Switching lenses
Mandy Wright and Esteban Gil are two wedding photographers that share their love for photography, gear, travel and the photography community.
Switching lenses
Episode 4: Sepia Bride divorce drama, Italy wedding, Halloween horror nights, Godox lux series
In episode four of 'Switching Lenses', Esteban and Mandy broadcast from Their friend’s Jules and Noah’s basement in Guilford, Connecticut.
They discuss Panasonic camera updates, a surprise concert by Fuel, complemented by gluten-free Big E options. The episode explores AI headshots versus professional photography results from a previous episode. They also discuss the use of alternative, affordable photography techniques like glass pieces to create unique effects. Additionally, they review a wedding in Italy and Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, with a segment on photography accessories like the Godox Luxe series.
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And welcome to episode four of Switching Lenses. I'm Esteban Gill and I am joined with
Mandy:Mandy Wright.
Esteban (2):That's four episodes in a row and we're live from where? Where are we? Where are we recording from?
Mandy:In Noah and Jewel's basement.
Esteban (2):Oh my god. The, the place to be in Guilford, Connecticut right now. Yeah, it's a party up in
Mandy:here.
Esteban (2):Yep, I'm staring at some toys, I'm staring at some, uh, a really cool collection of cards.
Mandy:This would have been a good episode to So we could just like be surrounded by all the cool collectibles.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Huh. Maybe we'll do a couple episodes here. I'm sure we will. We
Mandy:should set up some lighting. Really take over the space.
Esteban (2):Yeah. I'm sure, I'm sure he will love that.
Mandy:Uh, they're so kind to let us hang out here. They have an awesome studio too, so it's a, it's a great place to be creative.
Esteban (2):Yeah, they're definitely two of my all time favorite people. They're amazing. And I just did a live with Noah the other day in Steel and Flint.
Mandy:Oh, yeah,
Esteban (2):that was pretty cool. It was he was talking about, um, light painting, light painting. Yeah,
Mandy:which he's like an expert at.
Esteban (2):Yeah, he does a ton of light painting stuff and it's It's just really cool to, to watch the whole process of it.
Mandy:Um,
Esteban (2):and he just upgraded all his equipment. I got him into the whole Panasonic thing, which.
Mandy:Oh yeah. Influencing.
Esteban (2):Yeah. I'm influencing the Panasonic, the new Panasonic customers. So Panasonic, if you're listening to this sponsor our podcast,
Mandy:please. It's all our travel photos are taken by Panasonic basically other than the film stuff. Yeah, everything we've taken. Yeah It's all Panasonic. S9
Esteban (2):and S5 to X.
Mandy:I should start taking them in the post I don't I think I maybe did on the first one and haven't done it since
Esteban (2):yeah And actually they just came out with an update for all the cameras now
Mandy:for which
Esteban (2):made them even better now. Oh Um, I'm not really sure what it does, but people are pretty excited about the updates that they introduced. Something good, but we
Mandy (2):have no idea what it is. Yeah. You heard it here first. There's a new update for Panasonic. I don't know what the hell it is, but it's great. People are, people are losing their minds. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Um, I think it's more like for a video, uh, where it like unlocks the, uh, the limitation of like how much time the cameras are allowed to record, because I know the S9, one of the things that people complained about was that you could only record like 10 minutes at a time.
Mandy:That's a weird limitation.
Esteban (2):Well you, I think it was just in certain, uh, resolutions. So if it was like 6k, um, then, then it was only 10 minutes, but then they, they kind of unlocked it. So,
Mandy:well, you actually, you have taken some video with it too. I mean, our surprise concert the other week.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. Fuel. Yeah. Yeah. Fuel concert that happened on. That we just
Mandy:happened to walk into basically. Yeah,
Esteban (2):and they also happened to be like my one of my all time favorite bands and we're just walking by the Big E in Massachusetts and we're like, fuck. Yeah. Fuel's gonna be playing. We happened to be in
Mandy:the right spot, right time with our gear and Yeah. Shot a concert.
Esteban (2):Always be prepared. Always bring every single lens that you use.
Mandy (2):This is not good advice.
Esteban (2):Every lens, every body, every flash. So you're always
Mandy (2):prepared when you accidentally see fuel.
Esteban (2):On the ground.
Mandy (2):Yeah. Uh, good times with the biggie.
Esteban (2):Yeah, Big E was awesome. We didn't really talk about it a lot last week, but We didn't talk about it at all. I don't think we've
Mandy:even mentioned it.
Esteban (2):Yeah, well, we went to the Big E. It's one of the biggest fairs in the country, probably. A fall fair. Fall fair, yeah. And you call it the E. The E. Well, you've never been to any, any, well, before this year, you hadn't been to any, like, fall fairs. And I mean, as somebody that grew up in the Northeast, it's just part of you growing up in the Northeast. Yeah. We weren't really super, like You didn't really know a lot about them, right?
Mandy:No. Well, we have like, um, we have like a fair, like once a year that would happen in my city or in the town I grew up in. They're never in the fall. Nothing, like
Esteban (2):Are they, they're in the summer?
Mandy:Um, yeah, in the summer or in the spring, like once. Um, and I would say that there's definitely similarities between the two, but I like it in the fall. It's like the perfect weather for it. Yeah, I
Esteban (2):think the fall is the, it's just amazing. Like you just You just pick out on all the food. Oh, the
Mandy:food is amazing.
Esteban (2):And it was cool because Not only was there a lot of food, but there was a lot of gluten friendly food.
Mandy:Yeah. Yeah, we didn't, I don't think we've brought that up on the podcast at all or on our travel pages, but, um, always on the hunt for gluten free food since I'm celiac and the, the Big E was actually really awesome. There was so much, yeah, there was so much food for me. And so it was really exciting. Probably the most exciting part was just like picking out.
Esteban (2):Well, I think most people are excited about it. Like, they're just like, well, we're going to go to the Big E and we're just going to eat all day. Yeah, but I was expecting not to do that. Right, and that's beforehand. I was, I was like, all right, well, everybody goes to E, like, how's that going to work? Like, I'm going to be walking around and be like, oh, I want this right here, but we can't really eat it. And I always, like, keep myself from eating certain things because I don't want to be eating in front of you and you not be able to enjoy the things. But. They were, it was great, like, tons of stuff that you could eat.
Mandy:Yeah, there was more food than we could try. Yeah. Um, that's so sweet. But yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. So, yeah.
Esteban (2):Well, let's get started with the episode because we have a lot to talk about. Yeah, because we just went
Mandy:on an adventure and we're not even in this segment.
Esteban (2):We have another adventure to talk about. Yeah. And
Mandy:more exciting.
Esteban (2):Yes. Yeah. Um, but before we get started into any sort of adventures or any of the stories that are happening in the photography world.
Mandy:Our new headshots.
Esteban (2):Yeah. We want to talk about these headshots from. Uh, two episodes ago, right?
Mandy:Yeah. Some, yeah, two episodes ago. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Uh, so if you didn't listen to the episode, uh, be sure to listen to it. Uh, but just to give you an idea of what we did, we basically. pay 10 each to get our AI headshots done. Uh, if you, if you haven't seen the results, you can go into our Instagram, the Searching Lenses podcast. They're
Mandy:amazing. Yeah,
Esteban (2):they are incredible. And they're definitely going to take over the world and all headshot photographers are doomed, right?
Mandy:Oh yeah, definitely. Best I've ever looked. Um, so the process kind of worked. Um, I think we, Had to submit 10 selfies or photo, whatever type of photo you wanted of yourself. Obviously, this is made for someone who doesn't have professional photos of themselves. So selfies or full body shots. So just 10 of them. And uh, 24 hours later, the gift was in our mailbox.
Esteban (2):The gift that we did not deserve. Yeah. We're not worthy of such images.
Mandy:Yeah. But in all honesty, it was horrifying.
Esteban (2):Yeah, yeah, I mean it's
Mandy:Yeah, so we don't expect, or expect any kind of sponsorship from this. Not
Esteban (2):that we want any sponsorship from an AI headshot company, but yeah, there wasn't, they weren't good. No. I mean, I feel like, I don't know, I feel like yours, like they took a lot of liberty with your face.
Mandy (2):They're like, she could use some extra features or something.
Esteban (2):Like a butthole on your chin.
Mandy:Yeah. Some extra. Yeah. Yeah. Characteristics that I do not have.
Esteban (2):What was the thing that I said when Oh my goodness. You can't say this. Yes, I can. Because so if you go into the podcast, um, uh, Instagram and go into the headshots and go into Mandy's headshot and you can see that. The AI system or whatever they used, uh, gave her some, a nice, uh, uh, chin,
Mandy (2):chin dimple. Is that what it's called? Yeah. I don't know what it's called. Yeah.
Esteban (2):And as soon as I saw, as soon as I said, Oh, Mandy, you can blow your nose and wipe your ass at the same
Mandy (2):time. Oh my God.
Mandy:You did. Yeah. Um, yeah. And I feel kind of silly cause I show, I know a couple of people I showed them and they didn't notice that right away. And I'm like, Did you not notice that they gave me a completely different chin in these photos?
Esteban (2):And it's, and I mean, I guess that's a pretty good point, is that sometimes most people that aren't really in the In and out of the industry, like we're not really, we're seeing these things all the time, but maybe somebody that's not necessarily as in tune with headshots might not really know the difference between AI.
Mandy:Yeah, or details. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Esteban (2):So, um, but definitely don't, I don't recommend it at all.
Mandy:No. And I believe they're, I, we might've brought this up on the other episode, but their guarantee was that What's the clod? A
Esteban (2):hundred plus. Just like, just like a real
Mandy:photo shoot. You're going to have a hundred images and you're only going to like two of them.
Esteban (2):You're guaranteed to like two to three of them, I think it was. Yeah. Which is kind of crazy. Which is ridiculous on its own.
Mandy:Yeah. A ridiculous claim. I would hope that my clients like more than two or three of their images.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Imagine doing a shoot and then, you know, I'm giving somebody over a hundred images and
Mandy:imagine having that clause when someone books you and being like just like every other photo shoot. You're gonna Completely
Esteban (2):Yeah, yeah, well we did post the photos So if you're interested in seeing what the results are and we also posted our actual head shots So you can compare them to what what we look like a professional photographer would do in comparison to AI Uh, you can see that there's a, a massive difference between the two, uh, just reading through some of the comments, um, Bobby, your friend Bobby, who's a makeup artist, she may have had a pretty good comment. She said, well, at least I know I won't be losing my job. So again, these are things that are not only affecting photographers, but they're affecting people that are also Well,
Mandy:exactly. If you can AI your entire shoot, then that means they're taking over. Uh, are a makeup artist job. Mm hmm.
mandy (3):Mm hmm.
Mandy:Hairstylist job. Like, there's a lot of other industries that would be at risk. I mean, I'm not feeling threatened anymore, but. No, not at all. Well, but. Um,
Esteban (2):and even if it does become popular, I feel like, just like anything else, there's always going to be people that, that are going to want to pay a premium for something that, that obviously. Mm
mandy (3):hmm.
Esteban (2):We, we We put a lot of work and effort into what we do, um, and we, we kind of always want to work with the people that appreciate the art of it and, and the amount of work that goes into it. And then there's always going to be people that maybe don't have the budget. Uh, maybe they're, it's their first job or maybe they're straight out of college, they're broke and they say, you know what, I'm going to take a couple of selfies and then get some really professional headshots for 10 bucks. Um, those people would generally probably not be somebody that, that would be able to afford a headshot from a professional photographer. So there's always a, there's always a market for, Yeah. For everything. As bad as it sounds.
Mandy:Yeah. And I like, I think this is like most things, like, they're just not our, the people who are going to use this are not our clients. We're not threatened by it at all. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Yeah. It's like when people complain about the 500 wedding photographer. Like that person's never going to hire us. Those people will never hire us. And I was once a 500 photographer. So, um, I can't really bash the 500 photographer as long as they're obviously working towards.
Mandy:Yeah. We all start somewhere. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Esteban (2):So.
Mandy:Um.
Esteban (2):Yeah. It was No,
Mandy:there's
Esteban (2):a couple of different comments too, uh, from Steve Walter said, um, yeah, these are great. I love how it took the Liberty. It took the Liberty with Mandy writes chin dimple. Sometimes and sometimes not. Yeah, some of the shots had a really.
Mandy:Yeah, some of them didn't have it. It wasn't all of them. It was like 50 50. Yeah, so I think it was confused whether or not it should have one.
Esteban (2):Yeah Tyler Jordan said, when you book Mandy and Esteban through Temu, Temu, I don't know how to pronounce that, Noah and Jules, swipe for AI. Maggie Gyllenhaal meets Mandy on number 10, which does kind of resemble Maggie Gyllenhaal. The last one of Mandy isn't so bad. And did it just plastic surgery, Mandy? Wow. Yeah.
Mandy:I think mine were more dramatic. Like, the difference. Like, it definitely doesn't look like you either. But they didn't, like, make drastic changes. Or, like, whereas mine, there were some that were just so weird. Again, like, they resemble us.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:They resemble us, but I, yeah, I don't, uh, I don't think I, I could pass that off as my headshot and have someone meet me and like, it, it doesn't look like us.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. I'm not, not a fan. So.
Mandy:All right.
Esteban (2):So that is our conclusion with the AI headshot. Uh. Yeah. Yeah. With our adventure into headshots. Maybe in the future we'll try another company, but yeah, we'll see if they're, if they get any better. But for
Mandy:now we're out. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Not for us.
Mandy:Yeah.
Esteban (2):Cool.
Mandy:Okay.
Esteban (2):How about some news and hot topics? And these are, we have a pretty, pretty good, uh, hot topic that has been discussed to death, not only in our industry, but everywhere. Um, and we have an update on it.
Mandy:We do. Sepia bride?
Esteban (2):Yes.
Mandy:Yeah. She is getting divorced.
Esteban (2):Getting divorced.
Mandy:Which should come as no surprise. Although now that we've I don't know. I just, I just dug into it a little bit. It maybe seems like she's the initiator, which makes no sense to me.
Esteban (2):What do you mean?
Mandy:Well, she seemed very braggy about it, right? Yeah. On that last, the.
Esteban (2):Yeah. We did watch a TikTok where she was just kind of like dancing in front of the camera. I just, I don't know. Which if
Mandy:you're getting, if you're getting, um, broken up with, I'm going to assume you're not as.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:So. Yeah.
Esteban (2):It's just, uh. It's so icky. It really is. I don't know. I just, there's just something about. I don't know.
Mandy:Anyone who. Yeah,
Esteban (2):it's just very attention grabbing and just anyone
Mandy:who uses any of that stuff for reels and tick tocks Just yeah.
Esteban (2):Yeah, and it bothers me
Mandy:gives me dick
Esteban (2):even though it is something that would bother a lot of people it still gets a lot more engagement than if you were to just post other things and I think Steve Walter actually now that we brought him up just a little bit ago He is He, I was having a conversation with him and he once told me, he's like, well, it's a lot of the negative attention that a lot of these reels get are actually helping them get and, and a lot of the time it's, it's helping, um, project a negative. Uh, whether somebody, somebody has somebody negative, something negative to say, the engagement that it's getting through negative comments is actually helping the cause and their, their message. So if they're posting something that we don't necessarily like, uh, all the hateful comments is actually in reality helping them get more, more views and more engagement. All
Mandy:publicity is good publicity. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm also not the one to respond. Like, if I like, see that, like, same with. People crying on reels and shit like it's just it's so icky. I uh, like I don't comment I don't like I just I if I see something like that. I just quickly scroll past it I know that's not good for the algorithm. I know if I'm quickly exiting out of it. That's not that's gonna be negative
Esteban (2):Yeah, it'll be it'll be negative, but I think I think most people like the drama. We try to stay away from drama, but sometimes it's, it's tough to pace up.
mandy (3):One of us likes drama more than the other.
Esteban (2):I mean, we watched the whole reel and we're just reading the comments while like, Yeah, but we didn't call you. This lady's dancing. Yeah, but we're, we're sticking to the reel and we're watching it, which means that. TikTok is saying, well, this actually got them. Like they're, they're on there for longer than a couple of seconds. And that's what's going to help them. I mean, obviously I'm no expert at this, but I know that obviously, if you have a real and it gets, then you're watching it for longer than a certain amount of time. It probably helps the algorithm or your algorithm. Um, even though you might not comment if you comment, then obviously, or if you save it, I think it also helps.
Mandy:Yeah. All of those things definitely contribute to it.
Esteban (2):Yeah. But,
Mandy:but anyways,
Esteban (2):she's getting divorced.
Mandy:So I'm guessing the photographer is off the hook now.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Imagine if she finds somebody and, uh, and is going to want to get remarried.
Mandy:She's never, she's never going to have another wedding. 500
Esteban (2):photographers. Because those are the only people that are going to want to, I'll shoot her wedding. Would you want to, would you do that?
Mandy:No, I absolutely would not.
Esteban (2):I don't, I feel like I kind of, I would, I would like the challenge of shooting a wedding.
Mandy:You are crazy.
Esteban (2):I think, I just know, just, just not. Make her orange
Mandy:Yeah. I mean, I don't know
Esteban (2):enough of the, I, I don't know enough of what happened.
Mandy:I know enough of what she's put on the internet that she's got issues and that being orange isn't the only one
Esteban (2):Okay. Fair enough. I don't know enough about it, so I I, if I
Mandy:was too, I would be afraid of, I would be afraid of, well, of the repercussions. going, being taken to court.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:I would be like knowing that the type of person she is, I would be afraid to take that on. You know, she's got red flags all over the place. That's yeah. Maybe not the bride you want to be taking on.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:Yeah. You can shoot that one Enjoy. Have you not had enough clients? Yeah. I mean, we all have, we've all had clients with red flags and we've taken them on and we've regretted it.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Looking back at them, I definitely, I mean, there's hundreds of wedding that I've done that I'm just kind of like, what the hell was I thinking? I mean, I guess I always like to think that I'm able to work with everyone, but at the end of the day, sometimes it's just not worth the money that you're making. Yeah. The amount of frustration that comes from dealing with certain people. Yep. Um, so, yeah, no, I, I, I totally get it. So, no, I guess, we won't photograph her wedding. I
Mandy:mean, I guess you'd have pretty good bragging rights. Yeah. If you actually shot her wedding and she loved the photos, I'm sure she'd make a even better dancing video of it. Oh. And
Esteban (2):I mean, to be honest, like, our style is very opposite of like, like that really popular, trendy look right now, which is like, The cpl look is that trendy right now? Yeah, I feel like that was doesn't that people don't people like that stuff right now
Mandy:I don't think people like that anymore
Esteban (2):All right. Well, I guess it used to be trendy people
Mandy:I think that I mean, I think the trend now is almost in unedited. Look they like the very Like very clean.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:Yeah. Like that's what's true. What's, that's what's starting to trend out more. Like editorial. Yeah. Like very like Yeah, like, like literally very little done to the image. Yeah. Very little processing is what's taking a hold, I think.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. So, yeah, which is not that difficult to do. No. Um, the difficult as far as editing,
Mandy:no. The difficult part I think is. is slowly morphing your style into a new trend or what's, that's the hard part I think is, is transitioning without, yeah, completely changing everything you're doing. Yeah. Right. At least that's what I find. Like I'm, I find myself liking and gravitating towards something similar to that, but like how do I slowly move to that without there being like a drastic change one day? Like one day I edit like I used to and the next day I edit like I want to be.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
mandy (3):Hmm.
Esteban (2):I never thought about it that way. I mean, I guess, yeah. I mean, I guess there's different, different styles that I edit in. But I would argue
Mandy:that all of your editing styles. Have a similar feel kind of nothing's drastically different other than that one beautiful Profile you've been working on for a long time
Mandy (2):the the trendy profile
Esteban (2):Yeah, so for those that that don't know aka everyone Yeah, he has one. I have this one profile that i've been working on That, that he should probably throw up. And I think it's beautiful'cause it's very trendy. It's
Mandy:it's trendy. If it was like 2008,
Esteban (2):it has that like Sia feel to it. Um, but that's not the one down. It's a very dirty,
Mandy (2):muddy look.
Esteban (2):It is kind of muddy. It's nice for certain things, but not humans. With that being said,
Mandy:are human beings.
Esteban (2):With that being said. I, I, I, I mean, the other one that I've been working on is pretty nice because we use that on, on some of the new photos that we posted for from the trip from last week. Yeah.
Mandy:Um, but I guess it, it's different and we can see the difference, but like, as we saw from your, one of your latest posts, like some people thought it was Leo, um, but we know from, from using them and, and looking at them that they're, they are different, but they still have a, they have the same, like. I don't know, a same, a similar feel or something, like you could, you could have both of them. Yes. And it works together.
Esteban (2):I do have both of them on my Instagram, but the thing is that whenever I try to communicate about this whole topic of editing in different ways is that it looks similar. I think it's because of more of, of my shooting style as opposed to just the overall color. Because, I mean, when you look at some of these shots, they're, Edited pretty drastically different like one of the weddings. I just posted the one from The not the Bronx or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
mandy (3):Yeah,
Esteban (2):that was with another AI preset and I edited with Leo, but then I edit it with the new AI preset. Um, well, I guess I'm that kind of, that kind of makes sense what you're saying, right? Yeah. That even though they're edited different because I'm, and the way that I shoot is very similar, so most presets will probably look very similar with how I'm shooting. Right.
Mandy:Um, that's not exactly what I'm saying. I'm saying that the, the, the, the couple of presets that you're using the most, um, there isn't a huge variation in Okay. Like, there's difference and we can see it, um, because we're used to looking at it, but I think like there's certain qualities in the preset that, um, are similar across the board that I think you can post them on your Instagram and it, and it blends nicely and it looks good. Like, I would say like, there's a, um, Um, a look to the whites in your, in your edits. And I feel like it kind of goes across the board with all your presets. The whites look a certain way, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Esteban (2):No, that doesn't make sense.
Mandy:Like there's just certain things about it that I'm like, ah, that like, I could pick it out and be like, oh, that, that's something Esteban edited just from the, if that makes sense. Yeah. No, that doesn't make sense. Yeah. No. Yeah. There's something about it. And yeah, like, I still think that there's a difference between like this preset and this preset. Yeah. But there's just something about it that says Esteban.
Esteban (2):Okay.
Mandy:Yeah. That's, that's It's a compliment, I think. No, yeah, no. That's
Esteban (2):pretty flattering because I, I do want to make sure that I, that I, I still stick to my style but I'm, but at the same time I want to experiment with different things and Yeah. Um, if it kind of maintains that certain things the same and I'm still able to change other things and I think that's a, that's a good thing. Um, I mean, at the end of the day, as someone that has been using presets for a very long time, I think one of the most underrated things that you could teach somebody when it comes to presets is that most presets will look pretty good as long as you're shooting correctly and as long as your white balance and your exposure are correct.
mandy (3):Mm
Esteban (2):hmm. Would you agree with that?
mandy (3):Yeah.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Because you can pretty much apply most presets. As long as your, your white balance and your exposure are done correctly, you're probably going to get a pretty good image. Yeah. I feel like a lot of people do have that misconception of. Well, I'm just going to put this preset on and click on the preset and it looks like crap. So, oh no, the preset sucks. I know a lot of the time it's the way that you're shooting, whether it's your white balance or whether you're overexposing or you're exposing for your highlights or your shadows. Um, you have to find that, that way of shooting that's going to play well with the preset that you're using.
Mandy:Yeah. And I learned, like. A much faster and easier way to correct my white balance from you, which you may or may not even realize actually using the dropper.
Esteban (2):Oh, yeah. So like,
Mandy:yeah, you use the dropper and then you like warm it up a bit so you, you find the right, and I didn't, and this is maybe slightly embarrassing to admit, but until recently, even more recently than learning the dropper technique from you is that when you just hover the dropper, Over the different, um, spots on your image, you can see a preview of it on the window on the top left hand side. I had no idea. So you don't have to like click on different things to see. You can just look at the top left window and just move the mouse around until you see it. You don't have to click. Oh, you didn't know this.
Esteban (2):I did not know that.
Mandy:Maybe it's an update.
Esteban (2):No, it makes sense because when you, when you hover over like a preset, it shows you that. So maybe that, Maybe you just
Mandy:never looked up in the left hand corner. So yeah, when you're going to select where you want to put the dropper, you can just look up there and like see it change, which is nice. So you don't have to like click a bunch of times until you get it right.
Esteban (2):That's pretty cool. I was always told that you want to, you want all your numbers to hit. Yeah. And so you
Mandy:taught me that, um, but sometimes I like to visually like, see what I'm moving around. But, but I learned that from you. I, otherwise I was just, I was doing it all just visually before, like moving one slide or moving the next and trying to find the balance, which would take a ridiculous amount of time and sometimes leave me frustrated or not happy with the result. But when I saw the way you did it, I was like, Oh, my editing has changed.
Esteban (2):Yeah, I do. I mean, I generally will just. If I'm, like, applying Leo from Aftershoot into a shoot or a wedding, um, I mean, right now I'm at a point where, like, the white balance looks pretty accurate, but I still want to adjust certain things, and If I want to adjust, I'll just do the drop dropper tool and I'll hover over like a white dress or something gray. And, and I'll generally click on it and I do have to go up just a little bit warmer, but that's a pretty good, good system. I also use a loop deck, which you also use because I bought you one. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, but the, the white balance, like the dial for using for the white balance is pretty cool too. Cause you could just go right to the image and then just turn your dial to get, to get your, um, your white balance correct. And then your exposure. And most of the time what I'm doing is I'm just going through every image and I'm just turning the dial just a little bit to adjust the white balance and exposure and it gets me my, my final image.
Mandy:What I like about that is that you don't have to look away from this image. Whereas when you're using the mouse. And the little sliders, you have to like look over to the right side and like line up, you know, your cursor with the slider. But when you're using the dials, it just becomes muscle memory with your hand. And you just look at the image the whole time, which is really cool. Really nice.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. No, the, the, the loop deck has been an amazing, amazing tool that, that I love using. There's actually a couple of other companies that have come out with it. Logitech just came out with something similar a couple of days ago, actually. Yeah. It's just one big dial and with buttons. So you just push the buttons to see what the dial controls and then you could control it. So, um, that sounds cool. And Logitech always does really cool things as far as like, you Like keyboards and like any of that stuff. Um, so I'm, I'm pretty curious to see what it's like, because it's also cheaper than the, the loop deck.
Mandy:Yeah. Loop decks are starting at like, starting at three or 400, 300, maybe. Yeah. I think the
Esteban (2):ones that we have are like 279. It's a loop deck. Oh, okay. Is it live or something? And then I also have the big one, the loop deck. Something that was like five or six hundred dollars, which I kind of didn't the long
Mandy:keyboard style one. Yep First that was the original one. Yeah, and then I got rid of that one. So you got me this smaller more travel compact one Yeah. Just nicer. I didn't need the whole, I didn't need the whole keyboard. I was using only one tiny section of it.
Esteban (2):Yeah, use the dials and use a couple and I've, I've assigned a couple of the buttons for presets too. Like if I want to make something in black and white, I just push a button and automatically puts my black and white preset on it.
Mandy:Yeah. I had the buttons for that too.
Esteban (2):Yeah. So definitely recommend the loop deck. So.
Mandy:Mm hmm. Cool.
Esteban (2):So, I don't know, how do we, how did we get here? Where were we? Sepia Bride?
Mandy:Yeah. Well, she's divorced. Yeah. So, to sum that up. Sorry to
Esteban (2):hear about your divorce, Sepia Bride. But, have you ever become a
Mandy:bad at all.
Esteban (2):You have to feel a little bad. I,
Mandy:I don't have a heart. Okay,
Esteban (2):well, I do feel a little bad.
Mandy:Really? Yeah,
Esteban (2):yeah, it's, it's uh,
mandy (3):yeah. You gotta
Esteban (2):feel a little bad about somebody ending their, their marriage 18 months after they got married. Nope. Okay.
Mandy:I don't know, I don't know, I don't know the I don't know the actual reasons. We don't know why this is actually happening, but
Esteban (2):Yeah, I think that's why I feel bad. I'm happy
Mandy:he escaped her. Okay. So I'm just really happy for him.
Esteban (2):Yeah. So, congrats, sepia groom, on your divorce. Thanks. Your newfound
Mandy:freedom. Maybe we could offer the sepia groom a photoshoot.
Esteban (2):That, that would be great. Get in touch.
Mandy:I mean, that would be kind of fun.
Esteban (2):Your sepia bride would love that.
Mandy:Yeah. We're just causing more drama.
Esteban (2):Yes. Let's just instigate the whole situation even more.
Mandy:Okay. So you're going to tell us about your new fancy phone. Okay.
Esteban (2):Yeah, so I, uh, we talked about it two episodes ago and I said I was gonna give everybody an update after I got it all set up. It was sitting at home for a week as we were traveling and I finally got it set up and it's a phone for sure. Yeah, okay, great. Let's carry on. It calls people. You can use a calculator on it. No, I mean, it's
Mandy:it's really not that different.
Esteban (2):It's so tough because it really, I was very hyped about it. The camera button is awesome, but I don't use it because I've been using the same function 10 years. So it's, it's tough for me because I definitely needed a new phone. I mean, I had the, like the 13 and it was kind of, it was out of space and it was slowing down. So I definitely needed a new one. Um, I personally, Don't know that I needed to wait the couple weeks for this one I feel like it's just it's sort of the same thing other than that Then that button that camera button, which is cool when you use it, but I always forget to use it I'm not using I'm not using my phone to take like portraits of my kids or anything Like I guess I'm just not I'm not the person that that they that I'm not there like Prime demographic. Yeah. Um, a professional working photographer Probably isn't somebody that's gonna be using their phone for or at least most Well, I know a couple people that love their phones and they use them for pretty much everything other than them work But I think that I don't know it was it's not not that it's underwhelming but but it just It wasn't as like, as like much of a wow factor than I thought it would be. Do
Mandy:you think that like, maybe you didn't have some of the excitement because you didn't have to camp outside for it this year?
Esteban (2):That's exactly it. Maybe I should have just gone outside and, outside my house, waited for my UPS driver. I
Mandy (2):would have turned up in your driveway.
Esteban (2):Please deliver to the Pokémon tent in the front yard. Oh, man. Alright. But no, it was good. I mean, I think the best thing about the phone is the iOS 18 update.
Mandy:It has Shazam built into it.
Esteban (2):Yeah, which I've used a couple of times.
Mandy:Yeah. Wait, do
Esteban (2):you not believe me that I've used it? Cause I I
Mandy:saw you use it yesterday. Oh,
Esteban (2):yeah. Shazam is awesome on it. The customizable like app, uh, icons and all that stuff. That's really cool.
Mandy:Yeah.
Esteban (2):Um. But, I mean, as far as the phone, the phone's
Mandy:But are those updates going to be available to people on other phones?
Esteban (2):Yeah, they're available for pretty much everybody, and that's what I was going to do with
Mandy:this new phone.
Esteban (2):Yeah, like, it's not really Yeah. The phone itself is good. I mean, it's, it works really well. Um, but, but there's, it's nothing
Mandy:Yeah, unless there's a drastic design change. Yeah. They're so simpler.
Esteban (2):Yeah, I want like a like a screen in the back or something like something cool That's gonna really differentiate it from like all the other iPhones
mandy (3):Yeah, like
Esteban (2):Samsung like comes out with all these amazing phones like they have the the flip That has like the foldable OLED screen they have a million different kinds of phones that you could choose from and then Apple's just like, we're just gonna come out with the same shit every year. And everyone
Mandy:will keep buying it. Yeah. The day it comes out.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:So. Well.
Esteban (2):So that's that. So. Phone is, uh, it gets a, um, uh, 3 out of 5 tomatoes. That's our rating scale.
Mandy:Yeah. No, I'm, I'm giving it four out of six bananas. Oh, all right.
Esteban (2):There you have it. Our new based on
Mandy:based completely on science.
Esteban (2):Yep. So,
Mandy:um, okay. So a brand new segment that we've never had before.
Esteban (2):What is it? Tell us.
Mandy:It's a game.
Esteban (2):Oh my God. I hate games.
Mandy:No, you now love games.
Esteban (2):Okay, I love games. Is there a board game? No. Because I definitely hate those.
Mandy:No, it's would you rather.
Esteban (2):Would I rather? Yeah, so I think
Mandy:you're going to go first because you said you came up with yours. Oh, I was
Esteban (2):lying. I had no idea what to do. Um, so we're going to ask each other would you rather. Something. And we're just gonna,
Mandy:yeah,
Esteban (2):ask.
Mandy:We had some other ideas for this segment as well, so maybe as time goes on it'll evolve. It'll evolve into something, yeah. But this is where we're starting off.
Esteban (2):Um, I do have a would you rather that's related to wedding photography.
Mandy:Okay.
Esteban (2):Uh, would you rather deal with an Uncle Bob at every wedding you shoot, or would you rather deal with, uh, an awful mother of the bride for 20 percent of the wedding?
Mandy:I think you just described every wedding we ever shoot.
Esteban (2):Wait, with Uncle Bob in?
Mandy:There's always an Uncle Bob and a miserable mother.
Esteban (2):No, there's not. You, why, how are you so negative right now? We never deal with negative moms.
Mandy:We don't?
Esteban (2):No, how did I remember?
Mandy:Oh.
Esteban (2):Should I remember?
Mandy:Um, that's true. I am being negative. Not even Nancy over here.
Esteban (2):Damn.
Mandy:I would take, I would take the Bobs, the Uncle Bobs, because um, they only bother me and not the bride. Usually the miserable mothers bother the bride, which then affects the photos. I can, I've, I've told the Uncle Bobs off before.
Esteban (2):Yeah, and that's a good point. I guess it depends on who's involved. Cause I, I mean, and personally, I don't usually mind Uncle Bob's, I think they're actually pretty harmless. Yeah. Unless they're like, yeah, really in your face about things.
Mandy:Oh yeah. Like if it's just rat, like someone from the sidelines taking their photos, I kind of really don't give a shit.
Esteban (2):Yeah. I, I, I mean, even a couple, we, we, we were shooting, um, it was a wedding at, I forgot what it was. Um, but then there was a lady that just had like a DSLR or something. I mean, usually like 90 percent of the time they'll come up to us or me or you and say, Oh, just let me know if I'm in your way and I'll just,
mandy (3):and
Esteban (2):usually they're, they're fine. If it's like an old dude with like a 70 or 200 and all that stuff, then usually that also isn't really that bad because It turns into like a conversation about like gear and like the camera equipment that you're shooting. I shoot with a lot of like weird cameras. So if like there's anybody that's a photographer, like they usually gravitate towards that. And you just
Mandy (2):love talking about gear so you don't talk to anyone about that. So it's a
Esteban (2):cool conversation and And it's cool. And one of the best things that I've ever really implemented is that if, if somebody's taking a photo, if somebody's being an Uncle Bob, I'll make sure I get a photo, like a portrait of them, like a, like a nice photo of them actually taking a photo and that works out really well. Yes. Um, a couple of months ago there was a wedding, Allison's wedding. Oh yeah. Oh. Her father is an amazing, uh, photographer. And all I wanted was a photo of him taking a photo of her. He wasn't really an Uncle Bob, he was like kind of He didn't even really have his Yeah, he just had his camera for like five minutes.
Mandy:I'm sorry, did you ask me this question or did I ask you a question? We've literally talked for five minutes, I haven't got a word in. So yeah, so
Esteban (2):I love Uncle Bob. But I wanted to tell the story because it's, because it's, he Yeah, one of my favorite photos of the entire day is him taking a photo of her and it actually wasn't even a photo that I took, it was a photo that Tony took with the little camera. So, anyway, so, yes. Go ahead. I
Mandy:have nothing to say.
Esteban (2):What do you mean?
Mandy:Go. What do you want me to
Esteban (2):talk about? You just told me that I was talking too much. So go ahead. Okay, tell the audience what you wanted to say
Mandy:I'm gonna ask you your question.
Esteban (2):Okay, what's my question? I was talking because I wanted you to think of a question
Mandy:Have any more stories you want to tell about Uncle Bob's? I do, actually. Or mothers.
Esteban (2):So there was another time. I'm just kidding No,
Mandy:I was actually invested
Esteban (2):No, you don't get to hear the story. It's uh, it's only for people that don't make fun of me You
Mandy:Um, okay. Would you rather miss your connecting flight or have the airline lose your luggage?
Esteban (2):Um, oh.
Mandy:Okay, so this one time.
Esteban (2):Rude. Um, I would rather have the airline lose my luggage. Even if it's for work. Um, because I can just go to the store and buy clothes. I mean I only check in clothes most of the time. Maybe like a light stand or something. Or a lens. Did I lose? The other
Mandy:part of the story I didn't tell you is you're actually flying to India. So you have to buy traditional clothing If they lose your suitcase
Esteban (2):It's still the same answer. I wouldn't I would much rather have to buy clothes than
Mandy:Yeah,
Esteban (2):then uh lose because I wouldn't get to the destination There's a possibility that I wouldn't get the destination. Yeah, or
Mandy:you'd be late, a day late or something. Yeah,
Esteban (2):especially if it's for work. I mean, I guess
Mandy:Nah, I mean, work isn't really part of it. Yeah, if it's just traveling. It's just
Esteban (2):a general question. Even for work or for leisure, I think I would much rather just lose my luggage. I mean, usually if we're traveling anywhere, we're not checking any equipment. Everything's in our backpack. Um, the last time that I, I did check an equipment was actually a lens that I got you and it was stolen out of that. Thank you American Airlines Yeah for being such Jerks. Yeah stealing. That's so sad my bag. Yeah. Um but uh But no, I would much rather I'd much rather lose my because I usually you're gonna get it back Whether it's like, a couple weeks, a couple hours, or a couple months. Sometimes it's gone forever. Yeah, sometimes it's gone forever, but it's just close. I'd much rather get to my destination than Yeah. And if there's any nude beaches, I'll just go to that.
Mandy:Good answer.
Esteban (2):Thank you.
Mandy:Alright. Cool.
Esteban (2):Is that it? Are we done? Thank you for listening to
mandy (3):Switching lenses. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Next section is Q& A. Or? Questions and answers.
Mandy:Yeah. Okay, so you want to read the question off today?
Esteban (2):Sure. So this comes from Adam Coppola. Yes. He's a good friend of ours. Um, and it's a very, uh, It's a topic that has been discussed before and he says thoughts on giving vendors free licensing and usage in the hopes of referrals versus charging vendors licensing and usage. Where do you draw the line? Any usage, social media, website, print, out of home, billboard, like how do you, how do you handle that? Um, I know how I handle it, but let's hear what you have to say first. Since you uh
Mandy:Since I Called you out five minutes ago.
Esteban (2):Uh huh. You have ten minutes to answer
Mandy:Okay, thank you sir the clock
Esteban (2):and three two
Mandy:So I'm all for it Yeah, all for letting them use my like vendors other vendors from the wedding using my My images, as long as there's proper credit given, like all the basic stuff, don't, don't alter my images. Give me credit. And I'm happy. Yeah. Um, I, for the most part, I'm also a benefit of this. This is advertising for me. So I like that my work is getting out there without me having to pay for advertising. Um, anything you want to add?
Esteban (2):No, I think that's pretty much my feelings on it too. It's just. If, I mean there's, with the exception if it's a vendor that I absolutely did not enjoy working with or they did something or maybe,
Mandy:uh,
Esteban (2):if it's like a DJ that was being an asshole or. Just somebody that was being inappropriate or somebody that did something that obviously in that situation I wouldn't really want them to have my images. Like for example, I got kicked out of a venue at the beginning of the year. And it was this whole big ordeal, which we can talk about another episode because this would take probably an hour to explain. Yeah, I was able to shoot there again, but they basically just completely lied through their teeth and threatened legal action against me. So you're not going
Mandy:to let them use your images for free? Yeah, so
Esteban (2):I wouldn't, like, send them my images. Or if I see that they're using my images, then I would take it down because I refuse to work at that venue. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah, so in that situation I wouldn't, but as far as like
Mandy:There's so many photographers who have, like, the exact opposite opinion of that, though. Yeah, they're like, oh, if Like, I'm going to charge them for Yeah. It's just like
Esteban (2):Yeah, like, it's just
Mandy:Why?
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:And I know, I know that we're taking, I know that we own the images and it's, it's, it's our work. But part of me also likes to think about how the other vendor feels on the other side, like the florist, obviously like this is their creative work and it is in our photograph and sometimes our photographs are what they are because of the other people's contribution to the wedding. Um, so I, although I know the rights are all ours. That's part of me is like. Feels like that. Yeah that they should be able to use them with the right with with the right like credit for the image
mandy (4):Yeah,
Mandy:you know you take a beautiful picture of the floral arrangements at the wedding And then you're gonna be stingy on the florist being able to post them like
Esteban (2):right now. Yeah Yeah, like we've all
Mandy:contributed to this wedding. Let's, as long, like you said, as long as the assholes aren't, yeah, then let's help each other out.
Esteban (2):Yeah, I think it's, it really comes down to that. I do think that there are some, Exceptions, like what I mentioned, and there's also some like, you can potentially say that maybe if, if like billboard, billboard wise, or like any sort of like print material where, where there might not be a credit given to the photographer, uh, where they are going to be making money from like, then in that situation, you're probably want to sit down with this is what a commercial like, yeah, like usages for certain amount of time for whatever this, this, uh, uh, ad is, um, Um, But for 99 percent of the time, I think it's, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm, I'm pretty easy going when it comes to that stuff. And I always, I mean, as long as if it's okay with the couple, then I usually just send. Uh, the planner and the venue and all these people, the, uh, the images, and I tell them to just use them as much as, as they want. So,
Mandy:yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely a distinction between social media where it can be directly linked back to our images. And then obviously the print material where we might, or a billboard where we might not get credit. Cause yeah, the whole point is that we're helping each other out. So if it's putting it on a billboard and no one can get back to whose photograph it is, that's, that's a different situation.
Esteban (2):Yeah. And then, I mean, one thing that I, I don't usually do just because it's kind of a pain is when I'm on Instagram and I'm making a post, I'm most of the time, I don't have the energy or the attention span to list every single vendor that, that worked the wedding. I'll give them the photos. I'll let them use it as much as they want, but I feel like there's a lot of vendors that kind of expect that credit from, from the photographer. But in reality, it's like, you can have the photos and. Do whatever you want, but at the end of the day, I'm not, I'm not your, your marketing department. I'm not going to do that. Um, but, but obviously if it's somebody that really went above and beyond, then I'll say, I won't tag them. I'll be like, it was great working with so and so, but, um, but yeah, yeah, that's pretty much how I feel about, about that.
Mandy:I like, um, on like the first post I make for a wedding, I like to credit most of the vendors that like the more obvious ones. But then, any posts I make after that, I generally don't care about tagging them, but, I mean, I'm doing it selfishly for the first one, like, I want them to repost and to share my work. So that's why I'm taking them. It's strictly for my own marketing purposes, not for them. And then there's, it helps. Cause then I make a post and I've got like 10 shares, like from the florist, from the venue, from like, they're all posting it to their stories and drawing people back to my page. So I'm like, it's good for me to do that.
Esteban (2):Um, this conversation reminded me of a couple of instances where, uh, we've posted stuff on the Steel and Flint Instagram. And we've got messages from like makeup artists and people that are like, Hey, can you credit us for this photo? And I'm just like, no. Like, what are you don't have
Mandy:any right to be credited to this. Yeah.
Esteban (2):So. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that. That's how we generally do it. It's just about teamwork and making sure that, that we, uh, we play, uh, well with, with others. So, yeah, which is important. So
mandy (3):cool.
Esteban (2):Next section, which is, I'm sure you're really excited about and shoot with us or actually more like shoot with Mandy because you just, uh, photographed a wedding in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Yeah. It's
Mandy:a beautiful place.
Esteban (2):Was it? Where was it? Italy. Tuscany. Tuscany. Tuscany. Close. Close enough.
Mandy:Italy.
Esteban (2):Yeah, Italy. Close
Mandy (2):enough to
Esteban (2):Bridgeport. Uh, same
Mandy:scenery for sure.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Uh, so you got back a couple days ago. Mhmm. And you were pretty excited about not only Italy as a whole, but just what you got at the wedding. So.
Mandy:Yeah.
Esteban (2):Talk us through it. How was it?
Mandy:It was incredible. It was beautiful. Everything, everything was just as beautiful as I thought it would be. The day went fairly smoothly. All, any hiccups that there were actually turned out to be really, really great and not really an issue at all. So, which includes the downpour of rain for the entire reception, outdoor reception.
Esteban (2):So tell us about what, what happened. So most people that. Would listen to a story like this, would say alright, well what happens when you have this downpour?
mandy (4):Uh,
Esteban (2):it's chaos. People are gonna move inside. People are gonna be super sad. They're gonna be annoyed that it rained. Um, probably gonna ruin the mood.
Mandy:Yeah, but Yeah, so the couple, the couple had a, there was a rain option, an indoor rain option, but the couple in the morning ultimately decided that, that they were not going to have that. They wanted an outdoor reception, rain or shine. And they were fully accepting of the fact that it could be raining, but they still wanted to be outside. So, so the show went on and sure enough, Um, it started to rain during the ceremony and continued to do the cocktail hour and a lot through the reception. Um, but like everyone was in the most positive, happy mood. Like people are in good moods at weddings in general. I would say that this was still like 10 times that and it was pouring rain. Like how is that possible? Like just the laughter and the, like no one cared. Um, they just all had their umbrellas. It was still like, um, 20, uh, uh, it was still 20 degrees outside. So let's say that was, I don't know what that means. What does that mean? What's room temperature? 70, 68, 70. Yes. I think it was around 70.
Esteban (2):That
Mandy:so still nice, like nice weather. Um, But yeah, it was, it was beautiful. Like, I was definitely worried about shooting through all of that. And, partially for my own comfort, but also because I thought about, like, what's everyone else gonna be like if they're sitting through the pouring rain? But they were all, they were just so happy. It was totally fine.
Esteban (2):They just embraced it.
Mandy:You did. Yeah, which is kind of what you want
Esteban (2):from all of your couples, like when things go, go south a little bit, um, especially things that are outside of everyone's control. I mean, you can plan for certain things, but the weather is something you can't control. So I always told Yeah, they had a hundred
Mandy:clear umbrellas, so they were prepared. Yeah. Yeah.
Esteban (2):So the best thing you can do is just prepare for, for stuff like that. You can't prevent it from happening. Um, so. I mean, it's, and, and not only the way that they handled it, but the way that they looked in the photos, it's just amazing. Like just going through the photos that you sent them for their sneak peek. Um, it's just really cool to see just how, even though they were soaked and it was raining and it was pouring and you could still just very clearly see just how happy they were. And, um, it was pretty, pretty awesome to see. And I just look at that and I just go, I wish everybody. Was like that and they handled themselves like that. So, and another thing too is that a lot of the time it also is very dependent on the people that are around you. So I see a lot of the times when like there's, there's raining and there's a lot of yapping from outsiders talking about the rain and they don't realize what they're actually doing when in reality. Like sometimes you just kind of have to be positive about stuff that's happening and when you Surround yourself around the people that are being positive that it kind of helps your mood a little bit But you don't really tend to see that a lot especially around here,
Mandy:you know It reminded me of is that how many times that we've been Traveling or doing something exciting and it starts to rain on us and we never let it pass Yeah. We never let it get to us. We continue on.
Esteban (2):Yeah, even when we were in Savannah a couple, like last month or something, we were, it started pouring while we were walking. Well the first time I came,
Mandy:the first time I came to Connecticut and we, and we walked around New Haven.
Esteban (2):Oh yeah.
Mandy:The very first time and it poured rain the entire day. We were soaking wet, we didn't care.
Esteban (2):Yeah, yeah. Good times.
Mandy:Yeah. And so it really is just your perspective and what you make of it.
Esteban (2):Yeah. And that's the thing is that they were with their best friends and family and they were with each other having a great time. And if you don't let the rain bother you, then you still can have an amazing day.
Mandy:And, and thinking back on it now, like, and I actually talked to the bride about this the following day as well. Like I'm happy, right? Like the wedding, the wedding, like, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, There would be no story. It would just be like, oh, everything was perfect. Oh yeah, everything was just perfect on the wedding day. But something really cool happened, and um, yeah, so like the bride had the exact same perspective the next day too. She was like, I'm so happy that it did what it did. Which is amazing. Who's happy it rains on their wedding day? Well,
Esteban (2):I mean, it's just. And you captured it really well. I think it's, it's pretty awesome to, to see just the, the happiness through the photos and you did a lot of the motion stuff and you got some, some really cool angles. And it's just like, I just like I told Jessica, it's one of that by far like best wedding I've seen. A very, very, very long time, probably ever, and it just, it was so good just to see that even though that stuff was happening, they weren't really letting it get to them, and, and you were still able to capture it really beautifully, so, um, it was a really, really nice wedding, so.
Mandy:Yeah, thank you.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:Alright.
Esteban (2):Cool.
Mandy:Yeah. So now
Esteban (2):that you went on an adventure. Let's talk about our adventure.
Mandy:Yeah.
Esteban (2):What we, what we didn't talk about the last episode. We were in Florida and we were going to do a part two of Halloween Horror
Mandy:Nights. Yeah. Well, part two of our Orlando trip. Yes. We never talked about Halloween Horror Nights at all yet.
Esteban (2):Yes. Part two of Orlando. Yeah. Um, and we didn't, yeah. So Halloween Horror Nights was amazing.
Mandy:Yeah. As always. Yes. It was so good.
Esteban (2):Never disappoints.
Mandy:Yeah. I mean, I would say. I would say that maybe there's been years where the, some of the housing themes have been like stronger or maybe more exciting. Yeah. Um, but overall it was a really good, like a really good year and most of the houses we really liked, only a couple of them we were a little bit let down by. But there's 10 houses, so I mean that's a lot.
Esteban (2):Yeah, and I mean I guess if you're thinking of doing Halloween Horror Nights, my biggest recommendation would be, as someone that has zero patience, is to just get the fast passes. Yeah. The express pass over there. The express pass, yeah. Um, that was so worth it. They're pricey. But just not having to wait in line just makes it so much easier. Um, I mean, some of the lines that, and this was like a middle of the week, like obviously September is a little bit slower.
Mandy:Wednesday, September. Yeah.
Esteban (2):But some of the houses are still like 75 minutes, somewhere 90 minutes at some points. Um, and it's just, it's a lot to just wait for, for a house and you probably can't do all 10 if they're all busy.
Mandy:Yeah. I think. So you can, you just have to be very strategic about it, which can sometimes just take the fun out of it. Yeah. Like, yeah.
Esteban (2):You can't enjoy like the scare zones. You can't really, you take walk around, you can't, the food and drinks'cause everything, everything is kind of themed. Mm-Hmm. And you wanna experience it all. And I feel like if you're waiting in line the whole time. It just kind of takes away from, from the experience a little bit.
Mandy:Yeah, and we wanted to, we brought our cameras, we wanted to shoot and explore and, and have time for that. And so we walked, we walked in with Ode Express Pass and looked around a bit and we're like, Ooh, we better get this if we plan on like actually doing this at a leisurely pace. Yep. So.
Esteban (2):So what were your favorite houses?
Mandy:Um, Insidious for sure, number one. Yeah, I think we both agree on these we've we've been ranking them since we went.
Esteban (2):Yeah, I would agree insidious was really cool Um, what what else ghostbusters ghostbusters were was awesome. Yeah, it wasn't scared Well, I mean, I guess it had jump scares as anything
Mandy:else, but like the theming was just so cool,
Esteban (2):which I thought I went into that one thinking that was going to be one of my least favorites.
Mandy:Yeah, me too, because I'm not like a huge Ghostbusters fan. It just doesn't
Esteban (2):seem like a very scary theme. It just looks, it just seems like it would be just more like fun. And it was, but the theming was really good. The, I don't know, just what they did with the house was really cool. Visuals and stuff, yeah.
Mandy:Yeah, definitely. I feel like out of all the houses, it was definitely the strongest themed. Like, even more so than Insidious, but I just liked that Insidious is actually something. Yeah. Terrifying.
Esteban (2):And then third.
Mandy:The third one?
Esteban (2):What was it? Monstros. Monstros. The Latin American monsters. Yeah,
Mandy:which is the first house that we did that night, right? Yeah. What's number one?
Esteban (2):It was, it had the shortest line.
Mandy:Yeah, so, and it was close to the front of the park, I think. Yeah. Yeah, so that was the first one we did it. So we started off with a bang. Yeah.
Esteban (2):It was, it was actually really good. It was really good. It was a good, good surprise. Yeah.
Mandy:They had one that was, um, Slaughter Cinema? Is that what it was called? Yeah.
Esteban (2):That's so much potential.
Mandy:Yeah, it did like it was such a good concept, but so poorly executed Yeah, not enough time. Like I don't know maybe there was ten different like movie themes or whatever But the the time between like being introduced To the theme in the movie and then it switching to the next one was like a couple like walks in a hallway It was like not enough to actually like Experience it or take it in so like I was really excited Hearing about that one and it was like this one would be cool. And then we went through it and it was like Like we just saw ten movie posters, it's basically what happened.
Esteban (2):Yeah, we're like a couple people jumping out and like Trying to, scares. The
Mandy:other, the other big complaint I think. overall is that there was a lot of the houses that we didn't love were almost like there was things missing. So maybe on different nights or at different times of the night, people would have maybe a different experience than us. But some of them like empty rooms or empty stages, empty corridors, things were like, It looked like a prop or an actor should have been there and there was nothing and we were just kind of like what? Why was there nothing happening in this room?
Esteban (2):It felt like a lot of the times there was a really cool prop that takes your attention in that room and it just Common sense tells you that if you're if you have this really cool prop and people are staring at it. There should be Someone on the other side waiting to scare you. And it just didn't feel that way for some, some of the houses in the end. Maybe it was that, where it's like, maybe the staff was different, and maybe It'll look different for other people but for when we were going through there was a lot of instances where we ran into that Where we were going and we're like, oh this amazing thing right here. We're just so fixed focused on it When in reality there should have been somebody like on the other side like waiting to like pop out which made things a lot scarier But I mean, but overall it was really good. I think I do think that the 100 percent the most overrated one was quiet place. That was very disappointing. Yeah It was, it had good jump scares but, but it was just not. But
Mandy:it was nothing like the movie? Yeah,
Esteban (2):it was just like a
Mandy:It was like everything else, loud, chaotic.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:And then jump scares.
Esteban (2):Yeah. We thought it was going to have something that had to do with like being quiet. Being quiet. Or not saying anything. Hence the name in the movie. So. Well we
Mandy:thought how cool would it be to have like a, I mean, if you've ever been to this event, it's just, it's noise. It's constant noise. Like everywhere you go, it's loud. And how, how frightening would it be if you walked into one of those rooms and it was like a completely silent place, um, which would go so well with the theme, but there was nothing like that. There was just like a lot of, and there's a lot of key, if you're a fan of this, this There's a lot of like significant things that happened that I feel like could have really worked really well in a room. And it just, there wasn't, it wasn't there. No. So, so definitely a letdown. Especially I watched, we watched that movie. Yeah. Um, just before going. Yeah. Yeah. So it was all very fresh for us in our mind and we were just like, didn't quite, didn't quite get it, but.
Esteban (2):Yeah. So a bit of a letdown when, when it came to Quiet Place, but I think overall it was a good experience. Yeah. The,
Mandy:the, the food was fun. The drinks were great. Yeah. We had a lot of, we tried three different, three different of the, um, the specialty drinks. Yeah. And, um, yeah. We walked through the scare zones many times. Those were fun. With the cameras mostly just to capture stuff. And with the
Esteban (2):Metaglasses too. Oh yeah, that's right we did. We have a ton of the Metaglass footage which we'll have to post. But it was cool because they, they, they do a really good job at it. At making sure that there's enough people on there scaring guests and people with like chainsaws and Yeah, the bloom house Yeah,
Mandy:they'd like the photo ops and stuff too, which was it's nice because there's like the character was always there So you know where to expect them in?
mandy (3):Yeah,
Mandy:and and Yeah, you could go over at any point and take photos with them or just of them. Yeah And, uh, there's something else I was going to say about that too, but I can't remember now. Um, yeah, carry on. Yeah,
Esteban (2):so Bloom House was, was cool because you, I mean, especially since we're photographers and we like to take, they just kind of pull us right in.
Mandy:But all the other ones, like, they get right up in your face. Like, they're not afraid to, like, to, to test how close they can get to you with their hands or their faces. Like, they're, they get quite close. Like they don't touch you, but they get very personal, which is great for photography.
Esteban (2):So if you've never been to Halloween Horror Nights, definitely highly recommended.
Mandy:Yeah, it was great.
Esteban (2):Cool. All right. Last but not least, our last section. Tech time. Tech time. What do you got?
Mandy:I've got the Godox Luxe series, which I feel weird talking about because technically you're the one who's been using it, but. But, I got to test it out before you did, so.
Esteban (2):You did because it was at your class at WPPI.
Mandy:Yeah, before it was even released. But. So.
Esteban (2):But. But what? Who's the person that suggested we go there and, um. And ask them?
Mandy (2):I think his name started it. Just kidding. Uh huh. Follow you. Yeah. Follow you.
Esteban (2):And we're the ones that came up to him and were like, hey, could we borrow a flash?
Mandy (2):Mm hmm.
Esteban (2):Like, do you want to test out this new one that hasn't come out yet? Mm hmm. Like, well, we don't really know what it is, but we'll test it out. And it was awesome. And now we use it.
Mandy:Yeah. Um, so we had the, um, well, you've had a couple of different ones, but you bought me the junior, is that called the junior? So there, no, that's a senior.
Esteban (2):So there's a, uh, Godox Luxe junior Luxe senior. And the Lux Master, which is the one that we're talking about, uh, that we use the most right now. Yeah, so the
Mandy:Senior, you bought me a while back, which is like an on camera flash with like the Beauty Dish. And that had a great effect in, in, uh I really liked using it. And then we saw this other one at WPPI, which was a handheld, like completely off camera, which has a handle and beauty, small beauty dish, I guess is what you would call it. And, uh, so we use it for my class and we really liked it. And then when I saw it available, I staked one for you and now it's kind of your go to light.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. During like dancing and stuff. It was really cool.
Mandy:Yeah. But I brought it to, um, Italy with me. It was the first time I used it. Well, I mean, I've used it, but the first time I really relied on it as, as a light source and I ended up using it for everything. I didn't use any other flash, which is kind of crazy, but it just, it The way the day turned out and the way it went, like I just relied on it a lot. So for first dances, uh, first dances, just the candid shots, um, cake cutting, everything I use that light for. And it was great.
Esteban (2):Yeah. It's cool how the direct flash look is in right now and you can kind of. Now you have all this equipment that embraces it, so. It's really cool because it does create a really cool vignette. Um, especially with the, the beauty dish.
Mandy:Yeah, the quality of the light is just different than using a speed light. Yeah. Uh, it's, yeah, I, I don't know how to describe it, but I can tell when you're like looking at it, that it looks different.
Esteban (2):Yeah, it definitely does. It's a really cool effect. Yeah. It's the Godox Luxe. Series.
Mandy:Yeah. And they're like a pretty decent price point too.
Esteban (2):Yeah.
Mandy:Yeah. It also gets a ton of attention. Like, I feel like at every wedding, someone's like, what is that? That looks so cool. It's like a party trick or something, I would say. Yeah, so I I like that too that people are interested in it. Yeah, the only problem I think with it is that Old people think that's where they have to look when you're taking the
Esteban (2):photo. Well, that's every flash But this is even
Mandy:I think it's even more noticeable because it's in your hand and it's silver yeah Um, but I have to be like over here And I don't like that so that is like the one negative of using the handheld flash Yeah. It's like, but yeah, it's, it's great. Um. They're pretty awesome.
mandy (3):Mm hmm.
Mandy:All right. So do you have something for us or? I
Esteban (2):do. Yeah. Um, actually this is something that I've been using for a long time. The effect. And the, the items, but we were just recently introduced to, we went to, um, Ralph, I could never pronounce his, I'm not even going to try to like to pronounce his last name. So just
Mandy (2):Mr. Ralph. We went to a friend
Esteban (2):Ralph's workshop in Brooklyn and he was using one of the lens, the, like the lens filters, not lens filters, a lens, a piece of glass. that you shoot through?
Mandy:Yeah, yeah. What the hell do you call that thing? Yeah, it's
Esteban (2):like a, it's not a, uh, a prism, but it's more of like, um, Yeah, it's, it's something you put in front of the, in front of the lens to create like a little bit of an effect.
Mandy:Yeah, I think if you, if you shoot photography at all, you probably know what we're trying to describe here. I don't know why we don't know what it's actually called, but it
Esteban (2):gives
Mandy:like a prism like effect.
Esteban (2):Right. So, and they're generally pretty expensive. Like when you buy them from like B& H and like all these places, And he said that he bought them on Teemu, is it Teemu or Temu?
Mandy:Teemu.
Esteban (2):Teemu for like 15 and we looked at a bunch of them and they're like 10 to 30. Yeah. For really cool ones. Exactly the same thing that
Mandy:the Lensbaby stuff makes. So, and then,
Esteban (2):and there's um, I mean obviously like you review the Lensbaby stuff. Uh, Noah has let us borrow a couple of his Lunsbaby stuff. Mm hmm. And they're really cool and they're very high quality, but like, if you just want just like a piece of, like, even Plus we lose them all the time. Yeah.
Mandy:We, like, exactly. You don't want to invest a ton of money in something that you're like, You're keeping in your pocket and throwing down on a table or in your bag like just chucking around like I do lose the things That I modify with all the time. So
Esteban (2):Was I gonna say that? The lens baby stuff. Mm hmm. It's really cool because it's it's very clever So you can you can pretty much like clip it right onto the end of your lens and you could create all kinds Oh, yeah, they're like a magnetic system and like
Mandy:Yeah. So their system's cool, but I'm also, I don't want to be using this stuff in every shot. Right. And I don't want people, I also kind of like to be a little bit secretive about it. I don't really like people knowing that I'm incorporating something else. So I like, I'd like to just be able to hold it in front and then put it away.
Esteban (2):Well, one of the, one of like some of my favorite photos that I got a couple of weeks ago in the wedding that we photographed in Stanford, um, I just took a, a wine glass and I was just holding it in front of my lens. for some of the getting ready, and it give a really cool effect. So just playing around with things that are, that are in front of you, and not necessarily just having equipment. Like, I mean, we use our phones all the time for reflections. Um, shooting through like, Glass. piece of glass or mirrors or anything like that. That'll give a really cool effect. Uh, looking at reflections and how light reflects on metal surfaces.
Mandy:Yeah. Uh, those are I discovered that sort of recently. Yeah,
Esteban (2):that's, that's a really cool thing to do.
Mandy:I feel like you don't even notice the effect it'll have until you get, you hit that right angle. And then you're like, oh, whoa, that, what just happened? Yeah. Yeah.
Esteban (2):It's, it's a really cool effect. And if you're able to just buy a bunch of like cheap pieces of glass that you shoot through. I even bought a couple of like lenses. Like The actual glass piece that we were using for a couple weddings ago, and I bought like five or six of them that came in a box for, I think it was like under 10 on eBay, like the ones that we were using that look like a, um, like just anything that has, that can reflect light onto it, it's going to look cool. It doesn't have to be a fancy, like.
Mandy:It's a fancy 200 modifier. Yeah.
Esteban (2):Yeah. It can be pretty much anything that you can, that you want. Yeah.
Mandy:Any little thing. Just experiment. Right? Like.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's where it's at.
Mandy:And I like when we, it's using something in the environment and not something we've introduced. So it's always going to be my first thing is like looking for something we can use and then if not, then. Yeah. I have backup.
Esteban (2):Yeah. Yeah. So that's that. Just anything to put in front of your lens I think is what makes for some interesting shots and like everything else, don't overdo it because it can certainly be a lot if 90 percent of your images have some sort of blurriness in front of them.
Mandy (2):If you're shooting through a sock the whole time. No offense to those people who like shooting through socks.
Esteban (2):I'm pretty sure they're going to be offended no matter what you say.
Mandy (2):Yeah.
Esteban (2):Cool. All right. All right. We're back to. Talking for over an hour.
Mandy (2):Wow, not much, right?
Esteban (2):An hour and fifteen.
Mandy (2):I'm gonna blame you for that. It was worth it. Yeah, definitely.
Esteban (2):And I only yawned, like, two times. Maybe four times.
Mandy:I wish you guys could see that he yawned every fifteen seconds for the last, like, thirty five minutes.
Esteban (2):That's not true. I mean, so
Mandy:the next episode, I'm gonna keep a little, a little chart and let you know at the end of the episode how many times he's yawned.
Esteban (2):That's kinda rude. But I'm okay with it.
Mandy (2):anything for the entertainment, right?
Esteban (2):Yes. All right. Well, thank you for listening. Mm-Hmm, Thank you. Uh, our fourth episode, and we will see you in our, our, during our fifth episode, which we'll probably have to talk about what we are doing tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, right? Yeah. Well, what are we doing tomorrow? Are we gonna tell a hint?
Mandy:Um, the hint is, let me think of a good hint. So, is, uh, leaf.
Esteban (2):Leaf?
Mandy:That's the hint.
Esteban (2):Okay, I'll give him another hint. No, why? What do you mean no? Why do you get to give him a hint and I don't get to give him
Mandy (2):a hint? You just asked me to. So,
Esteban (2):hint number one is leaf. Okay. And then hint number two is fall. I just gave it away.
Mandy (2):I knew you had, I didn't trust you at all. That look on your face made me think that you actually had like a good hint. And then you just ruined it.
Esteban (2):Well, what if people think that? I fell. On a leave.
Mandy:Yeah. So.
Esteban (2):Alright. We're tired. It's late.
Mandy (2):One of us is more tired than the other. See you guys next week. Bye.
Esteban (2):Good night everybody. Bye.