01-19-14 Photographer At Work

I snapped this action shot with my iPhone as I watched Josh, the hired wedding photographer, pose Lacey and the groomsmen in the pre-wedding shoot at the wedding of Matt DeGeest and Lacey Johnson last weekend. I missed hearing the concept behind this shot so you'll have to impose your own interpretation on the scene.

iPhone 5s 1/30s f/2.2 ISO100 4.12mm (35mm eq:30mm)

01-17-14 Family Unit

(Oops! Those who subscribe through email are getting 2 posts today, January 18. It was supposed to auto-post yesterday but I put the wrong date in. Am I losing touch with reality? But like the things you see here, I've concluded that calendars aren't real either.)

My nephew Matt DeGeest married Lacey Johnson last Saturday and I went not as a photographer but as an uncle. But as I watched the "real" photographer at work, I couldn't help but get my camera out of the bag and take a few candid photos of the wedding party. As a photographer I am much more comfortable as an observer and when I and my camera are not the center of attention. Maybe thats why I like taking photos of landscapes and nature so much: the land and nature could not care less about me.

Canon 5DIII 1/80s f/3.2 ISO1600 75mm

12-13-12 Fairy Tale (Reprise)

I am taking a bit of a break from my blog and so I thought I'd post a few of my favorites.

10-07-12 Newlyweds

Canon 5DIII 1/60s f/4.0 ISO5000 102mm

10-06-12 Jessica & James

The Wedding Sermon

Prayer

I guess this shot is more about architecture than people, though I hope I can be forgiven for this: The First United Methodist Church in Watertown, SD, is a beautiful structure. I know that Gothic cathedrals, like the Notre Dame de Paris, were intended to lift the celebrants' eyes to heaven, while at the same time giving them a sense of smallness and humility. Maybe that's what the architects of this church intended.I like the symmetry of this shot, though if I were staging it, I would have the bridesmaids move about two feet to my right so I could get all three in the frame. Oh, well. . .Finally, you might be wondering about the black and white treatment, given the amazing color present in this shot. I think color sometimes distracts. Also, getting good color at ISO 1600 in a big room with generally dim, mixed light sources can be problematic. But, if you want to see color, click here.Canon 5DII 1/50s f/2.8 ISO1600 85mm

We Do

Moments after the exchange of vows, Eric and Abby seem oblivious to the appreciative audience sharing their special moment.Those who have been using a DSLR for more than 6 years might have some sense of why shooting with an ISO set to 2000 and getting fairly clean result is worth commenting on. I rarely shoot at higher than 400, but in this particular church, that isn't an option for available light photography. And you will note that even at ISO 2000 and with an aperture of 2.8, I am still using a shutter speed that risks blur.When I am shooting with a slow shutter speed, I look for moments when the action slows down. In this case, the only blurred object that I can see is Abby's earring.Canon 5DII 1/50s f/2.8 ISO2000 200mmColor Version (click)

A Bit of Color

I generally don't like selective coloring, which is what this photo illustrates. It's done in Photoshop. Compositionally, this is very simple photo but the software processing wasn't - I ultimately had 6 different layers in this photo. A goal was to emphasis the flower, which would have been the focal point even if I had done nothing to the photo.But I also wanted to soften the skin texture in Katie's hands, blur parts of the photo but keep the detail in the bodice of the dress.

Fairy Tale

This is not your every day walk in the park; it's Brian and Katie walking in the park. Overdressed? I don't think so.