I met Ms. West at a Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser in Downtown Annapolis. She is a Broadneck High School senior graduating in 2013. We had so much fun with her and her family at the shoot.
One word to describe yourself........
*Adventurous
How my friends would describe me......
Random
Nerdy
Goofy
Favorite high school memory.......
My 8 friends!!
My DREAM job.......
Civil/Environmental Engineer
Something I cannot live without.......
Family
This ear we have had the pleasure of helping out many organizations who are solely there to help out. On March 16th we offered our photo booth services to a Cystic Fibrosis fundraiser. Not only was this great for us to help such a cause, but we also used the opportunity to try out our brand new setup for the photo booth!
The event was at the Metropolitan in Annapolis, MD which is a great little kitchen and lounge. The group raised money from a silent auction and our photo booth prints. We donated the prints and a photography session. From our products, we were able to raise $250. We met a lot of great people and had some great fun at such a benefit.
hanks again guy!
Here is my crew from college that helped support the cure!
The Knot facilitates a yearly survey to find out the average wedding cost last year. This past year the average wedding cost $28,427. It was nice to see photography right at our packaging structure but it was disappointing to not see a photo booth category. Was/Is your wedding budget around the same as the national averages?
We have been exploring looking for a new wedding album company and we have finally found one that meets our quality we demand! This is a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders because we can truly offer beautiful wedding albums. We are so proud of what we deliver to our customers.
This is our new 10x10 Capri Series Album, we are providing this fully customized with 30 pages. This is our lower end album but it really has some great features that set it apart from our competitions lower end albums.
Wedding planning can be a very stressful task over the course of months. Along with the other planning, finding a wedding photographer can be a huge stressful task because these images will capture the memories of your special day. Whether you are hiring Geoff Bernstein Photography or another studio, we have put together a list of 15 questions to guide you in finding that perfect photographer for your special day.
The style of photography should be the first and foremost question to ask yourself. What type of look do you want? Geoff Bernstein Photography specializes in images that reflect their clients personalities which make them unique to them, the imagery emits a fine-art style through new fashion trends. For more about our wedding photography style and shooting philosophy, check out our About Us page.
Many people look at how many years you have been in the business to how many weddings you have shot. Some photographers will shoot only one wedding a year for a friend which does not make them a true wedding photographer. As the photographer, how many weddings they have shot and how many they have photographed in the past year. Knowing the past year will give you a good idea of how they know the industry has changed in the past year, believe me...it changes all the time!
Some photographers are solely wedding photographers and some are photographers who have other areas of interest as well. Neither of these are a bad thing, but find something that fits you and your needs as a couple. If you are a sporty couple, finding a photographer who enjoys photographing sports just as much as weddings will show through in the imagery. Remember this is someone who will capture your special day, find a style that fits you.
Larger studios book multiple events because they have multiple head photographers while some smaller studios book multiple events in the same weekend without having multiple head photographers. Geoff Bernstein Photography is a smaller studio which only books one main event per day which allows us to focus on your special day. We do not all our attention to detail and client services compromised due to over booking.
Some studios have many head photographers who photograph their weddings. In some cases, the bride and groom will never meet their photographer until their wedding day, some do not use the same photographer for their engagement sessions! Geoff Bernstein Photography uses one main photographer which means you will work with Geoff throughout the months leading up to your special day so you know who you are getting.
Many studios do not create contracts for their wedding photography clients. Any service you have completed should have a contract of services you require to be performed. This will provide pricing, services agreed, payment schedule, etc. A contract is created for your protection and the studios protection as well. It should be a requirement for you to have a studio with a contract and stay away from photographer that do not use them. Geoff Bernstein Photography using contracts for all photography portrait/wedding sessions. This allow both parties to agree (in writing) on what they want and what they expect.
Wedding photography studios should have proper insurance for their business. Insurance protects the photographer against equipment malfunctions/theft. More importantly it provides liability protection in case of injury. Geoff Bernstein Photography carries business, equipment and liability insurance.
A wedding of 50 or more guest can become a large event for one photographer to cover. Having a second photographer allows them to cover two major moments at the same time. A single photographer can not capture the first kiss and mom/dads expression during that moment.
Another factor in how your pictures will look is the quality of the products that the studio employs. Be extremely careful, some studios use consumer labs which you could use but charge you large markups. All professional high end production labs require the studio to verify their business using a website and now submitting their Tax ID numbers. They only use the highest quality paper, inks, leathers and other materials. This will guarantee that your images last a lifetime!
Unique to Geoff Bernstein Photography, our large mount images 11x14 or larger are always mounted on a styrene backing board and come with a LIFETIME guarantee. We also use the highest quality album manufactures which provide our clients with beautiful life lasting albums.
Some studios will not provide full color correction to your digital files, they will only correct “select” images from your wedding. Color correction is the basic post production that corrects any color tones that are not “true.” Geoff Bernstein Photography color corrects all final images on your digital files.
Our studio uses top quality camera bodies (Nikon D3s) in conjuntion with the finest quality Nikkor (Nikon) lenses. Some photographer do not need the “best” of the best but it is important to have a great set of equipment. Making sure your photographer is using good equipment is the first step to you finding a good photographer. Along with primary equipment, wedding photographer should have backups incase of equipment failure. Make sure you photographer is using at least the equipment listed below along with backups. Nothing is worse than a photographer that can not get the shot due to equipment failure or cheap equipment. We have prepared a list of must have equipment that we believe a professional wedding photographer should have. This is a bare minimum list, so be wary of any wedding photographer that doesn’t have these items.
Primary camera body
Secondary camera body
Lenses (these are must have lenses)
On camera lighting
Off-camera lighting (for large dance floor type scenes)
Knowing the studios policy on overages is critical. You do not want to be surprised when your photographer asks for an additional $1,000 before they release your images to you or even worse them packing up when you didn’t know their time was up. Working with your photographer to setup a perfect package for your special day is the main way to make sure they will be there when you need them there.
Even though the wedding photographers are a big part of the wedding day, it’s important that they are not distractions. As such, it’s important for the photographer to blend in as much as possible. Furthermore, for religious or cultural ceremonies, there may be certain colors that are considered taboo. Make sure your photographers will be dressed appropriately for the occasion. Typical Geoff Bernstein wedding photography attire is black suit pants with a black polo, dress shirt or vest. We dress in subtle colors because we want to go unnoticed by the clients and guests, so that we can capture the event as photojournalists.
Each wedding photography studio varies in the time it takes to produce and deliver your pictures. Studios that do not do any post production or color correction may try to entice you by saying your photos will be ready the next day, or even within a week. However, some studios can take up to 6 - 12 months!
Geoff Bernstein Wedding Photography has developed a consistent production schedule in order to deliver an amazing product in an exceptionally quick manner. This schedule can be seen below:
Thompson Creek Window Company contacted me about being a part of their holiday party. This was a great event to shoot because it was our largest event to date (550+ guests!) that we have prepared for. It was also very special because it was our first photobooth that was booked. Thompson Creek Window Company is a huge company that is rated #11 home remodeling company in the United States. The event was at the Lowes Hotel in Annapolis, MD. The Lowes Hotel was a great venue and the service was amazing! We are looking forward to working with them on future events.
Matt & Kendall contacted me to photograph them as a couple. They are in college and were interested to capturing their relationship. It was a real pleasure to photograph them as a couple. They are two beautiful people who make a great couple. I wish the best of luck to both of you!
Matt & Amber are getting married July 6, 2013. They decided to have their engagement photos taken at Patapsco Valley State Park. This was a different session because we trekked thorough the woods to get to the train tracks we photographed at. Amber was a trooper, she had on healed boots and decided to take them off and hike down and up the hill because the heals were too unsafe. I have never seen someone make that kind of sacrifice for photos. I can not wait to photograph their wedding, I'm sure it will be beautiful and an amazing day!
Lukas is a Severna Park senior getting ready to graduate and move on to bigger and better things. He is part of the SPHS Project Lead the Way program. Lukas has gone through the entire PLTW engineering pathway and will be moving on to further his engineering knowledge. One thing during his session he liked and wanted was a very outdoor feel to some of the images. He is an eagle scout and will continue further with his knowledge he gained from that training and leadership. It was a pleasure working with Lukas and his family!
I had the pleasure of photographing this wedding as a second shooter for Bill Bauer Photography. It was a very nice wedding which was outdoors and the ceremony was inside of a barn. The wedding was very rustic and was styled with nice add-ons. It was a pleasure of shooting the wedding.
For the 2012 holiday season, we had the pleasure of photographing an amazing event. Shop with a cop is an event that the Talbot County Optimist Club puts on where they get stores around the area to sponsor a child for the event. The child is partnered up with local police officer or trooper. The officers take their child to Walmart and give the kid $100 to spend on whatever they would like. Most of the children buy presents for their family and something for themselves. It is a wonderful event and what the children get out of it is amazing, they see the police as good people not as the bad people. Watching the police work with their child is so emotional because you can see the impact they are making to the children.
After Walmart, the police take the kids to a local resturant where their gifts are wrapped and they are fed lunch. Some of the stories we so hard to hear, one of the little girls said she did not eat for two days, to hear this was heart-wrenching. It was great to capture this event and be a part of helping these children.
This senior portrait session was the start of the SPHS sessions for 2012. We started late in the year so we only got a few in before the years end.
I had the pleasure of second shooting another wedding with Bill Bauer Photography. We started at Hilton Garden Inn on Kent Island. THe bridesmaids were so much fun throughout the morning. I loved the idea that they were all wearing the same robe and Nikki, the bride, was wearing a different style to separate her from the others. It made the photos more consistent throughout the morning. I will be suggesting that idea for my wedding. Once the ladies were ready, we moved to the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club for the ceremony and reception. What a beautiful place and I loved their theme with the tree center pieces! I am not sure if it is me or just the weddings but since we have started planning our wedding, the ones I am shooting are becoming just amazing!
Congratulations and thanks for the wonderful day Nikki & TJ!
Every year I get the opportunity to shoot the Cystic Fibrosis Benefit Car Show in Dublin, PA. This year was the 11th annual show and my third year shooting it. I got the gig three years back when some of my friends asked me if I would shoot it for them. They started a CF non-profit and use the procedes from the show to donate to a CF foundation. Each year we progress to get larger. This year the weather was beautiful which made for a great day. The show brings many classes of autos, from new to old, trucks to car to bikes. All the photos can be found in my gallery HERE. 20% of all prints and session sold from the show will be donated to their non-profit. Help me give them a great donation this year!
Here are some of the photos from the event.
This weekend I had the pleasure of shooting an upcoming wedding couples engagement photos. Marcus and Tonya had their session in the famous Love Park in Philadelphia, Pa which is a first for me. One thing that can be a huge task in Love Park photography is the amount of people that are in the area. This park is a tourist attraction and brings a large amount of people. We were lucky for it not to be super busy but there was quite a bit of people. The area also brings all sorts of people and attractions, as you see with the one images. There was a gentleman there with a huge boa constrictor that he was allowing people to get photos with. I have to say this was a definite first for me and probably will be for a long time coming. I had a great time with the couple and can not wait for the wedding!
