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

My work sponsored a “kids day” with OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) at PGE park the other day. It’s pretty cool, OMSI teaches the kids about the physics involved in baseball. Instead of sitting in the classroom for the day they all get to go to the park to cheer for the Beavers who are our local AAA affiliate with the Padres. We sponsored three of these days during this season and each of the guys in the marketing department, including myself, got to throw out the first pitch for one of the games.  We have been razing each other trying to make one another nervous. My buddy Ryan went first, he threw it low and in the dirt AND GOT BOOED by 5,000 cotton candy infused kids. My pitch was last week. I was nervous; you have to show up a couple hours before the game so you have plenty of time to think about it. The way I see it, you only get one chance in your life to throw out a first pitch at a baseball game. If you screw it up your never gonna get a second opportunity. I would be ling if I told you I hadn’t stepped off 60ft 6 inches and practiced the weekend before. Actually I stepped off 55ft because I figured they wouldn’t let me stand on the mound. Long story short, I announced my presents with authority and threw a perfect strike. The guy I threw to is Raymond Chang, he’s actually from Kansas City and played his college ball at Rockhurst University.