2012 has been such a great year for wedding photography and Kyle & Evelyn’s wedding at DragonRidge Country Club will go down as another of my all time favorite weddings.  The vendors, the couple and the venue formed such a perfect synergy of awesome that in the weeks since, it's become a topic of conversation 'round here. 

Gosh, where do I begin?   This was the first wedding that I shot with our new 36MP Nikon D800 camera and it was a complete boss – holy cow, the level of detail this camera pulls in is just amazing and makes such a nice pairing with our D700 cameras (and I've always been a three fisted photographer with more cameras around my neck than Mr. T has gold chains, despite my back screaming "no!" from the 40ish pounds of equipment I wear).  There were just so many little moments that we caught – be it a laugh or a cry – that again we dipped past 100 shots in this blog post (and I've never been one for "short and sweet" anyways).

Dragonridge is one of those venues where a blind monkey with no thumbs (and if such an animal exists, I instantly feel terrible) could take beautiful photos.  Floral and decor were provided by our always incredible friends at Naakiti Floral and lighting, MC and DJ services were provided by Kevin Cordova of LED Unplugged, whom I've said many many times is the best DJ I have ever witnessed.  The organization and class that these two companies brought to the table was just sublime; they make every wedding appear like a royal event and always leave me in awe. 

Now I almost never mention wedding coordinators, but Carrie Key, the wedding coordinator at DragonRidge is the model of everything that a wedding coordinator should be and I'm surprised at the number of times she's come up in our conversations over the last few weeks.  Always attentive, helpful and incredibly easy to talk to, we absolutely LOVED working with her and are looking forward to our next DragonRidge wedding!

Another thing I noticed was how helpful and supportive Kyle & Evelyn's wedding party was.  As photojournalists, our entire job is to notice things and I'm not sure if I've ever seen a wedding party support a couple the way that Kyle & Evelyn's did; they even helped US and really added to the warm feeling this wedding had.

Now over the years we've had some funny wedding related stories and this was one of the all time best.  As we were shooting the bridesmaids, one of them discovered a bee was INSIDE of her hair bun.  Now, last time I was stung by a bee, I swelled up like the Michelin Tire Man, but bees are usually pretty cool.  They've got the one weapon that they can only use once before dying, so they're probably pretty cautious about it.  I'm sure every bee that has ever stung a human being was probably like "oh craaaaaaaaap"  so I made no bones about getting in REALLY close to the bee filled hair bun to grab some closeups, thinking "he just wants to be free".   This was really stupid…I know, but as a wedding photographer, I'm there to shoot *everything* for posterity.

Immediately the bee darted out and attacked me.  Not 'stung' mind you, it freaking punched me in the face.  Twice….and then started chasing me.  I have never been hit in the face by a bee before or aggressively chased by one either.  It then FLEW INTO MY EAR.  INSIDE!!!  This was no small bee, either.  This is the bee that you don't invite to Thanksgiving; the bee that's in line for thirds at the buffet; the bee sitting his chunky butt down and licking his plate at the dinner table and then asking "oh is that it?  No dessert?"  This was a BIG BEE….and it was inside my ear.

To put my next action into perspective, I am a six foot tall man wearing a big photo vest and holding two giant cameras, both of which were equipped with brackets, flashes, wireless triggers, battery packs and zoom lenses and right then and there I lost my stuff and screamed like the littlest of girliest girls, running back and forth as the bee repeatedly hit me in the face and tried again for my ear.  I really wish I was making this up, but I really did get my butt beat by an insect.,,,,but if you've been reading my blog for a while now, you'll remember that I have a bad relationship with insects (and I'm talking about the time I fractured my femur last year stomping crickets after uncovering a huge nest of them in our old studio).

Look: nature is beautiful, but from here on out, if it has more than four legs, it's going to die by fire.  The bee then attacked another bridesmaid's hair and then one of his buddies chased Sarah DURING the ceremony.

So on that note, everything after Bumblebee-gate was spectacular; it was wonderful seeing Dawn from ShutterBooth and I witnessed my first "football garter throw", complete with a tackle.  At the risk of sounding corny and cliché, everything was so perfect that it's a wedding I wish I could relive every week (minus the bee…) and we congratulate Kyle & Evelyn on their wedding on what will surely be a lifelong marriage filled with love and happiness!

"Stunning", "incredible", "beautiful" are words that you use to describe normal things, but I nearly filled my pants and my eyes bugged out wider than Katy Perry's at a surprise birthday party as I watched for the first time wedding cinematography taken to a whole new level.  Terrence and Suzi are incredible humble people and will never tell you how insanely awesome they are, so I'll do it for them – they're insanely awesome and their films make me want to grab overpriced movie theater popcorn and kick the seat in front of me.  It's like watching the Avengers or Batman, but with slightly more romance, less spandex and (hopefully) no punching.

I was HONORED when they asked me to do a promo shoot for them – you have no idea!  We went to the new Smith Center in downtown Las Vegas and sadly, we got the boot (much like nearly everywhere in Las Vegas, written permission is required for professional photography in Las Vegas) but not before we got some great shots in!

For lighting, I wanted to have some of that natural golden sunset lighting in the shot to add some colour to Terrence' white outfit while killing a few hard shadows, so I feathered a beauty dish equipped studio strobe on Terrence and Steven's right side, and used a soft silver umbrella with another studio strobe to Suzi's left.

I can't say enough how much I love these folks and I'm bleeding with joy that we'll be working with them at a Springs Preserve wedding next week!

Holy crap does this couple ever have swagger!  I can't get enough of them and this is the much promised wedding portrait session with Trond and Jannicke (and even their names are freaking COOL!)

When we met with Trond and Jannicke (and yes, I'm going to make every excuse to say their names) at our studio to go over their wedding photography timeline, we had already decided that, even with a whopping ten hours of shooting (that had turned into almost 11 hours), we probably weren't going to have much time for portraits with just the two of them, so we had this shoot planned out in advance.  Trond and Jannicke had left up all of their amazing wedding decor and we went to work filling in the gaps of shots that weren't feasible on their wedding day.

I offer free bridal portrait sessions with all of our full day wedding photography packages and I literally beg brides and grooms to take advantage of these; having the time and freedom to set up our lighting and really nail the shots makes me feel great.  It gives brides and grooms more shots for their album and more shots for our portfolio and best of all, it doesn't cost an extra penny; just a few hours of time.  When you think about it, spending the time to get back into the wedding dress or tux to have photos that you'll enjoy for decades is absolutely the best investment you can make!

What I love most about Trond and Jannicke is the variety of shots we got with them; one minute they could laugh and have fun, the next minute they could be deadly serious and contemplative.  Wedding photography is a happy thing and I love smiles, but I love the classic and timeless look of serious portraits as well.  If you've ever looked at old timey photographs, everyone always looked so serious.  Part of that was the amount of time it took to expose a photograph, but part of it was that having your portrait taken was a very serious affair at the time.  It was such a prestigious affair that men, women and children all dressed in their finest and took the matter very seriously, which is why the photos look so striking even to this day.

I don't normally add too many 'old timey' effects to my photos and I always used to feel as though adding something like that in Photoshop felt 'insincere', but maybe I just needed the right couple.  Something about these two reminded me of a couple you'd see in a romantic black and white romance film and for once, vintage effects really felt 'right' for a few of their portraits.

If I haven't said it before, Bali Hai has hands down some of the best customer service I have ever seen at a wedding venue and it really shows when you see how happy everyone is.  The care and attention that the staff give each bride and groom (and even us!) goes above and beyond and the food is some of the best I've ever had!

I love when wedding couples are this sincere with each other -  From the opening of gifts in their respective hotel rooms to the way they naturally interacted during portraiture, you could really see how much love was present.  Despite how structured our portraits might look, I'm extremely vague with directions and I love watching how couples interpret them.  When I was shooting bridals with Megan, one of the only things I said was "picture that you're in a bridal magazine" and she immediately lit up the world with some of the most gorgeous poses I've seen a bride do.

Now I say "I'm really vague" but in actuality, I usually end up showing brides how to pose and I can guarantee you that watching a 6 foot tall grown man in a photo vest carrying 60 pounds of gear putting his hands daintily on his hips will warm ANYONE up to the camera.  I always follow up with the line "this is not masculine at all and if I can do this, so can you".  Works every time, but Jamie and Megan were so comfortable in front of the camera already that I was mercifully spared this indignity.  Bless you both for this – nobody wants to see me sashay my hips….nobody.

It was also a great opportunity to work with our videographer friends at Memory Lane Video – the amazing professionalism and quality of their work is just unbelievable.  The attention to detail, the consideration and the humble professionalism of John Sanchez, Ricky Gulati and crew is just amazing and working alongside them at Bali Hai was just awesome!

For anyone looking to book a wedding photographer, the following is such an amazing read and really summarizes the importance of spending time to get to know your photographers and organize the photography schedule for your wedding.  A wedding is a once in a lifetime event filled with moments that can never be recreated.  Spending just a few moments to sit down and talk with potential wedding photographers always results in better photographs, as well as keeping in touch in the interim between the day you book and your wedding day.  Ask questions, join us on Facebook and spend time thinking about what you want from your wedding photography.

Likewise, when filling out a photographer's contact form, be careful what you put.  "Just send me prices" may seem like a great idea at the time if you're emailing form work or in a rush, but the relationship between a photographer and client is far too important to remain impersonal.

The entire article can be found here; it's well written and extremely enlightening!

Trond and Jannicke also have an interesting and beautiful love story that encompasses thousands of miles and an entire lifetime.  Their story begins in a small town in Norway where they both lived as childhood friends, but it wasn't until they met again years later all the way in Las Vegas – Trond as an airplane pilot and Jannicke as an interior designer – that they fell in love. 

I often speak of the importance of getting to know a client and spending time with them as people and it really hit home with this wedding.  Over the course of several months, we became good friends with Trond and Jannicke and discovered that, aside from being the venue itself, their house was the most important detail of all.  Quite literally 'the house that love built', Trond and Jannicke have poured their time and effort into renovating their recently purchased home and it looks just beautiful! 

Jannicke's skills as an interior designer really show here with all of the amazing little details – from the birdcages in the trees to the beautiful decor and dishes provided by Alta Sue's Dirty Dishes.  It was a wedding made for photographers and the time that Trond and Jannicke spent to get to know us and talk about their lives and their wedding really made all the difference in the world to their finished shots.  Flawless airbrushed makeup was provided by our friend Megan Payne and her amazing team at Makeup in the 702.

If someone were to ask me "what time of day has the worst lighting in Las Vegas" my reply would be "whenever the sun is out".  Being in the Mojave desert with dry air and no fluffy clouds to diffuse the sun during the day, it results in extremely   harsh light with brutal shadows almost all day long, but Trond and Jannicke's timeline was put together so well that it allowed us ample time to set up powerful studio strobes to even out the lighting in photographs taken during their ceremony (or else the leaves in the trees would have created 'dappled' light and shadow on their faces) and we used them again for portraiture after the wedding ceremony (which turned out so sharp and colourful that I'll definitely be displaying several at the next bridal show!). 

What really strikes me about this couple though is how sincere they are with each other and how you can truly see the love in every shot – there were so many candid photo ops throughout the day that it kept both myself and Sarah on our toes, a camera glued to both of our faces.  A wedding is an emotional day and my philosophy is to get comfortable enough with your wedding photographer that you can let your guard down and allow those emotions to show.  Bittersweet tears of joy become treasured memories that you and generations future can enjoy for a lifetime.

While they booked us for ten hours of wedding photography, there was so much to shoot that we ended up staying almost an hour extra and were left with so many more ideas that we're planning an additional future shoot with Trond and Jannicke to get it all captured!
 

Ron & Cher's wedding is this month at Springs Preserve and I was so glad that they were able to squeeze in an engagement session with us; engagement photography sessions are included with every wedding package we offer and what I love about them is they give us a chance to really get to know a couple and increase their comfort in front of the camera and with us.  While Ron & Cher weren't shy by any means, I'm all too aware of what being camera shy is all about – recently I offered to have a good friend shoot a headshot of me in our studio and I literally panicked; rivulets of sweat streamed down my face and I was so terrified of the camera that I hid my face.  Trust me, I know from camera shyness….But it was like a light switch went on in my head – I thought about all the times we've shot at weddings where we've performed complex military 'pincer' tactics to get good candid shots during a reception – Sarah will point her camera and when our 'target' turns their back to Sarah, I catch them right before they see me.  By spending time in front of the camera before the wedding, it builds confidence in one's wedding photographer and gives some great photos to display at the wedding!

I often get asked if the funny looking building is real or Photoshopped and I've even had a few requests to Photoshop other buildings to make them look like they're melting.  It's a real building called the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, designed by Frank Gehry (who designed a number of other buildings that also look as though they're melting).  A big surprise for a Las Vegas location (a city in which simply carrying a camera is likely to get you stopped by security!) is that they're remarkably okay with us shooting there, provided we call ahead.  I spoke briefly with the head of media relations and one of the security guards, both of which were some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet!

Granted, with three shoots at the Arts District this month alone, I'll really want a break from downtown for a little while, but it's such a sigh of relief to have such a unique location to opt for when the mood strikes!

Wedding reception uplighting, MC and DJ services were provided by one of the most incredible men I have ever known, Kevin Cordova of LED Unplugged, who was just amazing.  Nick and Millie recorded 'voiceovers' proclaiming their love for one another to be played back during their first dance, with a surprise voiceover by Nick's daughter.  The resulting emotion was just beyond anything I had ever witnessed and was followed up by some of the greatest partying I have ever witnessed as well!
 

Adam and Tricia also operate a site dedicated to all things Boston Terrier, so I really got a kick out of seeing his green terrier socks (which Adam calls his 'Sophie Socks', eponymously named for their own Boston Terrier).  At the end of the day though, a wedding is one great party and their reception will go down as being the first and only time that I allowed myself to be captured on camera showing an entire wedding party how to do the 'Cupid Shuffle' and the 'Tootsie Roll'.  Ask Sarah nicely enough though and she may provide you with the blackmail photos

As a former film shooter, digital camera always bugged me with their flat colours, flat contrast and ham fisted approach to subtle shifts in tonality and colour and I've spent years now perfecting the art of turning ugly (at least compared to film) digital images into something worth looking at – spending dozens of hours per shoot adjusting colour balances, sharpening, curves, level, etc.  If a non photographer ever saw the amount of work that goes into editing photos, they'd be horrified.

The Nikon D800 is the very first time I've opened a raw digital file and said "holy crap, that looks pretty good!"  First of all – 36.6MP is incredible.  Granted, opening a file that big is like sticking a boat anchor on my computer and then trying to force it to run a marathon.  My workstation isn't a slouch by any means, but when I opened this shoot up to edit, I swear my computer said "what the hell??" 

The file sizes are immense, but so is the level of detail.  My first shoot was a beautiful fine art session that we shot in studio and it really put my camera through its paces.  We had already planned out a low key lighting setup with light that changes drastically from bright edge lighting to lots and lots of subtle shadows.  I rarely employ low key lighting – bless it all, my work is usually pretty bright and colourful, but there's times where I need some mystique and moodiness for counterbalance. 

Low key lighting is when digital cameras are at their worst – digital images, while nice, are usually filled with niggling complaints like colour banding, awful tonal contrast between light and shadow and while some of that is fixable in Photoshop, it never held a candle to film until now.  The D800 really impressed me with its dynamic range and each image that I opened had ultra smooth gradations between light and dark while maintaining all of the fine details.

The shoot itself is one of my favorites and likely some of the best fine art nude photography we have ever done – If you've ever talked to me on the subject, you know that I hate the term "boudoir photography" and I'm going to step up on my soapbox for just a moment.  While that's the common nomenclature, it brings to mind awful costumes, poses and a nastiness that just isn't our chosen style of shooting.  We're extremely selective when it comes to accepting a boudoir photography request – it's important to establish a mutual respect and comfort level between photographer and client before agreeing to reserve a session and when I hear fine art photography referred to as 'naughty photos' and treated like a dirty secret, my heart breaks .  I'm an artist and the human body is the most beautiful work of art in all of creation, which is why this shoot was so special to me; it's simply appreciating the human form for what it is.

*sigh* After looking through the slideshow just now I will say inarguably that this was some of the best and most special work I've ever done and aside from a couple of select shots for our fashion and boudoir photography page, I'm just not quite ready to share it with the world – for now, I'll be reserving the session I call 'Shapes' for future in studio boudoir consultations and an art gallery project we're preparing for later in the year.

But what I *am* ready to share are the next three blog posts, all of which were amazing weddings! Enjoy!