#From Me to You ... Video Photography & Book Reviews

[sweetprfct]

Juliette Ferrars.

So, I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to fuel more drama in this fandom, but I think it's time for me to voice out my side of the story because I had enough. I cannot get peace around here without someone coming to me and letting me know that some people have been badmouthing me.

I honestly don't really care what you all think or do, but the fact that I can't seem to enjoy the things that I like, I think it's time for me to come in here and review the issues that has been going on.

I. Issues II. Bullying and Accusations III. Communication IV. Conclusion

I. Issues:

Cosplay/Face Claims. Cosplaying has been a part of my life for the last couple of years. Mostly, I do Marvel cosplay due to the fact that I am mostly in that fandom before. Since recently, I have found my Shatter Me Book from high school. Let me remind you, this book has existed in my high school life since I was 17. I am 27 now. That's 10 years I have known this series. This series were the only series I truly enjoyed. I actually never read any other book series but this one, only also because I'm not really a reader. I'm more into writing my own stories and expressing that art through photography.

So, let me be the one to clear this to you all: my Juliette Ferrars cosplay/face claim is not copied by anyone here in tumblr. This character has been a better part of my life since I was 17 and since I have been cosplaying other Marvel characters, I have decided to add Juliette into my list. (See figure 1, 2. and 3)

(figure 1) me as Yelena Belova. (figure 2) me as Wanda Maximoff

Fandom. I usually don't interact much in the Shatter Me fandom before but ever since I have met a few people because of the Aaron Warner fics I have been publishing, I have gotten to know this fandom a little better.

If everyone is so offended of me dressing up as Juliette and try to cosplay/face model as her character, then obviously you all don't know what cosplay is. (See figure 4). I do not have to give credit to anyone for me dressing up as Juliette Ferrars because one, no one invented that character but Tahereh Mafi herself. If I would give credit to anyone here, it would be the author herself. Two, face claiming/cosplaying/roleplaying a character has been around a long time in different fandoms.

Unless you have a copyright proof of owning the character or owning "cosplay," I do not owe anyone a credit. Just because you dress up as Juliette and roleplay/face claim as her, doesn't mean that you are the only who can do that. It also doesn't mean that you invented that. That is like saying no one can cosplay/face claim as Captain America because some man had done it first, or because they don't look like Chris Evans.

STOP policing the fandom and STOP acting like you're the only who can do it. You can literally check TikTok for people dressing up as Juliette and making videos. (see figure 3).

Also, I'm not the only one who has experienced this type of harassment. I know a few people who have received a message saying they're "copying" someone when all they literally do is dress up as the character from a book.

That is not a crime.

That is not yours to decide to take credit for because you didn't invented that in the first place. (see figure 5).

(figure 4).

(figure 5).

II. Bullying and Accusations:

Groupchat. A few people have come up to me saying there's a group chat that was made and certain people were talking vile things about me. Honestly, I don't really care about what you all do or say but really? Are you all really wasting your energy on one person that you all hate? Wasting your energy aiming posts about me? Is that what you like to do in your spare time? I guess if it helps you sleep at night....

Bullying. Stalking my account after I have blocked you is honestly a waste of energy but it's your choice what to do with your time. That's one thing, but body shaming me and taking it too far is something that's vile, disgusting and unacceptable.

I don't condone any form of bullying. I know my own insecurities and my own body and mind. The opinion of others doesn't define me and is not my business. However, as a reminder, I hope you all know that you may think you are having fun talking inadequate words about someone you literally don't know but at the end of the day, I hope you all know that your words reflects the person that you are.

Validation. This connects to the bullying on the above point. I am being accused of seeking validation because I decided to cosplay Juliette. From the beginning, I never expected anyone to even like my posts on instagram nor my tiktok videos. That's not in my control what other people do with their own accounts. I think that some of you need to start trying to figure out what that word actually means because from my end, I never try to stop anyone or judge anyone from dressing up as a character and face claim them (see figure 6). Again, this isn't the first time that someone has dressed up as a book/movie/tv/comic book character and face claims them.

Stalking my account after I have blocked you nor have I voiced out my concerns from the constant harassment and aimed posts... Who do you think is more insecure and need validation? Me or you?

(figure 6).

III. Communication.

Social Media. Online bullying isn't new in social media anymore. It has been going on for a while now and the toxic environment tend to fuel others to join just to feel validated and be on "trend." However, bullying and stalking someone, especially after you have been blocked is not "cool." It doesn't make you any better nor make you feel better on the inside. At the end of the day, you will be the one who will be left in your own thoughts and think about your actions you have made. Will this be really relevant in your life five to ten years from now? What is your end goal with this?

If you have a problem with me, message me privately and talk to me like a grown adult. Don't accuse and jump into conclusions with no solid proof on your end because that doesn't prove your justification of someone copying you or hating on someone that decided to cosplay Juliette.

IV. Conclusion.

Despite the fact that I hate fueling this drama more and having to say something, I don't have the bandwidth to still focus my attention to others who will hate on me. This is the first and last time I will talk about this. There is a block button that exists if you don't like my posts. There are many options for you to opt me out on your tl or for you page. If you have a problem with me, then reach out and talk to me normally like a grown adult instead of lashing out and stalking my account and pick on every little thing about me.

This blog isn't going to condone any bullying and harassment. I'm not going to deal with high school drama nor want to waste my time on it.

Thank you for taking your time to read this. Again, this is the first and last time I will talk about this. Anyone who comes up and says something to me in an adverse manner, I will block you immediately.

V. Appendix

Additions for Figure 1: - ig: yelenas.belova

Figure 3: list of people I know that also cosplay/uses their own face as Juliette. 1. mondaymermaids 2. dreamanddagger 3. emmelie.cosplays 4. analullabby 5. evenfall.court

Definitions:

Cosplay - the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game.

Seeking Validation - The desire to have someone else's approval or agreement with what you say, believe, or do.

Bullying - The repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.

Perceived Superiority - A belief that your abilities or accomplishments are somehow dramatically better than other people's.

[khofiecloud]

how to preserve your mental health at school

School is probably one of the most mentally taxing things a teen can go through. It certainly is mine. With the pressure to be the best, to get ahead, and to generally succeed, it's hard to not be affected. The mental strain is unavoidable, and I struggled with it for most of my school years, but over time that has led me to find tips that could help anyone going through this cope.

There are a few signs that can tell you whether or not you are being severely affected. You might be unmotivated and apathetic throughout the school day, and just because of school itself. You might feel like crying in school during the whole day and every day. Reasons can range from academic pressure to bullying and social ostracization to feeling inferior to your over achieving classmates.(If it's bullying, please tell someone who can help you) But here's some tips that might help based on what I learned from experience:

Find a piece of comfort (that you can come back to whenever you feel bad) .It can be a show, anime, song , movie, fanfic, manga , book, food, piece of clothing, or really just about anything (my recs are saiki k, ghibli songs and movies) . It’s best to have multiple just in case you get too used to 1 of them.

Get a support system: the way you can get this may differ based on your specific problem but here’s some ideas : make new friends offline or online (best app is slowly) and strengthen your existing relationships with friends and family.

Find a 3rd place which is not electronic: A third place is any public area away from homes and school/work ,where people meet and interact in an open environment. But the real challenge is not making your 3rd place your device .It's hard but here are some ideas for a 3rd place : libraries, arcades, gym, yoga place, sport club, skateparks, playgrounds, parks, coffee shops and cafes, bodegas. Make sure to choose a place where you feel comfortable. 

Get enough sleep: being tired will just make you feel so much worse. Never underestimate the power of a good night's sleep. Just to make it extra too, listen to some calming music, light candles and wear your fanciest sleepwear.

Put your mind on other things and focus on finding things that'll make you proud of yourself: You could get new hobbies, especially creative ones since those allow you to express yourself easily. Some examples are crocheting, embroidery, drawing, painting, sculpting, pottery, dancing, writing music, performance art and writing (stories, poetry, essays)

Take a leap of faith: create or design something based on your interests and skills and share it with the world. This can develop into being your own personal extracurricular activity. It might be scary but that's what makes it so rewarding in the end.

1) Video editing : post videos on your favorite subject and post on tiktok or youtube 2) Fashion and Photography : take pictures of yourself wearing cute clothes (or just your fav ones) and post them on your social media 3) Painting and Sustainability : paint an exhibit and display it in public 4) Volunteering and Social Media: make and run the official Instagram account of a local business 5) Gaming : make a game on roblox 6) Reading: start a book review blog These are just a few pretty ambitious ideas. You don’t have to follow these. Create your own project, it all depends on who you are. Take the best out of all of you (pieces of your soul) and create a masterpiece. If you don't have any interests (post on tips coming soon) just make something out of your skills . Make sure to only take on a project if you have time and resources.

Lastly, this is a tip I got from Quora. It’s to make a slow nights document. You can write this down on paper or open a doc and write down your comforts, favorite movie, favorite art pieces, places you’d like to go in the future, what you think your life will be in 10 years and so on. Just write things that will make you you.

School can make you feel drained, insecure and hurt for so many reasons. It may end up in you being numb and apathetic. In most cases, the problems you have can’t be solved by just forcing yourself to look at the bright side or forcing yourself to avoid or ignore them. They are real issues. And when asking for tips on the internet isn’t enough, I hope this post will help you. It probably didn’t solve all your problems, but I hope it showed you a way to go. Thank you for reading and Good Luck 

[etherealacademia]

wait. you can ask perfume brands for review bottles and they’ll just… give it to you? like they’ll give it to you for free? and i don’t need to be famous or anything? 😭

Not exactly. You don't have to be 'famous' (I'm certainly not), but you do usually need an established, appropriate following and a history of creating content or reviews about fragrance. For transparency, I have 40,000 followers on TikTok and 40k here, where I've posted about my love for certain perfume brands (like margiela) many times, often getting thousands of likes on videos/photos promoting them. Companies, especially luxury brands, take your previous experience into consideration. I do receive PR regularly, though it's mostly books because that's my primary focus on social media. I've only received fragrance PR a couple of times before (from Libertine and Commodity), and it was product in exchange for review/promotion.

For your reference, here are a few posts featuring my perfume photography that I would send a brand as an example of my interest in receiving a review bottle:

[crevicedwelling]

If you had like infinite money and resources what would your dream bug study / research project be about?

ooh, good one. I think I’d do a global review of scutigeromorph systematics and also take a look at the ecological roles they play worldwide. they’re my favorite group of centipedes and so sadly understudied—so many bizarre leggy species out there that need proper names!

aside from that, I’d really love to get a good camera and make a pretty coffee table photography book of beautiful land flatworms from around the world. New Zealand, Brazil, and SE Asia are particular hotspots for platyhelminths more colorful than any exotic birds, and I think more people need to love the worm.

oh, that reminds me I would love to contribute to nature documentaries about under-appreciated inverts. you could get such nice stories out of mother centipedes, soil fauna diversity, dramatic flatworm hunts, and nest-building raspy crickets. need a good video camera someday

[lou-wilham]

Hi, sorry to bother you! I saw one of your reviews, and I’m a person getting back into reading. I was curious in what ways you’ve found work best for finding people and connecting in the writing and reading community as an author? I only use YouTube and Reddit for the most part, but I really find myself wanting to engage more. I have no desire to use twitter or instagram, so I’m kind of at a standstill on where and how to get more involved.

No bother at all!

I personally prefer instagram, because I have a great love of photography and graphic design to go along with my love of words. But that aside, I know there are several authors and readers right here on Tumblr who you could engage with. Also, BookTube is definitely a thing. I don't personally use Youtube, but I have an author friend who regularly tells me about review videos she found on BookTube (the book community on Youtube).

But really book people are everywhere. My recommendation would be to use the search engine on your favorite platform, and look for "book" and see what comes up. On Tumblr the tags you might want are booklr. On TikTok you'd want booktok. On Instagram it's bookstagram. On Youtube I'd try booktube. Not sure about Reddit, but I'm sure there are book people there too!

Another idea might be to try out Fable. I haven't used it extensively myself yet, but I know that app in particular was built for readers to create virtual book clubs. So that feels like it might be a good way to meet other book lovers.

If it's authors, in particular, you're looking to connect with, many of us have our preferred platforms or modes of communication on our websites.

Also reaching out just like this to authors and book lovers is sometimes a really great way to make new friends in the community. Many of my author friends I've made over the years I've made because I ignored my brain when it said, "you're just going to be annoying" and reached out anyway. It doesn't always work out. Sometimes I reach out and am either ignored, or the conversation is off and on. But I've made at least a few friendships who are people I now speak to every day by simply reaching out, saying hi, and talking books with them.

The friend I mentioned above who regularly uses booktube is one of them. We started by my asking her to beta read one of my early works back in 2019. Then we moved on to talking about anime. And now we speak every day about just about anything; work, politics, family.

So you really never know what those connections will lead to, and how they'll last. Sometimes they won't amount to anything. But from what I've seen of the book community, most of us (myself included) just want someone to nerd out with, and don't have those people living near us so we're happy to make new online friends.

I know the community can seem daunting, and huge at times, but trust me, you'll find your people. And I'm more than happy to chat books or craft with you if you want to reach out to me as well.

I hope this helps!

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

D-DAY

Release date: 21 April 2023

Announcement

Announcement notice, pre-order notice

Official page

Promotion Schedule

D-DAY Calendar: April week 1 (eng), week 2 (eng), week 3 (eng), week 4 (eng) May week 1 (eng), week 2 (eng), week 3 (eng), week 4 (eng) June week 1 (eng), week 2 (eng), week 3 (eng), week 4 (eng)

Tracklist

Glitch film

Concept Photo: being, exister (see below)

SUGA | Agust D 'Road to ARMY' (see below)

Weverse live

Special picture: Spotify and Melon (HD), QQMUSIC

Melon page with exclusive pictures

Naver posts:

Something is finally here (eng)

SUGA | Agust D 'D-DAY' activities behind the scenes revealed!

BANGTAN BOMBs:

SUGA's POV Naver Posting

'Haegeum' Challenge Video Shoots Sketch

Spotify Hero Film (Behind the Scenes)

SUGA’s Instagram post: D-2, D-DAY

SUGA is the fifth member to have a solo release in Chapter 2. This album also concludes Agust D’s career after Agust D and D-2.

The army film club account posted a Twitter thread showing several parallels between the whole Agust D trilogy and the movie Scarface (1983) by Brian de Palma.

Tracklist

D-Day

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

해금 (Haegeum)

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

An haegeum is a traditional string instrument. it can also mean “to lift a ban” in some cases

The beat is similar to the one in the video SUGA 의 Maschine mk2 review (src). It was also used in “The Last” in the first Agust D mixtape

HUH?! (feat. j-hope)

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

AMYGDALA

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

SDL

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

사람 Pt.2 (feat. 아이유)

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

극야 (Polar Night)

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

Interlude: Dawn

SUGA explained in his Weverse live that he used a part of the track for “Snooze” and reversed it to obtain this interlude

Snooze (feat. Ryuchi Sakamoto, 김우성 of The Rose)

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

Life Goes On

Lyrics

Doolsetbangtan’s translation

“Life Goes On” is also the title of BE’s main track

The description of each track is available in Korean here.

“사람 Pt.2 (feat. 아이유)”

Release date: 7 April 2023

Poster

DJ Syub radio show form (eng translation)

DJ Syub's kkul FM is back

SUGA’s Instagram post: lyrics (eng translation), album cover, on the set

Official Photo on Melon (archive)

MV Photo Sketch

Episode of the MV Shoot Sketch

This song is the second collaboration between SUGA/Agust D and IU, after “eight(에잇) (Prod.&Feat. SUGA of BTS)” released in May 2020.

The MV was filmed at South Cape (cr. btsmap1). They used one of the cliff houses for the part in the home and the music library for the part in the studio. During this first part, you can notice decorative fake books and a Danish springy-toy called Hoptimist (src). Thanks to Instagram stories from Nam Hyunwoo and the brand Entre d’eux, we know some of their products were in the bathroom: the nkumba flos or the verte grez hand wash as well as the bitter vitae hand cream.

The black dog appearing in the MV is Nam Hyunwoo’s, the director of photography who’s been working on pretty much every BTS MVs and CFs. Nam himself did a cameo in “The Astronaut” MV.

A Danish ARMY also caught sight of an Hoptimist, a little springy-toy designed by Danish designer Gustav Ehrenreich in 1968 (src).

Glitch Film

Release date: 14 April 2023

The film starts with a calendar from 2016, moving from January to August, passing July twice. The first Agust D mixtape was released on the 16 August, 2016.

The following part mixes extracts of the previous videos so “Agust D” MV, “give it to me” MV and “Daechwita” MV. There are also new elements that seems to relate to D-DAY, including a recorder, birds, dollar bills, and an eye. The video also connects the three human shapes to an MV:

rectangle shape: “Agust D” MV

spiky shape: “Daechwita” MV

particle shape: “give it to me” MV

Concept Photo

Release date: 17-18 April 2023

Being

Exister

Outfits and accessories: tropical shirt identified by BangtanStyling

In the Being concept photo, SUGA stands in front of a fake police station, the APC (Asia Pacific Police Union).

@Lmyjj noticed that these pictures fits with the shapes seen previsouly, notably on the promotion schedule and on the main poster for the documentary SUGA: Road to D-DAY.

“해금”

Release date: 20 April 2023

Teaser

Jacket Shoot Photo Sketch

Episode of MV & Jacket Shoot Sketch

Dance practice

Outfits and accessories: tweets from BangtanStyling, Tailorable’s Instagram post about the custom suit

The MV was filmed in Bangkok, notably in a place known as the thieves' market (src). The street scenes were filmed here (src), the hideout of criminal Agust D was here and the tangerine scene happened in a nearby street.

The team also used popular filming locations, namely this deserted building (src) already seen in Jeff Satur’s “Dum Dum” MV and in the Hidden messages video teasing Kinneporsche, as well as the sports complex Nightingale Rama Inthra Club (src) famous for being a shooting location of F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers. Director Lumpens shared his storyboard for the video on Instagram. MU:E did too (#1, #2, #3).

The dragon on SUGA's jacket is a symbol of royalty in Korea (src). It could a nod to "Daechwita" MV. Be it in the MV or in the choreography, SUGA is accompanied by 6 extra, reminding of the 6 other members of BTS.

Nam Hyunwoo, director of photography for all BTS MVs and some CFs, makes a cameo as a policeman in the background.

chloë and army film club noticed parallels between the MV and the movie Oldboy.

“AMYGDALA”

Release date: 25 April 2023

MV & Jacket Shoot Photo Sketch

Episode of the MV & Jacket Shoot Sketch

SUGA’s Instagram post

Outfits and accessories: tweets from BangtanStyling

Thanks to the Episode, we know the video features the book The Logo Design Idea Book by Gail Andersen and Steven Heller, the issue 39 of Magazine B titled “Breville”, and the frontpage of two international editions of The New York Times, the one from the 17th of May 2022 and the other from the 16th of May 2022.

 As for the filming location, it was at the basketball court of the Juam-dong Sports Park and in a street nearby.

@btswingsjm7 noticed that one of the shirt Agust D wears is from Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s collection, about the duality between one’s self image and the public preconceptions..

During the scene in front of the 202 flat, we can see custom-made flyers with phone numbers that mix the digits of SUGA’s birthday (9th March, 1993). The flyers on the door advertise delivery for Korean chicken, food and Hit Shopping products, with special promotions for Chuseok (Hit Shopping could be a nod to Big Hit). The flyer on the whole is for internet contracts and the one below is for a washing service. Concerning the little stickers they’re all locksmiths’ name and phone number.

SUGA | Agust D TOUR D-DAY

Announcement (additional dates)

Get Ready for the Day

Get Ready for D-DAY

Official Trailer

Official Merch

TOUR DIARY in: NY (eng), Chicago (eng), LA (eng), Oakland (eng), Jakarta (eng), Japan (eng), Bangkok (eng) Singapore (eng), Seoul (eng)

[EPISODE] SUGA | Agust D TOUR 'D-DAY' in the USA

[EPISODE] SUGA | Agust D TOUR 'D-DAY' in Asia

[SUGA VLOG] D-DAY TOUR in: Chicago, Jakarta, Phuket

Stage Photo Sketch

SUGA’s Instagram post: playing guitar, tour, Chicago, Chicago 2, LA, Oakland, Jakarta, #2, Japan, Bangkok, Singapore, #2, Seoul, #2, thanks

MAX’s tweet about his appearance on May 11 at the Kia Forum

Halsey’s Instagram post about her appearance on May 14 at the Kia Forum

NME: “Suga live in New York: a show-stopping statement of artistic intent at the BTS rapper’s debut solo tour”

Weverse Magazine: SUGA | Agust D ‘D-DAY’ world tour report

MAX, Halsey, and PSY made guest appearances for some dates. They respectively sang “Burn It”, “SUGA’s interlude”, and “That That” (src).

THE FINAL: poster

[EPISODE] SUGA | Agust D TOUR 'D-DAY' THE FINAL

An encore concert on August in Seoul was announced at the end of the tour, through a meme-like poster (a style they used several times for comebacks live show).

This time, it’s the members who made guest appearances. Jung Kook came to sing “Burn It” and “Seven”, Jimin performed “Tony Montana” and “Like Crazy”, and RM did “이상하지 않은가 (Strange)” as well as an unreleased song he was working on.

THE MOVIE

Official tweets

Announcement

Main Trailer (English, Korean)

IMAX Trailer (English, Korean)

Ticket Announcement

'SUGA: Road to D-DAY'

Mood Teaser

Poster teaser

Official Trailer

Official Photo 1

Main Poster

Official Trailer 2

Highlight

'People Pt.2 (feat. IU)' Live Clip (60")

'People' Live Clip (90")

'해금 (Haegeum)' Live Clip (full ver.)

'대취타' Live Clip (full ver.)

Starnews: “BTS SUGA on fire... 'SUGA: Road to D-DAY' live still released”

Youtube playlist on Disney+ Korea

Steve Aoki’s tweet with pictures

This documentary follows SUGA during a road trip in the United States, while he was creating the album.

Concerning the main poster, you can notice seven song titles written, probably the ones that will be performed live in the documentary:

“People” and “Daechwita” are from D-2 while all the other tracks are from D-Day.

Press releases, interviews, and promotion

[IU's Palette🎨] IU X SUGA Palette (With SUGA) Ep.19

Billboard: “BTS’ Suga Returns as Agust D to Tackle Loneliness, Humanity & Being Acknowledged”

Weverse magazine: “From Agust D with love”

Apple Music Radio: Episode 1

"D-DAY" album introduction

슈취타 EP.9 RM with Agust D

Rolling Stone: “‘I Poured My Soul Into This Album:’ How Suga Let Go of the Past and Stepped Into His Future”

NME: “Suga of BTS: “You have to find what makes you happy, what brings you joy””

NME: “Agust D – ‘D-DAY’ review: lessons and liberation reign on final part of BTS rapper’s trilogy”

CINE 21: “Interview in commemoration of the release of the last album of Agust D’s trilogy <D-DAY>”

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Standoff with BTS' SUGA & Agust D, SUGA Gets Ready for His Tonight Show Solo Debut, Imposter Challenge with SUGA, SUGA Spills on His Album D-DAY and Attempts to Play the Haegeum, tweets

Los Angeles Times: “BTS’ Suga on going solo, his love of hip-hop and the band’s future: ‘We’re real brothers, period’“

The Atlantic: “Suga of BTS’s World Tour Is Pop Subversion at Its Finest”

SUGA’s All Night Nippon Gold (interview translation)

K-pop ON! Track: “BTS’ SUGA Drops His Official Solo Album, D-Day” (archive of the video)

[joliephotography]

Photographers Charleston

How To Find The Perfect Wedding Photographers For Your Big Day

Your wedding day is one of the most significant moments in your life, and capturing those memories is important. Finding the best wedding photographers Charleston can make all the difference. Here’s a guide to help you find the right photographer for your special day.

Define Your Style

Before you search for a photographer, it’s crucial to determine what style of photography you prefer. Do you like traditional posed photos, candid moments, or a more artistic approach? 

Look at different photography styles online or in wedding magazines to understand what you like. Once you have a clear vision, finding a photographer who specializes in that style will be easier.

Set Your Budget

Wedding photography can be a significant expense, so setting a budget early on is essential. Photographers Charleston offer a range of packages, so decide how much you’re willing to spend and what you expect to get for your money. 

Remember that higher prices often reflect more experience and better quality, but there are talented photographers at every price point.

Do Your Research

Personal referrals can be beneficial, so ask your friends and family for recommendations. Look for wedding photographers near me on online directories, websites, and social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. 

Look at photographers’ portfolios to see if their work matches your vision. Pay attention to reviews and testimonials to get a sense of their reputation.

Meet In Person

Once you have a shortlist of potential photographers, arrange to meet them in person or via a video call. This meeting is an opportunity to see if you have a good rapport with the photographer. 

You’ll be spending a lot of time with them on your wedding day, so it’s essential that you feel comfortable and confident in their abilities.

Ask The Right Questions

Remember to create a list of questions to pose during your meeting. Some critical questions include:

• How many weddings have you photographed?

• Can we see a full wedding gallery?

• What packages do you offer, and what is included in each?

• How do you handle unexpected situations like bad weather or equipment failure?

• How much time do you generally take to deliver the photos?

Check Their Availability

Popular photographers book up quickly, sometimes a year or more in advance. Make sure that your selected photographer is available on your wedding date. If your wedding date is flexible, you may have more options to choose from.

Review The Contract

Before signing any agreement, carefully review the contract. Ensure it includes all the details you’ve discussed, such as the date, hours of coverage, number of edited photos, and any additional costs. Also, check the cancellation policy and what happens if the photographer is unable to attend.

Trust Your Instincts

Finally, trust your instincts. If you feel confident and excited about a photographer, it’s likely a good fit. Your wedding day is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and you want someone to capture it beautifully and authentically.

Conclusion

Finding the perfect wedding photographers in Charleston is worth the time and effort to capture your memories perfectly. 

By defining your style, setting a budget, doing thorough research, and meeting with potential photographers, you can find someone who will document your big day in a way that reflects your unique love story.

If you are looking for timeless, romantic images that capture the essence of your Portrait photographers Charleston, Jolie Connor Photography might be the perfect fit.

Find Us On Google Maps: ( Jolie Connor Photography; Wedding, Portrait & Family Photography in Charleston SC )

[mirandamckenni1]

This Tiktok Bully Knows Nothing CW: I do discuss my personal mental health and history with SH at times in this video. Hi all, today we're discussing a video from Tiktok which was reuploaded to Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUtE8cXhfiY I'm a little late discussing this but it took me a couple of weeks to actually film this when I got ill and lost my voice, sorry! Sources and Further Reading: https://ift.tt/OsYAKHc https://ift.tt/RbBJg6O https://ift.tt/THEXKiL https://ift.tt/Y65aRkI https://ift.tt/pS6OGwo My beautiful necklace in this video was made by my wonderful friend Nervardia: https://www.youtube.com/@Nervardia Go send her some love :) https://ift.tt/tYGRlJN https://ift.tt/vrCu6pH https://ift.tt/DGLRBoV https://ift.tt/Oc5YJDg https://ift.tt/X1irQbB https://racheloates.uk/ *GET MY POETRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK NOW* UK: https://amzn.to/3gxvqiy US: https://amzn.to/3XtWf7X Canada: https://a.co/d/1K3orWs *Amazon Wishlist to Support My Content:* Art Supplies: https://ift.tt/jXqFtpk Books: https://ift.tt/6UOcbQ0 Everything Else: https://ift.tt/PRS3qaT Kyra: https://ift.tt/My1JzPU *PO Box:* Rachel Oates Unit 16588, PO Box 6945 London, W1A 6US *Please Note:* While I really appreciate people sending me their books, poetry, and other writing, I do get sent hundreds of pieces of writing, both physically and digitally, every week and I simply don’t have time to read and review every single one, I’m sorry! On top of this, I find it really hard to be objective with people who are my fans so I prefer not to give feedback anymore to people who watch my videos. Thank you all for understanding! 0:00 Intro 5:00 A Personal Rant About Growth 18:30 You're Not A Silly Goose 21:18 Just 'Get Over It' 25:01' But, Like, What If They Deserve It?' 30:49 Being Approachable 37:30 The Epitome of the Dunning-Kruger Effect 40:20 Heartless: 'Get A Life, Go Make Money' 49:01 Bullying HAS To Happen via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlOKjPQkuGA

[randombouquet]

Hello,

So this page is to try and experiment and grow creatively, finding ways to integrate AI to assist me in that (shout out to my fav collaborator Chat GPT). Taking daily time to try and flex and train those muscles with only myself to be accountable and disappoint.

We're starting off with a 30 day creativity challenge with small tasks and some big to keep me motivated and undettered.

Here's the outline:

30-Day Creativity Challenge for Your Blog

Day 1: Micro-Story MagicWrite a 100-word story based on the first object you see today.

Day 2: Snap & CaptionTake a photo of your morning routine and write a captivating caption.

Day 3: Mood PlaylistCreate and share a playlist that reflects your current mood, along with a brief description of your song choices.

Day 4: One-Sentence JournalSum up your day in one powerful sentence.

Day 5: Color Palette ChallengeCapture photos of objects in your surroundings that create a compelling color palette when put together.

Day 6: Character CreationWrite a brief introduction to a character you've just thought up, complete with quirks, likes, and dislikes.

Day 7: Photo RecreationRecreate a famous artwork or photograph in your style.

Day 8: Flash FictionWrite a 300-word flash fiction piece inspired by the word "Discovery".

Day 9: Virtual TourCreate a photo or video tour of your favorite spot in your home or city and describe why it's special to you.

Day 10: Quote InterpretationShare a quote that resonates with you and create a visual interpretation (drawing, photo, digital art).

Day 11: Review in HaikuWrite a haiku review of the last book, movie, or TV show you enjoyed.

Day 12: Shadow PlayTake a series of photos focusing on interesting shadows during different times of the day.

Day 13: The Sound of EmotionsRecord and share ambient sounds that represent your current mood, with a brief explanation.

Day 14: Dialogue ChallengeWrite an intriguing dialogue between two people who just met in an unusual circumstance.

Day 15: Creative CollageCreate a digital or physical collage that represents your week.

Day 16: Life in MonochromeCapture your day in black and white photos.

Day 17: Dreamy DescriptionsDescribe the most recent dream you remember with vivid details.

Day 18: Silhouette StoryPhotograph silhouettes during the golden hour and weave a short story around them.

Day 19: Letter to YourselfWrite a letter to your future or past self and seal it in an envelope (to be opened later).

Day 20: Nostalgia TripShare a childhood photo and narrate the memory associated with it.

Day 21: Recipe RemixInvent and photograph a new dish by remixing ingredients from two of your favorite meals.

Day 22: Urban SafariCapture the wildlife of your city (birds, insects, pets) through your lens.

Day 23: Minimalist ChallengeCompose and photograph a minimalist scene that conveys a strong emotion or story.

Day 24: Echo PoemWrite a poem where each line is a response or reflection to the previous one.

Day 25: Time-Lapse ArtCreate a time-lapse video of you drawing, painting, or crafting.

Day 26: Perspective PhotographyTake a photo that plays with perspective in an unusual way (e.g., forced perspective photography).

Day 27: Found PoetryCreate a piece of found poetry using headlines from old newspapers or magazines.

Day 28: Themed PhotoshootPlan and execute a themed photoshoot, detailing the process and inspiration.

Day 29: DIY DecorCreate and showcase a DIY decor project for your home or workspace.

Day 30: Reflection and ProjectionReflect on the 30-day creativity challenge with a blog post summarizing the experience, your favorite entries, and what you've learned about your creativity.

[edmehravaran]

Photography Location in Berlin Garten Der Welt

If you are looking for an amazing Photography location in Berlin, Garten Der Welt is one of the best places where you can take photos and videos for your Professional project or even for your Instagram. See more photos in my gallery. In Garten der welt you can explore the world. They have a garden from all around the world with unique architecture.  For example international Asian Garden, Christian Garden, Balinese   Garden, Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden, and Oriental Islamic Garden. I need my shoot in an Oriental Islamic garden with beautiful ceramics and architecture.

Garten Der Welt-Berlin

I love the blue, white, green, and black combinations on these ceramics. This ceramic called "Zillij" This word is used for Moroccan ceramics which are used in gardens and arcades of gardens. In the past because of Islamic beliefs, painting and showing humans or animals was forbidden, artists only used forms of colors and calligraphy.

Map- Garten Der Welt On the website, you can make your own plan and download it.

Photography Location in Berlin Garten Der Welt Backstage Video Photography Location in Berlin Garten Der Welt backstage video. Here you can see a short video from my shooting: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5jFutV6EB0E Camera For this shoot, I used my old Canon 6D camera with my 70-200 Canon F/2.8L III IS USM and my Analog Canon AE1 with 50mm Lens. I have so many Cameras like the Sony a7 mark3, Canon 5Ds, and Sony a7 Mark4. But all of these cameras are high quality and give me a high file size (50MG) for each photo. This is too much for the photos, which will be used only online. The advantage of Canon 6D is Wi-Fi connection to my mobile phone. Sometimes after shooting, I could have reviewed my photos from a bigger screen. I use the Canon EOS Utility app on my iPhone. Here you can see how to use the app. For my bigger productions, every time, I'm tattering the photos to the computer by using capture one.

For the list of photography and videography locations in Berlin, visit my post, I have some more spots. And this is me in this beautiful location in Berlin. Don't forget, this location for production is not free, and you need to book and pay for it. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Read the full article

[scottdavenportphoto]

The Best Laid Plans f/110

Show Notes

To say my visit to Cambria, California and the surrounding area did not go to plan would be putting it mildly. Mother Nature was in a sour mood and she quickly squashed my plans and pre-visualized photos. I share thoughts and takeaways from this less-than-successful photo excursion.

In studio news, I have been busy with several ON1-themed projects of late. Some are complete and others are still to come.

ON1 Photo RAW Essentials addendum for 2023.5 is posted. Book owners can get the addendum using the link in the first few pages of the book. https://scottdavenportphoto.com/products/on1-photo-raw-essentials-2023

Story & Vision, ON1 Photo Kit, US$29.99 through June 29th, 2023. A video course about why we edit our photos and how to create stronger stories in your images. https://www.on1.com/landing/story-and-vision-photo-kit/

ON1 Photographers Conference, a KelbyOne Live event, July 24th and 25th. Join me, Scott Kelby, and a host of other top-notch instructors for 2 days of ON1 editing courses. https://kelbyonelive.com/on1-conference?af=scottdon1

Rate & Review

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review it on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Podchaser.com. Fresh, current ratings help other photographers find out about the show.

Supporters Of The Show - Thank You!

Thanks to everyone that supports this show, through comments, reviews, and shares. Sharing this podcast with your photo friends and camera clubs is one of the many zero-cost ways you can support the show. If you wish to support the show financially, you can also make a one-time donation.

Affiliate Links

Product links in this post may contain affiliate tags. Depending on the purchase, Scott Davenport Photography may receive compensation if you purchase a product via one of those links. There is no additional cost to you. The use of affiliate links never influences the content or opinions of the episodes.

[ardn631niamhbeattie2]

The Art of Photography, photobooks

Ted Forbe has a youtube account called The Art of Photography where he reviews photobooks and explains how effectively constructed they were through a theme, repeating pattern or layout. I don't have experience with creating a photobook so his videos help me gain an idea of what could my book look like.

My favourite of the books he presented was India, a photographic essay by Shhourya Ray. The layout and photos complement each other well, featuring portraits, candid shots, and magnum contact sheets. I liked how Shourya Ray employed portraits to capture his subjects, and I was curious to see how he laid out his photographs. Demonstrating how photos can be powerful on their own or as pair and how I could showcase my book's concept without always having two photo pages next to each other. This prompted me to inspect my photographs, selecting them based on connecting and building my concept on its own and as part of a series.

In the video Storytelling with Photography, Ted Forbe showcased more photobooks. He explained how "From the Bronx to Berlin and Beyond worked well to tell an amazing narrative. He stated it felt like a movie and "if you look at this collection of photographs, there's really nothing extraneous. Everything belongs to the project, and I think that's really important; it gives it clarity and unity. It's very well-paced as you go throughout the book."This quote helped me to understand what I wanted people to feel and see when they looked at my photographs.

I want viewers to feel like they were there on the day I took the images, bringing the energy to life as you flip through the pages. Due to this, I stepped back from my draft photobook and ask Does this image communicate my concept well? Is it necessary to crop and zoom in to highlight the laughter? Do these photographs complement each other in the layout? Are they capable of standing on their own? Is this image necessary, or do I like it?

[cuntylestat]

speaking of cameras! what is your best recommendation for someone with no official experience in photography who wants a nice camera that can be taken easily around for vacations (the beach, different cities) and for photos of friends/loved ones? so nothing overly complicated, and nothing too fancy. i get so caught up in reading reviews and then idk which one is the "right" one. i really want to buy something good but not more fancy/complicated than what i need. also for some context, i don't want to edit anything and the computer i have is a mac book laptop. idk if that factors into it. thank you soooo much for any recs you can give!

i'm gonna preface this by saying that i'm not an expert on digital cameras, but honestly, i think most cameras nowadays, especially once you get into the high hundreds-thousands euro range are quite good. i think it comes down to what you need. for example, do you want to be able to change lenses or do you want a fixed lens? do you want to also do video? how much money are you willing to spend? should it be small or can it be bigger? do you want a viewfinder or is a screen enough? more than model, i think you need to figure out what you want out of a camera! for example, i knew i wanted something compact but capable, where i can change lenses, and i liked the film camera look of fujifilm, so that narrowed it down for me.

i would definitely suggest an interchangeable lens system if you might wanna branch out in the future and get more creative with photography. first, because you can then try out different focal lengths, and also get more creative with larger apertures on higher resolution cameras. some that seem good (and are not too expensive) are the canon m50, the sony a6000 line, nikon z30, sony zv-e10 and the fujifilm xt30. you could also look into micro four thirds cameras by olympus or lumix (smaller sensor than most common changeable lens cameras, but i've heard good things and they're much smaller usually). you could also always look for slightly older models if you want to save money, as cameras from the past couple of years will still be more than enough for casual shooting. what i would suggest though is no longer buying a dslr, but going for a mirrorless system; they're smaller, lighter and you can see in camera what your picture will look like as you take it.

however, these can sometimes be more expensive, usually bigger, and lenses are also an extra investment. if you want something with a fixed lens and that is just for snapshots of family and vacation, i would look for a compact camera. i'm not an expert here and i'm more familiar with premium models such as the fujifilm x100v or the ricoh gr iii, which are between 1000-1500€, so a big investment for casual shooting. from the little research i just did, there seem to be some good cameras out there from sony and canon, especially. one thing i would say is that idk how capable regular compact cameras are and whether they're going to be a significant improvement over a phone camera.

my biggest suggestion is to go to a camera store and try cameras out! see what feels best in your hands, what makes sense to you and which you find the easiest to handle. you can then also see if the image quality is what you want. cameras are such a tactile thing where, at least for me, i can usually tell the minute i hold one in my hands if it's for me or not.

i hope this helps in some way, but if you have more questions, let me know!

[mirandamckenni1]

Liked on YouTube: Colleen Hoover BROKE ME || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRfTcHBJQHE || SPOILERS AHEAD! This Colleen Hoover book, It Ends With Us, leaves me with SO MANY THOUGHTS. Today, ahead of the film version's release, I'm reviewing the book and sharing my thoughts on this absolute mess. If you'd like some recommendations for fictional books which deal with similar topics (although not specifically DV) in a sensitive way I'd recommend My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell and The Girls of Summer - Katie Bishop. They're not only incredibly well-written but both show how these kinds of men can be so convincing that even their victims don't realise what is happening to them but at the same time, neither book ever glamourises or condones their behaviour. THIS is how you deal with these topics sensitively. Affiliate links to get these books: My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell UK: https://amzn.to/43OOUmp USA: https://amzn.to/3P5Wmos The Girls of Summer - Katie Bishop UK: https://amzn.to/3JaBkkN USA: https://amzn.to/43UUmnm I'd also recommend Dr Ramani's book Should I Stay or Should I Go? because this is the book which helped me leave my ex and saved my life. UK: https://amzn.to/45WWpJg USA: https://amzn.to/3p13esG Apologies for the terrible camera quality in this - I used the wrong lens and it was too late to change it by the time I realised, it was getting super late, I was ridiculously tired. I then had 24 hours of absolute hell attempting to export this. I feel like everything that COULD have gone wrong with this video, DID go wrong. Ugh. Resources and Further Reading: R-pe Crisis (England and Wales) bit.ly/3N64bIg Refuge https://ift.tt/lIpPiU3 SurvivorsUK www.survivorsuk.org DV Hotline USA https://ift.tt/6pxQLfz https://ift.tt/zJPlmMa https://ift.tt/BmoK87C https://ift.tt/4GJYvO6 --------- I make my website with Squarespace, create your own website here: squarespace.syuh.net/jrRNRn (Affiliate link) ~~~~~GET MY POETRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK NOW~~~~~ UK: https://amzn.to/3gxvqiy US: https://amzn.to/3XtWf7X Canada: https://a.co/d/1K3orWs Support my work with a one-off donation: https://ift.tt/aT2jzCb Or on Patreon to access Video Scripts, Photography, Discord, Exclusive Stickers & Prints: https://ift.tt/2NOS9k0 Follow me on Instagram for Photography, Kyra, Book Recommendations and Art: https://ift.tt/oYBT5K7 Get my new merch here: https://ift.tt/e1YtZ3w Amazon Wishlist to Support My Content: Art Supplies: https://ift.tt/t9VFSuy Books: https://ift.tt/naX7mqw Everything Else: https://ift.tt/ScrQFa1 Kyra: https://ift.tt/e04jhBJ PO Box: Rachel Oates Unit 16588 PO Box 6945 London W1A 6US Website: https://racheloates.uk/ TikTok: https://ift.tt/e2c768R Twitch: https://ift.tt/BUdSyAq 0:00 Intro 04:35 Chapter 1 27:54 Meet Atlas 37:30 Who Needs A Business Plan?! 47:09 A Trip To The Past... Again 50:12 Ryle Begs On His Knees 57:50 A Party and a Kidnapping 01:20:32 The First Time Is Just Like Every Other Time 01:41:43 The Grand Opening 01:47:05 Scorpions! 01:56:43 More Locking Women In Rooms 02:02:57 He's Back 02:06:38 A Surprise Wedding 02:11:19 Excuses. 02:29:10 This Was Not A 'Mistake' 02:34:24 If Only A Competent Writer Had Written This Scene... 02:44:26 A Baby and I Don't Care 02:56:03 Conclusion: Bits I Liked 02:57:26 I Hate The Ending 02:59:16 Your Privilege Is Showing 03:02:31 Too Much "Romance" 03:05:01 The Marketing Problem 03:08:08 Let's Talk About The Film 03:10:47 The Response From Fans

[evelhak]

Thanks for the tag @lilypheria. 💙

Are you named after anyone ?

My first given name is inspired by/a sort of fusion of two grandparent's names and second one is a name that has been coincidentally popular in both of my parent's families.

What sports have you played ?

Mostly I'm a dancer. Ballet for 17 years, folk dance for 8, courses of contemporary, jazz, show etc. here and there. I did horse riding as a kid for a while, and our parents took me and my siblings to weekly track and field competitions for kids where they handed little silver tea spoons as prizes for probably like third of the competitors outside top three so our kitchen was full of them. : D I did kendo in high school for about a year but had to quit because I couldn't yell without losing my voice and the instructor wouldn't let me skip it of course. Just for fun sports that I've done semi regularly at some point are badminton, skiing and downhill skiing. Oh and bowling I guess but that was more like a sporadic social activity. In uni I went to combat classes actively and I've still yet to find anything that gives me such a good rush of like... purely hormonal ecstasy, so I'd really like to get back to that one. (It's different because there's nothing inspiring about the activity itself on an mental/emotional/conceptual level, it's just the way/the rhythm it puts your body moving that causes this insane state for me and I was quite addicted to it). Recently took barre and pilates but the groups got cancelled.

Do you use sarcasm ?

Sometimes. And miss it when other people use it, at least as often.

What is the first thing you notice about people ?

Their eyes, or possibly if there's some very attractive facial feature then that. Or possibly whether they have a kind vibe or not.

What's your eye color ?

Blue-grey.

Scary movies or happy endings ?

Happy endings, usually. But if I'm feeling numb or apathetic somehow, then scary movies, because I need something extreme to push through to me.

Any talent ?

Writing, particularly characters, dialogue and emotionally effective storylines, some say lyrical use of language, too. Visual and abstract pattern recognition. I've always been noted to have some talent for drawing and singing but technically I think I'm pretty average. I've often been called a natural therapist too, I guess that's a combination of high empathy+special interest in human mind+higher than average pattern recognition. Also improving other people's communication. It's pretty ironic for an autistic person, but yes, while I may not often be able to express myself in a way that people would get me, I'm really good at expressing other people's thoughts in a way that the other(s) will understand, spotting why people are talking past each other, and redirecting the conversation. I'm also pretty good at crafting/basically any kind of visual-tactile fooling around creating something. I guess I could say philosophical thinking too.

What are your hobbies ?

Writing fanfiction, ballet, reading, drawing original stuff, fanart and comics. Learning about whatever happens to be my area of interest in humans at the moment, by either reading, watching videos/movies or observing people. Sporadic things include anything creative/artistic from photography to embroidery to low-maintenance nail art to seeing if I can make a hat or a pipe or any prop a ballet might need, using only things that I can find in my room, so that it's a sort of a game. And sometimes I write book reviews and other random stuff, and beta-read/edit for other writers. Oh and sometimes I like to plan (friendly) pranks/practical jokes. Always had a low-key Fae soul in me, haha.

Do you have any pets ?

A cat. (Used to have three. 🥲) I'm used to having a lot of different animals around me, so it feels really quiet at the moment.

How tall are you ?

169 cm.

Dream job ?

Author. Which I succeeded at, soon three years ago! I always wanted to go for traditional publishing, and although I don't live from my book sales and likely never will because it's extremely rare in my small country of five million people, and virtually impossible if you write speculative fiction or for young people, I am happy to be with a small publisher right now. It grants me a lot more creative freedom than a big publisher would. I have published a sapphic NA fantasy novel about dreamworlds and neurodiversity, a realistic YA novel about asexuality and other aspec identities, and I'm currently in the middle of a fantasy series about a mythical music school which deals a lot with mental health, school culture, critical thinking, media literacy, formation of belief systems and a lot more, through a fantastical lens. My goal is to be published in English sooner or later, one way or another, because a lot of my potential audience doesn't speak Finnish.

Tagging @myndless88 and @wannabe-cartoonist-blog. ✨

Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @bruitdevague ❣️

Are you named after anyone ?

My middle name is after my moms dead brother

What sports have you played ?

I did gymnastics for like 10 years and destroyed my body/mental health doing it 💀

I also did volleyball, track, and kumdo in highschool

Do you use sarcasm ?

No I'd never 🙄

What is the first thing you notice about people ?

I have no idea..their vibe maybe?

What’s your eye color ?

Hazel

Scary movies or happy endings ?

Scary movies

Any talent ?

I'm really good at doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result

What are your hobbies ?

My all time favorite hobby is listening to music while pacing around. 11/10 really does the job every time. I also enjoy reading.

Do you have any pets ?

I have (had) my dog peanut but I didn't take him with me when I moved out. He lives with my parents 😫

How tall are you ?

5'3 on a good day

Dream job ?

I do not dream of labor

Literally one (1) minor inconvenience from quitting my current job

Tagging:

@yormuthur @crypticpuffin @punk-pandame @shisuis-left-nipple @alphadogandomega @dykekakashi and anyone else who wants to do this <3

[felassan]

Mass Effect development insights and highlights from Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development

This is the Mass Effect version of this post.

[In case you can’t read it the subtitle in the bottom left logo above is “Guardians of the Citadel”]

Note: Drug use is mentioned.

Cut for length.

Mass Effect 1

ME began its life in a vision document in fall 2003

Codenamed “SFX”

Conceived of by Casey Hudson and a core team from KotOR. Its genesis was the intention to create an epic sci-fi RPG in an original setting that BioWare owned (so they could have full creative control), and in a setting that was conceived of first and foremost as a video game

Initially players could control any squadmate, but they wanted it to be about Shep and for players to be focused on Shep being a battlefield commander, rather than on switching bodies

By the start of 2004 its story was shaping up. Initially humans landed on Mars in 2250 and discovered evidence of an ancient alien race and a powerful substance, Black Sand, which rapidly advanced tech to the point that FTL travel was possible. (My note: obviously now the Prothean artifacts on Mars & associated mass effect force tech enabled this in the final canon, but I wonder if aspects of the ‘Black Sand’ naming-type & powerful substance stuff was rolled into red sand from final canon) Humans were suddenly capable of travel to multiple star systems and made contact with a multitude of other species. At the start of the first game, these species together with humans had a fragile peace, with focus placed on the political center of the galaxy, a hub known as Star City, later renamed the Citadel

Multiplayer was a vision for the series as far back as 2003. The plan was for ME1, an Xbox exclusive at launch, to take advantage of the platform’s online components. Early designs saw players meeting in one of the central hubs to interact and trade items in their otherwise SP adventures

By 2006 it had the name ME and the story was more specific, with the theme of conflict between organic and synthetic lifeforms. The story’s scope now stretched across 3 games and included scope for full co-op MP

They tried to do MP in every game, discussing it from the get-go, but it always just fell by the wayside. “When you’re trying to build something that is a new IP, on a new platform, with a new engine, you’ve got to really focus on the core elements of the game.” 

The conversation system prototype was made in Jade Empire, and some of ME’s earliest writing was done in an old JE build. At first there was no conversation wheel. Paragon was “Friendly” and Renegade “Hostile”. In the prototype Shep was a silent unnamed Spectre. Many conversations in the prototype about the player’s choice in smuggling a weapon through Noveria made it into the game

In said prototype a merchant referred to themselves as “this one”, though the word hanar never appeared. The PC in it also had the option to end a conversation with “I should go”. In the prototype also, Harkin was voiced by Mark Meer

An early version of the Mako got used as the krogan truck in ME2

Early concepts of the Citadel were drawn in pencil by CH. A piece of concept art of its final design was painted based on a photo of a sculpture near Aswan, Egypt

As with any new IP naming it was a struggle. They put out a call to all staff for ideas, did polls, made a name generator that combined words that they liked in random ways and made pretend logos of ones they liked in Photoshop to see if they could make themselves love the name or find visual potential in it. (Some of these names are in the pic at the top of this post.) CH liked “Unearthed” as it was a reference to Prothean ruins dug up on Mars and humanity’s ascendance going away from Earth. They knew the game would have a central space station featuring prominently so some of the ideas were based on that - “The Citadel”, “The Optigon”, “The Oculon”. “Element” was another one they had in mind due to the rare substance in the game 

CH: “I was a big fan of John Harris’ book Mass, which had epic-scaled sci-fi ideas, so that was a word that came up often. Many of the names came from the idea that the IP featured a fifth fundamental physical force (in addition to the known four of gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear and weak nuclear) so the word ‘effect’ came up pretty often.” Ultimately none of the ideas really felt right. One Monday morning they were going over the names and Greg Zeschuk said he had an idea on the weekend: “Mass Effect!” CH: “I said, ‘I don’t hate it’, which in the naming process is a high compliment. And it stuck!”

CH on Shep’s Prothean vision from the beacon: “It was hard to imagine how we would do this. CG was - and is - really expensive. Instead I wanted to try doing it through photography and video editing. So I went to a local grocery store and bought a few packages of the weirdest looking meat that I could find. Then I set up a little photoshoot in my basement, complete with some electronics parts and some red wine for juicyness.” He used these props to create a video sequence where the photos were rapidly cycled and blurred, along with production paintings, to create the scary vision an organic/machine experiment on the Protheans. These mashups were also used as inspiration for concept artists and level designers who were working on these themes

Tali used to be called Talsi

On the licensing side they often joke that they’re licensing N7 not “Mass Effect” due to N7′s popularity

There was a confidential internal guide to the IP in 2007 to help devs along and summarize/synthesize the vision etc. Some excerpts from it are shown in the book and this is the first time the public have ever seen them

Early versions of Asari had hair

Asari were designed as a nod to classic TV sci-fi (with human actors wearing obvious makeup and prosthetics to play aliens)

The turian design guideline was “we want them to be birds of prey”. They also wanted a range of alien types, some close to human like Asari, while others were to be a lot further away, like turians

BioWare patented the conversation wheel, which was a first for them. CH had been frustrated with reviews of Jade Empire that said that the actioncentric game was too wordy [with its list dialogue]. “I’m like, story is words. [...] What is it about our games that is making people feel like they’re wordy?” Then he thought “In a game you kind of need to feel like you’re continuing to play it. Maybe you should continue feeling like you’re playing it actively into the dialogue.” “[The wheel] kind of gave a new experience with dialogue when you did start to react based on emotion, and that’s ultimately what we’re trying to bring out in our games”

The original krogan concept was based on a bat “with a really wide squidgy face. We just used its face on top of this weird body and it kinda worked”

Geth musculature was based on fiber-optic cables, with flexible plates of armor attached

The vision for the IP was 80s sci-fi inspired space opera

The concept art of Saren lifting Shep by the throat inspired a similar scene in-game. The staging wasn’t planned til designers saw that art

A squadmate with Shepard on the way to meet Ash in an old storyboard was called Carter. Early name of Kaidan or Jenkins?

Bono from U2 was kinda instrumental in bringing us ME lol

Finding the right cover art for ME1 was notably tricky

Matt Rhodes got his start drawing helmets for ME1, including one which would become Shep’s “second face”. He estimates he drew between 250-270 different ones

Some of the sounds in-game were people smashing watermelons with sledgehammers and sticking fists into various goos

The audio team had fun trying to slip the iconic main theme into unexpected places throughout the MET. “We were very aware of how powerful that track was for the fans and it was tempting to overuse it for any moment we wanted to make really emotional”.

The theme was creatively repurposed in ME3: slowed down and reworked as the ambient sound for the SR-2. “If you listen to it for a really long time, just stand in the Normandy and listen, you’ll actually hear the notes change slowly. It doesn’t sound like music, it sounds like a background ambiance, but it’s there.” (My note: Well no wonder the Normandy feels so much like home?? 😭 sneaky..)

Bug report: “Mako Tornado”. There wasn’t enough friction between the tires and the ground, causing testers to lose control of the vehicle and send it spinning into the air like a tornado. “As it turns, the front end comes up, and then it starts spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning faster and faster and faster until it just flies up in the sky” (My note: Sounds like a regular day in the Mako to me)

Cerberus originally had a bigger role in this game. It was cut but they had a whole explorable outpost. “I called it Misery,” says Mac Walters, “It was this planet with a little outpost that said ‘Welcome to Misery’”. Everything on the outpost was shit - dirty worn stuff, no windows, no kitchen, the vehicle bay was open to the elements etc

The Reaper sound is literal garbage. Some audio designers went on a recording trip to a national park. One of them got fixated on a garbage can, “a metal bear-proof receptacle with a heavy lid that creaked horribly when opened”. “It was like, ominous, spooky, tonal and almost musical. I decided to throw a mic into the garbage and record it moving. I didn’t know what it was going to be until later”

They were making lots of noises to record like throwing logs and rocks around. An old couple peered at them through the window of their camper van in the woods and must have called the cops because then the cops showed up, pulled them over and told them to stop. The cops towed their car (the driver’s plates were Cali plates and expired), drove them to Edmonton outskirts and then the audio producer Shauna got a call and had to go pick them up “like three little boys”. “We got a stern talking to”. Once back they were playing around with the garbage sound, editing it etc. Casey heard it and proclaimed “That’s the sound of the Reapers”

Preston Watamaniuk: “There are things I could have done to Mass 1 to make it an infinitely better game with better UIs” and some simple cuts and changes. “But when you’re living with it, it’s very hard to see those things”

BioWare Labs

As social media and smartphone games exploded, BioWare dedicated a small team dedicated to exploring opportunities here - BioWare Labs

Mass Effect: Galaxy used a unique graphic art style and static visual presentation common in visual novels. It has the distinction of being the only iOS game BW have made during their first 25 years

Scrapped ideas were a 3rd person space shooter called Mass Effect: Corsair and 2 DA titles - a strategy game and a top-down dungeon crawler starring young Wynne. (My note: Maybe the corsairs stuff was rolled into Jacob’s backstory in 2, the Alliance Corsairs)

Corsair was a very short-lived project that never got its feet under it. It was a spin-off on Nintendo DS featuring a behind-the-ship perspective and branching dialogue. At one point it had MP. The idea behind it was basically “ME: Freelancer” - fly your ship around, do missions, get credits. It had a limited branching story but was a gameplay-centered experience intended to fill the gap between ME1 and 2. That gap ended up being filled by Galaxy

Galaxy and Corsair’s smaller screen allowed concept artists to use bold colors and a simplistic character design style to help those games stand out from Shep’s story

Nick Thornborrow did some art for Corsair but was worried his art style didn’t fit ME. He moved to DA where he feels his art style fits better

Lots of BioWare VAs and even a lead writer and the VO director are drawn from Edmonton’s local community theater scene, which is vibrant. Think this is how Mark Meer got involved

Mass Effect 2

Player choices carrying over was a first for BW

Dirty Dozen-inspired plot

Its plot is a web of conditionals (see Suicide Mission)

Was more of a shooter than anything BW had made since Shattered Steel

There was 2 camps on the team, those who wanted to push combat and systems forward and redefine the ME experience and those who wanted to make a true sequel, with the same gameplay and systems but a new story. Karin Weekes: “I think it ended up being a good push-pull. It felt like a pretty healthy creative conflict”

“ME2 was a game you could hold up to someone who argues that games aren’t a serious medium and go ‘Oh yeah, then why is Martin Sheen in this?’” Sheen was their first pick for TIM

The idea for TIM came from a mash-up of concepts CH had collected over the years. The name “Illusive” originally came from his pitch for naming DAO’s Eclipse engine, a word inspired by Obi-Wan’s line “It’s not about the mission, Master. It’s something... elsewhere. Elusive”. “I thought, what if we called our next engine 'Elusive', but used an ‘I’, and then it’s like ‘Illusion’. [...] I still really like the word with an ‘I’ and what it conjures”

When ME1 DLC was in production, CH had been watching a lot of CNN, specifically Anderson Cooper. “How is one guy travelling to all these places and never looking tired and always being able to speak with clarity?” CH says it seemed almost superhuman. “What if there was someone who is the absolute maximum of the things you would aspire to be, but also the worst of humanity?” Cooper, though not evil, became an inspiration for TIM down to the gray hair and piercing blue eyes

Inspiration for TIM’s behind-the-scenes role pulling political strings came from Jack Bauer’s brother Graem in 24. Graem “can call up the president and tell him what to do and hang up, because he’s so connected and so influential”. Sheen had played a president and his performance brought gravitas and wisdom to the role. He had quit smoking, but the character smokes. He didn’t want to fake it, but he also didn’t want to smoke, “so he actually asked for a cigarette” to hold so he could stop his words to take drags with natural cadence

Writing was still pushing to write and revise lines hours before VO started. A series of problems like injury and some writers leaving for other opportunities left it so that Karin, Lukas Kristjanson and editor Cookie Everman hand to land the story safely, with PW helping where they could. Lukas: “We took over the writing bug and task list, and I can’t stress enough how much [Karin and Cookie] did to get ME2 out the door. There’s no part of that thing we didn’t touch”. Karin: “That was the most dramatic 2 weeks of my life”

Initial fan reaction when they started promo-ing ME2 was very negative because people didn’t want to know about new chars like Jack and Mordin. “[fans were like] ‘Get them out of here. We want our characters from the first game’. But then when they played them, those became some of the most popular chars [of the series]”

Concept art of Thane has an idea annotation saying “Face can shapeshift?”

At one point when designing Thane concept artists sent multiple variations of him to the team asking them to vote on which was the most attractive

Most of the Normandy crew was written by lead level designer Dusty Everman. Lukas gave him advice in the evenings between bugs

BioWare Montreal made ME2 and 3 cinematics

CC for Shep was based on tools used by char designers to create in-game chars. Under the hood similar tools existed to create aliens

Aliens were much easier to animate than humans. When something is human it’s very difficult to make it look realistic and you can see all the mistakes and everything

Over the holiday period in 2007 CH worked out a diagram on a single piece of paper that would define the entire scope and structure of the game. The diagram is included in the book

Bug report: “I shot a krogan so hard that his textures fell off”. At one point shotgun blast damage was applied to each of the pellets fired, and shot enemies ended up with just the default checkerboard Unreal texture on them after their textures got blown off

Blasto was meant to be 1 step above an Easter egg but his fan popularity prompted them to bring him back in ME3

They rewrote chunks of Jack 2 days before she went to VO. She was the only one they could change because all the other NPCs were recorded. They redesigned her mission by juggling locked NPC lines and changing Shep’s reactions by rewriting text paraphrases to change the context of the already-recorded VO

Lukas snuck obscure nods ito ME2′s distress calls. In the general distress call for the Hugo Gernsback, there’s BW’s initial’s and Edmonton’s phone number backwards. In a fault in a beacon protocol there’s the initials and backward phone number from Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny”. In 2 other general distress calls there’s initials and numbers from Glenn Miller Orchestra’s “Pennsylvania 6-5000″ and initials and numbers from Geddy Lee and Rush’s “2112″ respectively 

Mass Effect 3

“The end of an era marks the beginning of another”

ME3 “marked the end of Shep’s story”

Saying bye to Shep was as difficult for devs as it was for players

JHale’s final VO session included Anderson’s death and romanced Garrus’ goodbye. “We were in the session and we both just started crying”, Caroline says. “I couldn’t come on the line to give her notes because I was crying, and she was crying. And so there was just this minute-long pause of like, nothing, nothing, nothing - just silence through the airwaves. And then I came on and just told her that I was crying and she said ‘I’m crying!’” They talked about these anecdotes also here on the N7 Day reunion panel

The Microsoft Kinect voice support required devs to teach Kinect hundreds of commands in a variety of accents across multiple languages. The result was useful but made for some awkward moments. Numerous players accidentally said “geth” or “quarian” while making a particular decision and accidentally killed Tali

MP chars were voiced by cops and military people

The helmet on one of the MP chars was originally designed for cancelled project Revolver

The payload device at the end needed to attach to the Citadel while essentially serving as a giant trigger. “It ended up becoming quite the engineering feet just to visualize how this thing would move and connect to the Citadel”

Concept artists explored creating an anti-team, where Kai Leng was almost an anti-Shepard essentially, with an elite squad to counteract your team. This idea never went beyond concept phase

ME3 Special Edition was released on Nintendo Wii U exclusively. This exclusive version of the game includes Genesis 2 (a sequel to the original Genesis comic) and unique gameplay features that took advantage of the touchscreen GamePad. For years Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood had had the honor of being BW’s only game made for a Nintendo console

FemShep regrettably didn’t feature in major ME marketing til ME3. Later releases like DAI, MEA and Anthem have taken increasing care not to gender their protagonists in cover art

To capture combat sounds they took a trip to CFB Wainwright, a military base southeast of Edmonton. They got a big tour of it and were allowed to record anything they could find. The tour ended with them getting to drive and shoot tanks (real shells). The force of doing that sent waves through Joel Green, he felt his whole chest compress when it went off; the perfect sound for the Black Widow! After the trip the soldiers let him keep the shell he fired and it’s been passed on like a torch to various devs since

Kakliosaurs began life as a joke in the writers’ room after John Dombrow placed a Grunt figure on a t-rex toy he had on his desk. Lore was brainstormed to justify the mash-up before someone asked, “Why don’t we put this in the game?” They loved it so much Karin had custom coffee mugs made

Bug report: For a while Tali’s final romance scene would fire when she was supposed to be dead

“Balancing combat: how designers in ME3 entered an ‘arms race’” - the solution to players feeling OP vs players feeling frustrated by really strong enemies is to find a good middle ground, but for designers Corey Gaspur and Brenon Holmes, it was war. Brenon designed enemies, Corey designed guns. Corey “was obsessed with bigger, heavier guns. We had this sort of informal competition where he’d make this crazy overturned gun that would just murder all the enemies, and then I tuned some stuff up to compensate”

Brenon had to invent new ways to “stop Corey” and this led to the Phantoms. Corey had in turn designed consumable rockets that could wipe out entire waves of enemies. He must’ve figured this would make short work of Brenon’s space ninjas, but Brenon had other plans: “I had just added the ability for her to cut rockets [when Corey was playing MP and he was watching]. She cut the rocket in half... Corey just turns and looks at me and is like: ‘Really dude? I just shot a rocket at this Phantom and she’s fine? Not even damaged? Zero damage?’” 

This friendly rivalry helped elevate ME3′s gameplay. Corey had a knack for making a gun feel so good to fire it had his fellow designers scrambling to keep up. It was his version of balancing. Before Corey sadly passed away he mentored Boldwin Li in all things weapon design and the arms race continued

Corey designed the Arc Pistol. It was causing problems for enemies because it was too powerful. It seemed hell bent on staying that way, Boldwin would tune down all its stats and it was still doing 3x the damage it should have been doing. “I was like ‘What the hell?’, and then I looked closer. It secretly fired 3 bullets for every pull of the trigger! Corey, you sneaky jerk”

The day it launched there were midnight launch parties across North America including one near the BW building. Numerous devs sat at long tables greeting fans and signing autographs as the fans picked up preorders. When midnight struck the line was long enough that it took several hours for some fans to get their game. One particular fan is remembered: “It was 3am. Some guy drove up from Calgary with his friends. He was like one of the last people in line. I think he was sort of tired-drunk. He threw himself across the tables, pulled up his shirt and shouted ‘Guys, sign my abs!’ And like I did, because he waited so long. It felt impolite not to. So I hope he enjoyed his copy of ME3″

For designing Protheans concept artists had free reign to design something that read as ancient

Before the concept art team had the story of the game to work toward, they explored wild ideas of their own including an image of the crew stealing back the Normandy to go after the Reapers

Jen Cheverie was testing scenes and was initially excited to be testing Mordin scenes, til she saw she was testing the Renegade version of his death. “This is even before like all of the audio and everything was in, so you didn’t even have the sad music. I remember sitting at my desk and my hands just went to my face when I saw that the gun Shep pulls on Mordin is the gun he gives Shep in ME2. I burst into tears and was crying for the rest of the day. People are waving to me as they walk by and I’m like, ‘It’s ok, I’m just killing my best friend’” 

There’s a segment called “Shepard’s story ends”. Casey on the ending: “There’s a whole bunch of things that come together to make it incredibly tense and emotional for players. I think the biggest one was the sense of finality, that whatever it was that happened in that very last moment... was it.” 

Wrapping up the story was a massive feat. In a way all of ME3 is an ending. Its final moments were the players’ last with a char they’d been with all the way from Eden Prime

“And while the critical reception of the game was extremely positive, many fans were unsatisfied with the ending, which became one of the most controversial in the history of games.” CH: “We were, on one hand, at the end of a marathon trying to finish the game and the series. But as devs we also knew that there would be more. We knew that we would continue to tell the story. In retrospect, we didn’t fully appreciate the tremendous sense of finality that it would have for people”. He envisioned an ending that posed new questions, something in the tradition of high sci-fi that left players dreaming about what that particular galaxy’s future could hold. “Frankly, there’s a lot more that we could have and should have done to honor the work players put in, to give them a stronger sense of reward and closure”

AAA games are massive undertakings with a million moving parts. Somehow they come together but even the best-planned projects don’t turn out quite like devs hope. From start to end video game production is a series of compromises. It’s rare if not impossible for devs to ship a game they’re entirely happy with. “I think that people imagine that when you finish a game, it’s exactly the way you wanted it to be. But whether people end up loving or hating the final result, we work hard to finish it the best we can, knowing that there’s a lot we would have wanted to do better. I think that’s true of any creative work”

As the dust settled after the initial reaction to the ending and later its epilogue, meant to show the wide-reaching ripple effects of Shep’s final choice, “players emerged mostly asking for one thing”. CH: “Now, most of what we hear, after both ME3 and MEA, is ‘Hey, just go make more Mass Effect’. And that to me is the most important thing. Knowing that players want to return to the ME universe is what inspires us to press on and imagine what comes next”

Mass Effect: Andromeda

By creating a new ME in a new galaxy the team was challenged to put their own visual stamp on the game while keeping it true to the franchise

Being the first ME game on a new gen of consoles meant for more detail

“Massive transport ships called arks populated with salarians, turians, humans, asari and quarians” made the risky jump to the Cluster

MEA was the first time BW had truly codeveloped across 3 studios: Edmonton, Montreal and Austin. The bulk of the work especially early on was done in Montreal, which was composed of a handful of Edmonton expats and heaps of experienced devs who joined from elsewhere specifically to bring a new ME experience to life. Series vets in Edmonton then came on to contribute writing, cinematics, design and QA, along with leadership from creative director Mac Walters and the core Production team. Austin writers and level designers also joined the fray

“It took a new team to take ME beyond the Milky Way”

Mac: “A lot of people in Montreal joined BW as fans of the franchise, so they just had this passion, and it felt like it was more like the days of Jade Empire, where a smaller younger team gets to do something for the first time. Even though it wasn’t necessarily a new IP for me, it felt fresh and new because of that. The team was just super excited to be working on it”

Early plans had the player exploring hundreds of worlds, procedurally generated, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of experiences. But as development wore on, it became clear that the game narrative required more specific, hand-touched level design on each world to keep the story focused and the experience engaging. “The plan was to give players numerous uncharted worlds to explore. Designers worked hard to come up with procedural elements that would make such planets special. Eventually the team made the difficult decision to abandon procedural planets in favor of more memorable hand-touched alien worlds, each with a specific story to tell”

One challenge was defining what ME meant without Shep. Care was given to include many of the MET’s key species. “Ryder recruited turian, asari, krogan and salarian followers”. Like Shep Ryder represents humanity’s hope for a peaceful coexistence among aliens who had long operated without human contact

Beginning with MEA the team decided that with few exceptions vehicles in ME have 6 wheels. Early Nomad concepts were bulkier. Later ones focused on its ability to move over its ability to protect itself from hostile fire, underlining the themes of exploration

German concept designer and auto-motive futurist Daniel Simon was contracted to create the Nomad and Tempest. The Tempest’s final design took inspo from the Concorde 

Concepts for angaran fighter ships have the following notes: “Two doors swing open, wings rotate down to function as landing struts, the landing struts split open. It has a spinning turbine engine 

Despite being set a galaxy away and some 600 years after Mordin’s death, there was a time when he had a cameo. It wasn’t cut due to running out of time however, it was cut due to drug references. John Dombrow explains: “One day I had to write a small quest for Kadara. I thought it’d be amusing if these 2 guys living way out on the fringes in a shack were growing plants for uh, medicinal purposes, and needed Ryder’s help with it. It occurred to me, wouldn’t it be amusing if Ryder had the option of actually trying ‘the medicine’ to see what would happen? And I thought, what if it turned into some hallucination that somehow involved SAM - like maybe SAM would sing? But why? How could I motivate that? Then it hit me. Who else in the ME game sings unexpectedly? MORDIN. As a nod to him I wrote SAM singing Modern Major-General. It got even better when our cine designer John Ebenger wanted to take it even further. Bless him, he came in on a Saturday to do a special hallucination showing Mordin himself. It was great. Til the fateful day we were told MEA had already been submitted to the ratings board. That’s when you declare things like drug references in your game. Mordin fell under that category which meant it was a no-go. We were too late”

Ryder’s white AI armor contrasts Shep’s iconic dark armor (intentional design)

Concept art for Ryder involved experiments with cloth (cloaks, ponchos, capes - “Pull here to release cloak”) and asymmetrical design elements

For alien design, there’s a few exceptions but humanoid figures are the ME standard and this persisted into MEA

Kett and angara concepts explored striking lines and textures 

– From Bioware: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development