Wedding on St. Pete Beach

Jessica and Matt were married on the beach in St. Petersburg.  What a great couple!  They flew all the way from California to get married here with their family in attendance.  They even had the reception outside at the beach as well!

I photograph a lot of small, beach weddings in addition to the typical large affairs.  One of the things that smaller, more budget conscious brides tend to leave out is a wedding album.  Jessica and Matt decided to preserve their day with our full-size, custom leather album!  Here's what it looks like:

Click on any image to enlarge

This is the opening page of the album but I just want to point out that those wedding rings are engraved with their fingerprints.  How cool is that?

Ceremony and reception were provided by Perfect Florida Beach Wedding.
Beach wedding photography by Booray Perry Photography

Wedding at Kapok Clearwater

Still resting from the big wedding yesterday but I wanted to get a couple of pictures up right away for the Bride and Groom!  Fantastic wedding at Kapok Special Events.

This shot was actually taken at Safety Harbor Spa and Resort...

Booray Perry is an award-winning wedding photographer in Tampa Florida.

Getting married on the beach?  Here's how to have the Perfect Florida Beach Wedding!

Nothing makes a party more fun than The Vogue Booth.  Tampa's Best Photobooth!

Tampa Bar Mitzvah featured..

I just got word that a Bar Mitzvah I photographed is being featured on "Hostess with the Mostess."  here's the link:

http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/10/creative-home-run-baseball-bar-mitzvah/

See more of my Bar Mitzvah photography work at www.boorayperry.com

Don Vincente Wedding in Ybor

I had the honor of photographing Robyn and Joe's wedding at the Don Vincente in Ybor recently.  If you've never been to the Don Vincente, it's a great hotel. There's nothing we photographers love more than texture and "feel" in a location and the Don Vincente has it all.  The rooms have great furniture, the staircase is awesome and of course you have all of downtown Ybor to play with when it comes to shooting great pictures of the bride and groom.

I took so many great images that day but here are a few select favorites:

The wedding had a "masquerade" theme. Everyone had masks!

The rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows which makes for great light.  One of the secrets to getting dynamic black and white images is to have good natural light.

Robyn had a perfect dress and the "birdcage" veil was just the right "old-world" touch to blend with the classic hotel.

LOVE the staircase!

The Don Vincente is the only wedding venue where the guests sit on couches and big chairs.  :)

The wedding party "in character."  :)

There are so many nooks and crannies tucked away at the inn.  I could shoot there every week...

Booray Perry is an award-winning wedding photographer in Tampa Florida.
Getting married on the beach?  Here's how to have the Perfect Florida Beach Wedding!
Nothing makes a party more fun than The Vogue Booth.  Tampa's Best Photobooth!

The Rewards

Last week I heard through the grapevine that a man I know had passed away.  He had been sick for a long time and finally it caught up with him.

His illness had reached the point where he needed to go into hospice care.  He packed light, not taking much with him as he left the house for the last time.  On the way out the door, his wife asked him if he was sure there wasn't anything else he wanted to take with him.  He stopped, turned around and went back in, emerging with a photograph of himself and his grandson.

I shot that picture.

A few months back the family hired me to take some portraits.  We decided to do the session in their home for convenience.  In addition to a collection of posed family portraits, I also took some candid shots.  One of those shots was purchased and framed and eventually carried to hospice.

I meet a lot of people who want to be photographers.  Many of them ask for my help and I try to teach them what I've learned.  Most fall away soon after realizing that there is a big difference between photography as a hobby and photography as a job.  The commitment and training required to do it for a living is usually far beyond what most people are expecting. (this is especially true of wedding photography)

But the rewards can be great. 

I've had the biggest hugs from brides when they see their wedding images.  I've had a grandmother leave the room because she was overwhelmed by pictures of her grandchildren.  I've had a dying man take my picture with him to his final destination in this life.

The rewards can be great indeed.

Should the Groom See the Bride Before the Wedding?

More and more, you see wedding photographers who are encouraging the bride and groom to see each other on their wedding day, before the actual ceremony.  Here in Tampa Bay we get a fair amount of couples who meet before the ceremony, often because it's hard to avoid if they are getting married on the beach.

I always encourage my clients to do a "reveal" before the ceremony.  Most decline because they want to preserve the surprise for the walk down the aisle.  I don't push it at all... I don't really care much either way.  What's important is that the couple are happy with their decision.  I'm not unhappy if they don't want to do it.

That being said, I'm now going to tell you why you should do a reveal before the wedding. 

Think about it:  You want your husband to see you in that dress and be knocked out.  You want him to have an emotional reaction and you want to see it and share it. So, you reveal yourself to him in your dress for the first time, 50 feet away in a room full of people who are standing and staring at you both, with your father walking next to you!  Your husband will be having an emotional reaction but he will be fighting it with everything he's got because he's being stared at by 150 people and your Dad!  No man wants to start crying in front of his father-in-law. If he does have an emotional reaction, you can't see it because you're in the back of the room.  Add to that the fact that both of you are trying to concentrate on the ceremony (so complex that it requires a full-rehearsal) and you realize that there is a very special moment here that is being shoved aside for other concerns.

Allow your husband to see you in your dress for the first time in a setting where he can truly take it in and relish the moment.  He wants to hold you... he wants to kiss you... he wants to tell you how beautiful you look.  He can't do any of that during the ceremony.  He has to wait until it's all over to tell you how incredible you look and by then the rush of the moment is gone.

Let me make it easy for you.  If a man is going to propose to you, would you rather he do it in an intimate setting with just the two of you or on the Jumbo-tron at a ballgame?  My guess is that you picked the intimate setting.  It's hard to be "in the moment" with 50,000 people staring at you.

Do a "reveal."  Allow yourself to have a special, intimate moment before the wedding that is yours and yours alone.  Then, go do the ceremony as a team.  You'll both be more relaxed and confident.  Don't worry, there are still 150 people who are going to gasp and cry when you appear.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, you also get great pictures.  :)

Booray Perry is a great wedding photographer with a funny name who works in Tampa Bay, FL.

Wedding Photography Win in Tampa

Well.... not exactly.

Last night was the monthly meeting of T.A.P.P.A., the Tampa Area Professional Photographers Association and, as usual, I entered three images in the print competition.  I entered in the "Weddings and Social" Category.

I won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place!  Woo-Hoo!

The only problem is that I was the only person who entered this month.  :)

I just don't feel right bragging about a sweep when it was a lock from the start so I'm coming clean on this one!

However, it did afford me the chance to see how my images stack up against each other.  I often find that other photographers rate my images in a different order than I do so I purposely entered three distinctly different images to see if they would rank in the order that I would put them in.

They did.

Here they are: 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

Still an educational night for me.  Chuck Vosbergh, a great photographer, told me that he voted for #2 because he liked the motion and energy.  I'm always happy to hear what other photographers think about my images.

I also wonder about image #3 and wonder if it would have ranked higher if I had included the original image before being retouched.  There is actually a strobe sitting on a tripod right in front of the couple, providing the light.  I think that most people assume that the light on the couple is from the sun.  Would someone rank that image higher if they knew that it required a strobe that was then removed with Photoshop?  Is a picture "better" if it's harder to do?  I don't know but it's a good question...

The Florida Professional Photographers Association has voted to accept a new member designation, "Non-Professional Photographer."  In the past, to be a member in the guild you had to have a business license.  They are now moving toward letting photographers join who are pure hobby shooters.  I think it's a good idea.  I meet people all the time who are passionate about photography but don't want to get a business license just so they can join the guild.  These are people who would benefit enormously from the programs that we offer and the mentoring of professionals who are available to teach them how to excel at their hobby.  It will be nice to be able to bring some of these people into the guild.  Imagine being someone who loves photography and who can now sit down and have dinner with a table full of professionals every month and ask questions about technique, lighting, etc...


Booray Perry is an award-winning wedding photographer in Tampa Florida.
Getting married on the beach?  Here's how to have the Perfect Florida Beach Wedding!
Nothing makes a party more fun than The Vogue Booth.  Tampa's Best Photobooth!