accolade... and rejection.

I wanted to post a message from one of my upcoming grooms, because he is just too charming to keep confined to my inbox:

Hi Rachel!

First off, congratulations! I saw your announcement about your engagement and I am thrilled for the both of you. I wondered privately how difficult it could be photographing weddings for a living as a single gal, so I am glad that you are on your way to your own nuptials. :)

Secondly, we have been showing off the pictures you took for us at the Franklin Park and everyone has absolutely raved! Everyone loves your style and comments how fun and natural all of our shots look. I even heard one of our friends who has already selected a photographer for her wedding, having some remorse about the choice she made!

They are honestly the best pictures that Diana and I have of us and we treasure them dearly. I wish we could hire you full-time to photograph us every day. :)

Hope your working vacation is treating you well!

-Micah

I mean, with images like this I can see why they LOVVVVE the photos ;)
(no really, click on the image to see how AWESOME their photos look.)

And I guess I should also sometimes post up emails from clients who do not choose our services. Check out this email, the best rejection I have ever received:

Hi, Rachel -

We loved talking to you, too! Your pictures are great, and we can see why you get them - your relaxed style brings out the same in other people. I wanted to let you know that we decided to go with another photographer. This was an extraordinarily difficult decision for us - it was between you and him, and you both take just amazing photos. Agh. I sort of can't believe I'm writing you this email, because clearly I think we'd have gotten along well -- and because we continue to love your gorgeous portraits of people. I know I would have looked pretty! :) In case it's helpful to know (?), we decided to go with the other photographer because his photos focused more on candid moments (and he's shot for Sports Illustrated, so he's great at capturing action). You are both amazing (and Midwestern-raised!) photographers (I mean, at such a different level than so many others in the field!), but your photos were better when folks were directly engaging with the camera, and his were better when they weren't, and we agonized and decided we wanted more photos where they weren't, so we went with him.

Umm, if it's not awkward, I hope that someday we can contact you about doing some family portraits....I'm not kidding when I say we think your style is incredible!

All of my best,
Sarah (and Robb)

I love the above email -- Sarah and Robb tell us the reasons they decided to go with the other photographer, which are right on. They got me thinking about style... though I would definitely use words like candid and spontaneous to describe our wedding work, I personally get the most joy from the work when I get to have a few minutes alone with the bride and groom making them look as awesome as they feel. That's why a lot of the images you see here on this blog are usually about 60% posed... after getting to know the couple, I ask them to go one step further than they would naturally go.

In the upcoming year, look out for more emphasis on a spunky fashion-focused feel to our work.