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Victor Sizemore:
Creating a Field of Dreams
By CharMaine Beleele
When Victor Sizemore left his Kentucky home to play baseball for Azusa Pacific University,
little did he know that he would find the two great loves of his life in sunny southern
California. In California, he met and married his wife, Rachael, and discovered his passion
for photography. Cameras intrigued Victor even as a teenager, but his Kentucky high school
had no such program. From the moment he stepped into the darkroom as a college student in
2001, he had found the exact medium to express his artistic vision. He began photography
by capturing landscapes and travel images. As time passed, his intense love of family life
with Rachael and their four children, Asa, Elijah, Evie and Sammy, quickly led him into
lifestyle and wedding photography. By 2004 he had transformed his passionate pastime into
a profession, and photography became his personal field of dreams. Victor says, "I want to
capture great images in the first place, but then I love to enhance them and make them more
powerful through my art in Photoshop. I want to create the drama that I see and evoke a
surreal setting or mood. In a sense, that makes me a storyteller too."
Victor shares four elements that have made his business extremely successful in just four
short years. These elements are like the three bases and home plate in his favorite sport,
baseball.
Empathy
At first base, he places empathy; "A good wedding photographer has to get along well with
people. I am detail-oriented and culturally diverse so I use conversation to get inside
the heads of both the bride and the groom." This is how Victor establishes a relationship
in the first consultation and the engagement session, so that on the wedding day he "can
sense emotional moments almost before they happen." He adds, "I collect images in anticipation
of the couple's taste and style."
Communication
At second base, Victor places communication--making the client comfortable with the camera.
Victor does this with his astute sense of humor; he never allows photography to become
stressful. He relaxes his subjects with his gregarious personality and sociable style.
Unfailing Energy
Unfailing energy is at Victor's third base. He says, "I believe in giving 110 percent." This
simple motto is the center of his work ethic and present on every wedding day. "Since I grew
up playing athletics, I go into game-time mode," Victor says. "Some baseball players are
very superstitious, but I do not go that far! Before a wedding, I have a ritual I go through
that begins by ignoring the routine business concerns of a regular day. I do not even check
my email."
Long before he needs to begin photography for the event, Victor's game day plan continues
when he arrives at a luncheon venue near the location of the wedding. During lunch, he will
talk to his assistant about the couple's style and personality. He will also spend time
quietly reflecting on the day to come. "Sometimes even the environment of the low-key
restaurant transports me into the zone. I believe that if I enter the wedding event with
creative freedom, in an optimistic mood, and with an energetic attitude, the people at the
wedding will reflect that same liveliness and fun back at me!" Victor says.
Focus
At home plate is Victor's focus, and what keeps Victor focused and "in the moment," is his
constant search for that one great shot from each wedding that he photographs. He is always
watching for the special moment that will become the art piece over the couple's mantle, the
one image that personifies the couple, and captures both the environment and the mood of the
wedding day.
Victor is quick to credit his mentor whenever the subject of success is mentioned. "Kevin
Kubota is such a great person all around. His passion for helping others is inspiring to me,"
Victor says. "He changed the way I approach both my wedding photography and my business
concerns. He has been an awesome mentor and I owe him for where I am creatively in my
business today."
In addition to expert mentoring, Victor feels that it is impossible to prosper as a wedding
photographer without a good website. "Websites should be your number one marketing tool
in today's world. You should not only maintain your various photography sites, but update
your blog continually as well," Victor states. "The site and the blog have been crucial
to expanding my business. A blog provides a fresh avenue for client contact. Easily updated,
this kind of communication puts ideas, events and images on a personal level. My blog
includes news about my family and even my thoughts and opinions on various topics like
fund-raising and various charity events. Through the blog, the photographer can show
friends and clients a whole dimension of himself as a real person." Victor continues,
"In fact, some of my destination wedding clients have booked me based only my website
images and my friendly blog."
Today, destination weddings are gaining more and more popularity, and 15 to 20 percent
of Victor's wedding photography business comes from this trendy and contemporary type
of wedding celebration. "Preparation is key," he explains, "Be ready for anything. Equipment
can be stolen. Passports can be lost. I have backup plans for my backups! When I go out of
the country, I keep any important information like passport and credit card numbers and
personal business details in a designated place other than my wallet. For example, if my
wallet is stolen my vital information is safe back at my hotel. There is also digital backup,
plus my wife is at home with duplicates for everything conveniently at hand." Another one
of his best travel tips is to take extra time at the destination. "Visit the locale before
the celebration. Get background stuff for the album. Figure out where the locals are. Learn
all the cool things about the area. Do some preliminary study in the travel books. Research
pays off, and so does a sense of adventure."
He reminds us that there are technical details that must have fail-safe precautions, like
image backup. "I back up my images on the hard drive. Additionally, I make extra DVDs and
either leave them with a friend at the wedding site or express mail them to myself at
home." Such careful planning has allowed Victor to maintain his enthusiasm for trips to
exotic places. "Travel rejuvenates me and helps fill my fine art collection." Weddings have
taken him to Prague, Hungary, the south and central areas of France as well as Paris,
Monaco and Maui. Not content with trips in the name of business, Victor also travels
for sheer pleasure. "I aim for a family trip every year. Early next year my wife and I
intend to visit South Africa."
When you look at Victor's images at
www.vcsphoto.com, you will immediately
notice the influence of his background in graphic design and fine art. Especially notable
are the images that capture the environment as well as the couple. You will see attention
to richly textured backgrounds such as scenic skies and gargantuan church doors. You will
also notice his use of selective focus both in background and, uniquely, in architectural
foreground choices such as the filigreed iron lace of ancient gates. Artistically, you will
notice that he treats negative space in interesting and emotional ways. His love of negative
space also helps him design his exquisite GraphiStudio and AsukaBook albums. "Negative space
creates beautiful background for displaying smaller images on an album page when I tell the
couple's story," Victor says. "For this reason I am always thinking of the graphic design
element while I am shooting the wedding."
When he talks about what constitutes a good wedding image, Victor summarizes, "The first
thing I notice about an image is the photographer's composition--the way the photograph is
put together. The choices of background, mid-ground and foreground create the 3-D depth of
an image." Almost as important as composition are all the other "technical choices a
photographer decides before the shutter is snapped." Finally, in today's world, the
photographer must also "pay attention to details of presenting the image after it is
captured. Make more choices. Will you tone it with sepia or add a vintage look? Will
you change it to the clean shapes of black and white? Will you apply your own unique
action to it in Photoshop? The choices you make in this final step, which I call finishing
the image, are almost as important as the choices you made when you created the image in
the first place."
For a look at Victor's art go to
www.vcsphoto.com, and for a glimpse
of his personality, click on his blog.
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