Squaw Valley Resort, Lake Tahoe Wedding {Jon & Jessica}

Last nights wedding was SO amazing. I love how couples get original and just do something risky. Get married on superbowl weekend in the winter at 8,206 feet in the Mountains above Lake Tahoe. For me, it was 100% worth 12 hours of covering a spectacular group of people, wonderful family, and friends gathering to celebrate Jon & Jessica celebrating their nuptials at High Camp at Squaw Valley Mountain Resort.

It was snowing all day and created an amazing aurora that surrounded them as if a big white fleece blanket of quiet and warmth. Thats one of my favorite things about the snow, it makes everything clean and quiet. Here is Jessica proudly walking towards her bridesmaids a few minutes before the wedding.

Then Later after sunset, at 5:45pm, with almost no light, using my new Canon 1D Mark 4, at ISO 1250, 1/50th, & 1.2, I was able to grab these shots. The only way I was even able to focus was by having my assistant (sweet Rachel) hold up her iphone near their faces and focus on that.

Thanks to this new gear and some tricks, I was able to get an extra 30 minutes of shooting in. Later at the reception, it was a fun reunion to see 2 other couples we had photographed in the last year there. Near the end of the night our highly anticipated slideshow was about to play and the projector bulb went out, JUST as the DJ cued the soundtrack for the music. I had nothing else to do but pray for the gear to work. God was victorious and everyone was amazed that the "burned out" bulb worked one last time. The slideshow was sweet and was such a hit. Thanks guys for a great night. I'll be posting more of the images in a few days.

Latest Speaking Tour

Thanks to Pictage, who sponsored the 1st 11 days of 20+ in my "Character Marketing" speaking tour to the Pictage user groups, or PUG's. It was an open invite however to photographers in each city. Here is Nashville

The Nashville crew here with a wireless flash setup on each side. Simple.

Here is a shot from a friend who was shooting me speaking.

The week earlier I was in Portland, Oregon and met with a sweet group of photographers there.

Eric Farewell's wife, Nellie was there, they were such a help to me during my shoot in San Francisco and again here in Portland. Great people.

Eric shot these shots of me sharing about character marketing and growing ourselves as much as our art.

The Portland skyline, Here we used the YongNuo wireless transmitters, which powered my Canon 580ex II flashes at 1/128th power.

Same exact settings, just a couple, and you get sweet light.

I stopped in Seattle and this was the 1st day that I was able to speak after 5 days of being on 100% vocal rest. Thanks to everyone who was praying. It was a blessing to be able to share that night!

Again, a great group of photographers in Seattle as well.

Here is my view, for 2 hours sharing my heart and experiences. I was blessed to hear people share how they walked away with renewed vision.

Tech specs, 1/5 second, F 1.2, ISO 1000, shot on the ground so the middle ground was limited to the couple standing, the orange clouds are from the city lights.

Here is the view of the photogs surrounding and the flash setup. Simple 1/128th power on the flash heads. I did 11 demos, and 2 weddings on the same batteries before I had to switch them.

San Francisco. Thanks to Gene Higa for helping out shooting this shot!

On Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, this is the leftover crowd from the demo shoot we did for the Los Angeles PUG.

Detroit Michigan. All I can say is that it was 13 degrees out! But it was worth flying up and sharing with another great group of photographers here.

This was the 1st stop in the tour in San Diego, thanks to the Youngrens, and the La Vida Crew, they took great care of me.

Near the end of the 1st 3 weeks, about the 1/2 way part of the tour, we stopped at Kevin Swan's house for the presentation, where we did the camera toss. I should have had my fisheye on for this shot, as in the Camera toss which was a few posts earlier.

I wanted to give a special thanks to Pictage, for sponsoring this, also for Drobo, for giving away a gift certificate, Album Exposure for giving away a year subscription, and to Show-It sites, for giving away a special discounted rate on their AMAZING slideshows and websites for photographers.

Upcoming on the tour are the following cities: Philly, DC, NYC, uptown NYC, Baltimore, Boston, Salt Lake City, Pheonix, Orlando, Miami, Hartford, Chicago, Sacramento, East Bay Area, Vancouver, and maybe Kansas City. I hope to see those of you in those cities coming up. For more info, check out my workshops site.

Etsy Spotlight

For all brides, Etsy is an amazing resource for unique handcrafted special touches for your big day. One of our dear brides, Lauren of Lo Boheme, makes custom vintage inspired accessories that several of our brides has sported. It was fun to see so many familiar faces in the pictures of ours that she has posted on her website. Check it out!

Where have you been in the world?

I found this cool map locator and it shows you what percent of the world you've been to! It really puts how big the world is, into perspective. If only flying over the country counted as well! I'd have "seen" more of the world too! Visit the link, put in your own travel, then copy your "world map" in the comments section below. I feel so blessed and thankful to have my photography clients and business development partners ask me to travel all over the world! I've learned so much and yet learned how much more I have to learn.

Duel Camera Toss

Thanks to my buddy Kevin Swan, we met at his house for the Indianapolis Pictage Pug presentation, which is part of my 20 city Photography Tour

We could not resist throwing our cameras in the air so we gathered a few of the friends remaining and went out for a shoot. See the results below!

Here is my shot of his camera in the air. Pretty cool because two simultaneous cameras in the air has never been done before! Here is video that someone took on facebook of the event!

Next up I'll be in Detroit on thursday. See you all then, and after that I'm back in San Luis Obispo for a few days before I head up to Tahoe for a wedding on the North Shore!

and his shot of my new Canon 1D mark 4

Thanks kevin!

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge Engagement Session| Jon & Jessica

What a day, more images to come, but here is a sneak peak!

Robert Hall Winery | New years party!

Wow, what an amazing event, Kramer DJ's & Lighting put together this lighting setup downstairs in the wine cellars for new years eve 2009!. Catering Unlimited did the tasty food and Corinne from Panacea Event Floral Design did the fabulous decor. We had the Photobooth Experience there as well rocking it out all night. There was a constant line of people having a great time for the Photobooth!

Here is another event we did at Robert Hall this year

Winter 2010 Pictage Speaking Tour

Get prepared for 2010. This is going to be a full 2 hours of intense information sharing and great practical things to apply to your life, business and art. 2010 is going to be a defining and refining year for photographers, as the demand for excellence is going to go up and at the same time, our production must get faster and we must compartmentalize our business, our personal life and ensure success in both areas. DON'T have a lukewarm business!

We are going to also do a mini night casual portrait session shoot with some cool new gear I got.

I'm super excited to share my passion for what helped us have a great year in 2009 and Its my hope that this would equip you and gear you up for an amazing 2010, where you have freedom and success.

Freedom happens when you choose to do whats right, right now. To achieve greater success than you have right now, requires doing things your not currently doing right now. Bring a friend and be ready for good times.

The presentation schedule is here!

Vineyard Engagement Shoot | Marcus & Liz

Meet Marcus & Liz, Marcus is a rancher, and Liz a viticulture expert. What better location to shoot than in the Santa Inez/San Luis Obispo County wine country area. Fall colors out here are stunning and I wish I could have paused this light and shot forever! Thanks guys for an amazing shoot!

This is a secret vineyard that nobody knows about and there is a ominous looking chain guarding the road.

I love sitting on the job. Always a different perspective.

It was great to hear Liz teach Marcus what she did and what she was looking for as she inspects grape vines in her day to day work on the vineyard.

Meet Liz, a vine expert.

Meet Marcus, he is a hard working cattle rancher. Don't mess with him. But he's cool. We had fun shooting and I totally was digging his "what are you looking at", look.

They had fun, too much fun at times, and this was telling of their relationship, and how much fun they have together.

They love to fish, and we shared many fish stories, so it was fitting to see them with their poles and dreaming about the next fishing trip and the all famous fishing stories.

Piggy back rides are good for your health if your a married couple. Good for the relationship too.

Then there was their dog. He loved chasing balls and running around.

I loved this shoot and am looking forward to their wedding in a few months!

The Photobooth Experience

Today we photographed The Photobooth Experience or @boothexperience for twitter followers at several locations and finished with a shoot at Dolphin Bay. The sunset was amazing!

Big Sur Trees & Sun {Mike & Jeanine}

Mike & Jeanine are getting married at the Highlands Inn in beautiful Carmel Ca. So what better than to shoot in the middle of one of the most amazing places on earth, AND coincidentally its their favorite place too! We headed up the coast after thanksgiving to meet them. The light, and cool fall colors were breathtaking.

They spend a lot of time being involved with YMCA, so they sported their "rags".

Since we had early fall rains, the clovers were out and we got some sweet shots in the redwood trees! I'm always looking for cool textures, backgrounds and things that are NOT normal.

I shot this shot with a 1/20th of a second, walking and panning with them, using a 16-35mm lens, my lens flare/landscape lens

Sunset times are the time of day I cannot get enough of.

No really, they were this much fun, and I can't help having fun with people who are having fun. Which is exactly what they wanted recorded of them, the story of them having fun being themselves!

Craggled trees, perfect backdrop, middle ground for this sweetness.

The end... of the shoot, but the beginning of their lives being recorded amazingly and forever they will have something that will remind them of why they enjoy each other. This is who they are and how much fun they have. Thanks guys for a great day!

Fall Favorites

I am going through all my favorite images from recently and have found some amazing ones I've never blogged. Here is a shot from Robert Hall Winery and i LOVE the fall colors here in the wine country. Stellar sunset warmth and Indian summer days.