Shutter Snap Studios

My apologies for not updating the blog sooner, the holidays really took their toll on my getting stuff done that wasn’t an absolute necessity!  We’ve updated our wedding photography pricing and now have packages.  I really liked the way we DID have the pricing setup but I think it was pretty confusing to people.  I set it up exactly how I would like to shop for such a service and I think that my own practices do not reflect most other peoples.  I am slightly obsessive, research endlessly, and like to compare every nuance of an item or service to its competitors.  Hence, I setup the original pricing using an a la carte system where you could basically build your own packages.  It was great if you were someone like me, but could be time consuming to figure out if you just wanted to know “how much will it cost” quickly and painlessly.

Hence, we now have packages!  They are simple, easy, and offer a lot for your dollar.  All of the packages come with a print credit, it can be applied towards ANY of our products, including high resolution dvd’s.  We really want people to receive actual tangible goods from us, so we decided we positively must include a print credit even with our lowest package.  However, our packages are completely customizable, if you would like to mix and match or have something different in mind we are happy to work with you on such.

Also, we have now started offering Zookbinders products, specifically the flush mount Zook Book album.  We are VERY excited about having these as they offer a high quality but lower cost alternative to our higher end Graphistudio albums.  The Graphistudio albums are really amazing and they offer some sizes that are larger than the Zook Book, but they come at a real price.  We want everyone to be able to afford an album so we added the Zookbinders line once we decided that we would not have to sacrifice quality to do it.  We are also thinking of offering Asuka books, but we haven’t decided yet about these.  They are more of a coffee table book style with much thinner magazine style pages and a traditional style book binding.  If you are interested in these please let us know!  We are concerned that carrying three different album lines might be confusing and hard to keep track of so I am hesitant to do it.  However, if the demand is there we certainly want our customers to get what they want so let us know!

I’ve added an articles side to the Shutter Snap Studios website. You can find it HERE It is geared more towards photographers who might just be starting out or looking for an opinion on common areas of debate, like RAW vs. Jpeg, or what camera to get etc. The article I’m most proud of however is the one about modifying the Vivitar 285HV flash to add a mono jack to it. Check it out HERE This allows you to easily plug it into pocket wizards or other radio slaves as well as to easily sync it up with a 580ex with a similar modification. This modification was a big deal when it became readily available for the 580ex online and I think doing this to a 285HV would give you a good affordable companion to a 580. Think about this: you are shooting the formals after a wedding and want to use two lights. Well, put your 580ex up on a lightstand connected to an extended off camera shoe cord (I’ll write an article on how to do that soon too, but its really easy…just pick up some Cat-5 cable if I remember right). Then connect it with a 1/8 in. mono cable to a vivitar 285hv on the other side. You now have reliable lighting and you don’t have to worry about it being triggered by wedding guests camera flashes, or being less effective because its too bright outside for an optical slave to work well. Just remember to keep the cables as clean as possible, you don’t want to have to test out your liability insurance. Also, I’m sure you can find a use for it inside at a reception, or for many other aspects of wedding photography. I use it a good bit also for portrait photography and for taking pictures of small stuff for commercial photography. The pictures of Babe that you saw below are a product of using this system as well. It is really quite nice to have this option!

I don’t have anything too important to say, but it’s been a while since I updated! Look to see some pictures to pop up on here soon, we have two weddings within the next month and we are VERY excited. Also, I’m going to try to include a few random pictures soon so keep an eye out. One thing I ran across today was this post. My favorite quoted quote has to be “He should not beat her like he would beat an animal or a child — slapping them right and left.” The post is about a Muslim cleric publicly talking about men beating their wives. It’s an interesting post and I think worth a read!

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to do some portraits of a really wonderful and fun couple! Aron and Jimmy got married at the church in their hometown last Tuesday and came here for their honeymoon. They were staying at the Hotel Contessa on the Riverwalk and we took some great photographs in and around the lobby there as well as at spots on the river!

We got to spend 4 hours with them on Saturday afternoon for their portraits. I really like being able to take longer with clients because I feel it helps us come up with the best images possible. Also, it gives everyone a chance to acclimate to each other and get comfortable. As you can probably tell, they have such a sweet dynamic that just shines through in their pictures! Speaking of pictures, check out just a little of what we came up with below. Congratulations Aron and Jimmy on your marriage; may you have very many wonderful and happy years together!

Last night I overhauled the site navigation on my website and I am very excited about it! Previously we had buttons across the top under the banner logo. It worked decently but was a bit confusing since the buttons changed places depending on what page you were on. They had to be different since I couldn’t possibly fit all of them across in one big row and putting them elsewhere on the page didn’t fit with what I wanted the site to look like either.

All of that is over now though. We now have a spiffy new drop down menu navigation using css and javascript. I didn’t write the code myself, I got it from here. As you can see, the new navigation system actually makes sense and looks the same on all the pages! It also allowed me to slim the site down by taking out a couple of placeholder pages such as a parent gallery page that just had links to the actual galleries themselves. Also, the navigation menu is friendly to the search engine spiders which is important. It took me maybe 2 hours from start to finish to get done on the whole site, which in my world is virtually painless when it comes to working on the website!

You have to realize, I made my website myself and learned completely as I went. Previous attempts to make a website ended with a solid page of red after an hour and me giving up. Getting the website to where it is today is something I’m VERY proud of! Sure, it’s not as hip and flash filled as a lot of websites out there, but I think its clean, simple, and nice looking. Also, it has no music, a BIG deal to me. I literally scream at my computer when sites load music without asking me if its ok!

I also wanted to mention that on Saturday we have a session with a really fun couple, look forward to seeing some pictures from it soon. Also, in the past week or two I’ve found out about 3 different friends getting engaged, so congratulations to them! Last, but not least, thank you to my parents for the comments they recently posted. They have always been extremely supportive of me in all the things I have done and I love them very much. There’s a photo of them below!

I was just thinking today about how much I like the rain. More specifically I love thunderstorms, the bigger the better! In keeping with the spirit of wishing for rain, here is a photo of lightning that I took about a year ago. It was when a particularly large storm rolled through and it was absolutely breathtaking. We only had one mishap that night…I almost drove halfway to Corpus without really realizing it and we were out until around 5am!

I have an absolutely wonderful dog, her name is Babe and we adopted her when she was a 9 week old puppy. We adopted her from a wonderful organization called The Animal Defense League. If you live in San Antonio and are looking for a dog or cat, I strongly recommend looking here! The ADL is the largest non-profit, no-kill shelter in the Southwest and I think thats a good thing. When you consider the fact that the San Antonio Animal Control euthanized 32,799 pets in 2006 while only adopting out 2,389 you can see how an operation like the ADL is needed and valuable.

Anyway, I’ll step off of my soapbox now. Babe has now gotten old enough and calm enough that she will sit for pictures without being exhausted! Previously one of my favorite techniques for photographing her was just to tire her out enough that she would lay down, which is pretty effective. However, it leads to her having her big tongue dangling out for every picture. The tongue wagging is cute for a few shots but you can’t have them ALL that way! This time however we had a major breakthrough, I got her to sit for some photos involving lights, umbrellas, reflectors, the whole works. The trick was simple…small pieces of hot dogs. Babe will do just about anything for food! Some of her “head shots” are below.

Welcome to the new Shutter Snap Studios blog! Shutter Snap Studios offers wedding, portrait, event, and commercial photography to San Antonio and the surrounding areas. My name is Nathan Kerr and I am assisted in all ways by my wife Joanna. If you’re REALLY lucky she might even write a blog entry from time to time! That’s a good thing, since she has better English skills than myself. I do the majority of the photography with Joanna helping out and offering a second angle during key moments of weddings and events. Joanna mostly handles paperwork, scheduling, and managing me. Without her I’d just sit around all day taking and editing pictures. I’d never remember to check my e-mail or look at a calendar, so she is truly indispensable!

My goal with this blog is to not just offer a place for our customers to find out about us and what we are up to. I will also discuss photography tricks and techniques as well as the occasional nifty link to random websites that I find interesting. I hope you enjoy our blog, I’m looking forward to expanding photography on the internet just a little bit further!

I leave you with some images from a recent wedding we photographed for a very delightful couple. Juan and Sarah were married at the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts where they also held their reception. It is a beautiful venue and we very much enjoyed their wedding! Their wedding was very relaxed and non-traditional; the shot glasses for the toast read “Juan and Sarah, taking a shot at marriage!”