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Today I was suprised by an email that landed in the inbox from a former client. From time to time, we get awesome testimonials but this one stands out because this couple got married back on August 22, 2006. We have the honor of being asked from time to time to cover weddings of other professional photographers. Ashley & Chris were both working a portrait photography studio when we first met them.... Today, we got this email from Chris: Mateo y Sol,
Hi guys! Just wanted to write a little note to say "thank you" for your continued inspiration...
You see, never in a million years did we think we'd one day be shooting weddings. But a seed was planted, waaay back in August 2006, when you guys shot our little wedding in Playa Del Carmen. I remember we originally asked Sol if she was available for that date, but she was just getting back from shooting a wedding in Peru (?) the day before. She recommended her then boyfriend Matt Adcock in Atlanta, who's work we loved, but was a little out of our price range.
And what did you do? Matt ended up flying down to Mexico to shoot our wedding at Sol's prices - with an exhausted, jet-lagged Sol as his 2nd shooter!!!
Talk about going above and beyond!! You guys really came through for us that day - giving us memories we will always cherish. Your example, both personally and professionally, has stuck with us ever since.
Over the years, Ashley would get asked if she covered weddings. We always answered 'no'. It seems silly now, but at the time, it just wasn't something we were interested in doing. However, our experience with our own wedding photographers, and the quality of work they delivered, was always in the back of our minds. Even though we weren't wedding photographers ourselves, I followed Flash Flavor from day one, always learning new things and discovering cool wedding images. I respected the wedding photojournalism style, and kept my eye on the techniques of various wedding photogs around the world.
Two weeks ago we shot our first wedding. We were nervous, excited, anxious, terrified... but we told ourselves to just "do what Matt and Sol would do". We used our own wedding as an example for how we would cover weddings.
This is their slideshow: http://www.ashleysummer.com/matt&chelsea/
I realize this is kid stuff compared to what you guys are doing now. But, considering it was our first, I'm thrilled with the outcome. And we couldn't have done it without your inspiration and online 'guidance'.
Thank you for being who you are. We feel blessed to have met such cool people, even if only for one day. You showed us love and passion for what you do - and it was infectious! We will always use your example as our guide.
Hope this email finds you both healthy, and happy.
All the best,
Chris & Ashley
Chris & Ashley were married at Villa Tortuga in Playa del Secreto. WOW... thanks amigos for the jaw dropping testimonial. Chris, your wedding slideshow is awesome... great work. I'd say you are both awesome shooters...be it a wedding or whatever else! We love our job and even more, love our clients who put their faith in our approach. Like so many other clients, we had never met Ashley or Chris before their wedding date. Finding two other photographers who trusted our vision is hard enough.... to get a ground shattering amazing testimonial like this just makes me blush!
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**** 2008 Posts that haven't been blogged yet*** Here we are, 3 days after Michelle and Phil's wedding ready and excited to go back to the "Bat Cave" for a Trash the Dress Session. Matt jumped in his "aquaman" suit and we headed up for the adventure.
photo by Sol This location has become a "Del Sol Cenote Trash the Dress" classic., we called it the "bat cave" as it's a dark hole, home to countless bats.. but its very dramatic and even when it's hard to walk to the little island ( feet sinking in mud and bat "gifts") couples love it!.. We have seen other photographers using this same location, we couldn't keep it secret for too long..., but the main idea is that brides are really going extreme to have amazing images.. and that is awesome.
photo by Matt
Photo by Sol (Phil the groom is holding my off camera flash)
photo by Sol The moment I get this kind of chemistry between a couple.. it's MAGIC!!! I LOVE LOVE IT!! Underwater cenote trash the dress photography at our very best!
photo byMatt Matt is the underwater expert swimming with the bride and groom
photo by Matt
photo by Matt
photo by Matt
photo by Matt
photo by Sol Getting this undewater images is really really a challenge, Matt was the aquaman at this session, and I'm amazed by his talent not only to operate the camera, but to "direct" the couple... to achieve this results.
photo by Matt After the cenote, we headed to the beach..
photo bySol
photo by Rodrigo The following images may seem "redundant".. but I think is a serie: "How to break for 5D".. Fun images!
photo by Matt
photo by Matt
photo by Matt This photo was published in American Photo Magazine's Top 10 Wedding Photographers of 2009. This photo also was published in May 2009 in Bodissima Magazine.The ultimate wave takes over the camera!!! OUCH
Photo by Sol Matt is quick to signal to Rodrigo to get a towel to dry the camera ASAP! Towel PLEASE!!!!
Photo by Sol
Rodrigo is always ready to help us..Photo by Sol
photo by Matt
photo by Matt
photo bySol
photo by Sol Can you tell How much we LOVE our job? And guess how many new cameras we have to replace each year???... A LOT!
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**** 2008 Posts that haven't been blogged yet*** A while before I became a wedding photographer I was reading an article on a magazine about a wedding photographer, and one of the things that I though was very interesting, was that he mentioned that brides schedule their weddings around his calendar, what a priviledge!. It is a huge honor to be in that position these days., when Michelle and Phil contacted us, they were looking to get married at a date we wouldn't be available, as it was our anniversary and we planned on celebrating taking the whole weekend off. They changed their date to have us..., that is one of the biggest honors we can have. GRACIAS!!! The wedding was at one of the prettiest wedding locations in the whole Riviera Maya, AlCielo in Xpu-Ha beach, the location is amazing, and all the staff is just a delight in every sense. The day started with a masive cloud in the sky.., Phil was stressing out..., it didn't look good..., but just right before the ceremony, the cloud went away giving us a gorgeos sunny afternoon, it was very dramatic and awesome!
Here's the big cloud going away
Welcome Sun!
Guest were delivering the roses that were forming Michelle's bouquet as she walked down the aisle, pretty cool!
I really love when the couple brings their own minister, or friend to perform the wedding, it adds so much more meaning the the ceremony.
They had a tea ceremony to honor their asian heritage.
This is the moon rising..
Some of Al Cielo amazing staff, Donaji (wedding planner) Ruben and Eiko. There is so much more from this wedding, if you want to see the complete story, open a SLIDESHOW by clicking here.
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*** 2008 shoots that haven't been blogged yet*** For Vica and Anton TTD Cenote session, we went in very extreme conditions, a practically dark cave, but so amazing that took our breath away the moment we put our feet and eyes on it. This is a very very special location, the owner Jerry, discovered this cave while walking in the jungle, and he has devoted years and years cleaning it and making it accesible , he named many of the magic corners inside as " love tunnel" , beach for lovers, etc.. , pure heart with this men. The energy of this location is awesome!, and it inspired us to do something out of the ordinary., we had to come up with ideas to lit it. The human eye is way more powerful than our cameras, it technically this was a huge challenge.., this is what we did: We brought candles, our friend Marco, from Artevelas, walked trough the jungle for 15 minutes each ride, (more than 5 times!) to transport the heavy candles and placed them inside for us. We had several assistants holding flashes and video lights.., thanks Rodrigo, Paco and Alex that helped us .. We all had to be carring our gear, in the water, with no place to put anything and being "Extremely careful" not to touch any of the stalactites or stalagmites.. really really hard.. This are a few of my favorite images:
Photo by Matt
Photo by Sol
photo by Sol
photo by Matt This photo was published in May 2009 in Bodissima Magazine.
photo by Matt Can you see the heat coming from Anton's body?? this is how "Hot" the TTD was.. (JK.. haha..) The inside of the cave was very hot and humid, but the water was cold.. so when he got wet, vapor happened..
Photo by Sol
Photo bySol And Matt come up with a brilliant idea to use our famous color flashes underwater and give more depth to our images. He used a "blue" gel, to paint he water.
Photo by Sol
Photo by Sol
Photo by Sol
Photo by Matt Our dreams wouldn't be possible without couples that allow us to do anything and go anywhere! , I think having this kind of clients is the "utimate photographer dream" THANKS! so much Vica and Anton. And GRACIAS Jerry!.. for allowing us to shoot at your incredible piece of magic land.
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We often shoot so much scenery that we are in the middle of trying to actually place when and where we are and one way we do that is by shooting what is happening in our environment. We use many other techniques to help establish a storyline and sence of place but one that is always a sure safe tool to fall back on is making sure the birds get their time in front of the camera. Birds happen so fast, really they do. Recall the last time you were watching a flock fly down the beach all in tandem and all very quickly. Now imagine getting ready to shoot a bride and groom as this is all happening. Sometimes, we shoot from the hip, not even looking through the viewfinder just to hope we snagged a shot in focus and composed well enough to keep. Anyway, I've decided to write every so often about the birds because I believe they are often overlooked. I love birds and my grandfather loved to photograph birds so I consider my efforts in this department as a tribute to him! I turned around and shot this one as I was shooting a group of family formals on the beach after a wedding. This moment happened quick...
photo by matt ...sometimes, birds fly between buildings and we use the resort architecture help our friends come into frame.
photo by matt Occasionally, sometimes the intended subjects of our photographs actually become secondary to our winged amigos!
photo by vincent The ceremony scene setter has more sence of depth with a bird makes his / her way through the frame.
photo by matt Pelicans like to stand guard here in Playa del Carmen
photo by Vincent Sometimes we are lucky enough to catch them on their pursuit to catching fish
photo by matt Now and again, we will find birds that are actually captive....we still shoot their best side :)
phot by Sol We had a client who recently requested this photo to be printed 12x24 as the solo print on 2 spanning pages in their wedding album.
photo by sol Here is the final frame from the above shot
photo by matt And then sometimes, we are given the opportunity to photograph birds who represent speical symbolism for our clients.
photo by matt To close, know that we will keep posting about our brids. They actually bring me comfort at weddings, knowing they are there for us to use as an escape from the norm... Cheers & thanks for reading up on del Sol Birds! Matt
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© 2008 delSolPhotography. all rights reserved.
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