Bio

Monique Sady: owner

With more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper photojournalist, I have the eye and the expertise to capture the candid, special moments that tell the unique story of your wedding day. My background also enables me to offer creative ideas for the traditional portraits as well.

You will enjoy working with me because I am a pleasant, easy-going person who truly loves photographing weddings. I am not pushy or over bearing: you will hardly know I am in the room. But I am also effective and efficient when organizing groups of people for the formal portraits.

The outstanding difference between me and many other photographers who have adopted the candid style that has become so popular today is that I have a professional career background in photojournalism. I went to San Jose State University and received a BS in Journalism, emphasis in Photojournalism. After graduation, I went straight into the newspaper field.

As a photographer for a Bay Area weekly newspaper, the Los Altos Town Crier, every day, every assignment, it was my job to tell the story through my photographs. I looked for the unique angles, the interaction between people, the emotions. Looking for these things, reacting quickly, and capturing them to tell the complete story is part of my second nature. So you can be assured that my professional experience as a photojournalist will make your wedding photographs the most complete record of your day with the most unique and memorable moments captured for you, your family and friends.

I also want you to know that the way I work allows your wedding day to be about you and your family and guests. While I do organize the formal portraits, that is the only time through out your day that I will be telling people where to stand. During the reception, I won't be interrupting you to ask, " can you do that again?" I simply use my skills to document everything that is happening around me without interfering.

A bit of my philosophy about becoming a wedding photographer: I really enjoyed my time working in the newspaper industry. I was always out in the field, meeting interesting people, documenting events, and getting to know the community. After working for a small newspaper, I knew everyone in the town, and I had grown as much as I could in my position. So I had a decision to make: Move on to a bigger paper, a better, more challenging position, OR use my talents as a journalist to pursue my personal passion, wedding photography.

So here I am, loving every minute of being a wedding photojournalist. I love to look for the little detail shots of the things that make your wedding unique to you, whether it is the chocolate sea shells on the top of your cake, or a hand-written place card. And I love to capture the emotions of the day, from the excitement of the bride and her bridesmaids having fun, sharing time together while preparing for the day, all the way through the sentimental and sometimes outrageous events of the reception.

Hobbies: Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I have always had a great appreciation for the redwoods, oaks, wildlife and many other elements of my environment, which led me to a love of nature photography as well. I also enjoy hiking, backpacking, biking, skiing, kayaking, yoga and spending time with my family and friends.

I am a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hour level. I am available to teach pre-wedding yoga classes for up to 10 people.

	Monique Sady: owner With more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper photojournalist, I have the eye and the expertise to capture the candid, special moments that tell the unique story of your wedding day. My background also enables me to offer creative ideas for the traditional portraits as well. You will enjoy working with me because I am a pleasant, easy-going person who truly loves photographing weddings. I am not pushy or over bearing: you will hardly know I am in the room. But I am also effective and efficient when organizing groups of people for the formal portraits. The outstanding difference between me and many other photographers who have adopted the candid style that has become so popular today is that I have a professional career background in photojournalism. I went to San Jose State University and received a BS in Journalism, emphasis in Photojournalism. After graduation, I went straight into the newspaper field. As a photographer for a Bay Area weekly newspaper, the Los Altos Town Crier, every day, every assignment, it was my job to tell the story through my photographs. I looked for the unique angles, the interaction between people, the emotions. Looking for these things, reacting quickly, and capturing them to tell the complete story is part of my second nature. So you can be assured that my professional experience as a photojournalist will make your wedding photographs the most complete record of your day with the most unique and memorable moments captured for you, your family and friends. I also want you to know that the way I work allows your wedding day to be about you and your family and guests. While I do organize the formal portraits, that is the only time through out your day that I will be telling people where to stand. During the reception, I won't be interrupting you to ask, " can you do that again?" I simply use my skills to document everything that is happening around me without interfering. A bit of my philosophy about becoming a wedding photographer: I really enjoyed my time working in the newspaper industry. I was always out in the field, meeting interesting people, documenting events, and getting to know the community. After working for a small newspaper, I knew everyone in the town, and I had grown as much as I could in my position. So I had a decision to make: Move on to a bigger paper, a better, more challenging position, OR use my talents as a journalist to pursue my personal passion, wedding photography. So here I am, loving every minute of being a wedding photojournalist. I love to look for the little detail shots of the things that make your wedding unique to you, whether it is the chocolate sea shells on the top of your cake, or a hand-written place card. And I love to capture the emotions of the day, from the excitement of the bride and her bridesmaids having fun, sharing time together while preparing for the day, all the way through the sentimental and sometimes outrageous events of the reception. Hobbies: Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I have always had a great appreciation for the redwoods, oaks, wildlife and many other elements of my environment, which led me to a love of nature photography as well. I also enjoy hiking, backpacking, biking, skiing, kayaking, yoga and spending time with my family and friends. I am a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hour level. I am available to teach pre-wedding yoga classes for up to 10 people. Our wedding day, September 21, 2002		Scott Sady: associate photographer To see a selection from Scott's wedding portfolio, go to: www.weddings.tahoelight.com I have been a working photojournalist since graduating from the San Jose State University journalism program in 1994. Upon graduation, I was immediately hired by the Associated Press to cover the uprising in Chiapas, Mexico. I stayed with the AP for nearly 5 years, covering conflicts in Chiapas, Guatemala and Haiti. I also worked as temporary bureau chief for the Caribbean, based in Puerto Rico. From there I worked in Saint Lucia and Jamaica and covered Pope John Paul's historic visit to Cuba. After returning to the states, I took a job as Assistant Director of Photography at the Reno Gazette- Journal newspaper where I have worked since. In 2002, and again in 2006, I was hired by the Gazette-Journal's parent company flagship paper, USA Today, as coordinator and lead photographer for the Alpine events at both the Salt Lake City, Utah and Torino, Italy, Olympics. My work has also appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post's Sunday travel magazine, National Geographic Adventure and Time magazine among others. I also co-photographed the book Tahoe Rim Trail: Exploring the Jewel of the Sierra, and was a staff photographer on the America 24/7 book project. My photograph appears on the cover of the Nevada 24/7 book. I bring this documentary style to my wedding photography as well. I specialize in digital photography, but can, of course, use either digital or film depending on your preference. I shoot in a digital format. Digital does not mean easier or cheaper. I work with hardware calibrated monitors. I shoot all my images in a RAW format, which is an unprocessed format that is often referred to as a digital negative. This is an important distinction as many digital photographers shoot exclusively in the JPEG setting of their cameras. JPEG image quality is good, and we use it at my newspaper, but it looses detail in the highlights of a white dress, and the shadows of a black tuxedo. It also allows no leeway to correct for color aberrations. For example, a normal light bulb looks yellow on film, a fluorescent light comes out green. Often at weddings these light sources are mixed, and trying to correct this color in a JPEG image leads to a degradation of image quality. For every wedding I shoot, I spend a full day hand processing and hand toning each image to perfection. They are then saved with an embedded color profile so that, when printed on the right settings, the quality of this images is repeatable and the colors the same no matter where you have it printed. Check out this link to my website where you can see a selection from my wedding portfolio: www.weddings.tahoelight.com