If you want to make your photographer *really* happy, have your entire wedding in one location, especially a nice location. It’s very nice not to have to drive around anywhere, and just “follow and cover”. When you’ve got a great couple too, then it’s quite an easy day at the office. Jessica and Jeffrey were fun and easy to hang out with - everyone was in town to have a good time. On top of everything else going my way, I had the good fortune to work with two great vendors that, as a photographer, can make or break your cheerful mood: the dj and videographer. My video counterpart for this wedding was David Acuna from d&b video productions. Our entertainer was DJ Gregg Pelltio, an affable and genial host. So, considering the optimal working conditions, images should be pretty good, right? I’ll leave up to the viewer to decide… More images and a link to the edit gallery after the jump.

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A few weeks ago, I shot a wedding for another photographer who lives in Nashville, the skilled Evan Baines. Evan and I hit it off pretty well and we same to share many of the same sensibilities and ideas about improving one’s art. I even learned a thing or two about lighting - whether he learned anything from me is debatable.

Here are some of my images from the wedding of Kelly and David. They were a great couple and I had a great time shooting outside of normal scenery (beaches!)

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When I see images from a photographer that I like, I try to analyze what the photographer is doing. I look at lighting, composition, lens/body being used, prI ocessing. If I can identify and understand what they are doing to get the images I see - then I’m doing alright for myself. I find it very helpful to apply this same analysis to my own images. If I see shots that I like, but I’m not sure how I made them work, then it was most likely an accident. So…

How do you recognize it then, while shooting, when it is isn’t an accident? How can you independently verify that the image you took is the image you really meant to take?

As I showered today in preparation for a wedding today (I like to be clean), I identified some reasonably impartial confirmation. I’ve been shooting a lot with primes for some time now. As I rinsed my head of shampoo, I thought about shooting with my 24/1.4 instead of the 35/1.4 today. With the 24 on my 5D, I’d probably run the 85 on my 1D3. I think it’s a little long for what I would like, but beautiful nonetheless. Finally, with my hair clean and rinsed, it came to me. There are times when I pull up a lense (remember shooting primes here) to take a picture and think to myself, no, that’s not what I wanted…

Well there it is. I had to move forward or backward (that foot zooming people talk about) in order to frame what I had expected to see in the viewfinder. I wasn’t seeing what I wanted to see.

Any wedding the Florida Keys is usually a good one, and this wedding in Key West was no exception. Cara, Winston and their families were great to hang out with before, during and after the wedding. Did I mention I love destination weddings (or anywhere I have to stay overnight)? I ran into a couple with an SLR and a 50mm prime (see last picture in the set) and we had a good time talking shop throughout the reception. Here are a few of my favorites with a link to more at the end.

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This wedding had a little more critical audience than most for me. The groom and his best man are both photographers, instructors even. Many other guests and relatives were photographers or creative individuals. I had a great time shooting this event, we had a pretty unique location at the Parrot Jungle Island in Miami. Here are a few of my favorites from the day, link to more at the bottom.

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Jennifer and Andrew are both creative individuals - one a painter, the other a graphic artist. Both as masquerading as mere mortals during the day, donning their superhero artist hat at night. It was a pleasure to short for them and share their wedding day. Andrew was kind enough to invite me to play paintball the day before the wedding, my first attempt. Paintball was awesome - I started doing the math to determine if I should immediately purchase my own gun and mask. But that will have to wait until after this summer is over. Too many pictures to work on!

They were married in a church with lots of windows - very nice to shoot in. Here a few of my favorite pictures from the day. You’ll find a link to more at the bottom.

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Esther and Irv got married in California in March. I haven’t posted much from their wedding because I’m working on an article about their story. In 1999, I started a website for the Lexus IS300 (see history) and ran the site until January of 2007. During that time, Esther and Irv became members, then moderators of the forum and then got engaged. So there was really only one logical choice for their wedding photography!

Esther had a great pair of makeup artists on site, Marilyn and Sherry from On Location Beauty. Marilyn has a few images of Esther’s bridesmaids on her blog.

First in my series of catch-up posts is Raquel and Chris. They had a beautiful ceremony and reception in Pembroke Pines in April. Raquel was very excited to to have me shooting and I hope that I was able to meet her high expectations.