Episode 1: Beached Whales, photography awards, flat tires

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Transcript

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And a three and a two and a three, two, one, and welcome to our first official episode of switching lenses, switching the lenses. We are your hosts. I, my name. is, what is, no, we're just doing it raw, we're raw dogging it. We, we should specify what raw, raw dogging is and like the trend about raw dogging a flight, which is what? When you don't listen to music, you don't watch TV, you don't do anything but sit there. During your entire flight. It's something to be very proud of actually if you're able to get through that. Have you ever raw dogged a flight? Yeah, of course. Yes. Really? Yeah. I feel like I'm always trying to do something. I would guess my ADHD is entirely Just makes it impossible for me to just sit there and do nothing Yeah, I don't know what it is about airplanes, but I find them incredibly relaxing. Like, lulling. So like And I find it hard, really hard to like concentrate on anything. I will say, I don't think I've raw dogged by choice. I've like been on planes where they don't have television, their wifi isn't working, maybe my computer's dead. And I've literally been like, Oh, okay. I guess I'm just going to sit here. And then I have just sat there. So you're going to force the raw dog a plane, or a flight? Do not raw dog a plane. plane Anyway, okay, we shall carry on. Yeah, so welcome to our first episode of Switching lenses our first episode ever. Mm hmm. I'm so excited. Yeah, I wonder what it's gonna look like in three episodes Sucks This isn't the strongest intro, but we do hope to get better. Yeah, we'll be, we'll get better. Everybody's going to just grow with us. That's the point. Otherwise, we were talking about this earlier and you're talking to our friend, uh, Noah and Tyler, and we were talking about how important it is for us to just kind of just go in it and just improve as we're going along as opposed to just fixating on perfectionism or like screw perfectionism, like we just want to do it and just share with the world and. If you don't like it, then don't listen. If you do, then subscribe. So this is our first episode and if you know, both of us, you know that we have some pretty good conversations and we do travel all over the place. Uh, we're both wedding photographers, so we have a lot of stories and a lot of things that we like to talk about. Uh, we are going to be doing more of a structured podcast, which will kind of lead us to some, hopefully some interesting conversations. Um, and today we have some pretty good topics to talk about. Yeah. Should we kind of explain the structure of the podcast a little bit? Yeah, let's do it. All right. So, Um, I think we're going to try and start each episode with some feedback from all of you. And of course we don't have that yet. So we'll be jumping right over that section. Um, but we're happy to hear what you liked, what you didn't like, um, your opinions on things, and we'll share some of that on the show. Um, we'd love to touch on some news and hot topics, any of the, anything new going on in the industry that, um, we can share a little bit of our opinions on. This will be a good one for today. Yeah. I'm really excited to talk about this. Yeah. Uh, uh, some question and answers as well. So, um, we'll have a place that you guys can ask us things and we'll answer on the show. Yes. Yes. Uh, and if we, since this is the first episode, we're going to take a thread that. might've been put together in the Steel and Flint community. So, uh, we have one specific, um, post in the group that, that we're going to discuss, which I think was a pretty good question that was asked a couple of days ago. Um, and then we're gonna have a shoot with a segment where we recap our most exciting favorite, some kind of shoot wedding from, um, the week before. And it doesn't have to be a wedding, right? No, shoots, anything. Yeah. Anything that we might've photographed or it could be anything that we might've done while we were traveling or if we do have weddings, I think there is definitely some level of interest to talk about the weddings and some of the things and the challenges that we might've gone through and some wins and. And just talk about how how it was and we we did photograph a wedding together last weekend So I think this will be a good opportunity to talk about the wedding that we just photographed and Well, we won't give it away. We'll wait till we get there. Yes Um, and then let's go on an adventure, which is probably the segment i'm most excited for Yes, and that's what is that about? That's gonna be us Talking about whatever our latest adventure was. So travel somewhere, a trip experience, how it relates to photography. Um, yeah. Yeah, and today we went on an adventure to Bridgeport, Connecticut. I feel like I'm just going to bring up Bridgeport, Connecticut every episode. We did not even go to Bridgeport, but. We didn't close. We went to Milford Photo. It's true. We did go, yeah, Milford Adventure. We did. We went to a camera store today. Yes, we did. It's our friend's adventure. Uh, and then last but not least. Tech time. That's going to be my favorite. Mm hmm. That's gonna be good actually. Yes. So what's tech time? So tech time is where each of us are going to share Um a software hardware gear anything any tech related Um item that we recommend or we review Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think just a quick review and some recommendations on Everyday items it doesn't have to be specific to like very specific Uh, very expensive lenses or cameras or anything like that Just anything that we might have used in the past couple days that we just thought would Find a kind of cool one as as two people that that tend to travel a ton we're always going into stores and trying to find little trinkets and like little items that we We try to justify their use Hey, we could use this for this. I mean how many 20 bucks how many things have we bought used one time and they're Oh my goodness. How many speakers did you buy on the last trip? Wow, that's kind of rude Two. Two. And how many times did you use each of them? I've used, I used, I used the light up one that we use for the For the pool. I use it with Leo, which you convinced me to actually. Yeah, that's true. You actually bring it home. I think Leo really enjoys, uh, not watching it, but playing with it in the bath when he takes a bath. So. Okay. Well, I'm happy to hear that that one's getting some use. The other one, I think, did we leave the other one? No, I brought it back. It's in my bag. Yeah, because I'm sure after several episodes, you'll see that Mandy is actually a hoarser. It's true, it'll still be in a bag somewhere in your car. Every time I want to get rid of anything, she's like, well, you know, we could use this for this. Kind of actually reminds me of my mom. Oh no. I'm Frugal? Frugal? What? That's exactly what a hoarder would say. Okay, I'm a hoarder. Uh, should we get started? Yeah, let's do it. Alright, so show feedback. We are going to just make up. Rave reviews, honestly. Oh my god, we had 200 people. Tell us how amazing you are. There was actually one person that sent us just cash. Yeah, we had at least two people today say they were our biggest fans and they hadn't even heard of the show yet. Yeah, yeah, that's how good this podcast is. And that's not even a lie. Yeah, it's not. So, uh, very good friends of ours, Richard. We could probably just put together a turd and they'd still listen to it. So, um, anyway, so supportive friends. Yes. Very supportive friends, which we're very grateful for. All right. So we're going to jump right into news and hot topics. So let's talk about what the hot topic was in the photography community in the last couple of days. Yes. So I think it is based around what is an award winning image? Yes. Which is something that we've discussed. A lot before. Something that we've definitely discussed in the last couple of days. Oh, yeah. Um, specifically because of one instance. Um, so we wanted to talk about that. to talk with everybody about what should be an award when an image if it's, if it's something that should have been warranted an award. But let's let's kind of give everybody a rundown of what what the whole situation was. Yeah, so I think that the entire technique and the trend has been a little bit divisive. So there's probably a lot of conversation regarding that and this is maybe the first time we've seen an award An image like this, um, win an award. Yes. So, um, Now as far as like what the image was and where it was posted, so, um, It's actually a really great community, which I actually personally love a lot. I've done a live with them It's flashmasters And it's uh the award, uh competition or the competition that they have Um, it's just around, it's based around like, uh, off camera flash techniques and stuff like that. So, um, they have, I believe it's a monthly competition. And then you get, um, you get either, I think maybe a platinum, gold, and silver awards. And this, this particular image won, uh, a silver award. But it's all about like, when you look at the image and we can post it in the group and we can, we can, so everybody can see what it was, but, but it's more about like motion, right? Like being out of focus, but using stroboscopic flash techniques, which I think that's what it is. I mean, I'm not sure if that's what this is. Right. Um, I mean, It has kind of like a painting effect to it, almost. Um, but yes, it's out of focus, um, and shows motion, um, so much so that it's hard to decipher what's, um, actually taking place in the image, um, it's all showing motion, the background and the subject, um, the wedding couple centered right in the middle. What appears to be the wedding couple it's like I said a little hard to decipher what's actually happening in the image Yeah, so this image kind of strikes me as One of those like, you know when you're shooting a wedding or you're shooting anything and you're like, oh I kind of I kind of like fluffed here, like I made a mistake and I feel like I can kind of work with it. Um, so I've done, I mean, I'm sure we've all done those, those types of things. And we were like, Oh yeah, we're going to add it to the gallery because it looks awesome. Um, but again, it just goes back to that, like, well, should I have won an award? Uh, what, what constitutes an awarding winning image? Um, so I guess that's where the big, big conversation is around this, around this one topic. What's the criteria? Yeah. Yeah, what like it's I mean for intentional not intentional. Yeah. Well, I guess we can talk about the actual Motion effect of it and like what it's doing. So, uh, we both use Motion in our images. Yeah Yeah, like it's something that we like to incorporate into our images pretty I mean regularly I would say for probably every wedding that we photograph for every shoot. We try to incorporate some sort of something motion but the one thing that we do always talk about too is You That we want to make sure that we incorporate motion with intention, right? Yes So not only is it something that is showing the motion, but it's also telling a story with the motion so I guess when you look at an image like this and why it's getting some some backlashes that it just seems like An error, right? Like more like a technical error. Yeah, I I definitely have because I Can't tell what's happening. I'm having trouble You understanding the image or what the story is behind it. And for me, that's, that's my confusion. Maybe, I mean, if I'm going to guess, maybe it's a first dance photo. It's very hard for me to tell what's going on. And I think that's the challenge for me. Um, And obviously we're not here to critique the image, but we're not. No, I mean, we are in a little bit. I mean, I think that I think that the backlash is definitely about like, image, not necessarily being everybody's cup of tea, but I think it really just brings up the conversation of like what should be a, an award winning image. So, I mean, as far as like, and you've helped me plenty of times, uh, judge certain competitions. Uh, you've judged your own competitions. I've been, I've sat in on competitions and I've judged, uh, several PPA competitions and, Don't know it just seems like to me my opinion has always been the same when it comes to a lot of these Like directory awards where it's just more about like What I posted in that group was it's more about timing. Like it just happened to be that the, whatever the judges were at the time, they thought maybe there was something there and they awarded it with something. It's, it's very subjective. It's not necessarily, it doesn't mean that it's a good image or a bad image. I think that ultimately, these, these directory awards are just purely based off of what judges are in it. There's not, I mean, as far as I know, there's not really, Any criteria or any guidelines or specific numbering that you should be Guiding your judges in order to get a certain score, right? Yeah, and I and I agree especially with this type of competition, um being There's there does seem to be no objective criteria for how they're judging, right? So it's very open ended. So it could be if it if it catches a judge's eye, it could very easily win an award You Um, and again, being that open ended, I feel like you're never really going to be able to please everybody. Now, at the end of the day, I, I personally am not a fan of the image, but it doesn't mean that it shouldn't win an award. Yeah. And I, and I agree. I'm not a fan of the image because of, of certain techniques and elements in the image. And that's fine. I wasn't the judge of this competition. So. So, that's okay. My challenge here is that I can't even tell what's happening in the image, which bothers me. Because, as wedding photographers, storytellers, um, documenters, is that not what we're doing is telling a story? And if you can't tell what, like, what is happening at all, that's where I, that's where the challenge lies for me. Yeah. Now, do you, so I guess that brings up a question. Do you feel like every, every image that you take has to tell a story? Like, what if this was just something that, that they've been trying to figure out for a while now and they just wanted to test it out with a couple, it's literally one image. I don't know the person's work. I don't even know whose work it is, but, but if it's, if it's just one image from a wedding, like, is it, should we be, Trying to tell them that there should be a story especially for like a technical community So being that it's flashmasters if it's using flash, it's using a technique. That's not very well used. Shouldn't that be almost a Good thing that they're trying out new things that they're I mean, obviously when we look at it we don't really agree with with the result, but there's got to be some merit to Them trying a different thing because a lot of the time you look at these awards Especially when it comes to off camera flash and they literally all look the same. It's the same pose. It's the same backlighting. It's the same grungy look like it just it just has the same and I just get so Bored looking at some of these directories that all have the same same stylistic approach That something like this should it should it now or should it win an award? Well gonna get an honorable mention and next time Next round, you've actually perfected the technique. And then, you know, I'm not, I'm not here to tear the image apart. I'm just saying I do, I do, um, struggle to see what was seen in this image. Um, you know what else I'm interested in? What the client thinks of this image. Yeah. Yeah. That's uh, let's get them on the show. Actually, you know, I'm just I'm interested. Yeah What matters right? Yeah, do they love it? Does this bring them back to something in particular that was going on there? We're just unaware of like did the groom have a seizure like there's a lot of things that you can really You said bring them back maybe This is actually taken by the paramedic But but no, but I would like to know what the client thinks and and and and even from the photographer Like what was going on during this time? Because sometimes we see something as photographers in an image that maybe isn't so apparent to someone else because they weren't there and didn't experience it So I definitely think there could be an element there that we're missing But yes, and one thing that I have learned from being in this community for a very long time. Is that The minute that somebody dislikes something there's gonna be a hundred other people that are just completely crapping on it and just and just Bringing it down When there should just be an open discussion and I like I like that Jeff kind of opened up a discussion about it Actually, we should bring up Jeff because it was in his Jeff's workshop group. Our friend Jeff Tisman But he brought it up and he just wanted to bring up a discussion about it Like should this be an award winning image and I thought it was a really good conversation except for some of the other comments They were just kind of being mean about it But I think it really opens up the opportunity to really discuss What warms being a, an award winning image. So, um, I will say that I appreciate that, that there's like a different technique and it's not the usual images we see winning, especially someone who embraces and loves, um, incorporating motion into their images, which not everyone does. And that in itself is, is kind of a controversial topic. So, um, it is nice to see that it's not the same old thing, winning awards, but. Especially in a genre that, that just kind of played out a little bit, in my opinion, I feel like, I mean, it's. Like if you look, I mean, not to bash anything, but like the mag mod group, like you go into a magma group and like 99 percent of the images look exactly the same and you just kind of get tired of those same techniques that maybe somebody does, like one of the reasons why I've kind of stopped doing like the multiple shot composites, because you feel like you've, if you've seen one, you've probably seen them all. Um, obviously you can get very creative with things. And I think that's what maybe this person was doing. Uh, I guess the issue that I have with it is that. Not that that the person was trying out something new is that is that My issue is that it's an award winning image and it's kind of giving a little bit of a false I don't want to say focus is very opinionated like it's very much about the opinion of the judges But but I think technically speaking and storytelling speaking. There's not really much essence to it. Does that make sense? but but I don't know, maybe, maybe people disagree that there's a reason why it's an award winning image. So maybe the people that judge the, uh, uh, the competition disagree and they see something that, that we don't. But, um, but at the end of the day, it's, it's definitely a, a pretty, pretty good topic. Yeah. Do you think, you really think it should have been an honorable mention? Yes. Yeah. I think so too. Well, you've seen me judge. I'm a little harsh. Yes. Okay. So if anybody doesn't know, so there's been a couple of competitions where I've kind of had some pretty bad deadlines and I've, I've, uh, scouted some help from Mandy and she's helped me judge some of the competition and she is harsh, um, which is actually a really good thing. So before we move on to the next topic here and we kind of give our, our, our last opinions on it. I do want to say that if anybody's listening and you want to really learn and you want to grow as an artist from a competition, sign up for some of, I don't want to say real, but I want to say some of the ones that are judged by people that are accredited and have the training to actually be able to do that. Yeah, critique an image based on very specific parameters that are given to them. Yeah, because we don't have that. Right. Yeah. So, I was a judge, I was a guest judge for one of the PPA, Um, image critiques and the way it works is you're given a very specific set of rules of how you should judge the image. And then you give them a, you give the image a score. Essentially what happens is they bring up the image into a, um, a screen. You look at the image for a couple of, probably like a minute or so. Then you give it a score and each judge will give it a score. And what happens is there's an open discussion. As to why I gave it that score and why it might differ from the other judge's score. And I believe, I don't remember how it works, maybe the highest or the lowest number is what gets, um, what it, what it gets. Um, so you can actually try to change the other judge's mind about how it works. Um, but at the end of the day, I think that things like that, where you can actually sit in and you could see some judges actually discussing your image and how you can improve the image, that's really beneficial. A lot of these awards and not to bash any of these awards, um, like you're, you're just submitting an image in hopes that you're going to get a little watermark on it so you can post about how. how, I don't know, just more like an ego boost sort of thing, which there's nothing wrong with it, but it's still at the end of the day, it's not really making you grow as an artist, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like I've sat in on, um, some of the WPPI competitions over the years. Um, And I've walked out being like, Oh, wow. I've never thought about that. Like, I don't know, like thumb in the pocket out of the pocket or like certain, like just little tiny details. There's just a lot that you can learn and take away from that. Um, and then you also know how they're judging the images. So even if you disagree, at least you have an understanding of how the judgment is taking place? Yes, and that's I think that's the biggest part of it too, is you don't have to agree with what they think is Better and you know, yeah, but then at least you have an understanding of where they're coming from when they give you a score Yes And then a lot of the time like I know that when I was judging the competition for PPA The second that the the judging ended I went out and I had some really good conversations with people that submitted images and they asked me to really elaborate on like why I gave them a certain score and they were very receptive to the feedback and why I thought certain things. Um, and I think that's one of the most beneficial things. Um, I, I, I generally speak pretty, I don't want to say negatively, but I'm not really a big believer of, of award or any of these competitions, but, but I am a big believer in the whole. PPA system in a lot of these, uh, print, print competitions. Yeah. Yeah. So does that sum it up? Yeah. I mean, I guess, I mean, I want to know, I want to know what other people think. I really wish we could talk to people more involved with the image. Well, maybe we can. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. If, if, if, if you're listening to this and you see the image, uh, we'd love to hear what you think about it. I just want to hear more about more behind the scenes and yeah, Cool. Yeah. So that's that. Um, should we move on to, let's see, Q and a, or as Mandy calls it questions and answers, which is actually what it means, but it's just funny how you always, I think it is. I think it might just be a Mandy thing. Do you, have you ever called it Q and a? Aye. Aye. Yes, I have called it Q& A. But here in Canada, we call things by their full and proper names. And not, no, we don't. I'm gonna dumb it down. So this is one thing that cone square, square circle. Oh, you're making, she's making fun of how Americans call them cones and not pylons, which is just ridiculous. It's just, can you just seem to think this, they have this whole year than now attitude really pissed me off. All right. So as far as Q and a, uh, we found a thread in steel and French cider, which actually It's something that we've discussed in the past in the group. Um, but I got brought up three days ago and it was by Ben Brions and he brought up a really good question, which is what type of wedding photographer are you, um, do you prefer to have control of the timeline? Like, you know, sort of like that type a, where you have to know when things are happening. Uh, you have to have a really, uh, really specific timeline or are you Um, relaxed, go with the flow. I don't know when or where anything is. I'm just going to follow the couple around. She's giving me this look. Uh, yeah. Well, I think, I think we're actually on the same page with all of this. Um, which we've discovered since shooting together. But I think that, I think that you come off a little bit more. Like, Cocky? No, just like, well, yes, but that's not related to this subject. Um, you, uh, Better looking? Again, yes, but not related to this subject. Um, you come off, um, like you don't even look at a timeline and you don't know when the ceremony is. But the fact is, is you go in with information, you And you're just not controlling the situation. You're aware of what's happening. You're just not controlling it. And that's fair to say, right? That's correct. Yes. And I think one of the biggest misconceptions about how I approach my weddings is that, um, I do feel like a lot of people tend to think that I'm just completely hands off and I'm, I'm not, I still want to have a call with my, my couples. I still want to know when I would probably say like the major aspects of the day are happening. I don't need to know when. Like every little thing is happening during the reception or when, uh, the maid of honor is getting her hair and makeup. Like, I don't need to know that stuff, but I do need to know is if you're doing a first look, um, and I would recommend when you should do a first look, um, and then I would probably, um, just like where your ceremony, when your ceremony is, and then when your, your reception end, we'll end, so. I definitely think that. Yeah, I mean, I've had, I remember someone approaching me and saying, Can you tell me, does Esteban actually, like, not know anything about the timeline when he shoots a wedding? And I like, I was like, what? Uh, no, he knows what's going on. And I'm like, well, as much as, yeah, as much as Esteban knows about anything that's going on, but yeah, I try to know as little as possible, but yeah, you're not, you don't, you don't Um, have any control over what's actually happening in the timeline. You don't give your opinions on that. You let the couple do what the couple wants to do and, and you make sure you're where you need to be to properly document it. And I think that's, that's where the, one of the bigger differences between the S PON from years ago and the S PON right now is that the S PON from years ago, I always kind of, to be in control, I wanted to, to be that like, sort of like quote unquote, like hero. I wanted to control everything that. That was happening. Um, I wanted to make sure that things were on time. And the minute that I realized that if I am just there to photograph and to document and just allowing things to happen, um, that made me a better storyteller. That made me somebody that's better at capturing the moments as true and as real as they're happening. Um, and I think that's, that's kind of progressed my work in a way that that. It didn't really happen before, so, um, you kind of have the same, the same approach too. Yeah, and I don't think that I ever, I never really controlled the timeline at all, other than in the past if couples had asked me about timeline, I would, I would definitely give a recommendation. Like, I'd be like, well, if you had your ceremony yet, like. This time I could do portraits during here and then you could have your cocktail hour start here and I would definitely give them like a Suggestion. I didn't plan the day. I didn't give them like an actual written up timeline. I would just give them my opinion on the matter And then sometimes I remember even maybe two three years ago. I would get the wedding plan a couple of weeks before And realize I didn't have very much photo time and I would be incredibly nervous about the day and anxious and stressed out about Not having enough photo time because I had it in my mind that I needed like x amount of time to get portraits done but now I've completely shifted and when I see that they're like I get 15 minutes like i'm cool I know i'm gonna get portraits other times throughout the day. It doesn't all have to be during one specific time like Um, and a lot of my favorite photos and the couple's favorite photos are ones that are taken in between Things going on and aren't during necessarily the portrait time. So I feel like I've completely relaxed on this Yeah, no, and I think that's one of the most important things too Is that whenever you don't want to limit yourself to your creativity only happening when portraits are are going on So I feel like when you take that approach of more like hey, I can actually be creative during the reception. I can be creative during the getting ready. I can be creative during the ceremony. Like some of our favorite shots that we get are during the ceremony because we have that flexibility of like trying out new techniques, trying out new lenses, trying out different angles. So you can be creative throughout the entire day without really having complete control, which is what I think we as creatives, we kind of lean towards where it's like, Oh, I have portrait swiping. I have control of everything. So when you start to learn that you can actually be creative. outside of those 15 minutes, then you, you kind of stopped depending on those 15 minutes as opposed to maybe years ago where you just thought that the only time that you could be creative was during portraits, which you can. I mean, obviously I think there's a lot of opportunities to be creative during portraits, but sometimes, or at least a good portion of the time, you can have the most in depth timeline, but 99 percent of the time it's not going to go that way. And some people are just that, that. Type A, whether it's like I have to have a timeline. I have to, at least in my brain, feel like I'm in control. And if it, if it goes to shit, then, then I'm just going to deal with it. Um, and I just kind of, and I'm sure you feel the same way. I've just kind of learned that, Hey, you know what, I'm just going to go with the flow and just let things happen throughout the day and not really have to interfere with anything or try to be in control of anything. So, um, Yeah. And I think a big difference for me now is that during the actual designated portrait time, I'm creative with maybe my posing and trying to get interactions between my couple, whereas all other times of the day where the focus isn't really on me and they're not looking for me for direction, I'm trying to get creative with My technique so more creative with my camera my angles anything else like, um, any little fun tricks and stuff I'm trying to incorporate because at that moment my couple is not looking at me. They're being natural. There's there's less pressure So I feel like I can get creative that way. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's that's Definitely agree with that. I think I take the same approach to and we were photographing a wedding with Jeff a couple months ago And I remember You told me that he specifically asked you, he was like, I think the wedding was like running super late and it was just kind of a, uh, it was a very interesting day and he looked over and he was like, so does Esteban, like, is he really this laid back? Like, does he like actually not do much when we're like running late? And I just, um, that's just the way that I'm going to approach the day. Like if, if, if the day's running late, then it is, it is what it is. Um, I always talk about how. The whole timeline thing, I look at it as a contract and my, my couples are almost like depending on me to make sure that the date goes smoothly and on time, when in reality that shouldn't be my, my responsibility. So if there's a timeline that I'm building for my couples and I'm probably gonna have some sort of I don't know, some sort of responsibility to make sure that it goes on time, um, so when you don't really have that, then I think you just kind of let, just sit back and, and just capture it as things are happening. So if things are running an hour late, then you're just still capturing as they are going an hour late. So. Yeah. Like, and how often now even do you get the mom of the bride or whoever else, the bridesmaid looking at you asking, when's this happening or, or aren't we behind or like looking to us? To guide the day and my favorite response is I don't know. I'm just the photographer. Yeah, because yeah Like that's not my job. It's not my job to make sure we run on time It's not my job to make sure things are happening behind the scenes. Like I am literally there to document the day, right? Yeah, and if you're distracted Trying to hurry things along. You're not, you're not getting the, what you're there to do. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like a lot of the time we do tend to take on that responsibility of like, Hey, I kind of want to be this like wedding planner. And when we do that, we're interfering with the natural flow of the day. Um, and when we've interfered with the natural flow of the day and we kind of want to control everything as it's happening, it seems a little disingenuous, I guess. Because we're kind of, we're steering the day in a way that's beneficial to us as photographers. When in reality, we should just let the day happen and do our jobs, which our job is to just document. So if somebody is, is late and they're freaking out, you document as they're freaking out. Uh, it doesn't mean that you can't help them at some point, um, but, but it's definitely not our job to. To try to be that like hero and like try to jump in and save the day because I think that we're better storytellers When we kind of step back and realize that our job is really just to to document the day. Mm hmm Yeah, I love that. We take the same approach Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so you're welcome for You know being such an influence in your in your life. I Just told you that I I never did timelines And we can edit that out So, thank you for the question Ben Brion's it's a really great question something that I love talking about because I think it's important to to set that that attitude with with a lot of people that are very much about Any control and I feel like it's something That as beginners, we all feel like it's our responsibility. I do think that with experience and the more you go on, you let go of that a bit, at least that's kind of how I found with me and other peers. Yeah, that's, that's absolutely true. You see a lot of, I mean, I'm not trying to bash anybody if anybody does this, but a lot of the time when you see like these reels where it's like, I'm not only your photographer, but I'm. Your coffee holder and your your best friend and I'm trying to I'll run your day. I'll do your timeline I'll make sure that you're on time. I'll do your book fix your hair Yeah, like that stuff is not my approach at all. Like I don't want to be that stuff. I didn't I didn't Start a photography business to do something. That's literally not my job Mm hmm. I just I want to just be creative throughout the day and I do want to help out at certain times but I don't want my couples to think that that my responsibility as a photographer is to do things that What is generally assigned to a wedding planner or the maid of honor, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yes. Great topic. So if anybody has any, any, uh, opinions on this, feel free to, uh, to let us know, because I think it's definitely a little bit of a divisive issue. So we're not issued, but just more of a discussion. Cool. So that was Q and a, uh, let's move on with, Ooh, shoot with us. Yeah. I'm so excited. Shoot with us. Shoot with us. What did we photograph last? So Rachel and Samuel's wedding in Brooklyn. Yes. It was at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Botanic Garden. Botanic Garden. We've been calling it Botanical Garden for months. What's the difference? Laziness? An A and an L at the end of the word. Ah, you're a genius. My god, and a comedian. Botanic, uh, yeah, I don't know. It's beautiful. I can tell you that much. It was very beautiful. It was stunning. The reception room was stunning. It was like a greenhouse looking thing. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it was all glass. Yeah, all glass, beautiful light. The sun was out in full force. Yeah, so it was hot, but the sunset was beautiful. I had like a haze almost towards the evening. Yeah, it was beautiful. Yeah. The couple is amazing. Oh, the couple's also so cool. Yeah. They're, they're not just super nice, but they're like actually hilarious and very go with the flow, which is definitely something that we love. Actually in the morning, Rachel and I were joking around. I was like, you're not a regular bride. You're a cool bride for all you mean girl fans. Oh, I just laughed because I wanted to fit in, but I had no idea what it was about. I think you slept through that part of the movie. Did we watch that movie? You slept through all the movie. I love Mean Girls. Such a great movie. I definitely made you watch it recently. Yeah, okay. But anyways, yeah, super cool. Beautiful venue. Um, really it was like really an easy day for us, actually. Yeah, and I feel like, um, I feel like when it, when it's, when you have couples that are very, not, I, I don't like to use the word laid back because that almost implies like laziness, but it's, they weren't, they were very go with the flow, very chill, very like, you know what? We're cool with whatever you guys want to do. Like they, they actually told us that they had spotted a couple of different spots in the botanic garden where they wanted to take photos, but they kept reiterating, like, you guys are the professionals if you have different opinions. So like, for example, Samuel was like, well, I'm, I'm imagining the first look, look in here because I'm imagining this image here and based on our experience. We thought it wasn't a good idea to do the first look there and we explained it to him And he was super understanding. It was like, all right, well, let's do this And then we ended up doing it in another area, which is a little bit more shade, right? Shade more of a walk up It was a little tight hard to maybe get two angles Especially with the first look. Yeah, so beautiful spot, but maybe not ideal for the first look which is a very specific setup usually Right. Yeah, so so yeah, so we ended up You Uh, just changing things up a little bit and they totally trusted us and, um, I mean, I, we sent them their preview, which is like 200 photos and, and it was beautiful. So, so we really enjoyed the day. It was, it was a cool wedding. Um, really cool, uh, day too, because it was, it was, it was at a lot of flowers, but the sun was basically like full on, uh, which we love. We love. Direct light. There was a lot of shadow play, especially with the dress. Yeah, the morning. Yeah, the morning shots Yeah, that was that was awesome Especially when you have some you can actually shape the light a little bit We can even post some of the images from from the wedding and I remember specifically Thinking one of the things that I like doing is for the shoes we put them on like one of the chairs and there was like a little bit of shadows, but The shadows were coming from something that was really far apart. So it was kind of muddy. The shadow was muddy. So, um, I took a grill from like the kitchen and I put it up to the shoes and it created a nice, um, nice like pattern of light that made it a little bit more interesting, which was really cool. More indicative of like what our style is. Yeah. We're kind of playing with, with, uh, with shadows and stuff. And I really love the way that they came out. And it followed the pattern into like the dress show. You hung up the dress on a wall that had really cool shadows, right? Yeah, I really Which was your idea because you have a shop from a Mexico wedding that's similar to that. Mm hmm. And I love that I, I generally don't like creating my own shadows. But in this case, I love that they really played well with the natural shadows that were hitting the wall and then we used the dress. So I really liked that it was still cohesive. Yes. Because we just couldn't find a surface area where there wasn't people working that we could get this shoe shot without kind of intervening a bit. But I just love that we were able to use like some shadow play pretty much in all the detail shots. Yeah. Yeah. Cause that room had really cool shadows, but they were kind of muddy because. Whatever was creating the shadow was either the ceiling Or like there was like a chandelier or something that that was also creating a little bit of a muddy shadow so, um, we just took that grill and Created some cool some cool stuff. Oh, man, and the Um the rabbi quote unquote rabbi That was pretty awesome. Um also, uh, Runs a podcast, like one of the biggest atheism podcasts ever. Yeah. We haven't looked him up. We're going to listen to him on the way home. But, uh, yeah, we'll have to talk about the way home at the end of this story and why we didn't get to listening to him probably, but after we finished talking about the wedding, the wedding was great. Couple was great. Family was great. Rabbi was amazing. Rabbi was hilarious. It was great. Rachel was actually a magician. Yeah, an amazing magician. Yeah, she was on a The Penn Teller show, Full Penn Teller or something. And she's, uh, she's a big deal. She's really, she's a really talented magician. She was just on the cover of like a couple of magazines and she's just an amazingly hilarious human. Um, and her now husband, Samuel, works for Peloton, right? Mm hmm. Yeah. He does the, if anybody knows Peloton, they, he works on like the, the game per portion of the Peloton. Mm hmm. Which is really cool. But two amazing, amazing people. Great families. Um, any challenges? Do we have any challenges? Um, challenges. It just felt such it felt like such an easy day. My biggest challenge was being tired from the wedding the day before So it's a personal challenge Five in the morning and not getting any sleep the night before yeah, I shot until Well, I was on like a five day wedding streak and the final day saturday night ended at around 11 Probably got home around midnight Yeah, and at the airport 3 a. m for a 5 a. m flight To New York. I wasn't nearly as busy as you were, but I did also have a pretty busy weekend. Yeah, you did. You were traveling and shooting too. Yeah, I actually photographed my cousins. So she proposed to her fiance now, uh, in DC. And she asked me to go down and photograph it. So I went to DC on Thursday. Uh, proposal was on Friday and I flew down on Saturday and on Saturday, as soon as I landed, actually, uh, my flight. I was supposed to land into New York at 12 p. m., and then I was supposed to head straight to a wedding, which my, uh, my friend Jose was photographing a wedding in Woodstock, New York, and I was supposed to get there at 3, but my flight actually got delayed to 3 p. m., so I had to cancel that flight and book a flight with another airline, and I was about an hour late, so as soon as I landed at 1 o'clock, I got in my car and drove two and a half hours to Woodstock, New York, to help and then shoot this wedding, um, and then I stayed the night there and then I drove down, uh, to pick you up from the airport at about noon, and then we had to be at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden at one. Um, so a very eventful weekend for both of us, um, so the biggest challenge for us for sure was, um, Probably keeping the energy up, but Which is a huge challenge, which is something that I think a lot of photographers, especially I think a couple of years ago when I was photographing, I don't want to say a couple of years ago, maybe five, six years ago when I was photographing 40, 50 weddings a year, like, what, how does that play into how much? energy you have during the weddings or how much effort you're putting into the weddings. A lot of the time you feel that like burnt out feeling and technically, it's not your couple's fault. It's your own fault for sort of taking on that much. So obviously it was a very busy weekend. But we're very fortunate to not have to photograph that, that many weddings where we still have that like, that positive energy going into the It didn't feel like a drag that I had to be there. It was like, I was so excited to be shooting this wedding with you in Brooklyn that like, yeah, I was going on no sleep, but I was so happy to be there. And once we got into the element, it was good. It hits you, you know, after dinner. You know, nine, 10 o'clock after you eat, especially, yeah. And then you're like, okay, um, it's hitting me now. Yeah. I think we, we got back to our, our room and we, which we stayed in a really cool hotel. What hotel was that? The Ace Hotel in Brooklyn. It's a whole blur. I was like black and O for a second. Then you're like, what hotel do we stay in? If anybody's in Brooklyn and you want to stay at a really cool hotel, right. It was, it was like a weird area, but the hotel itself was Yeah, it was like the staff was amazing. There was an awesome awesome bar like just beautiful bar He was just I would love to photograph in that hotel. Yeah. Yeah, it was gorgeous. And the staff was wonderful They were so so good. The view out of the room was of downtown. It was gorgeous Yeah, we had like a city view hotel or city view Yeah, and it wasn't it was only slightly more than the regular view But it was just beautiful like even at night if you just turn off all the lights and you looked at the skyline It was just amazing and for the price. I mean it was I think it was under Well, yeah, it wasn't super cheap, but it was maybe like 350 bucks. Yeah, I think that's what you said Yeah, but the amenities in the room to like Record style of the style record player full mini fridge Um snack section like pretty much anything you think you could need you had in the room with you. Yeah Um, it was awesome. I like the way that it was styled the colors the walls the art It was just I would probably say it was like one of our favorite hotels. Yeah, I wish we could have spent more time in there Yeah, it was nice. So we'll be back Yeah, we'll definitely do a full review. Yes, that was the Ace Hotel in Brooklyn. Yeah, so really cool hotel. And it's kind of funny how he ended up there actually. Oh, because I thought I booked another hotel. Because he thought it was a different hotel. I thought it was, um, It's just a different name. Yeah, it looks exactly the same in the pictures. It looked exactly like Another hotel that's in brooklyn. I was like, oh, I should probably book this because we walk by this all the time Yeah, we liked it. We took some shots outside of it or something Yeah, and then we pull up driving and we're like, wait a minute. This is not the hotel I thought I booked but it actually turned out better. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was it was better. So um, really cool hotel and just a a pretty cool day overall spending it with with rachel and samuel now to get to the the part of Driving back to connecticut That's where oh, yeah, it might be too soon. I might start crying while i'm Yeah, i'm explaining the story. So yeah, it's it was a it's a tough night So we were driving back to connecticut, um driving back to new haven and We this is new york city. So there's potholes everywhere um for the second time All right, actually the second time in one week, right anyone listening who's in canada or Winnipeg It's just like our regular roads. Oh, really? Yeah. So just imagine that. Yeah. So yeah, they're bad. Oh, I'm not saying they're good. I'm just, yeah. So the, we're, we're driving and we go over a pothole now, mind you, uh, my car has very, very low profile tires and seems to have some pretty weak wheels. So we went over a pothole and last week, the week before I went over another pothole And it actually cracked one of my wheels. So I had to get it fixed. Um, It took like four days. Yeah. Yeah. You didn't have a, you didn't have a vehicle for like four days, right? Yes. So I had to get it fixed. It was kind of a pain to get it fixed. And I'm like, all right, cool. Like I'm, it's all fixed. I don't have to worry about it anymore. And then coming back from New York, I go over another pothole and the other tire. I didn't realize that it actually, actually cracked the wheel on that one. And it. It popped the tire wipe it probably had a slow leak because as we were getting into uh Milford in Connecticut I felt like it really like either popped or something. We went over like a bigger bump. It wasn't so much a pothole, but a bigger bump. And immediately you were like, I feel something, I feel weird. This feels weird. Yeah. Now this was at 1130 PM. So it was basically pitch black outside. Yes. It was the scariest road. Cause we were on like some sort of like highway. Getting onto a freeway. Yeah. It was like a connector between two highways and the. What's what are those called like the ramp or not the ramp but like the the section where like we pulled off to This shoulder. Yeah the shoulder. It was very small. So oh, yeah, I barely fit the car Yeah, it's the whole thing. So we have like cars zooming by Yeah, because there was a railing you couldn't pull you couldn't pull all the way over onto like a grassy area because there was a Railing so you really just had the little designated shoulder, which was not big enough for your car, right? So I get out I checked the tire tires completely ruined So we had to call a tow truck because my vehicle does not have a spare tire. Yeah, because why would A car have a low profile tires and weak rims have a spare tire. So we had to call a tow truck towed the car. We got to a slightly, a slightly safer shoulder before we called the tow truck because we were like this, we were on a curve when we first stopped. Um, but we moved up a little bit and the smell of rubber was overwhelming. Yeah. Like burn rubber. It was awful. So we got the car towed. Um, We get in the guy's tow truck and he drops us off at a random gas station with our luggage because we had all our gear and clothes from the weekend. So we have like three suitcases and backpacks just on the side of the highway at a gas station. And we call an Uber to the rest of the hotel, right? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that was our way of getting home. Yeah, I think we got to bed at like three o'clock. I mean, because Yeah, that's not the end of it. I mean, like we had to get the car settled in somewhere and figure out what we were going to do. And like four days later you get it back. Yeah. So at the, uh, and actually I just got it back technically yesterday, right? Yeah. Like last night it's finally drivable. Yeah. So three cracks on the rim, which are fixed. Now I have to order new wheels for the vehicle, uh, new tires, which, um, It's gonna be a lot of money. Price of another car. Yeah. Essentially. So I'm gonna be starting a GoFundMe so that the photography community can, uh, support. Good luck with that. Also, my Esteban, poor Esteban needs new tires on his luxury vehicle that he chose to buy because purely fur lux. Yeah. And not reliability Um, yeah, it sucks. But it was an adventure. Yeah, yeah, and that's uh, that's the name of this. Uh, oh Let's go on an adventure. That's a good segue So let's go on an adventure, which is like maybe like a happier adventure. Yeah So, I mean, and then I guess we can talk about, what was it, Block Island? Yeah, so we're like, we're gonna jump back a little bit, because we've gone on some adventures since then, but, but we love this place so much. We really want to tell you guys about it. Yep. And if you follow us at all on social media, you would have already heard a little bit about it. You would have seen the beached whale. You would have seen the beached whale, which was like our favorite part, which Yeah, which wasn't like a random, like, person on the beach. I think we also keep referring, like, to ourselves as beached whale. Like, I feel like it's just in my vocabulary now. I just say beached whale all the time. I feel like I still have the smell on my nostrils. Oh, the smell. I'll never forget the smell. Yeah, so we decided at the very last minute as we do every other trip. Yeah, um to go to block island for What we were there for like what three days three days? Well, we went we were really going for one night and we ended up staying for one or two extra nights. Yeah Yeah, so block island is um So people know what an is an island? It's an island in America. Um, in Maine? No, it's Rhode Island, right? Rhode Island. Rhode Island. Yeah. Right off of Rhode Island. You have to take a ferry to it. Yeah, because it's an island. islands are surrounded by water. Uhhuh Yeah. But yeah, we went there. It's tiny. Yeah, it's a tiny little island off Rhode Island that rhymes. You should be a rapper. It's the same word, so it's not technically right. Um, yeah, so it was, it was, we went there for a couple of days. It, it was my first time actually going, I photographed a wedding there before. Um, but it was our, my first time actually going for like fun. And it was like being in Hawaii is the best way I could describe it. It was unbelievably nice. The weather was amazing. The people were great. It just felt very tropical. And I couldn't up, I couldn't wrap my head around it being in Rhode Island. Yeah, it felt, it felt way more tropical than it should have. We both were like, we had to keep like saying we're just in Rhode Island, but it was amazing. It was, it was so beautiful. They greeted us with our favorite, um, Dessert. Dessert. What is it? Dole Whip. Dole Whip. Yeah. Yeah, which actually we had at the Polynesian Hotel in Disney last. Yes. So kind of fitting on that whole tropical Hawaiian theme. So yeah, the last time we had Dole Whip was the Polynesian Hotel in Disney and we get off the ferry at Block Island and right in front of us giant Dole Whip stand and I shit you We had Dole Whip. Three times a day. Three times a day. They knew us at the stand. Nine times. Yeah. Yeah. Every, every like time we walked up, they're like, Oh, look at these. These people here again, like they just start making it we'd lock up and they knew what we're gonna order these beached whales But it was great we loved Black Island, I want to go back we There's so many stories about Black Island. We rented a what are they called a moped a moped? And we just rode around the island for an entire day. Yeah, just back and forth with the island. We were just Two just people on mopeds just going to every other place. Two people who had never driven mopeds. Well, I guess you, you claim, I have, I have ridden, He claims he's driven a moped, but you should have seen him ride it during the road test. The guy was, You gotta go, just go around and come back. I think I felt like you had to do it. You failed it. The You failed it the first time. I didn't fail it. The first time you took go around a second time. The guy, he just wasn't paying attention. He was like, oh yeah, I wasn't paying attention. Do it again. No. The instructor the entire time on your first round was like, put your feet up, feet, put your feet tracking on the ground. I was. I was. I was. Nervous. And then so I see him do this and the instructor yelling at him to put his feet up and I'm like oh my god this does not look good we're gonna die and then he says you have to do it again put your feet on the bike so he he does another loop and then the guy's like yeah okay you're good get on the back and I was I was terrified to get on the back of that thing with you. If anybody has ever like rid ridden rode a bike. Or driven a bike? Yeah. Do you drive a bike? I think you ride the bike. But what do you do as a driver? If you ever motorcycle a bike I don't care, whatever. If you ever are in control of a bike. If you are ever the Driver no see that's going back to what I said if you're ever the So if you ever control a bike and you're the person up front and there's somebody in the back It gets a hundred times harder. Yeah, it's a control bike It's so hard. I had no idea how hard it would be, but eventually we got used to it. Once you catch up, like once you like pick up speed and stuff, like it's just, it's fine, but yeah, it was definitely an adventure. Once we rode around a bit, I was comfortable and enjoying it, but at first I thought we were definitely gonna die. Yeah. I thought so too. I just didn't want to say anything. So, but the most interesting thing that happened in Black Island, which is what we could kind of finish off with, is we were randomly having Dole Whip for the 17th time. Yeah. And this guy that very clearly looked like, I don't know if he was looking like drugs or he was drunk thought he was homeless maybe. And he just like randomly came up to us, right? And he was like, have you guys seen the beached whale? No, just leave us alone. We're trying to enjoy the toll. And we were like, uh, no, he's like, yeah, there's a beached whale. It's an amazing site like best thing I ever seen and yeah, and he was just trying to rambling on about we were just like Yeah, whatever do like you are clearly not Yeah, but there actually was a piece wrong. Yeah. Yeah, we saw it on we looked it up online there was all over the news and we ended up taking an uber to the other side of the island and We hiked to where it was because it was about like a mile walk on the beach. Yeah, you can access it easily right and You We're running up an hour. This is the longest, hopefully this is the longest episode we have ever. Cause we already had like, yeah. I want, well, we have a lot of stories to tell. I feel like there's like three more Black Islands to release. I want to tell. Oh my God, it's going to be a three hour episode. Um, So we basically went to the other side of the of the island and we were going through it But before we went through there was a couple of people that were leaving that had just seen the whale And they were like, yeah, we were walking but we were going up against the wind. So the smell was very strong And if anybody has seen me, I actually have the largest nose you've ever seen in your life. So that, that goes straight into my brain when it comes to smell. Um, so we started hiking up. So he's very sensitive to smells. Yes, yes. So we were walking up to the, uh, uh, the whale and we just started to feel that smell like smell that like nastiness Like oh, this is pretty bad. And then we finally see it. Like he was he was being very Very what? Dramatic. Yeah. I wasn't being dramatic. Well, he had his face, he basically had his face buried in his sweater and his shirt and was like whining. I was gagging the entire time. And I was just like, okay, like, breathe through your mouth. It's fine. Okay, so if I breathe through my mouth, then I just go from smelling the worst thing in the world to tasting the worst thing in the world. Is that because you also have a really big mouth? Oh my god. Okay, anyways. Yes. Um, but I will say. It was the most disgusting smell I've ever smelled. It was really bad, but like, I could handle it, and he couldn't. And as we were walking, we're just both like, so excited and walking along, and I don't know what happened, but I got like, the strongest whiff of it I had, like, the whole time. It immediately just made me start gagging, I thought I was gonna puke, but it hit me like instantly. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, it was bad. And I understand. I don't, yeah. It was awful. But it was so worth it. It was so worth it. Yeah, it was humongous. It was 50 feet long. Yeah. And it was unbelievable. Like, I don't think we'll ever have an opportunity to see anything like that again in a long What kind of whale was it? It was a humpback whale. A humpback whale. It was, it was super sad. I mean, yes, it's sad, but it's just incredible to be beside such a huge animal. Yeah. Yeah. I, I would have never in a million years, like, thought that. That's what it was going to feel like. So it, it, it was, it was amazing. So yeah, we saw a beached whale on Black Island. Yeah. Which was definitely like the highlight of the trip, which is just so weird. and maybe a little bit morbid, but we, we just kept talking about like, what a beautiful, I mean, it's a fact of life. Um, and it was beautiful even though it was decaying. It was like a week old, right? Like a week. Yeah. So it wasn't like rotting away. I mean, obviously it was, but yeah, but it was still like, you could still tell that it was very much. We haven't looked it up again, but at the time they weren't sure what had happened to it. And, um, Biologists or whoever were People from the Mystic Aquarium were there too. Not there when we were there, but they were there a few days before trying to study it. Yeah, doing some investigations and stuff. So, I mean, maybe there'll be more information out now, but They did know, they didn't know the name. I think they had named it, um, and they knew the age of it and where it was last sighted because they do track them. So they had that information. I think the it was like in the late eighties or something. Yeah. Which is kind of crazy that they track that stuff. Yeah. Um, so some of the things that I wanted to mention about Block Island, um, one, the people we met at the hotel. Do you remember? No. When we were having, um, some margaritas out on the lawn chairs at the wedding venue that you shot at and then Oh, yes Yes, remember like we're all so we're on this tiny island in Rhode Island and we run into people we know Well, we don't we don't we didn't know that. Well, actually we didn't know them they Yeah. So they, they, they were just like, there was a guy just like talk like with his kids or something. And then we ended up talking and then we told him we were wedding photographers and we, they're actually friends with one of my clients. Yeah. Um, well I think when we started the conversation talking about, I don't know, was it pizza or hockey? Yeah. Something about, Oh no, something random. We were just talking and and found this crazy connection with your client. Yeah. And then the other person, Hmm. Like, after we were done talking to them, the other person. Someone else came up to us and recognized us, which was like a weird experience on its own. Yeah, just like randomly comes and is like, um, what did she say? She said, are you guys, are you guys photographers? Yeah. Uh, and we're like, yes. And she's like, and then she said something about, Wanting to hear us speak at Lens and Light or something. Um, yeah, I'm not exactly, I don't quite remember how the conversation went, but um, yeah, she recognized us from a speaking engagement and, uh, came over to say hi. Yeah, which is super random, um, I, again, just you're in the middle of nowhere and you just see two people that you have some sort of like connection with. I feel like that was like definitely although I think we had talked about like that's happened before but from Talking to that other guy making a connection And I think you end up taking a picture with them and they sent it to the client And then this girl comes up to us and is like hey, I recognize you guys i'm like what is happening right now It's a very weird sequence of events. Yeah Like this is very random. Yeah, but very cool. Yeah What else happened in Blackpool? Well, it was also a 4th of July weekend. Oh yeah, we saw the worst fireworks. We saw the best fireworks show we'd ever seen in Blackpool. It was better than Disney. You are soon to find out that they are in fact not better than Disney fireworks. Um, we, we, on check in day, maybe like it's July 1st actually. Yeah, it was Canada Day. July 1st we check in and we hear people ahead of us. the fireworks, they're happening, right? Uh, and we're like, whoa, fireworks? Like, we have to find out about this. So we spent the next couple days, um, asking around, finding out. How big this firework show is, where it was going to be held, the best viewing points. And they were really selling us. Oh my goodness. They were like, you have to watch the fireworks. Like the Block Island fireworks are the fireworks for 4th of July. People come all the way from Canada to watch these things. Yeah. Uh, they're going to be at the beach. Like anywhere on the beach is going to be amazing. And so we were like really pumped up for these fireworks. So we had like gear packed, we had viewing point picked out, and then we found a really good bar with a really amazing view, which you're basically just sitting at the bar and you're just overlooking the ocean along the beach. Yeah. We thought it was going to be a really immense show. So, so the countdown's on for these fireworks and we're getting our cameras ready. Everyone's excited around us, too, and we're getting ready to catch this firework show. And then we found out that the person that's in charge of the fireworks actually just works at their local 7 Eleven and bought the fireworks from their overstock. So we're like, I think we're, because we've asked many times, many different people, like where do they set these off? And everyone's answer was the beach, the beach, the beach, the beach. They start sending off the test fireworks. And they are in fact, not on the beach. They are on like a barge in the ocean, one single point, and they're going off one at a time. And then the firework show starts tiny. They're a mile away. They're in the middle. Like they're not anywhere near the beach. They are well into the water off one tiny barge, one firework at a time. They're like for a half hour. They're like specks on our cameras. Yes. And everyone that was at the bar was like, Oh, look at these. It's like, what are you living on island? That was fun. And we sat there like we both couldn't help it because we were so prepared with our gear. We're all set up. We've been practicing. Like we were taking shots leading up to that, making sure exposures are right. Like, And and we're just belly laughing because we're like what the hell like we've been building up to this for two Days. Yeah, we should probably post a picture of that, too So we laughed really hard and then we were I also felt a little bad for all the people who were so excited around us for them. So then we just we tried to enjoy them as best we could but realized our dreams of these Beautiful firework photos were not going to happen. Yeah, it was definitely underwhelming But that was the most underwhelming thing because everything else was amazing Yeah, and we still have this great story and it was still so nice sitting at that bar and and watching them like yeah It just wasn't the beautiful Photographs we imagined at the end of it But everything else is amazing. I love Black Island. I haven't stopped talking about it. I feel like I want to go back and just Trying to make it happen maybe again for a day or something. Yeah, I think it'd be cool. It's even like the ferry there was really cool. Like when we were leaving, it was the sun was setting and it was just so beautiful. It just felt like another world. Um, it was awesome. We'd definitely recommend if anybody has never been as far as like, just to take a quick trip, even just like an overnight trip and just, there's a ton of like inns, there's some hotels, the food was amazing. The food and drinks were so good. Yeah. So it was great. Definitely, definitely a great block Island. Very, very high places that we've been, because it was just such an awesome place. Even, you didn't even talk on like the talk about like the hiking that we did, which is so beautiful, like the cliffs, the lighthouses, like it was beautiful. I feel like we barely it's a tiny island. We've barely touched the surface of it. Yeah. It was a beautiful place to explore. Yeah. I'm sure we'll be back. Yeah. So, all right, let's, let's move on to The last topic, which is tech time. So to give you guys an explanation of what tech time is, this is going to be just, um, our opportunities to kind of recommend either whether it's software or hardware, just something that we've been using, it could be something that's very expensive, something that's very cheap, something that we might've run into. So in our travels, we find ourselves in little stores that we kind of try to justify purchases. We do that so often we'll go into a store and be like, well, we can use this for this. And it could be something that's very, just completely out of nowhere or, and very inexpensive or it could be something that's a little bit more expensive. So just things that we've been using in the past that, that have helped not only, uh, make things more interesting, but maybe make our lives a little bit easier. So, um, do you want to go first or do you want me to go first? You go first for this one. So I feel like it's so fresh in your mind cause you've been talking nonstop about this for a week. Oh my God. No, it's not a complaint. Yeah. So when I was in, uh, when I was in DC last week, um, I actually ended up buying one of my dream cameras and that camera is called a Hasselblad X Pan. if anybody doesn't know what a Haspelhead X Pan is, you need to look this thing up. And it's pretty incredible. It's a film camera. Um, and what it is is essentially, it's a panorama camera. And I think it takes two, um, Two slides. I don't want it. It's not a slide, but it's two, um, exposures, two exposures from a 35 millimeter film and it puts it together into a panel shot. So it's a true panel. It's a 35 millimeter. Um, and then some of the images that people get with these cameras are just so beautiful. Um, I just photographed the first, um. The first three or four roles. Um, and we dropped them off at mill for photo today. So we'll see how they come out. I'm really excited. I know me too. I, I'm really looking forward to see what, how would they come out? Um, like, and the camera has just been amazing to use. It's been a joy to use. I had a little, it was a little finicky at first. Um, the thing with these cameras that they're, they're older cameras. Um, and they're also very electronic cameras. So the, they depend on a lot of electronics. So. There's a lot that can go wrong. Um, and there's also not many of them. So the prices are very, very high. So, um, if you were to like, for example, look at the newest version of the X Pan, which is the X Pan Mark II, um, with like a 45 millimeter F4 lens and a 90 millimeter F4 lens in good condition, you probably can't find that camera for under 8, 000. Um, and so, I have the first X Pan, which is in a much different condition. It's very beat up, not beat up, but the, the, yeah, which is normal with those cameras. A lot of the time the paint kind of like chips off, um, but functionally it seems to be working pretty well for the most part. Um, so I think I got a pretty good deal on it. Thank you to Morgan for, uh, making the deal happened. Morgan Schrader, who's a super talented photographer and still in Flint. So, um, but yeah, that's, that's, that's my, my equipment of the week that I, I wanted to talk about. I think that I'm really excited to, to see what the images are going to look like and so far it's been a pretty, pretty amazing journey. We'll share some of those images too. Yeah, definitely. I'm, I can't wait to get them. So yeah, Hasselblad, X Pan, Dream Camera. Yeah. And that's it. Yeah. It's really cool. Um, so I want to talk about the backpack that we used in Block Island. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, which was awesome and super comfortable, completely different than the backpack I normally use. Which I yell at you for. Yeah. All the time. Which is, yeah. Like. Killing my back. Yes. Um, I hate that backpack. I know I know it's awful Especially if you have a lot of equipment on it, it just seems like it's just it's super cute and I love that about it, but when you pack it full of the equipment like I do it's like 30 pounds on like the skinniest little straps most uncomfortable straps Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's bad. So in the complete opposite of that backpack There's the rogue backpack from geekoto Yep, and we brought that to block island with us um And it was like the third passenger on our moped as we drove around the island. Yep I love that backpack. Yeah, and that backpack sat in my basement Such a shame. Probably a year. Yeah before I was actually like, all right, I should try this take it out. Yeah well, I mean you He has like 500 backpacks. Yeah, so I have a bit of a bad obsession. Yeah, so it's not like Not like you purposely ignored the backpack. Yeah, it wasn't the only one down there. There's many down there that I just kind of, I'll get backpacks and I'll just sit there. It's like his shoes. He wears them once or twice and then gets a new pair. Okay, alright. I need to calm down with the blasphemy here. So anyway, we brought this backpack, um, with us and it fit everything we needed. What did we fit in it? Ugh. Okay, so, camera wise? Mhmm. Mhmm. We put the Panasonic, Panasonic S5 to X with, we put the, um, X pro three, the Fuji, Fuji X pro three, Fuji X 100, Fuji X 100. I might've had a Canon in there too. Which can, no, it would've been the R five if I, if I had it in there. Yeah. R five. Um, did some lenses, Sigma 50 milliliter. And maybe the 28, I think it was, I think there was only two that I brought. Um, we were doing a little beaching, so we had like, um, some, I did have some clothes in there. We had drinks, water with us. Yeah. It was, it was packed full of everything we could need for the day, um, while we were zooming around. Um, but super convenient, the access to it, um, side access and front access. Um, which I like when you have the option of doing both. Yes. Um, where if you're just kind of on the go, you just. Just swinging around your waist and then open up the side and take out the your main camera Um, and super important for us being around the beach to like water resistant material. Yep. Um, Yeah, so she was all that very expensive gear in there and us being by the ocean Yeah. Yeah, it was an awesome awesome camera and we even liked it so much that we did a little bit of a shoot With with it. Yeah, we did send the images kind of impromptu Really we had the backpack and then we were like We love this bag. Maybe we should shoot the bag right now. And I think we spent like an hour walking around that light. I was just taking pictures with it as we do with nearly everything we use and every location we go to. Um, but yeah, so that's, um, on the Kikoto website. Um, I think it comes in two different sizes. Am I wrong? No, it's just one size. Three different colors. Black one, a gray one and blue. Yeah, so three colors and it's 180 and it's 189 which is Actually very cheap for camera bags as I found out today that quality. Yeah, we were shopping for Yeah, what was the one we were shopping for? Shimoda. Yeah, and i'm like holy shit. Yeah. Yeah, very expensive. But again when you have such expensive equipment you want to make sure that you don't just keep out on on the um, yeah what you're carrying it in what's protecting it, so um And there's always that like, whole, like, what's the balance of like, function over like how stylistic the camera's going to look. Like I have a couple of bags that are just beautiful, like the most beautiful leather. Like I gave you a, uh, what are the, what's the one I gave you? Oh, is it Belly? No, not Belly. Um, it's a German brand. Oberwerth? Oberwerth. Yeah. So an Oberwerth, um, Oberwerth. Yeah. A sling, a sling. Yeah. Cross body like messenger, which is a really good quality bag. I have the overworth, I forgot what the model is, but a backpack, which is also one of my favorite backpacks, but they're not comfortable, so they're only meant to the one I normally use in shape and yeah, but it's, it's just meant to have like a couple of things in it, just like a very, very much about like how it looks rather than like how functional and how comfortable it um, but the ski Kota backpack is again. How much is an overworth backpack? Like that's 800. Oh yeah. I think, um, yeah. And the sling, I think it was like six or 700 and the, I mean, for Geekoda one to have a nice, comfortable backpack where you can fit all this equipment in it and not really have to break it. Better functionality, more comfortable. And I wore that thing for like two days on the back of the boat. But it was extremely comfortable. Yeah, yeah, it's an awesome bag and so it's 189. Um, you can also use oh, yeah, you have a code. Do you have a code? I do have a code. What's your code? Um Is that right 10? Um, I don't think it's my last name Well, that's a good question Oh, well, you can give them your code because I don't know what mine is off the top of my head Oh, that's an opportunity. Well, so if you use code gill all capitals 10 So gil 1 0, you can get 10 percent off. Um, which is 18. 90 So yeah, so it'll be 20 bucks off. So it'll be a hundred and sixty nine dollars or at least around there really good value Yeah, so especially for what it can fit and it also has a compartment for For your laptop too, so. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that part, but mm hmm. But yeah, that's yeah, that's the backpack. Our favorite gear of the week, I guess. Yep, a very expensive, old, beat up Hasselblad X Pan. Mm hmm. And a very affordable, awesome, functional backpack. Functional backpack. Mm hmm. Yeah. Sounds about right. Yes Look at that. We're in an hour and 13 minutes. So probably about an hour and 23 minutes It's gonna be about an hour and a half. Yeah long first up. So we had a lot of talk about We've been holding on to this for a very long time. So I know Yeah, and I feel like there's just so much more I want to say. I know you do kind of talk a lot This has been fun Has it? Yeah, yeah, I could think I could do another two or three of these I'm glad we're investing so much time into this. It's the first time I've ever sat still for an hour and 13 minutes. It's true. I didn't even take my medicine. Yeah. Oh God. I didn't take my medicine. I'm just kidding. Maybe you don't need it. Yeah. Um, yeah, that's it. That's it. That's it. Our first episode is done. We did it. We did it. High five. Hopefully you heard the high five. So we can line up our sound clips. That's what we were just, that's what we were just taught today. No one taught us how to line up sound clips. We don't even have the video today, which is what you're lining it up with. Um, but yeah, I hope that you enjoyed the first episode. Um, it's kind of crazy to think that this is the first episode of hopefully many more. Um, and if any feedback or any, um, comments or anything, um, just keep them to yourself. We don't want to hear it. That's not true at all. We need, we need feedback for the opening segment of the episode number two. Yeah. So if anybody has any feedback, um, please feel free to tell Mandy because my ego can't handle it. That's true. Yes. I'm a very fragile man, mentally and physically. Um, cool. That's it. Yeah. I appreciate it. Well, thank you all for tuning in See you all or hear you all you'll hear us. Oh, yeah, we won't hear you It's not how these things work We'll talk I'll explain what a podcast There is as a title what is a podcast is there That's what that's what the title is gonna be Or just we're just podcast whale we should definitely call it beached whale All right. Well Thanks for tuning in and we will see you all Whenever the hell we want to do the next one. Yeah soon Yes soon so long suckers Bye. Goodbye