Hello! My name is Rustin Michael Cerveny and I am the namesake of the Rustin Michael brand.
I am based out of Los Angeles and specialize in wedding photography. This blog gives you insight to my personal and professional life, and features images from my shoots, my travels, and my friends and family. If you see something you like please feel free to leave me a comment. Make sure you take a chance to visit my wedding portfolio website at www.rustinmichael.com, click on weddings.
Life has been pretty crazy since my last post. For the past month when I haven’t been busy meeting with brides, shooting, editing, or designing albums I have been traveling, doing pick-up shots for “Absentia” and “American Marriage“, being a full time dad while Victoria traveled for work, catching a few Phillies games during their recent west coast road trip, and taking Gideon to Disneyland. You can see why I haven’t posted for a while.
Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait as long for my next post! I am shooting a wedding tomorrow and should have it blogged by the end of next week. While you wait, here are a few videos I shot of Gideon at Disneyland earlier this week on two of his favorite rides. I can’t believe he is already 22 months!
Sorry I have been absent on here from much of May, I have been busy gearing up to shoot a feature film. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for some great posts!
Before I ever dabbled in still photography I was making short films with my parent’s video camera. I would get a bunch of my friends together and we would decide on a plot and characters and shoot a short film. I would then try to edit the film using 2 VCRs and even try adding sound effects. It was always fun, and not a bad way to spend a summer day while on vacation from school. As my friends and I got older we met less and less to shoot our fun short films but I still had that love for storytelling.
In high school I discovered still photography. I loved going into the darkroom and seeing the magic of one of my images appearing right in front of me. I still wanted to work in film/video but was having a blast taking stills. In 2008 Canon released the revolutionary 5D Mark II. I immediately placed my order. The 5D2 is my main body I used to photograph my clients, but it also can act as a video camera capturing film-like video in HD at 24fps. The Canon 5D2 was even used to shoot the entire season finale of House this year. Just think the camera I use to photograph my clients is being used to shoot one of the top rated shows on TV. The mediums have converged.
I am adding a new blog category “film,” which will cover my work on “American Marriage”, the new film “Absentia,” and any other new film projects. In a little more than 3 weeks we start shooting “Absentia” on my 5D2. You can see the teaser trailer below that we shot recently to help raise funding. Check out or Kickstarter page for more details about “Absentia” and some fun PSAs from the cast and crew. Little did I know at the start of 2010 I would have 2 listings for cinematographer on IMDB.
May 27, 2010 - 12:12 amAustin Curtis - right on brotha! do it! I've been getting into some film projects as well... how can we not though - I mean, it feels so right :)
Earlier today I tagged along with my friends Mike Flanagan & Courtney Bell, who are directing and producing the documentary “American Marriage,” as they interviewed, Mindy Weiss in her Beverly Hills office. Mindy is one of the top wedding/party planners in the industry. Her past clients have include some of the top names in the entertainment industry such as Eva Longoria, Gwen Stefani, and Ellen Degeneres.
Mindy gave us some great insight about wedding industry with her many years of experience. During the interview I spent most of the time tip-toeing around her office shooting stills. I was so nervous everytime I pressed the shutter, scared that the sound would be picked up by the microphone. While I was taking photos I also got to listen in on the interview. One thing she said really resonated with me. She said one of the things she likes best about weddings the feelings of romance and intimacy that are evident in the couple, which in turn renews her romance to her husband. I feel the same way: each time I come home from a wedding I can’t wait to kiss my wife.
Here are a couple stills from the interview.
If you are a bride reading this blog, make sure you go pick up a copy of her book “The Wedding Book” on Amazon or your local bookstore.
Also go check out Mindy’s video podcast “Dress The Table with Mindy Weiss – Valentine’s Day” about using some items picked at a local flea market for decoration. Watching her podcast made me miss my weekly Sunday trips to the flea market we did when I was growing up.
If you have been following me on twitter you already know I have been working on the documentary “American Marriage” with my talented friends Mike Flanagan and Courtney Bell. Please read this full post for some amazing special offers for couples getting married before the middle of June 2010.
“The new documentary film “American Marriage” is looking for couples who want to have their nuptials featured in the movie. One of our main fundraising avenues has been filming weddings. Couples have taken the money they would have paid videographer and donated it to the film’s budget through the International Documentary Association (making their donations tax-deductible), and in exchange we’ve filmed their entire ceremonies and receptions and delivered the wedding video on DVD, just like a normal wedding videographer.
The shoot itself is exactly comparable to a normal wedding videographer shoot. We film the ceremony preparation, the ceremony, and reception on a single 3CCD HD Camera (the JVC 110u, a professional theatrical quality HD camera as opposed to the Prosumer HDV cameras standardly used in the wedding industry). The groom wears a microphone to ensure the highest quality audio of the ceremony. The footage is edited, and assembled with graphics, music, and minimal effects (dissolves, etc). We provide the couple 3 DVDs, authored with chapters and animated menus.
Because we’ll use some of the footage in the finished film, we ask the couple to sign an image release waiver allowing us to do so. We also ask that they make a donation through the I.D.A. and forward us a copy of the Paypal receipt before we arrive to film the event. We also ask couples if they would like to have a short “When Harry Met Sally” style interview that will be included in the movie.
You can view the trailer, which features footage from several weddings who took advantage of this model, below.”
There is no set donation amount. We ask that couples donate what they can afford. If you have a budget for a videographer we hope that, if you choose this opportunity, you would still be willing to use that budget to help the film. If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity please click on contact in the menu above.
If you chose to make a donation and be in the film I am offering 20% off any of my photography packages. You can view my portfolio on my website.
by RUSTIN MICHAEL
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