Custom Printed Stamps

I found this great site for printed items through a link on The Knot website, http://www.zazzle.com/. I thought the custom printed stamps were a fun idea, so I order a test sheet. The stamp builder was pretty easy. My custom stamps have one of my images, my business name and phone number printed on them. One sheet cost around $23.69 with tax and shipping, so they're not for everything but the print quality is really nice for invitations or save-the-dates. Also I should mention they are pretty large for postage, 1.25"x2", so if you really like this idea make sure they will fit on your invitation envelopes or save-the-date postcards.

Opportunities - 2010 Youth Calendar

In 2009 I was given the chance to volunteer my services to San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services for their 2010 Youth Calendar. Each youth was given the chance to have a photo shoot in a work environment of their choice.

First, I photographed Brittany, an aspiring Nurse, in the Bravo Pediatrics and Dr. Talieh's office. Brittany was outgoing and played along great with all of my ideas. We even made my assistant pose as a patient in a few shots that didn't get used in the final layout.


We had so much fun the first time! So when another photographer backed out I was invited to do a 2nd shot with William, a 16 year old interested in being a Police Officer. William was very shy but we managed to get some great shots of him before his ride along.

iii Design did an amazing job with the final layout. A different photographer was used for almost every youth's shoot but they used a strong layout and design elements to create consistency.

California Weds!

This year I was thrilled to have one of my weddings choosen as a feature in our local publications, California Weds. Anyone who has seen my Website, Facebook or any of my print material in the last few months knows that I am TOTALLY in love with Rebecca & Kevin's wedding. I am thrilled that they were choosen. Special thanks to Josh Simas for being my #2 on this one...you rocked it with me!

California Weds is a bi-annual wedding planning magazine published by The Tribune. You can read the full article here.

In addition to the feature, two of my other weddings were choosen for the Wedding Album section of the publication, Fathema & Aaron and Marie & Chris.

Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

I recently noticed that a friend of mine has a Facebook friend with the exact same first, middle and last name. I thought "That's funny. I wonder if anyone else has the exact same name as me?"

So I typed April Marie Wise in the search bar and one result came up. Next I noticed she is also from AR and has a photography website. Now I'm interested, so I click over to her website. There were a few portraits and some basic landscapes but it said last updated 2006. Clicking back over to her facebook I decided to check out her photos (I know I update my facebook more than my website.)


To my surprise when I clicked into the 2nd page of the album titled "My Photography" I found 11 photographs copied from my business website. She even went as far as making up fake names for the people in some of the photos. I found this extremely infuriating!

I have reported this to Facebook and the photos should be removed. However, I think this should be publicly noted. I don't want an inexperienced person using my images to get photography jobs.

The imposters website is http://www.freewebs.com/awisephotography/

Marissa and Mateo's 2nd Chance for Great Photography

As a wedding photographer I've heard a few campfire horror stories about bad photographer but I recently had a more firsthand experience. A bride contacted me to schedule a "redo session" because she didn't recieve most of her original wedding photos. She said it was a very "good deal" but she only recieved a small portion of the images and the photographer was giving her excuses and would no longer call her back.


With only one weekend available to shoot before she had to ship off her dresses (which sold on ebay) we were forced to do the session on a rainy day. We ended up using a covered section of the Carmel Mission and the lobby at The Pine Inn. (Actually I have to take a moment to mention that The Pine Inn was exceptional! I called a few days before and they said we could use their lobby. They let us move furniture and basically have the entire lobby.)

Here is what the bride had to say at OneWed.com about the experience:

"Due to our poor judgement, we never received our original wedding pictures from our original wedding photographer, so we had to "retake" our wedding photos. April was reccommended by our videographer. Due to our time constraints ( I sold my dresses on ebay) we needed our pictures taken ASAP. April was able to shoot us the weekend after we called her. She was very accomodating and professional. She researched the places that we wanted to shoot to ensure she was prepared and that we could actually take pictures in certain locations. We only expected to meet with April but we had two addtional photographers to assist her.

April was very laid back, not too overbearing and pushy. It was hard to take a natural picture when it is December, raining and cold outside, and not your actual wedding date. We felt that April was very creative given her circumstances and we liked the pictures very much. We would recommend her to anyone for their wedding as she is very reliable!"


So your probably wondering 'How do I know if my wedding photographer is reliable?' Well, for one, if a deal seems to good to be true, it probably is. In the digital age it is easy for anyone to pick up a camera and book one or two weddings. Running a full wedding photography business, on the other hand, is quite expensive and there is a limit to how low a professional photographer can price weddings. Most of our pricing is built into advertising just to get you to call or email. If you found them on a free site like Craigslist, look around and see if they advertise with any wedding planning sites.

If in doubt ask for references. Ask them with which venues and wedding services they have worked then contact those companies. I would specifically ask for DJs, Videographers and Location Coordinators because they have the most interaction with photographers.

Make sure you get a contract, save email correspondence and make a copy of payments. If they don't already have a contract set up for their business they can find a template online. Although any company that does not already use a contract probably isn't worth your time.

Here is a link to Marissa and Mateo's Redo Wedding Portrait Session. You can also see my favorites on Facebook.

Happy Holidays

Referral Program

I am now offering a referral incentive program. It's pretty simple, all you have to do is refer me to your friends and family. If they book any of my wedding or portrait service you get a free, 1 hour photography session with an 8x10 print and online viewing site. You can use this session for Family Portraits, Maternity Portraits, Headshots, an Event (i.e. Birthday Party or Shower) etc. Tell them to mention your name when the contact me. I really appreciate your referrals and I want to reward you for spreading the good word!

This isn't retroactive but if you email me about a recent referral I will consider your case. Offer value for as long as people aren't taking advantage or until I get bored and make something else up :)