Having survived endless errands and an odd encounter at the Maui marriage license agent’s office earlier in the week, Toni and Travis finally had a chance to relax during the days leading up to their ceremony.

Standing behind a canoe oar loaded with 35 leis crafted just for the guests, the couple steals a moment.

“To be honest, at our engagement shoot it wasn’t kissing for photos that I minded, it was how I thought I looked in our photos that I didn’t like,” confessed Klark.

“For one thing, I thought my lips looked funny.”

“I grew up having my picture taken all the time, so it felt natural to me, but it did take Klark awhile to get used to seeing himself in photos,” added Brittany.

“By the time the wedding rolled around and now our honeymoon–I’m no longer uncomfortable,” concluded Klark.

In this photo, Brittany and Klark enjoying the pool to themselves at Maui’s exclusive Ho’oilo House.

Most of the time, Chris and I ship “The Book” to a couple hundreds or even thousands of miles away. After FedEx delivers, we usually get a text or a call from an emotional couple who’ve just gotten through their initial viewing.

This wasn’t the case with Norma and Justin, who live in Las Vegas. Because we delivered their book in person, Chris and I got to enjoy the two looking at their book, page by page.

“It’s even better than the PDF – it’s, it’s so perfect,” said Justin as he flipped the pages while Norma looked on.

“Every little detail is us,” Norma said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Every little detail is in here. I can’t wait to read every last word.”

Mission accomplished.

If you’re pleased with your physical appearance, skip this post. If you’re critical of your body and you have no real reason to be, skip it. But, if you’re critical of your body in photos and there is a reason why, read on.

It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, Natasha has to duct tape my mouth shut so I don’t get us in trouble.

Since she’s – ironically – at the gym, working on her “wubby” as she calls it, I have the chance to let my hair down – another rare moment because I don’t have any hair.

I’ll cut right to the chase, because running is a theme that overlaps, or should overlap with getting ready for a wedding, if you believe you have some work to do before you feel comfortable in your own skin in front of the camera.

Here’s what irritates me to hear:

“I look fat in your photos.”

“Can you make me look thinner?”

“Why does my back fat pop out of my dress like that?”

“Why is my butt so big?

Brings me back to my high school days, when I’d “forget” to study for a test, then get mad at the teacher because the questions were too difficult to answer.

Why do some of photos make you look fat? Well, because you are fat. Or chubby. Or you have a warped view of your body which is a completely different matter – you people can skip this post, too. (You could look like Kate Moss and still think you’re fat.)

Why do your bingo arms sway in the breeze while you’re dancing? Why does your bubble butt look ready to pop, and your back fat wings make you look like a jumbo jet plane on a runway?

Because you forgot to watch what you eat. Or work out. Or worry about what you were going to look like on your wedding day. You don’t have to go overboard, but you do need to be mindful.

Kills me, because, on the average, a couple will plan for a wedding somewhere between six and 18 months – ample time to lose ample weight, or enough weight to downsize so you’re not complaining to others about how you look in photos. Also, ample time to get yourself to a point where you feel good about yourself, physically; where you feel confident in your appearance.

Can I make you look thinner? Sure, I’ve already avoided the wide lens shots and the “wrong” angles. The really bad shots? I haven’t even shown them to you.

Can I Photoshop your butt? Haven’t you noticed? I already have.

“You can’t blog about that!” Natasha will argue, when she gets home. But since she’s at the gym trying to lose a pound or two (Hey, I’m there, too – It’s a constant battle to bring back my long-lost six-pack.), I’m gonna say what I want.

All in all, I have very little to say, other than when it comes to wedding planning, be sure to schedule time for your health and fitness, just like you schedule time for venue visits and decor selection. You don’t have to go nuts, but you should do what you need to, so that you feel good about yourself on your wedding day. When you feel confident in your own body, you will look radiant in your photos. It’ll also keep us bald photographers from losing any more hair.

You are in control of how you look on your wedding day. Save your complaining for something that’s out of your control.

Uh oh, Natasha is back from the gym . . .

I like this photo Chris shot on a day trip to Rhyolite, Nevada, a ghost town, minus the ghosts. Chris doesn’t like this photo and here’s why: there are no people in it. To him, it’s a shot that anybody could have taken. It’s always problematic if a viewer can’t tell the difference between a shot a soccer mom takes with her point-and-shoot and shot a professional shooter takes.

There’s also no movement, emotion or story being told in this photo. Two more reasons why I bet he doesn’t like it. Life events, like weddings, are nothing like ghost towns and while detail shots and landscapes are pretty and deserving of being recorded, particularly when a couple has gone out of their way to infuse their event with personal and meaningful elements, photographs of these elements will never be enjoyed and cherished as much as the ones that tell a story by capturing emotion.

Tip No. 1: Personality

By Natasha Chornesky and Chris Cozzone

Don’t buy into the hype.

Any photographer who is trying to sell you on his/her sparkling, oh-so-fun personality will, most likely, have the potential for serious flaws in his/her craft.

Ask yourself this: Are you hiring someone to be the life of the party (your party), or do you want good shots? Do you really care that the photographer likes long walks on the beach, loves to watch “Mad Men” or can rifle off jokes faster than his 11 frames-per-second camera?

Study a photographer’s website. Are there more photos of the photographer than his or her subjects? That should be the first clue.

While it is important not to hire a stick-in-the-mud, grumpy-ass photographer, do you really want someone who’s never going to shut up?

Our suggestion: Check the work. Look at the images. Then meet with the photographer to see if there is going to be a personality clash.

At WriteShot, we believe photographers should be ghosts or shadows. No one is hiring us to join the party or chat with the guests – we are there to get the best possible shot, not win a popularity contest.

Video by Every Atom Productions, NYC

Writer/photographer Chris Cozzone has inked a two-volume book deal with McFarland Press on the history of boxing in New Mexico. In between his work with WriteShot and covering boxing, Cozzone has spent the last six years in heavy research. He inherited the project in 2005 from the late Jim Boggio, who will share the byline. Boggio began his research in the ’80s, logging in over 400 fight cards throughout N.M. history. Cozzone has brought brought that number to 2,300.

Volume I of the two-book set will cover 1868 to World War II and Volume II, from the ’40s to modern era. Featured fighters in the book include Johnny Tapia, Danny Romero, Bob Foster, Benny Chavez, Eddie Mack, Benny Cordova, Abie Chavez, Larry Cisneros, Art Aragon, Emilio Martinez, Julio Chiaramonte (pictured) and dozens more. Hall-of-Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler will write the foreword.  Cozzone expects Volume I’s completion later this year and to hit the sands in 2012. Stay tuned.

Two book signings are planned for the newly-released “The First Black Boxing Champions – Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s,” on Saturday, April 2.

The first time & location will be 1 p.m., at the Albuquerque Public Library, Lomas & Tramway Branch, Eastridge St. (the library sits on the SW corner of Tramway and Lomas, but has an Eastridge address.)

The second time & location will correspond with Saturday night’s “Rising Stars Battle at the Bosque” fight card at the Santa Ana Star Casino in Bernalillo. Prior to first bell, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., a table will be set up near the entrance to the arena.

Along with a book signing, a lecture, historic film, photos and archives will be made available by editor Colleen Aycock and Chris Cozzone, who has a New Mexico-related essay in the book. Cozzone will also talk about his upcoming book, “The History of Boxing in New Mexico,” which will be printed by McFarland Press, publisher of “The First Black Boxing Champions” and Aycock’s last book, “Joe Gans: A Biography of the First African American World Boxing Champion.”

The book is also available at Amazon: Click here

Are your photos you?

I know, it sounds crazy, but recently  a wedding planner shared a story with me. She planned a wedding out of the country at a gorgeous location that held meaning and history for the couple. The couple hired a photographer whose work the bride had seen in several magazines.

Sounds great, no?

But then the photographer put the couple through their paces, posing them “editorial style” (which, in the wedding industry, basically means staged photojournalism) around the property, wiping the smiles from their faces and focusing their gazes away from one another, in dramatic fashion. The photographer made excellent use of the landscape’s natural beauty, but in creating the ideal portrait, he failed to capture any sort of connection the couple had for one another. The end result was highly stylized photos resembling a pseudo Vogue or GQ shoot. The problem? The photos did not truly represent the couple.

In fact, it was only two years later that the bride ran into her planner at another function. They reminisced about the bride’s destination wedding. “Everything was perfect,” shared the bride. “Except for my photos. I actually get mad when I look at them. I hate them. They are not us.”

Weddings are a celebration. A wedding couple epitomizes the human connection. These elements occur spontaneously at a wedding and when captured by a photographer, provide images that reflect the couple.

“Editorial” portraits, however, are designed to showcase details and locations while showing a couple in a fantasy or staged environment.

The way we see it, if your love is real, let your photos be real. Why stage it? – Natasha Chornesky, WriteShot

Photo caption: Though appearing as if it could be a so-called “editorial style” shot, our accompanying photo of Lauren and John was captured during the couple’s bus ride from church to reception. “If there’s one thing I hate,” says WriteShot primary photographer Chris Cozzone, “it’s setting up unreal shots in phony scenarios.”