I’m leading a tour to Bhutan this Fall and am so excited. We will be there for almost two weeks. The trip is timed so that we will be able to photograph the harvest and the celebrations.

For more info check out Bhutan 2010.

Interesting, and depressing, article on the future of photography in the NYT. If you are an amateur, and don’t have to make a living, you’ll do okay. If you are a pro, good luck.

Too many clients are willing to settle for “good enough.”

My question, what are you going to do to convince them that excellent photography is the way to go?

Just got back from the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International conference where I made a presentation, judged the print contest and attended a number of fantastic workshops. I was one of 12,000 photographers attending the 6 day conference. Once again, I was blown away with the quality of the programs.

I really enjoyed judging the contest. It was extremely difficult to narrow down the quality prints to award a first, second and third.

©Natalie Fobes ~ The sun reflects on the water on top of a fence railing 15 feet from my front door.

What a run of weather we have had this winter! This photo proves that you don’t have to go far to find great shots…like about 15 feet in this case.

©2010 Natalie Fobes

I learned how to use small-system flash during the years I spent working on magazine assignments in Siberia, Guatemala and Alaska. This knowledge sets me apart from others in my wedding photography.

For example: this wedding photo of Amy and Scott looks like it was taken as the sun was setting. Nope. It was taken forty-five minutes after the sun set.

To create the look of the sun I had my associate, Marcellina, hold a flash with an orange gel off to the side. I calculated the exposure for the available light, adjusted the output on her flash and adjusted my flash on camera to kick in just a little fill. I hand-held the camera and used a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second.

The result was a wonderful wedding couple shot for their album and their wall. I succeeded in making dark into light with flash.

BTW, I’m entering this in the WPPI competition where I will be a speaker and a judge.

Scott and Amy pose for a wedding couple shot during their reception

A fifteen minute fireworks display ended this amazing Seattle wedding.

One question that came up over and over at the Seattle Wedding Show was how I did the photograph with a bride and groom in the foreground and fireworks in the background.  The shot was from an amazing Seattle wedding I photographed last summer that included a wonderful couple, a black bear, a cougar, an owl, and stickleback fish. A fifteen minute fireworks display closed the festivities.

I knew that flashing the couple during the fireworks display would interfere with their enjoyment. Instead, I set up my lights and took a shot of them  before the fireworks began. During the show I mounted my camera on a tripod, used a shutter release and kept the shutter open to capture the bursts of  fireworks. My aperture was set at f11 and my ISO was 400.

The final photograph was made up of the portrait image and seven fireworks shots that I layered in Photoshop.

The Seattle Wedding Show is a wrap for one more year. What a show it was! Hundreds of vendors and thousands of people crowded into the rooms. At times it was difficult to hear because of the hum of excited voices in the background.

In addition to the caterers and cake designers, florists, photographers and videographers,  there were officiants, dress designers, chair decorators, an umbrella vendor, dj’s, jewelers (ask me about the ring I saw at Marci’s!) and even a flip-book creator! Not sure how that fits in with weddings but I love the idea.

Given the reaction to my photographs in my booth, photojournalism is still HOT…and people loved the posing of my “fashion-forward” wedding couples portraits.

I had a great time talking to all the people who stopped by my booth and loved catching up with my friends in the Seattle wedding business community. What a Show!

Wow. I’m still shocked that 2009 has come and gone! I’ve been writing 2009 on checks for the past 19 days so I guess it isn’t far from my memory.

I’m trying something exciting this year. If you have come to read my business of photography blog for my class at Seattle Central Community College, it is still here, just in a password protected area. Email me at natalie@fobesphoto.com for the password.

And if you are here to read about Seattle wedding and portrait photography, you are in the right place!

Look for updates on what we’ve been doing in the studio, hints on how to make your photography better and thoughts on weddings and portraits and whatever strikes my fancy here in this Seattle market.

Thanks for visiting!