I N T R O D U C T I O N Welcome and thank you for browsing through our brochure. Here we would like to give you an idea of what we do every day, show you our passion, our creativity, our sensitivity for our clients’ feelings and the moments that they experience, which we endeavour to preserve forever. This is by far only a taste of what we can create. We take pride in being able to listen to our customers’ dreams and turn them into reality. Our full range of facilities, coupled with alliances with some of the world’s most renowned suppliers to the photographic industry and expertly trained staff enable us to produce distinct and customised works of art which our clients can enjoy for generations. We are constantly investing in the latest technology, as well as keeping ourselves up to date with the latest trends in professional photography.
We invite you to join us and be a partner in our future.
T H E
P H O T O G R A P H E R S
The story of The Foto Grafer begins just after its founders, Paul and Mariella Mizzi got married in 1983, after which Paul finished his course in professional photography in London. Both in their early 20s, Paul and Mariella started their professional photo careers working out of a garage next to their home in Fgura. Then, as their confidence and client list grew, the dynamic young couple moved into the ground floor of their current premises in March 1988. Almost at once, they started to take on and train staff and to import the top-of-the-range equipment they needed to meet their exacting standards. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Paul heads a team of 12 highly motivated employees in much larger premises spread over four establishments, with two purpose-built studios, a digital editing suite, state-of-the-art printing and finishing, viewing rooms and two professionally adorned shops with client reception areas. In the business arena, the company has now expanded far beyond its core activities of high quality commercial, wedding and portrait photography.
During their career, Paul and Mariella successfully completed several courses in various specialities of professional photography in the UK, Switzerland and Germany. Then they started to submit entries for international competitions with amazing success, using photographs that were taken for actual customers as part of routine assignments. In 2009, they became the first Maltese photographers to become certified by the certification panel of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Currently, Paul and Mariella, hold certifications from the Royal Photographic Society, The British Institute of Professional Photography, The Masters Photographers Association, The Society for Weddings and Portraits Photographers and the Professional Photographers of America. They are very active in sharing their expertise with other professional photographers from across the world during seminars and conventions organized by these institutions. They have recently enrolled the service of selected talented photographers to help them shoulder the volume of jobs that are entrusted to the company.
After more than 30 years in professional photography, Paul and Mariella are today considered as established trend leaders. They constantly strive to refine their style, working methods and business strategies in order to exceed their customers’ expectations and enlarge the ever-growing family of clients/friends all over the world.
O U R
F A C I L I T I E S
We have always believed that we need good tools to do a good job. We have therefore formed alliances with the world’s most renowned names in professional photography, and heavily invested in the best equipment in order to provide our clients with images of outstanding sharpness, faithful colour and density, and long life expectancy. We create our images in two independent 80 sq metre studios, both housed in the same building. Both studios are equipped with the most comprehensive array of lighting equipment on the island. There is absolutely no photographic assignment that we cannot handle. Full changing room facilities are available complete with makeup and hair dressing. Cooking facilities are also available on request for food photography. For image capture, we use the world renowned Hasselblad cameras. Hasselblad is the epitome of quality for professionals used by NASA in their space programs because of their quality and reliability. Today we use 50 multishot and 100 Megapixel cameras as part of our routine assignments. We also use Canon Eos1Dx Professional cameras when we need to cover events where very large files are not essential. Both camera systems are complemented with a large array of top quality lenses to help us tackle every imaginable job. Captured images are transferred to a backed up secure server and unique events are also copied onto two Delkin archival quality 24 carat gold Blu Ray disks with a life expectancy of 200 years. After preliminary selection by the client, all images are meticulously retouched by 3 digital retouching specialists who remove skin imperfections, stray hairs or other
eye sores which were impossible to avoid during shooting. Our printing section consists of two independent printing departments. Most prints up to 30x45cms are printed using the chemical photographic process where we can print up to 700 photographs an hour using our sophisticated machinery. Larger photographs are printed using our digital printing machines of 60cm, 110cm, 180cm and 500cm widths. We can print anything from the most delicate portrait or a fine art reproduction, where every minute detail and nuance in colour is visible, to a giant banner covering the façade of a building. With regards to materials we print on several types of canvas, a large variety of paper, ceramics, textiles, glass, sprayed sheet metal and stainless steel. All prints go through our finishing department before being delivered to our customers. Here, they are mounted, laminated, framed, routed or assembled in pre-manufactured structures which we can also produce in our workshop at Mriehel. We mount on a large variety of substrates, with the most common being foam board and Forex rigid PVC. Lamination prolongs the life of a print by protecting it against UV radiation and renders it washable with water and detergent. A frame making service also available. Our promise to our customers is that we keep updating our techniques, equipment and machinery in order to be in the forefront of technology. This enables us to provide our clients with memories that last a lifetime.
W E D D I N G S Weddings form one of the three pillars of The Foto Grafer’s activities. Paul and Mariella’s charm, coupled with constant updates in the latest trends of wedding photography, the most advanced techniques, the best equipment to date and over 30 years of experience in wedding photography, make them hard to beat. Only married couples who have had the opportunity to be photographed by our team can vouch for this. The pre-wedding meetings and photography, the service rendered during the day and the delivery of a masterpiece wedding album and video leave nothing to be desired. After the initial enquiry, prospective wedding clients meet Paul for a Wedding Demonstration, where he explains in detail all there is to know about the wedding services, options and prices available. A few months before the wedding day, clients are called in for an Update Meeting. This is necessary for us to update our clients on technology’s latest advancements and introduce them to new services since most clients book their wedding years in advance. There need not be any worries about price changes – we guarantee to charge the prices originally quoted for the services described, even if they are upgraded. At this meeting, the wedding service type is established as well as the pre wedding date and location/s. We consider pre wedding sessions to be essential in building a rapport between Paul and his subjects. They enjoy it, feel relaxed, build confidence in their photogenic skills and give us the opportunity to adjust our style according to their taste. From this session, a reception hall enlargement and a personalized guest book are usually produced. Finally, the date for the Time Management Meeting is set.
This meeting is voted by our past customers as the most important meeting in all their wedding plans. All booking details are double checked and Paul goes through the whole wedding in detail, explaining what is expected of the couple at certain crucial moments of their magic day. A detailed groups list is planned and the time to be allocated for photography established. Utilizing his vast experience gained with over 3000 weddings (figure as in July 2016), Paul gives useful advice and tips which the couple finds immensely valuable. All wedding clients agree that Paul and Mariella do much more than take stunning pictures at their wedding. Being herself an ex-hairdresser, makeup artist, seamstress and flower arranger, brides find Mariella indispensable for fixing the odd hair, dress or flower problem. Indeed, part of Mariella’s responsibility is to freshen up the bride’s makeup from time to time to keep her looking her best, even in our harsh summer months when the weather is not so hospitable. Paul handles the very high resolution or posed part of the wedding photographs with his Hasselblad, while Mariella utilizes the speed gained during her child sessions to discreetly capture candid images that vividly narrate every detail of the day. The wedding proofs are ready within a few days. Although still in their RAW state, the proof album or disk is enough to make the viewer relive those special moments gone past a few days back. The meticulous digital retouching of each of the selected images starts after the album images are chosen by the newlyweds. The Customised Design Digital Album requires that the clients spend a full day with one of our
expert designers, who specifically prepares the layout of each page of the album using the images selected by the clients and a design which is unique and in line with the particular tastes of the couple. Non customized options are also available. After the labour-intensive design and retouching stage, the couple would need to approve their new album in the comfort of their new home by viewing an AV presentation on DVD or Blu Ray disk. Once it is approved, the album is printed, laminated, assembled and inserted in a prime quality leather or custom designed cover, complete with case. Paul claims that one of the biggest rewards in his career is when he repeatedly witnesses his clients’ jaws drop when they browse through the pages of their digital wedding album for the first time. This, in spite of the fact that they had participated in the design and seen a presentation of the same masterpiece.
Many couples past their 25th wedding anniversary come to us today, stating that their wedding album is still in its original state. We understand that all those moments in one’s lifetime requiring the service of a professional photographer need to be preserved for generations. We therefore make no compromises. We use nothing but genuine top quality materials since we are aware that fakes will surface with the passage of time. We even archive those valuable digital images on 24kt gold Blu Ray disks guaranteed to last 200 years. After all what’s left after the wedding besides the photographs?
The Foto Grafer Ltd
127, St Thomas Street, Fgura FGR1605
Tel: 2166 0166 - 2788 8999 | email: info@thefotografer.com | web: www.thefotografer.com thefotografermalta