Michele Celentano brought a dynamic and fast-moving program to the January PPGBA meeting, and the very large audience of at least 108 members and guests rewarded her with rapt attention and warm applause. She started her presentation with a series of rapid photojournalism-type wedding photos, to give us a feel for the kind of images she has been so successful selling. A bundle of energy, Michele has combined that energy with her photographic talents and digital imaging to produce a winning package.

After attending photo school, Michele was photographer on a cruise ship - perfect training for a wedding photographer - always on the go with lots of pressure, shooting photos on speculation that the clients can't do without. Then she worked as an assistant, and as a shooter for other studios. But, shooting to "The List" drove her crazy, and she was criticized for over shooting. She would use some of her own film, and come back with more exposed film than the studio gave her and then would run into objections that "those will never sell!"

Her next phase was education into the finer points of professional photography, and she showed some amusing images of her "before" phase. Then she mentioned some of the outstanding photographers she had studied by attending their programs. The first mentioned was Don Blair. She wanted to practice some bridal poses Don had demonstrated, and had only her boyfriend to model for her. So she showed some very funny snaps of this young man posed as a bride, with expressions to match. Others mentioned for their influence were Monte Zucker, Hanson Fong (who was present at the meeting), Clay Blackmore, and then Denis Reggie and Gary Fong introduced her to the photojournalism style, and she was enraptured! She loved it because there were NO RULES! You were free to experiment, tilt the camera, introduce your own ideas rather than follow "The List." Which was best portrait style or photojournalism? Why not BOTH? 

Michele next spent considerable time giving us her ideas on what makes a great photojournalist. Most were expanded upon, but in most cases, I will just list the topics:

Details - shoot them all - close ups of the dress, flowers, shoes, etc.

Capture emotions - most important. 

Reality - get action and reaction.

Storytelling - will sell more images. 

Dynamic composition - tilt the camera, look for high angles, etc.

Find something new in each wedding - no two albums should look the same.

Desirable traits to have:

Anticipation - know when something is about to happen.

Have eyes in the back of your head.

Be at the same emotional place as the bride.

Follow your heart.

Blend in, be unobtrusive.

Have great assistants, break all the rules, have the right tools.

The next part of Michele's program was devoted to the business of wedding photography. Her first suggestion was sell your work "a la carte." She has a low minimum, but explains to the clients that she shoots a great many images, because she has no way of knowing which they will want, and by arranging the images in imaginative ways in the album, she never sells the minimum. Don't let your proofs out the studio door! With scanners readily available, you'll not sell those images! The keys to big sales are: be proofless, design each album individually, keep in control of your sale, and get as much money as possible up front, before the wedding.

Today Michele is 100% digital for her wedding photography, but she did show some film images that were both fish-eye and very wide angle.

She has been using the recently introduced Canon EOS-1D, which has both a high-definition sensor, and a very rapid shooting rate (8 frames per sec. up to 21 frames). She carries a large number of Canon lenses, including a very long zoom. She loves the ability to choose several "film" speeds at will. She decides which images she wants in black and white in the first edit, and converts them there. She mentioned she did not use the IBM Microdrive storage media, because while they will hold a greater capacity, drop one and you're dead.

Michele handles her digital images by first making a CD from all the images she took (from the memory cards). This gives her a backup source. Then she edits out the images she does not want to keep, and makes another CD. She sends that CD to her lab, which sends her back low resolution images to use in the Montage proofing program. She does to Montage proof show for her clients, gets the order, and only then will give the clients the information so they and friends can access the images on the web from the lab's web page. She is pleased that every month, she receives a check from the lab (for prints that have been ordered online). The lab makes those prints, ships them, and handles the billing, all for a small fee 

Michele then showed two slide shows. The first was some very moving images taken recently at the World Trade Center in New York. The final slide show was of "Wedding Details" and the whole show was of her specialty - close-ups that most of us might not have considered photographing.