Shay and Kurt :: Sneak Peek

Get ready, because these two are on fire...

Happy Monday!

what would you save?

People and pets out of the equation, we're talking things, tangible items... "If your house was burning, what would you try to save?" Family heirlooms are always the answer when asked this hypothetical (but pretty awful) question. But what are those treasured items? A piece of jewelry that's been passed down? A tattered childhood toy or blanket? Photos? Your wedding album... yes usually the wedding album makes the cut, as well it should.

We asked each other this question. Here are our answers...

Betty said, "I would grab the safety deposit box full of vital records and important documents. Right next to it is my jewelry box full of my Grandmother's jewelry. That's my second thing. Then I'd run down to the bookshelf and grab every single photo album I can carry." As you can tell she's the accountant in this partnership. Of course she has a safety deposit box stored in an easily accessible place. Of course she does. And yes, she has strategically placed the family jewelry box right next to it. She's also the planner and worst case thinker. Can you tell?

Maggie said, "First thing to bring would be the box of baby stuff from when Sweet Cheeks was born. You know, his hospital bracelet, blanket, going home outfit, birth certificate, umbilical cord. Then I'd start grabbing photo albums. If I had to pick just a few I'd grab our wedding album, my box of vintage family prints, and the framed photo of Sweet Cheeks and I from the day he was born. I guess the last thing I'd bring is my camera, because that puppy was expensive." Less logical and thought out, Maggie brings her son's dried umbilical cord. Oh yes, she kept it. We know... we know.

So let us get to our point (for crying out loud). Our point is that wedding photos deserve to be printed. They belong in an album, and that album belongs on a shelf in your living room where you can see it every day, look through it often, and grab it in a fire. Let's be honest. Most of us will (God willing) never have to run back into our burning home to save these special items. But for many couples out there, they don't even have an album to put on their list! What... you'd save your computer? You'd save your cherished wedding photo DVD? How often do you pop that baby in and sit in front of the computer looking at your photos? Nope... not very often. So again we say, wedding photos belong in an album.

Here's the funny part: We don't (currently) include albums in our pricing. We never force our couples to purchase high end albums when booking us. We do this because we believe the ability to afford quality photography outweighs the need for a fancy album, especially if that fancy album would be full of photos you don't really enjoy because you had to settle for a photographer you weren't thrilled with. So no, we don't force the album issue, and by doing so we make our work attainable to couples who (like most) have a photography budget to work within. Does that mean we want couples to stop there, and do nothing with their DVD of images once they receive it? Um... no.

We give print rights to our clients with the hope they will use our recommended public album providers to design and print their own albums. Yes! It can be done! You do NOT have to spend upwards of $1,000 for a decent album. The vast majority of our clients do not purchase packages with albums, but they do flock to My Publisher when their DVD arrives to create their own. And guess what, it will cost them under $100 for a beautiful, layflat, coffee table book packed full of their wedding photos. My Publisher has an outstanding, easy to use design software program that is free to download. We know because we've used it ourselves, and we love it. In fact, we have used My Publisher to create quick and inexpensive albums to use when showcasing our latest work.

In the long, drawn out, over hyped debate among wedding photographers, we stand firm in our stance that wedding photos should be printed and belong in albums. But... we know a beautifully hand crafted, flush mount album is just not within reach for everyone. So we promise to always make our work available without the pressure to purchase a designer album, and we promise to always provide all of our clients with the rights to their wedding photos.

In the coming months, we will be working hard to give this company a fresh coat of paint as we do a little rebranding. In those efforts we will address the demands of our new couples and the changing market. We plan on bringing the best of both worlds to our product line next year, by offering collections that include high end albums for those who demand the best, as well as coverage only collections that leave the album design up to the happy couple. So look for big news in a few months! Change is good, and responding to the needs and requests of our clients is even better. So we will evolve.

Now before we go, promise us if you don't have your wedding photos in an album that you will have one made. Online providers or through a professional... you deserve to have your memories preserved and displayed.

Have a great weekend!

We're getting ready for...

...Bridal Show season! Our fellow wedding photographers think we've completely lost our minds. While this is a possibility, we don't care, we L-O-V-E bridal show season!

Many photographers make bridal shows or wedding expos a huge part of their marketing, and many don't. The past year we've booked the majority of weddings based on word of mouth advertising, and through a couple of online ad spaces. Then, we were lucky enough to find a couple of last minute opportunities to do some local bridal shows this past Spring, and we gave them a shot. As it turns out, we're the type of photographers who really enjoy bridal shows. And that's nice and all... we get to spend time together, we're not in front of our computers, we get to wear nice clothes and network with other vendors. But what's even better, and frankly the whole reason we go to such shows? They were successful for us, and led to us meeting several delightful couples who we're getting to know more and more as they welcome us into their wedding circle and plan their photography.

(This was the beginning stages of our expo display construction. Looks much better now.)



So... we're stepping up our game and giving the "big" bridal shows a shot. It's in our nature to try everything once when it comes to marketing. Word of mouth is still our best bet, the online blogs who feature our work are a lot of fun and always give us a nice ego boost, and the local bridal shows are on a pleasantly small scale which allow for a lot of one on one conversations. Next year though, we'll get our feet wet in the larger market of bridal shows and decide if they're right for us. They may be fantastic, they may be overwhelming and not worth the stress. We have no idea how they will turn out, but we'll be sure to let you know ;)

We decided to stick with just two "big" shows next year, and to start fresh in January of 2013. Our year will be kicked off with the Washington Bridal Showcase January 6th at the Washington Convention Center. This is the doosey. Pretty sure a gazillion other vendors will be there, and we will no doubt be the little guys. This does not scare us in the slightest. We much prefer to be the little fish. Being a big fish in a little pond doesn't give us much satisfaction. The show's organizers have prepared us to have thousands of hand outs and printed materials ready for the several thousand Brides they expect to host. Um... anyone know a good printer?! This is our scariest show, but we can handle it.

The second "big" show we decided to do (and trust us, we looked at several shows before narrowing down to these two) is the Lovesick Expo. Frankly, this is the coolest group of wedding vendors out there. We still can't handle the fact that they allowed us sit at their table. This show is the anti bridal show, bridal show. It's seriously amazing. They even do this awesome spin on how door prizes work, with the money going to charity. Charity! How wonderful is that?! Simply put, if there's a bridal show out there for us, this is it. It's smaller scale, meant to feel almost like a cocktail party at an art gallery with some vendors on hand to chat with. So if you're still in need of anything wedding related come January 27th... make sure you're at this expo.

(Lots and lots and lots of albums to look through. This is just one.)

Needless to say, we'll spend the next 5 months pulling ourselves together and preparing for these two shows. We'll keep you posted, no doubt. We like to go big or go home (although we hate that saying), so don't be shocked if you see Birds of a Feather Photography take on a completely new look and feel. We'll have sneak peeks into our brand overhaul over the next several months. Stay tuned!

But before all of this hoopla really gets going, we're going to be setting up shop with one last local (but far from small) bridal show this year. Our dear friend Monique Melton, who does beautiful makeup is organizing a fun, new bridal show. The Sealed with a Kiss Bridal Expo is going on this August 26th at the Hilton Garden Inn Solomons. For all you Maryland Brides, this is the fall expo to go to. Seriously... Monique's connections in the wedding industry have turned this into the who's who of bridal shows. Since we know not everyone gets engaged in December, the late summer/fall bridal show season is the perfect time for recently engaged couples to start planning their big day. We'll be there along with several other wedding vendors. Come on out and see us! Admission is FREE for this one! Take full advantage, that doesn't happen very often with bridal shows of this standard.

(Let's be honest, the free food at these things is our favorite part.)

Have a great day!

a little baby left :: southern maryland baby photography

Good morning, Maggie here... In a couple of weeks, Sweet Cheeks won't be a baby anymore. He'll be a "one year old". He'll be a "toddler". Please no... make it stop. While I'm beyond excited to get to that stage where he is walking and talking and giving unsolicited kisses... I'm not ready for my baby to be gone. How many mamas ever are? I'd guess none of us really. So for now and for as long as he'll let me, I'm going to rock him to sleep, nurse him when he rubs his nose (that's his signal), and refer to his age in months.

Here he is at 11 months, sitting calmly in a bucket full of soap and water. Thank you sweet baby, for putting up with Mama's requests.

Happy Tuesday!

hello again

Hello again. It's been a while hasn't it? We know. We're sorry. Life has a way of slowing us down from time to time, and refocusing us towards what's real. What matters. When we first introduced this blog, we told you it was more than a professional one, it was going to be a personal journal as well. So... allow us to get you caught up.

We lost someone close to us recently. Betty's Father, Maggie's Grandfather, Jennings W. Hamilton went home after a good 'ole fight with cancer, a few weeks ago. This was a blessing. Let us explain why. He lived 88 wonderful, meaningful, purposeful years. He was as healthy as a horse for 87 and 1/2 of them. He was a good, good man and was loved by everyone who knew him. He got to watch his children, and grandchildren grow into adulthood. He even got to meet, and enjoy time with his great grandchild (who by the way put the rest of us in our place). He lived the life we hope to live, the life we strive to live every day. He did it with a lot more ease than we are, but that's the example he's left us with. We've said this before, and we'll say it again, we are very blessed people. It's a blessing that we had him in our lives in the first place. It's a blessing we had so many years with him, and it's an even greater blessing knowing his soul is where it belongs, and where he so desired to be. Knowing that, makes our sad moments a little shorter. No doubt we're hurting, no doubt we miss him. No doubt he's with us still, and is helping us along every day.

And so this is why we haven't been blogging much. We've been spending time with family, and taking care of each other. We've been hugging Sweet Cheeks a lot more lately, that child has no idea what he did for his Pop, and what he's doing for us now. We've been meeting with new couples, booking weddings like crazy, preparing for bridal show season, designing albums, researching and ordering new equipment (excited much?!), staying on top of emails, developing our next photo shoot, photographing engagement sessions, and spending late nights thinking and rethinking where we want to take our brand. We haven't stopped, but we haven't found the time to blog about any of it. Happily though, we're back now, and we've got several awesome posts coming your way! Get ready for blog post overload.

So stay with us this week. We'll post something every day be it photo sessions, business related, or personal journal entries. Thank you for being patient with us while we got back to standing, and thank you to everyone who showed us their love and support these past few weeks. It means more than you know.

All our love,