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!

Here are a few images from last week’s wedding in Oregon City. Jason and Shauna did a great job decorating their backyard for the ceremony and reception. I’m sure it was a little stressful getting it ready, but I think it really pays off on the wedding day. Everyone seemed to be more relaxed by being in a familiar place. It was a beautiful day too. I’ve been watching the weather back in the Midwest, and i can’t imagine trying to shoot a wedding in 110+ degree temperatures. I had sweat pouring off of me during the ceremony and it couldn’t have been much over 80 degrees!

Spring is taking its sweet time to show up this year. This engagement session was for Andrew and Michelle and it was supposed to be in the middle of their family’s orchards in bloom, but I think we missed it by a week. These were taken last weekend and I’m going to bet that with the few days of sun we had last week; things look quite different around that area. We made the most of it though and found some other cool locations that could provide a scenic backdrop.  I am shooting their wedding in July, so I look forward to seeing what the area looks like then. Plus, it will be fun to shoot with Mt. Hood as a backdrop!

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!

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I’m ready to confess; I enjoy engagement photography the most. Don’t get me wrong, all genres have their advantage, but all-in-all engagement sessions always seem to put me in a great mood.  It’s probably because the one facet of photography that I love the most is capturing emotion. Every week I look through the top 500 associated press photos from the news because so many of them convey a strong sentiment.

Ariel, Ben and I met up in the South Park Blocks by Portland State University area for their engagement session. I was excited to shoot with Oregon’s Fall in full swing as my backdrop. All it takes around here to turn Fall into fell is a good wind storm. There’s a good chance these leaves will be reduced to a  brown paste in a week, so we were all thankful for the nice weather. The last photo was taken in the music hall on campus where Ben wanted to take some shots since he spends a lot of time there as a music major. Great idea!  Best wishes to Ariel and Ben, I think they make  a great couple!

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 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.

Ash and I went to Salem this weekend to take family photos for her long-time  friend Kim. Ash and Kim have known each other since 4th grade when they were neighbors in Forest Grove. I have gotten to know Kim and her husband Doug over the last few years.  Funny story; the photo of the adorable little girl (looking out the glass window) on my website is actually from Doug and Kim’s wedding in Bend a couple of years ago. I wasn’t completely certain who she was, but after speaking with Doug, apparently it is his niece. Thankfully her mom (Doug’s sister) is cool with me using the photo. I’ll make sure I get her a copy, although I’m sure she’s grown up a little by now! By the way, if its not on my home screen anymore you can find it in the “wedding” gallery. I’m thinking I may use one of the shots from this weekend as my home screen; at least I’m keeping it in the Jadin family! Their 3 month old, Kaylee, is adorable. She endured a two hour photo shoot with outfit changes and really didn’t put up a fuss. We shot all of the photos around Bush Park. It was bright out with the afternoon sun, but Bush Park offers so many large trees it didn’t prove too be much of a problem. Oregon is great for outdoor photography because it has an abundance of natural light diffusers; lots of clouds and trees! I really like the results I got from my new Sigma 70-200 2.8 lens. Of course, it helps when you have a cutie like this on the other side of the lens. Fun weekend, I wish we could hang out with Doug and Kim more; they’re a fun couple. Check out the website to see the new home screen photo. www.hauserphotography.com

I’m working on a small “to do” list for my website. One of these tasks was to get a photo of myself on the “about me” page. This is easier said than done, considering I’m usually on the other side of the lens. I wanted something quirky, fun, slightly awkward and made people say, ” you don’t see that every day”. So, I decided to grab three random products from the grocery store this evening, set up the studio lights and let my wife photograph me trying to juggling them. I taught myself how to juggle the summer before I started third grade. We were building our new house that summer and I would stand in what would one day be my room and try to juggle peach pits. (our property was located on an old orchard). By high school I was fairly good. Though I could never juggle more than three items, I could juggle large or odd shaped things. The key is selecting three items that are similar in weight. Now, I would like to tell you that I didn’t put a lot of thought  into selecting the items, but that would be bold face lie. I knew I wanted SPAM because the concept of canned meat is just odd. The other two products were the result of some serious inner debate. I kind of knew I wanted a fruit or vegetable because I didn’t want to put off any vegetarians out there with the can of SPAM. ( Hey, I’m starting my own business, I cant afford to lose any potential customers) First, I selected an ear of corn because I thought It could be a good representation of where I’m from, the Midwest. But I quickly determined that A corn dog might better represent where I’m from. (I would have bought a box  but my freezer is full) I ended up with a pineapple for a couple of reasons. First, its fun!  Second, Its awkward! Remember what I wanted to accomplish with this shoot. It turned out to be a bad selection though, I’ll tell you why later. The third item wasn’t difficult to choose. I asked both Hank and my brother and they suggested beer. I went with Pabts Blue Ribbon because its classic.  PBR and Schlitz are considered by many to be the Red Soxs and Cubs of the American Brewing Industry. Maybe I should say the Red Soxs and Brooklyn Dodgers since Schlitz really isn’t around much any more; of course neither are the Cubs…  The juggling proved to be more difficult than I was anticipating. The SPAM and PBR were easy, but the pineapple was tricky part. I dropped it a couple of times causing it to drip juice.  However, the big problem was that I didn’t have much room to work with. To get everything in the frame meant I couldn’t throw the items very high.  That’s tough to do considering a pineapple weighs a couple of pounds! Overall, it was an interesting yet surprisingly rewarding evening. I know some of you may be wondering if I drank the beer after the shoot… You bet your ass I did!

If you want to see the shot I used on the website go to www.hauserphotograpy.com and select the “about me” link from the “info” tab on my home page.