Monthly Archives: September 2010

This is a delicate topic but one that I’ve been contemplating quite a bit over the summer.  I want to preface by saying that it is not my intention to upset or offend anyone but, as is often the case, I feel compelled to go wandering into potentially controversial and uncharted territory.  It’s in my nature I guess, I call it like I see it, and then I write about it on my blog and hope for the best.

So maybe the real question is why did you select the photographer you hired? Was it because you trusted them?  Was it because the quality of their work spoke to you?  Was it because you had faith in their ability to “see” and the technical know how to execute?  If you answered “no” to any of these questions then my next question is why in the world did you hire that person?!?! If you answered “yes” to all of the above then why do you feel the need to micro manage?

Now before everyone gets all up in arms saying “but how do I make sure my photographer knows what photos are important to me?” Let me say that by all means, please make it clear who the key players are and what friends and family members you want to be included. This is not a discussion about family portraits. What I’m talking about is giving an artist a list of fabricated moments and expecting them to produce an organic product as if these items on a list, e.g., “mom fixing bride’s veil” and “bride pinning boutonniere on her father” somehow, in and of themselves, have meaning.  The truth is what gives meaning to these moments is the event itself and the spontaneity with which these little bits of magic occur.  You can’t fabricate life and you can’t fabricate love, which is what I assume you hired a photographer to capture for you, so why then would you attempt to quantify both with a list?  All of our lives are an ongoing process, your wedding is a process and your photographer is there both to facilitate and observe, to see and to react, to have their finger on the pulse of the moment – the real moment, not the one on the list.

Do you see where this is going?  Let’s just say that, hypothetically, you’ve given your photographer an impossibly long list of contrived “special moments”, how do you expect them to prioritize? Should they spend the whole day creating the shots on the list or should they spend the whole day paying attention to what is actually occurring?  Do you want your photos to reflect the real wedding or the staged wedding?  Most importantly, do you want to spend the day having a real wedding or a staged wedding?  Spending the day performing items on a list just so the photographer can get shots that were appropriate in 1974 is probably not what you had in mind right?  Right?

So what to do then? How do you effectively convey your priorities to your photographer without stifling their ability to do the job you hired them to do?  Well first of all, you refer back to the questions in the 2nd paragraph and you hire that person.  Once you’ve commissioned the photographer whom you feel is the most qualified, you have meetings and conversations with them, you get to know them and allow yourself to be known by them.  Whoa! Sounds scary right? But it’s not, really.  Think about it, who would understand you better, an intuitive friend or a stranger with a list?  Lastly, you plan the day around your photographic priorities.   If you want more getting ready photos then plan the time for it, if you want lots and lots of posed family photos then plan it that way, if photos of you and the groom together are the most important thing then plan with the photographer to make this aspect a key point in the day.  There’s no right or wrong set of priorities.  It IS your wedding after all and it should be how you want it to be but just be sure that your actions reflect your intentions.   If you want the organic and real deal then have faith in the process and the magic moments will happen of their own accord.

-DeAnna Dimmitt

Dry Heat Photography

It’s funny how when you meet someone you never know what your future’s together will hold.  I actually don’t recall exactly when I met Caitelen and Greg but I’m guessing it must have been in 2006 because I photographed their wedding in June of 2007.  They would have had to book early to get the date.   Their wedding was great but it was what happened later that came to stand out.  Several months after their wedding, around the end of October, Rick and I were putting together the game plan for what would soon after that become Dry Heat Photography and during a networking session we coincidentally ran into Caitelen working part time as a wedding planner.  So long story short, we needed some help and Caitelen and Greg were super cool and gracious and they agreed to get all dressed up again and let us run them all over downtown Albuquerque for an afternoon so that we could begin the process of replacing the ten years of portfolio material we were having to leave behind.  Some of you long time blog readers will recall that session .    No exaggeration, those images were largely responsible for the initial success of our studio, but enough about us….

Over the years Caitelen and Greg have become our friends and when I heard that Caitelen was pregnant I had to offer to do a maternity session.   We started in Old Town, took a happy hour break at High Noon and then continued at their home.  Even at 8 and a half months pregnant, Caitelen is radiant and looks terrific.  At their home I notice pictures from the wedding and from the downtown session.  I always feel touched when I visit my client’s homes and see my photographs on their walls.  Hopefully these will join the others in the natural progression of things.

To Caitelen and Greg, thank you for being our friends. I know you’ll be great parents!

-DeAnna Dimmitt

Dry Heat Photography

The little doggy’s name is Jooniper

LOL!

total comedians these guys…

the baby’s room

Katie and Barry were married on July 9th at the Courtyard Marriott and those photos will be coming to the blog sometime in the near future.  This, however, is Katie’s bridal session, shot in the Bosque on August 22nd.  I was pretty sure it was going to start raining at any moment, which is one of my favorite lighting conditions, and it didn’t rain which means a great session is always in store.  Katie is gorgeous, n’uff said.

-DeAnna Dimmitt

Dry Heat Photography

I’ve been photographing weddings a long time; eleven years to be exact.  Given that I’m currently 34, eleven years is a considerable time frame.  Photography is the only career I’ve ever pursued.  It’s all I know how to do.  I’ve spent ample time observing the observations of others.  People ask me things like “how can you stand to shoot weddings?” and it’s not a well hidden secret that some think brides are caught up in the vanity of aesthetics or that photographers are more interested in showboating their chops than in capturing anything “real”.   Yeah yeah, I know, all of it.

For years I would work like a machine, executing each shot of each event with precision and clarity.  Also like a machine I was calm, cool, and collected, always.  Sharing in my client’s emotions was not allowed.  I was there to work, not to have feelings.  Furthermore, I frequently suspected that the emotions being displayed by others were more theatrical than sincere.   This was not entirely a bad thing but I think being emotionally detached from the event showed in my otherwise spot on work.  In addition, I was not really committed to continuing down the path of photographing weddings.  Then one day about 5 or 6 years ago I was photographing a small wedding at a beautiful resort and something different happened.   I’ll come back to that.

So often life changing events sneak up on us and we don’t see them coming.  We don’t know that we may be enjoying the last moments of normality, peace, contentedness or a loved one’s presence.  We don’t always know that this time may be the last time.  The event horizon doesn’t always have warning signs.  We aren’t aware of the value in a moment until it’s over.

I was photographing a wedding.  The bride’s dad was terminally ill.  No one actually said that but it didn’t need saying.  He could barely walk and his breathing was laborious.  I shot all the photos that involved her dad in the lobby of the hotel because he could not walk outside.  Everything else about the wedding was normal; beautiful bride, great location, all was as it should be.  During the reception they had all the normal events; toast, cake cutting, first dance but during the father/daughter dance something happened that changed all of us who were there.  The bride was dancing with her father, I forget the song but it doesn’t matter.  The bride starts to cry, which is typical and then she starts to really cry, not typical.  I’m watching and shooting and she is weeping, clinging to her father.  I look around and see other people in the room having the same reaction and it hits me; she is saying goodbye to him.  She sees that this is the moment, the moment we all say we wish we had after it’s too late.  She sees it and she knows it and she’s having it right then, right in front of me.   As the song continues the bride’s mom comes up and joins them followed by the rest of the family.  All of them weeping, all of them embracing each other.  Now even a machine like me can’t hide the fact that I’m getting caught up in the moment and I too am getting emotional.   All of a sudden I realize why I’m there.   Maybe they (and I) didn’t foresee it when they came in to sign a contract and put down a deposit but they were entrusting me to record this moment for them.   So, tears running down my face or not, this was no time to drop the ball, to look away or to grab for a kleenex.  A family was saying goodbye to their father and husband and I was there to record it for them.  I must have shot 200 photos in about 3 minutes.  It seemed like eternity.   We were all there together, aware of what was unfolding, and seeing this time as the last of it’s kind.  I think those photos were probably the last ones they had of themselves all together and before the past became the future.  We were all there, in the present.

I don’t want to mention names or locations as this story is obviously very personal but I would like to thank this family for giving me a reason to see real value in what I do and for helping me to embrace wedding photography as a life long passion.

-DeAnna Dimmitt

Dry Heat Photography

You’ve all seen Nicole and Bryan in their Engagement Session last fall on Canyon Road in Santa Fe.  Well, the big day has since come and gone and here is their wedding album, featuring Dry Heat Signature Album Design, to prove it!  Nicole and Bryan were married on May 22nd at St. Bernadette Church.  On the way to the reception at Embassy Suites we all took a little detour over to the UNM Duck Pond for some greenery and shenanigans with the wedding party.   While all this may seem satisfactory for a wedding day performance, Nicole really wanted sunset photos in the mountains and the day-of scheduling had rendered this impossible.  :-0  Not to worry though, the following evening Rick and I met them out at Elena Gallegos Open Space (and yes, they did suit up again just for this extra session) and the sky delivered in spades!    On a side note, I feel compelled to mention that Nicole and Bryan are some of the most compassionate people I’ve ever come across.  It’s rare and inspiring nowadays to find two people so concerned with the welfare of others.  The beautiful thing about owning Dry Heat Photography is that it has become a platform for attracting wonderful people like Nicole and Bryan into our lives.

To Nicole and Bryan, Thank you so much for making us a part of your special day!

-DeAnna Dimmitt and Rick Meiers

Dry Heat Photography

It’s always a pleasure to work an event with the guys from Los Primos!