GIVE IT AWAY... THE DOLLAR MENU BIG MAC

i wanted to drop a quick line and focus on one of the new year's resolutions i did not allude to in my last post... to begin giving away the best of what i got. i realize their are certain things i may pick up along my so-far succinct journey that could benefit a bride-to-be or another photog.

so in my first, give-it-away post, i want to talk about two things: wedding budgets and some big MAC theory.


for the bride-to-be, after the excitement of your engagement settles (although it probably never totally settles) one of your first tasks may be to arrange a budget.

how does that happen? no fun.

from champagne and flowers, to slicing up your checkbook. anyways, costofwedding.com is a cool resource i just ran across. all you do is type in your zip code, and up pops the "average" budget for your "average" wedding in your area. this might be just enough to get you started, but remember, it's YOUR day. and YOU are not average. so feel free to figure out what is most important to you, and use your resources accordingly. these kind of budget tools really help to answer the question "what's the going rate for a dj (getaway car, reception hall... insert product or service here)?"

for the photog, i would like to introduce you to the big MAC theory (unless of course you have already taken bill hendrick's photo class at ventura college, in which case you might already be proficient), and no i am not talking about two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed-bun...


i'm talking about Mystery, Ambiguity, Contradiction


my first photo class at my hometown community college, proved to give me the foundation to harness my passion and my art. on one of our first days of class, our prof, pulled out the big guns and talked to us about the big MAC theory. he said if we could incorporate one or more of these attributes into our photos, people would be drawn to our work. i learned about the big MAC theory about 5 years ago, and have used it in all different areas of my life.  i figured if i could add a little mystery to my dating life, it might spice things up a bit (and, i'd say it worked since i do happen to have scored the hottest woman this side of the mississippi).  so, here's the breakdown...

mystery - get in real close, crop off half of someone's face, use shallow depth of field, or maybe a silhouette here and there and lead the viewer to pause and crane her neck a bit to find out what is really going on in your photo

ambiguity - this one can be a real hoot... take a boot and use it as a beer mug, or how about a 

chunk of cheese for a hat (wait... i think people really do that)

contradiction - this is why the trash-the-dress-phenomenon has taken off... take the epitome of pristine beauty (aka: a bride) and have her romp around in the mud. voila. contradiction.

have fun with it.  i'd love to see how you can throw a little big MAC into your images.