Welcome to my Blogsite!

 Welcome to my BlogSite! 

Thanks for visiting my BlogSite. When time permits, I try to 'share' a little of my photography and family life with a touch of commentary.

If you want to reach me, please visit my main site - www.wbfoto.com/contact.aspx - or email us directly at williamboydlee@gmail.com.

Busy is something that describes me best - wife, two + 1 kids, full-time job, semi-fulltime photographer, ton of hobbies, and plenty of travel. If I don't respond to your email right away, it's because I am clearing out my schedule to make room for you!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Ms. McLauren & Mr. Bennett

Aviance and Torey couldn't have picked a more beautiful day in Baton Rouge. We took a few in the studio first, but eventually went out and braved the mid-day sun to what turned out to be simply a gorgeous day. Out of coincidence my choice of locations was the same place that this couple met - Louisiana State University.















Saturday, February 2, 2008

Down time ... not exactly


Albums, albums, albums ... I received a 'rush' of album orders right before and after the Christmas holidays. The albums are finally starting to come back from the vendors.

A lot of time and energy goes into album design. I normally ask the bride and groom to submit about 75 images for inclusion in their album ... that's the easy part. Putting those choices into a collection that flows, that's creative and unique, and one that faithfully illustrates their wedding day is the hard part. The better I've gotten, the slower I've gotten - it takes me anywhere from 15-20 hours to layout and finish an album. That equates to 2-3 weeks of scratching my head -- starting, stopping, re-doing, scrapping ideas, etc. Since this is such a large investment on my end, I have to make sure that I get it right the first time. Several of the demo albums that I have in the studio are ones with typos, flow issues ... things that I would not dare pass to my customers. Total design, print, and bind time varies. Depending on the type of album, vendor, and the season, expect up to 6 months. Also, if you order your album after your allotted time, you have to get in the 'album queue' ... your 6 months starts then.

For those of you who are interested in custom albums, here are my suggestions for a successful album:
  • spread your images across the day - don't clump them all from one part of the day
  • let those images be mostly about you and the your spouse - don't forget that it is your day
  • keep the images as dynamic as possible - there's nothing wrong with the formal portraits in the album, but you want to keep things moving
  • no yearbooks, scrapbooks, or memory books ... keep the number of images down - plan for 1-3 images per page average (30-page book = 90 images max)
  • let your ideas for the album be known upfront, but at the same time let your photographer/designer be creative ... after all, it is his/her interpretation of the day
  • the sooner your order your album after then wedding, the fresher it is on my mind ... that's a plus for me

A lot of photographers don't allow the couple to choose the images -- the photographer chooses. That would really make my life a lot easier, but allowing the couple to choose the images adds insurance that I won't choose the wrong images or miss the most important ones. What I like and what the couples likes can be two different things and I can respect that.

I will publish a link to a few of my demos shortly ...