I couldn’t wait any longer! I was so excited about my new pricing schedule, I had to get it up as soon as I could. The PDF brochure will be up shortly, but for now, go to my Pricing page, and take a look.
New Wedding Pricing coming soon
I’m in the process of completely reworking my pricing structure for weddings. It’s finalized, but I’m working on getting the PDF brochures completed and online. Until then, if you would like to inquire about wedding pricing, please either drop me an email at contact@jamesbitzphotography.com or use the “Contact” button at the top of the page.
Note that my standard coverage for eight hours, including a high-res DVD of your images and a complementary engagement session begins at $1800.
Thanks! I can’t wait to hear from you.
Growing up so fast – {Lincoln NE Photography}
It’s been hard to find time to sit back and think about how fast time is moving. It seems like every time I blink my kids are a few months older. Jonah is holding onto his bottle now, and Evie is having full conversations with us.
I’m hoping that when I look back on this post next year, I can say with full confidence, that I was able to spend lots of fulfilling time with my kids. They’re some of the most fun I’ve ever had. Just sitting around reading to them or listening to them laugh is the best pastime I could think of.
2009 in review
I simply don’t have room to post all of my favorite pictures that I took this year, but I thought that an end of the year roundup of a few pictures from my top list would be a nice thing to do, not only for all of you readers, but for myself. My blog is not only a home for my business, but it’s also a place for me to share part of my personal life, so I thought I’d include some personal images in the mix as well.
If I left anyone’s event out, I apologize. Don’t worry, this isn’t an end all be all list. I have many other favorite images from this year that just didn’t get posted.
What a great weekend!
I love weekends. I know that’s easy to say, but I just love the things. They’re a great time to relax and spend time with my family. Today, we went to my wife’s hometown and the grandparents got to get their kid fix in for the week. We decorated cookies for about an hour, which was fun, though I tend to spend too much time getting intricate. Essentially I get about half as many cookies decorated just because of my perfectionism. I don’t know that they taste any better, but I’m all about presentation, what can I say.
After lunch, Evie and I suited up and we went outside into the snow. She didn’t quite know what to think of the stuff. She likes looking at it from the window, but once we got out there, I think she was scared of it. I pulled her around in a sled for a short bit, but she wasn’t all that amused. So, we decided to build a snowman. To be more accurate, she wanted me to build a snowman. She carried the sticks back from the bushes, but that’s about all she would touch.
All in all, it was a really great day.
Alex [senior] sneek peek
I can always tell I love what I do when I realize that I have no feeling in my fingers after a shoot. Nobody’s fault really, it’s just that brisk December air coming out in full force. Luckily Alex is a guy, and guys ,of course, never admit when they’re cold.
I had a good time on this shoot. From almost tripping over some children to watching his sister dance around in circles to coax some good smiles out of him, I enjoyed the whole session.
Tis the season… for food!
So odd story… I walk into the kitchen after dinner and I swear I smell chocolate cake baking. I ask Allison, and no, there’s no cake. Somehow though, this sensation triggered what must be some primeval cake gene we humans possess, and I was compelled to provide myself with such cake.
Now, I’ve never actually made a cake before. I know that’s kinda sad, but it’s true. No cake, ever… not even from a mix. I’ve made my share of cookies, but somehow the cake has alluded me all these years. I smell a challenge!
I went online and decided Google would know exactly what I’m after. I simply type “chocolate cake” into the search field. Lo and behold, the first result was this link: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184
This was a really easy recipe to follow, and I suggest making it yourself sometime. The nuts, chocolate chips, and powdered sugar were my own personal touch though. I’m all about presentation, and the original just wasn’t pretty enough.
One suggestion though. I was reading through the recipe a little too quickly and mistakenly put an entire stick of butter into the cake mix, where none was called for. Very tasty addition, but I’m afraid that’s what caused my cake to be a little flat. What you see in the pictures is actually a double layer cake.
Mmm…it was good.
Tilt-Shift lens on the cheap
So anybody who knows me well will tell you that I’m a huge tinkerer. Quite simply, I love to take things apart and learn how they work.
Lately, I’ve really been admiring the cool images people are cranking out using a specialized lens called a tilt-shift (or perspective control, if you’re using Nikon). It really gives such a dreamy look to the images, and it’s something you just can’t duplicate with software like Photoshop. For those that have no idea what this lens is, it’s most well known purpose is to shift your focal plane from one perpendicular to your line of sight to anywhere you want. This allows a landscape photographer to do things such as get a grassy field completely in focus from far to near. Impossible with regular lenses.
Well, not too long ago, some photographer, somewhere, got the crazy idea to use this lens in a completely unintended way. If you use it in a portrait, you can get what I would describe, as a hyper-real, 3D image, that just looks cool.
What does all this have to do with my affinity for ripping apart old electronics and mechanical devices? A while back I had come across an old Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens for $5. It’s fairly useless to most modern photographers, because this old style lens doesn’t fit the newer camera bodies, and it’s also manual focus. I also don’t use Canon currently… So, I decided to pull out my mini tools and take it apart. What you see next are the parts of this lens laid out in all their metal and plastic glory.
Now, here’s the part I’m keeping. This is the whole enclosure that contains the lenses as well as the aperture blades. I need to put together a flexible bellows for it, as it leaks a lot of light into the camera, and I’m worried about dust getting onto the sensor.
This is what you get when you hold it in front of your camera and move it around. It’s somewhat difficult, as you have to just keep moving it until the focus is exactly where you want it. Notice how everything from the foreground all the way to the background is in focus down the center of the image. Nice!
Here’s a shot of the front yard. Not too interesting, but I didn’t have a portrait shoot to test it out on today. You can bet it’s going to get used on the next one though!!!
Ryan + Emily [engagement] sneak peek
November 1st isn’t usually a day that I refer to with the phrase “gorgeous weather,” but today was, thankfully, an exception to the norm. The weather was beautiful, the light was amazing, and I got to work with a great couple. Ryan and I went to high school together, so it’s always fun to shoot with people I know.
Abbie + John [engagement] sneak peek
It… was… cold!
Shooting at Holmes Lake is always fun. There’s lots of cool scenery, and who doesn’t love a waterfront view. The forecast called for sunny and 60 degrees. What we got was cloudy and wind about 20 degrees colder. That’s one of the things I love about shooting though. Getting to work with the unexpected.
In the end we ended up with some great shots, and I got to work with a fun couple. Enjoy your pictures guys. I had fun taking them!
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