Rebel With A Camera - Austin Wedding Photography - Austin Senior Photographer

BLOG HAS MOVED!

2009-01-31T19:45:00.000-08:00

BLOG HAS MOVED!

blog.rebelwithacamera.com

BLOG HAS MOVED!

Election Day.....

2008-11-04T08:56:00.001-08:00

I'm a hell of an ad agency when I want to be. My son's class all had to run for class mayor this Monday and due to the fact that the whole family was sick for all of last week we didn't know about it until the day before. So I whipped this out in two hours for his campaign the night before. Other kids were making promises of candy and amusement park rides, which I thought rather fitting being the political climate of our day and promises of free, free, free from the government but less freedom in the end. So we came up with a campaign that can't win but looked really damn cool and spoke the truth which can't be said about any real world politicians. I say, be honest, be right, be forward and write in Edmond for class mayor. He's the real maverick.

Two Rings Bind Them: Amy and Mitchell!

2008-11-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Amy and Mitchell's wedding was a fun one. Both Amy and Mitchell were very fun loving. Their rehearsal was held at Pluckers on Halloween night. A good amount of their friends dressed up for the event as well and they stayed until 2 a.m. singing karaoke.

The wedding was at Kindred Oaks up near Goergetown, a nice place overlooking a small lake. After a beautiful ceremony, the bride and groom danced and visited with family until their escape in a big blue classic car.

Weird. This will be the first wedding I've been to that the brides name was carved into a pumpkin.

Me Oh My, Mercy Me!

2008-10-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

I helped out running TV camera at church today for a Mercy Me concert. We go to a big church in Austin so there are actually four TV cameras, a director, a graphics person, a iris person and a whole pile of other people who do audio and lights who I don't know. I also abused the 'crew credentials' and walked up to the stage for some fun pictures with my still cameras during the show. I had quite a pounding headache but got a few images in a very short period of time. The opening act was Bebo Norman and he's the first couple of pictures. I'd never heard of him before. He was kind of dull. Mercy Me put on a good show though.

Engage: Katherine and Ed!

2008-10-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Katherine brought ginger bread cookies. Tasty soft ones. Katherine is a library science student and claims that she cooks when she is stressed. Gosh if all of us could just cook when we are stressed instead of eat. The world would be filled with cookies and pies stacked to the top of every roof, in every street and it would worldwide over population of pastries. It would destroy the fabric of reality as we know it so it is good that only Katherine was the stress baker and the rest of us were happy to digest her little ginger bread men.

Now, not to tear you too far away from cookies but Ed, a non-cookie making programmer guy, was also there to complete the couple and provide us with entertainment as he tried to find the patterns in the way my brain works. I don't know if he succeeded. The shoot was a lot of fun with Ed trying to figure out the randomness that makes me get up in the morning. From the limited amount of programming and math that I studied in college, I am pretty sure that there is an algorithm to recreating the process it takes to be me. Ed may be reverse engineering me as we speak. But beyond all of that the pictures looked nice.

Two Rings Bind Them: Angela and Corey!

2008-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Angela and Corey had their wedding at the Inn At the Wild Rose Hall in South Austin. They lived in the Dallas area and had decided some time ago that they wanted to eventually move to Austin and the first step was to have their wedding here. I've heard stories about Dallas and kind of understand why people would want to move. I looked at houses up there when I was shopping Texas for a place to live and got kind of a strange vibe upon doing that. Austin is for me too.

This is Angela and Corey with Johnny Cash. Very unusual.

Engage! Marni and Darrell!

2008-10-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

I didn't know who Megan Fox was. I suppose I was among a small number of guys who did not know who she was. I guess she's the hot new thing? I found out she was in the Transformers though I only found out about a couple of weeks ago. I think Marni looks a little like her though a lot classier.

We had a good time at the capital then down to the Amtrak Station where we were lucky enough to have a freight train steam passed us which created a fabulous effect after the sun set the with blur of the train behind Darrell and Marni. I love what I do!

This one really looks like a frame of a classic B&W movie. I love the feel of this.

Eat, eat and eat on a Caribbean Cruise Vacation

2008-10-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Everybody needs time away from their kids. Only Nazis think otherwise. I decided to take a week long vacation with my wife and chose a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on the Crown Princess as my way of escaping from the children. We flew into Ft Lauderdale, popped onto the boat, shut off the internet and the phone and started doing what everyone does on a cruise ship: eat! We aren't really big on the live music or stage shows, but we certainly love food prepared with care and presented beautifully. We stopped at four ports of call: Princess Cays in the Bahamas, St Marteen, St Thomas and Grand Turk.

It was a blast and a wonderful quiet voyage and I look forward to going on another one again when we have some time.

One really cool thing that they had on the top of the ship was a giant TV screen where movies would play every night and serve fresh made popcorn made with real butter.

Christina looking over Port Everglades in Ft Lauderdale.

On the tender to Princess Cays.

I love bread.

I'm pretty sure that all of the palm trees were planted on all of the islands we visited. Apparently an island isn't tropical without a palm tree.

My beautiful wife on St Marteen

I think I drank too much at this place in St Marteen. My head was pounding and I was really thirsty, but ran out of water.

Christina and an escaped gorilla. Or maybe it was Christina and her dad. I sometimes get confused by that.

Christina in the ocean in front of the Crown Princess at Grand Turk.

Just about the last people on the boat, we got my father-in-law to snap a picture of us before it left without us. We had some much fun on this trip and stopped at such wonderful places that I think we'll go on the same exact cruise again, but take the kids. Should be fun!

Two Rings Bind Them: Lindsay and Berry!

2008-09-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Where do I start? Lindsay and Berry were crazy I suppose is the best way to say it. But in a fun way.

I know that I am putting myself into a weird class of super nerds by saying that I watch Doctor Who but I do. What's weirder is that other people do as well and if a wedding has the Doctor Who themes music during the reception it's got to be a good wedding.

Lindsay had her dress custom made by Wonder Woman right here in Austin. It has to be one of the most unique dresses I have ever seen. Her hair and make-up were done at Avant Salon near the arboretum where she got a really retro 50s bombshell look done. She raced from the salon to the Driskill where she got dressed and then up to the Texas Capital where the she walked down the isle to The Final Countdown in homage to the Bluth family from Arrested Development a far too brilliant for television show that if you haven't seen you will have to for your life to be complete.

As soon as the ceremony was over everyone was rushed off to the top floor of Buffalo Billiards on Sixth where dinner, dancing and games were played. Air hockey and Foos Ball were the most popular. This is where the aforementioned Doctor Who theme was played. I was quite surprised to find that I wasn't the only one who recognized it. At 11 p.m. the couple said a brief goodbye and ran accross the street to the Driskill for the night.

The formal posed pictures were a little more informal than what I usually shoot.

Senior: Cecily!

2008-09-25T13:58:00.000-07:00

Cecily used to be in track. Sometime I think about people in track and wonder what motivates them to keep going. The burning pain in my lungs and my screaming thighs generally deter me from engaging in any running for a greater distance than a hundred yards. After that I collapse onto the ground like I'm having a heart attack and lie there for 15 minutes wondering how people run further than a hundred yards.

As evidenced by the first picture, Cecily had no problem with running further than 100 yards and doing it fast. She also played lacrosse which to me is still a mystery sport which involves a ball and a basket on the end of a stick. I've never seen it played, but can only imagine what kind of chaos may happen on the field where every player has a basket on a stick and no armor at least for the girls. I'll have to see a game someday. It was a fun shoot and we had fun with Cecily and her mom Beth.

Senior: Taylor!

2008-09-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

We shot Taylor at the Texas Capital and down in SOCO. We ended shooting even after the dark to come up with some really fun shots. I think I am more creative when I can't see.

Visit to see Gram.......

2008-09-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

This was an odd sort of trip where we drove a lot and talked a lot and seemingly did a lot even though it felt like we weren't too busy. We drove out to visit my grandmother in California. She has terminal cancer. My kids didn't know why we were really going. They thought it was one of Daddy's wacky vacations where he just drives forever. They were right about it for the most part. We did drive a lot.

Visiting my grandmother was a little stressful, but we went down to one of the beaches in Ventura that I had gone to as a little boy with my family including her and watched my little boys flop about in the waves as we talked. She had always been a big part of my life. She was a big part of my eldest son's life as well. When we were in college she drove 50 miles to watch Edmond one or two days a week.

I don't think I'll be able to get to Ventura to see her ever again so this was my goodbye. I don't like this goodbye.

They have Rebel gas stations in Las Vegas.

Corbin at Dodger stadium. I hadn't been there in 29 years. Still was awful.

Always pay attention to the details of what's on the side of the trash cans at the Ventura park. This says that these 55 gallon drums were filled with apple juice concentrate from China for Tropicana. How fresh does your apple juice seem now?

Barbaba Ann Jensen. My last living grandmother. We called her Gram. The name eventually evolved into Grambo, a rough, tough fighting machine groomed specifically for destroying bad guys and making casseroles. She always tried to trick us kids into eating food that had ingredients in it that she claimed weren't in it. I know a freaking onion when I feel it crunching in my mouth. She was in a good deal of pain and had a hard time leaving her apartment, but did venture to the beach and took us out to Andria's Seafood, a local place that my family has gone to for years in Ventura.

Edmond, Christina and Corbin at a Ventura beach

Edmond at a Ventura beach.

I needed a few pictures of Vegas for a crazy project I'm working on so I surprised everyone in the car and drove there without anyone noticing until we got to the Nevada border. I suppose it was a good test to see if I could surprise my wife.

Most every Fry's has a motif. Except perhaps the one in Plano. But I suppose that fits the personality of the city from what I've seen. I've been to a few. Burbank had a alien flying saucer sticking out of the front of it and had a 50s style alien invasion going on. Manhattan Beach had one that was a jungle and completely overgrown with bushes and trees. So I suppose it was fitting that Vegas had this. It was closed when we came by at 9:30 p.m. What the heck? I thought Vegas never slept.

We walked around Vegas for 4 hours with the kids to see the sights and shoot a couple of shots. I think it wiped them out. They never sleep.

Bride on the run: Angela!

2008-09-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

We had some good fun with Angela at the Capital and at the Amtrak station where we were looked on with glee by all of the people to frightened to sit on an airplane. We found some crime scene tape wrapped around a fence post and it turned into one of our more creative shoots involving crime tape. Angela's wedding is coming up soon!

Why do pictures before the ceremony?

2008-09-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

ENGAGE! Amy and Mitchell!

2008-09-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

Amy and Mitchell are such a fun loving couple. They were so comfortable in front of the camera and had great body language. Amy did a great job of coordinating their outfits, and Mitchell dutifully changed into everything she told him to. Their wedding will be at Kindred Oaks on November 1 with a crazy, costumed rehearsal dinner on Halloween.

Where are they now: Ladies of the Damned!

2008-08-19T15:16:00.001-07:00

If there was a darkest spot in a black hole, it would be Roseburg, Oregon. If there was a pinpoint in the darkest spot, it would be Idleyld, Oregon. But I only came to learn this the hard way.

Roseburg is about 70 miles north of where I lived in Oregon. It was more rural than Grants Pass, but the bridal fair was only $100 for a booth. How could I go wrong? So Christina and I loaded everything up, drove up there, set up our booth, and planned to book a bunch of weddings.

My wife, Christina, met a nice woman there who owned a little wedding venue called the Idleyld Lodge, in the very rural community of Idleyld which is about 20 miles further into the wilderness than Roseburg. Barbara happened to have owned a bridal shop in Portland some years earlier, but had sold it to move out to the country and run the lodge. Christina noticed the most beautiful vintage dresses at her booth and complimented her on them. She said she had tons more dresses. They got to talking and decided it would be fun to come out to her lodge and do a fashion shoot. She would get some models together, and we would bring our favorite hair and makeup artist, Gioia. We would be trading images for lodging and try to cross promote each other's businesses.

Well, the lodge ended up being one of the strangest, scariest places I have ever been. It was more Dukes of Hazzard than the Driskill, that's for sure. The rooms were homier than I cared for with kitschy themes and plastic flowers. As it turned out Barbara only wanted to trade for one room, so we had to pay to put up the makeup artist and our assistant. The whole place was so unphotogenic, that I was hard pressed to find anywhere I wanted to shoot. We finally found a antique room divider screen with a pineapple motif that we were barely able to drag down the stairs. Then our makeup artist broke some antique vase and was trying not to freak out about how much it was going to cost her.

But the dresses! That's where the real fun began. We had seen about four or five gorgeous vintage dresses in her booth at the bridal fair. That's about all there was hidden in the vast sea of the ugliest 80s reject wedding gowns you have ever imagined. There must have been thousands of snow beast monstrosities not to mention fuchsia, emerald green and royal blue bridesmaids' dresses with no shape and only one sleeve. We had to comb through all the hideous dresses to find the gems among them in the hot, musty attic of the lodge where the dresses were crammed together, all the while feigning amazement at the awful dresses Barbara was trying to pick out for us.

The models were nice, local girls excited to be modeling for a "real" fashion shoot. I think Barbara had inflated the credentials of our makeup artist, as one girl seemed to think Gioia was straight out of Hollywood with connections in the modeling world. Gioia worked her wonders, and the girls looked incredible. One of their mom's even modeled a bit. I though she looked very Jackie O.

We had offered to give all the girls who participated a print and let them buy the CD for a very nominal fee. We also gave prints and the CD to the Barbara, the owner. We sent the CD to Barbara first and waited to find out what prints she wanted. We emailed a few times and never heard another word from any of them! I was somewhat relieved as I prayed that I would never have to go back to the Idleyld Lodge, let alone do a wedding there. We have fondly called the shoot the "Ladies of the Damned" ever since. All I can say is, "Viva Texas!"

Two Rings Bind Them: Estella and Carlos at St. Mary's and the Caswell House!

2008-08-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

What a sweet couple Carlos and Estella made, shy but so perfect for each other. They had a very intimate ceremony at St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Austin and their reception at the Caswell House where all the proceeds benefit the Austin Junior Forum. Estella is a vegan, so we were a bit surprised that their caterer was going to be Pok-e-Jo's, but Estella said their chef wowed her with all the veggie options that were available. I was also quite impressed by the vegan wedding cake that Mr. Natural baked up. Moist, chocolaty, and delicious!

I knew Estella was musical, but it was awesome to see finally see a bride perform at her own wedding! She did a very sweet rendition of "You're Love is Better than Chocolate" by Sarah McLachlan for Carlos. Then he surprised us all with by playing "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds Five on the piano for Estella as she chimed in on the lyrics. So adorable! Then they danced the night away to the sounds of Estella's dad's band who came all the way from Laredo.

ENGAGE! Lindsay and Berry!

2008-08-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an adventurous couple with a zest for life! Lindsay and Barry are having quite the wedding in September: a quick ceremony on the Capitol grounds followed by a rockin', video game themed reception at Buffalo Billiards on 6th St. Who else but Rebel with a Camera could shoot that kind of wedding?

We headed out to the UT campus and the student underground for some very unique engagement pictures. From what I understand, Berry finally beat Lindsay at air hockey. I think the revenge will be catastrophic at the reception!

High School High: Cedar Park Coaches

2008-08-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked to take the official pictures of the Ceder Park High school football coaches and their families for the football game programs this year. Not having played football in high school, I had no idea how many coaches a team needed. I suppose football is a bit more complicated than say, basketball, perhaps. I only figured out to how score football when first covering it as a rookie photojournalist, but I think I figured out basketball when I was three.

Anyway, thank God these guys know what they're doing. I think Cedar Park's shaping up to have a great year!

Two Rings Bind Them: Megan and Josh!

2008-08-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

Happy people are so fun to shoot! Megan and Josh just smiled all day long. But they knew how to look cool, too! They were friends of Nycole and Brad, one of the coolest couples ever, whose wedding we did in March.

We started the day at JR Salon where all the gals got dolled up. Green Pastures put on a flawless wedding once again. They actually had two weddings there simultaneously, but you never would have known it. Tanya, their awesome coordinator, asked us to take a picture of her two sweet brides.

ENGAGE! Lindsay and Caleb!

2008-08-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and Caleb didn't have the best of luck scheduling their engagement session. I think it took three times for the weather to cooperate and everything to come together. But it was worth it! Lindsay is a high school dance teacher and carried herself like only a dancer can with such grace and poise. She just knew how to pose.

She and Caleb are getting married this December with a reception at Chateau on the Creek which is a cute little venue in Round Rock.

Two Rings Bind Them: Amber and Brandon at Villa Antonia!

2008-08-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

What a sumptuous wedding! Villa Antonia already sets the stage for a very classy affair. But Visual Lyrics transformed it into a lush, almost tropical wonderland with hanging orchids and some of the most creative bouquets I have ever seen. The cakes from Sweet Tempered were scrumptious as can be.

Amber and Brandon looked fabulous themselves and so in love. A few snags came about on the wedding day, but they handled them with amazing grace and patience. That's the way to start a lifelong marriage!

Two Rings Bind Them: Lindsey and Greg at Nature's Point!

2008-07-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Lindsay and Greg were referred to us by Shea at Sterling Affairs. Lindsay did all her planning from Illinois where she was attending Bradley University. Their wedding was at Nature's Point, Sterling Affairs newest venue out in Lago Vista with beautiful facilities and gorgeous views.

Lindsay was beautiful in her grecian gown and so calm and collected. Her bouquet from Floral Renaissance accented her look perfectly. I always ask how brides how they chose their vendors. This was the most interesting story I'd ever heard: her mom had been in the hospital and received flowers from many area florists. The ones from Floral Renaissance were the best!

They had a great jazz band that was perfect for mood music. We do a lot of weddings that end up being wild parties, but this one stayed classy to the end just like the bride.

Portfolios: Cole!

2008-07-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

Wow, this shoot takes me way back, all the way back to when I was a frustrated art student in college. Cole and I met playing volleyball. I was lucky enough to escape college with half my brain intact. I had even gotten a job as a photojournalist at small town newspaper in Oregon. I got bored with that in about 3 months and decided to build a studio at my house. Cole came by and I did a shoot for his modeling portfolio.

Two Rings Bind Them: April and Bruce at Kindred Oaks!

2008-07-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

We first met with April and Bruce in San Antonio while we were there for a bridal portrait at the mission. They were the first couple referred to us by their friends, Joy and Clyde, whose wedding we did last June.

April and Bruce are such a sweet couple. They've had a lot of challenges in their lives, especially physical ones. Bruce is a disabled veteran, and April suffered a stroke as a small child. But they have dealt with everything with such grace. I respect that so much. I always try to tell my kids that you can't control what happens in your life, but you can control your attitude. I think April and Bruce exemplify that.

April had the same amazing hair and makeup team she had for her bridal portrait. Karen Wible did her hair and Maris Malone Calderon did her makeup.

The ceremony and reception were at Kindred Oaks. We had the pleasure of working with Donna Aleman of Amesoeur Events for the the first time. She a fabulous job of keeping everything running smoothly. The flowers by Bouquets of Austin were beautiful as usual. We're done several weddings with them before, but I finally got a chance to meet Stephanie personally and really enjoyed chatting with her and she put the arbor together.

Two Rings Bind Them: Samantha and Dustin!

2008-07-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

Samantha was referred to us by her friend, Krystal. Unfortunately, we were already booked when Krystal was looking for a photographer for her wedding, but she happily referred Samantha to us. Krystal happened to be getting married on November 10, 2007, probably one of the most popular wedding dates ever. There seemed to be no end to the requests we got for that date. Luckily for Amy, she had us booked for that date back in December 06!

According to Samantha, Dustin is related to at least half of Georgetown. They had so many guests on their invite list, they had to have the wedding ceremony one day with close family, and then a HUGE reception the next day. She and her bridesmaids looked just as glamorous the second day probably because Samantha herself is a fabulous hair stylist at the Totally You salon in Georgetown. She is now the personal stylist to the entire Gagnon family!

These beautiful images of Samantha were taken on an abandoned bridge just down the road from her reception. Isn't her bouquet gorgeous? It was beautifully arranged by A Matter of Taste in Georgetown.

Senior: Jeff!

2008-07-02T15:14:00.000-07:00

Jeff's mom emailed us from England explaining that she would be visiting Austin in the summer and would like to schedule senior portraits for her son who had just graduated. I beat out all the photographers in the UK. Pretty cool!

Bride On The Run: Megan!

2008-06-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Megan is my drama queen bride. Boy, does she know how to pose. But I noticed something was a little bit off. She wasn't as bubbly was she was when we did the engagement shoot with Josh. I thought maybe she was only happy when she was with her beloved. Halfway during the shoot she confessed that she had been horribly ill and hadn't been able to eat anything for three days. I can't believe she didn't call me to reschedule. What a trooper!

Bride On The Run: Estella!

2008-06-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

Estella is one the of sweetest and shyest people I've ever met. She looked absolutely gorgeous and after doing some nice portraits we went into fashion overdrive.

Media Terrorism

2008-06-13T15:21:00.001-07:00

There was a fire at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, Calif. a week or two back. The most notable part of the headline was that a section of the Back To The Future Set was destroyed. I've been on the tram ride through there a couple of times and experienced the little false town square which they turn into a whole host of things for different productions. I'd never heard of a Town Square until I moved to Texas and visited Georgetown where I found a surprisingly similar town square with a courthouse in the middle. It's certainly something from the Heartland of America because I'd lived all of my life on the West Coast and never seen anything like it.

Reading further into the story I discovered that one of the things that damaged in the fire were 40,000 to 50,000 film, tapes, and other original media from shoots by NBC or Universal though nothing was destroyed permanently because the media giant had a duplicate site elsewhere.

There has been a war waging recently among the media users and media creators. The war is for fair use of media by the user. You as a user do not have many rights when you purchase a DVD or CD. The rules are defines by lawyers at this time. Lawyers who define the law by suing kids and anyone else they feel will be high profile enough to get attention and scare the public in. Of course this is done in civil court because the laws of course are only interpreted by those lawyers to include what they are suing for. Sure stealing is wrong. But how about ripping music to MP3 from your own CDs? According to the digital millennium copyright act of 1998, if you change or remove encryption to 'rip' a DVD to your computer you are breaking the law.

I think the fire at Universal studios was not an accident and was actually a message to the entertainment world to back off and let people use their media how they want. This isn't the world of yesterday when we all had records and could only play them on record players. There was no way to make them work in a CD player.

Blank thought

2008-06-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

At first it was the criminals. That's all fine and good. Nobody needs any criminals. Then it was the troublemakers. That's good too if everyone has the same definition of troublemaker. Then they came for those who were saying things that somebody didn't like. The upstarts who may have been thinking a little too much I guess we could do with a few less of those around. Then it started to change. The gypsies suddenly vanished. Who cares. Nobody liked them anyway. Then the Jews started to vanish. They came to the door and the Jews went. It wasn't my door so I turned the other way as I had with everyone else who had been taken. It wasn't my door they came to. A nagging voice in my head said perhaps I should care. The voice was ignored until they came to my door and I found out that it was illegal to be me. My very thoughts weren't even my own. They had to be controlled. They were dangerous.

Today we see our rights being taken. Daily, someone in the government decides, for the safety of the public, what we are no longer allowed to do. Sadly, so few in our country care about rights so long as they are being placated by something, entertained, inebriated, or generally confused to the point where they can no longer act. I saw on a bumper sticker a few days ago that said 'freedom isn't free'. But I think that it's more appropriate to say that freedom is gone. The Constitution is no longer of the people, it is defined and redefined by lawyers who wish to change just one thing or another to fit their personal, political or employers whims. We barely have the freedom that was sought after by the pilgrims escaping England for tax and religious relief. We are taxed heavily and our religious freedoms are being turned into hate crimes. Our world concerns itself with itself, worshiping celebrities, false gods, money, power and forgets that which is truly important: God, family, freedom. Don't forget what's important as you sit in front of your X-Box or iPod and are distracted from the world around you. Eventually they could be knocking on your door asking for that iPod. You would care then.

Engage: Amber and Brandon!

2008-06-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

I'd have to say that Amber approached the engagement shoot with a bit more enthusiasm than Brandon. But like many skeptical grooms before him, after the shoot he couldn't believe he actually had fun.

They came with great ideas of their own as well. Amber couldn't wait to literally attach a ball and chain to Brandon's leg. Then they wanted to do an homage shot to their favorite recording artist, Guaranteed. All I had to work from was a shot on the back of their point and shoot camera they took of his music video on their TV. But I nailed it much to their delight.

Two Rings Bind Them: Tiffany and Kyle at Texas Old Town!

2008-05-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

Tiffany and Kyle were referred to us by a bride who actually booked a different photographer for her wedding. You know you're doing something right when you get referrals like that! Tiffany is a nurse and Kyle is a police officer, so they deserved a fun wedding and a very relaxing honeymoon. That's exactly what they got at Texas Old Town in Kyle. Tiffany's hair and makeup were expertly done by the gals at Joie de Vie Salon who came all the way out to Texas Old Town. They had the cutest cakes from the Sweet Stuff. There was a beautiful outdoor ceremony and a rockin' reception. The guests got quite carried away and a couple guys even got up on stage and lip synched to AC/DC and Sir Mix-A-Lot. What a party!

Don't you ust love these romantic shots I got with them in the antique limo? I think the first one kind of has a "Major Tom to Ground control " feel to it. I decided maybe I should light up the car too, so you could figure out what the heck was going on!

Bride on The Run: April at Dunvegan Keep!

2008-05-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

April was referred to us by Joy and Clyde, one of our 2007 couples. Thanks, guys! She and Bruce will be getting married at in July at Kindred Oaks. She is such a sweet gal with an adorable laugh. We went out to Dunvegan Keep for her bridals. That was our first time there, and all I can say is, what an amazing place! Her mother came along and helped Christina with the reflector, wrangling April's veil, and shooing the mosquitoes away. Her amazing bouquet is by Bouquets of Austin. I can't wait to see the wedding flowers!

Don't worry, Bruce didn't see these pictures before the wedding. I retroactively posted this after the wedding!

Two Rings Bind Them: Jennifer and Todd at Green Pastures!

2008-05-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and Todd were such a gorgeous couple inside and out, and so in love! They had an absolutely perfect wedding at Green Pastures. Everyone was in tears during the ceremony, and then they partied the night away.

Green Pastures is one of our favorite venues. Tanya, the coordinator is awesome, the food is scrumptious, and the grounds are just beautiful. The bride's room is also more photogenic than most. The whole place is just dripping with Austin charm.

Engage: Lindsey and Greg!

2008-05-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Lindsey and Greg were referred to us by Shea, our favorite coordinator at Sterling Affairs for their July wedding at Nature's Point. They are such a great couple. Not only did they fly in from Illinois for the shoot, they went on a shopping spree and coordinated all their outfits for the shoot. I was so impressed! I thought they looked like models right out of Abercrombie and Fitch. Oh, wait, they're wearing too much clothing for that!

Shot in The Dark: Farah!

2008-05-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

I don't usually do headshots, but Farah, one of my 2007 brides, needed one ASAP and she "hated the thought of going to another photographer." How could I say no to such a great client? I thought she looked fabulous and I got her the image with time to spare.

Engage: Raina and Jason!

2008-05-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Raina and Jason hired us months ago for their April 18, 2009 wedding at the Hamilton Twelve. It's always nice to have plenty of time to get the engagements portraits done since my guestbooks are printed in Japan and take a month to get back, but 11 months was probably the earliest I've ever done engagment portraits.

Raina's hair and makeup were done at Rochelle Rae's salon on 38th St. Her makeup by Rhea McCarter was amazing.

We had a blast at the Capitol experimenting with yet some more new lighting techniques. These first two shots look like scenes out of Orson Welles movies. Then we headed out to the 360 bridge for some more drama.

Light Experiment: Christina!

2008-05-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

I don't want to stay the same. I want to be the best at what I do and keep on getter better. I am always experimenting with new lighting techniques on engagement shoots, at weddings, at my studio, and in my living room with my wife while the kids are sleeping. My wife, Christina, was tired and in the middle of doing laundry, but is always excited to pose for the camera. She misses the days when she was my muse in college. She was a geisha, a tribal belly dancer, a gas mask wearing super hero, and a henna decorated sari wearing Indian princess for me. It was only midnight, so she got out her Chinese jacket and dolled up her face for these experiments in fashion lighting. She still is my muse....

Two Rings Bind Them: Emily and Mark at the Salt Lick Pavilion!

2008-05-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Emily and Mark were married at the Salt Lick Pavillion on a beautiful Saturday in May. Barbara Hearne of Barbara's Brides did a fabulous job coordinating. Everything went off without a hitch. There were beautiful flowers from Floral Renaissance and great music from the Rick Hornyak Band. It was a quintessential Hill Country wedding!

I try to do something cool and different for the ring shot at every wedding. I think I really pulled it off this time.

Two Rings Bind Them: Laura and Justin at the Driskill Hotel!

2008-05-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

Laura and Justin's wedding was at the The Driskill Hotel, one of the most popular places to have a wedding in Austin and a beautiful place in itself. Laura got ready in the LBJ suite, a lovely room with a balcony where many of the romantic shots were taken.

After a wonderful dinner, the couple danced to The Atlantics, a hip, Motown cover band in Austin. I've played music for years and these guys were very tight, even for my jaded ears.

Laura and Justin had special mood lighting done at the Driskill. They had Vella, a specialty event space design house in Austin that provides breathtaking wedding decor do the lighting, flowers, linens, everything. Their showroom on Metric Blvd. also happens to be just down the street from my studio. Go check them out for your wedding!

After many hours of partying, the couple made their exit down the stairs only to return shortly there after to their room at the Driskill.

Two Rings Bind Them: Ashley and Larkin at Green Pastures!

2008-04-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Ashley and Larkin were married at Green Pastures in South Austin. Shooting weddings is fun there and the food is quite frankly amazing. It's the place I shoot weddings the most these days. I've got several weddings there this year alone.

I don't know what time Ashley got there in the morning, but it was some awful time earlier than early. I didn't show up when she did, which was actually good because she only started to get ready when I showed up at 9 a.m. Thank God. I'm not a morning person so anything earlier that 9 a.m. is quite the stretch for me.

The ceremony was beautiful and simple and all happened before the sun got hot. Then it was inside for a wonderful lunch and dancing.

The flower girls definitely are some of Austin's most adorable flower girls. Their flowers were fantastic.

SENIOR: Megan!

2008-04-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

We shot a couple of shots in the studio for Megan's senior portrait and then wondered on downtown to shoot in the warehouse district. These are some of my favorite senior portraits as of late. Of course since I am working hard to always push the envelope in the creative department my most recent shoot is typically my favorite.

We had a lot of fun shooting this shot after the sun had set in a parking lot across the street from the Frost Tower. Thanks to Megan's dad for being a light stand for this shot.

Bride on the Run: Emily!

2008-04-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

I just kept thinking of Snow White while shooting Emily's bridal at the capital and downtown. Her dress was very unique in a very Disney Princess way. I liked it. It was certainly different from the every day dress.

Two Rings Bind Them: Claire and Jeremy at the Driskill Hotel!

2008-04-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

It was very nice on Claire and Jeremy's wedding day. We started the day with Claire at the the Driskill Hotel in downtown. There were several familiar faces from weddings I had shot before. I appreciate referrals so very much! There is no better way to find new clients than having the old clients rave about you. YAH!

The ceremony was held at the St. Austin's Catholic Church then everyone rushed back to the Driskill for the reception. A wonderful meal was served, after which a DJ caused craziness by playing Sweet Caroline. What's up with that? Maybe I'll never now.

They all were very passionate about the song played by the DJ. It's hard to tell whether they are at a wedding or at a war protest.

Two Rings Bind Them: Jill and Josh!

2008-04-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Our flight left on Thursday evening to Portland. It was a nice flight but my ears plugged up before we landed and continued like that until the next morning. I couldn't hear anything. Christina and I rented a car and enjoyed the nicest day Portland had seen since the previous year. 70 degrees in April was unheard of and a shock for the locals. After Texas weather we were freezing.

We were in Portland, Oregon to shoot my wife's best friend's wedding. It had been many long years that her friend Jill had waited to find the right guy, but as soon as she found him she decided to get married. Jill was very particular about the man that she married and it just couldn't be any old guy so she waited and waited and waited. Christina was her matron (I use the word matron loosely, because there is nothing matronly about Christina) of honor so I was on my own to shoot this wedding.

The wedding took place at an old church which was no longer used as a church and was only used for events such as weddings. The lady who ran the place lived in the attic, though I'm sure it wasn't your usual attic with cobwebs and spiders. I'm sure it was furnished nicely. It was called the Old Laurelhurt Church.

Everything went well with one exception: The pastor was an hour late. His schedule apparently said 6 p.m. rather than 2 p.m. so it was a good deal of effort to find him, get him dressed appropriately and to the wedding. He showed up an hour after the ceremony was supposed to start.

I will say that Jill and her fiance, Josh, handled the lack of a pastor quite well. They displayed a tremendous amount of patience and grace until he showed up. Then everything ended nicely. I've never been to a wedding where the couple didn't get married.

I must thank my friend Josh from Los Angeles for assisting me on the wedding since Christina was otherwise occupied. Josh jumped in and saved the day again!

Christina is the second from the right.

This is the bride's father, Bryan, who found out that one of the exits from the church wasn't really an exit.

Senior: TJ!

2008-04-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

TJ was one of the first people to be shot in my studio in Austin which was great! We went out to the Pennyback bridge overlook and shot some fun pictures off the cliff afterwards.

As far as senior photographs go I am always trying something new and I really liked the way the basketball looked in this shot. I like the have moon look.

Two Rings Bind Them: Allison and Trey in Houston!

2008-04-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Allison and Trey got married somewhere in the Caribbean and asked me to shoot their reception once they returned to the states. They had their reception at Blanco's in Houston, an old icehouse style bar surrounded by newer tall buildings. It was a a very colorful place with excellent food. I think the word is kitchy, but my spell check says that isn't a word so you'll have to trust that it is a word, though I am not certain. Trey had this thing for Tabasco and the Tabasco cake has got the be one of the coolest cakes I have ever seen. There was dancing, drinking and fun everywhere!

Two Rings reBind Them: Angela And Joe!

2008-04-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Okay. So this one was a little bit on the fun side. So today was a weird wedding. It was a ninth anniversary renewal of wedding vow kind of wedding. I drove up at a little before 2 p.m. and started getting all of my stuff together and walked up to the church to find a hearse in front of the door. Uh........What's the deal? I walk in and take a look and there is a funeral, coffin and all the pomp and circumstance of a Catholic funeral mass with a good 100 people in attendance. A good number of guests for the wedding started showing up now and mulled around outside of the building including the groom. What?!

Freaky.

It turns out that the church double booked a wedding and a funeral at the same time on April 1st. The wedding did start immediately after the funeral. Yep, they hauled the coffin out, put it in a car and weeping and sad looking people streamed out of one side of the church while happy and cheerful people came in the other to prepare for the wedding. It was like nothing I have ever seen. The priest changed from his robes of sadness to his robes of happiness and the wedding renewal went off as if the coffin had never been there.

I suppose since it was April Fools Day, it probably looked like a big practical joke. It's not and now that I look back I think maybe it was all a dream. No. I was awake and everything turned out fine!

Studio Opening Party

2008-03-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO!

I did it again. By the grace of God I once again have a studio to meet people in and shoot if the weather is inclimate or if I just feel like exploring light! It was a long arduous journey through a lot of pain and suffering and yelling and throwing things and bending drywall and sanding and everything but in the end it was worth it! I had a party and invited everyone I know including clients, and photographers. Below are some of the guest pictures that I shot.

Ben and Sara

Andy Peterson

Mark and Emily

Farah and Spence

Nichelle and Darren

David Hill

Matt and Rhonda

Jeff and Alissa Marrow

Ulrike

Brittnee

Janna and Ryan

Sierra and Sandra

Engage: Jennifer and Todd!

2008-03-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Jennifer and Todd live near SOCO so it only made sense to shoot around SOCO which was a lot of fun! These two looked like they had been practicing smiling in the mirror at home before they came to the shoot. Big happy smiles were to be found everywhere. It took a little bit of time but we were able to get some really moody shots from the two of them as well. Most people have to work up to smiles but not these two.

SENIOR: Brad!

2008-03-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

If you weren't certain, Brad plays football. We had so many shots that had the football in them that I thought about doing a Where's Waldo type book of Brad for my kids to see if they could spot the sometimes hidden, sometimes not hidden football in the pictures. It was WINDY when we went out to the Pennybacker Bridge overlook. Thankfully it didn't seem to effect Brad since his hair was short. You can't feel the wind from the photograph so it all turned out well. After the overlook we went to the Capital and shot a few shots there to give a little variety.

Bride On the Run: Ashley!

2008-03-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ashley said she loved the name of my business and that's what sold her on hiring me. I supposed it's a good thing that I actually happen to be very good at taking pictures as well as having the ability to come up with memorable business names. I keep coming back to these images of Ashley and marveling. Some were a little obtuse, but I liked them. The thing that got me was that Ashley liked the obtuse ones too. Normally I shoot a couple of off the wall shots just to keep up my chops in the creativity department which 90% of the time ends up not being chosen by the bride and groom but instead ends up on my website. But Ashley like the ones I liked. Weird.

Suggest Names for the new Core 2 Duo

2008-03-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the time has come again for me to build a new computer. Oh, I know what you're thinking, "Build a computer? What kind of madness is this? How dare this photographer cross the line and not just buy a Mac?"

Well, I'll tell you what: Macs are slow. I know everyone in the audience out there is beginning to scream with incredible vehemence but dollar for dollar you all know it's true. I will concede that Macs are beautiful, well built machines filled with quality parts and if you have the money to burn you are certainly able to pay at least twice as much and get a machine that is better than your typical Dell or HP. But what about the custom built PCs that have parts that are the same quality as that in the Mac? Where Windows XP is easily as stable as OS X? Can it be? Of course. Just don't go buy a Dell or a HP because the only way they make money is by purchasing the cheapest parts in the largest quantity.

Now before you all spam me with your, I had a PC and I switched to Mac or Mac has never failed me or I'll never read your blog again posts, I'll tell you a secret. I own more Mac's than I do PCs and as far as laptops are concerned I would never buy anything else. I have a couple of Mac laptops which are grand machines for the typical operation of an office, emailing, writing, taking notes. But they are terribly slow if youask them to even start Photoshop. At that point they come to a halt and that cute little beach ball of death torments you without end. I also have an iMac G5 which is quickly approaching 3-years-old which is considerably faster than both of the laptops but still is no comparison to my 2 4-year-old Pentium 4s. Not even close. The contest is over.

But lately, I've been processing more and more images as things get busier and I'm starting to see the P4 is just not fast enough anymore. So the time has come to build another machine. I hear you mac people grumbling in the background. It isn't going to happen kids. To get what I need in a Mac, it would cost around $4k which makes sure I have plenty of RAM, ample harddrive space, and absolutely a 500GB raid 5 array. I can buy the parts for around $1500 and actually have a faster machine if it is a Windows or Linux machine and it will be equal in stability. Where is the contest?

The naming game has been going on for years. I wasn't very creative when I started. The main machine is Blackbox. The back-up main machine is Mistertime. The iMac G5 used to be White Wonder but is now is Timelord in homage to Doctor Who. The Powerbook is named Gigaflop and the new MacBook is called the TARDIS in reference once again to our new found obsession with Doctor Who.

The new machine will be a Core 2 Duo 3.0 GHZ machine and I'm toying with the name Torchwood, another Doctor Who reference. It's an anagram of Doctor Who. You'll be happy to know that I didn't obsess to that point about the show. The creators did that during early production of the 2005 revamping of the show to prevent it from leaking out to the press. The show was code named Torchwood to throw off any leaks about it's true nature.

I'm open to ideas. Leave posts in the blog. Let me know what you think. But no hate mail about my estimation of Steve Jobs' obsessive compulsive need to control the universe like a young, unmasked Darth Vader in the early years. His vision is nice, but it's just kind of slow.

Engage: Samantha and Dustin!

2008-03-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

I love my haircut! And this is the lady who makes me look like a human being. A daunting task no less. When I first met Samantha for her wedding consultation she had curly hair. When I shot her engagements below she had straight hair and I wasn't even sure if it was her or not. She has many looks I suppose. But she and Dustin looked fabulous for their engagement session! We shot in the Georgetown Square, a place that I've wanted to shoot for a while because it was so very quaint and filled with great old buildings including the courthouse which is absolutely amazing. We shot in front of an old antique store that had closed for the day and Dustin made the comment that a good deal of stuff they left out in the front of the store had been there since he was a kid. After the square we ended up at Dustin's family ranch where we shot near the creek and in an wide open green field. It was a fantastic shoot!

Bride on The Run: Claire at the Driskill Hotel!

2008-03-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

We popped in at the Driskill Hotel to shoot Claire's Bridal portrait. We happened to pick a weekend during South By Southwest where every bar, club, musical venue and alley is filled right to the top with musicians hoping to be discovered by a label. The second floor of the Driskill had been outfitted with a stage and several Rock Band kiosks where enthusiastic people who were bored with watching the band could live the life for themselves. Crazy.

Claire looked amazing in her Vera Wang gown and we found an amazing window to shoot most of her portraits.

Senior: Will!

2008-03-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Will and I wandered around downtown Taylor looking for interesting places to shoot and it wasn't hard. We found a few places as you can see below!

Senior: Cassie!

2008-03-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

I had a lot in common with Cassie. Both of us had moved from Oregon in the last few years. She missed it. I was curious about how she had been adapting to the heat and allergies and she said she wasn't. It was too hot for her in the summer. I understand that. Boy can it get hot here with that bloody humidity. Oregon has none of that and will scarcely get above 100 degrees in the summer though I'd seen it hit 110 more than once. But don't everyone get all excited about this magical wonderland called Oregon and pack up you stuff and move there. There are a couple things that you should know about it: There are no jobs. The weather is dreadful. Now some people don't have a problem with these issues in the least and either make money somewhere else and spend when ever they can in Oregon. Many people don't mind the weather either.

So Cassie was a friend of Madison who had been in a little earlier this month for her senior portraits. They were both dancers, something I just for the life of me can not get my mind wrapped around. It's amazing how people are able to move their bodies with such elegance. I find it fascinating that they understand movement in such an amazing way to make it an art. Much to the dissatisfaction of my wife, I have absolutely no idea how to dance other than in a sort of flopping fish sort of fashion not in the least becoming.

We shot at a new location with Cassie. The Littlefield Home on the UT campus and found it to be a cool place. We ended our shoot with Cassie climbing into a fountain after the sun had set in a party dress!

Two Rings Bind Them: Nycole and Brad at Hamilton Twelve!

2008-03-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

I'd been looking forward to shooting Nycole and Brad because of many reasons. The most of which was because we jived so perfectly. Nycole was a beaming breath of fresh air when she smiled and Brad was hilarious with the odd statements blurting from his mouth. Their engagement was fun so I looked foward to their wedding. The wedding was at Hamilton Twelve in South West Austin.

Nycole is one of those people like my wife, Christina, who seems to thrive on life. I'm sure people meet her and want to be her friend every day. She lights up the room with her smile and warm personality. I know, I know. I'm gushing but I think it's pretty accurate.

BRAWNDO FOREVER!

Two Rings Bind Them: Andrea and Trey at Hotel Derek in Houston!

2008-02-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

Down in Houston everything is bigger. Weddings seem to be no exception. The wedding took place at the Hotel Derek and was a fun filled wedding with a lot of surprises for the guests. Their ceremony was very theatrical and Andrea entered like a super model striding in to a roaring fanfare of music and guests applause and cheers. The reception was nightclub themed with moody lighting, blacklights and a bigger than life DJ/lighting effects dude who made it all seem like a rave out of the Matrix. The party ended at 2 a.m. and as we went up the elevator we saw a few guests who asked us if we were going to the after party. I had slept about two hours the night before so we declined and passed out.

Trey was good friends with a professional breakdancing crew based in Houston called the Urge Works who did two performances during the wedding to stir up the crowd and bring them out to dance. I doubt that I will have the chance to shoot pictures of people like this at any other wedding.

STUDIO 2.0: 30 days of HELL!

2008-02-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'd pretty much given up on finding a studio in Austin and had resigned myself to a 120 square foot office space where I did all of my post production there. It was a nice tiny little space, but it was a little frustrating because I still had to meet people in coffee shops which was really weird for me because I had a really great studio on the West Coast before we moved.

I decided to start small in Austin rather than going in on a studio that was meant for a more established business. And I did that and stopped looking around for a studio space.

Then out of the blue, something just dropped into my lap and I couldn't say no. 2007 Kramer Ln, Suite 104, Austin, TX 78758

It was perfect in more ways than something can be perfect. It was actually too big and gave me a little more room to design something really cool, somewhat like my last studio but bigger, better and cooler.

I try not to emphasize this to most of my clients, but I can do just about anything. In my past I've learned a little of everything and done a little of everything especially in the construction world. The following pictures showcase some of that everything that I have done in the past and apparently still have the skills for today. If you're one of those people who doesn't read the blog and just looks at the pictures it just looks like someone came in and did it all for, but I did everything single thing in the remodel from the framing to the electrical. I just do photography because I love it and I am better at shooting a wedding than anything else I have done.

There are a few people must thank for helping me out of the kindness of their hearts because I am too cheap to hire people and refuse to hire illegal aliens to do the grunt work.

First off is: Nate Mayfield who is a world class trumpet player here in Austin, studied at Juliard and was reduced to laying floor with me for a couple of days.

Second is: My bother Adam who was all too excited about finding me in his driveway to unexpectedly pick him up before some awful part of the remodel. Cheerfully he would lend his assistance.

Lastly is: Victor. Drywall hanging crazy man.

--121407
This is what it looked like after we began laying out the walls. The space was used as storage for the guys behind my space since the last tenant left early in 2007. One of the tenants behind me owns a company called Digital Vehicles, Inc, a company that makes realistic formula one racing simulators that tour with the races. That explains why there was a race car in the space when we began and for almost the whole remodel.

--121507
I framed these walls all by myself today because everyone else was busy. I think it took about 5 hours.

--121607
Victor came over and we whipped out all of this drywall in about 6 hours.

--121707
Christina helped me to do the plate on the curved wall. There are no picture from this part of the operation because I was holding the plate in one hand, had a drill in the other and had an extension cord strung over a roof truss hitch to the middle of the plate so we could get it up there. You had to be there to see it and if you had been there you could have taken the picture.

--121807
My brother Adam came over this happy day to finish framing out the curved wall and hang the drywall on it. To make drywall bend you have to soak it with water and then yell at it the whole time you're putting it up while water runs down your arms off of it. Looks so easy when it's all done like it is in he picture.

--122107
Everyone abandoned me for the tape, mud and sanding part of the project. I suppose they had good reason because I came home for a couple of days looking like I snorted a 5-gallon bucket of cocaine. I think the is probably the most annoying thing I have ever had to do. I hate sanding drywall mud. Next time I'll just get hire someone to do it for me. Ya right.

--122907
Primer. Yeah, you missed the texture and one coat of primer, but it all looks the same after a while.

-123107
Paint. Do you like my colors? I don't really care. I like them.

-010508
We began the floor and got a little more than a third of it done. This is where Nate showed how fast he could move.

-010608
Cutting around this curved wall took a lot more time than I thought it would. I think I spent 4 hours just cutting around the wall. Aren't my kids cute?

--010708
This is the office where all of my computers live now.

--010708
This is the office where all of my computers live now with a brand spanking new floor in it.

--010708
Nate Mayfield and his infamous Baroque Trumpet Drill.

--011207
Wiring the track lighting and finalizing how the switches were going to work. This is what I consider to be the end of the construction phase of the studio. Was it fun to look through? Did everyone learn something? I sure did. Hire subs and don't try and cram it all into a month.

ENGAGE! Megan and Josh!

2008-02-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

Megan had obviously done some sort of theatrical training. As I do with all of my shoots, I suggest what I would consider to be impossibly bizarre expressions for my subject to try out and then observe where they go with it. Megan nailed quite a few of them dead-on what to my expectations which doesn't usually happen. We shot around downtown and ended our shoot at the Hey Cupcake trailer on SoCo. Megan and Josh enjoyed a cupcake and I tried a bite. I enjoyed it, but was it worth the wait in the line for 10 minutes? Wow.

ENGAGE! Laura and Justin!

2008-02-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

We'd been rained out for Laura and Justin's engagement session on our first try but I think it ended up working out well because the day we shot was quite possibly the most beautiful day of the year! We began at 10 a.m. They had had a little catastrophe earlier in the morning when Justin broke the coffee maker though I never heard whether they had gotten coffee out of it first. I don't drink coffee, but I've been a first hand witness to people who have missed their coffee and it isn't a pretty site. These two seemed fine though they kept making funny remarks about the loss of the coffee maker.

Justin had very sensitive eyes so the morning light was killing him, so we did a good deal of work around to try and make it easier on his eyes. I spent eight years living in the desert and understand the eyes desire to squint when it is bright very well. Despite the coffee maker incident, the images turned out fabulously!

Senior!: Anjli!

2008-02-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Anjli has aspirations of becoming a journalist and I was all too happy to impart my little bit of knowledge about working in the media. It's been quite a few years since I worked as a press photographer but I still look back on it fondly as one of the best experiences ever. I was so in love with that AP stylebook for writing captions that I still have it on my bookshelf to this day.

Anjli was a lot of fun and we shot around the Capital grounds and the warehouse district.

ENGAGE! Nichelle and Darren

2008-02-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

These two were very shy in front of the camera but warmed up after a little bit and have become one of my favorite engagements shoots! Wow! They requested the couch multiple times and I obliged happily dragging out to the shoot. These two were very sweet and I just loved the locations that we found to juxtapose them against.

This will be on my studio wall some time in the future. Could there be anyone with more passion besides these two?

I still don't know what to think of this shot and they sure as heck didn't know what I was going for either. It just had an interesting feel to it. Was it forbidden love between a beautiful lady and a cage fighter or something else. I'll let you interpret it how you like.

The doors would fall of this car if we had opened the door. At least that's what was written in the windows.

Senior: Madison!

2008-02-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

Madison is a dancer and her and her mom had a couple ideas for shooting outside that were fun including shooting in a fountain at the Arboretum. She found a formal dress that fit for an incredible steal of $20 and decided to see how she felt about getting it wet and taking pictures of the event. It was fun!

Love the shoes!

Engage: Ashley and Larkin!

2008-02-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

What a whirlwind of a shoot Ashley and Larkin had. They live in a small town in Louisiana that is really in the middle of nowhere and it took 6 hours to reach Austin for their engagement. They brought their dogs and Ashley rode with two dogs on her lap because the back seat was filled with people. Rain was forecast for the exact time of the shoot and Ashley needed to be on a plane for Jamaica the next day so this was truly their only window of opportunity to shoot their engagement. By the grace of God, it sprinkled a little for the entire shoot and just as we were saying our goodbyes began to hammer us with rain. What an amazing bit of luck that everything worked out so well and the shoot turned out so fabulously besides all that happened.

Couple: Michelle and Josh!

2008-02-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

My old friend Josh found himself Michelle, a nice girl from Glendale, CA and here's a few pictures from a shoot I did for them. We only could meet after it got dark so just about every shot needed to be lit which made shooting a little harder than usual. The sun is a wonderful light source and you've got to be a little more creative and patient when shooting in the dark.

Josh has a job in Hollywood working at a digital HD camera rental house for motion picture and television production which I have visited on several occasion. He has free reign of the place and all of the gear that's not rented and we have had a great deal of fun experimenting with the same cameras that were used to shoot Star Wars, Episode II and III. On our last visit we didn't have time to come up with some crazy HD project to shoot so we didn't visit the rental house but Josh was telling me that they have the new Red Camera, made by the folks at Oakley Sunglasses which is supposed to be the most revolutionary HD camera in the world with something like 12 MP per frame at 30 frames a second. The biggest problem right now is that most places aren't set up to edit a digital file with that much information. Maybe we'll get one of these if these two decided to get married and we shoot his wedding. Wouldn't that be a treat?!

Toilet To The Stars

2008-02-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

My uncle is in the portable toilet business. Not the Andy Gumps or Capital Chem Cans that you are used to seeing on job sites around Austin or wherever. These are really deluxe trailers with running water and apparently are clean enough for the most discriminating of Hollywood stars to leave their waste and feel good knowing that the paper towels they used were recycled.

During the writers strike, my uncle found himself bored out of his mind because there wasn't anything to do. Apparently, no one had to go during that time either. I talked to him a few days before the writers strike ended and asked him what he thought about the writers demands. He said they were greedy and they should stop complaining. He said that he would love to be paid for the rest of his life for the job he does today. He said that the production stops just as quick if there isn't a toilet somewhere nearby. He was obviously unhappy with the writers and told me that he had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars during the three month strike.

Looming in the distance there looks to be a actor strike coming up fast. The actors have many of the same gripes that the writers had with the exception of one that I thought interesting: Product placement. That's right, they want a piece of the action every time the studio gets paid something by Coke, Disney, Apple, or whoever to have their soda, Donald Duck, or a computer used or held or spoken about by the actors in a film or television show. Wow. These people want to get paid extra if they hold a Coke instead of generic brand X. Talk about greed.

If it was up to me I'd fire them all. For every writer and actor there is in the guilds in Hollywood there are ten others waiting behind them. Waiting to be discovered. Most of them have talent, have the look, have what it takes to make it in the business but can't do it because the business is all tied up by the guilds. The theory is that if the studios fire all of the guild writers and hire non-guild writers that every other guild or union from the actors to the directors to the laziest teamster grips would all strike and nothing would get done at all. Most of these people are all replaceable as far I'm concerned. Just because you are a teamster and your only duty is to move the camera from point A to point B and not from point B to point A doesn't mean you should make $100k a year and it doesn't mean you are guaranteed work forever. Let's fire every single one of them and replace them with a fresh batch of people excited to be in the business. Maybe there would be entertainment that was actually entertaining rather than one crummy show after another sinking to the lowest common denominator. Fire them all and let's see what happens. Maybe you'll be sitting in a stall next to Cameron Diaz or Tom Cruise in one of my uncle's extremely high end toilet trailers on a break from shooting something new that is better.

Have a different opinion? I'd love to hear it.

ENGAGE: Allison and Trey!

2008-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

Allison and Trey seem to be obsessed with my couch. They were surprised when I showed up at their shoot and didn't have the couch lodged in the backseat of my Scion Xb. Apparently they thought I just took the couch with me everywhere I went and used it as a prop in every shoot. That's not exactly the case though if you ask my really nicely, I might throw it in the back of the car and bring it out to your shoot. To make up for not bringing it to the shoot I promised that I could bring it out to their wedding in Houston in April which may or may not be a good idea. This couch has been around a lot lately. Maybe I should register a domain just for the couch. How does www.rebelwithacouch.com sound?

Aside from not shooting on the couch, the shoot went well and we were able to make many unique images around Austin!

Bride on The Run: Sara at the Barr Mansion!

2008-01-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Sara was tired. She had been up at the crack of dawn to have her hair and make-up done. I was tired , but didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn for my hair and make-up. That generally makes me happy. Anyhoo, Sara was a little nervous but looked good had a fabulous dress and we met at the Barr Mansion for the shoot and these are some of the images that we created around the grounds and in the buildings there. Absolutely fabulous!

Two Rings Bind Them: Brittnee and Robert at Vintage Villas!

2008-01-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

Brittnee and Robert had a really wild time planning their wedding. Robert is stationed in Iraq and only had an 18 day leave to return for his wedding. He arrived two days later than they expected only 5-days before the wedding. I suppose they were just so happy to see each other that they glossed over the incredible amount of stress they were under during planning. I can only imagine how much of my hair would fall out under that kind of stress! They decided on an indoor ceremony because the weather was a little nippy as the sun set and the breeze coming off the lake was like a frozen hell that I even could feel through my down coat. Brittnee and the ladies braved the cold to take advantage of the beautiful sunset at Vintage Villas. It was a great wedding with a great deal of happy family clearly overjoyed at seeing Robert home after almost 8-months.

Wow, this is an incredible cake! Simon Lee can make anything and it always is the best tasting cake around!

Bridal: Brittnee!

2008-01-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

I met Brittnee at Janna and Ryan's wedding that I shot in May at Villa Antonia within site of Lake Travis. Her fiance had just left the day before on a tour Iraq.

Her bridal was on a pretty cool day which Brittnee refused to call 'freezing' though I think her mom and sister-in-law all agreed that it was FREEZING! Other than the FREEZING weather, it was a fantastic day. We shot at the Capital but worked hard to make it not really look like a tradition Capital shoot with the Capital Building in the background. Hey, that's what I do: Something different. After FREEZING at the Capital for a period of time, Brittnee was very happy to hop into the warm car and drive downtown for a while to shoot around the warehouse district, one of those places that I never get bored of shooting. It was awesome!

I love it! So undignified for a bride to be shouting at a public pay phone but it's so perfect at the same time! It's just so rebelious!

Two Rings Bind Them: Lauren and Colin at One World Theatre!

2007-12-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

What I'll remember the most from Lauren and Colin's wedding was the five cakes from Whole Foods Market and every single one of them was fabulous. Yes, I tried them all.

The story of Lauren and Colin is long and complicated, but I'll give you the short, simple and exciting version which is really all I remember. Lauren and Colin live in Canada, but planned to have a small wedding in Austin even though none of their relatives lived in Austin except for one uncle who ran the One World Theatre where the wedding was going to be. Everyone else flew into Austin, mostly from Canada. There are a few things you need to know about Canadians: They keep going forever. The party never stops. I stayed until the band, The Big Time, quit at the end of the night and a great majority of the crowd were still dancing until the end of the last song. Something about French Canadians is that they speak French and know the correct way to pronounce my last name. Oh happy day!

Please Daddy, Don't get drunk this Christmas.....

2007-12-25T01:48:00.000-08:00

We put the kids to be, relaxed for a few short minutes and them went to bed ourselves this peaceful Christmas Eve only to be awakened by a BLAM SMASH SCREECH at 1:45 a.m. in the morning as someone leaving a party down the street plowed into one of my neighbors cars totaling it. I, being from the world of photojournalism, grabbed one of the cameras and headed out to take a few shots.

This looks like a car someone worked hard to buy. When I first went out, the driver was trying to start the car even though the engine had been pushed into the dashboard. Makes you wonder how many drinks this fellow had. He had blood pouring from his head. I figured I'd spare you images of that.

The neighbors car. It was pushed about 50 feet from where it had been parked in the street.

Oh look, you can see my house from here. It's not the blue one.

I suppose the lesson to be learned here is obvious. Don't park you cars in the street.

Engage: Andrea and Trey in Houston!

2007-12-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

I'm always trying to push the envelope with my engagement shoots to see how far I can go before I've gone just too far. Andrea and Trey hired us to shoot their wedding in Houston in February and also asked us to shoot their engagements in their beloved town. We started out at the Derek Hotel and wound up wondering around downtown until it got dark when it was time to bring out the strobes to look at the world in a whole new way. I still think I can push it further. Don't you?

This has such a neat look to it. There is so much said in the dark. We were actually in front of a big gothic church but decided to not light the church well to make it more about the couple.

Perry Family!

2007-12-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

Since I think of shooting families and start to fidget and mumble to myself, my wife Christina has found that she really enjoys shooting families and she does a fantastic job of it. Here a family is convinced that they have made a wise Toyota purchase.

TWO RINGS BIND THEM: Tracia and Chris at Nature's Point!

2007-12-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

I suppose intense is what describes Tracia. I think Chris is described best as mellow. They had a great wedding that was intense, though I think Chris was still pretty mellow at Nature's Point on Lake Travis which provided a fantastic backdrop for some of the pictures. Upon their entrance to the reception they played the theme to the A-team. I still don't really understand it.

Tracia is the first bride to say yes to lying in to grass in her dress! Woohoo! So many brides look at me like I'm crazy! But look how good it looks!

She just looked cool.

I think he was surrounded by dancing women.

Exit.

Shoot! Erika!

2007-12-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

Erika had a fun way of writing email which made me laugh. It was so similar to my own! We set up a shoot at a place near the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

ENGAGE! Tiffany and Kyle!

2007-11-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

It worked well to have them kiss constantly. They seemed to like it.

Senior: Sierra!

2007-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

The first day we tried to shoot with Sierra it started raining about five minutes prior to the shoot and everything got wet. She had a brutal schedule between her work and school and the day after Thanksgiving happened to become available so out we went under a very dreary sky and shot some fun and intense pictures around downtown.

Kids are People Too: Burgess kids!

2007-11-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Elliot, Owen and Noah were testing Christina and I. They were not all on the same page and they were hilarious for the pictures. I guess it's a lot to ask to have them to all look sweet and cheerful at the same time. Their mom loved the images because they accurately portrayed the kids as they really were capturing their real personality!

Two Rings Bind Them: Amy and Mat at Vintage Villas!

2007-11-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

Amy and Mat had a wonderful wedding at Vintage Villas overlooking fabulous Lake Travis. The sun was setting and the vows were pure and simple for these two who later ate a fabulous meal, danced hard with their family and friends and left in an incredible rush.

Engage: Estella and Carlos!

2007-11-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Estella and Carlos were quiet and seemed shy, but had ideas and locations that were fabulously fun. They are the first couple willing to get into the fountain and I've asked quite a few. It was great fun and Carlos proved that his bare feet could take a lot more pain than mine by standing on the little rocks in the fountain and holding Estella. My feet can't take that kind of pain anymore anymore! This was a killer shoot and it ran into the evening making the images a little more creative. Have to think a little harder when the big ball of fire dips into the sea. YA!

Shot in the dark: Victoria Wolff!

2007-11-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

One of my recent studio shoots was for an amazing cellist who has just finished her PhD at UT and is building a website and was in need of photographs to complete it. Soon you'll be able to find a world class cello instructor at www.victoriawolff.com. Don't wait! Go now!

Two Rings Bind Them: Stormy and Jeremy in New Braunfels!

2007-11-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

Where do I start? So many things were fun at Stormy and Jeremy's wedding. This event took place at the old LRCA electric factory in New Braunfels which is an amazing place. It was converted into apartments with a great event center near the front with a 70 foot ceiling, multiple levels and an old industrial crane for lifting really heavy things that dangled a giant hook over the ceremony. It was wild. Instead of the traditional sit down dinner at most weddings, burritos from Freebirds and allowed most of the guests to stand and continue socializing. This is one of those weddings where the posed formals were more fun to shoot than any other part of the wedding and that's what makes up most of the rest of this blog. When the reception drew to a close the wedding party walked across the river to Wurstfest, a yearly New Braunfels tradition involving German sausage and beer. It seemed to be more about the beer and less about the sausage, but what does it matter to me since I don't drink beer and don't eat sausage. I actually don't recall even seeing sausage at all. I was there for a few more pictures with Stormy and Jeremy on the ferris wheel to finish out the evening. It was a great deal of fun!

Two Rings Bind Them: Shelley and Robert at Flat Creek Winery!

2007-11-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

Shelley and Robert had their beautiful wedding at Flat Creek Winery out near Marble Falls. The winery sat on a hill somewhere so far away from anything that even the city lights were far off in the distance. After the ceremony was a grand feast and then something I'd never seen before: a thing called a wedding march. I've been shooting weddings for quite some time now and have never seen this before, but considering that they played very German music during this march around the outside of the reception hall, I can only assume that it might be a German thing. Maybe? After the march, the guests danced and had a great time!

Who put the alphabet in alphabetical order?

2007-11-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our son Edmond is a crazy reader. He spends a good deal of his day reading books aimed at kids a whole lot older than he is. How many of you read C.S. Lewis at 7 years old. I'm sure he's going to wipe out The Abolition Of Man or War and Peace any day now.

Engage: Carrie and Nick!

2007-10-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Carrie and Nick were waiting in the shade of a tree in front of the Capital Building. I figured they were the couple I was going to shoot though I had never seen either of them before. I tried to think of a really cool way of introducing myself other than the traditional, "Hi I'm Travis. Are you blahdeblah?" but couldn't think of anything really creative to say. I've found I'm more an action kind of a guy rather than a real talker. These two were fabulous and fun and the pictures turned out great.

I am not a cake maker. Buy a cake from someone else!

2007-10-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

My son Edmond and I participated in the Cub Scouts 'Lad and Dad Bake-off' where we created this bizarre contraption of culinary confusion. The deal was that we got no help from Mom which was a dangerous road to travel. My hat now goes off to the cake makers who provide elegant, beautiful memorable wedding cakes that I see at so many of my weddings. I had always figured that anyone could do it and it was only flour, sugar and butter. How wrong I was. It took us three hours to create this baked confection that nightmares are made of and ours came out of a box and was not from scratch. All in all , we actually did a pretty good job for our first try. The Cub Scouts auction off the cakes as a fundraiser every year. I suppose we'll have to plan ahead next year and learn a little more about how to make cakes. We'll have to go to Simon Lee and get some tips so we can have a killer cake next year.

Engage! Sara and Chris!

2007-10-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Sara and Chris were fun! We shot at the Capital, then Mount Bonnell where they got engaged, the 360 bridge and then back downtown and we happened upon a neon house that just screamed SHOOT ME! It was such a beautiful day!

Senior: Zak!

2007-10-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Zak was tired. He had been out until midnight playing in a football game the night before and had gotten up at 6 a.m. for his SATs the following morning. He pulled it off without a hitch though. He pushed through with a sleep deprived relaxed look for half of the shoot then shaved in his car and dressed with a little more sophistication to have a nice well rounded shoot covering all the looks.

Engage: Lauren and Justin!

2007-10-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

These two were cheerleaders getting married in Mexico next June and they were amazing! Blue eyes all around and bright and shining despite the fact that Justin worked at night and was quite out of his element at 9 a.m. in the morning. So am I to be honest, but there is something fresh and new about morning that just makes their pictures special.

Do you grok my mind music?

2007-10-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

I never buy anything for myself. The last thing I bought for myself was an Xbox in November of 2001. It still kind of works too. With a lot of yelling a some banging Halo will start up and even load the levels. Halo 2, on the other hand, does no such thing I and stuck playing the wonders of Halo without the option of a gun in each hand. Halo 3 is still only a dream. My family has always come first and everything is more important than toys where daddy gets to shoot his friends and blow up stuff.

This year I finally broke down and caved under the carefully crafted advertising and media hype of the iPhone. Actually I wasn't all that keen on the iPhone because of it's extreme price and devotion to AT&T and wished for a device like it but without the phone part and necessity to pay a cell phone company $60 a month even to use it as an iPod. They read my mind, those buggers. Out came the iPod touch and I was hooked. They had figured out a way to get $300 out of me. And I am the first to admit that this little gizmo is incredible. Though they've locked the iPod Touch up to the point that it's a little frustrating when trying to view my own website, a custome designed PHP site with embedded Flash which is not supported by Safari nor does it seem they will support Flash, it still has a whole bunch of things on it that are really useful and I have enjoyed having a new toy that I can play with.

Baby: Ariana!

2007-10-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Christina shot these of this adorable cherub at our home studio. I've never seen a baby last so long on a shoot before. She'd wake up, look cute and then fall back asleep without much of a fuss. Enjoy!

Seniors: Katlyn!

2007-10-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

Katlyn found us on the web and wanted something different than what she could get in Salado where she went to high school. She had a great style with great clothes and big brown eyes and we had a lot of fun at the Capital and in the warehouse district. There's never any parking in the warehouse district so her mom drove around the block while we shot in some of the great places around downtown.

Two Rings Bind Them: Matt and Rhonda at Green Pastures!

2007-09-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you meet people who just treat you like you are the center of their universe. It was said that Bill Clinton was this way. When meeting him, people would say that it was like there was no one else in the room and that you were the most important person in the world for that brief meeting. This was how both Matt and Rhonda were. On first meeting them they just seemed to be quite possibly the friendliest people we had ever met and seemed to care so much about us, our kids, and the mudane that normally most people don't really care about. I really wanted to shoot their wedding to see what kinds of people they had as friends.

But I had another bride who had contacted me first about a wedding in Houston on the very same day as Matt and Rhonda's wedding. She hadn't met with us yet and only seemed kind of serious about hiring us, but I honor whoever contacts us first. So I sent out a kind of odd feeler to see how serious the Houston bride was. I sent her a very funny email that basically said that I was going to set up a cage fight between her and Rhonda to decide who could hire me for her wedding and that she had to let me know if she was really interested in hiring us. I never heard from her again. I didn't think it was that weird, but I've been told by some of my photographer friends that I may have pushed it a little too far. I guess I won't be able to set up any bride cage fights again. Oddly enough when I shot Matt and Rhonda's engagement pictures a couple of months back, I told them what I had sent to the other bride and Rhonda looked at me, flexed her arms and said, 'I could have taken her.' I supppose I chose the right couple after all.

Their wedding was like a movie. You know the gushing chick flick where everyone is hugging and kissing and is absolutely amazing and wonderful and every shot you take is fabulous. It rained during the ceremony, but it didn't dampen the spirits of either the bride or the groom and they just smiled at each other, at the guests under umbrellas, at me and Christina. The pictures don't show a hint of the rain that was falling either. If people weren't holding umbrellas you would have never known.

The bride and groom ate by themselves up stairs at Green Pastures and insisted that Christina and I join them for the fabulous feast. We obliged and graciously thanked them.

They danced and danced and hugged people right and left and eventually hopped in a limo off to their honeymoon.

Young Seniors: Rose!

2007-09-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the first uses of our home studio for a senior portait. It went fabulously! Rose was happy and peppy and ready for anything! She had a great sense of style. Back on the West Coast, we shot a good 50 seniors a year and just about every other senior would request to be photographed on 'the couch.' 'The couch' was a 50 year old white vinyl covered loveseat that we had inherited from my wife's grandfather in Los Angeles several years back. When I had first seen it at the grandparents house, it was in a small dark room used as an office and it was sticky. I had always afraid to sit on it because of that. One day, they were getting rid of a bunch of their old stuff and I suddenly looked at it in a whole new way: it was free! All I had to do was fit it in my little SUV and drive it 700 miles back home. It was mine! HAHAHAHA!

Rose was the first person to request to be shot on 'the couch' in Austin and........I didn't have it at the house. It was at my office where it was covered with pictures. With a wild look in my eyes, my mind started tripping and we decided to grab the couch and take it outside for the outdoor portion of her shoot and make some cool pictures with it outside. It was fabulous!

Workshop in the big D

2007-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

I've learned a lot from shooting. I've learned a lot from seeing other peoples work. I've learned a lot from reading. But I've never felt like the heavens opened up and changed my work at workshops designed to sell you digital effects tools for way too much money. This one wasn't any different. I checked out a workshop by a guy named Doug Gordon in Dallas who was a big name in the New York wedding photography world, of whom I'd never heard of but my wife, the keeper of all information that I can not recall, had and she showed me who he was. For six hours he was obnoxious, profane, spoke with a very New York accent and basked in the light of his own glory.......and did I say obnoxious? In between sizzling his fingers on his own butt and proclaiming multiple times that, "it had been a while since he'd had a white boy," Doug Gordon imparted little tidbits of knowledge about his business and how to do things better. He seemed a strange combination of the character Fat Bastard from the Austen Powers film and me. The workshop was about the sexy side of wedding photography. As he spoke I kept expecting him to exclaim, "I'M DEAD SEXY!" But alas those words never quite escaped his mouth. He talked, shot some pictures and then talked some more, then tried to sell us stuff. Typical workshop.

Overall I had a good time and it motivated me to continue pushing the limits with what I do and make images that are unforgettable. Below are a few images I shot of his models then tweaked with my own tweaks to make the images similar to his final output at the end of the day. In the end I didn't buy his magic doodads and instead invented my own. I sell mine a little cheaper. Check out the Cheap Tricks section of our website to see what our Tweakers do. I'M DEAD SEXY!

ENGAGE! Carolyn and Alex!

2007-09-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

In August Carolyn and Alex got married in Houston, but chose me to finish the job and photograph them in their wedding clothes in Austin after their wedding photographer neglected to shoot very many pictures of the two of them at their wedding. Maybe I'm confused about all of this stuff, but aren't the bride and groom the most important people at the wedding?

I have got to get myself a uniform like this for special occasions! It just screams, "I am important and should be listened to!" At least that's what I was hearing the whole time I was shooting these too.

In one of my many odd statements to help them relax and laugh and smile, I told them how I am the Jack Bauer of wedding photography with my bizarre antics and running around and yelling. To make my point hit home I yelled at the top of lungs, "DROP THE GUN!" on the Capital Grounds in my best Jack Bauer impression. This was not one of my brighter moments as Alex pointed out to me that the state troopers at every entrance and roaming around the grounds probably wouldn't take kindly to my very good quality Jack Bauer impression.