As Seen in The Knot

The latest Knot magazines hit newsstands today. Page 30 contains a few images of mine from Alexis and Phil's Boettcher Mansion wedding last August.

Kayly + Matt in Arvada

Okay, enough with the HDRs, here are just a few "regular" photos from Kayly and Matts wedding in Arvada. I have probably 40-50 images from their wedding that I love, but I am going to keep my post to just these first few that I have been able to tone.

Wedding photography season has begun. I was looking at my calendar yesterday, and I noticed that starting the last week of May, I have at least on wedding every week (usually more) until mid-November. I am so happy to have such a full calendar. Especially if all those weddings turnout to be as enjoyable as Kayly and Matt's celebration... and I fully expect they will be, because only cool people hire me.

Looking forward to 2008!



Kayly and her crack team of bridesmaids leave no detail overlooked. Does this remind you of the dressing scene in Cinderella?


The unity candle, I have photographed it hundreds of times, and it never gets old. This is one of the best parts of any ceremony because the bride and groom are facing the pews. And I think, the symbolism is lost on no one.



I like Catholic ceremonies, because the bride and groom willl generally have a seat during certain parts of the mass. The attention is directed at the priest, and the couple are more free to share a moment like this.



The funny thing about Kayly and Matt's ceremony, the priest never told them to kiss. They started to leave the altar, and realized that they had not kissed. They stopped, just at the top of the aisle, kissed, and then continued down the aisle. This is the moment just after the kiss, as they continued down the aisle. These are the moments that make every wedding unique.


I know, I know, a lot of you are thinking, but that image is blurry. Blur adds to the chaotic feeling of the moment and helps tell that aspect of the story. As always, it is a technique often used by the folks I look up to, VIIphoto.com.

I think that is a good place to leave it for now. If I have a chance before the next wedding, I hope to post more from Kayly and Matt's wedding, as the reception and portraits are also something to see.

Kayly + Matt HDR portrait

This is my first attempt at an HDR wedding portrait. I am not sure what I think of it, please feel free to give me feedback. Sometimes I think it is amazing, other times it just looks odd.

I was happy to find out that it is possible, though tricky, to get an HDR portrait quickly enough so as not to further complicate the portrait sessions. Kayly, Matt and I had a few minutes to try out some portraits at a local park near ceremony location, The Shrine of St. Anne Church in Olde Town Arvada. I should have lots of great "standard" photos to post from their nuptials in the coming weeks.

HDR

Not a whole lot of new wedding work to post recently, but this has given me the opportunity to experiment with a new technique called HDR, or High Dynamic Range. I am working out the bugs in my processing, but so far I do really like the technique. I am going to try it a few weddings this year, and hopefully produce some amazing images. It is a bit more complicated that traditional photography, so I'll need some willing subjects.. looking forward to giving it a try. This is a photo of a train up near the new Stapleton development in Denver. It is probably a bit too dark for wedding work, but I think the technique can be tweaked well enough to provide brighter, but still dramatic results.

The Quintessential Wedding Shot

I like this shot, because it is a really good example of good execution. There is nothing "creative" about the composition or lighting, just a pure moment caught on film (or on flash memory). There are no barriers to the idea that is being communicated --wedding photography in its purest form.


Though, you could argue that putting it in BW is the creative part. I have been converting a great deal of my images into BW recently; it is my current obsession. I think I have just now truly discovered the art of fine art printing. Its all about trying to get as many different tones into the final print, while still maintaining enough contrast to keep the image from looking muddy. That is probably not the best way to put it, but suffice it say, I have rediscovered BW photography. I am envisioning huge BW gallery prints for every shot.

I have also been adding film texture to the images. Back when I shot film, I hated film texture. That was largely because it was during the awkward "half digital" period of the late nineties. Film would be digitally scanned and then manipulated in photoshop. Plus, having never seen a photograph without grain, it was hard to know what grain added to a photograph. Grain always seemed like a barrier to a clean sharp photo, and it is. What I had not realized, is that a clean sharp photo is not always the best thing. Film grain gives the photo a texture, that brings it to life a bit.