These are from a morning shoot last week at Mt. Hood Bed and Breakfast. Yup, the same B&B I was at a few weeks ago for my buddies wedding. Darcy (the bride) grew up with horses and even spent some time on the East Coast showing them. She wanted a few photos with a horse on her wedding day, but time just wouldn’t allow for it. Darcy happened to mention this to the owner of the B&B and it turns out that she has always wanted bride and horse shots for marketing purposes. Jackie and Mike, who own Mt Hood bed and Breakfast, offered to put us up in a couple of their rooms so we could shoot with the morning sun. A summer sunrise in Oregon is hard to see considering it usually starts around 5:45 in the morning. I think I woke up every hour after 3a.m. just because I didn’t want to miss it! As the sun began to rise over the hills that lead east from their property, it slowly set in motion an “unveiling” of Mt. Hood. It was amazing to see it change from almost an iridescent blue to a warm gold in a matter of minutes. I can’t imagine a place to get married in Oregon that has a better view than what they have to offer. Its need-less-to-say that a place with these views has attracted some very good photographers in the past. Jackie’s office was fully dressed with photos that make my work look like the Hamburger Helper of the culinary world. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up with Hamburger Helper; love the stuff! I just wouldn’t want it sitting on the kitchen table if I was trying to sell my house. I guess what I’m getting at is that she knows a lot of great photographers, yet she was offering me a crack at these shots. Jackie is one of those people that genuinely loves to help people and see them happy. She knew I would be eternally grateful for the opportunity to grow my portfolio. I think that was why I was extremely nervous for this shoot. I wanted to make sure I got some good memories for a great friend, and I also wanted to get some images that Jackie could use for marketing. Overall I am happy with the results. The morning sun was fun to work with. The most challenging aspect was framing. It was tough to bring enough attention to the bride while getting a horse and a mountain in the shot. Jackie, I know you wanted some that shows how close you are to the mountain. Trust me; there are some coming to you that look like we shot them on the chair lift!

Even if you aren’t getting married anytime soon, head out on Hwy 35 from Hood River, take a right on Cooper Spur Road and stay the night at Mt Hood Bed and Breakfast. Ask Mike for some German Pancakes in the morning too!

Here are a couple of shots from a wedding I shot at Cannon Beach Saturday. They say if it rains on your wedding day it’s worth good luck. If this true Megan and Zach can expect to win the lottery next week. Seriously, when has it ever rained in Oregon during the month of August! Hats off to Megan, I walked into her hotel room to shoot some prep photos before the ceremony and she was just as happy as if it were 75 and sunny. Needless-to-say the ceremony on the beach was very short, but this allowed more time with the group shots. In my past weddings these photos are typically a bit rushed simply because they are not as important  as the couple shots, and the groomsmen eager to commence drinking. This time we had a little more time, and the beer was conveniently located right next to the spot were we shot.  It was nice to take a little more time with my lighting and composition. I shot the groomsmen in a skate park next to the reception hall. I was down in the bowl shooting up. The low cloud cover produced a white backdrop that made the pink/black tuxes pop. The girls shot was under a gazebo in the park with two off-camera flashes. This photo was originally a full body shot, but I liked it with a waist crop and slightly tilted.

I was in Hood River, Oregon last weekend for my buddies wedding. Ashley and I took a couple of days off work and made a short vacation out of it. I have to say, Hood River is my favorite town in this state, but I love it even more during mid-week before the weekend crowed arrives. I love the breeze off the river too. It reminds me of the Kansas wind. (Without the heat!) The wedding was at Mt Hood Bed and Breakfast, which is located outside Parkdale, OR, on the rolling hills that lead up to the base of Mt. Hood. I forced them to let me take a couple of pictures in front of mountain. The opportunities to shoot with this background are so few you have no choice but to take advantage of the situation. The dancing shot was inside their barn. They didn’t even use the barn for the wedding, but the owner let us use if for some photos. This wasn’t actually their first dance; I forced them to fake it so I could get a few portfolio pics. I used one speedlite to backlight them.

Here are a few images from the engagement session I shot this weekend. Shyla found my website with a search on Google for “engagement photography”. It’s very exciting that I’m starting to get business through organic web searches like Google. I’m sure my website was on page 60 of the results, but that’s still a WIN in my book! I have always wanted to shoot on this dock near OMSI. It offers a great backdrop of the city along with the Hawthorn Bridge. I have a wedding I am shooting in September that is very close to this location. I may try to get the bride and groom here for a sunset shot in the same spot. The road with the leaves was in the Lloyd district by the State Buildings. I can’t tell you what type of tree produces these pink leaves, but they look great blanketing the road. Shyla and Jason were great to work with; they were up for just about anything, floating docks, puddles and dodging street traffic to name just a few. Best wishes to them. Oh, and let me know if you need anyone to shoot the wedding in Maui, I know a great photographer  

Here are a few images from the wedding last weekend in Phoenix. It was nice to get out of the rain and soak up a few rays. I am really happy with the images. I am starting to learn that every wedding presents a challenge in terms of lighting. This one was no different. As the sun began to set the lighting was changing very rapidly. My white balance was all over the place at times, and what was was a proper exposure at one time, wouldn’t be in 5 minutes! Ryan & Erin were great to work with. We were running a little behind schedule following the ceremony but they made time to take one last shot out in font of the country club with the sun setting. Its on my websites home screen right now. The shot of them dancing was interesting. I set one of my flashes on slave and controlled it with the other that was on my camera. I thought it would look cool to get a shot of them back lit during the first dance.  The tricky part is that to do this I have to stay in one place to have the other flash directly opposite of me. I took several shots and never got the “look” that I wanted. Just as their dance was ending I took one last shot and got the image below. My flash was sitting on the table behind them; it really makes them pop out of the background! I love it when an idea works!

I predict that you will be seeing these two on the blog again in a short 10 months from now. I’m sure due to wedding checklists and planning that statement probably freaked Lindsay out a bit (maybe Ben too )  It’s tough to shoot outdoors during the Fall and Winter in Oregon. I found myself on weather websites trying to determine when a break in the rain will occur. I must hand it to them though, you really can’t tell how cold it was in these photos. I had my jacket and stocking hat on and still felt the chill! These were all taken in a little park in the Pearl District. It’s kind of fun to shoot there. With the condo market in the toilet there are tons of empty condo buildings and you have the area to yourself on the east side of the neighborhood.  They’re a fun couple and I look forward to shooting the wedding next Summer. Should be a blast!

Here are a few more from the wedding last weekend in Kansas City. The weather turned out to be quite nice, but it was not looking so good the day before the wedding. I barely got into Kansas City  due to over a foot of snow being on the ground in Denver, where where I was scheduled to catch my connecting flight. It took us three attempts to land. I’m not a nervous flier by any means, but by the time we were on our third approach;  I could have told you where every exit was and how many people I was going to need to climb over to reach it first… My connecting flight ended up getting canceled into Kansas City, as did the evening fight. As soon as I exited the plane I rushed to the gate for the earlier flight in hopes that it was delayed. Sure enough, it was still at the gate and they got me into Kansas City almost on time. My lighting stands didn’t make it, but they got delivered the next day. The weather in KC wasn’t much better, hard rain and wind. It continued to do this up until the night before Jason and Denise’s wedding day, and then Saturday turned out with no clouds and 60 degrees.  They are a fun couple and it was nice to see some of my brother’s friends at the wedding. Jason and my brother roomed together at the University of Kansas. It was nice to see everyone back together.

“Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight? I always ask that of all my prey. I just like the sound of it”

Batman, 1989, The Joker – Played by Jack Nicholson

I’m still processing photos from the wedding I shot in Kansas City last weekend.  I wanted to post this particular shot first though. It was taken of the bride and groom dancing during the reception. Since the wedding was on the 31st of October they turned the reception into a costume party. You really couldn’t of asked for a better setting. It was located at the Bingham-Waggoner estate in Independance, MO. The house was built in the mid 1800’s and really looked like it had a few unexplained stories behind its doors. The area where the reception/dance was held was VERY dark. Its tough to shoot in this type of setting because  your constantly trying to find an appropriate balance of off camera flash and available light. To make things more difficult, you have to maintain a decent shutter speed if you want any chance of your flash being able to freeze the action on the dance floor. Not to mention the camera’s auto focus is pretty much useless because its so dark, so the only option is to manually focus.  I think the lighting balance in this shot turned out perfect and I squeaked by with a just enough shutter speed to freeze the action with a few light trails in the background. I guess it just goes to show how much goes into a shot like this to get it to turn out the way you want.

Technical details.

24mm @ f3.2 1/4 sec shutter ISO 1000

I’m trying to get back into the blog, so here is a photo from this past weekend. Ash is helping me shoot a wedding in Connecticut next weekend, so we went out in the park to practice a little on Sunday. This naturally turned into a “play” session for me with the intermediate sun breaks and the big puffy clouds. I’m certain she will someday be in a business journal due to her success in some off-the-wall business that she started. Here is the photo that can accompany the article. I call it her “Business Journal Photo”!  I’m glad she’s helping me out with the wedding; with a minor in Art History she really has an eye for the creative shots.

Ashley and I went to a wedding this past Sunday at the Historic Overlook House in North Portland. I work with Donna and had the pleasure of meeting Tim a couple of weeks ago at the Blues Festival. I’m always trying to get shots for my portfolio.  The problem is I don’t want to get in the photographers way. So, I’m usually stuck using my 100-300mm since it is less intrusive. That-being-said, you can get some decent shots as long as you have good light since it only stops down to 4.5. The lens has its limitations though. Zoomed in at anything past 200mm you really need a tripod to stabilize your shot. I look forward to my 75-200 2.8 L that I plan to get soon. With the extra 2 stops I can bump up my shutter speed to help with the hand held vs. tripod problem