Hey look, there’s an Atari logo in my title!

Ok I’m done. Commence blogging!

Ahem…

Derek and Summer’s wedding was the third in a series of back to back weddings. It really was a blast! Yes, I was a little tired that weekend, but I feed off of people’s energy, and these guys’ wedding was dripping with it! Everyone, including the bride and groom, were out on the dance floor like nobody’s business and that just makes for a great time.

Also really interesting to me; Derek is a CSI. Yep, like the TV shows!

I’d like to humbly suggest to Hollywood producers to consider the following:

CSI: Salt Lake City

What?! You’ve already done all the major cities, time to branch out to the smaller ones! Just imagine CSI in teeny tiny towns. Like CSI: Mount Pleasant… Oh the irony!

Anyway, so Derek & Summer were really just awesome. As with anyone else, I try to stay in touch with them on Facebook, where Derek and I have exchanged some hilarious David Caruso clips.

“Horatio, there don’t seem to be any pictures in this blog post.”
“Well maybe you should try…
*sunglasses*
… a little patience”
*exit screen left*
YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I consider myself incredibly lucky; I have very few wedding horror stories to speak of. 99.99% of my brides are a joy to work with.

But every now and then I really just click with my couples. Working with them becomes effortless, talking to them when I’m not behind the camera is easy as pie and staying in touch (my Facebook account is where it’s at, baby!) is a breeze.

With Rob & Lyndsy, that’s exactly what happened. And what a wonderful pleasure it was to work with them.

Now, I can’t speak for other photographers, but I’m a STRONG believer in having a relationship with my clients beyond just the professional one. And I don’t do this as a ploy for future work (although that does tend to happen), I do it because I love people…

You read that right! Imagine that! A photographer who loves people!

Anyway, so without further ado, here’s their wedding day, beginning with my favorite image:

I’m a little behind on my weddings (on the blog at least), but I was working on Derek & Summer’s wedding today and came across this:

I love this shot of Summer… So elegant…

The little dressing room had two light sources. One large soft light and some overhead lighting. Kind of a recipe for disaster although at least they were the same temperature (tungsten lighting), but Summer just happened to be in the right place, turning just the right way, for the light to land on her perfectly. I turned the flash off and used available light.

But it made me think; I gotta get a model to do this in a controlled environment. Maybe with a haze of cigarette smoke or something. Can you see it?

Anyway, Derek & Summer’s wedding pictures are coming soon.

When they booked me, Michael and Jessica insisted they were very awkward in front of cameras. I get brides and grooms like that every now and then. Even rookie models feel that way sometimes.

It’s my job to make that feeling disappear. I’d say they did pretty well

By far the oddest request I’ve had for weddings this year was from this couple.

Cliff & Jjana: “Could you NOT shoot pictures at the ceremony?”

Me: “No pictures at the ceremo–…” THUD! I fall to the ground.

When I finally came to I was in a hospital and was told I’d been in a coma for 12 years. That’s weird… I must have traveled back in time during my coma.

But as much as I tried to convince the beautiful couple to let me take pictures during the ceremony, they insisted that as actors currently living in DC, they’d become too aware of themselves with a camera clicking away to be natural during the part of the wedding they didn’t want anyone to remember in any way but in their hearts.

I respect that. They knew what they wanted, they knew what they were giving up but felt that what they were gaining was greater.

Cliff & Jjana were an absolute dream to work with. Very laid back and the coolest personalities. And their guests were too (see?).

Hope you enjoy the photography and Happy Memorial Day!

Trying to be a bit creative with the title variations for weddings

It’s already been a month since this awesome couple was married in beautiful Las Vegas. How time flies!

Like I mentioned before, this wedding was so amazing it made it my first ever truly positive trip to Vegas. And what made it so? Essentially, this awesome couple, that’s what.

The New York New York hotel (I was right next to the roller coaster listening to people scream! hahaha!), the Loews hotel with crickets chirping at night as I overlooked Lake Las Vegas, the awesome guests, the touching ceremony, all the fun everyone had, the partying; everything stemmed from just these two.

John, Amy, if you guys are reading this, I can’t thank you enough for taking such great care of me during my stay, and more than anything, for allowing me to be part of the truly beautiful celebration of your union.

I’m working through Saturday’s wedding and I remember walking by and being momentarily blinded by sunlight. I stopped and looked but quickly realized that I liked the light, but nothing else.

So I shot it completely out of focus just to see what the light might tell me.

Right now as I look at it, for some reason, the following words come to mind:

“Light in its indiscernible form”

I think I should do more of this.

I had a roll of undeveloped film from back when I was in NYC, so I finished it on Wil & Ashley and my boys.

First, the really touching picture of Wil & Ashley:

The gorgeously simple Guggenheim museum:

A bridge in Central Park:

Back home, my oldest, Gabe:

And a little something different to finish off.

I hardly have any pictures of myself. I think that’s true of most photographers actually, and although I can’t speak for all of them, I know my share, myself included, who don’t like their appearance. Maybe that’s why we prefer to stay behind the camera. I know it’s the main reason for me.

Anyway… Enjoy a rare little glimpse of myself in pictures.

Mason took a shot of me with my Holga:

And yesterday evening at a wedding, a guest took my camera and decided I should be in this group picture. I wasn’t about to object to being surrounded by six beautiful women! What I wasn’t expecting however, was the girls deciding they’d pick me up!! Why OH WHY didn’t I just smile?!?!?!

This wedding was such a blast! I’ll be posting more of it soon (I still need to post the pictures from the Vegas wedding). At the end of the evening when the party stopped, the bride just said “You’re off the clock! You can go home if you want, but we’d love to have you stay and hang out with everyone.”

So I did

I ended up mingling with a whole bunch of cool people, playing a few exciting games of foosball and then finally calling it a night after being invited to take one of these beautiful stones home with me:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.

I LOVE my job.

Vegas Lights

Since I’ve come to the United States, every single time I’ve been to Vegas has been a bad experience. Even at its very best, it was a mixed experience, with equal parts happiness and suffering. At its worst…

Well I’d rather not talk about those times in my life…

Las Vegas is a strange place.

Although the strip can’t speak for all of Las Vegas, it’s certainly the part of Vegas tourists think of most when trying to picture the city. And I’ve always wanted to put into words what I feel about that part of it.

Here it is:

Las Vegas wants to strip away whatever dignity you have by the time you leave.

The absolute visual and sonic chaos, flashing lights everywhere begging for attention, every type of smut you can imagine at ever corner, slot machines taking whatever money you came in with, casinos clearly designed to keep you from figuring out where the exit is, fake statues and the occasional classical music trying to pose as class, bar after bar after bar…

Like a black hole in outer space, even the speed of light can’t escape its pull.

Coming home today, I was in the airport and at the gate, I sat across from a young woman who had just turned 21. I’ve never seen anyone sleep like that.

She looked up, our eyes met and she was immediately embarrassed. I didn’t think there had been anything to be embarrassed about, but she obviously felt there was. The poor girl looked ill, disheveled, hung over, shivering at the airport and inside the plane, and as she told me later, she was only wearing the dress she was because she had nothing else left to wear, hated the city and was desperate to get home. As I sat next to her in the plane, she revealed that she’d fought with loved ones and everything that could have gone wrong for her, did.

I had never enjoyed my visits to Vegas either.

Until yesterday.

Because yesterday, I was there for what turned out to be a gorgeous wedding, surrounded by fantastic people, just across from Lake Las Vegas. As I went back to my hotel room, I had to spend a few minutes on the balcony.

Crickets chirping, the faint sound of laughter.

After about half a dozen visits, I had finally, finally experienced Las Vegas in a truly positive light.

Seeing that girl was a bit like looking into my past, minus the drinking. I’d had a terrible time, relationships had changed, I was far poorer than when I’d gone in with nothing to show for it and I couldn’t wait to go home.

At least now, I can’t wait to go back.

Last week, you saw the world of San Francisco in color. Today, you’ll see it in black and white.

Now, I may not have extensive experience as a film photographer, but I did pay close attention to when I felt I should be using color and when I shouldn’t. Hopefully my photography will convey this, but I wasn’t switching haphazardly.

Here we go!

Street performance away from the tourists.

The last moments of this crab were spent watching a curious child.

Ok, so I don’t care how much of a tourist I am for seeing Alcatraz, but I knew I wanted to from the start.

And then, on the day before last, I decided to go up to Twin Peaks and admire the view…

And as I looked up to the peak I was headed for, I noticed a small group of people. My instant thought was “Really? Tourists? Up here? In a group like that?”

The view got more breathtaking with every step. But as I got closer to the peak, I realized… I just walked into a wedding. I managed to get there just in time for the handsome couple to say “I do”. How sweet is that?!

And I couldn’t help but take some pictures. What a wonderful place to get married. The ceremony was tiny, with only about twenty people attending, the weather was perfect and the couple seemed profoundly happy.

iPhone photos coming soon…