This is Kristina and Glen’s video from their engagement shoot this fall.  I’m really excited to show this to you since it’s something I’m very proud of.  It’s the newest thing in content – a fusion mixture of images and what I call ‘long images’ – short video clips+sound.  It adds another dimension to a slide show that really brings it to life.  Their love and their spunky personalities really shine through on the footage in a way that just isn’t possible with images alone.  I still smile every time I watch this even after hours of editing!  I’m so happy that Kristina and Glen gave me the opportunity to create this memory of their love.

This video was filmed on a chilly October morning at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  We shot the video clips after we completed the engagement shoot since they were relaxed in front of the camera by that point.  Once we started rolling,  the were great sports and started to play around without a lot of coaching.  Kristina and Glen showed this video on the big screen at their beautiful wedding reception in December, 2009.

All footage was shot with the Canon 5D Mark II.  Lenses used: Canon 24-105 f/4L, Canon 17-40 f/4L, Canon 135mm f/2L.  The sound was captured with the R0de VideoMic.  Editing of the footage was done with Pinnacle Studio 14.

Today’s image is from the beautiful Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Jon and I had rented a boat for the day to look for large marine mammals so that Jon could shoot them with his underwater camera rig.  It seemed like a good idea for the first hour of the trip – then the record high swells started to get the best of me.  I went ashore just ahead of the seasickness and spent a very relaxing couple of hours having lunch and scouting the gorgeous Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort.

This picture is of the wedding chapel grounds on the resort – a paradise location if I’ve ever seen one.  It was taken with my Lensbaby to give it that dreamy fantasy look that fits the location.  Need a destination wedding spot and a destination wedding photographer too?  Have I got a deal for you!

Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Lensbaby Composer  ISO 400, f/5.6 ring, 1/1000 sec.

If I’ve ever seen a bridesmaid that was a natural model – this is her.  I haven’t got a clue what her name is – but she was a junior bridesmaid at a wedding I shot this summer.  It was a terrible rainy day – we were stuck inside the theater where the wedding was to take place and couldn’t do any fun outdoor stuff without everyone getting soaked.  On top of that, the theater was really dark – making it a challenge to get good lighting.  Still, there were some big windows along one wall that gave beautiful diffuse light if you took advantage of it.

Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/50mm f/1.8 II  ISO 200, f/1.8, 1/50 sec.

Today’s shot is admittedly a little different.  This was a title screen for a wedding video that I shot at my friend JP’s wedding a few years ago.  I always thought it looked really cool – and when I stumbled across it today, I thought it would be a fun change of pace for my daily picture.  The picture was processed with Alien Skin’s awesome watercolor filter – it’s not cheap, but they give such a cool artistic look to a shot.  They look especially cool on landscape and flower shots.

Vital Stats:  Canon 350D w/Canon 17-85mm IS @ 85mm  ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/40 sec.  Processing by Alien Skin

I’m really jealous of the SoCal wedding photographers – anywhere you point the camera is a good background.  Still – the focus of the picture in any wedding is the bride and groom.  Mostly the bride.  It’s pretty hard to take a bad picture of Dano and Jacqie too – and this is another of my favorites from their wedding last fall.  This was in LaJolla, CA right along the coast.  We shot down here for almost two hours before the wedding.  The direct sunlight made it a bit of a challenge since it creates hard shadows in mid-afternoon, but we were able to cope.

Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 145mm   ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/1250 sec.

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is pretty much Minnesota’s largest photo set.  There are so many fantastic locations here to shoot portraits you almost can’t go wrong.  The landscape shooting isn’t bad either!  This shot worked a lot better in black and white – mostly because the heavy shade with direct sun overhead gave everything a STRONG green cast.  Dan and Jacqie don’t look as good as they could with a green tint.

Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 131mm  ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/40 sec.

Photo tip of the day – try to get group shots where people are all on a different level.  Triangle patterns are very dynamic – so are circles.  Whatever the case, try to avoid the ‘lets all stand in a row’ formation.

This is Whitney (the bride) and her beautiful bridesmaids at her wedding last Saturday.  I sort of dig the fact that they went with non-matchey-match dresses – I like the spectrum of greens!

Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105 f/4L @ 24mm  ISO 1600, f/4, 1/60 sec.

If having it rain on your wedding day brings you luck – Whitney and Jim will be very lucky indeed!  This was a doozy of a shot to try to get – since doing a ‘trash the dress’ shoot prior to the service is bad form.  I also didn’t want to figure out just what exactly ‘partially weather resistant’ means on my 5D Mark II.  I ended up having a groomsman hold a big golf umbrella while we all went outside to get this shot.  Even then – we got a little damp!

Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 24-105 f/4L @ 47mm  ISO 400, f/4, 1/50 sec.

I had the privilege of shooting the wedding of Whitney and Jim last weekend in Northfield.  This is Whitney – the beautiful bride.  It was a ton of fun to shoot – Whitney and Jim were great sports and their bridal party were a lot of fun.  This picture was taken in front of some full-sized windows with white gauze curtains – which effectively made it a very large full-sized softbox.  This delivered the most wonderful light for portraits!

Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 70-200 f/4L @ 200mm  ISO 1600, f/4, 1/200 sec.

This shot was taken at a wedding I shot in La Jolla, CA last fall.  I picked this shot today for three reasons:

• I was back in La Jolla today
• I went to see David Ziser talk about portrait/wedding photography today
• I LOVE the shot

This shot was taken with a super-wide zoom as I quickly walked backwards.  In retrospect, it was a minor miracle I didn’t biff into a parking meter.

Vital Stats: Canon 40D w/Canon 10-22mm @ 10mm.  ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/160 sec.