Monthly Archives: March 2010

Had there been enough room, I would have added the subtitle “When geese attack….again”.  This is going to be a big blog post and that’s okay because this was a big wedding – both in size and intrinsic value to me.

Our history with Justin & Jenny stretches far back to the day that Justin proposed and the story of their proposal is one of the funniest of my career. 

We were originally hired to secretly photograph this proposal, paparazzi style, beginning with the moment these two departed their plane in Las Vegas.  I quickly learned however that airport security does not like having two people with large cameras, telephoto lenses and no luggage running around taking pictures in an airport on an “orange threat level” day.  Oops.  I nearly made onto the ‘no fly’ list that day and we both had some ‘splainin to do in a tiny windowless room.

While they did temporarily confiscate my equipment, I had a full complement of backup equipment in the car and we captured the proposal itself in the middle of Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas.

When Justin knelt down in front of Jenny and pulled out the small box with her ring inside, everything in me melted as I fired shot after shot.  I could hardly maintain my composure as the tears streamed down her face and they became engaged.  It was such a beautiful moment, captured forever on camera.

I was honored to shoot this wedding at the beautiful Grand Tradition in Fallbrook, California.  Clients often worry that their out of state vendor will not arrive, or will be delayed by misadventure, especially when that vendor is in a different state.  When Justin presented that concern to me, I smiled very widely as I typed “We’re the one vendor that you will never have to worry about”. 

A good photographer has multiple backup plans in the event that something unfortunate occurs on the day of the shoot and I’d like to segue into that for a moment.  Over the years, we have seen nearly every sort of misadventure occur, from veils blowing away, entire dresses getting torn off, vehicles breaking down, cameras failing, lenses cracking and lots and lots of flashes failing.

I bring along a minimum of three camera bodies to each wedding photography session, 8 camera batteries, ten 16GB memory cards, 4 camera flashes, 8 lenses, around 80 AA rechargeable batteries, light stands, reflectors, studio lighting, emergency replacement veil, needle and thread, cake cutting set, bobby pins and safety pins. 

Most importantly though, I bring my partner Sarah, who acts as my second pair of eyes, my photography assistant, wardrobe assistant, secondary shooter and a relief shooter, should I ever become too injured or ill to work (and this has so far never happened).  There is very little that can occur to keep me from arriving to a shoot or present enough of an obstacle to prevent me from completing a shoot.

Sarah and I arrived at the Grand Tradition a couple of hours early to walk the grounds, meet the wedding coordinator and photograph all of the little details.  At each table, there were cards that told the story of how these two met, became engaged and touching stories of important events in their relationship.  Each story was accompanied by a related picture and I read them all, thanking myself for arriving early enough to soak it all in.

Grand Tradition has a beautiful heart shaped lake in which an equally beautiful swan swims in search for humans to attack.  Yes, the swan DID attack and it has become a long running gag that, whenever a swan or goose is present during one of our shoots, someone will get bitten.  Thankfully, it has never been me.

My friend Rebekah tells me that “Anatidaephobia is the fear that somewhere in the world, there is a duck watching you” and I respond with “just because I’m paranoid, doesn’t mean the ducks aren’t out to get me”.

I absolutely loved how nervous Justin was when he arrived!  The looks of anticipation as he posted to Facebook with trembling hands and the laughter shared between him and his groomsmen were some of my favorite moments.

When Jenny arrived looking like the world’s sweetest and most beautiful supermodel, I just knew that this wedding was going to be epic.  Getting ready shots are not only some of the most important shots we take at a wedding, they’re also some of our favorites. 

Did I mention the dress?  Holy cow that dress is gorgeous and so were the bride’s maids!  I absolutely loved all of their beautiful smiles and energy and we actually ended up with at least ten minutes to spare!

After the ceremony I was treated by Justin and Jenny’s amazing romantic chemistry!  The way these two are so natural and genuine with each other, I have no doubt in my mind that they will enjoy decades of intense, long lasting love.  After portraits and formals was a wonderful reception filled with tears and laughter that ended with a beautiful bubble blowing sendoff. 

All in all, the day went by too quickly for me.  I refuse to wear a wristwatch, but whenever I saw the time, I was shocked to see that hours had passed when it felt like only minutes.  Mazel Tov to Justin and Jenny and I say that with a severe pang of sadness and loss, in that I already miss this couple very dearly and hope that our paths will cross again very soon!

A client recently asked me what my least favorite part of a shoot was.  After mulling it over, I replied “saying goodbye”.

The relationship between a couple and their wedding photographer is a very personal experience and in the quickly passing time between reserving your wedding photography session and when we say our goodbyes, we share our smiles, conversations, laughter and I’m not ashamed to admit that we have sometimes even shed a few tears. 

There’s so much that we as photographers see and experience behind a lens that nobody knows about; the look in a father’s eye right after he gives his daughter away, or the way a grandmother purses her lips and tilts her head upwards to hold back tears of joy.  What they feel and what you feel is what we feel and that creates the dichotomy between a snapshot and photojournalistic art.

Karice and Brad flew into Las Vegas all the way from Ottowa, Ontario in Canada and were wed at the Venetian.  They were as beautiful a couple as I had ever seen and there was something graceful and delicate in the way they interacted with each other that words can’t quite describe and the look in each others’ eyes were filled not only with love, but complete admiration, trust and respect, which was just breathtaking.

Easy smiles and laughter always make for my favorite shots – there’s something so genuine and true about seeing a couple laugh together that I just can’t get enough of.  I incorporate a lot of ‘trust’ shots – picking up, carrying, dipping, holding – that symbolizes the mutual trust and respect in every happy marriage. 

Because we had begun so late due to an error that Venetian had made with the limo reservation, Sarah and I knew we needed more shots and so we pulled Karice and Brad out of the restaurant and I decided to shoot inside the Venetian, where Brad & Karice immediately took the the floor an performed a beautiful dance in front of an amazed crowd of onlookers. 

Venetian and Bellagio are two hotels that are very vocal about not allowing independent photographers on hotel grounds and I usually make a note to avoid shooting at either location entirely, however I figured that if we were asked to leave….well, we were leaving anyway!

All in all, as we shook hands and hugged goodbye, I felt a strong pang of loss and wish that we could have had several more hours together!  Karice and Brad were absolutely wonderful and I sincerely hope that we see these two again.

Mazel Tov to you both!

ave I mentioned how much I love Texas clientele?  Kimberly & Derek are a beautiful couple that came all the way from Dallas for their wedding at Caesar’s Palace.  Ironically, I had just flown back from San Antonio just a few hours before we met with them, so my Texas-centric weekend was still in full swing.

The importance of hair and makeup artistry

We began the day with some getting ready and details photos, which I insisted on after learning that James from Glamsquad would be present.  If I could go off on a tangent for a moment – watching James work is like poetry in motion.  The intense focus of his eyes and each brush of makeup is entrancing as a bride is transformed into a princess. 

You will never be as beautiful and young as you are on your wedding day (and that’s not to say that it is all downhill afterwards) and you owe it to yourself to hire a professional hair and makeup artist.  The cost is much less than you would expect and the difference shows in every photo.  Clients flying into Vegas are often jet lagged and dehydrated and having a coat of airbrushed makeup leaves you looking fresh and vibrant and best of all, airbrushed makeup rarely runs, so you’re free to let those emotions and tears out all day long

I talk often of the importance of camera gear and the role that it plays in image clarity, but I tend to be a little vague.  In the days of 35mm film cameras (insert nostalgic sigh here) image quality was determined entirely by lighting, photographer technique and the type of film used.  The camera model had little to nothing to do with color balance, contrast and clarity. 

With the rise of professional digital cameras, the camera sensor itself *is* the ’film’ and the camera model is of the utmost importance in overall image quality and should be of the utmost importance when considering a wedding photographer. 

We currently utilize the Nikon D700 camera bodies and the difference in quality between that and nearly any other camera model is immense. 

As a long time film supporter, I like a bit of fine grain and softness to my images – it makes an image look a bit more contrasty and adds a three dimensional organic quality to photos which looks great when printed.  To accomplish this, I increase the ISO (film speed) which makes a digital sensor more sensitive to light at the cost of image quality and grain.  At least that’s what it is supposed to do.  The problem is that the D700 does such an amazing job cleaning up digital noise and grain that images look amazingly sharp, with little grain, no matter what settings I select.

Here is a link to one of the full resolution images (selective focus on James, with the rest of the scene fading off into smooth bokeh).  Note: Most image viewers will scale a large image like this down and to get the full effect, view it only at 100% and scroll to the right

http://www.dtyler-photography.com/images/D3D700/812708496.jpg

Logic would dictate that the above shot should have been taken with my Nikon 105mm prime macro lens with vibration reduction (quite possibly the sharpest lens Nikon has ever produced) at a reasonably low ISO of 200 or 400, but instead, the image was shot from thirteen feet away at ISO 2000 with the D700 and a fifteen year old 80-200mm zoom lens that I purchased used in 1997.  It has never been calibrated and I make no special care towards its transport or cleaning and should be considered the worst lens in my kit.  It has also been dropped a few times over the last decade and a half and has a UV filter that usually cuts down on sharpness and image quality. 

I shot most of Kimberly’s getting ready photos at my zoom lens’ maximum aperture of f/2.8 to achieve the selective focus, which is the aperture which a lens looks its absolute worst.  The resulting image is so clear that it reveals even the tiniest of pores and hair follicles in stunning clarity and shows that while lens quality is important, at the end of the day the camera wins out.  While I have over a dozen newer lenses, there’s some imperceptible quality in my old 80-200 that I just don’t see from my other lenses and it remains my default ‘go to’ telephoto lens even after all these years.

I mention the above in response to a question I received from a client that read a thread on The Knot debating the merits of digital camera model on image quality, but I digress.

Kimberly and Derek had a bit of rainy weather to contend with and their ceremony was moved from the outdoor gazebo at Caesar’s Palace to the indoor chapel, but nothing could slow these two down and they exited the chapel with as big a small and bright personalities as I have ever seen. 

I’m not usually too crazy about hotel chapels, but Caesar’s has this amazing staircase that we couldn’t help getting tons of shots on before moving onto the reception at the Trevi restaurant in the forum shops. 

I absolutely love Sarah’s detail shots here – all taken with a 50mm Nikon lens @ f/1.4.  Having a second photographer with me at all times is wonderful, as she always finds little details that even I would have missed and seeing alternate angles from her keen eye really breathes some variety and freshens up a shoot well!

Mazel Tov to Kimberly and Derek and may your days and nights be filled with wonderful memories of a long and happy life together!

Man alive, I’ve been waiting to say this for some time: “The stars at night are big and bright” *clap* *clap* *clap* *clap* “DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!”
This trip has been a long time coming for me.  Roughly half of our wedding clients here in Las Vegas hail from Texas and they’ve always been the most hospitable and friendly folks you could ever meet.  Over the years, we’ve shot in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, Nevada, California, Florida, Hawaii, various islands, Europe and dozens of other locales and it is with some pride that I can now add Texas to the list!  

Diana and Garrett were wed last weekend in San Antonio and it was one of the most breathtaking ceremonies and receptions I have witnessed in some time, complete with a string quartet, a mariachi band and a celebrity guest – country music singer Rodney Hayden, whose beautiful music nearly put a tear to my eye.  I want to use cliché terms like “red letter day” or “banner event”, but I think I’ll fall back on the old reliable “absolutely amazing” instead. 

We were greeted with cloudy skies on arrival and while that seems like a bad thing, it’s actually quite nice.  Even, diffused lighting really makes colors ‘pop’ and opens up the eyes quite a bit.  This was a very emotional wedding and there was a great deal of love in the guest seats that really got to me.  A good photographer notices everything – we see things nobody else sees and hear things nobody else hears – and all I could hear were whispers of love, admiration and support for these two beautiful people and it was wonderful.  Just wonderful.  Did I mention Rodney Hayden?  That was just as cool as working with Serena Williams last year!

The ceremony was one of the smoothest I can recall – there was a great amount of room to move up and down the aisles and everyone remained seated and the quality and sheer number of shots we got reflects the amazing level of cooperation and thought that was put into Diana and Garrett’s wedding.  I loved every second of it!

Between the two cameras I brought with, I personally ended up with over 600 processed wedding photos, all retouched, sharpened and enhanced on top of the shots from my partner, leaving our bride and groom with likely over 1,000 images of beautiful photos from my partner and I, with every imaginable angle covered. 

Last weekend was the most Texas-centric weekend on record, with a beautiful Texas couple on Friday, a beautiful couple IN Texas on Saturday and another beautiful Texas couple on Sunday. Texas is quickly starting to feel like a second home to me and I’m pretty good with the hope that one day *I* will be a Texan myself.  I really want to use lines like “We grow ‘em big in Texas” or “Don’t mess with Texas” or laugh when tourists go looking for the Alamo’s basement.

The one problem with this wedding is that I fell in love with Texas in my short time there and am of the opinion that it may be one of the best places on Earth.  The air was sweet, the people were sweeter and there was a delicious fast food joint called Whataburger…..WHATABURGER!  Jiminy Cricket, was that ever tasty!

Well, now that I think of it, there was one other problem – I’ve found that the best way to take reception dance shots is to actually be on the dance floor.  I *really* get into my photography and once Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ started playing I was swinging my hips along with the music, carrying twenty five pounds of cameras, lenses, brackets and flashes, getting some absolutely incredible dancing shots and then I managed to pull a leg muscle.  Ow. 

But I digress

Mazel Tov, you two!

The week ahead: This week is pretty exciting – we have a wonderful couple from Canada coming in on Friday and then a wedding with one of my favorite couples of all time in sunny California the very next day. I’m looking forward to both and eager to share my experiences.  My shoes are going to be on fire with all this great travelling!

I’ve always considered myself to be one of the luckiest photographers around, in that we have the opportunity to meet incredible people every day and become a key aspect of the most important day of their adult lives.

This next couple just blew me away!  Greg and Karlie were married last weekend and from the word ‘go’ I was taken aback by the rare grace and beauty in their every interaction and pose, like a form of visual music.  

For the time we had together, my partner Sarah and I fell in love with Karlie and Greg’s entire family. The hospitality they showed us and the camaraderie we all shared warmed my heart, and the wonderful feedback we received that has literally kept me smiling for two days straight. 

The social aspect of photography is sometimes lost in translation, but the trust a client places in their wedding photographers shows in every single shot just as much as the love they hold for each other. Neither of us will ever forget Greg, Karlie and all of their wonderful family. 

I sincerely believe we’re going to see these two again and have loved keeping in touch with all of them through Facebook (and yes, that IS a shameless plug)

Until we meet again, Mazel Tov and the very bestest of wishes to you both, my friends!