Today I stumbled upon The Still Image With Crash Taylor via Jasmine Star’s blog. If you’re a wedding photographer, you should definitely be following Jasmine’s blog because not only are her images eye candy, she has FAQ posts that answer questions that readers ask and I’ve always taken away at least one new piece of information from each of those. The first post that I ever read by Jasmine was an FAQ entry she made about First Looks (the bride and groom seeing each other before the ceremony for a photo session) and it’s what convinced me and Jeff to do a First Look on our wedding day. We were very clear from the start about not wanting to know anything about what the other would be wearing and making sure that the first time we saw each other that day was at opposite ends of the aisle as I made my way towards him. But after reading Jasmine’s take on it, my mind had changed. And I am so glad we did it cause it was just so much more relaxed not trying to cram it in between the ceremony and hors d’oeuvres. If you’re getting married, consider doing this. If you’re shooting a big wedding and need to propose this as an option for your clients, consider reading this.

The Still Image With Crash Taylor is also a super helpful site because Crash interviews the world’s finest photographers and asks how they make certain images which is a question that most of us wonder when looking at a captivating photo. Each post contains the location, what type of camera and lens, lighting, creative process and post-production which is pretty much everything you need to know about how to make a picture. I think it’s really great when photographers share information…it keeps the industry at a higher standard.

Here’s one of my favorites from our First Look. It rained on our wedding day but we sucked it up and took photos outside anyway. My mom would’ve killed me if she knew I was out in the rain after getting my hair done and potentially dirtying up my gown before anyone even had the chance to see me in it but it was totally worth it. It was the only alone time that Jeff and I had together our wedding day (with the exception of our photographer being with us) and it was very much needed.

Photo by Tec Petaja