We've Retired! (... from blogger)

Come over for a visit at http://www.grazierphotoblog.com!

Thanks Blogger - you have served us well... but we were ready for a facelift!!!

Matt's Great Idea

Click here:) to see the funny video from the We Click retreat.

We Click 2009!

For the past 3 years Enna and I have hosted a winter retreat for married wedding photographers. It started with us just wanting to get to know two other couples better, then five couples, now six. It went from a 3 bedroom condo to a 7 bedroom room house. Next year we are thinking of getting a 10 bedroom house:) We call it the "unworkshop" because it is not a workshop. Enna and I organize the retreat, but there is no real agenda. We invite them to come, unwind, cook, eat, drink wine (and John's home brew), talk shop, and find inspiration in each other. We may have never met the couple in person before (some were e-friends until the retreat) and are instant best friends the second they walk in the house. We pick one night in which each couple shows a short slide show of their work, and that is really about the only planned activity for all. Some of us go snow shoeing, skiing, or just spend every day in the hot tub:) In the end, we all become incredibly great friends and help each other find new inspiration as artists, business owners, and married couples.

This years attendees were: Christine and Andy from Bello Photography, John and Kim from Sanderson Images, Justin and Mary from Justin Marantz Photography, Laura and Paul from Laura Eaton Photography, and Paul and Krystal from Studio Foto.

Enna and I want to say how honored we are to have such great friends, and how fortunate we feel to be able to get away with you all for those 4 nights that go by way way too fast. ~ Thank you all for coming.

The above image is the entire gang hot tubing it on our second night. Larry and Tabitha Sherrell came to spend the day but had to get home to be with their beautiful baby girl.

Here is Jackson and I at the top of an overlook we hiked to in snow shoes with a small group.

There were many things that happened in those 4 days:) Too many to talk about here. There is a video floating around somewhere of the guys racing out of the hot tub up the hill of snow and tumbling back down the hill into the tub only to discover we had cut up our legs running through the ice crusted snow! OUCH!!!! The big joke from that point on was not to listen to any of my ideas:) Our favorite part of the trip is always the last night, when after enjoying some great wine and a great meal - the tunes get cranking, a little dance party erupts and the cameras finally come out for some crazy fun portraits.

These are all images I shot at our "Last Night Soirée"

John and Kim Sanderson

Laura and Kim

Laura and Paul Eaton

Justin and Mary Marantz

Paul and Krystal McNerney

Christine Ferullo and Andy Beet

Sorry mate - had to post this great shot:)

My beautiful wife:)

Paul Eaton made sure to get me in front of the camera for a few

My toughest model of the night was my best friend Jackson. Sit Jackson! Sit! :)

We may post more later as other images emerge:) I know John has some fun portraits from the last night that he did with unique lighting style that are going to be awesome:) Here is a cool shot by Laura of the coffee mugs Enna and I made for everyone:

Mentoring Sessions for Wedding Photographers

We are pleased to donate our time once again for the Thirst Relief Auction! This year, Enna will be available for a 1.5 hour mentoring session at the WPPI convention in Las Vegas. Alternatively your mentoring session can take place via phone and email, or in Boston any time this spring or summer. Included in the session are a complete set of Grazier Photography's promotional materials, outline of our pricing analysis methods, and a copy of at least one of Enna's favorite business-related books.

Goal-setting, pricing, long-term business planning, marketing & branding, personal values, and artistic vision are all topics that we find especially exciting to discuss, and the mentoring session will be tailored to address the topics that you wish to explore. If you are the winning bidder, we will send you a pre-mentoring session worksheet, so that we can prepare for your session and better address your needs.

Thirst Relief International collaborates with grassroots organizations and programs to provide safe, clean drinking water to those in need around the world.

BONUS: If you're NOT a wedding photographer but still want to participate, we encourage you to make a donation directly to Thirst Relief. Clean water is a necessary commodity for everyone on this planet, and each dollar has a great and tangible impact.

Click here to start bidding on a mentoring session!

A Season to Give

This year, we've heard from more relatives and friends than ever who are opting to make a charitable donation instead of giving holiday gifts. We think this is a great trend, and as our way of thanking all of our blog readers, we've made a donation to Heifer International (in the form of honeybees, Matt's favorite).

Are you thinking of making a charitable gift this winter season? Whether you're making a financial donation or offering your time as a volunteer, we recommend choosing a cause that is meaningful to you - this way you can follow the organization's progress and really get a sense of how your contribution helps over time. In case you're looking for ideas, here are a few causes that are near and dear to our hearts:

Heifer International
NEADS
Room to Grow
Habitat for Humanity

Your local food pantry and community arts centers are also great options, especially if you want to give within your community.

We count ourselves as deeply lucky that we have wonderful clients who make it possible for us to make a living doing what we love. Thank you to everyone who we work with, who re-blogs our photos, who offers us encouragement and advice, who refers fabulous clients to us, or who simply is a fan - we have each of you to thank for another successful year!

~ Matt & Enna
Grazier Photography

Love Story - Joya Beauty

Okay brides and blog-reading friends... it's time for me to share one of our treasured secrets... Joanne of Joya Beauty. Oops, did I really write that? If you're one of our own clients RUN to your telephone and book Joanne now, before all our other blog-readers snap up her remaining dates!

Joanne is probably the most talented makeup artist we have ever worked with. We LOVE it when our brides book her, because we know several things: 1) our clients will be utterly charmed and cared for by Joanne - and for busy brides this is priceless. 2) they will look fabulous... need I say more? Brides who look good feel good, and brides who feel good look better in their pictures! And finally, reason number 3) this is our little studio secret... when we work with Joya we do less photoshop retouching. All of these things free us to do what we love most - documenting the moment and portraying the inner and outer beauty of each client, their stories and relationships.

I have to admit, I am makeup challenged. Choosing, buying, and using makeup is intimidating for me. I have some tried and true techniques that work (light mascara, lip gloss, a smudge of eyeliner), but beyond that I am totally lost. I can never select the right color base for my skin, and even if the color turns out right it is usually the wrong consistency for my skin type and I end up never using it. So I need some serious hand-holding when it comes to choosing and wearing makeup.

Last week I visited Joya Beauty with Sallie (one of our FAVORITE clients ever... mother-of-the-bride extraordinaire), and we both got custom blended makeup and application lessons.

Joanne custom blends everything from scratch, testing on your cheek as she goes, and this is always wonderful because she is just so fun and peaceful to spend time with. I always feel rejuvenated and inspired after spending time with her, and I know this is her special gift.

Joanne's shop is super fun to visit. It's full of beautiful colors, powders, and components... it's sort of like a chemistry lab too, because she mixes everything by hand.

Thank you Joanne, for a lovely afternoon (and Sallie too). I'm LOVING my new makeup!

"The Real Deal"

There has been a lot of blog love for Enna and I this week. We are just beside ourselves and incredibly flattered. Yesterday we received an email from Michelle at Style Me Pretty who sent us Abby's destination listing for Enna and I on their blog. Check it out here:) Abby rocks!! In fact, her whole team at Style Me Pretty rocks!! Thank you so much Abby!!

Please don't make my babies (and yours) orphans!

With everyone's eyes and ears pointed to the big meltdown on Wall Street, the Senate quietly passed the Orphan Works Act a few days ago... and we're VERY concerned about what this means for copyright law.

These organizations oppose the orphan works bill as it is written.

Read about why so many artists and small businesses oppose the bill here.

Tell the House Judiciary not to pass the bill now.

Here's an example of a potential scenario under the new legislation... yes, this may seem like an extreme scenario, but we think it is entirely plausible:

1. I upload a cute picture of my son:


2. The image gets separated from our website... perhaps a friend re-posts it elsewhere, it gets linked in an online image catalog, or some other innocuous event.
3. Then a 3rd party finds the image, and decides that they would like to use it for a commercial purpose (perhaps they've invented a new kind of toothpaste that cleans blue tongues).
4. That party tries to find the original creator (me) of that image so that they can request my permission to use the image (and pay me of course)... they rack their brain looking at old websites they have visited, in search of where they found that original photo posted... they call stock agencies and ask if they have any photos registered of kids with blue tongues...
5. Eventually, they give up... they've tried to find the author to ask permission, but could not find the author. THIS IMAGE IS NOW AN ORPHAN!
6. Now that my image is an Orphan, that person or company can use the image without worrying about having to pay me for violation of copyright.

Artists of all kinds (photographers, illustrators, musicians etc) who make a living from their art have their livelihood at stake, but this law does not just affect artists. If you post images or other creative works on the internet, you should be concerned. Please take the time to learn more about this bill, and take action to oppose it if you disagree with it. Here is a list of sample letters that you can send to your legislators - scroll to the bottom to use the sample letter written from a member of "the image-making public".

GovTrack.us. S. 2913--110th Congress (2008): Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation)

Quick Update

Enna and I are in our busiest month of the year. Luckily Enna's sister Elise, or as the boys like to call her, Aunt Sip (her nickname is Skip) has been able to stay with us and help around the house. I just returned from an amazing wedding in Mexico. Dilnaz and Joe (bride and groom) were so much fun, and I made some great friends with their family and friends. We went to Maya ruins, swam in a sink hole that seemed 100 feet underground (the entrance was a well with a spiral staircase that went down and down and down.... swam with dolphins, went clubbing and then we had their wedding on a perfect September day in Cancun. We lucked out as Ike the hurricane missed Cancun and we just had some rain and strong winds early in the week. Enna stayed in Boston to shoot Heidi and Wesley's wedding and is really excited about her work from the wedding.

In the 3 days I've been home I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off getting caught up on so much and getting ready for our weekend of shooting. Tonight we get to shoot Kandace and Kevin's wedding on Boston Harbor, then tomorrow we are off to the Cape for Hilary and Ryan's wedding.

So we will posting a lot in the coming week! Meanwhile, here is a shot of the gang from Dilnaz and Joe's wedding. This was taken by our tour guide just after our swimming adventure 100' below ground. That's me on the far left:)

PS... stay tuned for our favorite family photos from our summer too!

August PUG

As PUG leaders (Pictage User Group) Enna and I like to mix it up and have fun social events (like the cruise we hosted last month) and educational events that will help photographers grow their studio. This month we were fortunate to have good friend and fellow wedding photographer Richard Esposito (if you read our blog regularly you'll remember his wedding) came to talk about using video on the internet. Richard used to work for channel 7 in Boston as a video editor, and has won Emmy's for his work. Now as a photographer he uses his video background to make fun short online video's of himself working. So watch out folk's, video clips of Enna and I will soon be on the site! :)

Here's Richard stretching to make a point during his presentation

Showing off his sweet little video cam

Enna and I with Richard

Paul and Krystal from Studio Foto also came to show albums and talk about their design service

Richard will be giving this one day workshop. Hopefully I'll see you there!

Thank you Richard!! The photographers and students that attended the PUG meeting loved your talk and left inspired:)

~Matt

Website is down, Artwork is up

So our site is off the radar for a few hours, but it should be online again tomorrow.

In the meantime, why not check out our work the old fashioned way - in person! Two of my favorite large canvas prints of Will are hanging in a group show curated by the lovely Mary Jameson at Jameson and Thompson in Jamaica Plain, for JP 1st Thursdays. The show will hang through the end of the month.

Jameson and Thompson, by the way, does the very best fine art custom framing in Boston.

~Enna

Wedding Photographers Know How to Party

25 savvy and talented (and might we say fashionable) photographers joined us for a cruise on the Boston harbor last Friday night... thank you Pictage for sponsoring our party! Here's Matt with a gaggle of super gorgeous 80's babes:

We're going to mail a prize to the first person who can correctly tell us what year Matt got that Cheap Trick t-shirt.... to enter the contest just send us an email with "Cheap Trick" in the subject line.

(image hijacked from the super talented and fun Feds' blog).