Canon Digital Learning Center (CDLC): In a sense, it was your thumbs that got you into photography.

"I...started a (photography) business when I was a junior in high school."
-- Denis Reggie

Denis Reggie (DR): Well, it was two completely separate incidents a couple of years apart, one football and one basketball, and two different surgeries.  I healed completely but the ligaments couldn’t take the strain of being an offensive or defensive lineman.  I loved hanging out with the team, and photography was low impact, and still is the way I do it.  I got to go on the trips and even started a business when I was a junior in high school in which I got a commission from each of the parents.  I followed the players through the whole season and then, at holiday time in December, delivered a portfolio of no fewer than eight images of their sons playing football (or if they don’t play, cheering on the sidelines).  This was how I first learned that photography can create some income.  Of course, Decembers were crazy because I was building these portfolios from all of the commissions.  I had, typically, about forty clients, and had to go through all those negatives.

CDLC:  And you printed all of that in the darkroom yourself?

"I think I recognized early on that my time would be better spent behind the camera...and taking care of the business side of photography."

DR : I did for a while.  Then I started bringing in other students part-time to help me.  As a sidebar, my real interest in photography goes back to the darkroom when I saw my first black and white prints come up in the developer tray.  I was hooked right there.  I thought it was the coolest thing.  I’ve always loved printing, but I think I recognized early on that my time would be better spent behind the camera or calling on people to get commissions and taking care of the business side of photography.  I still went into the darkroom to train people and to say, “Burn here” or “Dodge there” but I felt that I should do what I do best and delegate the rest. 

DR: He had his dad’s equipment and I used to watch him take pictures and then looked at the results.  I thought the whole thing was interesting.  This was the early seventies.  When I heard that I could be a photographer of sporting events, I borrowed from him until I got my own and I asked him lots of questions.  A Canon FTb with the QL loading system was my very first camera.  They were switching from breech lock to bayonet mounts.  I got a few FL lenses, then I went over to the FDs, then FD-SSC with the Super Spectral Coating.  That’s my time period.  I was a huge Canon fan.  I got into medium format in the middle seventies.  After college, I said to myself, I like this photography thing; let me just try it for a year before I think about law school or an M.B.A.  As it turned out, I just got my bachelor’s degree.  I was totally in love with photography and just took it from there.

CDLC: So, aside from your roommate, you’re really self-taught.

DR: Well, no.  While I was in college, I met guys and ladies who were into photography in a really major way.  I’m sure I got some of their mojo and advice over time, including printing techniques and darkroom stuff like whether to use Acufine or Diafine or Ethol Blue or various other developers to soup our negatives when we shot sports in low-light.  Also, while I was at Tulane, I took one photography course and when I moved over to the University of Louisiana, I took one every semester.  At that time, I had two friends who were wonderful artists, painters, one of whom I was dating.  Also, I became friendly with a true photojournalist from the Dallas Morning News who had just moved to Louisiana to start working at the local paper.  I must say that my friendships with those three people greatly influenced my photography.  They awakened in me my sensitivity to wedding and portrait photography that was found and captured, rather than orchestrated and posed, which was the style of the time.

CDLC: How can you pass this insight along to others?

"The how is less than half the mission.  The what, knowing when to press the shutter button, comes from your life experience, your sensitivity, your soul. It's difficult to quantify but the difference is clear."

DR: One of the things I often suggest in my lectures is that photographers should diversify their intake of information.  Rather than concentrate on the purely technical, people should gather right brain knowledge about artistry and sensitivity to moment and the ethereal qualities that make much art so interesting.  I think we are what we eat and that means we need to make time for galleries and museums and observing fine art.  Go to I.C.P. (The International Center of Photography) in New York.  Subscribe to Aperture or other art-focused publications.  Read poetry.  Sit by a mountain stream and just watch.  If we concentrate exclusively on techno-geeky stuff, that’s what our work will look like.  On the other hand, if you’re weak on the technical and how-to side, go after it.  I used to look forward every month to Peterson’s Photographic magazine, which is no longer around.  I loved it because it taught me how .  Of course, the what is just as important, if not more so.  My artist friends and the photojournalist helped me with the what.  The how I learned through technical reading in magazines and asking questions of other professionals.  The how is less than half the mission.  The what, knowing when to press the shutter button, comes from your life experience, your sensitivity, your soul.  It’s difficult to quantify but the difference is clear.

I often say that photography is either verbal or non-verbal.  Verbal is saying what you’re doing or doing what you were told to do; it’s a left-brain exercise.  The quiet photographer is pensive and anticipating moments and sensing and feeling.  The quiet photographer is the one who finds the interesting moments to document.  In the quest of greatness in the capturing of images, the real challenge is to allow our souls and our personalities to come forth quietly and to tell us, to point us toward those moments that are interesting, beautiful, telling, the ones that will be profound in their impact on the viewer.  It’s important for those who are pursuing photography to know that learning how, with all of its nuances, is but a part of the mission; the greater part is knowing what, and that comes from within.

CDLC: What’s your staff situation like now?

"I don't want to limit people (employees); I like them out of the box but I have to teach them the box first." 

DR: We’re a small company.  I have two photographers full-time, Steve, who has been with me for 27 years, and Clara, whose background over a number of years is portraits of children and families, for a little over two.  She hasn’t gone out on her own yet but will soon.  I like to get in a couple of years of side-by-side training.  We have several other photographers we call on to supplement our coverage of very large events.  I choose people who have the eye, who have the soul.  I find that critiquing work as a team is very helpful.  Consistency of style is important to my business plan.  I don’t want to limit people; I like them out of the box but I have to teach them the box first.  Things like lighting techniques and lens choices contribute to the look our clients expect when they hire us, and when they hire us again for the younger daughters’ weddings.

_{CDLC: You have two levels of service, company and signature.  How do they differ?}

"If someone chooses a Wednesday, which is an unusual day for a wedding, I'll probably be there because I probably don't have another wedding that day." 

DR: Company means me, Steve or Clara, possibly one of them with me if I’m available.  In some years, I’ll participate in 50% of those weddings and in other years maybe 30%.  It also depends on the day and the season.  If someone chooses a Wednesday, which is an unusual day for a wedding, I’ll probably be there because I probably don’t have another wedding that day.  If they pick a Saturday in June, they’re probably going to get one of our excellent company photographers.  I would probably have a signature level job elsewhere because that’s high season.  If someone wants me personally, I’m honored, of course, but those we guarantee only with signature coverage.

CDLC: Do you still shoot 52 weddings a year?

DR: I do, very close to that.  I might dip into the 40s some years and go up into the high 50s in some others, but on average, 52 is a good number.  I still enjoy shooting very, very much.  If it becomes too much, I can back it down a bit, but I don’t feel that.  I’m barely 50 years old, so it’s no burden for me.

CDLC: And you still get 300 to 400 inquiries a year?

DR: Yes.  That number remains pretty consistent.  Last year we had 360.  We keep them all in our computer.  Some leads aren’t good leads because we’re already booked for that day or they don’t fit geographically.  We base our business in Atlanta, Georgia, because it has one of the great airports of the world; I have great employees here; my children love it here, and the quality of life is great.  Perhaps 10% of my business is local.  The other 90% involves my heading over to the airport or my driving four, five or six hours to another region in the southeast.  Most of my work is usually Friday, fly away and Sunday or Monday fly home.  This past weekend was no exception.  I did two assignments, one on a Saturday and one on a Sunday.  Not all of the weddings are large.  Some are 30 or fewer.

CDLC: or 12?

DR: That’s right, in Fiji.  Actually I did two weddings there.  I’ve worked the Pacific Rim for many years, but I don’t do marketing abroad and don’t look for work outside the U.S. because the travel burden would just be too great.  We have plenty of work in this country, even though many of my assignments are international in scope.  Sometimes I do get spectacular assignments.  I’ll be photographing a wedding over three days, starting in Brussels; everyone then gets on a private jet to Venice for the post-party followed by a celebration in the Dolomites, just above Venice.  All of my weddings are “O My God!” weddings, but some, by virtue of the exotic nature of their settings or geography are just more so.  I’ve done some great weddings on the Amalfi coast, south of Naples, around Positano and Ravello.  I’ve done some beautiful ones around Lake Como in northern Italy, above Milan, toward the Alps, just spectacular.

CDLC: So the majority of your clients are pretty well off?

"...the common denominator among my clients is their desire for photography that is telling and sensitive and interesting and not run-of-mill predictable." 

DR: I’ve always enjoyed my clients regardless of who they are.  I never check their résumés; that really isn’t my thing.  I hate that some folks think that I’m only for the ultra-wealthy.  I’m hired by some of them, I’m sure, but the common denominator among my clients is their desire for photography that is telling and sensitive and interesting and not run-of-mill or predictable.  And we do offer work, particularly at the company level, that is very competitive, especially in terms of services and the kinds of things we include.  We also photograph, for any of our brides, included in the fees, a fitting of their dress that always has so many lovely moments:  the pinning, the buttoning, Mom watching, the Maid of Honor, the dressmaker, the seamstress or the designer, the mirrors, the lights, the twirling around on the platform, the faces, the reactions.  I love to do that in black and white.  I stand there quietly, not saying a word, just documenting.  It’s very exciting.  It’s such a high.  We are, after all, in the memory preservation business.

Another thing we do for all our clients, large wedding or small, is to fly out in time to attend every rehearsal.  (Not the rehearsal dinner.  I do a lot of those as well when I’m hired to be there.  Often, the groom’s family hosts the rehearsal dinner and they commission me separately.)  If the wedding is Saturday, there’s usually a walk-through or a practice on Friday.  I like being there, with cameras and even long lenses.  I get a chance to do more coverage than I might be able to do at the actual ceremony.  Many churches and synagogues have strict rules about what I can and cannot do, and, of course, I abide by them.  Those rules are greatly relaxed or non-existent the day before.  It’s a great opportunity to get expressions and for me to do my mental homework.  I get to see where the shadows and the light are and where the best angles might be, and which lenses I might want to call upon the next day.  Mainly, though, I know I’ll always get some great images at the walk-through.

CDLC: How are you handling flying with all that equipment nowadays?

DR: I bring a rolling bag that looks very much like a flight attendant’s wheelie.  It looks like a normal piece of luggage that you would get at a luggage shop.  I actually go to a luggage store and buy a black rolling bag that meets the size restrictions for carry-on for most normal airlines – Delta, in my case.  I guess it’s 14 by 22 by 10 inches.  Then I go to Lightware and work with them to design an insert that goes into consumer luggage.  (See the denisreggie.net website for more on this.)  That gives me all the protection that I want and need.  That’s how I carry a couple of camera bodies and about six or seven lenses, my flashes and my storage cards.  All of that is carried on with me.  Separately, in a small case, I have a Windows-based laptop computer with a card reader, either a Dell XPS or a Lenovo ThinkPad X Series.  I like the Lenovo ThinkPad X Series; that’s a very nice system, and I also like the ultra-portable Dell.  We have both.  I’m not sure what I’ll be using this season because I’m waiting for a new one to come out from Lenovo that I might order.  I get them equipped with the Verizon (wireless internet) card so we can get Internet anywhere in the country at any time.  I like that very much.  So, that’s what comes on the plane with me.

Underneath, checked with the ticket agent or the skycap, I will take a long bag, about forty inches, which has my tripod, light stand, umbrella, monopod and the bracket I use for setting up my wireless E-TTL II flash system.  (I bounce two Canon 580EX Speedlites into the umbrella and fire them wirelessly.  It’s described on my .net website,  denisreggie.net.  I also use a Stroboframe QRC flash bracket with my cameras.)

CDLC: You’ve moved away from some other well-regarded flash equipment, then.

DR: Yes.  The overriding concern at a wedding, particularly the ones that I’m involved in, is time.  Flash units that are basically manual require that you set the fractional output of the light and then use a flash meter to check.  People want it quick and lovely.  They don’t want a photo session to take an hour.  They want it to take fifteen minutes or less.  In the interest of speed, wireless E-TTL II means no flashmeter, no signaling device like a radio slave, and it means that I can instantly move either the people or the umbrella light and everything is taken into account.  In the past, I also found it uncomfortable to place the incident light meter in the face of a subject and then flash the light at them.  It’s just not the right edge for a wedding.  For a magazine shoot, or for commercial work, of course.

"I love it when someone says to me, "You were everywhere but you were nowhere." The experience of the wedding should never be diminished by the requisite photography." 

A wedding, for me, needs to have an air of far less production.  We need to be respectful of the fact that it’s celebratory.  Photography is not the primary reason of the day.  The couple, the family and friends are celebrating.  The couple is uniting for life, for eternity.  Photography needs to take a quieter, quicker, less obtrusive, less imposing role.  One of the reasons I think that I get hired so often in a repeat scenario, meaning that I’m hired for one daughter, then the next daughter, and even the next daughter, and sometimes the son, or I’m recommended to the in-laws, is that the experience is happy; it’s easy for my clients , for my subjects, for the wedding party.  I’m working with the attitude that it’s quick and simple.  Just stand there for a moment and it’s done.  Of course I know how to change the power setting on the pack from quarter power to half power or eighth power; I’m trained to do that but that’s so terribly awkward and time-consuming.  This is a case of knowing what to do more than just knowing how.  I hear the scuttlebutt from past brides;  I know what pushes their buttons.  I get the feedback.  They say, people told me I had to hire you because you just made the whole day simple.  I love it when someone says to me, “You were everywhere but you were nowhere.”  The experience of the wedding should never be diminished by the requisite photography.

By embracing current technology, we can afford our clients a much more enjoyable experience.  Autofocus is now so good that I haven’t focused a lens in many years, and I know that I was a driving force on E-TTL II.  I had discussions with folks in Japan, with Mr. Doi , director, Professional Products Marketing Division, Canon U.S.A., Inc. and with Chuck Westfall, director/media & customer relationship, Camera Marketing Group, Canon U.S.A., Inc. with regard to what I perceived as limitations to the flash system in the real world.  The original E-TTL  was actually a superb system for still objects because you could activate the red box on the face and life was good.  You could meter that way.  But for the real world, working in real time with a moving target, that is, event photography in a somewhat pressured environment, with music and distractions, we needed a more accurate system.  E-TTL II was designed to make it less dependent on the active focus point at the moment of exposure.  It freed me up immensely.

Wedding photography often involves blacks and whites, blacks meaning tuxedos and white meaning brides’ gowns.  Those are extremes that reflective metering is not at home with.  It was an acute problem for a wedding photographer because, very often, there was nothing in a scene that was 18% grey (the tonal value a reflected light meter assumes it’s seeing).  Canon’s engineers understood the problem and their solution is brilliant.  If you saw me doing photography five years ago, you would have seen me doing a lot of FEL, flash exposure lock:  put the red box on a face; push the little button to make a pre-flash; memorize the flash output, and then, of course, recompose; wait for the right moment and then press the shutter button.  One unfortunate thing about it was that it forced me to blip light in the faces of the people I intended to photograph, losing, at least, spontaneity.  It was a difficult problem to explain to the engineers.  Their solution is so good that I seldom, if ever, use FEL any more.  E-TTL II gives superb readings.

CDLC: You mentioned black and white prints earlier.  Do you ever set the camera to black and white during the parts of a wedding for which you anticipate providing black and white prints?

DR: No.  We actually shoot everything in 100% full RAW mode and have done that since our beginning with digital which was in 2001.  We started when Canon introduced the EOS-1D.  Prior to that, Canon had the D30, but there was no software that could work really well with RAW, so we were JPEG, if anything, in those days.

"As a photojournalist, I don't want to change reality, but at the same time, I'm hired by clients who want my attention to, and are owed my attention to, detail." 

We use a lab called Pictage, which is an online company, and they allow the viewer to preview the images in black and white or sepia or to leave them in color.  In our world, our albums are delivered with a healthy percentage of black and white in them, say 25%.  The specific determination of which images will be rendered in black and white for the album is actually made first in the design phase in our Atlanta facility.  In other words, a client says, “Denis, here are my hundred favorite pictures.  Design a great album.”  We then take those hundred pictures, if that’s the number, and we will determine artistically, in our storytelling, which ones might be more beautiful in black and white, or maybe as half-page or full-page or quarter-page.  We will determine size and also the medium, and then create an online presentation of our design for them to critique.  They might say, “I love it, but I want this picture to be color, rather than black and white.”  There’s a collaboration, with the web and PDF files and e-mails so that the album is designed to our client’s liking.  Once it’s perfectly wonderful, then, and only then, do we begin the process of producing it.  That’s when we’ll take each image into Photoshop and attend to details.  Maybe an EXIT sign is bothering me; maybe the light might be a little bit too shiny on the face.  We’ll take that down.  As a photojournalist, I don’t want to change reality, but at the same time, I’m hired by clients who want my attention to, and are owed my attention to, detail.  Each of those one hundred images would be Photoshopped by my staff as needed and also converted to black and white, prior to submitting them to our lab, Pictage, for final printing.  The prints are then sent to our binding company, Leather Craftsmen.  So, that’s the way we operate.

CDLC: You just answered about ten of my questions.  I suppose you’d say that there’s no magic to your black and white conversions?

DR: No. None at all.  We do have a Canon iPF5000 printer in house, which is lovely, but at the present time, all our prints are lab-produced by Pictage on Kodak Endura paper.  It’s purely photo output, process RA-4, silver-halide-based chromogenic imaging, C-prints.  I am, to be honest, continually monitoring the evolution of pigment-based and even dye-based output in terms of, possibly, wider color gamut, overall quality and print permanence.  At this time, we’re using purely photochemical output.  We’re very happy with it, but we’re always looking at the cutting edge.

CDLC: Do you still get a little nervous before you shoot a wedding?

DR: I get very quiet and my mind is racing.  I’m reminded by my friends and my children that Dad, or Denis, almost has a personality change the night before a job, especially the night before I’m flying away for a job.  I’m running through my mind everything I know about this client, thinking about what I want to do.  It’s not nervousness as much as anticipation and adrenaline, and a pensiveness before the adrenaline that happens on Thursday night.  I’m not my most fun to be around the night before a job.

CDLC: It’s like before a big game where you expect to do well.  You have complete confidence in your own ability, but you don’t know exactly how it will play out and you have to be prepared to respond.

By Howard Wallach for the Canon Digital Learning Center

Link:  www.denisreggie.com