A sweeter couple you have never seen than Daniel and Natalie. We very much enjoyed working with them on their beautiful, though very hot, wedding day! They were married at the beautiful Laurelhurst Club (https://www.thelaurelhurstclub.com/) across from the oh so picturesque Laurelhurst Park (https://www.portland.gov/parks/laurelhurst-park) near East Burnside in Portland Oregon.
The ceremony begins at 4:05, and ends at 22:22
We can’t wait to come back here and be able to take photos in the park’s beauty. We even got to work with our friends at NW Mobile DJ for this wedding, which always makes for a great wedding day. So excited to share their day with you in this video, enjoy!
This sweet couple said “I Do” at the Log House Gardens in Keizer, Oregon, which is a beautiful wedding venue we love working with each year! In case you want to skip around
It is estimated by the end of 2022, 1 million videos will be watched per second. In fact, online video is predicted to represent 82.5% of all web traffic. Still for some it’s the fear of video that stops them from hitting record. In today’s blog here are some simple ways to make you a shooting star.
Tip #1 – WHO, WHAT, and WHY are you making the video in the first place
For any video project, start by writing down your goal, and then list at least 3 key take-aways you want the viewer to remember. Knowing your key points lessens the chance you’ll ramble and go off on tangents.
Tip #2 – Imagine you’re having a conversation
Identifying a specific person you want to talk to takes away all that pressure.
Even if no one’s watching your at first, still imagine how connecting conversationally with just one person would make it all worth it.
Also, don’t assume you’re reaching no one. Remember, lots of people watch videos constantly so it’s better to never assume.
Tip #3 – Shift the Focus
Too often we get caught up on our own fears and insecurities that we forget that we have a chance to provide a service, make a difference, or teach with our video.
When you shift your focus to doing whatever you can to help someone else, your nervousness and apprehension fades.
Tip #4 – Content is King
That means you don’t need a fancy set, fancy camera, or fancy wardrobe to show up and deliver something your audience will enjoy. Because if what you share is truly helpful or entertaining, people overlook all of that because they like you and are genuinely interested in what you have to say.
Plus, with video there’s less expectation for it to look super polished anyway because people know when you’re on your phone.
Portraits should reflect you and what you love!
Tip #5 – Confidence and Consistency
When you’re first starting out, give yourself at least a dozen videos to get comfortable and hone your style. Analyzing stats can come later once you have videos to review.
So there you have it! Here again are the 5 tips to get over your fear of live video:
Know WHO, WHAT, and WHY you’re making the video.
Be Conversational
Shift the Focus from yourself to how you can help others
Content is King
We would like to see some of your videos. We are Photos By Orion. Telling stories with Star Quality Photography, Videography, 360, and Drone. Please feel free to contact us at contact@photosbyorion.com, or call 503-385-1435.
Wedding Checklist: Photographer and Videographer Check, DJ or Band Check, Food and Drink Check, but Oh no! What is our song going to be for our music video?
No worries! At Photos By Orion, we have you covered. We tell stories with our photography and videography, but after the party, that is when we go to work to create a music video that you can play and cherish for years to come. How do we do this?
Choosing music for your video starts for us when we first meet you, as it should for you. Ask yourself what is your favorite music? Bands, Genre, Vocals, or Instruments what is it that you find yourself singing or humming too.
Do you have a favorite song? You hear it all the time this is our song. Is it your favorite or your spouse’s favorite? You want it to be the song that truly identifies you as a couple and your love for each other.
We tune into your entire day, and the music that rings out during the reception. While you are dancing the day or night away we are looking to see what are the songs that light up you and your room. Remember this video is yours, but you want others to enjoy it as you look back for years to come this beautiful chapter in your life.
What if you cannot come together on that song or music? We use a musical data base that we pay monthly for called Triple Scoop that has thousands of licensed songs and instrumentals. This is where our musical memory kicks into action. We pick a song that frankly speaks to the couple from that first hello to that thank you after your wedding.
We go one step further in this creation process. It is your video, so we want it to be perfect, and that is why it is important to bring you in to hear the selection and get your thoughts on the song choice. We can do that with our state-of-the-art editing technology, which even allows us to use part of one song and another.
Finally, what about popular music? You know, can you use Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Michael Jackson, or even Barry White for those Golden Agers? It is possible but not very practical and time-consuming. So please tune in next week as we break down what it truly takes to put on the hits on your wedding video.
In this final video we discuss some of the lesser known and rarely used types of mediums for photo prints. Most of these many people have not heard of. They are not very commonly used but they do have their place where they make a photo really pop. Check out this video to see what some other options are for photo prints.
Canvas has been used for centuries for art. More than a century ago they started being used for photographs. Canvas is a very old medium but there are still great options for displaying your photos on canvas. In this vlog Kathryn and Karin discuss things to consider when deciding if canvas is a good way to display your photos.
Pets are family members. You may want to bring your best friend along for your senior photos. It is important to have a photographer who is comfortable with animals and has experience with them. Kathryn has a degree in Animal Science and also worked as a veterinary assistant for a few years before starting Photos By Orion. She has a lot of animal experience, in general and as a photographer. Check out some of our tips for having your pets in your senior photos in our last video in our vlog series about senior pictures.
In our previous video we covered the “When?,” Where?,” and “Why?” questions about senior portraits. The second video in this series is about what to bring with you to your senior sessions. The most common question we get about senior portraits is “What to wear for my senior pictures?” Check out this video to get all your answers to that and more.
Orion recalling the first photo he took the time to get right.
Do you remember the very first photo you ever took that wasn’t just a quick snapshot? Maybe it was the first time you took the time to compose the shot because you wanted it to look just right. Perhaps it was the first shot that you concentrated on how the lighting was affecting the subject.
I remember my first photo. I have spoken about it to people over the years, but I can’t remember the last time I saw it until recently. I was searching through some boxes of family photos to hang on the wall when I came across a print of my very first photo. I was shocked it was still around.
I took the photo with an old film camera of my Dad’s. It was a Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL, a camera popular in 1970 according to KenRockwell.com. It looked like this, with the dust and everything:
Mamiya/Sekor film camera I used for my first photo
I recall the weight of the camera as I held it and I remember the sound it made whenever you advanced film. It was my Dad’s camera and I remember being a bit nervous using it, especially that first time.
I was rather precariously stretched over running water at the time. I was about 12 years old or so and I’d gone up to a special place on the North Santiam up by Detroit, Oregon. I was basically performing a back extension with my stomach on a rock and I’d lodged my feet into a rocky groove on the shore. My torso was hanging inches above the running water and I was holding the camera up to my eye, trying to compose the shot to make it look as good as I could imaging. I checked the lighting by placing my finger over the shutter release and looking through the viewfinder at the light meter. I waited for my movement to be slow enough to take a sharp picture.
SNAP!
I triggered the shutter release and the viewfinder went black for a moment. I can’t actually recall taking a second shot. I was just a bit fatigued holding myself over the water and worrying about how I was going to get out of the position without getting the camera wet.
Looking at it now, it’s really nothing much, but at the time is was monumental. Who would have thought that I’d be a professional photographer way back then. …maybe my Dad, but who knows.
The subject of my image was a small mushroom growing out of a stick lodged in the running water. It’s life was hanging as precariously as I was when I captured the image. The stick had a bit of moss growing off the top somehow and out of that tangle grew the small mushroom, my main subject. Below the surface of the running water, leaves had caught the stick and were threatening to pull it completely in the water, submerging everything it held and sending it downstream, but I froze that moment in time with the snap of the shutter.
When I showed my wife the photo I’d found, she commented that it was a well-composed shot. The lighting is good too and while the focus isn’t perfect, I’s say I couldn’t have done better at the time. A tripod would have helped, or perhaps a longer lens, but none of that occurred to me at the time. I just wanted to capture a shot I could be proud of.
The first photo I ever took the time to compose in order to get it right.
I think I can be proud of this shot. I will always remember it as my very first.
If you didn’t know, my name is Orion. It makes sense for the business name, but as my wife is really the face of the business, I’m the name. So when I got contacted to shoot someone else with my name, I was immediately excited about the opportunity.
I’ve known of a few other people in the area and in the world of Facebook with the name Orion, I’ve never met another in person in real life. When I finally met Orion, I was surprised again to find out that she was a she! How rare is that!
Orion was a rather shy senior who was a pleasure to work with. We went down to Deepwood where we captured some nice photos among the trees, along the river and on the stairs. Like a majority of our senior sessions, we also shot some photos in the studio (it’s definitely a great thing to have available during the Oregon winters!)
It was such a neat experience taking pictures of Orion! I hope it was equally unique of an experience for Orion. How many times has that happened where Orion got her pictures taken by Orion!
