By: LINDA L. MAY
Wedding and Portrait Photographers International

Bordo Photography was established by Mike and Sarah
Bordo in 1998, in Oakdale, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles from Pittsburgh. Mike
specializes in wedding photojournalism, although he does shoot posed, group
pictures upon request. He joined WPPI in 1999, and won his first awards the
following year, when he entered prints in competition.

Background/History: Mike Bordo has been peering through
viewfinders since he was a boy, when his parents bought him a Kodak 126
Instamatic camera. Growing up, Mike photographed family events and friends. When
looking at his pictures, everyone noticed how he captured the emotions of the
day---people laughing and interacting. His father, a High School Industrial Arts
Teacher, also taught a photography class, and was a big influence on Mike, and
the source of his early photographic training. At age 15, his father gave him a
manual 35mm, and showed Mike how to operate it. In high school, he worked for
the yearbook, and his interest in imagemaking just snowballed from there. He
attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania, majoring in communications. After
graduation, from 1990 to 1997, he worked as a photojournalist and photo editor
for the Steubenville Herald Star and The Weirton Daily Times newspapers. Mike
gained his photojournalistic experience shooting fires, floods, hostage
situations, local sports, Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates, concerts,
presidential candidates, celebrities and many other interesting subjects.

During his seven years at the newspapers, Mike won numerous
Associated Press photography awards for his outstanding images, which were also
published in Time Magazine, USA Today, and various other national publications.
His striking image titled "Held Hostage," won the prestigious Annual Missouri
School of Journalism Award of Excellence for Spot News coverage. In 1997, Mike
left the newspaper business, and started his first home-based
studio---specializing in wedding photojournalism. In 2001, Mike moved his
operation into a 1,200-square-foot office space downtown.

Studio: He wanted the reception space to be relaxed and
inviting for clients, so he hired a local interior designer to do just that.
A huge 20X30 black and white print surrounded by several framed, 16X20 color
images, greet clients as they entered. On the walls, he constructed four-foot
wooden mantles on which are displayed smaller framed prints and albums. Clients
can relax on a plush loveseat and accent chairs, while viewing sample albums on
the wooden coffee table. Surrounding the reception space are three large rooms,
which he uses for production, offices, and storage. One room holds the Agfa
MCS-101 minilab, where Mike does all the processing and printing in both black
and white and color. Currently, he is not shooting digital weddings, but plans
to add that service sometime this year. Digital retouching and print
manipulations are now farmed-out to another lab. There is no camera room in his
studio. He shoots exclusively on location.

As for cameras, Mike uses Nikon and Leica 35mm and Mamiya
medium format, with a range of lenses from 16mm fisheye to a 400mm telephoto.
Modern brides are choosing more black and white these days. Every wedding he
shoots includes a good mix of both color and black and white images. For black
and white, he shoots Kodak T-Max 400 and 3200 speed films,
and Fuji NPH 400, NPZ 800 and 1600 ISO for color.

Mike is the only employee and does everything from bookings to
production, as well as all the photography and lab work. His wife Sarah helps
with production and marketing duties, while holding-down another full time job.
Life gets quite hectic for this hard-working Pennsylvania couple because while
Sarah works week days, Mike is "Mr. Mom" for their two-year-old son, Graham.
When Sarah returns from her job in the afternoon,
Mike hurries to the studio to run that business until eight or nine at night.
All the photography is scheduled for evenings and week-ends.

Wedding Coverage: Bordo Photography bases the wedding
packages on how many hours Mike spends with the couples. For example, his prices
begin at $2,695, which includes six hours, 200-300 black and white and color
proofs and an Art Leather album. He usually shoots 90% photojournalism and 10%
traditional posed photography. Most brides ask Mike to stay longer, and happily
pay the fee for extra hours.

One of his most memorable jobs was an Indian wedding which kept
him busy for 16 hours, and resulted in 50 rolls of exposed film. The bride was
from India and had a traditional Indian ceremony in the morning, complete with
ethnic costumes, and in the afternoon, she had an American wedding. It was such
a big job, Mike hired a photojournalist friend from Washington, D.C. to help shoot it.

WPPI Membership: Mike Bordo says he loves belonging to WPPI
because he has met, and learned from, many outstanding photographers, like Bambi
Cantrell, Joe Buissink and John Salano---just to name a few. He also enjoys
WPPIıs trade show, seminars, and workshops.

In 2000, the first year Mike entered prints in the WPPI
competition, he won the Kodak Award of Distinction First Place honor. That same
year, he also won Third Place and Honorable Mention in the Wedding
Photojournalism category. In 2001, four of his prints won Honorable Mentions in
the Wedding Photojournalism category.

Wedding Philosophy: Mike feels his photojournalism background
sets him apart from the competition. "I believe that photographers should not
control the wedding day. I donıt attempt to create the day by constantly
bothering the bride and groom or forcing things to happen, which results in
artificial and stiff photographs. My approach focuses on the real wedding.
I strive to convey on film the excitement and emotions of the day---as it really
happened. My goal is to remain unobtrusive, not imposing on moments that need to
remain natural and genuine, like a fly on the wall," Mike Bordo says, smiling.

Marketing & Promotions: Direct mail is a good marketing tool
for Bordo Photography. A full-page ad in a local Bridal Planner brings-in many
hot leads. He also runs an ad in The Knotıs Wedding Pages Magazine, a popular
bridal publication. But the hottest form of getting-out-the-word these days is via the Internet.

"The Internet has helped my business grow by leaps and bounds!
Todayıs brides are computer savvy. Many plan their weddings from another city or
state. I taught myself HTML back in 1993, and had a website before most
photographers in Pittsburgh had even been on the Internet. I post about 20
images from each wedding, just a glimpse, which is a lot of work. Brides tell me
how easy it is to navigate throughout my site, so the work pays off. Brides tell
family and friends about the website, creating a lot of traffic. Several
weddings every year are booked right off the website," Mike Bordo says. "But I
hope to add more to my website this year."

Future Plans: Mikeıs future plans include adding digital
capture to his product mix sometime in the future. Traveling more is also a
goal. He says itıs such a thrill to be hired to shoot out-of-state weddings. To
date, he has traveled to Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey,
and Massachusetts to photograph weddings.

"I also want to hire a part time employee to take part of the
work load off my shoulders," Mike says. "Weıre expecting our second child this
fall, so family time is very important to me. Our hectic schedule has been tough
on Sarah, and I give her a lot of credit. Usually, when she gets home from work,
we trade places. She takes care of Graham, and I head for the office. My goal is
to grow the business enough so Sarah can leave her job. That might happen this year or next."

Words of Wisdom: "Expect the unexpected! Be prepared and
anticipate the moment. I look for emotion, decisive moments--something
different. I want my couples to remember how they felt on their wedding day
through my pictures. Photographers interested in shooting photojournalism
should read the book The Best of Photojournalism, published by NPPA (National Press Photographers Association).
Study the works of great photojournalists, like W. Eugene Smith, Henri-Cartier Bresson,
Eugene Richards, and others."

Readers may contact Mike Bordo at Bordo Photography via e-mail
at: BORDOCOM@aol.com; by phone at: (724) 693-0669; and view his website at: www.bordo.com.