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Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer | Christina Montemurro bio picture

  • Hello! I’m Christina.

    Welcome! If you're looking for a wedding or portrait photographer in the Pittsburgh area, you're in the right place.

    Choosing a photographer is one of the most important decisions you'll make during your wedding planning. It's so important to find someone you can trust to capture the big and small moments of your wedding day, and someone who makes you feel comfortable at ease.

    I'm known for being laid back and relaxed, and respect that this is your day to celebrate and enjoy. My goal is to get you beautiful images efficiently and unobtrusively so that you have lots of time for fun.

    Please look through my galleries and scroll down for recent work, and then contact me to reserve your date!

Monthly Archives: February 2010

It’s a tank! It’s a concrete wall! No… it’s the Boda v3 Bag.

February 17, 2010

I like having a waist pack while shooting weddings, and was dissatisfied with the Lowepro waistpack I’d been using while shooting weddings. It was fairly functional, but small. And let’s just say that I was not going to win any fashion awards while wearing it.

So, Boda’s announcement of the V3 bag caught my attention. I ordered in October, knowing that the estimated shipping date was early November.  Apparently Boda had a series of unfortunate events that caused repeated delays, so I didn’t receive it until about a week ago.

I can’t give a complete review yet, as I don’t think I’ll be able to get a strong sense on how the bag will work for me until I use it during my first wedding of the year (mid-April). I do have some thoughts about what I like about it and some aspects of it that I’m not sure about.

My first reaction is that the bag is super strong and rugged and feels like it will last forever. It is firm and sturdy and doesn’t bend. The zippers feel unbreakable. A few times I had a little bit of trouble getting the zippers to budge, though. Maybe they need to be broken in? I hope this isn’t an issue.

The shoulder strap has a thick pad on it. I have the strap adjusted as short as it can go and think if I could shorten it a little bit more, I probably would. Not many folks are as vertically impaired as I am though. (5’1″.) I was dismayed when I realized that the “comfort waist accessory” is not included. Considering the bag costs $195, I would expect it to come standard. I haven’t ordered the waist accessory yet. I am sure I will need it, but I’m still getting over my annoyance at having to pay extra for it.

It’s a very tall bag. Here it is next to a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS so you can see just how tall it is.

So not only does it fit a 70-200… it actually fits a 70-200 with the lens hood attached. That is a TALL bag! Also, you can see that I of course opted for the plum interior. I love the color!

Again to show the height of the bag, here I have a 24-70 f2.8L on one side and a 16-35mm f2.8L on the other side. The partitions are all movable.

The Boda is so tall, I was able to stack the 24-70mm and 16-35mm lenses on top of each other.

I’m not sure I see the wisdom in being able to stack lenses. It reminds me of a friend’s apartment in college with what I believe is called a “captured” bedroom – where you have to walk through one bedroom to get to another bedroom. I’m concerned that if I have two lenses stacked, it’ll be a hassle to get to the lens on the bottom. But we’ll see.

I love the media pocket.

My favorite feature – the beer bottle pocket! (Disclaimer: of course I am joking. As much as I love beer, I never drink and shoot.)

In reality I will be much more likely to  store one of my beloved flashes in there. It’s a little tight, but it works.

There is actually a water bottle pocket with drawstring. It is a good fit for a flash as well.

Above the water bottle pocket are two more pockets. One did just barely fit my bloated wallet, and the other just barely fit my cell phone. In the photo below, the flap is open. I was able to get the flap to velcro shut, but it wasn’t easy and I’m not sure if it would stay put.

So I might store my wallet in the front pocket instead, where there is also lots of room for batteries. (Thanks to Leo for holding the flap open for this photo.)

There’s one more small pocket at the bottom of the front of the bag.

How much can you fit in the Boda v3? Here’s what I squeezed in:

  • 70-200mm f2.8L IS with hood reversed
  • 24-70mm f2.8L with hood reversed
  • 16-35mm f2.8L with hood turned sideways
  • 85mm f1.8
  • Canon 580 EX II (2)
  • Honl grid spot
  • Honl snoot
  • Cybersync transmitter
  • Cybersync receiver

I didn’t include any batteries or CF cards, but I’m sure I could fit as many as I’d need. Here’s what it looked like packed full – and it sure was heavy!

Another view of the bag fully packed. The 85mm is on top of the 70-200mm, and the two wide angle zooms are stacked.

Look for another report in a couple months after I’ve put the Boda through its paces.

Until them, here are a few links to reviews by other folks.

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Armin - February 17, 2010 - 9:12 pm

Nice to see your first impressions!

Milla Chappell - February 18, 2010 - 7:54 am

This looks awesome! Much more sturdy than the shootsac, and it looks like it holds a lot more, too. I’ll add this to my “possible future purchases” list! :)

Kevin - February 19, 2010 - 12:19 am

Hey Christina,
nice to see your first impressions. Can’t wait to hear your full report.

Mary - February 21, 2010 - 11:26 pm

Heh…love your beer pocket! So, would you carry this bag during the whole wedding?

When things go wrong…

February 14, 2010

I’m sure we all wish we lived in a perfect world where everything always runs perfectly and nothing ever goes wrong or strays the slightest bit from perfection. Actually, that sounds kind of boring. Where’s the fun in predictability? On the other hand, your wedding day is one time when you really do just want everything to go smoothly. But it doesn’t always happen.

My own wedding day had only a few small hiccups. Due to a complex set of circumstances, two of my early 20s cousins from New Jersey were borrowing my mom’s car while my mom, my sister, a few friends and I had our hair and makeup done. These Jersey boys discovered that Pittsburgh wasn’t quite as easy to navigate as they thought, and we found ourselves waiting and waiting for them at the salon, when we should have been driving to the wedding site. Eventually a friend and I set off in someone else’s car. Only one problem… my shoes and undergarments and my sister’s shoes and undergarments were all in the missing car.

No matter. Otherwise we wouldn’t have this photo of my sister and me with our boots. (Pardon atrocious quality – it’s a picture of a picture)

My cousins did show up in plenty of time before the ceremony, and of course were both forgiven and mercilessly teased.

As a wedding photographer, it’s my job to be sure I am as prepared as possible for anything that can go wrong. This means backup of everything, and an ability to stay calm, troubleshoot, and quickly come up with an alternate solution if something stops working.

Here are a few real life examples of times when Something Went Wrong.

  • Just a few minutes into shooting a wedding, my camera displayed “ERR01″ and would not shoot. I quickly switched to my second camera, and handed my camera to my assistant, who removed and replaced the battery, CF card and lens. ERR01 appears when something is amiss with the lens contacts, so all you should have to do is remove the lens and reseat it, and also possibly clean the lens contacts. Fortunately it only happened once and then didn’t act up again.
  • Only about half an hour into shooting, my camera’s battery meter indicated that the battery was low. And this was a camera with a battery grip, meaning it has two batteries in it, and should easily last an entire wedding and more. I swapped out the batteries with new ones (even though I almost never run through batteries, I always bring several spares) and it still indicated low battery. At this point I realized that the battery grip had come loose. I tightened the connection and voila, full battery.
  • After arriving at a reception and starting to set up an off camera light, I couldn’t find the transmitter that attaches to my camera and sends the signal that fires that off camera flash. At the time, I didn’t have a backup transmitter (but I do now!) so I used on camera flash and available light. I suspected that it had fallen off my camera at the hotel where the men were getting ready, so I called to ask if it had turned up. I was thrilled to receive a phone call a few days later from someone in housekeeping – they had found it in the lobby! I am so grateful to the hotel staff for taking the time to look and call me and even mail it back to me. I had already ordered another one so that I would have a backup. I also devised a better system to be sure that the transmitter doesn’t fall off.

I have a number of other “just-in-case” backups and items on hand…

  • A full spare set of clothes, just in case… you never know when you might trip and fall in mud (or snow!) or someone might spill a drink on you.
  • A grooming set with scissors, mirror, etc., available for anyone in the bridal party who might need it.
  • A few single dollar bills and quarters, for parking, tips or bribery. I recall a single dollar saving the day when a full bridal party was assembled on the church altar, ready for their formal photo. The full bridal party, minus one rambunctious ring bearer who had decided he’d been in enough pictures. I offered him a buck if he would kindly return, and presto, back he went.
  • Snacks and water. It’s a long day and I have to keep my energy going – and stop me from eating all the cookies!

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