Just had the pleasure of shooting Mikael and Jon's family and forgot how nice it is to just shoot for fun.  So, like last year, I am going to do a small limited amount of very casual family sessions...interested?  Send me an email!  jay@jayreilly.com and tell me you want me to shoot your family!  I will send you all the details, thanks!

shot a story for surfer friend Esther Hahn about Steven Newton. 

Hi Everyone

Inspired by my good friend Victor Sizemore, I made some new pricesheets to keep it very simple.  I think I learned something at my own workshop!  Thanks Victor.  These are 5x7 folded greeting cards, very simple, afforable way to print, ship, or email the PDF version of my wedding stuff.  The little space makes you whittle down to only the most important information, which is the way I prefer. 

Below is a stack of 5x7 cards and the printed version of the PDF.

Shot an ad for airspeed shoots with good friend Nate Sherwood.  My brother was kind enough to shoot some video and hold some light.  A favor i will be returning this week on his toyota campaign shoot, cause he is bad ass and the sick clients!

Sometimes I just flat-out have tons of fun doing my job!  Whenever I can find a new way of doing something to keep it fresh or find a new take on an old task, i am happy.  As many of you know I am shooting a lot with the EP1 and i took it out to a wedding for Debora and David.  Groom David Lim is a fashion designer/entrepreneur with lots of photoshoot experience, i was wondering what he was wondering when I showed up to shoot the wedding with my pen.  He was either thinking this guys is really cool or am I wasting my money!  ha!!  Well that little camera just rocked it... fast focus, direct harsh flash, fast raw buffer, great color and tons of fun, and a bit of conversation piece.  But I think  people soon forgot I was the wedding photographer, but maybe just a guest!!   Exactly what I want!  Here are some pretty much right out of raw.

Hi Everyone,

I just realized, i am becoming a better editor!  Kinda nice when I spend more time editing than I do shooting, unfortunately.  But I have been finding that with less time to shoot stock images, i have found that more important than shooting tons of great images, editing them down to  the right images is essential.  Therefore, with all that in mind, here are a few thoughts on a nice tight edit.

1.  have a strong sense of intentional use, concept of feeling from the shoot.  It should help you to select the images that best represent the intentions.

2.  Finding editing software that you enjoy and gives you all the editing features you need to wade though hundreds or thousands of images.  I have been using Lightroom 2 and love it.

3.  Go with your gut feeling!  Your first impression of the image is often times the best.  If you tend to dwell on them too long, its easy to find flaws that might otherwise rule out a great image.

4.  Find an editing buddy.  Share your shoots with someone that you trust their insight and whom might have a different take on your eye.  I have been outsourcing my wedding editing to a past client that has fantastic insight on what my clients might like.

5.  Shoot a lot, but keep the content diverse and interesting.  No fun editing tons of the same stuff.

6.  Define your style and look for it as you edit. 

Happy editing!  Here are a few from today's edits!

Hi Everyone,

Do not post too much wedding stuff here but would like to share 2 albums that just came in.  Just got back from Paris and they were waiting for me to ship out!  Love checking these off the list.  Fun to shoot, fun to design, more fun to ship out and onto the next thing!  And for the very first time ever, I made it in a clients album, can you find me?

i have been shooting a ton a texture here which has been a lot of fun, maybe I will actually do something with it all!

just been messing around with my olympus pen.

having some fun with my new olympus pen and adobe lightroom!