It's All in the Details!

You have heard "it's all about the details" . Well the truth is it really is about details. What most people forget is that cameras see in two dimensions our eyes see in three dimensions. What this means is that even though I have some of the best equipment it is really the details of editing that turns a good photo into a "Wow" photo.
I encourage all of my clients to get a package that includes "full editing". This is a labor intensive process but it really turns photos into creative works of art.
Here are two samples of editing vs unedited photos. (click on each photo to see it larger)

Andrea & John - Bay City Michigan

I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Andrea & John - they are a great couple who eventually found each other. It was truly a pleasure spending the day with them and photographing their special day. They were married in Unionville Michigan and the reception was just outside of Bay City Michigan.

None of the photos were planned, even the American Gothic type one with the pitchfork. Thanks to Andrea's dad who had the perfect pitchfork just sitting in the barn.

For more photos of John & Andrea and many others visit my website: http://www.StatsonPhotography.com --- thanks!

National Geographic - Muddy!

I typically post beautiful, creative photos here but I want to post a quick sample of photos that I took for the Muddy Buddy Race sponsored by National Geographic Adventure.

I photographed a wedding all day on Saturday and Sunday morning I had to make it to photograph an adventure race. After getting to bed by 1am I had to wake by 5am to make it for a 7:15 pre-race meeting....I was whipped! But the photos came out well. Here are two that I can share with you.

Good old mud in your teeth.....talk about fun!

Rachel's Beautiful Voice

Rachel just turned 7 and has a beautiful voice. I have had the privilege of working with Rachel for several years now and she just seems to get better. Rachel is preparing for her national music debut and they are hoping to secure a spot on the Ellen Degeneres show come this Fall. Here are two rough drafts from the photo shoot with Rachel the other day.

So, if you are looking for a creative portrait from a skilled professional photographer, than contact me! :) Rachel and her mother were showing pictures of Rachel to people during their trip to Dallas/Houston Texas. Everyone was asking who took Rachel's photos, when they gave my name, it seems they recognized me as a famous photographer. :) WOW, I am even famous on the streets in Texas. So, if you want to be famous, let me take your photo. While I can't guarantee that a daytime talk show will want to interview afterwords, I can guarantee you will look stunning darling!

How to Make Doctors Happy?

I had the honor of photographing a great couple, Komal & Sam. They were married in Grand Blanc Michigan and had their intimate reception at the Brick Street Tavern. Sam is much taller than Komal so I decided to photograph them so no one would notice the height difference. The photo below shows what happens when you put the taller person in the back and photograph from a lower angle. I also used natural light for a little more drama - the light was extremely harsh outside and played well in this photo.

Not only are Komal & Sam a great young looking couple but they are both doctors. Congrats to both of them and may the good Lord continue to bless their relationship!

The Wedding Dress Shot

I push myself for creative ways in photographing the wedding details. The wedding dress is an item that a bride spends endless amounts of time searching for, trying on, and posing in. I typically survey the surroundings of the wedding ceremony location and then develop an idea of a picture I have for the wedding dress. In a recent wedding there were not any real window locations close so I searched high and low for another location. Luckily for me the bride was no where to be found and did not see where I took her lovely dress - because if she did I might not have been able to photograph her beautiful dress in this location.

With the help of editing I was able to emphasize the textures involved in this church basement location. I was caught by the church pianist as I was scouting this location, I told her I loved this door. She looked at me like I was out of my mind and said yes it is old.

Here is the end result:

I am soooo sorry.

Dear Blog,

I am so very sorry for neglecting you. There is no excuse for not spending more time with you and showing you a little love. There have been many times I wanted to blog with you but I have been busy. Please forgive me blog for neglecting to post with you. I have been busy with weddings and swamped with photographing beautiful couples on their special day.

I promise to spend more time with you and will show you much love with new and exciting posts. Thanks for always being there and sticking with me.

Love Always!

Scott

Baby Photography by Scott Statson

I have not photographed many babies but thought I would take another crack at it and incorporate the same locations that I would take brides for bridal photos or other "adults".  This little beauty is an extremely well behaved seven month old from Grand Blanc Michigan.  She was a joy to work with and the results of the baby photo shoot were beautiful.  Above it one of my favorites - there are lot more but I am saving them to show the parents.

If you have a young one (or group of them), let's talk and take advantage of the beautiful weather for outdoor family photos.

Thank you!

I love hearing from couples & family memebers that I have had the pleasure of photographing their special day.  I received an email today from a bride who I photographed recently.  She wanted to share with me the reaction her friend had to her photos.  Then the Mother of the Bride from another wedding sent me an email recently.   Here are the emails (with the names removed):

"Wow U look soo stunning!! Like a true princess queen!! beautiful! .....
and the photographer is a true genius!! these are so far the best I've seen in wedding pics.. he's a true artist... very original...."

Here is an email I received from the mother of a recent bride:

Dear Scott: 

Thank you for the wonderful wedding pictures!  You were a delight.  You were patient and stayed in the background and captured all the special moments.  We were a crazy group but we have a great deal of fun.  Thank you for helping to make a perfect day even better. 

Mother of the Bride

Michigan State University Wedding

The ceremony took place in the beautiful Michigan State University Alumni Chapel.  It is pictured above before anyone showed up - sometimes I am lucky enough to get empty church shots.  The chapel had fantastic stained glass - and yes I took a few photos of the beautiful glass before everyone arrived.

  

Mandy & Jeremy wanted a photo by "Sparty" - the statue by Michigan State University Spartan Stadium.  Mandy climbed up on the statue without any prodding from me - way to go Mandy! 

The reception was held at the University Club.  I can't say enough nice things about the University Club and their staff.  Great location and great people.

Congrats Mandy & Jeremy and thank you for the honor of photographing your wedding day!

Ceremony: Michigan State University Alumni Chapel

Reception: University Club of MSU

Pakistani Wedding

I had the honor of photographing my first Muslim wedding ceremony this weekend.  It was Pakistani couple, Saima & Mudassar, and a great two day event it was.  They were incredible and very open to creative work.  I had the opportunity to learn a lot of new wedding terms (nikkah, barat, walima, iman & others) and experience the color and culture of the islamic ceremony.  

Above are a few of the great photos from the two days.  I want to thank Saima, Mudassar and their families for such a great time!

Wedding Gear

I have a small goal this year, it is to be the absolute best wedding photographer on the globe.  Hey everyone should shoot for the moon.  In order to hit my goal I am reworking my photography gear and trying to revisit a few items.  I spent my lunch hour getting my gear in order for a wedding I have today and thought I would take a quick photo of it and explain a few things.  

I will be shooting (photographer talk for photographing) with mostly full frame this year.  The photos will become more high definition through the camera, lenses and editing process.  I have added more prime lenses to the mix.  The prime lenses are not zooms so I might have to move around a bit more but the sharpness and clarity will be killer.  I have added a 160gig netbook computer to backup photos super quick and easy.  

Now as a member of Canon Professional Services my equipment gets priority service and back to me the next day.  I plan on entering a few more contests as a member of Wedding & Portrait Professionals (WPPI).   I am also on the ThinkTank photo pro staff.   Well, now I have to take off and photograph a beautiful couple on their special day.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Baby Owen

I had the honor of photographing another beautiful baby recently, Owen.  "Baby Owen" as I call him was a joy to photograph and I am pleased with the results.  The first thing that I noticed about Baby Owen was his big beautiful eyes, so I spent the majority of the photo session capturing his personality through his eyes.

For a larger photo of "Baby Owen" and to see his big beautiful eyes visit my website: http://www.StatsonPhotography.com, go to the "gallery" section and then to "portraits".

Creative Juices!

If you have been following me on Facebook, you will know I am in a creative mood.  YEA!  

The above photo is one I took of my boys, yep, all four - left to right Scotty, Sam, Matthew & Nick.  They were trying to take me on with their mad fighting skills.

Visit my website for more creative portraits and corporate and creative work.   http://www.StatsonPhotography.com

What a Monster!

My kids are  home for "Spring Break" this week and sometimes you really have to offer creative outlets for them.  My son Sam likes playing the Zombie game in Call of Duty and wanted me to take a picture of him and turn him into a zombie.  Well, here is Sam as a zombie.....he thought it was "cool".  I personally think it is a little scary.  Lucky for Sam I have been on a creative streak.  (and don't worry Saima I will not add zombie editing to your wedding photos!).

Good Friday!

Here in Michigan we had a snowstorm less than a week ago.  In the past few days it has been in the low 50's.  The Lord is true to his promises and Spring is now kicking in.  I took a photo yesterday while out with my son and thought I would post the results here.  I want to wish everyone well this Good Friday.  Remember that God has plans for us no matter where we are in life.

You can visit the large version of this photo on my website (http://www.StatsonPhotography.com) then to the "galleries" tab up top and go down to "Corporate & Creative".  

People are Great!

I have been photographing a lot of different kinds of people lately.  Everyone from sports figures to ordinary people and a few babies.  I am going to make an extra effort this year to photograph as many people as possible.  This will keep me busy since there seem to be tons of interesting people in this world.  Visit my website for several new faces.  Go to http://www.StatsonPhotography.com and visit the gallery section and click on portraits.

Featured Guest Photographer

Well Spring is getting closer and time for new and innovative things, at least in my book.  I typically post my work here but would take a moment and post work from a fellow photographer friend of mine in Dubai, UAE, Michael Ritter.    He recently did a project called Dubai Gigapixel and is an excellent example of how to get creative with technology.  The photo allows you to zoom in and see tiny details of this huge landscape in Dubai.  The single photo was actually created by taking 1100 photos and combining them together.

Take a look at Michael's work: http://www.DubaiGigapixel.com

How about another sky

Here is a photo from my trip to the "Motor City" Detroit a few weeks ago.  I have never photographed a wedding at this church but would love to.  I was at St. Patrick's Cathedral a few weeks ago and this is certainly not on the same level. The City of Detroit is certainly full of history and believe it or not there is some great architecture there.  

Ok, maybe their was a little photoshop work done here to make things a little more exciting but heck nothing about life is real, well except life that is.  

Interested in what this looked like before I did a little photoshop magic?  Here take a look:

Spring....or maybe Fall?

It is Spring here in Michigan........well is is supposed to be.  It smells like Spring today (wet and moldy).  But it really has been looking and acting like Fall.  I am a Summer person myself.  I actually live for the sun and heat of Summer and try to enjoy every moment.  Here is a photo of the back of my house (please ignore the mess), I took this doing a little camera testing this evening.  The photo received a little editing to bring out the clouds.  

For those photography geeks out there the clouds are real but I did a little HDR treatment to it.   It was photographed with a Canon 1Ds Mark II and Canon 16-35L.   ISO 400/2.8 shot in RAW