TWO RING BINDS THEM: Denyse and Andy at the Salt Lick Pavilion!

Andy and Denyse had a really laid back wedding at the
Saltlick Pavilion. They didn't have cake and they weren't traditional at all, but had their own idea of what a wedding should be like: A really big party. And that's what it was. After a short ceremony out near the creek, they all flooded into the pavilion, the bar opened and the music started and they danced. There was a lot of dancing.

Janna!

Janna is one of the few people who drove with me all the way into Austin to do her shoot without my wife to keep conversations fresh and exciting. I tend to not talk as much as my wife which is pretty normal. Christina had to watch the kids that day, but we did some improvising along the way and shot images that represented Janna very well.





Even though she had a killer smile I loved the way she could smile with her eyes and emote so much without changing her expression. She could pull off serious, forlorn and really happy without trying all that hard.

Lisa!

Lisa came out of the now where. She had been married in May of 2006 but due to the fact that her dress only showed up a week before her wedding she never had time to get a bridal portrait. Apparently the photographer for her wedding didn't want to shoot her bridal portrait ten months later so she gave us a call.


We shot at the Texas Capital and down Congress against a really cool wall next to a pay parking lot. It was great! Lisa was a fantastic, happy lady who seemed to really like very different images than I would have expected which made her shoot a lot of fun!

9th Anniversary Cruise! WOOHOO!

Yep, It's been nine years of wedding bliss with Christina as my beautiful bride. Nine years since I watched her walk down the aisle that I've photographed so many other brides walking down. It's amazing.

Click to see the pictures so long as I haven't removed them from our server.

For the first time since we've been married we celebrated our anniversary with a big trip without the children and chose a simple 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean leaving from Galveston. It was the most relaxing trip I have been on in years. If you're looking for 24-hour parties and non-stop talking and entertainment like my wife this may not be the best thing for you. The music and the shows were kind of enemic and seemed to have the soul sucked out of them and were never loud enough (of course this comes from a bass player who played one too many years next to the crash cymbals and snare drum). It didn't really matter to me because I wanted to spend most of my trip sleeping in and enjoying the silence. But my wife dragged me out to acouple of 'fun' day trips in Costa Maya, Belize and Cozumel. The Costa Mayan stop was a 6 hour tour of Mayan ruins, which I named the Mayan Death Camp Tour because I barely made it back to the ship with a fever and every muscle in my body aching. In Belize we spied on the Prime Minister's family photographer until he invited us in than we talked for a while about what and how we shoot. In Cozumel we walked around Cruise Ship Row where everyone spoke English and wanted to sell us something for American cash. They weren't all that keen on the almighty credit card, but we did find a couple of people who would take the cards and came back with a couple of gifts for family. The day we were there there were five cruise ships docked right next to us. So my guess was there were between 10k-15k people dropping in on the little island at that dock. They had cell phone reception there too.

My favorite part of the cruise was sleeping and swimming after midnight and then more sleeping. Then of course there was eating. And eating and eating. It took up half our day most days. I was kind of getting a little bored with chewing after a while and just wished they'd make it all into a milkshake: Lobster milkshake, salmon milkshake, feticcini alfredo milkshake. Chewing just took too bloody long. Most of the time it was time for another meal as soon as we were done with what we were eating. We did a lot of walking around the deck day and night trying to keep from dying from the incredible intake of butter that was piled up in front of us morning, noon, night, midnight, and everywhere inbetween. Oh!

We hope to go on another next year and take the kids. I think they would like it a lot. At least the eating and swimming part.

Ashleigh!

I'm shooting weddings for Two Ashleys this year! Both of them are having bridal portraits done and this one who spells her name a little different from the rest had me drive out to League City near Houston to shoot her bridal session at a cousin/aunt/relative's house on a very dirty lake called Clear Lake near Galveston Bay. I was never really completely sure of how they were related but the lady was very hospitible to the degree that she let us into the neighbors beautiful homes as well for us to shoot.



Ashleigh is a fitness guru and was in much better shape than I have ever been. Since her fitting in the dress months before, she had lost weight and had to work to keep the dress in the right places.


She had a killer smile and could also look very sultry when she needed to.

TWO RINGS BIND THEM: Chelsea and Ray at Chapel Dulcinea!

Ray's greatest fear was to look like a gay biker. He said that all the pictures ever taken of him portrayed him in this light and that wasn't really his style. He met Chelsea, a nice school teacher, and the two of them together decided to tie the knot at Chapel Dulcinea a little bit south of Austin with a reception at the Iron Cactus North. The day started like many others with a bleary eyed photographer waking earlier than he really wants and then a quick hop and a jump into the car to find the bride having her make-up done, then to the groom getting ready then, to the Chapel and then to the Iron Cactus. It was a very busy day and I think Ray didn't look like a gay biker.

Ladies with Strings!

Victoria, Alexis and Rebecca are part of a small string ensemble in Austin, Texas. They all have students and are accomplished professional musicians. Here are some of the images that we shot of them. I chose red to shoot on because I had just bought the background and thought, 'What the heck? I bought red and I'm going to use it!' I like the outcome and may shoot a lot more on red. In my old studio I had a curved red wall which I would shoot on from time to time, but had never had anything quite as red as the this background.

TWO RINGS BIND THEM: Amanda and Joe at the Austin Country Club!

Amanda and Joe were so fun! They had a lovely ceremony, then sang and danced the whole way to their reception on the Rockin' Ride Party Bus. At the reception the couple and almost all of their friends danced harder than just about any other group I have seen. This is the party wedding to beat for those of you planning a wedding for the future.

ENGAGE: Charlie and Derek!

I didn't know football players were so nice. They seem so formidable once they've strapped on their plastic armor and have engaged an opponent in a dual to the ground over an oddly shaped ball in what is the most popular sport in Texas. What with all the grid iron yelling and smashing of heads together, how would I ever to expect a really fun guy with a to have a really nice girl which really wanted to be shot at Memorail Stadium. Plus, it becomes a whole lot easier to get on the field with a football player than if you're not.

ENGAGE: Liz and Andrew!

It was a break in the rain today so we finally were able to get out and shoot these two. There wedding was only 6-weeks away and we wanted to get these shot so they could get their out their custom invitations out quickly and get their guestbook done in time for the wedding.




They had a great amount of romance that drove then on in these images. I barely directed at all. I left them to see where they would end up and just filled the frame and shot.