This weeks highlighted photographer is Jim Garner of Seattle, Washington. Jim owns and operates J. Garner Photography.

What is your primary camera body?

No primary camera body. For our weddings, we like the effect from several different including the Canon 1DS, Canon1DmarkII, the light weight full frame Canon 5D. For commercial work, we enjoy our Contax 645 with the phase One P25, 22MP digital back.

Two lenses you use the most:

We love the low light lenses. 24 1.4, 50, 1.4, 85 1.2. These lenses enable us to take great images with the most beautiful light. The lenses that get the most clicks are 24-70 2.8 and the 70-200 2.8. We switch focal lengths many times during a shooting day to create diversity in the images. We don’t have to limit ourselves because we can easily carry 3-4 lenses in our custom designed lens bags (bodabags.com– launching spring 2007).

Do you shoot RAW?

Our workflow does include RAWprocessing. RAW gives us the latitude to shoot off the cuff in Aperture Priority, or Manual mode. I find that if I can spend less time looking at the functions of my camera, I can be more focused on the events unfolding and at times interacting with my clients. We want our images to have perfect color and density and have invested in additional workstations and an employee to focus entirely on this 1st and most important step in quality control.

How would you describe your photography style?

Our style is all about allowing our subjects to have a great time. Get away from the stress and tension that a wedding day can cause and allow the couple to truly enjoy the day for what it is– being together and enjoying every second of it. A few years ago we began to coordinate the photography portion of the day (typically the few hours leading up to the ceremony)and take our couple away from the wedding site, often with the whole bridal party ? this could be a to a local café, bar, the beach, the local downtown area, amusement park, whatever fits the couple. By going off site and taking them to a really great location really allows the personalities to come out and they all have a blast. This is not photojournalistic photography because the subjects are well aware of the photography taking place. By treating everyone to champagne or lattes, the energy just soars and great moments take place– it’s literally a dream to photograph and everyone involved, including us, is having a great time.

Do you employ second shooters or assistants?

J. Garner Photography consists of four full time employees. Katarina, Jim, Ben and Claire. Katarina Garner runs the office. Jim likes to say that we all answer to her. (especially Jim since Katarina is his lovely wife and mother of our 2 young daughters) Claire runs the RAW processing and assists with both the office and occasional weddings. She also manages the Boda Bag line (bodabags.com). Ben is our digital artist, second shooter and up and coming photographer star! (view his BIG Folio site at www.beckerphoto.net Ben’s role greatly benefits our clients. Since eyes are easily drawn to the primary photographer at a wedding, the second shooter has an awesome opportunity to shoot candidly. Ben is our stealth sniper. Katarina also attends every wedding through the formals. She’s a master at coordinating groupings while making our clients feel special. We want this portion of the day to take 15-20 minutes. Her organization enables Ben and I to shoot candidly while all the groupings are brought together.

What do you remember about your first (or one of your first) wedding shoot?

Our first wedding was such a blessing. A very sweet couple had the faith in our abilities & actually hired us. I was incredibly determined to deliver extraordinary photos to these wonderful people. Katarina and I prepared our minds, coordinated the day, and shot our hearts out. The bride & groom were thrilled with the result, especially since they only spent $500. I think we paid $600 in lab fees but it didn?t matter to us. We were now wedding photographers. The best part is, that very first wedding lead to 20 other weddings over the next two years. Our second year we shot over 50 weddings– all linked one way or another to that first couple.

What advice would you give to someone just beginning their career as a photographer?

If you are just starting out as a photographer, find out if it’s in your soul. If it is, then give it your all and open your heart to your subject. Connect with other photographers & artists & find your community. You will make best of friends and you’ll learn more than you could ever imagine. Keep getting educated, attend awesome workshops, and, continue reinventing yourself. Update your website often using BIG Folio’s brilliant administrative backend. It’s very important to do something unique so your clients have an experience worth telling their friends about. Most importantly, enjoy your work, make it fun. Be driven by the art, not the money. The money will come as a result.