The second most important wedding of my career!

Let me start about by stating that I have a soft heart; I've seen hundreds of weddings and have worked with hundreds and hundreds of clients. I can recall times where there was not a dry eye in the house during a ceremony; including that of my partners and I. From time to time even I get choked up during a ceremony or during a toast.

But this announcement is something so incredible that I cannot contain myself and must share it with all of you.

I have been asked to not only photograph my dear niece brandy's wedding in Milwaukee, but I've been asked to walk her down the aisle as well!

Mazel Tov to Brandy and George; I'm looking forward to being a part of your special day :)

Katie & Zach - Las Vegas Engagement photography at Tule Springs

This shoot bears the subtitles: "A goose nearly cooked" and "Peacocks came cavortin'"....Read on, dear friends!

Frank Lamb Park at Tule Springs is one of my favorite recommendations for clients looking to get off the strip and do something truly unique. A little variety really adds something to a shoot and it gives me a chance to show that yes, there IS nature in Las Vegas.

Zach and Katie are everything we love about a couple - gorgeous, in love and fun to work with! Upon arriving at Tule Springs, I was at first disappointed to find that the grass had turned yellow and the leaves had all fallen (fall arrives in February?). We were last there in December and the area was much more lush, but Zack and Katie really made up for it with a deep, rich red dress, colorful tattoos and amazing red hair!

Here's a good example of how vibrant colored clothing can really enhance a shoot; the tendency is usually to wear drab, dark colors, but what you usually end up with is a drab, dark shoot. Red is a bold color that looks great against a blue sky or green grass. It's the color of love and passion and I think it's *very* flattering on both men and women.

Katie was dressed to impress with a pinup style red dress with black polka dots and matching era styled hair in an amazing shade of red! When I saw them step out of the car, I shouted over to Sarah "Wow! Don't they look amazing?!?!" Sarah's eyes nearly popped out and she nodded like a bobblehead doll. within minutes, these two hit their marks like professional models and we had a great bit of fun working with them.


Tule Springs is a very 'un vegas' location, which is its main draw for me. While we haven't explored the area fully, there are several bodies of water filled with cat tails that remind me of growing up in Wisconsin. Once the grass gets green again, I expect we'll make a stop back there to photograph the water and greenery.

One of the unique aspects of Tule Springs is that there are several beautiful horses and wild(ish?) peacocks that roam free. A fast eye and a bit of bread will catch an amazing male albino peacock and the last time we were here, we took some amazing shots of another of our couples feeding the peacocks. A steady, confident hand will encourage these majestic animals to feed right out of your hand!

Well....two things: One is that peacock mating season started early this year. As you likely already know, male peacocks attract a mate by spreading their feathers and doing a little dance.

The dance is hilarious; I mean, I love nature and it's impressive, but the one-two step shuffle had me in tears laughing. Another part of the ritual is when the birds shake their tail feathers (remember the Ike and Tina Turner song?). The birds really liked us in a way that we felt it necessary to remind the peacocks that all of us are spoken for. Seriously, there were no female peacocks present at the time, just me... *gulp*

The other thing is that geese (which normally hang out on the other side of Tule Springs) can smell crackers from like a mile and a half away. No sooner did we start trying to feed the peacocks in the middle of their mating dance that we were attacked by five white geese, with a few Canadian Geese waiting in the wings as backup muscle.

I do mean 'attacked', by the way. These horridly delicious meaty birds ate up all of our crackers and then began trying to eat my client's face, all the while hissing angrily like venomous cobras, tongues poking out and all.

I'm a bird lover, I really am - I have two sweet parakeets, two sweet cockatiels and then I have Piggy, who is also a cockatiel, but has the temperament of a rabid pit bull. He hisses, he bites and he loves crackers and I always likened him to a tiny vulture, but he may actually be a reincarnated goose.

Despite my love of birds, I couldn't help but wonder if an altogether different fowl would adorn the dining room table in the Tyler household this Christmas.

but I digress; Katie and Zach's engagement photography session was an example of a shoot gone amazingly right; interesting location, fun people, cool clothing and wonderful colors. I can't wait to shoot their wedding in May!


For those considering a wedding in Las Vegas and want the lights of the strip in your photo, there are several place to stand at Tule Springs in early twilight that offer a gorgeous view of the strip off in the distance. At any rate, you can't go wrong with photography there, espcially with clients as gorgeous as these two :)

Mazel Tov, everyone!
-Deacon

Re-uploaded a few Dry Lake photos

Whoops, there I went mistyping image links; thank you to those that mentioned that a couple of photos weren't displaying :)

'Not So Dry' Lakebed - Jean, NV

My partners and I are always looking for new location ideas and so when I recalled that there was a huge dry lake bed in Jean, Nevada, everyone's response was a resounding "LET'S DO IT!"

The Jean, NV dry lake bed is located just 20 minutes or so outside of Las Vegas and absolutely worth the drive.  There's a goodly amount of scenery along the way, too; perfect for an engagement session, post ceremony wedding photography, boudoir and fashion and the experience was absolutely wonderful from front to back.

It had rained just a couple of days prior and to my delight, the lake bed wasn't entirely dry.  We set up next to this tiny pond and I spotted a young man with his dog and went right to work.

The scenery reminded me of something from Star Wars meets Road Warrior and no sooner did we start snapping away that we spotted a young lady by the name of Nickee, in a mud covered racing uniform with these vibrant pink butterflies on the side. 

It was such a dichotomy that we approached her and after she removed her helmet, we discovered that she was a fashion model! 

My partners and I exchanged glances that said "no way".  I mean, what are the chances that four photographers just happen across a fashion model while on a scouting trip with full gear at the same location at the same time?  Nickee hit her marks without direction like an established professional and her look reminds me of Avril Lavigne. 

Nickee and her family were out quadding (MS Word tells me that 'quadding' isn't a real word, but I'm leaving it anyways and pretending I don't see the squiggly red line underneath), which I thought looked just amazing!  Her sister or mother (they all looked so great and energetic that I couldn't be sure of anyone's age) experienced a flip while jumping the pond and was thrown from the quad, but quickly popped back up and was smiling as if nothing had happened.

I touched up a few of these photos, but decided to leave a bit of caked mud along the jaw line to underscore the dichotomy of beauty vs. dirty.  Truth be told, despite not wearing makeup, Nickee already looked great and we're hoping to have a few shoots with her in the very near future!

For the rest of you, the dry lakebed makes for a wonderful shoot location; it's private, there's dozens of spots along the way to pull over for portraits, the view of the sunset is just second to none and my partners and I will leap at the opportunity to shoot at a truly unique spot such as this.

Wedding of Natasha and Jonny

Oh how I loved these two!
Natasha and Jonny are now happily married and their wedding at Mount Charleston Resort was every bit as beautiful as we were expecting.

Their ceremony was beautifully lit by the afternoon sun, which made an angelic light halo around Natasha's veil and added a feeling of romance and intensity, with a lovely mountain vista wrapping around the scene like a lover's embrace.

After the ceremony we moved onto a nearby park for some snow shots and I realized thirty seconds after the sun dipped below the horizon that it gets cold in hurry in the mountains!  No matter how many times you visit Mount Charleston, you're never quite prepared for the sudden temperature drop.  It went from around 55 degrees to around 10.

After a few sub freezing moments, all of our lips were blue and our faces had turned an alarming shade of purple, so we decided it was time to get toasty again!

The theme of their reception was one of belated Christmas and the reception hall was impressively decorated with ornaments, rope lighting and a homemade wishing well.  I loved it!

Best of all, their families were amazing and kept us laughing the entire day!  Highlights include the flower girl walking down the wrong aisle, Jonny in 'The Grinch' boxer shorts and literally every moment with Jonny and Natasha's various siblings - by the end of the day, Sarah and I felt like family and we're left with such beautiful memories :)

Mazel Tov!