Jessica | JJ Horton Photography

May 17, 2012

Film | Bronica Test

Last week we made the unfortunate discovery that our new, beloved Bronica did not function as promised 🙁 I had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right, but ran a roll of film through it anyway. Jeremy dropped it off at Biggs Camera and went he went back to pick it up… it was blank. Cue a really angry Jessica. I had been so over-the-moon excited for this camera that the let-down was that much harder. The guy at Biggs suggested that we bring the camera in so they could see if they could assess the issue. I took it the next day to discover 2 things…. 1. the shutter was getting stuck open or closed and 2. they had one nearly identical for sale… and $50 cheaper. I left with my broken Bronica, and wanting the one they had for sale (which they demonstrated that it worked properly). After getting the broken one sent back, I went back to Biggs to purchase theirs. I was way too excited! We shot a roll that night and next afternoon, and the next morning Jeremy dropped another test roll at Biggs…. this time… there were actually images on the film when we got it back!!! Here are the first 2 frames we shot in our dining room…. our pooches, Gus Gus & Bender 🙂 Bronica ETRS, 75 2.8 lens, Fuji 400H Film Here’s to many more shoots with the Bronica!

May 11, 2012

RedTree | Almond Album

It’s no secret that I LOOOOVE wedding albums. I think every couple should have one…. facebook, email, dropbox…. they’re all great for sharing memories, but who knows if those sites will be around forever. You just cannot beat physical images. I have my parents album in my living room, and I just love looking through it, and thinking about how their wedding day went…. trust me, a storybook of your own to share those memories with your family and friends today and 50 years from now is priceless 🙂 Here’s Catey’s mom’s album…. yep, your parents want to relive your day with their family & friends too!! RedTree 10×10 fabric album Almond Cover Name Debossing 15 Spreads **Note** The 2 mini albums are KISS Mini Albums, which we no longer carry.

May 2, 2012

May | Goals 2012

How is it 90 degrees already?! Holy moley this has potential to be another blistering summer :-/ I guess I should just be thankful that all the summer weddings we have booked are indoors! Let’s chat goals…. April- 1. Finish editing a baby shoot DONE! 2. Finish editing Jake & Katie’s wedding DONE! 4. Cut the grass on our beach lot (ok, so this is on Jeremy’s to-do list… but we’re heading there on Saturday afternoon, and spending Easter Sunday at the beach!) DONE! 5. Complete some events and projects for work DONE! 6. Order a new sample album from RedTree (cannot wait to get this!!) Eh… decided to hold off for now :-/ 7. Complete quarterly taxes… ugh. DONE! Eh. ….. Not too shabby for a busy month! OK…. now for May! 1. Photography, edit & blog Ashley & Justin’s wedding 2. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend with no shoots or obligations! 3. Do some family sessions 4. Complete album orders 5. Finalize the beach house plan 🙂 6. Start narrowing down builders (we have one we like, but want to do more research) Some Instagrams from April…. (the house is the front elevation of our beach house!)

May 1, 2012

Business | Bronica

Since last fall I’ve toyed with the idea of buying a medium format camera…. but had zero knowledge of them, how they worked, and most importantly what I should look for when buying one. Well, I’m still a novice but I’ve learned a lot since buckling down, reading, asking questions and watching tons of youtube videos! If you are wondering what a medium format camera is…. well, the main difference…. it takes 120 or 220 film… it is 4x the size of standard 35mm film…. thus it makes higher quality images, with finer grain and larger prints can be made from it. Many of the photographers I highly admire shoot these kinds of cameras…. Jonathan Canlas, Jose Villa, Caroline Tran…. If you crack open a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine…. a lot of the weddings featured in there are actually shot on film (a tip, I bet you didn’t know!). So why film? We own really nice digital equipment… why spend the money to buy “outdated” technology? One word….. color. The color just cannot be matched (even though VSCO has come close- and we use it-… it just isn’t quite the same). You just can’t replicate the tangible quality film has, the excitement it creates when sending it off for professional development, the thrill of getting an email saying the scans area ready for download and the fact that it slows you down and forces you to be more deliberate with your images. Without further adieu, I introduce you to our Bronica! We cannot wait to use it this weekend at our next wedding!! (a big thanks to Seth with Feather & Stone for recommending this camera!)

@JJHORTON