Ring me up!

While so many parts of a wedding are predictable, I love trying to capture the essence of the day with a ring shot that pushes the artistic edge and absorbs the environment around.    This post is a gentle persuasion for all my future couples to know that I'm keen to do something cool with one of their most symbolic tangibles in their marriage.   

So....I'll ask before, and if you say yes, I'll ask again during your day to "borrow" your rings to make something like these.    Do know that these shots are only the tip of the iceberg, and just one of them was taken on a non-wedding day...the last one, with the rings of my wife and I.  

Simple.  Elegant.  To the point. I turned around and repositioned them here:

These two had some cute kids...love the dirty fingernails

This one has earned a place in my top ten of all time...

Acknowledging the candlelight.

This one was one of my first....

A helpful reminder of an anniversary?

"Dang Buzzy! Get out of the way of that shot"

self portrait one

Next time, I'll blow the leaves out of the gutters before the rainy season.

Leaf the dress a mess

  As I view Cliff and Nora through the lens, I see a passionate couple that stare, connect, and balance each other so sweetly, the images almost make themselves.      

The year 2008 pushes a recent fad in the wedding photography industry for "trash the dress" photo sessions.    It is a wonderful idea, meant to get another relaxed photoshoot in for the couple, and allowing a release of all the "gotta-be-perfect" energy that much of our culture encourages us to be on this day.     Because of that release, these types of photoshoots radiate with me, and I'd love to do more.    

Blessings to you two and your passionate relationship.   Let me know if you care to have another "mess the dress" shoot with kindergartners and finger paint, changing oil under an old truck with your vail on, or simply gettin' crazy with too much ketchup and mustard.  

 

 

An E-session with Luke

In my prior career, I learned that for teachers, clear Objectives were the best way to share a lesson. As a full time photographer nowadays, I'm finding that they are also the best way to lead an engagement session (and a wedding for that matter).   As of recent and when I begin mine, I'm intent on sharing my three objectives. The first....to document a precious moment in times. The second, to familiarize we three in preparation for the upcoming wedding. The third, to make some amazing images. They're fairly simple and straight-forward, but if you think about them...they help.  

I asked Michelle and Tom to describe themselves, and to come to the shoot ready to be the adjectives they shared with me. Playful and Entranced with each other, this session was a gem. With a bit of champagne, an incredible park, a perfect fall day, and a moment frozen in time, this is an example of just how good life can be.  

Believe it or not,  this romantic chose to propose by building a coffee table with a SECRET drawer, and having her accidentally discover the ring inside on a quiet night.  Their story is nothing short of epic, and it is just beginning.  I'm honored to capture it. 

Enjoy these photos.   In some, you'll see I'm experimenting with off camera flash.    As I progress down a path of painting with light, you're sure to see more of this kind of work.

 

Wide Angled Wonderful

If I was a painter, I'd definitely have my favorite brush.
If I was a chef, I'd definitely have a favorite knife.
I'm a photographer, and.the lens that captured this below is not my favorite, but it is still nothing short of awesome.
Soon enough, you'll know which piece of glass I own is my favorite.
However, can I share with you why I dig it? Read on.

Like a fish eye lens without the fisheye, this 14mm lens makes me get my feet out of the frame often. A bit rare in the wedding photography world, I like it because it gets me out of the box, and thinking REAL BIG often. I use it when I'm in the mood to share everything in the whole scene, if I am in a tight space, or if I'm wanting to get a bit artistic in the shot. Compared to a 35mm standard that many of us see when we had one lens for the rest of my life, this one just might be it because of the "I can see more" factor.

.......enough of the gear head talk. Let's see some cool shots!
Beneath, I'm photographing a really handsome model who's finishing his honey harvesting process, filling up hundreds of jars. I'm just inches away from him. He says he's related to Brad Pitt. Hmmm? Enjoy, and bee well.

Michelle and Jason tie the knot!

These two were as wonderful as it gets.   The night before, pouring rain threatened their outdoor wedding,  but as their day opened up, so did the blue sky.     While watching the best man race for the rings left at home was fun, and exploring a beautiful cake this bride designed herself was awesome, the best moment of the day was simply following these two with a long lens as they took an undisturbed walk in the woods during their first moment as husband and wife.  

  

Focus

Here are a few favorite shots from the recent wedding of Janice and John, of which grabbed the essence of union,  and I'd like to share these examples of what I love to see as a photographer.  

 Let me break them down.   

This first one was taken from a distance as she was preparing for her day.  Calm, collected, and undistracted by the wave of emotion about to come forth, this shot captures her quietly internalizing that the day has come, and she is focusing on saying  "I do"  

This shot, while kinda complex and hard to explain, gains my number one favorite for the day.    When I first look at it, I want to look at the interaction between these two at the alter.  At first, my eye is not comfortable looking at the blurry, and seeks the focused part of the photo.   There.   There's the focus, in the foreground.  With my eyes wanting more,   I'm drawn back to the couple, who share a stare as they relax momentarily out of "the spotlight" (because guests should be paying attention to the words of Dad).   Dang!  I love this shot!

And finally, because I can't leave them with you out of focus...

Reflect Peace.

This morning's news brought up just as much celebration as last night did while I was sipping my coffee and I heard Charlie Gibson refer to President Bush as "The Old President".    Sometimes things trigger us, and I let out a visceral cheer that I had no control of.    Gosh that felt good to hear.   While I've been keeping my beliefs mostly to myself, the last 24 hours has been yanking on my viscera, opening up those moans and groans that are connected to the cord that lets the good tears flow, and I just can't keep it in any more.   WAHOOO! 

I found this piece of artwork a few hours ago,  as it was being explored by numerous neighbors and passers by.   It felt good to see their eyes glimmer too, knowing that many of us can be moved to tears by the sight of a beautiful bus.  I wonder if it was the bus that made us cry.  

My favorite shot is this first, one reflecting peace on another.   

Happy Halloween!

On her way to work, I snapped these shots of my wife this morning.   I told her she looks cute, but when she peered up at me with fake freckles and that oversized hat flopping over her eyes, she became twice as cute.      While I'm thankful for her every day, it is days like these, when she shares the energy of excited 9-year-olds across the planet,  when I realize just how thankful I am for her.  

As the grapes go golden

Sundays are made to rest, but life is too good to sleep all day. 

My sweet Natalie and I are falling into the understanding that the essence of my business wraps around the weekends, and when I don't have a Sunday scheduled, we're off to do something fun.   

As fall makes the grapes go golden around here, a journey up the gorgeous Napa Valley is well worth the exploration.    This is what we did yesterday, without a plan, which is sometimes the best plan.   

This Sunday, her plan was to see the valley as it graduated into the Alexander Valley, and my plan was to photograph it.   Our plans were skewed as we were driving up valley by a surprise winery , as I asked her to turn around to park near the delicious rolling vines in the setting sun.    While I watched the light butter up the rows of vines, she read the "Castella" sign and suggested that this might be the driveway to the Castle people were talking about.     At this moment, our unplan changed.   Until this point, I dismissed "the Castle" I'd been hearing about near Calistoga as a large stone building a few miles down the highway 29 road to be a wanna-be castle, but as we decided to explore what was up the driveway before I photographed, we crested this inconspicuous road, and my jaw dropped.    Yep.   While the dominating presence of Greystone along the road may kinda look like one, there is no mistaking the hidden Castella Di Amoroso for anything but a castle, with a moat, drawbridge, and an atmosphere that makes me want to carry around a turkey drumstick while wearing some chainmail.    

A photographer's dream, fully authentic and with a simple background everywhere, this place just opened up in 2007 after 13 years of building, and is ripe for an AWESOME shoot in the near future.    Here are just a few shots of mine, without much effort, doodling without subjects, with some of the fun lines within.   While this place has more of a disneyland "WOW" factor in the building rather their wine, it gains my do not miss recommendation for you tourists in planning.   

And finally, a teaser of what our grapes around here can look like when the big heater makes them go golden.