Author archive: mattantonino

Always something in Melbourne

Last month my shipping container finally arrived from the US and my move to Melbourne is definitely official and final now!   The best thing about Melbourne is not the weather.  It’s not the beautiful people.  No, the best thing about Melbourne is the activity.  There are literally always activities going on. 

During March, I’ve had a chance to take two courses at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival – one through William Angliss and one through Vic U.  I explored Footscray Market and cooked with my classmates.  I studied flavour and taste with Richard Cornish and Max Allen and I learned more about the food that is Melbourne.   Last month, I went to my first footy game (I have Collingwood season tickets).  

We also hosted the Australian F1 Grand Prix, foreign dignitaries, had a leadership vote seeing Julia Gillard manage to hold onto the Prime Ministership.  In addition to those activities, I’ve been to so many of the Melbourne “tourist” sites already.  

I just … LOVE life in Melbourne! 

Coming soon: new wedding photography pricing!  It’s going to blow you away!

Melbourne food photographer

We’re going to do something a little different today and show you some of my other photography.  When I’m not shooting Melbourne weddings or touring the city, I’m quite often working on the subject that really makes my heart sing: food photography. 

I started shooting photos of food about 2 years ago and have learned so much about cooking, food styling and recipe writing since.  I have just finished the Taste 101 Masterclass at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and every week I try at least 1-2 dishes I’ve never created before.   

When I lived in the US, I’d do restaurant menu photos and meal pictures.  I also shoot ingredients or whatever goes into the preparation of a dish.  I sell my food photos to restaurants, bbq places, grocery stores, markets, producers and recipe websites, as well as cookbook authors and more!  One of my favorite current images is this one I shot at Harvest on the Harbor in Portland, Maine.  

I love fresh produce and this image captures the vivid color and amazing variety of a typical fall harvest.  

But by far my best-selling and most popular food photo is one you’d never expect.  It’s a simple tomato bruschetta with some mozzarella.

However, for sentimental reasons, the photo I return to over and over as my “absolute favorite” food photo is this simple spare ribs image with the ribs just smothered in a tangy sauce, cooking well on the bbq.  This shot is my favorite because it’s a collaboration.  I haven’t seen my family a lot in the last 20 years as I’ve lived in NY and not in Maine, where they all live.  I did manage to get back 1-3x a year but that’s never enough.  After I moved, I stayed at home with the family for almost 18 months.  In that time, I was fortunate to reconnect with everyone important that I hadn’t seen enough of lately.  My mom and I cooked together quite a lot and these ribs were one collaboration that was beautiful AND tasty.  I will never have 18 months at home again but I really feel fortunate to have had that time  with my family and so this image reminds me of them. 

So if you need food photography images for your Melbourne business or website, please let me know.  If you are not in Australia, the easiest way to get my images is to license them.  My food images are available for sale at Alamy.

5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Wedding Photographer For Your Wedding

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As you are planning your wedding, you will discuss things like wedding budget, DIY invitations and save-the-date cards, what style dress you want to wear … and of course, photographers.  

You’ll find many, many options for your photography services so how do you know whether to hire a professional or let your “friend with a camera” take all the photos at your wedding?  Your friend just bought a “fancy new camera” right?  Can’t they cover it all?  (Note: by “friend” in this article we also mean $200 amateur photographers, Craigslist photographers with no insurance and those with no website other than Facebook.)

Here are some reasons we suggest a professional wedding photographer for your Melbourne wedding:

1) A professional photographer is more consistent.

Your friend may take a few of the best photos at your wedding.  The odds of them taking the 10 best or 50 best or 100 best are increasingly difficult.  At a wedding, many things change such as lighting, angles, and the speed and stress of the day.  Having a pro ensures that whether the lighting is beautiful or it’s a harsh sunny day or even a dark, cavernous church, a pro will have the skill (and tools) available to make your wedding photos beautiful.  Nearly every camera takes great photos outdoors on a slightly cloudy day.  A professional knows how to get great results when your wedding day isn’t so forgiving.

The easiest ways to tell a professional photographer from an amateur is the consistency of one full wedding.  Does their lighting get much, much darker at the reception?  Do people’s skin tones become yellowy?  For instance, study this photo of a bride and groom dancing (please note this is a stock photo, Best Day Photo did NOT take this image.  Nor would we ever put it on our website if we had.)  Note that you can’t see the edge of his tux, his hair, anything in the background.  His face is darker than you’d expect, they cut off his hand at the wrong place, left some blob of light in the background and didn’t seem to edit the photo.  In good news, he’s smiling.

2) A professional photographer has more (and better) gear.

If you hire a “real” professional (not someone who bought their camera last year and got 2 lenses for Christmas) a real professional will carry much, much more photography gear than your friends and relatives.  For example, when we go to a wedding, each photographer carries at least 2-3 camera bodies and 5+ lenses as well as over 30 gigabytes of memory cards and enough batteries to leave our cameras on for days, not hours.  As I’ve explained to couples in the past, I could shoot over 50,000 photos over 4 days before I was out of space and battery life.  Your average “friend with a camera” will carry 1 camera body, 2 batteries, 2 sets of flash batteries and probably under 16 gig of memory.  Could that be enough? Yes.  And if it’s not?  At your wedding?

A professional wedding photographer is also likely to have tripods, light stands, umbrellas, etc.  They can possibly shoot remotely for those hard-to-reach balcony shots.  And if their gear breaks the week before your wedding, a pro also likely has insurance on all their gear.  If you’re going to use your friend, ask what happens if their camera drops into that “cool waterfall” they’re going to photograph the day before your wedding.  

3) A professional photographer is more focused on what you want than what they want.

Very few articles discuss the reality of having a friend or “someone just starting out” take your wedding photos but here’s a reality: they’re shooting for themselves.  They want “portfolio material” and don’t really care how they get it.  They will go where they aren’t supposed to in the church, do things you think are absolutely crazy, focus on shots that “look good” to future clients, not the ones you necessarily care about.  VERY few amateur or “just starting” photographers will get table shots, “grip and grin” posed shots at the reception or photographers of your grandmother at table 9 who doesn’t get up to dance.  They are focused on having fun, dancing with your wedding party and getting some “really cool photos” to show off on Facebook.

A pro, on the other hand, knows that a really great wedding portfolio comes with doing a great job for the couple.  We know you want dancing photos but you also want pictures of your grandmother and Great Aunt Sally.  A professional photographer knows your family hasn’t gotten together in 3 years since your sister’s wedding and knows how important those photographs are.  A professional wedding photographer is going to care more about making sure you’re on time for your reception than “one more jumping photo by the lake” when you have already done five, which leads to … 

4) Experienced wedding photographers use time wisely.  

Wedding photography styles – what it means

Last time we talked about what affordable wedding photography in Melbourne really is.  This time, I want to talk about photographic styles. 

What styles of wedding photography are there?

Traditional photographers – also called classic wedding photography.  

   Traditional or classic wedding photographers are those that pour a lot of time, energy and effort into documenting your wedding through traditional posed wedding photos, group formals and the “expected” photos.  These photographers often get a bad name because classic and traditional is “old” but some pose-based wedding photographers take exceptional wedding photos.  Getting great posed formal photos on the day of the wedding is something couples care more about as time after the wedding increases.  Paying attention to groups is an important part of wedding photography but may not be the whole story.  Avoid wedding photographers who are “classic” in the way their photos look dated, old or just plain boring. 

Wedding photojournalism – also called documentary wedding photography or reportage photography.

   True wedding photojournalism means that a photographer is mainly and most importantly focused on the moments that happen at your wedding.  These type of photographers can sometimes be called reportage or documentary wedding photographers as well.  A photojournalist may have little to no experience posing wedding clients except as clients ask them to photograph these groups.  Photojournalists take their approach from news photographers who only observe and do not interact with events.  Documentary wedding photographers believe they are at the event to capture things as they happen, not make them happen, and thus try to use as much of a hands-off approach as possible.  Some of the truly great wedding photographers in the world are photojournalists but many who claim this label are simply photographers with little to no skill in posing and are trying to avoid feeling uncomfortable on your wedding day.   Formal photos are an important part of your wedding where family and friends are involved so please ensure your wedding photographer has some skill with posed photos.

Fashion wedding photography.  

   A new style has emerged in the last three to five years that only existed in magazines previously – fashion wedding photography.  Fashion wedding photographers want to make beautiful photos that look as if you and your groom stepped from the pages of a magazine.  They are concerned with posed photos, like the traditional photographer, but are also focused on the specific aspects of photography that appear in those magazine photos.  Posing is much different for a fashion photographer and a classic wedding photographer.  Fashion photographers take their lead from industry leading photographers who provide incredible art to fill the pages of your wedding planning magazines.  And what bride doesn’t want to look like she stepped from a magazine, right?   To be a fashion wedding photographer successfully, you must normally have a high level of skill or your images will look cheap, unattractive and not interesting.  A great fashion photographer will have galleries of stunning, high quality work and plenty of poses outside the realm of bridal parties jumping in the air.

What style of wedding photography does Best Day Photo produce?

As a small business owner, we have to play to our skills.  My greatest skill is flexibility.  We call the Best Day Photo style of photography “freestyle wedding photography.”  Freestyle wedding photography means I have learned to pose people – both in a fashion sense and a classic way.  I also have and had great second shooters to work with and have also been able to focus on capturing the moments as they happen.  In “real life” I tend to practice what the great martial arts master Bruce Lee called “jeet kun do” – which was a way of learning that allowed you to absorb what is useful and discard everything else.  

If you are being honest with your wedding photography desires, don’t you want magazine style photos?  When your family has dispersed and gone home, and you don’t see everyone until Christmas, don’t you want a great family group photo where everyone looks their best?  And realistically, you probably also want your dad watching you say your vows, dancing moments, events as they occur – everything a photojournalist would cover.

The images linked above are not photos we bury on our site to show clients “once in awhile” when a client needs to see more.  These are the images we show in our galleries and want you to see.  They are who we are.  They are colorful and classic, artistic and posed, thoughtful and spur-of-the-moment.  We are flexible in giving you what I’ve always called “the best possible photo taken in that moment.”  We want to provide great wedding photography and we believe brides want a combination of styles, NOT just one style that will limit what they see in their album after the wedding.

Some words describe Best Day Photo more than others.  If they fit what you’re looking for that’s excellent. We know we won’t fit everyone’s style.  We are fun, colorful, humorous, romantic and professional.  We are serious about the job but we love to have a good time with our clients.  We hope to be your wedding photographers.  If you like what you see in our wedding galleries and engagement images, please contact us today and we’ll be happy to help you! 

This is the second post in a series of wedding planning tips

1) Affordable wedding photography in Melbourne

2) Wedding photography styles

3) 5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Wedding Photographer For Your Wedding

Affordable wedding photography in Melbourne – what is it?

Melbourne Wedding Packages

As you plan your wedding, you’ll have to sort out many factors in choosing your wedding photographer.  You’ll be looking at many different styles, trying to figure out who are the professionals and who are the pretenders, and of course deciding on a budget and choosing how much to spend on wedding photos.

Every couple’s budget is unique so “low budget” to one couple is “affordable” to another.  Couples search for “affordable wedding photographers” but get results that don’t help them.  So, let’s try to sort out what affordable wedding photography is in the Melbourne area. 

After an exhaustive survey of over 30 Melbourne wedding photographers, here are some statistics:

• 18 of 30 photographers would be considered “professional.”  
• 17 of 18 professional photographers give their clients a high resolution disk of images with their packages.
• 11 of 18 pro photographers post at least some package pricing on their website.
• Their prices range from $1200 to $3600 as a base cost.   
• The average base cost of the 18 photographers is $2450.   

So, what is affordable wedding photography? 

If your budget is under $1000, there are very few professional photographers in your price range.  The only photographers we could find under $1000 were offering a 3 or 4 hour package.  For photographers who customize, this is not uncommon.  In fact, even though it’s an unlisted package, Best Day Photo will offer a 3 hour, disk only package for $995.  We understand that many couples need just a few hours of coverage and we’re happy to help them at a reasonable rate.  If you require a full day of services under this price range, please check GumTree or check with your local college for students who are willing to take some photos for you.  

If your budget is $1200-$2500, you will have choices to make to find an affordable photographer.  Maybe you need to have your photographer for fewer hours than you intended.  Maybe you need to purchase an album after the wedding, not before.  Whatever the choices you have to make, you can find an affordable wedding photographer in Melbourne in this range.  Best Day Photo‘s base rate starts in this range with both an album and high resolution disk.  You will likely be able to choose a style and photographer you feel comfortable with for your wedding.

If your budget is over $2500,  you will have very little trouble finding an affordable photographer.  You will  be able to find full day packages, album and disk included, for $3300 with many photographers.  You are not looking for an “affordable” photographer in this range – you are looking for the one who suits you best.  Many professional photographers have packages in this range, including us.

How does Best Day Photo compare to local photographers?

Best Day Photo has photographed over 150 weddings in the past 8 years.  We have been full time in this industry for over 5 years and when we’re not photographing weddings, we do search engine optimization for other photographers.  We carry industry standard insurance, have the gear to shoot in almost any situation and have handled events from 4 people to 400 people. 

That being said, we aim to please the mid-range client.  Our clients spend an average of $3200 with us.  This includes an album, full resolution disk and 8+ hours coverage.  Typically, our clients allot time for us to shoot formals and what we call “romantic” formals – you and your new husband together, alone, for a little while.  The vast majority of our clients purchase an album up front and that album is typically a 30-40 page magazine style wedding album.   Our packages range from $995 for a 3 hour disk only package to a $4950 full day, flushmount and parent album package with everything you would expect in such a package.

The word we haven’t discussed above is “value.”  When choosing a photographer, the real question is how much value you are receiving for your money.  Whether you spend $900 or $4900, we want to provide the highest value possible – this means the best service and best photography we can possibly manage at the lowest sustainable rates possible.  Our albums are professionally printed and bound and we use only the best vendors in the industry.  Although we want to shoot your wedding, we cannot compromise long term success to shoot *every* wedding.  We are looking for clients who are looking for high value for their money – those are our clients.

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This is the first post in a series of wedding planning tips

1) Affordable wedding photography in Melbourne

2) Wedding photography styles

3) 5 Reasons to Hire a Professional Wedding Photographer For Your Wedding

Melbourne photography – learning the city

When I started my wedding photography business in New York, the first fun thing on my list was to get out in the city and learn.  Learn about those alleys and buildings that would serve as backdrops.  Learn about the right light and time of day to shoot at Onondaga Park, etc.  I went on photoshoots with other photographers, learning all I could along the way.  

After 7 years I moved home to Maine and worked for just over a year there.  When I first arrived in Portland, again, I needed to learn those locations I could shoot and make my own.  Deering Oaks Park and all the lighthouses provided me a fantastic backdrop to work against. 

So what does a wedding photographer do when they move to Melbourne?  They explore and take photos, of course.  And that is what I’ve been doing in my first 8 weeks here.  Even in 8 weeks my list of to-done is too-long to fully show you.  I’ve hand-fed wallabies and hung out with koalas, cooked an American Thanksgiving feast for my new family, driven on the left side of the road, shopped Queen Vic Market and some of the other smaller, local markets, learned the metro system, bought and ridden a new bike further than ever, lost 20 pounds so far, toured the Great Ocean Road, saw the 12 Apostles (or 7 …) and slept in the Otways at a fantastic animal reserve called Fauna Australia.  We saw the Eminem concert at Etihad Stadium.  I had the best  life a photographer could imagine touring the Melbourne city laneways.  We took photos from the Dandenong ranges overlooking the city, had my first Christmas with my wife and have eaten absolutely amazing Australian food.   I’ve killed a couple of giant huntsmen, planted a new garden.  We took a cruise that covered the CBD and took photos from the 88th floor of the Eureka at the Skydeck.  Saturday we will go take photos at the Australian Open.  I cannot imagine a better start to my new life photographing Melbourne.

If you have great ideas for photos in Melbourne or around our area, please tell me!  I’m loving my new surroundings.  

I’ll get some wedding posts going soon and yes, I’m now available to photograph your Melbourne area wedding or portraits.  Please contact me using the contact page or call me at 0403-515-044 and we’ll talk!

I haven’t had time or the ability to fix my thumbnails problem so these are not clickable, unlike most of my posts.  Please bear with me until I get my system fixed.

Nick and Amanda’s wedding at the Palmyra Golf Course

Since this wedding, I’ve moved and become a Melbourne wedding photographer.   If you’re in Melbourne or the surrounding suburbs please contact me today about shooting your wedding by email or phone at 0403-515-044.  If you still need Maine wedding photography I suggest Rene Minnis Photo.

Once upon a time …

Gosh, it really makes me feel … old to think about how long I’ve known Nick.  Our families have been friends for about 25 years.  I met this kid when he was … maybe 5.  He HAS a kid now.  Time FLIES.

When Nick asked me if I’d shoot his wedding, I was honored and thrilled. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it!  Nick and his family are like family.

Amanda and Nick were married at the Palmyra Golf Club.  It was a beautiful place and the weather *barely* held out for some outdoor photos. What a great day!  So good to see everyone I know there, too!

Acadia National Park wedding | Marta and Rich

Since this wedding, I’ve moved and become a Melbourne wedding photographer.   If you’re in Melbourne or the surrounding suburbs please contact me today about shooting your wedding by email or phone at 0403-515-044.  If you still need Maine wedding photography I suggest Rene Minnis Photo.

 Once every few years I have a very small, tiny, intimate wedding that is just the highlight of my year.  We had one with Matt and Leslie in 2005, Jacquie and John in 2008 and now Marta & Rich in 2011.

How many people were at this small Acadia National Park wedding?  Me, the officiant, Marta and Rich, her parents and their two children.  Done.  So yes, me, an officiant, the couple and two adult witnesses… sound familiar, Jacquie?

Marta and Rich chose a fantastic place at Acadia for their wedding: Bubble Pond.  Now, you can’t have 100 guests at a Bubble Pond wedding but if you are looking for an intimate, beautiful outdoor spot in Maine you could do a *lot* worse than Bubble Pond.  It was picturesque.  I was thrilled to shoot the wedding and formals for Marta & Rich.

I hope you enjoy the photos of their beautiful Acadia wedding!

Mattie Jo’s baby photos – 2 months

Since this shoot, I’ve moved and become a Melbourne wedding photographer.   If you’re in Melbourne or the surrounding suburbs please contact me today about shooting your wedding by email or phone at 0403-515-044.  If you still need Maine wedding photography I suggest Rene Minnis Photo.

A few months ago I was happy to get the chance to photograph my newest niece Mattie.  Her first baby photos were mostly done at the hospital.  I knew I wanted another chance at her so when my sister and her family visited us the other night I thought it was a great time to update her photos.

We photographed little Mattie’s baby photos for about 90 minutes and she was fantastic for us.  She had her moments (all babies do!) but for 2 month old portraits, these were so much fun and easy.  So here are Mattie’s 2 month old baby pictures.

About Baby Photos

If you would like baby pictures done of your child in the central or southern Maine area please contact Best Day Photo soon to schedule a session.  Baby photos are something that won’t wait.

We shoot on location, in home and at the hospital if you require it.  Our baby pictures are the same price as our family portrait sessions so just choose the coverage you want and let me know when you want to shoot! (Please note: if we are going to do in-hospital baby photos, it is your responsibility to clear it with the hospital first. Or tell them I’m family.)

Yes, I realize our family is super-cute.  Mattie is Lincoln’s cousin and you remember how cute Lincoln’s baby photos are.