The Blog Design Process

June 28, 2011 Michelle Cross

I thought it might be interesting to let you in on the process Kristy and I went through in designing this blog. To me it’s both comical and painful, but like anything the hard work was so beyond worth it in the end. I began by telling Kristy I wanted something clean, simple, classic, and with a flair of the romantic. Something, maybe, pink? If I were to be honest, when I received the first draft back my stomach dropped and my throat swelled – considerably. Whoever told me pink was my color was seriously mistaken. This isn’t to say I don’t love wearing or seeing or even decorating with it, but when I think of a color that is me, pink ain’t it. I oh-so-tactfully told Kristy I would prefer something a little less ‘Pepto-Bismally’ (Who actually writes that in an email?!?!), and true to form she delivered.

The second draft was considerably better but still not congruent with my vision. While I love flowers, I’m not really a frills sort of girl. Again I wanted the blog clean and simple. Kristy eventually nixed the flower completely and toyed with a couple header options before presenting a few new drafts.

While it looks so simple in this blog post, what you don’t see is the process that occurred through drafts three, four, and five. We had finally reached a point where I loved the basic design of the blog page. However, what I wasn’t sold on were the font selections. Sadly for Kristy all I knew was that the font of choice was too frilly or too slanted or too bold or too soft or too BIG or too…ugly. So email after email Kristy sent me revision after revision with something like twenty different font options (for every font on the page!). Ohhhh people in my life, you are good people for putting up with me!

Finally we found the fonts for each area of the page and the date was written perfect and the title wasn’t too bold and the categories were the correct size and all was right in the world. Truly.

Easy, right? Hardly. But quite worth it because now I have a blog that makes me happy and, by the sounds of your sweet comments on here and on Facebook, makes you happy as well. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Michelle.

New Collateral

June 27, 2011 Michelle Cross

I did it again. That thing where I wait at the door and stare through the peephole waiting in desperate anticipation for the FedEx man to arrive. Fiiinally he showed up, painfully later than usual, as is most commonly the case when I’m waiting for a package. You may think it sounds dull to be this excited about proof boxes and DVD cases but these are the things that make my heart sing. They’re silk cloth fabrics bound in ribbon. I can’t think of anything more perfect to house the photographs from a wedding day. If I could I would line my walls in Japanese book cloth and tie silk ribbon around every door. In the off chance I baked you something sweet I would wrap the goods in duponi and secure the treasure with a perfect satin bow. I would dress my tables and pillows and future children alike in dresses, scarves, and socks of silk cloth. And I’m only slightly kidding. Then it only makes sense, doesn’t it, that I give my truly lovely clients a product that makes my heart sing? I think it’s only right…

This is something I’m really, truly excited about. I feel passionately about couples seeing their images in print and because of this I just began offering my clients something I like to call The Proof Package. The proof package is a way for a bride and groom to see all of their final wedding day photographs in a custom, handmade silk cloth box. I think the emotional connection to a real, physical picture is far greater than that of an image on a screen. I want couples to see their photos for the first time and relive every single feeling they experienced on their special day. To me, that would be a job well done.

Happy Monday, Michelle

The World of Film

May 30, 2011 Michelle Cross

Remember this post when I was so excited to introduce my newest camera? For the past few months we've been exploring what it means to shoot with film. Last week we received our first order back from Richard Photo Lab and I was blown away with the result. People have been asking me if there's a visible difference between film and digital. And to be completely honest my answer is a definitive I don't know. For the most part I can tell when a photographer shoots with film versus when he or she shoots digitally. But there are ways, really, really good ways off camera, through Photoshop and a variety of other software, to make digital pictures appear nearly identical to film. So what, then, is the real difference between the two? I can only speak for myself but in my personal experience it has less to do with the look of the image than it does with the feel. Last week, as Colton and I anxiously looked through the proofs of our negatives, I couldn't help but feel as though we were looking at something special, something timeless. It's one thing to sit at your desk and look at your photos on a computer screen. But it is another thing entirely to open up a box of prints and feel them between your fingers. To see your images in all their grain and grit and glory and to really, actually feel them. As crazy as it is a printed picture is somewhat hard to come by in today's world. We take our images from the DVD and download them to our laptop before uploading them to Facebook for the world to see. And I definitely get it, I did the exact thing with my own wedding photos just over a year ago. But with film I'm forced to actually take note of a photograph's physical existence. I load the film, I think about each click of the shutter, and I see the images for the first time in my own hands. It gives me a whole new appreciation for what emotion photography can evoke.

I'm posting a few shots from our first few adventures with film. I apologize in advance for the number of pictures of myself. It's embarrassing and I cannot help but feel like the person who makes a Facebook album and tags herself in every picture (you all know exactly who I'm talking about). Go ahead and judge, I'm doing the same thing. But I think these pictures are a good representation of the look and feel of film - a look that can't quite be put into words. I'd be remiss if I didn't say that Colton took the majority of these pictures which, like always, fills me with equal parts pride and raging jealousy.

...but maybe a little more jealousy.