Instax 365 Challenge Week 4

We’ve made it four weeks! I’ve come to terms with the fact that with instant film no shot will be absolutely perfect. It does drive me a bit nuts at times because I like for everything to line up perfectly, but without a true and accurate viewfinder, that will seldom be the case. I’ve grown to appreciate things being off center a bit more too because, for whatever reason, it just seems more real that way. As always, below is each day’s photo and a brief little bit about it.

Day 22 (1/22/19)

I had to take this photo blind. I was shooting up towards a pendant light that was hanging over a bar height counter. In order to get the entire light in the frame, I had to lay the camera on the counter and just line up the lens with the light by eye. It sounds easy until you think of it like a crane claw prize game. You line up the claw and check around the corner to adjust the other axis only to return and see that you threw off your original position. I’m pretty happy that I was able to get it in and not cut anything off. It would have really been embarrassing to show up with a picture of only half of the light. I like the harsh shadow that was casted on the ceiling from the light, and the softer shadows on the different facets of the light itself.

Day 23 (1/23/19)

Central Florida never really sees true winter. Even when it is cold outside, everything still looks bright and green. That’s why when I look at this picture, I really like it. The sky was a light blue color and the light on the branches makes them almost look white. It looks like it was taken in winter!

Day 24 (1/24/19)

I scan in every instax mini, that way I can have a digital copy, and so I can add the pictures into the blog and instagram as well. Side note: if you haven’t checked out my instagram be sure to do so so you can see all of the Instax365 Challenge photos each day and some more behind the scenes. Anyways, back to the story, so I scan in each image with an app on my phone. I’ve found this to be the fastest way. For whatever reason, the app did not want to scan this image. Thanks to that hiccup, I only have this blurry digital copy of the photo. I promise the real copy is not blurry. This was taken on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom by Amanda. She was able to make it out to the park with some industry friends and snapped this picture.

Day 25 (1/25/19)

I still love my instagram caption for this photo: “Eat your heart out! Andy Warhol.” Amanda and I were out grocery shopping, and while passing the soup aisle, I was struck with the idea of this picture. It came out exactly as I envisioned it, and I was really pleased with myself for my stupid caption.

Day 26 (1/26/19)

Amanda and I were out exploring Winter Park with the boys. There was a little alley that had shops down it that fed back into a service alley. The service alley had this light on during the middle of the day, and I knew that would be my picture. The gas light was fairly high off the ground, and I consider myself short. I tried framing it from further back, but I really like the look of it up close. To account for my height (or lack thereof) I had to hold my Instax over my head and just approximate the shot. Unfortunately, I was still too short and I cut off the very tip of the light, but I think I still captured the essence of what I was going for.

Day 27 (1/27/19)

RENT: Live on Fox premiered this night. RENT is really important to Amanda and me, as seeing it live on stage was our first date. We planned our day around being settled in on the couch with the kids down to bed to watch this event and just have a stay in date. Unfortunately, one of the cast members injured himself, so the majority of the show was a broadcast of the previous night’s performance. In honor of our small date night, I pulled out Amanda’s RENT song book to take a picture. It almost looks like it is a movie poster.

Day 28 (1/28/19)

This was an abstract picture. I asked on Instagram and Facebook (where I post each image on the day I take the picture) what everyone thought it was. It ranged from iced window to beehives. The final answer is: it is the lid of a candle. I think the hammered texture was pretty cool and I wanted to get in close to and take the picture. I helped light the top the candle lid, but the flash still fired on the camera. This lit up a small part of the lid and while washing out my other light source. It also bounced light in a pretty unique way because of the hammered texture. I’m going to try to find some more opportunities for mystery photos.

Favorite photo of the week:

That is a hard question this week. I like a lot of the photos. If Day 25 were a larger picture I think that one would take the cake, but because it is a smaller format it gets runner up. My favorite photo of the week is Day 23. It just is a really clean and simple picture and I like that. It’s relaxing in a way.

If you want to see our Instax 365 Challenge as the pictures are published, check out my Instagram at @Miguel.Mejias.FloraBloom. I post each day’s Instax photo there first as well as other behind the scenes of our photography there. If you want to see more of our photography check our Instagram @FloraBloomPhotography. We publish a weekly recap of our Instax 365 Challenge here on the blog. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Instax 365 Challenge Week 3

Alright everyone,

We’ve successfully made it through another week. I’ve been getting some good feedback from the daily instagram posts of these photos. Let me know if there is anything you guys want to see more of. Without further ado, below are the result from our endeavor this week.

Day 15 (1/15/19)

Amanda and I went out to Luxmore Grande where RW Events was hosting an event showcasing the work of Flowers by Lesley. Lesley is a local florist in Orlando, and she does some of the most incredible work we have ever seen. This event definitely showcased Lesley’s profound talent. There were flowers and greenery EVERYWHERE. It was breathtaking. It was great seeing other friends, vendors, and even one of our future brides there! Michelle, our future bride, is getting married at Luxmore Grande in just a couple weeks, and was invited to this event to get to see her venue decked out. It was a really unique opportunity, and I’m sure she walked away inspired. There were model brides throughout the room showcasing beautiful gowns and of course unbelievable bouquets made by Lesley. I had to take a picture of one of the models. I loved how she had a backdrop of cascading greens and windows with the train of her dress stretching out beside her. It was definitely the perfect picture of the day.

Day 16 (1/16/19)

I’m not incredibly big into art despite being a photographer. I find it beautiful and inspiring, but I’ve never been one to seek out art, and truthfully there are plenty of pieces of art that are truly lost on me. This piece, on the other hand, has me captivated. It is hands down my favorite artwork I’ve ever seen, and I’m proud to say that it was made by someone in my family. The picture I’ve taken does it no justice. It is a copper wasp resting on top of a copper honeycomb. The honeycomb structure is lifted off its backing of wood. The wasp and honeycomb are all made from one solid piece of copper except for the wings of the wasp. Those are made from a second piece of copper and welded onto the wasp. Amanda and I received it as a wedding gift from my cousin who made it herself while she was living in Cuba. She made it using her own handmade tools, and it hangs in the entry to our home.

Day 17 (1/17/19)

I’ve mentioned it before that macro photography is one of my favorite types of photography. I enjoy finding something beautiful and filling my image frame with it. I also find that almost anything looks great in macro photography. Life is made up of many small beautiful parts, and we miss that when we are too busy looking at a bigger picture.

Day 18 (1/18/19)

I noticed that I haven’t really showcased many designs or patterns. I saw this one design and thought that it would look really neat on a picture. It has an almost Pop art meets Yayoi Kusama feel. I’m sure there is an actual name for this style, but I don’t know it.

Day 19 (1/19/19)

One thing I have found difficult using the Instax Neo 90 Classic is that it does not have a true manual mode. We shoot in the manual setting because it gives us the most control over how our images will turn out. With DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras, the camera can take a light reading and indicate an exposure level. These cameras do not do that. I took this picture during twilight, so I knew I’d need some flash. Unfortunately, the camera was trying to account for lighting the whole image and created a hard glare and washed out a bit of the light.

Day 20 (1/20/19)

This image was taken in the parking garage of a AdventHealth Orlando (formerly Florida Hospital South). It has the sky bridge connecting the parking garage to the hospital itself. It was my first time at this hospital, as I was visiting a friend who was there (thankfully everything is okay and they have since been discharged), and boy are the hospitals nice in Central Florida. I’ve been to Florida Hospital Celebration, and it was also very nice, but I expected that as Celebration, FL is a very nice and upscale town. I’m now just convinced that everything in Orlando need to resemble a resort as much as possible to fit in with the Orlando = Disney stereotype.

Day 21 (1/21/19)

I’m so upset with this image! We had incense burning in the house (we had just finished doing a thorough cleaning), and I thought this would make a great picture of the day. When I was looking through the viewfinder on the camera, the incense smoke was blowing towards the camera and making a cool effect. I was really excited. Again, the lack of a true manual mode was my downfall. The camera tried to focus on the smoke, which then led it to leaving the subject blurry and to believe it needed to trigger the flash (it didn’t). The countertop is granite, so it bounced the light really harshly and washed out the whole image. It would have been a cool image if I would have been allowed to choose my focal point. *SIGH* That’s why this is a challenge though I guess. You have no idea how hard it was for me to not say “this doesn’t count. REDO!” But as I’ve said: 1 picture per day no matter what.

Favorite photo of the week:

Day 16 is my favorite subject, and as I’ve said, I absolutely love the piece, but my favorite photo is Day 15. I love the overall look and feel of the image. It is so beautiful and elegant. It looks like a picture that would fall out of an old book you found. Although it was taken at a staged event, it looks like it has its own story to tell, and I love that.

If you want to see our Instax 365 Challenge as the pictures are published, check out my Instagram at @Miguel.Mejias.FloraBloom. I post each day’s Instax photo there first as well as other behind the scenes of our photography there. If you want to see more of our photography, check our Instagram @FloraBloomPhotography. We publish a weekly recap of our Instax 365 Challenge here on the blog. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Isola Farms Wedding - Joe & Becky - Orlando Wedding Photographers

As they twirled together on the dance floor, all eyes were on them. They were in their own little world with only eyes for each other. As they smiled up at each other and stole little and not so little kisses, the mother of the groom softly wept. What a joyful day to see Joe and Becky finally married!

After doing Joe and Becky’s engagement session, we knew their wedding would be beautiful. They were married at Isola Farms. It is a beautiful venue with plenty of towering oak trees, and large pastures with animals in them like longhorn cattle and horses. Because they were married in December, there were beautiful lights strung across all the fences and overhead at the reception space. It was the perfect venue for these two and for perfect photos!

Joe and Becky’s getting ready was also so different we couldn’t help but laugh. All the girls were calmly chatting while getting their hair and make-up done early. One of them was reading a book while curled up in a chair. The guys on the other hand were all on their feet joking with each other, and later scrambling to get everything they needed so they could be at Isola Farms on time. Some of the guys even took a minute to get a quick workout in!

We had a really unique opportunity with Joe and his groomsmen. Joe was in the barnhouse avoiding accidentally seeing Becky prior to their ceremony when he asked for a moment of prayer with all of his groomsmen. They all encircled him and each gave a beautiful and thankful prayer. Then Joe prayed. He gave thanks to all the guests who traveled to his wedding, for the love and support of all those who could and could not make it, he was thankful for everybody who contributed their services and time to his and Becky’s celebration! It was a beautiful moment and shows what a beautiful support system this amazing couple has around them.

Now during Joe and Becky’s entire relationship they have never kissed. They waited to share their first kiss until they said their wedding vows and became Mr. and Mrs. It was a beautiful moment that they shared with all of their guests. Afterwards, Amanda turned to me and said “That was the most romantic ceremony I have been to in a long time!” And she was right! All of our couples are in love and beyond excited on their wedding day, but Joe and Becky were savoring every second of their day. They weren’t letting the excitement distract them from the most important part of their day… their spouse. We are so excited for Joe and Becky’s new journey together and are so honored that they chose us!

If you’d like to choose us for your wedding day, or would like more information about our wedding packages, just click here!

Instax 365 Challenge Week 2

This week was full of work! Amanda and I were running around all week networking and preparing for a wedding show we had on Sunday. If you want to read more about the wedding show check out our blog post about it here! With that being said let’s jump right into the photos.

Day 8 (1/8/19)

We attended a networking event hosted by the Central Florida Wedding Association (CFWA). We have been members of the CFWA for a few years now, and each month they host a networking event at a different wedding venue in Central Florida. January’s event was hosted at the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford. I LOVE animals. It is actually how I got my start in photography. I wanted a way to capture all the neat animals I would find when I was out hiking in the forest. Needless to say I was at home at the zoo. There were animal ambassadors rotating throughout the night. This picture is of “Dill Prickles”, an African Pygmy Hedgehog. He was really calm and I was able to snap a quick photo.

Day 9 (1/9/19)

As I mentioned above, we had a wedding show on Sunday, so we were shopping for some supplies for our booth. Amanda wanted to try another double exposure, and while in the fake flower aisle we figured why not give it a shot. We took a picture of some of the flowers first, and then snapped one of a pineapple decoration. I think this one came out much better than the last one as you can make out both images. Double exposures are proving to be a bit more challenging than either of us thought.

Day 10 (1/10/19)

Since my last macro shot on Day 6 I was excited to try it again. I cut open a kiwi and thought that it would be perfect for another macro photo. You can tell that I got too close to the image as the image is a bit out of focus, and again the offset viewfinder did me in. It will still take some time getting used to the fact that this viewfinder is so different. Not only is it offset, but it is a direct view of your eye and not the lens. On DSLRs you are seeing through the lens with the help of mirrors to bounce that image to your eye, and with mirrorless cameras you have a processor transferring the image the lens sees to a digital screen in the viewfinder. So in both examples if the lens isn’t focused you are going to see that. With the Instax Mini line of cameras the viewfinder is not transferring the lens information. It is just an approximation of the frame the lens is capturing.

Day 11 (1/11/19)

We had been so busy all week that our boys hadn’t had a chance to just play. They were either stuck inside playing while we worked, or they were tagging along with us to knock out all our errands. Since they had been so good, and to help burn off some of that seemingly bottomless energy, Amanda took them to the park. She saw a tree growing some kind of fruit. She switched into macro mode and got this awesome photo. All in all, it was a good day. The boys got out and burned off some energy, and we got another really beautiful macro shot.

Day 12 (1/12/19)

The day before our wedding show and we realized we still needed a few more things, so back out to the store we went. While getting back into the car during sunset, I looked up noticed a plane. It was perfect with the colors in the sky. Unfortunately, I was trying to frame out all the light posts in the parking lot, and so I wasn’t able to capture as much of the pink sky in the photo. But, I loved how clean the image looks and the beautiful gradient from pink to blue.

Day 13 (1/13/19)

Finally, the day that had us running around and prepping like crazy was here. I took a cell phone picture of our booth and posted that to my instagram (@miguel.mejias.florabloom), but then I realized I should have taken an Instax photo too. So there are two very similar pictures on there. The lighting was dim in the convention hall, and there was a lot of uplighting from different booths around us. I used the Light+ mode on the camera to hopefully combat all the color casting and strange shadows being cast. A couple of our prints on our backdrop were glared out, and objectively it isn’t the best photo, but with what it had to work with, I think it came out alright.

Day 14 (1/14/19)

Amanda and I were out for a stroll and we came across a uniquely shaped house. The sun was setting, and I thought that with the house being backlit by the sun and with the tree right next to it I would catch a really neat photo. I hadn’t really tried out the landscape mode on the Neo90 yet, so I switched into that and took my shot. Landscape mode shadowed out a lot of the foreground and created a really cool vignetting. In the words of Bob Ross, “We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.” This was definitely one of those moments where I didn’t intend for the image to come out this way, but by accident, we made what I would consider a better image. I like this one more because it preserves privacy, while also making great art.

Favorite photo of the week:

Day 11 and Day 14 were close runners-up, but this would have to go to Day 12. I’m a sucker for nature shots and macro photography so Day 11 appealed a lot to me there, and I love that I stumbled into some really cool vignetting and silhouetting on Day 14, but ultimately Day 12 combines beautiful colors, captures motion, and just overall is an image that really just speaks to me with how beautifully simple and clean it is.

If you want to see our Instax 365 Challenge as the pictures are published, check out my Instagram at @Miguel.Mejias.FloraBloom. I post each day’s Instax photo there first as well as other behind the scenes of our photography there. If you want to see more of our photography check our Instagram @FloraBloomPhotography. We publish a weekly recap of our Instax 365 Challenge here on the blog. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

The Florida Wedding Expo

Yesterday we were at the Florida Wedding Expo. It is one of the largest wedding expos in Central Florida, and one of the highest attended. We were really excited for this show because we felt our booth design/setup had grown a lot from past setups. I wish we had a before photo to show because our after photo is something that Amanda and I are both really proud of. We got a new backdrop with our company logo and simple design that would allow us to attach some prints. We also got some new table cloths in rose gold (one of our brand colors) to really help make our booth pop and stand out. Before we just used a black table cloth over our cocktail table and used the table cloth provide for the booth table. We would then pack the table with floor easels and place two pictures per easel. With everyone showing their “glow-up” and the “how hard has aging hit you” challenge on Facebook going on I really wished I had a picture of our old booth so we could throw that in as a funny aside.

The show was great! With our new booth, we met so many new couples, and got to make a lot of new connections. We are beyond excited to start the year off so strongly. We also wanted to say thank you to everyone who visited us at the show, and a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped spread the word about the show and to visit us there. We are extremely grateful to have you all by our side! We love what we do, and having you all in our corner is beyond encouraging.

If we didn’t get a chance to meet with you yesterday, please feel free to reach out to us using our contact form. We’d love to sit down and get to chat. We will also be at a couple other wedding shows this year, and we’d love to meet you there. If you saw us at the Florida Wedding Expo and are attending any of the other shows we are at, please stop by again! We’d love to see you and say hi. We will be at The Winter Park Wedding Stroll on February 17, 2019.