There is usually a lot of leg to be seen at weddings, but this one probably takes the cake. Danny, the groom, was born and raised in Scotland, and elected for the entire wedding party to be in traditional Scottish kilts for the wedding day. Other traditional Scottish influences that were to be seen this day were: bagpipes, scotch and scotch. (Did I mention scotch?) The picture in front of the bridge was actually pretty tough to get, simply because it’s a heavily used road/bridge that crosses the Sandy River. To make it even more difficult, the spot where we shot was on a blind corner. I had two groomsmen stationed on either side of the bridge to block traffic. I figured the sight of a man in kilt would, at the very, least get someone to slow down. This was a feel good wedding. It’s great to see two different families from different parts of the world come together, and that is after-all, what it is all about. Best wishes to Danny & Nicole, thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding day!

Overall, it was a great wedding season. I feel like I learned a lot about lighting this summer. Since I am a self-taught photographer, I learn more by trial and error than any-other way… For example, I learned that when I set my flashes up for the ceremony processional, I need to take into consideration that everyone will be standing for a bride. If I put them too low, someone tall standing next to the isle could block the light from front of one of my flashes and cause a dark shadow to be cast over the most important person in the room.  Most importantly, I think I improved my ability to think quickly and creatively. So when I make the aforementioned mistake, I can quickly correct it and not miss an important shot. I look forward to what next year has to offer. Weekends are already being booked, so if you know anyone who is still looking for  a wedding photographer, please send along my info!

I usually don’t process any wedding photos the day after a wedding, but I was excited to see how this particular shot turned out. We started shooting downtown yesterday afternoon before the wedding at the Forestry Center. The plan was to ride the max (our light rail train)  to the Forest Park/Zoo exit for the ceremony. I knew I wanted to get a shot with the train, but it is kind of an eyesore and usually packed with weirdos. Friday night it occurred to me that it would look cool to have the train moving in the back ground with the bride stationary in the foreground. I left the shutter open for two seconds to get the train to blur and used two flashes  (one front and one over her left shoulder) to freeze  the image of the bride. I thought it was going to be hard to get all of the passengers out of the frame, but everyone cleared out and we got a couple of shots. The cool part is that depending on what advertisement was on the train, the streaking is different colors. I love that you can see the reflection of the bride in the train even though its moving. More to come of the wedding!

Oh man am I behind at getting the blog updated with wedding photos. Here are a few from Christopher and Kylee’s wedding two weeks ago. They did something unique in that they scheduled a Sunday morning shoot with me downtown at some of their favorite places. Often the wedding day is extremely busy, this eases some of the pressure on scheduling knowing that you still have the next day to get more bride and groom shots. The image of Kylee before the ceremony made me question why I haven’t been using my 50mm 1.4 lens more. Never underestimate the quality that a prime lens can produce. By prime I mean that it doesn’t offer a range of focal lengths like a 24-70mm lens. Prime lenses often vastly outperform their counterparts in terms of quality. I brought it out at the wedding I shot this weekend and it looked great too.

Here are a few of my favorites from last weekend’s wedding. I shot Ben and Ariel’s engagement photos last fall, and they graciously asked if I could cover their wedding as well. The ceremony was outside at McMenamins Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. High afternoon sun is always difficult to shoot in, but once we got into the shade I got the lighting I was looking for with the couple shots. The reception was in the Compass Room which typically serves as a movie theater or live music venue. With its abundance of natural light and arched ceilings, it was a fun location for a reception. During a break in the action I was playing a game with a little girl that was in attendance at the reception. She would poke her head out above and below this chair as if she were trying to avoid me taking a picture of her. I won!

Congrats to Ben and Ariel, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of your big day!

The wedding season is officially off and running! The first one of the year is always a little more nerve-racking, simply due to the fact that it’s been a while since I shot a wedding. I had a great time and enjoyed spending the day with a truly wonderful and genuine couple. Stephanie and Paul met on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, so they decided to travel back to their roots for the ceremony. I have been looking forward to the opportunity to shoot on the campus of Gonzaga for a couple of reasons. First, ceremonies are often held at venues or churches that hold no special meaning to the couple. Since Steph and Paul met at this location I knew it would come through in the photos. (and it did) Secondly, it’s a challenge to shoot somewhere that you have never been! I was a little nervous about the ceremony. Flash photography is sometimes frowned upon in churches and on-campus chapels seem to be dark.  I was amazed at how beautiful the chapel actually was. I have been in a lot of Catholic churches, but this one was one of the most unique and inviting that I have ever been in. When I asked the Priest about using my flashes he said, “Do whatever it takes to make her happy”.   I knew it would be smooth sailing from that point on.  Overall, great day, great couple, great way to start the season!  ** UPDATE**  Just noticed the word “ERECTED” in the second shot. I’m gonna need to crop that or do some cover-up work  before its all said and done.  Right? Or am I just childish? I guess the way I see it is if I had the option for having, or not having, the word “ERECTED” in my wedding photos; I would probably choose the latter…

Well, I finished processing the third session from this weekend just in time to leave for Palm Springs. This little cutie is a co-works daughter. I have been trying to use more natural lighting lately. I really don’t think you can beat it when comes to photographing babies. The top photo is taken next to a window and the bottom is flash. The problem is you need a lens that can handle the low light. Speaking of which,  I have a nice two week break before the photography stuff starts picking back up again so I decided to ship off my 24-70 2.8L to canon to get it fixed. It will focus in auto mode, but it wont in manual. Clearly this is something that needs to be fixed before wedding season! I’m already in the hole $40 with shipping, hopefully it wont be too much to fix!

Sorry for the break. This is the 7lb 14 oz reason I took a short hiatus. Her name is Avery Brooke Hauser and she is an angel. I have ALWAYS wanted the photo of a newborn on a stack of towels. I saw it done on another photographers website a few years back and I loved it. I’ve been patiently waiting for someone with a newborn to contact me for photos, but all my sessions to date have been for toddlers. Well, I don’t have to wait anymore!

I’ve been using my flashes a lot  lately as a result of cloudy weather and earlier sunsets.  This weekend I wanted to try to stay away from the flashes if possible, so  I scheduled this quick family shoot for 4pm thinking we would have enough light for some outside shots. However, I forgot Daylight Savings ended Sunday morning which pushed the light back to what was the equivalent of 5pm! I thought I was screwed, but in the last few moments of daylight the clouds broke on the horizon and we got about 3 min of soft setting sun. I had to fight the urge to take the easy way out which would have been simply pointing them into the sun and shooting. Instead I used it as a back light and used my flash to fill in on the front side. This is something I probably wouldn’t have thought about doing a year ago…

Fall is here and the days are definitely getting shorter. So much so that this engagement shoot had to be stretched over a couple of evenings. Emily and Rex are both in the middle of their Residency at OHSU. By the time they got off at the hospital there was really only an hour left of useable light. At least it’s the best hour of light for photography! I wish I would have had someone take a picture of me while I was 15 feet up a tree with a couple of cameras hanging from my neck. I need to climb more trees; it made me feel like a kid again!

  I’m excited to shoot Emily and Rex’s wedding next summer at Cooper Spur Resort on Mt Hood. I’ve been told we can go for a ride on the chair lift, which will make for some great photos!

Here are a few images from the wedding I shot a couple of weeks ago. The rain this fall is really starting to hack me off. This time it forced me into a scramble to find new locations to shoot that were covered. The two middle images were taken directly under I-5, just before the Marquam Bridge. We had to scream at each other to be heard, but at least it was dry. I guess the one redeeming quality of rain is that it produces a reflective surface that can add some great character to a photo. I had originally set up the dancing shot with a flash overhead, but the batteries in my flash gave out just as I started to shoot. Since the rain was starting to pick up again I decided to steady the camera on a table, leave the shutter open for 1 second and just use available light. The convention center lights in the background illuminated the low clouds and made the cool looking halo. This area is where the ceremony was going to be held before the rain forced it indoors, so I’m happy we got at least one shot there for Ben and Lindsay.  Also, for any future couple that want me to stick around at the reception little longer than originally planned, tell me to help finish the Keg and have college football playing at the bar