Spring into HD Fusion!

It's 60 and sunny today so Joe and I decided to venture out of the friendly confines of the studio - finally! Joe is shooting this wedding in October and I tagged along to do our first "HD Fusion" photo/video blend engagement shoot. It was great that Cristina and Steve were more than up to the modeled task at the Gateway Trail bridge and downtown Stillwater. We got some AMAZING shots. We're still up here at 1:45am bringing these links and photos to you since we were so excited about the results. It is fun being one of the first studios in the U.S. bringing these looks to our work! ~Judd & Joe
Here is the HD fusion photo/video blend:

Andrew and Susan - March 6, 2009

So we've been doing some archiving and final tweaks to finish of the 2008 season and BAM! we're off to a running start here at Studio J for the 2009 wedding season!

Susan and Andrew planned a tasteful, elegant gathering to celebrate their marriage! What a blast and I especially enjoyed the historic Plymouth church and W.A. Frost. The church was a turn of the century beauty and Frost showed off its amazing decorations and cozy spaces. We got some great images and tried to capture the "20's - 30's" theme Susan and Andrew were after. Enjoy a few gems below!

Joe, Josh & Aron.

Click here to see their virtual album!








Click here to view Andrew and Susan's pictures (they will be available once they release them to view)!

HD Fusion

Click here to see what we will be able to do with HD FUSION! This trailer is from the Canadian studio that is pioneering this HD technology (The Bebbs). Hit "Reload" or "View | Refresh" once you get there and the trailer should start playing.

At least three Studio J photographers will have this fusion technology which allows us to both take photographs and HD video out of the same camera. With seven years videography experience, we are perfectly positioned to be one of the first companies in the U.S. to offer this cutting-edge technology!

2009 Promo Video & YouTube Updates

As we back up and log our work from the past year, we also have the creative pleasure of creating a promo video that highlights our favorite moments throughout the year. From reindeer drawn sleighs to an Indiana Jones themed wedding, we had some crazy moments! Check out the promo video for 2009 below. Also, we will be uploading highlight videos from many weddings to YouTube, so check those out too - search for your names on YouTube or go to your blog post and we'll embed them there.

Cheers to a great 2008 and more fun in 2009!

March wedding special - $500 product credit

We are offering a $500 product credit for all Judd Sather weddings booked at regular commissions from March 1 - March 31. You just need to make your $750 deposit during that time. Studio J weddings booked during this time will receive $250 product credit. I'm leaking the news a little early since we are meeting with many couples this week yet so it really starts NOW! Make sure to mention that you "saw it on the blog" when we get together to chat about your day, or you can call in to reserve your date. $500 can get you a free fine art guestbook album custom designed with your engagement pictures in it, custom designed fine art thank-you notes for your guests, more images for your album, or about 50 little tiny 2x2 duplicate albums of your main album to give away!

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Valentine's Day Deal - $50 for $8

Everybody likes a good deal right? I was surfing online in the Chicago airport for Valentine's Day and happened upon a $50 gift certificate for $8. Here's how to do it:

CLICK HERE, then "partner stores / view more," then "r" for restaurant.com, enter the zip code of the area you want to go.

Then, enter code VDAY to get the further discount (brought it from $50 down to $8 for Gluek's downtown - I know not very romantic...) Enjoy!

Bidet in Miami

Josh and I are in Miami today and there is a bottle of water available for only $4.95! Maybe we'll just get the pringles for $3.95... Also wanted everyone to know that we have a bidet in our room and it is creeping us out a little bit, first one I've ever seen other than on Seinfeld and I'm uncomfortable even blogging about it so here is more info: Click here for the wiki.
Cool view of Biscayne Bay out of our hotel room tonight, and the morning sun through the clouds...

NEW SITE!

Check out our new site! www.studiojphoto.com

Misspellings? Corrections? Suggestions - leave a comment - thanks! I was up past midnight 4 out of the last 7 nights working on it so may have missed something. Navigation is in the lower left corner - maybe we'll fix that.

Vote!

Happy New Year from Studio J!
We wanted to send a quick message letting all of you know that you can voice your opinions on MN vendors/venues to help future MN brides with their decision making! MN Bride magazine is taking a poll, and you can cast your vote by clicking here!

Make sure to fill in at least six of the blanks to ensure your opinion is heard, and feel free to forward onto other recent brides you may know!

We are SUPER EXCITED to launch our new website within a couple weeks - same URL - www.studiojphoto.com but much more customizable and easy navigation - we'll announce it here first. Our blog will also change and we'll try to transfer everything since this blog has an archive or our last three years of weddings! -Judd

Arizona!

Jessi, Amanda, and I cruised down to the Scottsdale, AZ to learn from of the best photographers in the world. Heard it was 40 below windchill the other morning and it was 70 and sunny here today - 110 degree swing... ouch. We all stuck ourselves in the leg with this cactus-like barb. We learned this technique called "Painting with Light" in which we did a long exposure on the camera and ran a flashlight up and down the cactus; then we got creative and were doing "logos in light" ala the 4th of July sparkler trick. Love the colors in the sky with the owl in the cactus. Jessi had a friend Taylor who lives near here and was gracious enough to model for us as we tried some high speed flash shots. The picture of her on the car hood was taken during the daylight hours - pretty cool! -Judd, Amanda, and Jessi

Steven and Colette - Jan 3, 2009

Click here to receive the $10 gift certificate and register to see their pictures! The shopping cart icon will work once Steven and Colette have seen all the pictures first and release them for you to view. The event key to view all the pictures is Colette's maiden last name.

Katy & Eric - December 27, 2008

Click here to view Katy and Eric's virtual pre-designed album. The shopping cart icon will work once Katy and Eric have seen all the pictures first and release them for you to view. Event key is Katy's maiden last name to view ALL the pictures.

2009 Demo Slideshow

Here is a compilation slideshow from all 10 photographers at Studio J from 2008. The bulk of the images are from Judd Sather Photography. We are excited to announce that we can handle up to 4 weddings per date this year! We already have 14 weddings booked for 2009 (two dates double booked already) and two weddings for 2010! Email us for availability and new pricing info if you're interested in us capturing your wedding! All our collections this year include the CD of negatives to print photos on your own.
Click here to watch the slideshow larger in a new window.

Happy Holidays!

It's a little know fact (not any more) that I design holiday cards with the same first-class look our wedding clients enjoy. Here are a couple examples including my family's holiday magnet (on fridges everywhere once we send them out!). A bride just emailed me and called me a workaholic! After back-to-back 7am-midnight workdays these last two days I guess I deserve it... it is amazing what you can get done 16 hours in one day! Let us know if you want some sweet holiday cards next year! -Judd

Chelsey and Jesse - December 20, 2008

Click here to be notified when Jesse and Chelsey's pictures are online, and receive the $10 gift certificate!
This was the last wedding I will shoot until May and what a way to end the season - the 43rd wedding in 31 weekends and we get a major snowstorm and crazy slippery roads on the way down to Red Wing! The day started out at this cool bed and breakfast where the women were getting ready - totally decked out for the holidays with gigantic snowflakes falling outside the windows. After my brain caught up with Chelsey's ultra-fast rate of speech, I was able to get some really cool shots in front of the window including my favorite shoe shot I have ever taken (below). We had to grab umbrellas for the bridesmaids for the snow shots since the snowflakes were so big and wet - the reason you only see one umbrella is because Chelsey broke the first two she tried to open! :) Groom Jesse (aka the American Assassin ultimate fighter) and Chelsey didn't see each other before the ceremony so we got out of the limo and pretty much walked right down the aisle in this small country church in the middle of nowhere. There was this crazy looking wolf-dog that almost attacked video guy Joe. I love the regal look of military weddings, the saber arch, the discipline, etc. Jesse got word a few weeks ago that he is being deployed for a year to Iraq Jan 9 (5 days after they get back from their honeymoon). We shot two weddings of Army officers in the Red Bull company that were deployed for 22 months and came back last summer; Jesse we'll see you when you get back and thanks for your service to our country. We are turning around these photos in a record 2 days so you two can enjoy it together for a few days! -Judd, Amanda, Joe, and Kristina

Click here to view their album larger! The shopping cart will work once Jesse and Chelsey have seen all the pictures first and released them.











Here's their highlight video!

Valerie and Doug - December 6, 2008

Blustery day! Should calm down nicely tonight to get some cool shots in the fresh snow. Click here to see their virtual album pre-design!
OK, best man Larry gets "Slippery Finger of the Year" award for dropping Val's engagement rock just before the ceremony. There was quite an awkward moment at the time to exchange rings as there was Doug's ring. Val's wedding band, but not the diamond engagement ring... Larry's face was bright red as he dug in his pockets but no one really knew why. I was up near the front of the church to get a cool angle of the unity candle and I noticed a ring on the floor, slipped it to the pastor and all was well. I'm pretty sure Doug, Val, and Larry were sweating bullets for 10 minutes or so though. This was easily a top 3 wedding stories ever - I'll enlighten you with the other two in a week or so. This was another fun referral wedding - about 12 clients that were guests, and I took a shot of 4 women at one point and had shot 3 of their weddings. Zimanski did his "Staying Alive" dance with the unusual gusto again, Froi cut the rug and quoted Caddyshack as usual (and gave a fantastic toast revealing that Doug actually happily went to a Dido concert with another guy), and Horner drank quite a few beers as usual - all on par with other weddings we've captured. We all froze at a stop at Hamiline (Go Pipers!) before the reception, but I got the ladies to show some leg in 10 degree weather - fantastic! There was this cool blue-lit christmas tree we got a few shots at, and how about that snow angel?! Can you say "rental tux"? Excellent. Last thought: everyone should have the hot chocolate bar they had - great idea Val! Well I guess if you're getting married in the heat of summer then the hot chocolate bar doesn't work quite as well... -Judd, Jessi, Allie, and Aron







Here's their highlight video!