2016 – brandon

Filed in for photogs, mentoring shot by Ayres Photography on May 23, 2016 at

This year, I intentionally built time into my photography schedule to take on ten mentorships. This post is the second installinment in my 2016 series of the ten incredible people who decided to take a chance on us as photography and business mentors. This session was with Brandon of Brandon Peszko Photography. Brandon is an incredibly talented photographer and videographer. We’ve worked with him on a bunch of different weddings over the years, and it’s always an awesome experience. He is one of those videographers that every photographer loves to work with, because he understands teamwork. He also has a great creative eye, so he’s fun to collaborate with and discuss ideas for cool shots! This year, he has a goal of growing the still photography side of his business, so that was the main focus of our time together.

We talked about:

key images to capture on a wedding day as both a lead shooter and a second shooter
how to narrow the focus of your online presence to attract your ideal client
posing for couples (which included a live instructional shoot with a real couple!)

This was such a great session. Brandon is a savvy business owner and a talented creative. He’s got what it takes, and we’re 100% confident that he’s going to do big, BIG things! Also, if you love the beautiful, gritty, abandoned spaces that Buffalo is famous for, you definitely want to follow Brandon on Instagram. We love his feed!!

These are some of my favorites from his personal branding mini-shoot. Scroll down to read his thoughts on the mentoring experience:

Jenn + Ben are awesome! Having worked with them countless times in the field over the years, meeting with them as mentors was a unique opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. My goal with the mentoring session was to A. become a better photographer and B. learn how I could further and grow my business. We discussed my goals and they provided me with tips and techniques for my
photography as well as suggestions on how I can take my business to the next level.

The thing I got the most out of during the session was the engagement shoot I was able to shadow on. I’m a hands-on learner and for me, watching and observing an actual shoot and being able to shoot along side and ask questions during it was a great learning experience for me. My mentoring session with Jenn + Ben has made an immediate improvement in my shooting. I’ve been able to use the techniques they shared with me in the field with tremendous results.

If you’re looking for an amazing learning experience custom made for you with even cooler teachers, then Jenn + Ben are the mentors for you!

Interested in growing YOUR business this year?? Click HERE to learn more!!

how we used OCF to elevate our images

Filed in for photogs, mentoring shot by Ayres Photography on April 20, 2016 at

Flash has not always been my friend.

There was a time when shooting after dark gave me mega anxiety. Back in the early days of our business, having to shoot at night made my heart race and my palms sweat! Since a large portion of the wedding day takes place after the sun goes down, we realized pretty quickly that we needed to master lighting so that we’d be able to approach any wedding day or portrait session with absolute confidence. Plus, that flash-induced anxiety was a real downer, and I just didn’t want to deal with that anymore!

Prior to 2009, we were using on-camera flashes only, which is absolutely fine to do, but it just wasn’t giving us the look that we were after. So we did some research and started working with off-camera flash (OCF) in 2009. We studied hard and practiced constantly, and slowly but surely, we started to feel really, really good about shooting after dark. Once we felt confident enough using OCF for our family formals and reception photos, we started experimenting with OCF in our couples’ portraits.

We do still use natural and available light in the majority of our work, and we actually prefer that look overall; but, mastering OCF has made us much more versatile photographers. It pushes us creatively to try new things in our work. It makes us more well-rounded, and takes us one step closer to being masters of our craft. One of the things I love most about photography is that you can never know all there is to know, so we’re constantly educating ourselves and experimenting with new techniques. Although we’ll never be done learning, we have managed to create some night portraits over the years that we’re truly proud of. I included some of our favorites in this post. :)

These images were made with anywhere from 1-6 off camera flashes and a video light. Some of them incorporate an on-camera flash, and others are strictly OCF. If you have questions about how a specific image was made, please feel free to ask in the comments!