After working in the computer industry for many years, Esther wanted to be more creative, yet utilize her technical talents. She enrolled in a video program at UC Santa Cruz and fell in love with the work. A short time later, Newman Video Services was for sale, and she grabbed the opportunity to start her own business That was in 1997.

I met her in her studio in the Santa Teresa area of San Jose. Easy going and quick to laugh, she doesn’t seem to get fazed by the stress of the wedding. On the demonstration tape she showed me, you can see how much she enjoys her work. The love story collage at the beginning was very charming and so were the interviews with friends and family. From time to time, she added beautiful environmental shots. She changed the first dance to slow motion, inserted a close-up of the cake or a candle, and moved from there back to the wedding party. Esther is full of ideas and aims to create a very personal product for each customer. All editing is done in-house on state-of-the-art equipment. She told me that she spends about a week on each video. "In the beginning of the season you might get the wedding video in a much shorter time but not at the end of the season," she told me. She uses her own three high-end DVCAM cameras, which are very good in low light, and makes sure there always is backup equipment available on the job.

Esther is well respected by her peers. Clients find her easy to work with, think she is very professional, listens well, and pays attention to detail. One bride told me that she had to take the video away from her father because he watched it over and over again, crying all the time.

Videos are shot and edited on DVCAM and delivered on VHS, CD, or DVD.

Before you hire a videographer