Seeing the World in a Different Light

Saturday evening, I had the chance to shoot another bridal session out on the Salt Flats.  The day started out with no clouds in the sky, but by the time we arrived, there were some great clouds out!  Knowing how much more interesting clouds can make an image, I got excited about the potential results.

Julia is getting married soon, but she gave me permission to post these images now.  I am very pleased with what we got!  I love shooting bridal portraits and feel very privileged to have that opportunity, especially with Julia!  We’ve shot together one other time and it was a lot of fun.  This time was even better!  We had a great time and laughed a lot.

I thought it might be a fun addition to use a few play balls to add a little texture to the pictures.  Julia liked the idea and so did the wind!  Her poor niece ended up chasing across the Salt Flats for one of the balls twice!  She was a trooper.  Speaking of Troopers…I got to know one of our brave Highway Patrolmen a little more than I wanted to on our drive out.  He pulled me over for staying in the left lane too long.  If you’re driving in Utah, learn from my lesson…don’t hang out in the left lane.  Luckily, I escaped without a ticket.  He was very nice to me.  I think it helped that Julia pulled in behind him (we were in separate cars) and told him we were going to shoot her bridals that evening.  Thanks Julia!

Anyway, I’m excited to share some of my favorites from this session with you.

Here are a few images from our first shoot together…

Every time I pick up a camera, I try and learn something new.  I want to become more confident in the final result of each image I shoot.

The most important ingredient for a great image is lighting.  You can have a beautiful subject and the greatest camera ever, but if you can’t see that subject because it’s too dark or if your lighting is too flat or adds no drama, you have an image that could be much better by changing one thing…the light.  I’m not only talking about artificial lights either.  Natural light is absolutely amazing!  Seeing the light in any given situation is an important part of photography.  Harnessing that light is sometimes even more important.  Chances are good that you will get into situations where the ambient surroundings look great, but because of the time of day or the specific location, there is not enough natural light to get what you want.  It’s a situation like that where having a good working knowledge of artificial lighting techniques can make the difference between an amazing, dramatic image and no image at all.

I love being able to go pretty much anywhere and still have access to near-studio quality light available whenever I need it.  Obviously working with studio lights versus Speedlights (the external flash units you put on top of your camera) can be quite different.  However, there are many times that I would prefer using Speedlights over studio lights.  There are also times where using the smaller lights renders such a great picture that you cannot tell which type of light was used.  Most of the time, I only use (or need) one Speedlight.

Here are some recent examples of all three types of lighting (natural, studio and Speedlights).  I hope you enjoy them.

Keeping up on this blogging thing is kind of a challenge sometimes.   I want to update you on what I’ve been up to over the past while.  Things have been very busy and I’m grateful for that.  I love photography and the joy it can bring into people’s lives.  It’s always exciting to see what you end up with after a photo session.  It’s always like opening a present…you never know what you’ve really got until you see it on the computer monitor and start editing.

I’ve had some really fun shoots recently with really great people!  Here are some examples…

I had the fun chance to do a family shoot with Ricki, Tyler and cute little Hadyn.  What an amazing family!  They were all very cheerful, even Hadyn, who hadn’t had a nap that day.

We had a great time and ended up with some pictures that were intended for Christmas presents (though I hear Ricki just had to share some of them with her Mom already).

Here are a few of my favorites.

A while ago, I had the opportunity to go out to the Salt Flats for a bridal shoot with Erika.  I was really looking forward to working with Erika.  We had only met on the phone and I could tell from talking to her that she had a great personality!

As the day arrived for the shoot, I got a little concerned.  The weather was not cooperating.  On top of that, the freeway out to the site was closed, due to a police shooting.  As we made our way past that incident, we had to contend with 3 separate fires and 50+ mph winds.  Needless to say, it was a hectic evening!

I didn’t know what to expect once we got to our destination.  I was hoping that there would be some sort of clearing from the blowing salt, smoke and dust clouds…we got lucky!  The location I had planned on was clear of those things, but the wind was terrible!  I asked Erika if she wanted to give it a try and she said “we’re already here, let’s go for it!”  That’s exactly what we did.  I went out on the salt to scout for an acceptable location and I found a small bit of water coming out of the salt.  I thought that could be pretty cool looking in a shot, so thats where we got started on the “official” shoot.

I had a great assistant with me, Denise Kerby Harkey and Erika had her trusted friend and roommate with her.  I could not have done this without them!  Literally!  The winds were way too strong.

We ended up having a great time and got some fun and unique shots (I think).  I’ll let you be the judge.

This is the one she chose for her main Bridal Portrait

It’s been so busy lately (thankfully) that I haven’t put anything up in a while!

So here’s a photo recap of some of the people and places I’ve had the opportunity to photograph recently.

Kelsey is not only a beautiful bride, she is also the hair stylist of another bride I had the chance to work with, Brittnie.  I met her as she was doing Brittnie’s hair for her wedding.  After looking at a few of  Brit’s bridals at the Salt Flats, Kelsey asked if I would do her bridals too.   I was excited and told her ABSOLUTELY!  She mentioned that she wanted to go to the Sand Dunes here in Utah.  I had never been there before, but it sounded like a great place for bridals!

As we were traveling out to the dunes, we accidentally missed a turn.  While we were driving on the “wrong road,” I looked to over and saw a float-like rocket ship on a trailer.  Then I saw a bunch of old cars and the front of an older gas station, then more old trucks and cars.  I pulled over and asked if that would be a location of interest to Kelsey.  She agreed to give it a shot (no pun intended…well maybe a little one).

I think we accidentally found the mecca of photo backdrops!  It was amazing!  Everywhere you turned, there were more interesting things!

We ended up staying there for about 90 minutes and could have stayed a lot longer, but I think it was worth every minute.

We decided we should head to the dunes as we had initially intended.  When we finally arrived at the dunes (it was a little further than we had thought), the sun was starting to set and the wind was blowing pretty hard.  Fine sand and everything electronic do not mix well, but that’s another story!

We started shooting right away and we were really pleased with how things started looking.

Here are some samples of that evening’s images.

I can finally share some of the funnest shots I think I’ve ever taken.

A few weeks ago, a beautiful bride, Brittnie wanted to have her bridal portrait taken on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats.  This would be my first time out there and I was looking forward to it.  The day started out stormy and that made me happy.  I knew that a storm in the air would mean great clouds in the sky.  I think clouds add a great background texture to any shot especially bridals.

When we started shooting, it was still pretty bright out and all of the white salt made for a lot of reflection, but I kind of liked it.  What I really like is what happens when the sun starts to set.  That completely changes the feel of the images.

We had a great time and got some really fun images.  I had to wait until after the wedding to post these.

I hope you enjoy them.  Please feel free leave a comment.  I would love to hear from you.

My kids gave me a Father’s Day gift that I never would have asked for!  They set me up to fly in a small plane up to 13,500 feet, open a flimsy door in the plane and jump out.  I didn’t even have a parachute on my back.  Which makes it even luckier that I was attached to someone who did have one on his back.  I didn’t think I could go through with it, but I actually did!  Here’s proof.

Morgan had the idea to do a punk rock shoot.  I wanted to do something with a fog machine and colorful lighting.  So we did both!  We had a good time.  Here are some of the results.