Alfred Bertulfo » Weddings

The true cost of wedding photography…

Alfred B — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:30:19 +0000

Whatever Wednesdays are back! I felt compelled to post this. Yes, the country is in a “recession”. I get that, but if we’re in a recession, why is it that people still have no problem spending money on high end goods? One of my good photographer friends, Karen Stott of Avayah Photography, wrote a great post on hiring a professional photographer. The Craigslist ad she mentions was quite the talk of the wedding photography industry. I don’t want to seem like a grumpy photographer but it’s so disheartening sometimes when I meet with great couples but they under value the importance of photography on their wedding day.

The old adage of “You get what you pay for..” is very true. If you want to only pay for photography at K-Mart prices, well that’s what you’re going to get.

Anyways, here’s the link to her post. Your thoughts are appreciated! Leave a comment on this post or on her post.

– Link: Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer? Is it worth it?

I can’t write a post without a photo! This photos is from the City Center, Las Vegas this past weekend. I was there in Vegas helping out by friend Jason Zalameda shoot a wedding at the Mirage. The entire place screams expensive. We walked around that place pretty lost and it felt like we were in an airport. I guess I gotta give it some time to grow. The mall still had plenty of empty shops and it is still fairly new.

Change is Good

Alfred B — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:48:21 +0000

Just as I was starting to catch up on my blog posts, I failed again! BUT for good reasons this time, I swear! The end of June proved to be a time of some changes, specifically for myself as a photographer. If you haven’t heard of Dane Sanders from myself or other photographers, he’s the most REAL photographer you will ever meet. Dane started his Fast Track Roadshow Workshop a few months ago based on his book Fast Track Photographer. I gotta tell ya, his book is like no other photography book. You aren’t going to learn about apertures, what settings to use for this and that. This book talks about YOU as the photographer. I’m horrible at reviews so I suggest checking out some of his Amazon reviews. Anyways, his book got me to start making some small changes in my business but it didn’t seem like I was applying his ideas to it’s fullest potential. Admittedly, it was partially fear of failure and honestly I just didn’t think I could do it. Well I guess you can say the Roadshow workshop was a blessing in disguise. I’d seen feedback of some of the first few attendees and thought maybe I should check it out. Well the closest workshop date would be San Diego. Unfortunately, this was right around the time my wife, Erika, and I were expecting our 3rd child. San Diego came and went but we had our beautiful baby boy. I looked back at Dane’s site to see what other dates and locations were available. Ughh… No future SoCal dates and the next closest location was Phoenix and that isn’t until January! By this point I had felt a little discouraged and thought that it would be a workshop I’d miss. That is until the Portland date popping up in my head. Hmm, my sister lives in Portland, maybe I can stay at her place to save a little money? I shot a quick email to Dane to see where the workshop would be held but he wasn’t quite sure yet and to also check in with Sara Gray as she was one of the coordinators for Portland. Well I’ve known Sara from the [b] school, Twitter, and Facebook. So I sent her a message and she said that it wasn’t going to be too far from my sister’s house. It’s less than a week away from the workshop and I had to make a decision. It was a struggle deciding to go. Leaving my wife with the kids and especially the newborn, I really didn’t want to go. But something was telling me I should.

Well, I gotta say it’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. It consisted of two INTENSE days with Dane and 10+ photographers who I can now call friends. Again, I wish I could review his workshop in detail but I suck at it. All in all this is one life changing workshop that any photographer that is serious about building their business should attend. This could have easily been a week long workshop but I don’t think it would have the same effect. Not to mention, at $750 it is a bargain for a workshop. Worth the investment over any new lenses, gizmos and gadgets that you can probably do with what you have now. Dane could have had his workshop in some tropical place at a 5 star hotel and charge thousands, but he didn’t. He wanted to make this as affordable as possible for anyone to attend. Oh and I forgot to mention the $2300 worth of freebies you get from attending! So essentially you’re gaining money back from this workshop, especially if you apply all the things you learn. So I suggest you check out his workshop if you can. If you’re on the fence about going, email me and I’ll have your inbox filled with reasons to go, not just from myself but other workshop graduates!

How does this affect myself and my business? Well there’s been a lot of changes going on in the background that have made things much easier when it comes to actually running a business. But probably the biggest thing coming is a new look for Alfred Bertulfo Photography. I’m working my butt off right now getting my logo, website, blog, etc re-done! My expected launch date is on my birthday. I won’t say when, but it is soon. It’s kind of like a little birthday present to me!

So here’s what to expect in the next month:

New logo and look.
New website, blog-site, gallery, and proofing site.
Revised and updated pricing and packages for weddings and portraits.
Regular blog posts EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY! Seriously!
Monday blog posts will feature photos from recent weddings or portrait sessions.
Whatever Wednesdays – Random blog post of what’s on my mind, does not necessarily involve photography.
iPhone Fridays – The iPhone can take some pretty good photos. I’m going to be posting some of my mad iPhone photo skills each week!

With that, here are some photos from the photo shoot we did at the workshop. Our awesome couple is Justin and Trisha who are friends of Dane and getting married in Santa Barbara. They were an awesome couple! Trisha is a firecracker and up for anything, especially jumping on Justin’s back! Justin was great and very laid back. He was placed with a challenge by Dane to just not do anything. Forcing us to pose them and interact with them. That opposite dynamic challenged all of us!

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Aurelio & Julieta 40 Year Wedding Anniversary Party- 01.31.09

Alfred B — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:50:26 +0000

As I mentioned a few blog posts ago, I was going to be taking some photos of Aurelio & Julieta. They are the parents of our good friends Joanne and Alicia. Well they asked their daughters to put the anniversary party together with a small budget and sure enough they came through. The party was held at Delight Dance Studio in Chino, CA. This place is more than a dance studio, it’s a banquet facility, AND club all tucked away on the second floor of an “architecturally unique” shopping center. The facilities are beautifully decorated and rather affordable. Our friends did an awesome job putting this event together with the limited resources they had. A few hours before the festivities, I met with the young couple for some portraits at the venue and afterwards we headed to nearby English Springs park. Below are some photos from the day.

If you don’t know, I’m a cake freak! Their cake was awesome! It was quite tasty, enough for a couple slices! I don’t have the bakery’s name but I will get it for anyone interested. It was also huge! These pictures don’t do it any justice. I think the table was a 4 foot round table. Anyways, I had a field day taking pictures of the cake.

That’s it for this week. So I plan to at least get a blog post up weekly. Promise! Next week I’ll be hopefully heading on a shoot with some [b] school friends out to the Salton Sea. Then the following week is WPPI! I can’t wait to soak up sooo much information that week and networking with other photographers, especially those I look up to. Then that weekend is the big Fantabulous February FaceBook Photo Promo that myself along with fellow photog buddy Jason Z are putting together just for our friends on FaceBook. It’s going to be a busy February with a couple family sessions to close off the month. Stayed tuned for another update, have a great weekend and most of all God bless!

EDIT: Forgot to mention! My blog-site is now iPhone capable thanks to the fine programmers at Brave New Code. They have an awesome mobile plugin that converts your WordPress theme to a mobile compatible theme. Also I’m working on packaging up my theme to redistribute it to any WordPress users out there that are interested. K bye.

Peter & Robin – 07.19.08

Alfred B — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:45:00 +0000

So I was diggin’ through my library of photos and totally forgot about Peter & Robin’s wedding. Probably because I took these way before my blog and website were made! I can’t believe I forgot about them (I mean the pictures)! Anyways, here’s a few of my favorites. These were taken with my Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 which I think I got only a few days before their wedding! Anyways Peter & Robin have been friends of ours for a while and we were happy to be a part of their intimate wedding. You may have seen pictures of Peter before in an old blog post. Yes, none other than the country music artist Peter Brandon.

So, yes, it’s late but hey at least I’m still posting. I do have a family session this weekend and can’t wait to shoot. I have a couple locations planned out and I think it’ll be awesome day.

Probably my favorite capture as they were walking down the isle as the newlywed couple.

Complete window light. The sun was settings and the large windows from the country club let all this light land right on them.

Nick & Paola's Wedding – 09.07.08

Alfred B — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Paola was a train buddy of Erika and was very thoughtful in inviting us to their special day. It was at the Clarke Estate in Santa Fe Springs. It’s a beautiful location with its huge lawn and courtyard area. The ceremony was outside on the front lawn while the reception was in the back courtyard. For a photographer, the lighting was harsh at around 3:00pm with direct sunlight to our backs during the ceremony. And it was HOT! I’m sure the official photographers captured the shots as the altar area was shaded and the photographers were allowed to be in that area. Here’s a few of my shots. I think they turned out pretty good!