Please Pardon My Dust...

I've been a bit light on posting this last week because I was working on a BIG Surprise.....


I HAVE A NEW BLOG!

New year, new blog. This little ol' blog on Blogger has served me very well. But I needed a change, needed something more fun, with more features, more ability to move stuff around, and well, something overall sexier. Oh and something that let me post BIG pictures that everyone can see all of, without any clipping. All things that sadly Blogger couldn't offer me without an extensive education in html code. Never fret, this blog will stay up along with all of it's posts - but I'll be transferring them to the new site as well.

So, point your browsers to:

www.mthreestudioblog.com

and join me there. Go ahead, update your links and blog readers, I'll wait. Go ahead, I'm waiting......Okay, are we good now?

And as a reward for the extra clicking today, I've got a new wedding post going up over there, as well as two other posts.

Enjoy the new diggs and tell me what you think!

Hello 2009!

To: Carrie & Andrew, Stacie & Alex, Kara & Joe, Amanda & Andy, Macaire & Bill, Jill & Chris, Katie & Chris, Calie & Erik, Pagette & Jason, Julie & John, Sara & Brian, Emily & Jeff, Amanda & Curtis, Kristen & Griffin, Adrienne & Chris, Jena & Thomas, Lisa & Steve, Megan & Dan, Meghan & Kyle, Nicole & Justin, Jen & Eric, Carolyn & Greg, Stephanie & Jonathan, Maggie & Peter, Emily & Steve, Kim & Mike, Katie & Aaron, Becky & Alex, Erin & Dennis, Jennifer & Eric, Krista & Ray, Sarah & Corbett, Holly & Eric, Maggie & Steve, and Morgan & Jose -

Welcome to the year of your Wedding. May it be every bit as wonderful as you imagined. I am honored to have been chosen to share your day with you and I'm more than looking forward to what 2009 holds for each of you!

Happy New Year!

- Molly

The Assistants

As some of you may know, I do not tackle a wedding day alone. Well, tackle sounds very brutish - how about I don't rise to the occasion of a wedding day alone? Yes, that is more like it really is. I have assistants, fabulous assistants.


(Katie hanging out during the ceremony at Heather & Chris's wedding)

One is my sister (who also helps me out here in the studio once a week), one is my best friend and one is my first full-fledged Mthree Studio bride. All are married and so they have been in the very shoes of my couples. Each has their own strengths and abilities, and I love experiencing a wedding day with them. I bring them along to help keep me on track, navigate maps, carry equipment and water, babysit equipment, fetch things, fluff dresses, fix flowers, keep me company on long car rides, and do just about anything that will help us stay on schedule and ensure a fantastic wedding day experience in both reality and in pictures. Sometimes they become the Bride's new best friend and sometimes they are just a fly on the wall. Along the way we have many adventures, which we often recount at the end of a long wedding day over drinks or the long drive home.


(Harmony helping out Lindsay during Bridal Party pictures)

I can think of several wedding days that would have gone much awry from my standpoint without their help and cool heads.
These ladies will do anything to make a day go right. Traipse through fields, carry twenty coats, run to my car a hundred times, rebustle a dress, buckle a shoe, help a staggering drunk groomsman walk... you name it and they have done it.

It is not always a glamourous job. Jamie assisted me with the first wedding I ever shot, more out Hubby's fear of me driving down to Chicago alone than any other reason. She was rewarded with a three-hour drive home in a snowstorm, and yet she keeps coming back for more. Katie followed not long after when I needed someone to assist me for Harmony's wedding and thank goodness it was her - after the ceremony I realized I needed more memory cards and she was cool-headed enough to find them, buy them and return within 30 minutes (now I carry enough memory cards for three weddings). Harmony jumped on board almost by accident on a Trash the Dress shoot and has been a faithful shooting companion for me ever since. It is a job you really have to do because you enjoy it.


(I only have one shot of Jamie this year. She is famous for getting caught in loooong conversations with guests)

As fun as I make it all sound, the job has a lot of down time. Once the dinner is over, I pretty much have things well in hand on my own and they are stuck with the avid sport of people-watching. As a result, they find themselves often hit on, asked to dance and the wallflower conversationalist. But they do get free cake. And, as Harmony puts it, I have more romantic candelit dinners with these three than my own Husband.


(Harmony doing what they do all too often - let me test lighting)

They have saved my hiney more times than I can count, and I hope I've given them many great memories in return. It is a rare profession where you get to enjoy it with your friends and family, and in this regard I know I am extremely lucky.


(Katie had run out of hands, so when I handed her my sunglasses, they went on her head with her own. Fashionable, this one.)

After a long wedding season at the very least, they deserve a virtual round of applause for all the hard work they have put in on behalf of my business. Ladies, I am standing and applauding right now.
Don't fret, I properly took them out to eat at Branded last week, where we drank wonderful cocktails and learned of the goodness that is white truffle potato chips. It was so surreal having all three of them in the same place at the same time, and the evening quickly dissolved into a review of all of our greatest bloopers, gaffs and shocking moments.


(Harmony holding all the purses and jackets during bridal party picture time at Carlyn & Dave's wedding)

I can't even tell you how much I am looking forward to all of 2009 weddings with this crew.

(a special thanks also to Monica Gill and to Hubby who were fill-in assistants this year too)

Shopping Headache....SOLVED!

Tired of the malls, the crowds, the lack of parking?
Have someone who is so hard to shop for you find yourself desperately searching Gift Guides for help?
Shopped high and low and still need that perfect gift?



I've got it.
Give them memories.

Just for the holidays I'm offering special rates on portrait sessions to give as gifts. I really do think that the gift of photography is a unique one that can be appreciated by so many people - Mothers, Mothers-in-law, Fathers, Sisters, Friends, Bosses. And they will never expect it. There is no better gift to give than one that captures forever the love between a family or a couple. So check all of those hard to buy for people off your list, your shopping is done!

Each session is presented with a gift certificate nestled in an adorable silver gift box tied up with a bow.



Family Session - $200 ($100 off!)
A 1.5 hour session at the location(s) of your choice. The session will result in approximately 50-70 finished, edited and retouched images to choose from. All images will be available in an online gallery for viewing and ordering. Just for the holidays, I'm throwing in an 8x10 print.

Encore Session - $200 ($50 off!)
Encore sessions allow you to get all dressed up in your wedding dress and suit again and hit some fun locations and do some things there wasn't time for on your wedding day. No dress has ever been truly trashed in a session. Perfect for the engaged or recently married couple. This includes a 1.5 hour session at the location(s) of your choice. The session will result in approximately 50-70 finished, edited and retouched images to choose from. All images will be available in an online gallery for viewing and ordering. Just for the holidays, I'm throwing in two 5x7 prints.

Childrens' Sessions - $200 ($50 off!)
Incredible lifestyle portraits of your children that will capture who they really are at this moment in time. This includes a 1.5 hour session at the location(s) of your choice, with up to three children (additional kids are $50 each). The session will result in approximately 40-70 finished, edited and retouched images to choose from. All images will be available in an online gallery for viewing and ordering. Just for the holidays, I'm throwing in an 8x10 print.

Anytime Sessions - $200 ($50 off!)
An anytime session is just that - perfect for anytime in your life with your loved one, or just on your own. Perfect for couples, anniversaries, professional headshots, a shoot with your best friend - whatever you need.
This includes a 1.5 hour session at the location(s) of your choice. The session will result in approximately 50-70 finished, edited and retouched images to choose from. All images will be available in an online gallery for viewing and ordering. Just for the holidays, I'm throwing in two 5x7 prints.

Gift Cards in Any Amount
Perfect for an existing client of Mthree Studio - a gift card in the amount you choose can be put towards prints, portrait sessions, albums and canvas gallery wraps. Stock up now for a bridal shower gift for that special Mthree Studio bride in your life, or even as a wedding gift or holiday gift. You can also buy these in conjunction with a session card to allow the recipient to order more pictures.



*All prices quoted above are for Milwaukee area sessions. Other locations can be piggy-backed onto existing work in the area or subject to a travel fee.
*Session must be scheduled in 2009.


This special holiday offer ends on December 23rd, so get your order in soon. Please contact me at the studio to place your order.

Miscellaneous Monday...On Island Time

Island Time... yep, that is correct. Last night Hubby and I returned to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin fresh from six days in Jamaica. We were there to shoot Tony & Deb's wedding, and we built in a few days before and after the wedding for some relaxation in the sun. So please forgive my absence yesterday, today I'm making up for it with my list of:

Things we learned in Jamaica:

-It takes two stressed-out entrepeneur types a full two days to figure out how to "relax on the beach and do nothing".

-It takes us two more days to get restless and not be able to do that anymore.

-Just about every sentence can be ended with the phrase "Yeah Mon". And it is.

-Strawberry Daquiris with Jamaican Rum are goooood. Very goooood.
(So good that your hard-liquor devotee husband will find an exclusive, all encompasing love for them)

-Weddings at an all-inclusive resort are a breed unto themselves.

-Driving on the left side of the road, even riding on the left side of the road, is super strange. You constantly feel like you are going to get in an accident when your driver makes a turn.

-Police in Jamaica carry machine guns. Not rifles or pistols, machine guns.

-Hubby is not a fan of dried sand on his feet.

-Hubby's version of swimming is actually just floating in five foot deep water.

-Salt water makes you sticky. What it does to camera equipment I can not even describe.

-There are not as many tramp stamps out there as you would expect.

-Landscapers in Jamaica use a machete to trim the bushes.

-You can't go scuba diving the same day that you are getting on a plane.

-It is all too easy to adapt to opening up your door and walking right out onto the beach and seeing the Caribbean sea in front of you. All too easy.

-The Jamaican airport security has never seen a camera lens before. And furthermore, they are convinced that if they peer into it just right, they will find drugs.

-Apparently, I am a "princess". Of course, so was every other female that the "get happy" men tried to attract on the beach.

-They have American TV down there.

-Some Europeans will go topless anywhere.

-The milk in Jamaica is horrible. The water however, is fine.

-Spending several days with your clients and their families totally rocks.

-Your pedicure doesn't stand a chance.

-Flip-flops are a necessity.

-I need to own more than one swimsuit.

-Life vests are soooo not a good look on Hubby or myself.

-There is a bird that is capable of making a constant, reliable sound that emulates a slightly - out of whack grocery cart.
Said bird can make this sound all night long.

-Wedding receptions are not ruined by rain.

-Jamaicans are exceedingly proud of two things to a level you can not even imagine: Bob Marley and the Jamaican Bobsled
team.

-Just about any song can be re-recorded as a Jamaican sounding song. And they do.

-Shooting a wedding in another country is such a blessing and such a delight. I hope I get to do more destination weddings
in the future!

I have many more pictures and stories to tell, but I'm going to save it for later posts. To tide you over, I have one picture - a stitched together pan of what it looked like from my beach chair on Sunday. (You might have to stretch your browser or click on the image to see the full thing).




Have a great week. I'll be working like mad to get all of 2008's weddings edited and posted before the Holidays so stay tuned!

PhotoBooth Craziness

I've been meaning to post this for awhile and I just keep forgetting. And this morning I figured, what better way to send us into the weekend than some photobooth craziness?

Kristin & Joe had PartyBooths at their reception in lieu of favors. Trust me, this was the best favor ever. The guests couldn't have had a better time with this "toy". There was usually a line and every table was scattered with the results of their craziness. So of course, just before we called it a night, Harmony and I jumped in with the Bride and Groom:



I've been toying with the idea of adding a photobooth experience to the Mthree Studio offerings. Mine would be a bit different than what was used here I think- what do you think? Would that be something that you would be interested in? What features would you want, wouldn't want? Fill up the comments and let me know what you think.

Have a great weekend!

Holiday Cards!

Yes, I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. But in the photography world we have been hearing about Christmas orders for at least a month now. I've held off as long as I can, but November is the Holiday ordering month around here.

I'm proud to introduce my 2008 line of Holiday Cards!

Featuring your photo (you choose which image). Each one is a single-sided 5x7 card, leaving the back for your personal note or signature. They can be ordered in a glossy cardstock, fine-art watercolor paper or pearlized paper for a bit of sparkle. And, they come with envelopes.

Colors and text content can be changed to suit your needs.

If you are interested in ordering these, please email me at molly@mthreestudio.com for a pdf full of info. And Brides & Grooms - you can use your product credit for these!

Order soon!

Here are the samples:

Response

Hmmm.... suggest the mere idea to take away Miscellaneous Monday and suddenly you all have emerged! Thanks for all of your wonderful comments. It is so nice to know others are reading the blog and enjoy it. I love comments and got such a kick out of having so many yesterday!

Hubby (and Ringo) did a little victory dance last night and Hubby kept walking around, shaking his fist in the air and declaring "The people have spoken....and Hubby is right!". Miscellaneous Mondays are here to stay.

I have two more posts coming up today, maybe three. So hang on to your seats.

Published......in a National magazine!

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile.

Mthree Studio has been published in a national magazine!

Run to your nearest Target store and pick up the latest issue of Bride & Bloom:


Turn to page 58 and you will see my photographs showcasing the fantabulous work of Monica of The White Box of Wedding Design, who was selected to design her version of a "Hollywood Glamour" wedding:


The magazine does this little challenge every issue, with three different wedding designer/planners. And not to be biased, but Monica totally blew the other two out of the water. Her design and concept are fantastic, and beautifully executed. I was honored to be asked to photograph the work for the magazine. If you remember me mentioning in a Miscellaneous Monday post about being barefoot in Bacchus, this was why.

Monica wrote a wonderful little recap on all of the behind the scenes action. Click here to check it out.

And for all of you Brides out there, Bride & Bloom is a nice magazine to add to your reading. It is more about the plan, feel and look of your day, and less about what dress to wear or what deodorant will work best. More about design and guest experience. Check it out!

New Galleries!

I just finished updating all of the galleries and other images on my website. The changeover was long overdue and I finally got it done. Granted it is after 1am, but oh well.
It is just so hard to get the selections down to a manageable number. I still think there are too many images in the galleries - but I just couldn't cut out anymore tonight.

Check it out please and let me know what you think.

And there is one brand-new never-before-seen image from Lindsay & Ben's wedding hanging out on one page, just waiting to be noticed. I couldn't resist using it even though that wedding hasn't been edited yet - it was too perfect!

Okay, time for bed now.

The Music Thing.

Before I post another slideshow I wanted to take a quick moment and explain the music thing.

You may have noticed that all of my slideshows use the same music. There is a reason, and it isn't because I am lazy or unable to think of or even find another song. The reason is a legal and an ethical one.

It is illegal to use music in the slideshows, on my website, blog or in any other capacity without the permission of the artist, their managing group, music publisher, and everyone else connected to the creation of that piece of music. Buying the song on iTunes does not constitute this permission. When you buy a song on iTunes, or on CD or whatever, you are doing so for your own personal enjoyment. For me to buy that song and then put it on a slideshow that is then heard by how ever many of you it is that read this blog, is linked to those images in a way the musical artist did not approve of, and to essentially market my business with is illegal. And, in truth, it is unethical to do so. Just as I create images and they are copyrighted, and I don't want anyone using them to promote something else or using them without having paid for the right to use them, so is the case with music. Musicians are artists too, regardless of the fact that they get paid way more than wedding photographers.

Many people are using popular music and getting away with it. Why? Because they are the little guy and chances are the big record companies aren't going to come after them. But is it not wrong just because no one is watching? The answer is no. To use popular music involves getting a very complicated set of permissions and synchronization liscenses and paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for the right to use it. Something this little studio can't afford - and really, who can?

So, there is music out there that is "royalty free" and created for just these sorts of needs. That is the music you hear on my slideshows. The reason you are hearing the same songs over and over again is because even this music is expensive - between 50-100 bucks a piece, and sorry, I'm just not budgeted for new songs for every slideshow. Maybe one day I'll have a nice collection of royalty-free music to draw from. But for right now, you're stuck with what I've got. :0)

But, Mthree, you used popular songs a few months back. Yeah, I did. Twice I think. And I knew it was wrong. I saw colleagues doing it and thought "what the heck?". I'm sorry for it and if I could, I would take it back. I'm looking for a way to fix that karma.

Okay, there you go. Onto our regularly scheduled blogging...

Awwww....

The ever sweet Aletha (that is her, above) over at Pearls Events just named my little ol' blog PHOTO BLOG OF THE WEEK!

I'm so stoked to be recognized! Aletha has her own fantastic blog, which is daily reading for me. Be sure to check it out for yourself. And to those coming over here from Aletha's blog: WELCOME!

And the Winner Is...

Thanks to the three of you who participated in the Fast Track Photographer giveaway contest. (I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty dissapointed in the number of people who gave it a shot)

Dane himself seems to have left the first comment (Hi Dane!), so comments 2, 3, and 4 were eligible. And the Random Integer Generator says the winner is:



Claire!
Here is what Claire said:



Shoot me an email Claire and I'll email you the prize collection information.
Thanks everyone for your great ideas!
Have a wonderful weekend - I'm off to shoot my sister Stacy's wedding!

A Contest...A Giveaway!

This one is for the fellow photographers out there who might read my blog.

I have a free e-copy of Dane Sander's Fast Track Photographer book to give away. The credit really goes to Dane, who gave everyone who bought his book (that would include me) two free e-copies to give away to friends. I already gave one away as a thank you to someone, but the other one is up for grabs! It is an awesome book, and should prove helpful to just about anyone out there who is looking to take their business forward.

So, here is the catch, or rather, the contest. Leave a comment by Midnight on Friday in this post. Your comment has to include an idea for what to call a "Trash the Dress" Session. This is something I've been struggling with for awhile - the phrase Trash the Dress really scares a lot of people, and the Midwest really hasn't caught on to the craze yet in general. I've tried Fearless Bride, and that works fairly well, but it really leaves the groom out. Day After session also works, but it does confuse those who think it means the shoot has to be the day after the wedding, which it doesn't. So I need a really good name for this session, and I am turning it over to you, dear readers, to help me out. Submit as many ideas/comments as you like, I'll choose the winner using a random number generator, to keep things super fair. But only comments with legitimate ideas will qualify.

Good luck!

Paging Michelle Schmidt

You sent me an inquiry from the website today and unfortunately the email address you provided keeps bouncing my response back to me. I have no other way of contacting you. Hopefully you read the blog. Please email me directly at molly(at)mthreestudio.com or call me at 262-497-7246. I do have your date available, and I would love to get you the info you requested.

Michelle mentioned in her inquiry that she found me thru a friend who I took pictures for - so if you are that former client, please help me out in finding her and getting her this message.

Thanks all!

Elizabeth Anne Library

Somehow I got onto the Elizabeth Anne Designs Library. I seriously don't know how, especially since until today I didn't even know about their blog (which is fantastic by the way). I got an inquiry from a potential client today and they mentioned they had found out about me on the site. So I checked it out, and it totally rocks. (Gotta love coming across a new, great blog!) There is a bevy of wonderful and ideas and information on their blog, and it looks like they offer some pretty fantastic services as well. I'm honored to have been included in their list of photographers. At the moment, I appear to be the only Wisconsin listing among some crazy good company - which is pretty awesome.

So take a minute and go check them out. And apparently if you are a client of mine you can leave a review on there as well. It should grow to be a pretty cool resource for brides everywhere.

Guestbooks

There are a ton of new ideas out there for guestbooks at weddings. No longer do you need to resort to the plain book with the lines in it for your guests to list their names and addresses. For my own wedding I just wanted a beautiful tome that was blank inside so that our guests could leave us notes and messages. They didn't totally get it, and we don't have a full book, but what is in there we have treasured. I had planned to put pictures of Hubby and I throughout the book before the wedding, but that was just one of many wedding projects that fell by the wayside the closer we got to the big day.

So, one product that I offer for my photography clients is a photo guestbook. We take their engagement images and assemble the best ones into a press-printed book. There is always plenty of space left in and around the images to allow guests to leave messages of well wishing, notes of advice or just simply their name, and they always love seeing the images of the couple.

Dawn and Sam ordered one of these books - and it is going in the mail today. I grabbed a few shots before I run to the post-office (okay, drive to the post office).

Published....Twice!

I've been published!

The ever popular "sparkler shot" from Harmony and Darin's wedding is getting some more attention in the latest issue of Wisconsin Bride Magazine. Go to your newsstand and pick up the latest issue because it is gorgeous and chock full of good stuff. Be sure to check out page 20 for my ad, and page 84 for the "Pictures from Friends" feature on Harmony and Darin. I think I might have to officially retire that shot now. It's funny, I'm a lot prouder of at least twenty other shots, but that one always gets the attention, people just love it. I'm pretty proud of myself, it only took a year after officially starting my business to get something published. Now my goal is to get a whole wedding featured.




WI Bride comes out twice a year, in July and in January. Also published were my photography friends Heather Cook Elliott and Amy Gaerthofner of Ardent Photography. My pals over at Front Room also had a few pics used in the "Top of the Tiara" award page, though they don't appear to have been credited.

I went to the "Best of 2008" awards party that the magazine held on Monday and we got our copies of the issue there. The awards are a bit confusing to me - I'm not 100% sure how the votes are collected and winners are determined, it seems that just whoever visits the WI Bride website votes, as many times as they wish and then the most vote-getters are the nominees and winners. But hey, if their clients love them enough to get that many votes then they must deserve it! But the cocktail party was pretty good, held at the beautiful Ambassador Hotel. I got to hang out with some great industry friends; Eron, Monica, Amy, Craig (and his lovely wife Angie) and we all went for dinner at Kincaids - yummm!

And, in a stroke of luck, I was also published in the Shepherd Express this week. A goofy headshot I took of Monica of The White Box of Wedding Design is used in a brief article they wrote on her:
Click Here

I'm busy getting ready for Alejandra & Erik's wedding tomorrow. I didn't meet my editing goal for the week, but I'm closer. This is going to be a truly insane weekend in the Michel household. Hubby is obviously busy with fireworks, this being the weekend before the Fourth and all, and will be working some crazy hours, and I have an all day wedding tomorrow and then three engagement shoots on Sunday in Madison. And we will be shuffling Ringo around to babysitters inbetween everything. Whew! I'll be back on the blog on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Hmmm?

A photographer friend emailed me tonight and let me know that a bride on The Knot said that she had tried to contact me (in multiple ways) and had gotten no response. This saddens me, because I never got these emails or phone calls. I actually write down in my notebook every inquiry that comes in via either method and then follow up with those people if I haven't heard from them a week later (after sending them information).

I wonder if it is a mix-up with someone else because how could several emails and phone calls have fallen by the wayside? Even at my busiest, I don't think I could have overlooked that many messages. The mere possibility that this might have happened scares me. I would hate for anyone to think that I am ignoring them.

So, to the bride who said this happened to her - I am truly sorry. I would never knowingly ignore your phone calls or emails. I have no way of contacting you, but maybe by the magic of the internet you will get this message, whomever you are. I'm sorry I missed out on meeting you and learning about your plans. I hope that you have found a photographer you are happy with and I wish you the best of luck in all your planning.

And just as a general bulletin: I was having some trouble with my website inquiry form - I wasn't getting any of those inquiries it turns out, for quite awhile, but I only found out about that last week (when a bride told me her inquiry had come back to her as "undeliverable mail"). It has been fixed, and inquiries have been rolling in which only scares me more thinking that the lack of inquiries I may have had previous to this fixing means that people were filling out the form and hearing nothing (because I didn't get it) and not trying another method of communication (despite the fact that the form itself says if you don't hear from me in 24 hours, please email directly). Hopefully fixing the form has ended this problem.

Let it be known that I respond fast to inquiries, and I respond to all inquiries, without exception. I am not too far removed from being a bride myself to remember how anxious I was to know if people I was interested in were available for my date. If you have called or emailed me and not heard back - I never got your message, and please contact me again. I think any current clients I have (or past clients) can testify that I respond quickly to all of their questions, usually within 24 hours at worst.

Thanks all, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Workin'

While out shooting portraits on Katie & Dave's wedding day we sent the wedding party off to the reception and then realized that Katie's dress needed to be bustled. I quickly handed my camera to Dave to hold and Harmony and I got to work. Dave proceeded to take pictures - because he is a cool groom like that.



So this is what it really looks like behind the scenes on a wedding day: a photographer and her assistant inspecting the back-end of a wedding dress searching for the tiny loops that will get it bustled up and all of us on the way to the next location.



Please note that said fabulous assistant does so with a lens in hand:



And yes, I shot the whole day in heels.



It didn't take long for Dave's attention to turn to his beautiful bride:




The real post about Katie & Dave's big day is coming soon, but I thought this role reversal needed some attention.
Thanks Dave!