Being a professional photographer means the learning process never ends.

The best photographers are the ones who never settle, and are always looking to improve or add a skill. Since photography is an art medium that highly depends on technology, the medium is always changing. This was never more evident than when the industry made the change from analog film to digital.

As a photojournalist, I was involved in the first application of digital photography in real-world professional photography situations. It has been incredible to see the evolution of the technology from the old-school $15,000 bodies that produced a 3 or 4 megapixel image, to everybody having a phone camera in their pocket that is now better than that bulky $15,000 camera body.

Nikon and Kodak combined forces to create this Frankenstein monster back in 1994. Little did Kodak know they were really inventing the beginning of their end as other companies came along and built on what they started.

In the old days (and by old days I'm really only talking about pre-1996), if you shot a professional sporting event, you could only shoot the first quarter of a football game before you had to head under the stadium to process your film and try to find a dial-up internet connection that would allow you to transmit an image back to your publication in time for deadline.

The instantaneous process of digital still astonishes me. Now, some pros are able to transmit images back to a picture desk in real time.

How I am applying this tradition of innovation to my wedding photography:

I recently went back to college to learn some new skills that you typically do not pick up working by yourself in the vacuum that is a sole proprietorship. I am currently taking a class to help improve my social media skills, which was part of the genesis of this new blog you are reading.

I am also taking a class on doing NPR-style radio journalism recordings. The application of this to still wedding photography helps offset one of the few drawbacks to having a still photographer over a videographer—the lack of sound.

I am working on doing audio montage features that tell the story of your wedding day through sound. This is a track that you can then run under a slideshow of your photos, which will give them a whole other dimension.

Now you can hear your speeches, your toasts, natural (or nat sounds) from the day that really make you feel like you are reliving the day as you are looking at your images.

Wouldn't it be fun to hear what you were saying as you were getting ready, or maybe say a few words about your future spouse and what you hope the future holds?

This is what I'm working on. I'm not going to start charging for it until I feel comfortable doing it on a professional level, but I am already getting better and I'm really excited about the prospect of offering this new service.

Here is an image of the sound setup I recently invested in and I'm taking a class at the University of Nevada's School of Journalism to help me master the technology. The sound quality is amazing!

Is this a service you think you'd be interested in your still wedding photographer offering? If so, what do you think you would want to say to your future spouse during the interview?

Make sure to subscribe to my blog so you can see a sample of this work. I plan on posting one soon!