MudEyes

Sorry I haven’t been able to do official posts guys! We have been really feeling the rush, and have 3 weddings to finish before we are off to So Cal for the second week of august. In the meantime if you aren’t my friend already hit me up, I am still putting up some pictures here and there.

Ryan Richard Gauper | Create Your Badge

Upcoming Blogs:

Video blog for The Maternal Lens about what other then lenses! Primes of course =)

Video blog about the time money and stress we take on for potential wedding clients, and why we are worth the money!

And maybe even some 52 updates since we are on like week 24

Check back in a while, don’t lose us!

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Hey guys, I have a super awesome couple PJ & Maggie from Memphis, TN that we did a session for their engagements but we aren’t available for their wedding. Their date is August 15th.

Check out my earlier post for the rest of their engagement pictures but they are a super fun couple that made it really easy to get great images. I have really bee trying to explore all my options to get them a good wedding photographer but with no luck. One of the problems is they don’t have a ton of money, and can’t go much past $1,000 for photography.

Also they are in Memphis. If anyone out there is interested and is willing to throw them a deal please let me know and I would be willing to maybe throw a favor your way as well!

Like I said please read their engagement post to get to know them a little better. But trust me if you have a way to get down there it will be a great time and they know a lot of people that I’m sure you could get a lot of work from!

Thanks guys!

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EVERYTHING MUST GO! SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!! WELL NOT EVERYTHING! WHY AM I STILL YELLING?????

IN ALL SERIOU…Sorry, in all seriousness, we have a buttload of stuff to sell and now we have some more motivation (as if we didn’t have enough)

The Image is Found announced a ‘shootshop’ the day after we arrive in LA this august so we decided we HAVE to go to… They are going over a lot of the stuff we need the most and also we basically want to BE them. They are way creative and awesome. They were kind enough to let me pay for one spot and give me another week to pay for our second spot (since they fill up in like a day)

Soooo here’s some great gear that we would love for you to have… I mean pay for. I am a photoshop novice and didn’t spend hours on this so go easy on me =)

First up are the biggins. I have been holding on to my D700 because I just love it and didn’t feel like giving it up for butt-cheap so here it is now for butt-cheap because I have to =( I am going to be pretty firm at $2,100 for this thing. It is in very nice shape and was used for about 6 months before we made the switch. It IS a US model, there is nothing at all wrong with it. This is the best Nikon option period. You can read my review side by side with my new camera the Canon 5D mark II here but seriously this camera rules… feels so much better in your hands then my camera.

It comes with everything you see… I dont have the screen protector but there is no scratches miraculously enough. I also dont have the strap but if I dont sell the one below and you need one I will throw it in. The battery still reads new. I charged it after every use to keep it happy. The sensor is pretty clean as far as I can see. This thing is spotless.

The fisheye is the last lens I have with it… It’s a DX lens but it still looks really great even with the reduced resolution. Pretty fishy fisheye and it was one of my favorites… it is a great lens. Pretty much flawless as far as I see. Never dropped. I am asking $525 for this one and I don’t have the cap. Lost it at a wedding. Adorama retails it at $700 so I think thats pretty fair. If you want one you can get the cap here. It comes with a soft case that I never took out of the bag.

My last Nikon item is the Battery grip for either a D300 or D700 This is a must with this camera if you are holding it for any amount of time. It feels great and matches up with the build quality of the D700. You can even get 8fps with this grip and the right batteries. It has a little bit of paint rubbed of exposing some metal but otherwise never dropped or anything. You can buy it new for $260 so how about $185.

Another biggin is our basically brand new Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS L Telephoto zoom. It is just too expensive for us. We have too much to buy to make it worth it. But if you are in the market for one you know how great this lens is. For a zoom lens the sharpness doesnt get much better then this. The IS works amazingly at 1/20th of a second my shots are consistently sharp even at 200mm. This lens is also flawless and retails for $1,800. So I thought $1,400 would be very fair especially since we have used it about 2 times.

I wouldn’t be selling this if I didn’t have a second, nor would I if I didn’t want a TS-E so bad! So I am selling this amazing lens for $375 as it retails for $500. Again this Sigma is mint. We have used it since early this year and since we had 2 it stayed in the bag most of the time. We had no problem shooting this lens wide open for a whole wedding. I actually prefer this lens to the Canon version. Sharp focus every time unlike the canon. If you have a f/1.8 50, trust me this is worth an upgrade. you would have to shoot at f/3.5 to be as sharp as this lens, and you get a lot more background blur and speed. Check out all my images I have made with this one! flickr w/ 50mm

Since Holly and I bought the same computer right before we met we have always had 2. Now that we have a MacPro, iMac and 2 MacBook Pros, it might be time to trim down. This one is mine.

You can see the stats but it is a 2.16GHz dual with 2 gigs or RAM and 120gb HD. I used it for all my editing until we got the iMac about a year ago. Now if we do use it at all it’s when we travel. It shows signs of wear as you can see but really besides the battery needing to be replaced there’s not much wrong with it. Everything is cosmetic. It does not have any AppleCare and it runs with the Leopard OS. A new battery is like $100 bucks and I am asking $900 for this. Still runs very well and is completely capable (especially if you are upgrading from PC) 😉

Next I have an older surround sound system that I bought a few years ago. I didn’t use it a ton and the speakers sound great and the sub sounds well if you are fairly nice to it. I am not sure of the wattage and don’t have a box but it gets pa-ritty loud and sounds great with action movies and music. I am asking $75 for this.

Last is a few random items.

A neoprene strap $10
A couple Lens pouches you can strap to your belt. $8 (each)
Legal Forms $10
And a Gary Fong Lightsphere Cloud P2 or C2 it fits the bigger 580EX $30 and I will include a stofen or whatever flash diffuser.

Sooo hopefully you guys wanna give us all your moneys so we can go and learn how to get even better so that we can feed the fever for the Gaupers =)

Please email me at ryan@GAUPERphoto.com or call me at 269.929.8777

All items will have shipping tacked on if you arent local so we can work that out when you contact me. Thanks guys!!

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MAN it’s been a long time since I have wrote anything on here! Never knew how much that long trip would take out of us and how long it would take to get back into the swing of things!

We may have been a little too ambitious to take on all the things we did but hopefully it will all pay off.

We had to pull a lot of favors the last month and I wanted to dedicate a whole post to thank all those people that really saved us this month. We couldn’t have made any of this possible without you guys!

As you might know the Radisson people were putting on a Bridal show for their preferred vendors and we were really upset when they asked us to do it because we had the New York wedding on the same day! Part of having a FREE booth was photographing the event in exchange so I worked it out to hire out someone so that we could set up our booth and be on the preferred vendor list for the year. Diana from Moxie Photography came to mind right away, and thankfully she was willing to come out and shoot the event. She got some great shots and I want to say thank you so much for coming out and doing a great job!!

Just to have the booth ready in time turned out to be a huge undertaking which required a lot of help. Thank you to my good buddy steve who is always willing to help!

He designed and built the main wall out of two sheets of plywood and some 2×4 bracing it looked awesome!

A HUGE thanks to Dave and Lacey who did a ton of work including setting up, painting the wall, staying up till 4am the night before to make a slideshow we forgot to do, and a bunch more you guys are amazing!

Helping them out with a lot of the same stuff was our super friends Andy and Nicole Foster! Unfortunately Nicole got a bad migraine so she didn’t get to help at the actual show but she was still a huge help. And another help to andy for helping Dave bring the couch back home to our apt.!! Thanks sooo much guys, and thanks for being our fans =)

The booth really looked amazing! You guys did such a good job.

And thank you to Justin who let Dave and Andy use his truck to get the couch back! Also for fixing up my civic while we were gone!!

The team Minus Nicole … represent!

Holly and I stopped in Boston to see a Red Sox game in Fenway because I have never been in my whole life and I have been a fan ever since my late step-dad was around when I was a kid. He grew up in Boston and had quite a zeal for the BoSox!

Anyway, our seats ended up being obstructed view seats behind a pole covering up the plate even though they are supposed to tell you that before you buy them. This was our view poking my head around the pole:

I’m not going to lie I was a little disappointed… I don’t really like to complain but Holly insisted she would complain about this “injustice” for me =) The people at Fenway were very nice to her when she told them it was my first time and our situation and they moved us behind the plate midway up! Great seats!!!

So thank you Holly for making sure my first trip to Fenway was an Amazing one!

Now on to New York!

The only reason we even got this wedding was because Megan hooked us up with this couple who has been one of our all time favorite couples! We can’t thank you enough Megan!!!

Thank you Orest and Morriah, you have been up there with the nicest and most accommodating couples we’ve had and I wanted to thank you for everything we love your families and you guys are going to be so happy together!! They definitely got “the love”!

We wanted to hang around NYC for a while since we were there, and without doing as much research as I guess I should have, I booked a Howard Johnson in Newark for a cheap rate and I am sure you heard about the whole bed bug fiasco! We called up my YWAM buddy Emily and she was more then accommodating! Thanks sooo much Em for letting us stay like 3 nights at your house!!

Thanks also goes out to Ben for letting us come play at the abandoned building he knew about! It was a blast!

For the last leg of our trip we were off to Dallas.

As always Don and Karen insisted we stay with them for our stay. They are so much fun and we always have so much fun there! Thanks so much guys!! This was actually the first time I visited them and had just getting my first camera we did some family shots. Cole and Austin are sooo much bigger now =)

Last but not least is the Niederhausers. They took us out to Uncle Julio’s and then we went out for a photo adventure with Cheryl and her daughter Heather. It was great fun.

We are so thankful of all the great people that we know that are willing to help. We seriously couldn’t do it without you! Much love!!

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BIG news on the business front!

When Holly and I met she was looking for someone to teach her more about photography and trying to find out if she should go to school again for that instead of sticking with graphic design which is what she graduated with.

At this time, I was looking for someone to design me a logo and website. That’s the premiss of how we met essentially for those of you who didn’t know. So she was looking for a photographer to show her the ropes…We technically have to say we met on-line… Which is kind of embarrassing for us =) She always makes me tell the story when people ask because I can tell it in a way that doesn’t spotlight that fact but doesn’t lie about how we met either!

My point is that at first Holly was with me shooting weddings because I could use a hand being pretty inexperienced, and because she wanted some more practice. We quickly became a great team and have actually been together since my first paying wedding!

So the whole point of this story is that Holly has been more in the background where I got most of the credit for her amazing editing, and a lot of her shots that no-one knew were hers! You can’t say we are just Ryan Richard Photography anymore. It’s not just me, it’s us! She has improved by leaps and bounds and there is no way I could produce what I promise without her. So to celebrate and recognize the goodness she brings to the table, we are now GAUPERPHOTO!

What do ya think? I struggled for a while about changing it to my last name because no one can seem to say it right! If you actually look at it and sound it out, it’s not that hard. Gaw-per. Not Galper, Glopper, Grooper,Goopie,Golper,Gumper,groper or Galapanokis.

GAUPER … I have gone through a lot of frustration, but I am putting my trust into mankind one more so please don’t let me down! Even with Ryan Richard people would always call me Richard for some reason, or say Ryan Richards…So I am counting on you guys to get it right… got it? =)

So anyway, we have a bridal show coming up where we are the only photography vendors. The Radisson is putting on a non-traditional show that is going to be really great! Unfortunately, we have a wedding in Long Island the same day. I have been super pumped to do that wedding but we are bummed to not be able to do the show but we figured a big NY wedding and a big bridal show would be the perfect time to unveil a new logo and name!

Part of the deal of having a free booth and being a preferred vendor all year for the fanciest hotel in town was that I had to shoot the bridal show. Since I obviously couldn’t I asked if I could hire someone out to do that so I could still have the booth. I had someone great in mind and they accepted! My favorite new wedding photographer is Diana Vermeulen of Moxie Photography. I have been referring people to her left and right because she does great work for the price so if we are booked on your date or are a little out of our range, be sure to look her up!

Since we are getting an all new identity, we needed a few fresh new images of us to display at the Bridal show we will be doing a full session soon, with another one of my new favorite photographers we have been hanging out with, Melissa Gregersen

But since we didn’t have time to do a full session we went out for a few shots with my brother in law Dave who we are thinking about hiring on as an intern this summer.

He graduated from Western with a marketing degree and we think he has a lot of potential not only on the business side but possibly behind the camera with some practice! These are a few shots he took for us. Thanks Dave!

Pretty nice for his first time wielding a nice camera right?

We wanted to do a giant overhaul with a new website and blog but that just wasn’t going to happen by the NY trip and we really wanted to do it for the show and the wedding. Be on the lookout for at least a new blog by the beginning of the summer because a nice blog is LONG overdue and we know that. The new one will be much more enjoyable to visit!

But anyways, that’s the big news! I hope you guys like it. I feel like we have more of our own style and the old logo only portrayed our traditional and classic side but had nothing to do with the rustic and industrial side. I think it suits us much better and is much more modern. Let us know what you think!!

Gauper out =)

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