Two Sticks Studios – Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Poconos Wedding Photographers » Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Poconos Wedding Photography, Senior Photography and Portrait Photography

The winter months can be lonely for a photographer – some more than others apparently. Bob talked to me a lot this winter about some detail shots he saw other photographers taking. Bob watches a lot of videos of other photogs working. I’ll be honest, he watches more than I do. I always feel like if I watch someone else work, I will try to mimic them rather shooting things how I see them. Of course, Bob is actually an artist. He went to school for it and everything. 😉 So he knows how to watch other artists work and take what he needs and leave the rest behind. It’s a great learning tool. I tend to try to adopt everything I see another photographer doing (If I love his or her work) and then I get all twisted around and paralyzed.

Anyway, his study time paid off. He shot a majority of the details at Lindsey and Matt’s wedding at the Stroudsmoor Country Inn last weekend, and I think the results are really stunning. The compositions and thought put into the shots are really well done. God, I hope he doesn’t read this.  He also got a new lens and i think it had a lot more to do with the lens than the photographer. (Just kidding buddy)

Also, a huge thanks to Lindsey and Matt. Scheduling plenty of time to get ready allows for extra time to be taken to get some great detail shots. Enjoy!

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Once in a awhile you get a chance to shoot something you don’t normally get to shoot.  Fitz and the Tantrums would be a good example. The band that I love was in town at the Scranton
Times building for a quick Q & A and acoustic session. The auditorium was not surprisingly jammed – this is a great band. I can ‘t really believe Fuzz 92 got them to play here. I’m not usually too far ahead of the curve on music but I’m pretty proud to say I’ve been listening to these guys for a long time. So, anyway, there was no way I was missing the chance to grab a few photos and wanted to share them with you guys.

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Steph ran in the Dirty Girl Mud Run on Montage Mountain this past weekend. As I was running along the course corralling my kids, I also managed to take a few photos. I thought it would be fun to try to dirty up the photos of the Dirty Girl. The results are below.

Baby shoot time. We just did some photos for our friends Annette and Darren at their home. They just welcomed little Peter into the family. As we’ve said, baby shoots can be a challenge. It’s always best to have them done within the first week or so of being born so you get the squishy factor, and you can mold the little ones into all sorts of fun positions.  Plus, they tend to sleep a lot! That can make life a little easier.

Now here’s an important tip when you’re doing these portraits. Keep diapers and other non-penetrable material handy. It’s a baby. There are going to be accidents or as Darren put it near the end of the shoot – “Guys, guys, guys, there’s some butt juice!” We still can’t stop laughing over that!

Thanks again to Darren and Annette for inviting us to do the photos. You guys are a great couple and even better family.

 

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Last week we wrote about our two-minute challenge that we did with Megan and Michael, a great couple who spent some time with us strolling around downtown getting some engagement photos. We had an amazing time. But we wanted to show some of the other stuff we got when we actually spent a little time on the shots and weren’t rushing around like lunatics, taking photos through dumpsters  and other goofiness. The shot inside the Trax at the Radisson is a good example. It’s just one shot but we probably took close to 20 minutes on that one, adjusting candles, adjusting positioning, working on the light to get it just right.  But I love the photo and I think it was totally worth it. I don’t think Megan or Michael minded either since it gave them time to drink their drinks.

Thanks again to Megan and Michael for their patience!

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Last weekend Bob and I did our first outdoor engagement shoot in nice weather in what seems like FOREVER! I can’t even begin to explain how nice it was to be able to feel our fingers and toes while walking around outside, finding places to shoot, exploring the city and hanging out with Megan and Michael. They are a tremendous couple who put up with two guys who were honestly like a couple of children told to go outside and play. And that’s exactly what we did.

Bob and I decided over the winter that it might be a fun idea to make sure we are pushing each other to become better photographers.Yes, you can get into a rut, even in a job like photography. So we were looking for ways to make ourselves better, but it had to have a couple of key criteria. We needed to leave our comfort zone and we had to mimic the pressure of a wedding day where everything moves quickly and the time you have to shoot can be extrmely short.

Welcome to the Two Minute Challenge. You can expect to see this as a regular post. Here’s the concept. At any point during a shoot Bob or I can issue a challenge. As an example, if I were to challenge Bob he has 2 minutes to produce a solid portrait. Shouldn’t be a problem. Except, I get to choose the lens, if he needs to use external lighting and what needs to be incorporated. That’s it. You know there is no way we are going to make this easy on each other. We know each other’s weaknesses and we will do anything to expose them.

Bob’s challenge: Lens: 70-200mm, no external lighting and you must incorporate a dumpster.

The photos are below. I love what Bob did, although the look on his face when I said he needed to use a dumpster was friggin’ great. It’s like I kicked his dog. Go! Bob ran to the dumpster, looked around, told Megan and Michael to run to a nearby post, got them in position, gave them a little direction, ran to the other side of the dumpster, lied on the ground and started to shoot. He used the holes on the sides of the dumpster that accept the forks from the truck to lift the trash to frame Megan and Michael. Pretty good thinking and not a shot we would typically do.

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Chad’s challenge: Lens: 16-35mm, with external lighting and you must incorporate the train loading area at Steamtown National Historic Site. Oh yeah, and it’s dark outside. Yep, Bob went right for my weakness – portraits with a wide angle lens. Thanks, pal. I place them in the center of the frame to let all the lines lead right to them. There was probably an easy way to do this shot by lighting Megan and Michael from the front. It would be a nice shot, but what the hell, this is a challenge! I decided to light them from behind to create a little bit of rim lighting and let some of the light fall onto the Steamtown sign above to give it a sense of place. Place the flash – time’s ticking – shoot. Not quite – move the flash – shoot – time’s up! Phew! Here are the shots.

We’ll do more from Megan and Michael’s shoot but we wanted to get the challenges out there to see what ya’ll think.

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