Hired For Another Wedding

I've just been hired to photograph a wedding at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego.  It should be an amazing venue.  The bride and groom seem like a really creative couple who want to make sure their day is unique as well as special.  I've documented weddings in several one-of-a-kind venues but this will be a day to remember.  Very excited and looking forward to that fun day in October.

Pizza and a side of Croissant

As you can probably tell by now, I love to shoot pictures of pretty much anything.  Something you probably don't know about me is that I also love to eat.  (My friends all think I work out to stay in shape. What they don't know is that I really do it so I can eat as much as I want!).

Although I don't get hired often to shoot pictures of food, I love combining my two passions.  These two photos are from a bakery and a pizzeria. While they may seem like an unrelated combination, they do have a thread running through them - they are both owned by my friend Ken Forkish.  The pizza is from Ken's Artisan Pizza and the yummy looking croissant is from Ken's Artisan Bakery.

If you are ever in Portland, come say hi. We'll go have a delicious croissant and coffee for breakfast and finish the day off with an amazing pizza.  Bon Appetit!

Deputy and Deputy Dawg

One of the things I love most about being a photographer is the chance it affords me to capture and communicate to others the visual humor I see all around me.  Those funny moments in life are unpredictable but inevitable.

Here is an example of that in one of my favorite images from the past.  A reporter and I were covering a hearing on unusually high cancer rates in a small, Louisiana bayou town.  Before the hearing started, I had noticed the painting that resembled a slimmed down Deputy Dawg on the wall of the room in the school where the hearing was to be held.  While the reporter was talking to one of the panelists, I saw the deputy sheriff walking towards the door.  I couldn't believe my luck.  It was quick, but I managed to get a frame off in time.

Sometimes it's anticipation that allows me to capture a moment and sometimes the moments just show up in front of me, unexpected.  But either way, one of the most important skills that a photographer can develop is the ability to be a constant observer.  It's amazing what we can see when we spend a little time looking.

Music and Photography

Music is a dynamic art form. Photography is a static art form. When a photographer is called upon to capture a musician playing, it's a challenge to communicate the intense energy that is heard with the ears but not necessarily seen with they eyes.

At most weddings, there is usually a band of some description.  Often it's a small group in the "Beatles" tradition and sometimes it's a large orchestra with a "big band" sound.  No matter, I always try to employ the use of slow shutter mixed with ambient light and flash to communicate the idea that music has motion.  The three examples that follow are from three very different weddings.  One was a very high-end, formal affair that began with a quartet.  The second is from an eclectic, less formal wedding where a very unique looking band played eastern-european folk music.  And the third is from a large wedding where the sound of a big band played ballroom dance music late into the night.  You won't be able to hear the music by looking at these photos, but you might be able to see the music and the emotion it created.

Snow. And Lots Of It.

I've been watching the news about the snow storms hitting the east coast of the US the past couple of weeks and it made me think of that Paul Simon song: "One man's ceiling is another man's floor".

While snow totals in the 20 to 40 inch range were wrecking havoc, snarling traffic, shutting down schools and making headlines, I was lamenting that the snow total at Mt Hood was only about 90 inches - off about 10% this year.  While 90 inches  is plenty to ski on, there have been a lot of days where the temperatures were so warm at 7,000 feet that the precipitation was coming down as rain instead of snow. I'm sure a lot of folks in the east would love to see the rain that makes me shake my head.  I realize that snow on a mountain where people go ski, and snow in a city where people go to work, are very different animals. But I can't help notice that what is too little snow for some is way too much snow for others.  As in real estate, it's all about location, location, location.  And, although the snow levels are down at Mt. Hood this year, there's still plenty of beauty to be seen while on skis.  So, I decided to stop thinking about the conundrum that is life and go cross country skiing!  Here's a few pictures from last weekend.

      

                 

'

You Say You Want A Revolution...

When I started working for The New York Times, they were still a few years away from printing their first color photograph.  I shot black and white film and loved every minute of it.  Shooting in  black and white meant you had to concentrate on the content and composition of the photograph.  You couldn't rely on pretty colors to make a picture worth looking at.  Learning to see in black and white forced me to understand how a picture was really a communication tool  - it had to have something to say. Eventually, the paper gave in to the color revolution and I began loading color negative film into my cameras.  I still saw in black and white but quickly learned that color had a place.

Learning how to see and use color in photographs has served me well in the world of wedding photography. It adds emotion and helps give each wedding that individual touch that makes every wedding unique.  Brides and grooms spend a lot of time and energy coordinating and picking the colors that define their big day. The only frustration was that if you shot a picture in color, the technology available in the era of film wouldn't translate that image into black and white very well.

Then along came the digital revolution. Suddenly, with a few keystrokes, color images can magically become beautiful black and white images. You no longer have to choose in advance if you want your pictures in color or black and white - you can have them in both.  While digital photography has given us a great gift, it's still important to understand that every photograph must be able to stand on it's composition and content.  Color is important and must work as one of the elements of the image. But the true test of a good photograph is if you take away the color, is it still telling a story. And that, after all, is what good pictures do best.   Here is an example of a picture that works well in both black and white and color.

A Blast From The Past

From time to time, I will take a look back at a favorite photo that may or may not be from a wedding. Today, I've reached into my photojournalism archives and, in honor of the upcoming Presidents Day holiday, posted a photo I made of Ronald Reagan.

I was covering the 1988 Republican National Convention as part of the New York Times team.  For some reason, the Times didn't have a center podium pass for Reagan's last speech to the convention as President.  So I climbed into the nose bleed seats at the New Orleans Superdome and set up a tripod with a 600mm lens and a 2x converter.  I was a very long way from the podium, but, with 1200mm I was able to get close enough to make this picture.  Gaining access in photojournalism is often one of the biggest challenges of the job. Happily, at weddings, it's never an issue.

Why I Shoot Weddings

I love taking pictures and I love telling stories. Communicating with pictures is something I have done since I was 10 years old. At summer sleep-away camp, one of the daily activities I chose was photography. It included learning how to work in a darkroom. To this day I remember watching that first print as it slowly appeared sitting in the tray of developer.  Magic!  I've been hooked ever since. 


Years later I got a degree in journalism with an emphasis in photojournalism.  Right out of college, I got a job at a small newspaper and worked until I began freelancing.  While working for myself, I managed to get an assignment from The New York Times. Another one soon followed. It wasn't long before I was working for the "paper of record" several times a week.  That lead to a 15-year-long contract to work for the paper I had grown up loving.  My camera took me traveling to all parts of the world and I loved every minute of it.  It was a great ride. But along the way, I realized I was spending more days away from my home each year than I was in my own bed. While recording history and drinking up the dream I was living, it was time to change it up.  


While working for The New York Times, I also started shooting some weddings.  I was amazed how much fun it was to "cover" a "story" where everyone was happy to see me, no one was shooting at me and  everyone told me how thrilled they were with the results when they saw the pictures.  I'm not saying editors never had kind things to say, but it was a real kick to know that when I shot a wedding I was creating a keepsake memory for people that would last for generations.  That hit home for me. I've spent the last 20 years giving people the gift of capturing their most important memories in pictures.  And, although I still travel some to shoot weddings, I get to do what I love; telling stories through pictures. And what's better than that?