Needless to say, I’m honored to take this family’s photos once more. I love being able to capture such fleeting moments; both casual occurrences and precious memories at the same time. Jessica and Mike, thank you for choosing me as your photographer. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Still want more? See a couple hundred extra in their online gallery:  http://vando.imagequix.com/galleries.html?id=R93M19R, or visit my Facebook Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Photography-by-Arika-Reed/284336301359?ref=nf

Details to notice:

Make Up: Lily Johnson

Pastor: Rev. JoAnna Caro from Shades of You Wedding Services www.sandiego2wed.com

Photobooth: Great Memories Photo Booth www.greatMemoriesPhotoBooth.com

Band: Len Rainey and the Midnight Players (be warned, they say they don’t do weddings. That being said, they were the best wedding band I’ve ever heard. Unique and truly, truly awesome): http://www.myspace.com/lenraineyandthemidnightplayers

Thanks for playing and stay tuned for more fun giveaways in the future. For those of you who didn’t win, please remember that ThinWraps are the special offer for April and are currently 20% off. This can save you oodles of money, so if you’d still like to order, please email me your request by Friday. Payment will be made via PayPal through an email invoice.

ThinWraps are awesome. I just ordered 1 last month and LOVE IT!!  Due to the April promotion of 20% off ThinWraps, I have decided to share the love and give the opportunity to YOU to get a FREE one of your own.  All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and I will randomly select a winner. Don’t know what a ThinWrap is? Check out my product page for details: http://www.arikareed.com/about/photo-product-price-list/

Rules:

1. One entry per person, and you must use a valid email address to leave your comment.  (This will only be used to notify the winner).  If you use a fictitious email, you will never know if you won!

2. Entries must be in by tomorrow, April 26th at 10am. That’s 24 hours from now, so don’t wait!  I will need to confirm and place your order by 9am on Friday, April 27th, so please only enter if you will be around to confirm and redeem the prize.

3. The image on the ThinWrap must have been taken by Photography by Arika Reed.

4. I will seek permission for the printing of others photographs before placing the order. For example, if you were a guest at a wedding, and are ordering a picture of the couple, I will confirm they know who you are.  If I don’t recognize your name, you may want to save yourself some time and tell me what relationship you have with the client.  Better yet, tell them you are entering for the prize; they may want a chance too!

5. Free ThinWrap is valid for your choice of a 5×5, 5×7, 8×8, 8×10, or 8×12 size. You may choose from lustre paper, metallic paper, or canvas.  Depending on your choice, this is over an $85 value!!  Choose from a mounting block or easel to display your new piece of art!

6. Please only vote for yourself. If you are a relative or friend of someone in the photo, the thinwrap is intended for you, not the subject in the image. For example, if you are a grandparent of a child from one of my sessions and want the thinwrap of your grandchild for your own home, it’s fair game. If you’re the grandparent of a child from a session and plan on giving the wrap away to your son or daughter, it’s against the rules. Thanks for understanding!

Good luck!!

Hmmm…. I suppose I should look at this as a huge compliment! Anyhow, Zubin, I hope these images live up to your expectations, and I will continue to cross my fingers that you never figure out how to take the photo and be in the photo at the same time. Enjoy!

If you attended the party, and would like to see more, please ask the hosts. They have the online gallery information!

Most of you know that I’m hesitant to show my straight-out-of-the-camera shots. The reason why is it’s a piece of art that’s been started, but is only half done. I had a guy at a party the other day come up to me and ask to see the picture I just took.  I declined and said if it turned out well, he could see it in the online gallery. He replied something along the lines of, “So, you can just go home, edit and then only show your best work?” Exactly. Why would I want to do anything else?

Anyway, here is an example of an extreme edit. One of those images that I consider to be turned into a real piece of art. Following the color edit are 2 conversions to black and white. The first is simply converted to black and white with a touch of a button. This is what happens when one checks the “black and white” box and prints a color file in black and white.  The second black and white is custom made and much less flat.

Please note that I understand that not everyone has the same preferences that I do. There will be some of you that prefer the 1st black and white, and the 1st straight out of the camera shot to the original. I understand this and just wanted to show the difference a full edit can make. It’s easy to see a finished project side by side with the original and think the new one is overdone. However, you take that finished image alone and it looks natural and beautiful. As a test to see what I mean, read through this post, and look at the pictures 1 by 1. Then scroll slowly back up. You’ll notice that the first color photo (fully edited) looks much more natural following the flat black and white edit.

1. Straight out of the camera:

2. Full edit:

3. The full edit simply converted to black and white:

4. Custom created black and white: