NEW: The Totally Green Wedding Photography Collection

The environment has been on my mind a lot lately. Last weekend when I was in Indiana for a wedding, there were very noticeable amounts of pollutants in the air and an unusually large number of people coughing and sneezing at the wedding. You could chalk it up to the season if you want, but as the plane flew over the city, I noticed exactly how much impact various manufacturing plants had on the environment around them as they spewed their chemicals into the air and let them fall on the surrounding communities. Since moving out of Indiana, I've had fewer allergy problems, and I don't doubt that it has something to do with Indiana's lack of recycling and environmental protection policies. Same thing happened while I was driving in Manitoba for a wedding this weekend, and noticed how the emissions stemming from the manufacturing plants would just linger in the air, forming clouds of waste, which would then settle on the surrounding farmland, often causing areas of dense fog around the plant. I can't help but think these emissions could somehow be harnessed into creating more energy in a way that doesn't dump them into the environment. Call me crazy, but I think we need to demand more from our policy makers.



So, after thinking about how much waste there is in the world, I decided that it was time to create a Totally Green Wedding Photography Collection that essentially eliminated all possibility of waste. What does that mean? No printing of prints that aren't absolutely going to be framed, no packaging or shipping materials which need to be discarded, and no mailing of products across many miles in a truck or plane. Some people are going to think this is outrageous, but I think it's exactly what we need right now.



What does the Totally Green Collection include? An online gallery that allows you, your family and friends FREE High Resolution downloads of any and all wedding photos directly to your computer from anywhere in the world with internet acess (great for the recessionistas), an online slideshow album available for download in digital format, and carbon offset credits for the projected energy usage and carbon waste produced by the wedding. All images are fully color-corrected, exposure enhanced, and include creative cropping and toning- making each one its own little piece of sentimental art. Current clients are welcome to trade in their wedding album for the FREE digital downloads gallery if they'd prefer, or can simply add it onto their package for an additional fee (to cover hosting and bandwidth usage). In just a few weeks, all current and future clients will also have the ability to purchase digital downloads from their current galleries as well- WOO HOO!!



I can already see the chaos this is going to cause with some wedding photographers who still can't fathom letting their clients have any of the digital images, and to them I say: get with the program! As an artist, I definitely struggle with the idea of giving up creative control and allowing clients to reproduce my work on sub-par printers or with poor-quality album makers, but the fact is that most of my clients who have received high resolution files in the last few years really haven't done much more than kept them on their computer to look at anyway. To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I printed something for myself- but I do know that I look at my favorite images online all the time! I live such a digital lifestyle that I would be a hypocrite to tell others that they HAD to have their images in physical prints or albums. Of course I'm still offering professional prints and professionally bound albums because I really just don't think there's anything more beautiful and romantic than seeing photos in physical form away from the eye-numbing glow of the computer screen, which is why I still give photo gifts to friends and family in prints and albums even if I don't print much for myself. But for those who embrace the digital lifestyle as much as I do, now there's something for you that embraces the commissioning of the artist's work up front so that it can be freely available for everyone to enjoy later. (Please note that images are available under a creative commons license for personal use only.)

Now that I've put this idea out there, I'd love to hear your thoughts!! What do you think about The Totally Green Collection?



Brides: If you'd like to calculate the total Carbon Emissions for your wedding day, check out this carbon calculator from TerrePass: http://www.terrapass.com/wedding/

December Desktop Images

Every month I try to post a new image that is suitable for displaying at desktop size and resolution. Click on an image to download a copy and freshen up your desktop!



This month's images come to you from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - found while driving to Fargo to visit some friends. I noticed this beautiful line of very symmetrical trees from the distance, and became taken back by the stark white branches against the pale blue sky.



I received a request to create images for iPhone backgrounds, so here's a vertical for those iPhone users out there who are looking for a little bit of photo art to customize their iPhone. ;-)



*Please note these images are made available for personal use only.

Micro-Blogging: Twitter & Facebook

This is crunch time for me (and most wedding/portrait photographers!) With the holidays right around the corner, there's always more to do than time to do it! So, if you've been wondering, "Where in the world is Anne Ruthmann?" Than you probably aren't following me on Twitter or Facebook where people have been watching my every move for the last few months (well, only the moves I WANT everyone to know about!!)

You see, I'm someone who has a million ideas every day (yes, I'm exaggerating) and before Twitter, I had no place to put them! Most of what we do as freelance photographers is pretty boring - responding to emails, editing photos, color-correcting, and occasionally we get to interact with other people and take photos! Woo Hoo! So, I have plenty of time doing boring things for my mind to think about completely random and off the wall things. Now I can collect all of my random musings in one neat little twitter feed and hope that all will be archived for eternity! (or not) But please don't get your hopes up and look for the wisdom of Buddha or anything, sometimes I may twitter stuff that shows exactly how boring my life can be, but I also promise to twitter things that show how fun life can be too. ;-)

If you're on Facebook, than you can not only see what I'm saying, but you can also see what everyone is saying back to me when I post completely random thoughts (as well as all of the embarrassing photos that other people decide to post of me! ::rolls eyes::) While I don't agree with WIRED's article about blogging being dead, I do agree that there are things we can say and do on Twitter and Facebook that aren't really worthy of an entire blog post. So, I keep my blog for more lengthy thoughts like this one, as well as a place to share samples of my work publicly- because I still believe in the value of content creation through blogs, but if you must have a little bit of Anne Ruthmann in your day, every day, you're better off following me on Twitter or Facebook where you'll be able to keep up with my Tweets AND my blog posts. There are also a few projects in the works that will begin aggregating this blog, which I'm really excited about, and I'm sure the aggregated competition will encourage me to blog more!! I love a challenge!!

Here are the links if you'd like a little more of me in your life.... (and I totally don't blame you if you don't - I bore myself sometimes!)


http://www.twitter.com/anneruthmann


http://www.facebook.com/people/Anne_Ruthmann/38502036

If you're still unsure as to what Twitter and Facebook are all about, here's a fun little video from the Twitter website to help explain it for you:



(Eco note: The cups pictured above were saved and recycled for another use. Here's a pic of me with one of my favorite reusable mugs that I frequently use for my Starbucks addiction... http://www.flickr.com/photos/annemarlow/3004306746/)

Featured in Better Homes & Gardens!

Congratulations to Jessica & Ben who had their Organic Creamery/Farm Wedding featured on the Better Homes & Garden's Real Weddings!! Check out the article and see all of the unique touches that this couple included in their Jewish ceremony and relaxed reception...
http://www.bhg.com/crafts/weddings/real/organic-farm-wedding

To all of the couples out there who are itching to be featured in a magazine... here's what magazine editors are looking for:
- Beautiful, clean photography that's not overly photoshopped with great lighting, composition, and attention to detail (ie. get a great photographer and your wedding will look fantastic no matter what!)
- UNIQUE details! If you've seen it before, they've probably seen it before a hundred times! For unique florals or decor- let your florist go wild with their imagination! Give them a color palette or just a few words to describe your personal style and let them interpret it as they see fit! Give your vendors creative freedom and they will create beautiful work for you!
- Different locations! At this point, the magazines have pretty much published all of the "normal" wedding venues. They're craving a different spin on the wedding day- so think outside of the "box" like Jessica & Ben did! Choose a place you love, that says something about who you are as a couple. You'd be pretty surprised at the places you can have a wedding these days!

One Minute Vacation - Cabin in the Woods

This time of year is pretty stressful for a lot of people (myself included). That stress leads our immune system to break down, causing us to get sick, or to have high blood pressure, or to stay up late with our mind racing about what we need to do next. We'd love to get away from it all and just relax, but we fear that getting away would just make us stress about everything that isn't getting done.

So, I've come up with a way to take a mini-vacation right at your desk!! It only requires one minute of time, your eyes, your ears, and a few deep breaths. Just sixty seconds of imagining yourself in a more relaxing place can do wonders for the mind and body... if you need more than sixty seconds, simply repeat.

For this one minute vacation, let me take you to my mom's back porch overlooking the woods where you'll see the autumn leaves falling and hear the wind blowing through the trees... click play and relax for a few seconds...


What's your idea of a vacation? Maybe I can bring it to your desktop for you!