I think that one thing that separates a professional photographer for a hobbyist is the fact that they run their business professionally, in an organized and efficient manner.  Wearing so very many hats as a wedding photographer can be overwhelming if you do not have fine tuned systems in place for staying organized.  We have many different methods and ways to stay organized and keep our desks clean and our clients happy and well cared for.

I would like to share one of those simple methods with you today.

Because we travel so much for weddings (local & destination), and because life is busy, we rely on the free service of  rememberthemilk.com for our lists. We use it on our desktops & it also syncs with iphone apps (so that you can have your lists with you when you are out & about). Using this (free) program, has kept us very organized, made packing for trips & weddings so much easier and has kept a lot of our thoughts in the same place. I personally use my account for BOTH personal (hence shopping list & Rockwell’s babysitting list) and professional uses.

How it works, is you create Lists. You can see mine below in the grey headers. You can have as many “tasks” as you want, on any one list. And as many lists as you want.

For example, my “camera list”, is EXACTLY what I need to pack for wedding. Every single thing. So, before a wedding, I am not trying to think of what I need…or hoping that I don’t forget anything. It is all right there. I sat down ONCE and made a thorough/complete list and now, it saves me time & thinking. I just quickly print off a copy & cross things off with a pen as they get loaded into my bag/vehicle. It takes the thinking out of it for you.

Same with packing for a Destinaton wedding. Who wants to forget their passport, or the bride’s itinerary, or their camera battery chargers, or their swimsuit? With a thorough list (that you can add to as you think of new things), you never need to stand there and wonder what you are forgetting…… Or have to rethink what to pack. After printing the list, if you see something on the list that you don’t need for that particular trip, just cross it off with your pen & continue on packing.

I hope this blog post has been helpful. We really, honestly have found that using this program we have saved SO much time & SO much stress/panic with packing, remembering, shopping.

** As a side note, this is also a great program for Mom’s (or anyone).  You could have your *to clean*, *to organize*, *to take to soccer*, *kid’s lunch ideas*, *birthday plan ideas*, *clothing shopping*, *to talk to teacher about*, etc,etc,etc**

Much Love,

Radelle

p.s. PHOTOGRAPHERS: Let me know if you find these type of blog posts helpful! thanks!

Mandy asked:

How and where do you come up with all your poses? I am really lovin weddings but I don’t always wanna do the same poses… Yours are always different. Do you just think of them on the spot?

Yes, we do.

I think that every photographer (& every person for that matter) sees the world a little bit differently. So one of the best resources that we have is each other. I don’t mean going to people’s blogs & right-clicking. You cannot steal creativity. For one thing, you won’t remember the pose & for another thing, you are not being very authentic. What I find the most beneficial, is to team up with another photographer (in my case, Kari) & have her shoot me & Adam.

While our style is similar (to provide consistency for all Eternal Reflections Photography clients), we definitely each have our own thoughts, flair & ideas. When I was doing Kari & Matt’s shoot, I just did my thing. Did shots/poses as they came into my mind (and a few things I had envisioned before when I was thinking about the shoot). Kari was amazed at some of the ideas that I had, that she had never thought of. The same thing happens when she photographs me & Adam….I see the world differently & I get fresh new ideas.

But what makes it even better then just pursuing other photographers blogs for inspiration? I lived the experience (as the model), the pictures mean something to me, so when I’m on a shoot, I will remember them! They are something Ive lived, done & looked at. That is far more powerful then looking at blog after blog, trying to remember or right-clicking images.

So, my suggestion, is to team up with another photographer & swap photoshoots. It is amazing how much you can learn from being on the other end of the camera.

On that note, my photography style became far more lovely & unique (“modely”) once kari had done a few model shoots of me. We both learned how to direct a client(s) in an efficient way. This was learned by me telling kari “ok, now be fabulous” and her staring up at me blankly “what does that mean”? So by shooting each other, we have learned what to say to help a client give a certain look, or to achieve a certain feeling in an image.

Some of our most “wow” images are from having set up a scenerio & getting the clients to either act it our or imagine it. They are taken to that place in their mind & can just be real. Thus real looking photos, from real moments.

I hope I am making sense here……

So my advice:

Find a photographer who inspires you & offer a photo swap.

Also, take inspiration from your surroundings. So often we are looking down at our screen, or down the lens that we miss something in nature or architecture that would make a really “WOW” picture.