Jamie & Amy

On Friday the 24th Melissa & I had the pleasure of shooting Jamie & Amy's wedding. It was an absolute blast! Its rare to have people dancing like maniacs the entire night. Thank you Jamie & Amy and everyone who made it a great experience! Here is a sneak preview!

P.S. For those who haven't had the opportunity to vote for us for Best of Philly - Wedding Photographers please visit http://myfoxphilly.cityvoter.com/m2-photography/biz/372102
and vote! We appreciate your support!!



Photography is Art is Philosophy is You.

I remember when I started shooting in high school. I was in love with National Geographic and thought of photographs as interesting things to look at. I quickly adapted to the notion and started creating pictures that looked interesting to me. Didn't take long before I discovered there was much more to a photograph than a photograph. I then became more interested and started creating.

While in college I spent a lot of my free time studying photographers and discovered that I wasn't alone in my thoughts towards photography. Photography IS art. Note: me going to college was simply to learn the medium, nothing more. Shows how naive I really was. The interesting thing is that the schooling had little to do with my learning yet it afforded me time to do learning on my own.

Though I dislike the term Artist, that's what I am. I like to think of artists as philosophers though. Art's purpose has always been to communicate. Tell stories, teach, explore, expose, and share ideas. An interesting thing about an artist is that they can't stop creating and aren't limited to one medium. It has nothing to do with a medium - it's the person themselves and whats available to them as they choose to create.

With that being said I believe we are all philosophers in a way. Some simply haven't discovered it yet and/or some don't believe in themselves. For example - have you ever seen an image in your mind that relates to something you're going through/thinking/feeling? Maybe its not the best example but that's my problem(gift?). Basically everything internal and external is interpreted into images.

Why am I talking about this now, I don't really know, lol. I have had this one way conversation in my head for quite some time and thought I'd share. Also, I have a new image recently created that is a great example of my work. My preferred medium is obviously photography but I love painting as well and this ties the two together (for me).

There will be certain pieces you create that will be special to you forever and this is one of them.

Feel free to comment on this post. I'm always interested in hearing other peoples thoughts.

*please click on image to view larger*

Continue shooting.

Some of you have seen a few of these pictures already but I wanted to share some new images we've created recently. Why? I believe it's extremely important for a photographer to continually shoot and create. It doesn't matter what you shoot. Just shoot.

It keeps you on your game. You will come up with new idea's for other things and create art in the mean time. It challenges you to make interesting images (even when you don't think there is anything interesting around). All theses images below I have come across throughout my daily life.

It's important also to not always have your camera with you. Enjoy your life without documenting it. Allow use of your memory without photographs. For example, Melissa, Ava, Bella and I went to Sesame Place yesterday WITHOUT a camera. We had fun. I wasn't worried about getting certain shots or anything at all! I guess its safe to say that there is a good balance needed.

Michael.

*Click on the images to view them larger*




Before & After

A friend of ours, Whitney from SC recently posted on her facebook a before & after picture showing what the pictures looked like before processing(raw) and after processing. I for one am always interested in seeing that sort of thing. It gives you a great idea of what goes into processing pictures. Sometimes it's pretty amazing.

I recently was watching a video as well with three successful, well known photographers. Chase Jarvis, David Hobby (Strobist), and David Nightingale (Chromasia). They were talking about how important it is for people in all industries to SHARE. Unfortunately there are many photographers who turn their backs on other photographers and treat their knowledge as guarded treasures. I completely agree with sharing your knowledge and everything you have to offer.

I want to start showing Before & After pictures more and I want to be able to answer any questions anyone has. Whether it be about certain images of ours, process, thoughts, or even how I tricked Melissa into marrying me(lol).

Feel free to comment on here or you can email us at mmphotography@comcast.net or get in touch with me through Facebook - facebook.com/m2photography.

Here is our first Before & After. There are some obvious differences and not so obvious. This image took me about 15 minutes to do with something like 6 steps.

Michael.


*click to enlarge*

It's fun having kids.

There are so many little things that you discover about being a parent. It's usually good things too. This morning I was bringing the girls downstairs. They are at the point where they want to go down by themselves. I'm fine with that but it's scary seeing them try to walk down - a stair is almost half their size so it's quite a step. We are always asking them to sit on their but or go down backwards but they don't listen.

Duh! That's because they see us walking down so they want to walk down too! So there I was this morning going down step by step - on my butt - two flights. We were all making the sounds you make when you do that, the "uuhhhhhhh". And when you hit the next stair it makes the sound stop abruptly. "uuhhhhh - UH!" It's much harder hitting the next step at my current weight than when I was 25 lbs too.

I wanted to share this picture with you. When ever the girls see an opportunity to get into a small space they like to take advantage.

Gino & Megan

Guess who got to shoot a wedding of 4th of July? WE DID! We had a blast shooting Gino & Megan's wedding. This was yet another couple we hadn't met before shooting their wedding so we weren't sure what to expect but Oh Man! They are a great couple. They were up for anything and everyone was having a great time.

Here is a sneak peak!