Heidi Ryder Photography: The Blog » Southern California and Destination Wedding Photography

I know that I’ve chosen the right career path with photography because when I don’t have my camera with me, I am constantly taking imaginary photos with my eyes. I close my eyelids quickly, pretending they are the shutter. When I open them, I have an image burned into my brain.  I crave the feeling and sound of the shutter closing and can’t wait for the next opportunity to pick up my camera and experience that sensation once again.

The gratifying nature of this experience is only amplified when I have beautiful things to photograph. Last week I was able to spend time with Tess and Nicole, two lovely models. It was a spur of the moment shoot that involved little to no planning, but I am so glad it worked out the way it did. I’ll shut up now and let the images tell you about our day…

It really makes my day when a wedding blogger loves a wedding I’ve photographed so much that they blog about it. Today, Amanda and Oliver’s wedding was featured on Vintage Glam Weddings!  Here’s a screen cap of the post, but be sure to visit Vintage Glam because it is one awesome wedding blog.

When I started my own photography  business I quickly became very aware of great customer service and how important it is to stand out and go the extra mile for your clients in order to give them an experience to remember you by. So, I always appreciate it when I come across others who go above and beyond what is expected of them.

Katie works at Fotoworks Pro, the photo lab I use for my photographic prints. She’s become a recognizable name in this industry among lots of photographers because she puts herself out there as the face of the company, and is constantly striving to foresee the needs of her clients. I admire her dedication to her job and the lengths she goes to in order to provide unbeatable customer service.

I had the privilege of shooting some photos of the lovely Katie this past weekend. It was so much fun finally getting to meet her in person—all of our correspondence up to that point had been via email, Twitter and Facebook! We frolicked in a grassy field for a while and then went out for dinner and some fun conversation about the photography business and other non-related things.

Thanks for hanging out, Katie! I think you are so lovely…you make ordering prints fun!

Katie brought along her grandfather’s vintage camera as a prop, which excited me to no end. It was perfect!

I hope Katie doesn’t kill me for posting these ones. I think she looks so cute when she’s cracking up!

Last week Chris and I were invited to the official unveiling of the mural on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. It was a big super hero and cartoon character themed party and because we have awesome friends, I was able to get a press pass, which secured entrance for me and my camera!

I pass the Warner Bros. lot on a frequent basis since we live just down the street from it, and the mural is visible from the street. It was something I always enjoyed seeing, especially since it featured one of my favorite animated robots, The Iron Giant. I was pretty upset when I saw deconstruction began, and I could only hope that the new mural would be super awesome. I think they did a pretty good job, but I have to admit, I’m going to miss that robot. You’ll just have to keep reading to see the new mural and decide for yourself how awesome it is.

Mario Lopez and his dimple were there to get the party started off right…

And, boy, did the party start off right…The Beat Freaks from this past season of America’s Best Dance Crew were there to perform! I squeed like a little girl, I was so excited. I am a HUGE fan of this group and they were so, so, so awesome live.

After the girls did their thang, there were some other things to check out, like face painting and photo booths and the Mystery Machine from the Scooby Doo movies.

And, let’s not forget the reason for the celebration…the new mural. It’s really two murals in one! Superheroes by day and villians by night. Pretty neat.

Sam is a musician who plays for local churches, pre-schools, retreats and the like and was in need of some photos to accompany the resume he sends out when trying to secure gigs. I was happy to oblige. As I’ve found to be true with most musicians, Sam was definitely more comfortable in front of the camera when he had a guitar to play. This was fine with me because those are the shots that ended up feeling the most authentic.

Here are a few of my favorites:

I woke up this morning to discover that one of my images was featured on a fabulous wedding blog, Green Wedding Shoes. What a treat! Apparently someone likes bow ties as much as I do, becasue the bow tie shot from Amanda and Oliver’s wedding was the photo that got used. I’m so glad bow ties are “in” these days…they’re so quirky and fun!

Here’s a screen capture of the feature, but be sure to go visit Green Wedding Shoes for tons of fantastic wedding inspiration!

A few weeks ago I begin spending a couple of hours every weekend on a small project for my friend Kerim, the owner of My Wedding Blooms, a boutique wedding floral provider. Every wedding season, Kerim builds one sample centerpiece for each of his clients so that they can see, feel and even smell the centerpieces that will eventually be used at their wedding. This gives brides and grooms a great opportunity to change anything they don’t like or even add more of things they do. Just in the several hours total that I spent at these sample days, I saw how beneficial it was for a couple to see their actual centerpiece before their wedding day. A couple of them even changed the look of their piece altogether by the time they left! It’s nice that Kerim’s clients are able to look to the rest of his work for inspiration.

But, I digress. The reason I was there was to photograph all of the sample centerpieces so that I could put an album together for Kerim to show potential clients. Now, future brides and grooms will have a ton of inspiration in one little book and Kerim will be able to show off all of his masterpieces quickly and easily!

I don’t know a whole lot about flowers but I do know that the pieces Kerim and his staff create are amazing. From the simple and elegant to the extravagant and divine, I saw it all over the course of my time there. Here are is just a very small sampling of my favorites:

I wanted to test out the light at a new location the other day so my friend James volunteered to step in as my model. We decided to do a straight-forward headshot session. It was decided that the location was a dud, but James may have a future as a model—or at least as my permanent light test stand-in! Here are my three favorites: