Family Portrait Day 2010

Everyone has been asking about this so I had better get the ball rolling!

Family Beach Portrait Day 2010 will be Sunday, Oct. 3rd, 2010.

Cost is $99 and includes 25 holiday cards with your choice of picture.  This is a savings of $160 over our regular price for a beach session!  It's without a doubt the cheapest way to get that great family beach portrait you've always wanted!

Space is limited as we only have a few hours where the light is perfect.  It's first-come-first-serve so sign-up as soon as possible to reserve your spot.  Email booray@boorayperry.com to register!

How to justify buying Mini TTL

Flash being held by the subject's Dad who
graciously helped out after the flash foot
snapped off...

I've been thinking about buying the new PocketWizard TTL remotes for my flashes.  Every other week I will go online and read the reviews again, eventually deciding to wait because they're a little pricey and I have perfectly good Cybersync remotes.  Then something happened yesterday to force my hand (at least that's what I keep telling myself.)

I was shooting a Bar Mitzvah boy on Clearwater Beach.  Normally, my assistant Jodi is along on these sessions but she had a pile of homework so I went solo.  Instead of using a shoot-thru umbrella, I decided to use a Lumiquest III mini-softbox.  The umbrella would just be too dangerous on a semi-windy beach without Jodi there to hold it.  The softbox wouldn't be a problem.

I was wrong about that.

Wedding on the beach at Treasure Island

Perfect Florida Beach Wedding has everything you need for your beach wedding in Treasure Island, FL.

A few weeks ago I was shooting a wedding where the reception was at the beach but the wedding was in a church. Around sunset, I took my bride and groom out to the beach for some nice shots and discovered that the water was about a half-mile from the back of the hotel. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration but it was far.

I told my bride that I would be happy to walk as far as it took to get close to the water but that it was really up to her since she was the one in the dress and it wasn't exactly cool outside. We decided to stay near the hotel.

The effect that this had on the pictures is that we ended up with shots that almost look like they were taken in the desert because it's nothing but sand as far as the eye can see. That's okay, though, because the pictures were still great!

See more St. Petersburg wedding photography on my website.

St. Petersburg Wedding Photographer

When you're a wedding photographer in St. Petersburg, you have to be prepared to take pictures on the beach. A lot of people get married on the beach in Florida. A few weekends ago I had a unique situation because my bride and groom got married in a church but had their reception at a beach resort. Typically, it's just one thing or the other but in this case I got to shoot wonderful formals in the church and then later shoot wonderful formals on the beach.

By the way, if you are planning a beach wedding in Clearwater or St. Petersburg than Perfect Florida Beach Wedding has everything you need from arches to chairs... photography and officiante!

The wedding was at the Pasadena community Church which is right next to Treasure Island. The reception was at the Bilmar Resort on Treasure Island. The church is fantastic... very big and lots of light (we photographers love lots of light at a wedding ceremony). The Bilmar doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of ambience but it doesn't have to offer much because it's on the beach. As long as you have the beach and a sunset you have plenty of opportunities for great photography.

This is my favorite picture from the church. As I mentioned, there was quite a bit of light in the church so I had to make adjustments to my shooting style in order to isolate Danielle from the background. Usually, it's the other way around when you're shooting in a church and the problem is trying to get enough light on the background.

Sometimes a church will have beautiful stained glass in it but the windows will be high or far in the back which was the case here. In this situation a big zoom lens comes in very handy because it allows me to make the background look much larger and fill the space behind Danielle and Sean.
All of my favorite shots weren't formal ones, of course. One of my favorite moments at a wedding is when the bride steps into her dress. It frequently takes four people, a crowbar, and several ropes and pulleys to get her into that huge dress. It almost always makes for a great picture.

That's it for now, I'll post some of the pictures from the reception and the beach a little later.

More St. Petersburg wedding photography on my website...

Family portrait day at the beach in St. Pete

Booray Perry is a beach photographer in Tampa, FL...

Portrait Photographer St. Petersburg

Last Sunday we headed down to the beach for some mini-portrait sessions. If you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, now's a good time because we are planning another beach session soon and are almost booked already.

The sessions were a lot of fun and St. Pete Beach didn't disappoint.

One of the images from the session last Sunday was very special. Two brothers, standing on the edge of the shore. I loved it so much that I went searching for a quote that I could use with it and I think I found a great one. When I showed this picture to the grandmother of the two boys she actually started crying!

Booray Perry is a portrait photographer in Tampa

Beach photography gets grainy

We really have terrible beaches in Tampa Bay. Compared to people in Utah we have great beaches... AWESOME beaches... but compared to a lot of other beaches in the world, not so much. That's why beach photographers in St. Peterburg and Clearwater have to work a little harder.

The problem is the sand. We tend to have this gritty, parking lot, uncomfortable to walk on... stuff at our beaches. Still, we're lucky to have a beach at all so I guess I should shut-up about it.

The thing is, it's not all bad because it lends itself to great black and white photography. It's all about texture and grain... the more you have, the better things look in black and white. With a perfect, smooth beach you just get a huge washed out blob but with the asphalt that we have here, well... it's heaven.

Of course there are other problems too, like the buildings and the people who simply refuse to stay away from the beach on the days that I am shooting there (doh!). That's okay, a little Photoshop magic and everything looks good. Notice that little black square sitting on the sand in the upper left of the shot? That almost looks like a camera bag....... but it's not....... because only an idiot photographer would leave his bag where it could spoil the shot. :)

Booray Perry is a photographer in Tampa and Clearwater.

Tampa Bay Beach Portrait on sale!

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If you haven't signed up for our newsletter you're missing out on some great specials. Next month we're offering a Family Beach Portrait special for one day only: Sunday, Oct. 12th.

Due to available light and time involved we are only accepting four families for the session.

For just $99 you get 30 minutes of session time on the beach. Plenty of time to get a great family portrait and some singles as well. You also get 25 holiday cards of your choice with the pose of your choice free. This special saves over $200 off the regular price for a family beach session.

Sign up for our newsletter by using the form on the left. Every month we send out news and specials and they fill up fast!

Booray Perry is a beach photographer in Tampa Bay

Decisions, decisions...

I have this thing I do where I'll take several prints from a session and lay them out on my desk for a few days. I always find it interesting how my opinions about the photographs will change. I think that it's one of the wonderful things about photography... the way a picture can change over time. I always try to use prints that are different in style.

Currently, I have four prints sitting out from last weekend. We went to the beach to scout a good location for a family portrait I'm shooting on Sunday and while we were there I snapped a few shots of The Most Photographed Children on the Planet©. At the beginning of the week, one picture stood out as my favorite but as the week went on I noticed that whenever I glanced at my desk my eyes were always drawn to a different one.

Now, I'm the father so I'm not totally objective... I can't pretend that I'm judging the pictures solely on artistic merit. If there's one thing I learned quickly when it came to children's photography it's that there's no predicting what a parent will like. One of my first sessions with a 5-year-old I had brought along some simple toys to use as props. I ended up with a precious shot of the little girl hugging an antique teddy bear. When I showed the picture to the parents at the viewing, the father said, "I don't like it."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because it's not her bear, " he explained, "She has no attachment to it."
You just never know...

Anyway, here are the four pictures. Which one do you think is the best and why? I'll reveal my picks later...

Booray Perry is a children's photographer in Tampa Bay who takes far too many pictures of his own children...