Happy New Year!!

When Michelle first contacted me she mentioned that her event would have lots of candles and very little light. I love low light photography, so I figured it would be fun. The shot during the ceremony with the slideshow photo of Michelle and her mother is one of my all time favorite photos. This ceremony was one of the most unique & beautiful ceremonies I've ever been a part of. The bridal party all participated in singing and playing wonderful music.

I don't do many super close ups at weddings, but when I mentioned I was going to do a close up, Michelle said she "loves closeups" SO I got CLOSE! So, here is a beautiful headshot of the last bride and groom of the year...

Michelle & Rob didn't have a bunch of time, so we did a few quick "formals" of just them after banging out the main formals. Michelle played the piano during the ceremony, it was very beautiful. So, we got this well lit shot, one of my favorites from the church.

I've said it a hundred times, the best photos just happen. Babies and small children always make for wonderful photos. This is a great photograph...

This particular image looks candid, but it really is not. We were running on a very tight time frame, so I just threw this one in while doing a set shot from the front. I just told the ladies to continue to look forward and smile! We laughed a bit, and the photos turned out nice. So, it is candid and formal, if that makes sense!

Merry Christmas Heather and Andrew...

I just got back from a quick engagement session with Heather and Andrew, who are due to get married this spring. I mentioned to Andrew months ago that I had the idea of doing the engagement session in a bar, and he thought that would be cool too. This particular Bar and Grill jumped in my mind the other day, so I went and checked it out. It had some really cool lighting already, and they added some additional nice Christmas decor too. When I looked at the venue last week, this image was what I had in mind to make, and I think it really shines. I had gotten permission from the bars manager to do the shoot, and believe it or not the entire staff were very helpful and willing to let me have at it. So, I drug my light and softbox in to give us some fantastic lighting to add to the bars Holiday feel...

Off camera lights at a wedding shoot is very difficult to pull off. However, at a engagement shoot, or just about any other type of photography that might require flash, having off camera lighting can really step up the quality of the final photograph. I use a very portable set up that allows me to take photos fast, move around and change photography looks smoothly, and set up and tear down very quickly too.

This particular image was taken just before the top and bottom sets. I knew before I hit the shutter button that it wasn't going to be what I wanted. On camera flash is always flat, and it can have shadows casted onto walls or onto other people, like the ones on Andrews face here. Long story short, we had the time, so I got the off camera lights set up. The off camera lights offer better modeling on your subject. And, if you have a softbox, like I've used on these other photos, the lighting is always much softer. I think the other photos are far superior, what do you think?