Jerry and Jackies Wedding Day

I got a last minute call last Friday, to shoot a wedding in Norco the following Saturday.  I had the day free, so I took the opportunity, and had an absolutely wonderful time.  Jackie was absolutely beautiful, and a little nervous, before the ceremony, but once she came down the aisle, she was beaming.  Jerry on the other hand was playing it cool the entire day, however I  could tell he was as proud as can be to have Jackie as his wife.  They had the ceremony in Jerrys uncles back yard, which was along side the golf course.  It was a picture perfect location, and a perfect California spring day.  It was a beautiful service by pastor Adrian Pressley of Campus Hill Church, followed by a wonderful Bar-B-Q dinner by Creative Events by Glenn .  Once the sun set, the weather turned a little cold, but dancing on the patio and a delicious Caribbean rum cake made by Jerry's aunt helped warm everyone up.  By the end of the day, my spirit was lifted, my belly was filled, and my heart was full of love from my new friends.  Thank you Jerry and Jackie, for inviting me into your family to share this wonderful day with you.

The centerpiece vases, lit from behind by a strobe.

The beautiful bride.

This is the one and only picture of the cake topper.  Seconds after being placed atop the cake, the wind blew it off, shattering it into pieces.  Glad I was there when they put it on!

The beautiful centerpieces made by their family.

Orchids

My wife got some orchids for Mothers day from her Grandma, and they have been sitting here in the house tempting me for long enough.  Well, this evening I had a little spare time and decided to shoot them. 



Here's how I shot them:   I used a single 75watt flourescent (equal to 300 watts on a regular bulb) bare bulb light to camera left.  The flowers were about 5 feet from a black backdrop.  I shot it with a 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed out to 200mm, at f/11 and an exposure of 1 second.  I then imported it into lightroom, turned it to a black and white, then used greyscale mix to get the right look.  I then added a little vignette, sharpened, and adjusted contrast. 

It is one of my personal favorites, and I hope you like it too.

One a day Challenge #34 and #35

The first image here is part of a project I was shooting for my mom.  She was needing some pictures of womens hands.  I shot this one of my wifes grandmother.  I wanted the contrasty black and white with grain, so I shot it at ISO 3200  and an aperture of f2.8 for a shallow depth of field.

The next one isn't very artistic, or even very interesting, but it has already made me money.  I shot a series of these letters for stock work, I had them approved this morning, and already sold three of them.  So there is obviously a market for these photos.  There are lots of things out there people need a picture of, which aren't the classic portraits, or even very glamorous, but it provides a source of revenue for someone willing to shoot them.

One a day challenge #33 Happy Mothers Day.

I couldn't think of a better photo for mothers day than a beautiful purple lilly.  Although it looks like I may have photoshopped this image, the bokeh in the picture is straight out of camera.  For the non photographers, bokeh is the soft out of focus background area.

I did bring it into adobe lightroom and increase the vibrance, and a little clarity, but other than that, it is straight out of camera like this.

My wife decorated the master bedroom in purple, so I shot this image to match.  I am giving her a framed print to hang in the room.  I hope she has a great mothers day.  I got up and made her scrambled eggs, bacon, and my cajun hash browns for breakfast.  Next we are headed to church with her mother, then dinner.  I sent my mom a nice little something, but I am afraid the mail man didn't get it to her.  Great!!!  Maybe she can celebrate Mothers Day on Monday.  I sent my son something to give to his mother, and it didn't arrive either.  I guess you shouldn't expect too much for only 44¢ in postage.

Happy Mothers day to all the Mothers in my life!!!

One a day challenge, getting back to it.

After a conversation with my friend and fellow photographer Nate Allred, ( http://treasurephoto.net )  I decided to get back onboard with my one photo a day challenge.  I must admit, the challenge is much more difficult than I originally thought it would be, but I did love doing it, and it is a great way to sharpen my skills, and stay on top of my game.  I was playing with my camera this afternoon, and noticed some interesting shadows caused by the window blinds on my 12 string guitar.  I thought that would make a great black and white photo.

This next part gets a little technical for the non photographers, Sorry.
 
I wanted it to have a heavy grain texture to the print, something that looks like the old Kodak tri-X 1600 film, so I set my Nikon D60 to the ISO setting of Hi-1.  This is an ISO equal to 3200.  In a color photograph, this setting creates an unusable photograph because the noise levels are so increadibly high that the image looks nasty.  However, in a black and white photo, instead of noise, it looks like film grain, which is at times beautiful in a photograph.  Earlier this week, fellow photographer Scott Bourne said "grain is the brushstrokes of photography."  And I couldn't agree more.
I wanted to maintain as little depth of field as possible, so with that high of an ISO, it required a shutter speed of 1/4000 sec and an aperture of  f 7.1.  After shooting it, I took it into lightroom and added a little contrast, otherwise it is right out of the camera like that.  I do love shooting black and white.  I have ever since I first printed my own pictures in a darkroom.  I hope you enjoy this print.  Please feel free to write a note below, and let me know what you think.  I love to get feedback, good or bad.

PCJBR Rodeo

Its hard to believe that it was about thirteen years ago that I entered the world of professional photography when I took a job shooting rodeos for my friend Mark Oakie's brother Alan.  I enjoyed my weekends on the high school rodeo circuit shooting rodeos all across the state of Utah.  I got the opportunity to push my skills and abilities as a photographer to their very limits every weekend.  And this was back in the days of film, no LCD screen on the back of the camera to check and make sure you got the shot.  You had to know your exposure and how to get the shot every time without being able to see the pictures until they got back from the lab a week later.  I spent about two years shooting for Alan, and I loved it, but I had moved on to weddings and portraits, and left rodeos behind for a while.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to step back into the arena and shoot another rodeo.  I must admit, I was a bit nervous.  It had been a few years since I last shot a rodeo, and I was hoping I had not lost the knack.  I was shooting the Pacific Coast Junior Bull Riders rodeo in Norco, Ca, which was part of the cities horse week festivities.  Once I got behind the chute gates, it was as if I had never left.  I felt right at home amongst the livestock and cowboys.  Once the event started, I got back into my groove in no time at all.  I ended up getting some good shots during the event, I did miss one calf rider due to my camera having a quick fit, and wouldn't you know it, he won his division, and his dad was interested in buying a print of his ride.  Its frustrating, but those things do happen.  In all, it went pretty good, and I hope to get the chance to shoot another of their events.

A young bullrider hangs on for one heck of a ride.

The bullfighter puts himself between the bull and the rider.  Either nerves of steel or a little insane, you decide.

This young bullrider looses his seat and goes over the head.

Once again the bullfighter puts himself between the bull and the rider.