How to decide where to have engagment photos taken

So I have heard back from a good number of the photogs I emailed. Here is my top three so far based on price, getting digital negatives and artistic/photo journalistic style.

 

1.) Engagements Dayna Schroeder Photography

Concerns: LOVE the style of the 2 newest posts but not so much the older 2. Wondering what style I will get....

 

2.)Jeremy Lawson Photography

No concerns. He is a little bit more than the other 2 but love his work. Still waiting to hear back to see if he can photoshop/edit out my braces.

 

3.) Kevin Weinstein (click on the engagement link towards bottom of page

Concerns: he doesn't do any photoshop editing and I would have to pay a professional extra to remove my braces out of the picture.

 

I need some honest opinions, what do you think of them? Thanks all! Carla

Got info on one more:

 

Chicago Wedding Photography by Laurie Peacock

She is now top of the list....

I have found the knot to be helpful for finding a photographer specific to an area. I was looking for a boudoir photographer in raleigh so I went to the north carolina knot & got some great suggestions. so maybe as the chicago girls.

 

I also vote for doing city pics. I'm off to look at the websites you posted to see who i like.

laurie peacock-http://lauriepeacock.com/?cat=102

My favorite!!! you can see she is great with e-pics with dogs. she really captures the romance and connection between the couple. I love her pictures. there are passionate ones & playful ones (like the couple splashing each other with the water fountain). I really think she is amazing.

Thanks Morgan! I think you hit the nail on the head with all the evals. I loved the ones by Jeremy but I couldn't figure out why I wasn't jumping up and down yelling "he's the one". Once you said that about the pictures having no connection/romance I went, THAT'S WHY!!!

 

I am really leaning towards Laurie for all the reasons you said. She has only been doing it for about a year but you can tell she is good. I think the pictures of the dogs really gave her that edge as we want our puppy (possible 2 puppies since we might be getting another) in our pictures.

 

I emailed her and ask if she could remove my braces in the pictures. Keeping fingers crossed.

glad it helped. I'm a photo blog junkie.

will you be getting digital negatives? i could teach you how to remove braces that way you could do it yourself and not be limited with your photographer.

i'm surprised she has only been doing photography for a year. she is really great.

Yep I made sure I would be getting hi-res digital negatives that have been edited. So I know she knows photoshop and she appears to be good at it too.

 

I am not to bad with photoshop so I can always give it a try. I tried to look up a good tutorial but couldn't find much that was helpful. I really like her so maybe if she doesn't do that I will take you up on that offer. BTW Thank you for offering, helps me to know if all else fails I can do it myself.

This has been great. I was debating whether to have our e-pics done in MX or Chicago (where we met) but I'm definitely leaning towards Chicago now. Thanks for all of the links. They've been super helpful. Did Misha Media ever get back to you? Are you taking your pics soon? I'm not sure if we should take them in the winter or wait until the spring. I know, I know Chicago only has summer and winter : ) but I don't want to wait. I'm too impatient!

YEA!! I am so happy to hear you are doing yours in Chicago too. Maybe we can swap info about poses and locations?

Misha did get back to me but her digital proofs were not included in the engagement session. I didn't want to pay an extra cost for those. Then I saw Laurie Peacock's work (that includes digital negatives at the same price) and fell in love! Plus of all the photographers I emailed she was the only one to call me personally instead of emailing. Needless to say that we are booking her, she is so friendly and sweet.

I went through about 50 photographers from brides.com, theknot.com, wedding photo journalist association, and a couple other sites. Narrowed the list down to about 20 that had a great photojournalist style and emailed them all for prices and to see if the negatives were included. My top ones I emailed back to find out if they were edited before being given to us. I have everything in an excel spread sheet if you would like the info. Just drop me an email cause I don't want to attach it here as prices changes over time.

I totally hear you about being impatient but we are going to wait until August '09. I asked Laurie and she said the summer months are the best because of the great weather. My rule is always listen to the expert, they know what they are talking about. Carla

awesome! Glad you found your photographer!! is she going to edit out your braces?

 

now you have until august to get inspired by blog-stalking. check out google reader. it makes it so easy to keep up with all of the photography blogs.