We enjoyed photographing this rehearsal dinner for Randy and Kim at their beautiful home. What a great place to have a relaxed dinner with friends and family! A little "in camera" adjustment and you can create a dramatic, blue sky. I did that so it would compliment the warmth of the lights and makes the overall image very peaceful. The colors you see here were created in camera, but they didn't just "happen."

Why would you hire a professional photographer for a party or special event? Here are some of my thoughts when I'm covering an event.

I think a good analogy might be compared to what a great a chef does.

There really isn't any magic in what they use. Their skillets, pots, pans and ingredients are available to all of us. They cook on gas or electric stoves, just like we do. So what's the big deal? Why do we pay them to create a delicious meal? We could do it ourself and save a ton of money! The fact is, we can't do it as well as they do or we would. Most of us wouldn't dream of attempting to cook a gourmet meal for a super special occasion. Why would you trust your photography to document it. It would be awesome to have a chef cook all our meals, but practicality dictates that we make most meals at home for ourself and the fact is, there are some pretty good cooks out there. Day to day, what we make is absolutely perfect and I've had many delicious meals that friends have prepared.

So why do we accept "good enough" when we are celebrating a special event or milestone?

You've invested a lot of planning, effort and money in the event, but snapshots will be just fine? Large corporations don't do this! When they have National Corporate events, even training they wouldn't dream of doing it without a professional photographer there to document it. The mileage they get from our images will be used immediately in slide shows, many times later that evening! I've transferred files from my camera to my  phone so a client could get an image out via email as it happened. They will also use them in training materials, blogs, websites, newsletters and other applications.

I wish I could take credit for this, but I can't. I don't know who said it, but I love the phrase: "beauty is in the eye of the checkbook holder!"

It doesn't get much better than after you deliver the images to your client and you get a text or a call thanking you for what you did for them. Here is my text from this event, and I quote: "Nick, these photos are so much more than I could have hoped for! You captured the night beautifully! Thank you so much!!!!"