clients. I joked with them that I would trade photography lessons for gardening lessons. 

 Norton Chapel at Keuka College is an amazing backdrop for a wedding in the Finger Lakes. We were able to get some great shots right behind the chapel out on a dock on Keuka Lake before heading back to Canandaigua for the reception. We were initially going to stop at a spot on Flint Creek in Seneca Castle for some photos, but with the ridiculous amount of rain we've had lately we had to nix those plans due to the high water levels. The river looks more like chocolate milk right now than a quiet rural stream. Congrats Sarah and Andy! You guys are the best.

Love Knechtion

I've been doing so many sports leagues and Bar Mitzvah's lately that we've actually gotten a late start on our wedding season. We dove in with both feet this weekend with two weddings in a row. We started the weekend on Friday with Jennalyn and Brian Knecht, who were married at St. Stephen's in Geneva with a reception at Belhurst Castle. Even though it was about 9,000 degrees in the church, it was nice to be back at a wedding with Father Mull who was recently reassigned to Geneva from St. Mary's in Canandaigua. Father Mull has been a fixture in our community for the last decade, so it was nice to know that I will see him regularly in Geneva. Jennalyn and Brian were great to work with. They took the heat in stride even with Brian wearing a three piece tux that must have been torture. I give him credit, I would have jumped in the lake. Congrats Brian and Jennalyn!

Photography Stuff For Sale

As I stated in a previous post, I'm selling a bunch of stuff at the studio that we're just not using anymore. This does not mean I'm going out of business, just cleaning house. Here's the list: Nikon D2X Camera Body. This camera has 179K acuations on it but with a titanium shutter it's rated to go to 450K. It's a 12mp workhorse that's built like a tank. I paid $5,000 for it in 2006 and I'm asking $575 for it now. It comes with the box and battery however you'll need to get a charger since I have another camera that uses the same charger. 

 Fuji S5 Camera Body with Grip. This camera is a Nikon D200 with Fuji guts so it takes all my Nikon lenses. It has a unique dual sensor which exposes for the normal exposure and one for the highlights giving it a range closer to that of film. The colors are amazing. I'm selling this one because I have two of them and don't use both. It has high mileage so I'm only asking $450 for it, but it's in really nice condition. I baby my cameras. This is a great camera especially for the "natural light" shooters out there. 

 Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 lens. This is a nice lens for the DX series cameras. It has Nikon's typical quirky rubber for the zoom and AF rings but other than that the glass is perfect. I'm asking $750 for it. 

 Nikon 80-200 f2.8 lens. This is Nikon's ED D lens with separate zoom and focus rings. This lens does not have VR. It also has loose rubber on the zoom ring. The glass is perfect. Asking $650 with box and case. 

Pocket Wizard MiniTT1 and Flex TT5 set. 1 MiniTT1 and 2 Flex TT5 Units for Nikon allowing full TTL operation converting Nikon's wireless infrared system to a radio signal to go around walls and much greater distances than infrared. Barely used. $575 for the set.

 Off the Wall set with columns and matching sandstone 12x24 backdrop. Asking $475. 

 Off the Wall two sided wall unit. This unit has a cool doorway on one side and a Mediterranean looking plaster wall with window on the other. It also has a set of steps going up to the door. It's very tall so I had to remove the studio windows on the second floor to get it up there since it wouldn't fit around the corner to go up the stairs. I paid $2400 for it and I'm asking $1250. 

 I also have a set of Bogen Autopoles which mount between the floor and ceiling to attach accessories to such as the expan drive system to mount rolls of seamless paper for an at home studio. I used these when I had the studio out of the house 13 years ago. I also have a brand new set of expan drives never taken out of the box. Asking $125 for the poles and $75 for the expan drive set of 3. If interested in any of these items, please call me at 585-393-9242.

Rumor Has It

Walking around town last week, Sue and I stopped in to one of the local shops on Main St. and discovered that am rumor had been circulating among the business owners that I was closing the studio. I was surprised as anyone to hear that since I have have no plans to do such a thing. It may have started since we had a studio garage sale to alleviate some of the congestion in there after 14 years of accumulating stuff. In fact, I will be posting this week some more items for sale that we're just not using anymore, including some camera bodies and lenses. 

 Let's face it though, with the advancement in technology and the drop in prices of cameras, there is very little cost of entry in to the field to call yourself a "professional photographer". I'm not here to debate how the influx of new photographers charging little if anything for sub par photography has brought the level of the industry to it's knees. That's an entirely different topic which I'm growing tired of discussing. However, like it or not, it's becoming harder and harder to earn a living as just a wedding and portrait photographer. So I've decided to become a "Jack of all trades and Master of "Fun". I love photography and everything it has allowed me to do, such as being my own boss, creating art and building a ton of incredible relationships. With that in mind, we're not closing the studio, we're expanding in to other areas of photography. One of the areas we're going to push harder in is education. We're going to expand on the photography classes we've already been offering and start offering full day workshops and photo excursions to cool locations both locally and nationwide. Look for a new section of our website coming soon devoted to photographic education. In addition to the education, I'm going to begin offering my studio shooting room up for rent on an hourly basis for those photographers who have a need for a shooting room but not enough business to warrant getting their own. 

 I'm also toying with the idea of creating a camera consignment shop in the studio. I know Craigslist is an awesome place to find all sorts of cool camera gear, but I also know how much fun it is to browse through equipment and finding something I didn't even know I needed or wanted. That's why the antique industry is so strong in our area because it's such a pleasure to just browse and find cool things. Why not do it with photography gear. Have any gear you want to sell? Give me a call at the studio at 585-393-9242 and we'll see what we can arrange.

Delinquent

I know I've been delinquent with the blog. With so much going on at the studio I've basically been doing brief Facebook updates instead of full blog posts. You can view our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chesler-Photography/43912569727. That doesn't mean I'm done with the blog by any means, I just took a little breather since I've been doing it almost non-stop since 2006. Let's just call it writer's block. In the mean time, we've resurrected our Constant Contact Newsletter which is chock full of news, tips and seasonal happenings here at the studio. You can sign up for the newsletter by clicking this link: Sign Up For Our Newsletter. 

 We've been doing a ton of sports photography lately thanks to the dozens of people who have referred us to their league organizers. Your word of mouth advertising is so valuable to us we can't thank you enough. We're having so much fun, not just running each kid through the line to collect a package payment, but creating really cool one-of-a-kind products. Here is one of the designs we created that we put on a micro fibre sports shirt. If you feel we would be a good fit for your kids sports league, please put in a good word for us. Send the league organizers to our sports website at Cheslerphotosports.com.

We're also gearing up for a strong senior portrait season. We specialize in senior athletes and musicians.   There is an alarming trend in senior photography of students going to their friends for their senior photos, in fact, it's so prevalent now that the school has relaxed their yearbook guidelines to accommodate the mass influx of amateur photos. Unfortunately, the results have been disastrous. Looking at this years yearbook was a shock with the amount of poorly done photographs submitted for the senior headshot. Senior portraits don't have to be expensive, but they do have to be good. We offer a wide range of options from those who want minimal fuss to those who want to be a model for a day. What we don't offer is poor quality. Regardless of the level you choose to invest, you'll always receive exceptional quality.

New Photography Classes

We have come up with dates for our next round of photography classes. Classes are $25 each or $150 for all eight classes paid in advance. Here is the class schedule: 

March 6 DSLR Basics
 - Learn all the bells and whistles of your DSLR camera. Bring your manuals, lenses, flashes, etc... to learn how to get the most out of your camera.

March 13 Lighting
 - Learn fun and creative ways to use light. We'll touch on using different light sources from candle light to studio strobes and anything in between. We'll explore how to creatively shape and bend light to direct it where you want it.

March 20 People Photography
 - This class will explore photographing people from newborns through the elderly. Learn the best ways to light people and creating certain moods through lighting.

March 27 Photoshop and Lightroom 
 - These programs are so extensive that we'll just touch on the basics. Learn simple editing techniques such as editing blemishes, cropping, straightening photos, burning and dodging, vignetting, etc... We'll also play with dozens of quick and ready presets to create global edits to a photo to change it's look dramatically.

April 10 Landscapes and Waterscapes
 - Hopefully the weather will cooperate for this outdoor class photographing landscapes, lake views, waterfalls and Spring flowers.

April 17 Perspectives 
 - We'll play with lenses that create a different perspective than normal such as macro lenses and fisheye lenses to get a different perspective of the world around us.

April 24 Sports Photography
 - For this class we'll venture outside to find some local sports leagues practicing to learn how to get the best results when photographing action.

May 1 Finishing Touches 
 - We'll wrap up our series of classes with an opportunity to design and order some really cool products from the photos you've taken during your classes. We can create wall collages, books, canvases, posters, etc... all from your photos at drastically reduced prices.

All classes will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. each date. To sign up for classes, call the studio at 585-393-9242 or e-mail me at steve@cheslerphoto.com.

Winter Image DVD Sale

Our annual Mid-Winter Image DVD Sale is now on through the end of February. Now is the chance to get all or part of your Wedding/Bar Mitzvah images on a disc with reproduction rights at a reduced price. If you already bought the disc of 200 images and would like to upgrade to the set of full images, you can do that for just $300. This sale only comes once a year and ends February 28, 2013.

Save $200 on our wedding DVDs for the complete set (normally $850) and $100 on our set of 200 images (normally $350).

We are also having a sale on our individual images on disc at just $25 each (normally $75).