Michah Robert Arrives

Michah Robert Kier arrived today at 10:52 CDT. He weighed 7lbs 5oz., and was 19.5 inches long. The photos of him say it all. Both Sheryl and Baby are doing great. More photos will come later.

Michelle and Ryan's Album

Here it is, way too late at night once again. However, I did manage to finish the first draft of Michelle and Ryan's wedding album. Here are some of my favorite 2 page spreads from their album. I'm too tired to create the album show and will do so in the next day or so.

What do you mean I can't make copies of my wedding photos?

What is a copyright or What do you mean I can't make copies of my wedding photos?

Writers, Movie Producers, Musicians, Photographers and anybody else who creates something is entitled to ownership rights over their creation. For an invention or a hard product, these rights are called a patent and for ideas, it is called a copyright. The founding fathers of the United States granted these rights to inventors and authors to foster the creative process.

When you hire a wedding photographer, you are hiring them to create photographs which allow you to remember your special day. You may also purchase a wedding album or other photos from your wedding day to show your friends and family. Just like you can play a CD or DVD for your friends and family but not make copies, the same goes for photographs. The confusion lies because, this is MY wedding. Unfortunately, the law does not discriminate. The photographer owns the image copyright from the moment they press the button on the camera. It does not matter if they are an amateur or professional photographer.

In today's digital age, you may purchase or be given a set of digital files or digital negatives. Believe it or not, this still does not give you the right to make copies. If you were to take that disc to any photo store for printing, they would rightfully ask you for the copyright release or usage license. This is the piece of paper the photographer gives you which tells everybody else, you have the photographer's permission to make your own copies. So if you obtain a set of your digital images, make sure you also obtain from your photographer a letter or form, permitting you to use the digital negatives to make your own copies.

Baby's Status

He's almost here! We are in final count down mode. Sheryl's visit to the Dr. went well. During the appointment, Sheryl and the Dr. decided that if the baby is not born by Friday 7/28, they will induce labor that day. So by 7/29, unless they can't get Sheryl a bed at the hospital, in which case they will induce on Monday 7/31, we will have a new addition to the family. Keep checking back for the latest baby update.

Right Place, Right Time

Last Saturday I was privedged to photograph Michelle and Ryan's wedding. Other than it being the hottest Saturday of the year, everything was great. Just in case, Sheryl decided to have our baby, I hired an associate photographer, Mario, to step in should I be called away. Lucky Michelle, she got two photographers for the price of one!

Mario normally works for another studio. They allowed me to use him for the day. It was interesting to see how another studio works and was a reminder of why I have my own studio. Mario was constantly asking to include specific images to fit his employer's normal requirements.

Since, Mario was with me, Sheryl decided to hold off on going into labor. If I was by myself, you know the baby would decide this was the time to arrive. The important thing is that no matter what happened, Michelle had a wedding photographer. Here are some of the photos I took at the wedding:





Finally, I had just walked back from my car after putting the first load of equipment away when I overheard somebody say, "Oooh, Fireworks!" Not knowing how long before the fireworks show ended, I ran inside and asked my bride and groom if they wanted fireworks photos. "YES!" We all ran outside. Here is the result:

Outpouring of Support

By now you all know Sheryl and I are expecting our third child any day now. At our last Dr.'s appointment, the Dr. said our son was measuring about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. It is very likely he will be born before his due date of August 7. Mathew followed the same growth pattern and was also born early. This news was not a big surprise to me. The Dr. wants Sheryl to complete 37 weeks of pregnancy before the baby is born. That would be Monday July 17. It basically means the baby could arrive at any moment now.

Meanwhile, I am scheduled to photograph Michelle and Ryan's wedding on Saturday. The photographer who had previously told me he would be my backup, decided to take another booking. I was panicked. If I have a backup photographer, the baby will wait. With my luck, without a backup available, it is 100% certain my new son will decide to arrive at the worst possbile time, on Saturday during the wedding!

I put the word out via several of my wedding photography networks. I received many replies from photographers. Some were available and others were not but they were calling their photographer friends on my behalf to find somebody to assist me. What an outpouring of support! This is one of the benefits I receive as a member of my professional associations. While you hope to never need the help of your fellow photographers, it is nice to know they are there when you are in a bind.

During the week, I have been busy working on several projects. I completed the first draft of Maureen and Jason's wedding album. They are going to have a great heirloom to show their kids and grandkids about the day they got married.





On Sunday, I photographed the engagement session for Cheryl and Mark. They are getting married on September 9. We had a lot of fun at Twin Lakes in Palatine during their engagement session. It was a chance to get to know these folks a little better. Mark has a great sense of humor and I can't wait to join them on their wedding day.



Next, as a special gift for Meghan's Kindergarden teacher, I created a 22 page book chronicaling Meghan's first year of school in photos. I started at the first day of school and followed her through the year. We concluded on report card day. Here are some of spreads from Miss Sullivan's rememberance book.

Pirates

Thursday night I decided to surprise Sheryl with a babysitter so we could have a date, dinner and a movie. I arranged for Julie, our sitter, to arrive around 5:30 Friday evening, while I was at the bank. She had instructions to tell Sheryl to get ready to go out for the evening.

Everything worked as planned. Sheryl was surprised to see Julie and wanted to know why she was there. Sheryl got ready and we went to T.G.I. Friday's for dinner. It was nice to be able to spend some time together without the kids interupting us. We actually were able to hold a conversation longer than 30 seconds.

After dinner, we went to the movies to see "Pirates of the Carribean, Dead Man's Chest." The movie was good. It started a little slow but it soon picked up the pace. There first movie had a little more humor and excitement but Dead Man's Chest had a more rivetting storyline. The ending was a shock and gets you ready for the third movie in the series. We both enjoyed the movie but all too soon it was time to go home and become parents again. Our romantic evening together was fun and we'll have to do it again.

Fireworks

Well here it is the 4th of July. What would the day be like without fireworks?!

Miriam and Paul

It has been a rather busy week and I got side tracked with a couple of other projects. So please forgive me for not getting a new post up sooner. On the personal front, the family is anxiously awaiting our new arrival. We have nowhere to put the baby but I don't think that will stop him from coming when he pleases.

Meghan has spent all week at summer camp. I drop her off at 9:00 and pick her up at 3:15. She is having a lot of fun. One day when I picked her up, the kids were working on lanyards... When I went to camp, we called it boondoggle. I still have a box of the stuff hanging around the house. The kids, especially Meghan were surprised at all of the different stiches, knots and braids which I knew how to do. Somehow, I think I will be spending a morning at camp teaching them how to work the strands.

On Thursday, my new camera lens arrived. It lets me do some cool special effects. I can't use it all the time but there are a couple of times during the wedding when it will provide a neat effect.

Yesterday I photographed Miriam and Paul's wedding. Miriam had some absolutely stunning flowers. See for yourself:


Then there were a couple of times I was able to play with my new lens. See how much of the church is included in the photo!

Now I just need to practice with this lens a little more to see what else I can do with it.