Information :: Ten Things About Us

A little while ago, we shared a few things about each of us on Instagram:

Pete:
1) is half-Czech
2) moved 8 times during childhood
3) has visited 3 continents to date - 4 to go

Em:
1) played competition tennis for approx. 7 years
2) has rural roots (small town of Chinchilla, Queensland)
3) was in a tambourine ensemble... don't ask haha

It was a fun exercise (for something different). We figured that we would continue the theme a little with 5 things for each of us:

Pete:

  • Is yet to find chilli so hot that he can’t eat it

  • Will talk about the behaviour of light when you ask for best-lighting-on-the-day advice (geek alert) but will come up with Dad jokes as prompts for posing (talk about hitting the jackpot) :D

  • Has been on 64 flights to date

  • Has held a baby crocodile

  • Makes the absolute best prosciutto and rucola pizza (and vanilla slice, while we are at it)

Em:

  • Misses the Nokia 3310; those were the simpler days

  • Has waved to the Queen

  • Mapped out Parisian adventures around sweet tooth: self-dubbed “Tour de boulangerie”

  • Bumped into Steve Irwin at Australia Zoo (he was carrying Bindi - a baby - in a duffle bag)

  • Is scared of heights but has also been skydiving (along with Pete)

From a recent wedding (image by Pete from Poppy & Sage Photography)

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The Elephant in the Room :: Raw Files

"I just want access to the images from the most important day in my life! I enjoy playing around with Photoshop and Lightroom. I don't understand why it is too much to ask for the raw files. Furthermore, what if there is an image that the photographer doesn’t care for but is important to me or us?"

This is a question that pops up from time to time. It is a really good question, too! At Poppy & Sage Photography, we do not provide raw files as part of our delivery. Here is our why:

  • This is in line with the stated terms and conditions in our contract. It is our business policy. We only ever show our best work.

  • Delivering a complete product is important to us. It is our job; it is what you, as the client, are paying us to do. The preparation (meeting, emailing & planning) is key. The shooting (time, experience & equipment) is key. The culling is key. The colour correction is key. In particular, our editing style is essential to our brand. Every aspect of the process is just as crucial to the final product as each other.

  • Both the underlying raw files and the subsequent finalised images we provide to you all have our creative fingerprint on them; be it prior planning and storyboarding, our professional input to composition on the day, or a number of other aspects to our craft. In the same way one would not allow a stranger to work on an artist’s marble carving at any stage of their process, we do not provide our raw files as part of our business model.

  • We totally understand the concern that we might not choose an image that means the world to you. We take a ton of images on any given wedding day. Of that ton, a good amount can be accounted for in multiples, typically with only nanoseconds between them. This is especially pertinent because we shoot together; we collate all files and choose the best. Some of the images are visual exposure tests. If we followed anyone around for a day (or someone followed us), we can absolutely guarantee unflattering images - blinking, awkward moments, and so on. We strive to give you beautiful & memorable images from your day that you will hopefully love so much that you will go and tell your family & friends. We value quality over quantity. We also work from a questionnaire that lists shots important to you. There is no way we would withhold an image that is suitable and, in particular, is from your shot list. Finally, we deliver an industry standard of 50-75 images per hour of shooting.

However, if you have any questions or would like to clarify anything, we are just a message away. Feel free to contact us anytime.

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Information :: Our Personalities

Pete & Em. We have already introduced ourselves here. We have shared our priorities in blog posts regularly (such as this one). However, there is a little more about us that might be of interest to our clients.

From our wedding by Lady Jayde Photography; the parent life means that we don’t often get shots of just the two of us these days ;)

Our personalities.

We are very different. Pete is the extrovert; Em is the introvert. Pete is driven by logic; Em is driven by emotion. Pete embraces posing & taking the time to set up the perfect shot. Em embraces photojournalism & allowing the moments to unfold. Pete enjoys interacting with people & helping them to relax in front of the camera (sometimes Dad Jokes play a role; after all, Pete does get a lot of practice with little Chloe). Em enjoys making sure the raw emotion & details of the day are captured. Pete works best with lists and makes sure that our shooting follows the plan. Em goes with the flow and works best in the background. Opposites attract.

We celebrate our personality differences (as well as our individual interests and “eye”). We play to our individual strengths. I guess you could say that our personalities and different strengths are some of our unique selling points. When you choose Poppy & Sage Photography, you sign up for your story to be told two different ways. We look forward to working together to capture Your Day. Feel free to contact us here:

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Information :: Wedding Budgeting Tips (The Photography Version)

Wedding Budgeting. Two words that are almost certainly guaranteed to induce tachycardia in brides & grooms the world over. Where do you start?!

Figure out your priorities and budget accordingly.

Is it the dress? Is it car hire? Is it the honeymoon? Only you two as a couple can figure out what should be at the top of this list.

Of course we are biased. ;) We could regale you with all of our personal reasons for why professional photography should be somewhere in the top 3-ish, but we will limit ourselves to just a few (please do not think that any mention of other vendors serves to minimise their contribution to the day - all vendors are equally important!):

Plan for the event that the budget could be blown due to unforeseen costs.

We have listed the cost of photography with us on our website. If the numbers line up with how your budget looks, we’re happy to meet up and have a chat in person. The next step is to see if we’re a good fit personality-wise. Feel free to contact us here:

Say G'day

B&W Love

At first glance, black & white photography (or perhaps more accurately 'grayscale', as images are rarely truly black & white) can appear to be boring. Outdated or nostalgic perhaps. Or less expressive. Even forgotten. Black & white photography is synonymous with descriptors such as 'raw', 'stripped back', 'honest', & 'subtle'. In some cases, 'powerful', 'exquisite', 'iconic', & 'beautiful'. In a world full of colour, it can be challenging to fully appreciate all the variants of the colour grey (found somewhere between absolute black and absolute white).

Diane Arbus once said, “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them”. We agree with the sentiment. As post-processing is such an important element of photography, we feel that there are things nobody would see unless the images were processed in a certain style. As Georgina Green, a fellow photographer, states, "Black and white images are defined in the art sphere by their ability to convey emotion. When colour is removed from a photo, the aspects that people take for granted, such as a brick wall or a blade of grass, take on a new texture and a new presence".

We're sharing some of our recent favourite grayscale images below. Typically, we deliver our full albums with some colour and some grayscale. However, feel free to let us know if you have a preference one way or another and we'll accommodate. Enjoy!

“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. When you photograph people in black & white, you photograph their souls.”

~Ted Grant

“Black & white are the colours of photography. To me, they symbolise the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”

~Robert Frank

“Colour is deceptive. Black & white is interpretive.”

~Elliott Erwitt

"Colour is everything; black & white is more."

~Dominic Rouse

Brisbane Wedding Photographer