At A Bryan Photo, we resonate with the sense of touch as much as the sense of sight. We are extremely proud of the images we take and want to present them in such a way that brings reverence to the photographs themselves. Since we have begun printing, our team has invested a lot of time and care into our packaging. While the capturing of the images may be all the fun, our presentation is all the finesse. We hope you enjoy receiving our images as much as we enjoy sending them.
One of my favorite things about shooting Super 8 has nothing to do with film at all. Yes, it is fun shooting with an analog medium, but what I love is the fact that there is no sound. A few years ago, I used to shoot some digital video at weddings. Because I didn’t want my voice to be over top of all of the footage, I didn’t say much on the day of the wedding. I couldn’t control situations or engage with the clients for fear that I would mess up a great shot with something I audibly said.
With Super 8, I don’t have this problem. I am able to engage and interact with brides and grooms and create situations where true emotion can come out. For example, I can tell a bride she looks beautiful and get a genuine smile from her which translates wonderfully on film.
Moreover, I can tell a groom to get in a close, grab his wife and “give her a smooch.”
Most of the time, the subjects themselves are relieved to know that there is no audio either. They know that they can say whatever they want and act as natural as can be without fear of sounding ridiculous and having it captured forever. Knowing this sense of relief, we make a point to tell them this as we are shooting and almost always get a reaction. “By the way, there’s no sound so you can say whatever you want!”
Watch these two films in their entirety:
Sarah & Billy
Tessa & Marshall
I regularly witness pre-wedding tension between the couple and their parents when it comes to how the wedding will ultimately be documented. The couple is often caught up in the romance of the experience and how it will translate through photography. The parents, on the other hand, are desperate to know that photos of their family on this monumental day will be taken well and with great intention. These parents have raised, nurtured, protected, and finally released their children into the world as (hopefully) competent adults. Their child’s wedding is a public display of their hard work and an affirmation of a job well done. No wonder they are so anxious to know that this “public affirmation” is captured and preserved.
My friend Liene Stevens of Think Splendid wisely pointed out to me that wedding photography is not first and foremost the capturing of an event. Instead, wedding photography is the preservation of memories of a life that has been built and shaped by those closest to the couple. This is why the documentation of families deserve great respect and attention on the wedding day. Whether its taking a few great portraits with siblings or by capturing those quiet & endearing moments with parents, we put effort into their preservation.
Below are a few images from Annie and Dan’s wedding. I photographed Annie with her parents and 7 siblings in New York a few years ago so I knew how important they were to her. Shooting their wedding was testimony to the important role family can play in the life of a couple.
I have always loved Annie Leibovitz’s photobook, Olympic Portraits. The book is a collection of images she captured of the US olympians leading up to the 1996 games in Atlanta. What’s most striking about her approach is that she chose to photograph all of the athletes in black and white. Most sports imagery is traditionally very straight forward and captured only in color. Annie’s black and white portraits, however, provided a grace and intrigue to these sports that is often lacking.
Leibovitz inspired me to approach the sports I photographed for Altamont in a similar fashion. While most of my images are more documentary than portrait, I’m very pleased with the intrigue created by the black and white medium.
Below are three spreads from Olympic Portraits, followed by my Altamont images.
All of my images were captured on a Rolleiflex.
This fall we received the great honor of documenting our lab, Richard Photo Lab, for their new brand and website. We’ve been sending our film to RPL for the past 6 years and they are, in large part, the reason we shoot film to this day.
Are you kidding me?!? What lab still has a custom dark room?!?
I recently picked up the book Kitchen Confidential by renowned chef Anthony Bourdain. In reading, I was struck by how he hires his kitchen staff. He mentioned that he never hires a hot-shot aspiring chef to run his food line. Instead, he prefers hard working laborers who don’t call in sick every time they have a cold or drink too much the night before. The men and women running the food lines in Bourdain’s kitchens are tough, loyal and, most importantly, consistent.
While documenting the RPL team, I noticed how many of them fit Bourdain’s description of the perfect worker: men and women who have learned a technique and have devoted their life’s work to mastering that skill over their lifetime. They aren’t aspiring photographers, but instead they are master technicians who do one skill better than anyone in the industry. What’s most important though, is that they do it consistently.
I find great comfort that Sam and Cam (above) are the only ones who have developed all of A Bryan Photo’s film since we started using RPL. Actually, these guys have been developing all the film at RPL for the last 20 years. Sam and Cam are among the few who are still trained to ‘dip and dunk’. This superior processing technique, which insures consistent results on each roll of film, has been abandoned by most labs because of the cost and labor associated with it.
I find even more comfort that John (with me below) has been the only person to scan A Bryan Photo’s film. Having a consistent person who is in touch with my look and preferences is invaluable. I’m so thankful that a ‘hot shot aspiring’ photographer is not scanning my film. Photographers inevitably make awful technicians, present company included.
This attitude of consistency (there’s that word again!) extends to the lab’s front office where Brian, Bill, Angela, Cohen and company are always willing to help and make my life easier. They are quick to dialogue with me about all my film needs and offer assurance that the job will be done well.
As a studio, we’ve created a reputation of intentionality and consistency. Partnering with Richard Photo Lab insures that this mindset is upheld throughout every aspect of A Bryan Photo’s process. If you are looking to save a few bucks on each roll of film you shoot, there are numerous banana-stand labs out there who are cutting corners in order to save you some cash. But if the historical preservation of your subjects is of utmost importance, I recommend you give RPL a call. They would love to develop a relationship*.
*™
Major props to Matchstic, who designed this rebrand and site.
