wedding shoes or why I hate my feet!

[athene]

I've started looking for shoes for the wedding.  I know exactly what I want.  A white ankle (or mid-calf) boot with a lace-up (or possibly button-up) front and a 1 1/2 to 2" heal (which is wide enough for me to stand on grass without sinking into it).  Oh, and it has to be in a 10 Narrow to Slim (that's AA to AAA).  can i find this?  no.  queencimmy when looking for me yesterday.  she found the shoe to the right which is almost perfect.  the heal is about 1/2 an inch higher than i would like and it only comes in mediums!  why only in mediums!  my foot is much to narrow for a medium shoe!!!!!  But I'm not disparing yet (fully).  the shoe comes from Touch Ups.  There are a few stores in the area which carry that company.  So all I have to do is contact those stores, see if any of them have it in a 10 (and possibly a 9 1/2 - which usually is too small) and then go try it on.  of course i'm sure it will be too big around the sides.  hmm...maybe i could get a cobbler to add stuff to the inside so my foot doesn't slide around in it like crazy.  or i could just keep looking for shoes.

Also, remember all those photographers we've been looking at.  well, we had two interviews this week.  On tuesday we interviewed Don Hawley and yesterday X-Pressions.  Hawley was really nice and fun and had snakes at his house which i got to play with.  He seemed really interested in the pagan ren wedding and said he may even try to dress in garb.  His finish products were very nice, but i felt that a lot of the proofs were a little on the dark side (especially the indoor shots).  X-pressions on the other had was very umm...professional.  I got the feeling like he would photograph the wedding if we paid him, but he wasn't totally comfortable with the idea.  His price is slightly higher, but his finished work was very nice and his proofs were lighter...then again, we didn't see a full wedding set of proofs.  we did see one of his wedding cds with 160 pictures, but i'm not sure that's the same.  I wish that we could combine the guy from tuesday with the work from wensday.  It's a good thing that we still have one more interview set up (and we can always make more appointments, although we start heading into the higher prices). 

Comments

[tonycrowley.livejournal.com]

Don't worry so much about some proofs being a little on the dark side. If the final product is good, then that's all that matters. Proofs are just that... proofs to show you what the photo will look like before any cropping, color correction, etc. Of course, I don't know HOW dark they were. If that's something that bothers you, but you like everything else about him, ask about the proofs you saw and let him know that you love his work, but it's a concern of yours. He may have a perfectly valid explanation that will calm your fears or he may dance around the topic, which would confirm any misgivings you have.

Personally, I would never show anything to a potential client that wasn't a finished product and if they asked to see what the proofs looked like, I wouldn't show them dark ones. When trying to convince a client to hire you, don't give them any reason to have doubts.

If he's excited about it then he'll probably put a lot of creative energy into it, where the other guy would likely just go through the motions of the typical weddings he's used to shooting.

[darktouch.livejournal.com]

Don't worry so much about some proofs being a little on the dark side. If the final product is good, then that's all that matters.

On the other hand, you could save a good deal of money if your photographer is good enough that you don't need finals.. we created all of our albums directly from proofs. Only blowing up a couple of portraits for framing. Afterall, anyone can photoshop a picture.. you're paying for the artist's eye with the lens as well.

[tonycrowley.livejournal.com]

True. And this guy may have a good eye and in-camera composition, but he may be hoping, like a lot of photographers do, to make money on selling more prints. Instead of stamping his proofs or punching holes in them, he may just not take the greatest care in printing them. Again, I haven't seen how dark they are or if it's all the proofs. I'm just speculating.

[athene.livejournal.com]

the thing is that you get a proof book with all of the proofs in it. so not only can you order from it, but you can also show people who can't be there, "this is what my wedding was like."

[tonycrowley.livejournal.com]

I guess I was playing devil's advocate. Not having seen how dark they were I wasn't sure if they were okay, but just needed to be lightened a bit or if they were so dark that you lost detail in stuff. If they were dark enough that it bothers you, then definitely don't be afraid to ask him about it.

Photos you order from the proofs may be printed with more care and have some touch-ups done, maybe some color correction, etc. but the proofs themselves should at least look well-exposed. When I go through proofs for portraits, I toss anything that I don't feel comfortable showing a client.

[alysonwonderlan.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how he would think to get money for enlarged versions of proofs if you don't get to see a good quality proof in the first place.

Bill & I are the ones (I think) who actually advised Athene to make sure to see if she could take a look at a whole set of proofs. The first photographer we met with showed us a proof book without our promting and they were crap. They weren't bad pictures, but they were not a professional photographers pictures - my mother could have taken them. Yes, his final albums were beautiful, but they cost another $900, so what am I paying for in the first place? There's more to it than just the money, but that's a whole big long conversation that I don't want to have in Athene's journal. After that, we asked for the proofs from all of our photographers, and the end results of our pains prove themselves very worth it.

I do agree, however, that if Athene really likes the guy but is concerned about the proofs to go ahead and ask about them. Athene, he's the vendor...don't worry about making him feel weird or anything like that, he should be easing all of YOUR concerns. If he reacts in an odd way to your question, then you'll know automatically to move on.

[alysonwonderlan.livejournal.com]

What cute boots! I hope you can get them to work out.

I'm sorry the photographers are causing you stress. *hugs* It'll work out in the end, I'm sure!