Gearing up for Senior Portraits sessions for the Class of 2013!

See more of Rachel’s Session at:  http://clarsen.zenfolio.com/racheldemo

We created an awesome All-Inclusive Portrait Session for the Class of 2012.  It is simple to use, and includes everything you need!  Check out our price list at:  http://clarsen.zenfolio.com/seniorpricing.

See more of Ryan’s Session at:  http://clarsen.zenfolio.com/ryanedmondsdemo

Drop me a line at craig@craiglarsen.com, or Call/Txt me at 425-885-5553 and we would love to set something up for you!

BridalWorks Wedding Show at the Space Needle

Although I do not participate in very many wedding shows during the winter months, this is one that I did not want to miss.  I had a small space reserved and I was one of the speakers at the event.  I think the best part of being behind the camera and photographing the models and the show itself.  Naturally, when your daughter is a stunning little flower girl – she does get a lot of my camera’s attention!

 

 

Jennifer and Bryan

Although living in Arizona, they decided to get married here in the Northwest.  Specifically at the Hollywood Schoolhouse in Woodinville.  Jennifer looked simply radiant in her gown.  I think what surprised me most was that there was so much light – especially for a late January wedding.  I think this is what gives the Schoolhouse such a winter allure for couples.  It can be not-so-nice outside, but the large amount of windows create a beautiful natural light in almost any spot in the place!

 

 

 

6/12/2010 Andrea and Paul . . . . .

Andrea and Paul met with me in May of 2009 to discuss their wedding at the Antheia Ballroom in Snohomish.  It is a place that I feel very comfortable photographing in.  There is a certain harmony that jives very well with my style.  It could be the way that it is run, or simply the layout that works well with my style.  But bigger than the place was the heart and love between them.  At the time Paul was in a wheelchair recovering from a horrific car accident.  During the conversation it was clear that he was going to walk by the wedding in a year.  I think the images show that determination pays off.  It was a declaration of strength, patience, and belief.  He didn’t just walk, he danced!  Andrea has her own sense of style, elegance, and passion as the wedding images show.  I love it when the Bride and Groom help pick out spots to photograph, and then really participate in those images as well.  I was very blessed to be a part of this Wedding!

6/5/2010 Kimberly and Leland . . . . .

Jumping at Alki

Kimberly and Leland

Kimberly

Kimberly and Leland were married at the Westwood Christian Chapel surrounded by their large family and friends. The day was definitely festive.  The reception was held at the The Cove in Normandy Park which is large enough to hold, well don’t quote me on this, but I think there were close to 200 people.  Kimberly and Leland are a great couple that come from a great family.  We had such a great time photographing them, they have great energy!

By candle light . . . . .

Andrea & Dutch get married at Salty’s

View from Salty's

Andrea & Dutch

Andrea and her Boys

This why I like Small Weddings!  Andrea emailed me wondering if there are any photographers that do really “small weddings”?  I honestly stated that it seems to be my specialty!  She said she was referred by Salty’s on Alki (one of the best views of the city!).  I love Salty’s and it was reaffirming to know that I am still on their referral list:)  She wanted something very small as it was going to be about 40 people present.  Also, she has two sons that she wanted to incorporate into their wedding.  While the weather wasn’t sunny, or even warm – at least it was not raining.  What was warm were the people that attended.  The family was incredible, and it included both of Andreas Grandfathers – her son’s Great-Grandfathers no less.  Her bridesmaid’s added the serious fun to the Wedding!

Andrea, Father, Grandfathers and sons

Andrea and her Bridesmaids

Their self-portrait

Cheers!

Signing the license . . . .

5/2/2010 Mark & Donna

On the Roof of Court-in-the-Square

Wow!  My apologies for the delay in posting.  I am motivated I think by nice weather, not just sun – but toss in a little heat.  This Spring has been nothing to get motivated by, but as I have been photographing some very cool weddings populated by some truly great couples and their families – I figure I better sit down and share the love!

No less love goes out to Mark & Donna, who were such a great couple.  I think I was Marl’s last hope for hiring a professional.  The reason being is that our conversation started out something like – (I never remember verbatim conversations – but I get the vibe) “Listen Craig, we don’t want a big wedding package, or even images – we just want someone to come down and photograph our wedding with a close circle of friends!”  I told Mark, you had me at “listen Craig”.  This was his second marriage, and all he wanted was a couple hours.  Even in a couple hours I can create memories that will last forever.  A big plus was that I was working at Court-in-the-Square, which is located right in the heart of Downtown Seattle.  Working with Bob there is always a pleasure.  A new added pleasure was working with Annemarie Juhlian.  She is a wedding Officiant in the Seattle Area.  I think what I liked most about working with her was the fact that she treated this wedding, although small, as it were the only wedding in the world being held that day.  It is motivating to work around people like that! Another cool part about the Wedding was the fact that Bob had one of his staff walk us to the roof for an amazing view of Seattle.  I always remember as Mark & Donna were standing on the roof with the very big, impressive view of the City – Mark’s comment “God I love this town”. I couldn’t agree more Mark.

Annemarie Juhlian

Creating a Great Profile Image . . . .

Going through some of the Social Network sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc, I noticed that the profile images had quite a lot of size variety.  Not that there is much time to my weekly schedule to delve into this sort of thing. I did figure if I could find a good answer to it I would at least have something to write about, and one can never make a research effort like that without adding a bunch of cool links to my toolbar.   Before I get too far ahead of myself I do believe that you need to start with a great image of yourself.  Granted the obvious path would be to come and see me:). But my purpose isn’t really to plug my services, but to give you some pointers.  One doesn’t need a super professional camera, just one that the ability to take at least a 1.5mg file.  Set the camera at low ISO, say 100 or 200. The images will be crisper.  Now if you can’t get someone to take the image of you, then make sure that you have access to a tripod and a timer on the camera.  The best body position for your profile image would be a “3/4” style – that is head, shoulders, and upper torso to the belly button area.  You don’t need any special type of lighting other than window light. That being said, make sure that the window is on the shadow side of your house – you don’t want to be blinded by sun light. Shoot away!  Take a couple dozen.  Smile for some, pleasant for others, and maybe some serious ones.  Try to edit down to 2-3.

Make sure you like the image that you are going to use – one of the most important additions that you can add to any of your Social Media sites is the consistency of your image.  You should use one or maybe two of the images on all your sites.  You can add some variety to your images with post editing software such as Photoshop and there are enough Photoshop tutorials on YouTube to keep you busy for a couple weeks. Once you have your image, there are countless post editing actions that are available on the internet. Make sure that you start with a 72dpi image.  If you have done nothing except edit and use Photoshop actions then the image size will probably be a 300dpi image, which is too large for most sites.  Once you have your image worked up, the next item on your short list is to make sure that your image fits the dimensions required by that particular site. Here is a short list of dimension for the popular sites:

• Facebook – 50X50 (pixels)
• Twitter – 73X73
• Plaxo – 114X161 (this varied)
• LinkedIn –   80X80
• StumbleUpon  64X64
• Digg – 120X120

When in doubt you can can do is to navigate to someone’s profile page, right-click on the avatar, and choose “View Image Info,” which will display details about that image, including the dimensions of it.

You can also add a little fun to your avatar by trying some of these sites.  They are fun and very easy to use:

photofunia

MadMen

Even your own Simpson’s Avatar

Below are some examples of images I set up for posting styles.

Sepia                        Cyanotype             Black & White         Cross Platform            Color

Here are some avatars that I created from Photofunia.

Cliff Note version of my Coverages . . . .

The last couple years I have been re-vamping and massaging my coverages so that they can fit into smaller wedding budgets.  Through some trial & error and a lot of honesty – I think I might it have it right.  My coverages allow me to work with amazing couples with budgets that are smaller than their dreams.  Basically, I rent my time to couples.  The fees I charge cover my time, and in return the couples get a complete set of the images I take at their wedding. Not only do they get the world’s hardest working wedding photographer, but they also a very creative approach to their wedding.  All the digital files will arrive to them on DVD within 60-90days, User rights free.  This means that you can print, copy, share, publish, create slide shows, burn DVD’s, etc. Nothing up the sleeve, no hidden charges.

The Redmond Wedding Show!

I just did my only Wedding Show of the year this past Saturday.  It is the Redmond Wedding Show held the 1st Weekend in March.  It is a wonderfully small show that attracts between 50-75 Brides for the 6 hour show.  This year was even better than last year!  As usual the Redmond Senior Center was very accommodating and wonderful.  Plus I shared my table with Rebecca Iverson whose wedding I photographed 11 years ago, and have been photographing her and her husbands family ever since.  She started her Wedding Coordinating company recently called Blush Celebrations.  She is an extremely organized person, but has a way about her that allows her clients to have input at any level and any time.  We just did a wedding together on February 13th that was a lot of fun.  Also, met a couple other vendors that I really thought we were too good not to mention.  Jennifer Witsil Creative who does very cool invitations – I loved her spacial design work.  Also got reacquainted with Twelve Baskets Catering. Specifically, Stephanie Salemann, who is the Wedding sales and event coordinator. She had stole my stomach’s heart with her deep fat fried pita chips sprinkled with curry seasoning.  On the side she had an artichoke dip that was a perfect compliment to the chips.  I love Twelve Baskets no-nonsense-approach to Catering.