This is the official blog for William Bay, Wedding Photographer extraordinaire and all around great guy.

This blog is a great resource to see new photos of my most recent weddings, portraits, and personal fine art photography. I also write articles for other photographers about marketing, and the importance of customer service.

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Thoughts on Photography

7 “Before the Wedding” Steps that Initiate a Successful Marriage

Monday, August 25th, 2008

The keys to a great marriageI was doing some blog surfing this morning and found this great article on 7 “Before the Wedding” Steps that Initiate a Successful Marriage. It is, for the most part, a very logical look at the “when”, “how” and even the “why” of getting married. But I think that people in love are hardly ever logical when thinking about their love or commitment to each other.

One thing that most people will agree on is that they really only want to get married once, and it would be a huge blow to you and your future mate to need counseling shortly after your wedding. I personally believe that outside counseling should not be necessary for a successful marriage.

As long as you stay honest with each other, as the blog suggests, you and your partner will develop a stronger marriage.

And after you go through the list make sure you call me to photograph that upcoming wedding!!!

“Timeless” has past its expiration date

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

As I have been doing quite a bit of marketing and surfing the net for ideas, I have seen an incredible amount of wedding photography, wedding photography sites, and wedding photography buzzwords…

One of the most used and, in my opinion, useless buzzwords is “Timeless.”

“We will take outstanding images so that you can cherish your timeless photos, bla bla bla.” “So-and-so wedding photography delivers timeless images for that once in a lifetime day, yadda-yadda-yadda.”

I tend to have a more refined “fine art” idea of photography, due to my background. My heroes are the old dead guys like Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and of course Ansel Adams. I learned from them what “true” art is. “True” art is what everyone confuses with the “Timeless” aspect to photography, and even then not very well. …If you follow.

Let’s look at it this way:
Photographers catch a notion that something should be done a certain way, (take the rule of thirds or any other rule of composition). Run of the mill photographers latch on to those ideas and concepts and make them dogma for their existence to have some order. Yes, deep inside every photographer is a little engineer demanding it be done a certain way. Some listen to it more than others.

Now one of those concepts is “Timelessness.” No-one breaks out of the mold when it comes to that term. It is impossible to have a timeless image. To prove the point, run and grab your parents photo album, then ask your older friends to see theirs. And for kicks check out something from the 80’s. They will all show some age, some funky fashion, and, for the owners of said albums it will bring them back to that day and reminisce about that day, what happened that morning, the crazy stunt whats-his names’s golfing buddy did right before the wedding.

These are not timeless thoughts! Neither are the photos. They are indeed very dated. As well they should be.

While photos may stand the test of time, they are never ever timeless! Remember that when looking at these photojournalistic ideas and trends. They are just that – trends and they will change. So the photos you take this year will look completely dated next decade. And you should embrace that fact. Review the Austin Wedding Photography Gallery we’ve taken and see if you we can help you for your not-timeless images.

Our Wedding

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

I have been wanting to get some of the images up here since we got married back in July. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out at Chapel Dulcinea where we got married. Heather Van Gaale, a good friend from San Diego, flew in to do the photography. I think she did an amazing job. This shot of Heather is everyones favorite.

It started off a little hairy, I was actually late to my own wedding! I had to stop at a country store on my way out for gas since I was on empty. It hadn’t occurred to me until after I got back in my X-terra that I hadn’t turned off the ignition while filling gas!!! Holy Moly!
I can hear the sherriff informing Heather now: “I’m sorry to regret that your fiance will not be able to make it to your wedding because he blew up due to his own stupidity.”

Once I got out there things calmed down a bit and the small ceremony got underway. It was so beautifu. Heather looked awesome! My mom and sister were there, Heather’s parents were there. Chris, my best friend, officiated the ceremony.

I’ve posted a few of the best photos here, they were all taken by Heather Van Gaale (the other Heather in my life). The other 200 of the good ones are here.