Talk about a fun couple! There aren't many people that, when prompted to think of a cool place for their wedding photos, would come up with a mini golf course. Melissa and Rich did.
There is only one time during the day that I don't act like a fly on the wall and that is during formal portraits. It's necessary to be outgoing and strong willed because your job is often half photographer and half human wrangler. You need to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on and where they need to be. Rich, Melissa, the entire bridal party and family made this so easy. They were absolute naturals. It allowed all of us to focus more on the photos and less on where Uncle Joe was.
Here are a few of my favorites from the day.
If you have emailed me since April 30th I most likely didnt get it.
My web host moved servers and seriously screwed up some important info relating to my email, so even though I could check and send mail, I havent been able to receive any.
Saying I am furious and disappointed is an understatement.
To those that never heard back from me - I sincerely apologize.
Megan and I proudly present Mr. George Beaglehound (of the Hampton's Beaglehounds and no, we didn't make that name up). George came into our lives last weekend after Megan found him at a rescue near Pittsburgh. He is about 7-8 months old and is a Beagle/German Shepherd mix.
His previous owners decided to move and left him to fend for himself in the backyard. Neighbors took him in for a few days then found a rescue for him. Needless to say his life has been stressful so far, but that hasn't taken away any of his love. He is so sweet, loving, well behaved and smart that it seems impossible that anyone would ever want to cause him harm.
His greatest joy in life is a belly rub and a walk in the park. He loves birds and butterflies and hates bridges. He recently discovered his tail and has been on a quest to catch it with no success.
He totally has us wrapped around his little paw.
It's a rare joy when someone who devotes their life to documenting weddings goes to one as a guest. Last weekend Megan and I had a great time at Stefanie and Lowell's wedding in Melbourne Beach, FL. It was great to get away for a few days and unwind.
I can't just switch off my photographic eye so I couldn't just leave my camera in the room. I wound up getting a few photos from the day.
When I'm photographing a wedding I'm 'on' for the whole day, watching like a hawk. It's a lot of fun to see things from the other side :)
This post is long overdue...
A couple weeks ago it was my buddy Zack's 1st birthday. I drove down to NC for this momentous event. After all, how many times in your life do you get to see someone eat cake for the first time
This is his big brother Jake:
some more random pics from the day:
The rest of the pics can be seen here
Last night Megan and I had a fantastic dinner with Rulie and her new Beau (who shall remain nameless for now). Rulie made this amazing spread of Moroccon dishes. The winner of the show was the lemon olive chicken. She hunted down these special preserved lemons. Mmmmm preserved lemons. Sound good right? Nope. I was expecting them to be sweet like those candy lemon slices, but nooooo, they were actually pickled. Needless to say when you are expecting sweet and get pickled, you are bound to make a very interesting face. Fortunately they transform when you cook them, so they were fantastic in the final dish.
Ahhhh film vs. digital. Few debates can raise photographer's blood pressure as much (except maybe mac v. windows and canon v. nikon). Which is better? Why?
The fact is that they are both great. I shoot digital for 98% of my work. It has more advantages than I can list. I own the latest and greatest super digital SLR's. I process the images on computers that make HAL seem lame. But I also love film. I get such a kick out of running some madium or large format film through one of my ancient cameras.
So which is better? Both.
To me asking which is better is like asking a painter which brush is best. They all do different things and they do them equally well. Digital excels at flexibility and speed. Film excels at the sheer amount of information captured, dynamic range, and that certain intangible quality.
Wait, did I just say film captures more info than digital? Can this be right? Well, yes and no. I'm comparing apples and oranges. I won't bore you with the details.
Anyway, this image was shot on a 50 year old junker camera and sat around undeveloped for a year.
My rambling has a point. It's this - why do you have to choose one or the other? Both film and digital have their strengths and weaknesses. Use them like paintbrushes - choose what's best for the job!
p.s if you are interested here are more of my film shots:
After battling torrential rain and traffic during the 9 hour trek to NC, it was all worth it in the end...
This is the most addictive thing I've seen on the web in a long time - ever since Copter:
Line Rider
If you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, you can try to beat this dude's track...