“Love is when you look into someone’s eyes and see everything you need.”

— unknown

A wedding day can be described as beautiful, timeless, romantic, fun, exciting, precious, emotional, traditional, and memorable. Some might add that a wedding day can be chaotic, stressed, busy, frantic, and nerve-wracking. And for that very reason, some couples choose to partake in a First Look Photograph Session either before their wedding day or on the day of their wedding.

On October 1, 2016 I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Kenley Crowe and Joanna Richardson at Common Grounds in Waco, Texas. They opted for the First Look Session before their wedding...and it was an amazing experience! Seeing the look on both of their faces as the anticipation built as Joanna slowly walked to meet Kenley was priceless - almost as priceless as seeing the look on his face when he saw Joanna in her beautiful wedding dress for the very first time. So much emotion. It was just those two...at that moment...on a day when so many others would be around them on their special day.

Some might say that a First Look Session ruins the anticipation of the groom seeing the bride for the first time as she's walking down the aisle. However, I can attest that this is not the case. Even if the groom sees the bride at a First Look Session, he is still overcome with emotions as he watches his bride walk down the aisle on her father's arm.

I decided to compile a list of the five reasons couples would choose a First Look Session. Keep in mind, these are just a few of the reasons why some choose this type of session. Ultimately, each couple knows what they want on their wedding day.

1. Convenience and Time. Traditional weddings usually do the bridal party photos, as well as bride and groom photos, right after the ceremony. They are often rushed as they don't want to keep their guests waiting too long to begin the reception. The First Look Session allows the bridal photos to be taken before the ceremony so guests do not have to wait for the bridal party to arrive at the reception.

2. Alone Time. Wedding days are filled with friends and family members surrounding the bride and groom. The First Look Session gives the bride and groom a small amount of time to just be with each other before the ceremony begins.

3. Reception. First Look Sessions allow the wedding to run smoothly from the ceremony to the reception. There is not any downtime due to bridal photos. This is more pleasant for guests. Traditional weddings typically have guests waiting an hour or so while the bride and groom are having bridal portraits taken.

4. Better Photos. As a photographer, I feel that First Look Sessions allow me to spend more time with the bridal party. Therefore, the photos are not as rushed which in turn makes for better portraits.

5. Family and Friends. The First Look Session allows the bridal party to spend more time with family and friends during the reception since they aren't missing out on this precious time after the ceremony taking bridal photos.

I'd love to hear from you! What are some other pros of having a First Look Session?

- Special thanks to Kaitlynn Phillips with Kaitlynn Phillips Photography for assisting with the Crowe-Richardson Wedding -

What's better...printed photographs or high resolution digitals? Well, that all depends. As a mom, I like to receive high quality prints from a photographer, but I also want access to the high resolution files for a backup. I know I will more than likely never even access the files, but I just feel some sort of security knowing that I have another copy that I can access IF (big IF) something happens to that print and I need another one. My fear is just that...a fear. Chances are if I am hiring a professional photographer, my high resolution files are securely stored and backed up multiple times in a variety of ways. So IF something ever happened to the original print, I could go back to my photographer and ask her for another print.

In June of this year, I recently made the move to offering prints. I still offer high resolution digitals as an option. I try my best to meet a variety of needs and I realize that some clients prefer a disc. What I have noticed however by making this move is that more clients actually choose prints over digitals. This makes me very happy! Why you might ask? Well, if I print your portraits at a professional lab I know that you are receiving high quality prints that will last a lifetime. I know the colors will be true and accurate. I know the cropping will be what I composed. I just have control over knowing that you are receiving exactly what I created for you. I spend anywhere between 15 minutes to 2 hours on EACH image that I present to you in your gallery. I want that same quality to show in your prints.

Before June I only offered high resolution digitals on a disc. This caused a great deal of headache for me as a photographer because clients would complain about the colors not looking accurate. Some local chain stores use printers that give a yellow tint to the images. Others give a blue tint. And others are green. Then there is the quality of paper that is used by these chains. Some use a high quality paper, while others use flimsy photo paper. I haven't even mentioned the issue of poor cropping!

I sent the same high resolution file to 4 different companies for my own "test" before I began offering prints to see for myself if there were really any noticeable differences. I can honestly say....YES! There are very noticeable differences! I sent the file to the professional lab that I use, WalMart, Walgreens, and CVS. I looked for colors and tones and paper quality.

Professional Lab - The colors were accurate and true. The paper quality was high and was printed using a matte finish. It was not flimsy.
WalMart - The colors were a little on the yellow side, but honestly not too bad. The paper quality was alright and was printed using a matte finish.
Walgreens - These were by far the worst! The colors were very blue and cold feeling. The paper quality was flimsy and it was printed with a glossy finish. There were white rectangles around the entire image because the crop did not match up to their machines. I would have been very upset if I received photographs that looked like this!
CVS - The colors were very saturated and looked green. The paper quality was the worst. It was very flimsy and had a bad glossy finish.

The results were clear and in front of my face. If you are interested in seeing them, just let me know and at our session I will make sure that I bring them for you to see. The issue arises because these chain stores might not calibrate their machines as often as a professional lab does which can really affect the colors. I might order my prints from WalMart today and go back one week later and they could possibly look different based on their calibration. I know that the prints I order from the professional lab will always be correct. Printing photos is their business. They do not sell medicine or milk...just printed photographs and wall art. I want you to have consistent prints, time after time.

There is yet another issue with discs and/or digital files - one that is not widely discussed. Recently, Internet pioneer, Vint Cerf, warned about a digital "dark age." He claims that we will lose a vast amount of our digital information, including important photographs.

“We think about digitizing things because we think we will preserve them, but what we don’t understand is that unless we take other steps, those digital versions may not be any better, and may even be worse, than the artifacts that we digitized.”

— http://petapixel.com/2015/02/17/print-your-photos-or-risk-losing-them-to-the-digital-dark-age-internet-pioneer-warns/

He also explains how technology changes very rapidly over time and at some point, discs will not be able to be read by our current machines. This makes sense. Just think about floppy discs! I recently read about a woman that could no longer access her parents wedding photographs because they were on a floppy disc. How sad is that? He also explains about "data rot." Data rot is when digital material decays over time on a drive, disc, or usb. A better option available right now for saving digital files is by using a Cloud service. However, Cloud services are expensive and there is no guarantee that the Cloud service you choose will be around in the coming years. You can read more about data rot here.

“One of the best options you may have right now for ensuring the long term survival of important photos is to print them out physically (with materials designed for longevity) and to keep the prints in a safe place.”

— http://petapixel.com/2015/02/17/print-your-photos-or-risk-losing-them-to-the-digital-dark-age-internet-pioneer-warns/

At Smith Family Photography we back up all our digital files - your precious portraits - a minimum of 3 times with various methods. Yes, this is very costly. However, if you are going to trust me with your precious photographs, you need to trust that I will have a copy of them for the years to come.