A couple weeks ago I headed up to Canada to visit my good friends Chris+Lynn, shoot an amazing wedding (thanks Sonny and Sandy!) and ride my bike at Whistler. The wedding was enormous and a ton of fun, some of the most friendly people I have ever met! Here’s a couple highlights and some fun ones of me doing stupid stuff at Whistler

Here’s a couple from Whistler Mountain Bike Park. The first couple days there it was beautiful but we didn’t break out the camera until the weather got really nasty! lol Thanks for joining me Bill!

Jumping in the rain was pretty sketchy, especially as I had so much mud in my eyes that I could barely see!

See, I told you it was a bad idea! Thankfully I was wearing body armor, without this I would have had a broken knee for sure!

Bill going off the GLC drops (about 6 foot drop). A minute later I followed with about $5k of camera around my neck, probably not the best idea ever!

We had a day off in the middle of the 4 days of wedding shooting and it was a beautiful day so Chris, Lynn and I headed to the sea shore for lunch, it was a beautiful day!

A couple weeks ago I flew out to New York City to help my friends Jason Groupp and Gene Higa with their East Meets West Photography workshop. Ah, who am I kidding, I just went out for Jason’s pre-PhotoPlus party! lol. You can see in the last pic that I was having a good time!
Jason and Gene totally rocked the workshop and I got a chance to meet a lot of great people and see more of New York. The workshop was all about teaching photographers to get even more creative and to push themselves to be even better by both thinking differently and doing practice shoots. It’s too easy to get stuck in a rut so practice shoots are a great way to give yourself a chance to not just take the safe shot but also get angles and lighting you wouldn’t normally use. I even got the chance to work with some others on their lighting setups and explain how I light like I do on location. I love getting to share knowledge especially when it’s a collaborative effort where I can learn too.
Oddly enough, while we were shooting in Times Square, I ran into my buddy Mike Larson who was shooting an engagement session for one of his clients. Too funny! We live 20 miles apart in California but I only ever see him out of state! Last time was in Vegas!
I love walking to get to know a city, I estimated that I walked about 15 miles in 2 days (not in comfortable shoes!) while exploring, it was great! Don’t get me wrong, San Francisco is still my first love with London a close second but there is just no place on earth like New York! Even better, I get to go back in just a couple weeks to hang out with Angelica!

Thanks Corey for this pic of me double fisting! lol

Last week I headed up to Seattle to shoot with my friend Chris of Chris+Lynn. We had a great wedding and then headed up to Chris and Lynn’s place near Vancouver. The first day we headed out to Stanley Park in Vancouver and road bikes around then went to some great places for dinner and drinks. Then next morning we all wanted to go hike so Chris, Lynn, TJ and I all headed back across the border so we could hike around Mt. Baker.
It took us awhile to get there but once we got on the trail it was truly beautiful! We hiked up to the side of a glacier and then just enjoyed the view. Here’s a couple pics from the trip. I’ll post some images from the wedding later this week.

Chris and Lynn just can’t get enough of each other!

There’s about a 200 foot drop just to my right, do I look nervous?

TJ trying out for a job for an outdoor clothing model!

I tried to get them into the water but seeing as that water was glacier about 5 minutes ago it was a bit cold!

Enjoying the view

I should have brought a reflector to fill in those shadows! lol

It was hard to not just sit and enjoy

This is Bob. Bob is our new cat, his brother Tom also lives with us. I forgot what a complete pain in the ass kittens can be! lol

Wow, I’ve now been home for exactly one week and I’m am just now feeling normal again, what a great time! I left on Saturday afternoon to head down to San Diego for an engagement shoot. The drive was kind of brutal but I had my latest book on tape from audible.com so it was all good. Saturday night I met up with my friends and past bride and groom Angie and Brian for some drinks and dinner. The next morning, after the engagement (I’ll post those soon!) I drove out to Vegas where I had a shoot then the festivities began.
I met tons of great people and had an awesome time. Not much sleep though! The convention is the largest of the year and brings together pretty much everyone in the wedding and portrait photography industry. It is a far cry from my everyday life in little San Luis Obispo! I get the chance to hang out with many good friends, meet the vendors I use and check out new products that are offered. Basically, it is the same as any other tradeshow but you know me, I always manage to have a good time wherever I go

Brian and Angie

Jason Groupp,Aimee Cooper and Me at some party…not sure who’s as we went to a ton of them but I think it was at my new friend Sara France’s.

Gene, who I have far more embarrassing images of but I won’t do that to him! We’re making fun of modes…sorry, the patron was flowing so it seemed funny at the time…

The San Francisco Crew, left to right
Jesse, John, Augie, someone I don’t know (sorry) and Gene

John with his girlie drink our server set him up with!

Gene and Angelica oh my, after this we had the most wild limo ride ever! That was too fun!

My new favorite Southern Girls! Amy Martin and Mary Beth Tyson. That isn’t my arm, but that would be funny if my hands were that feminine!

Jason got a really weird fortune out of a giant fortune cookie…only in Vegas!

Almost missed this one so I’m adding it in. Jefferson Todd, me and Aimee

What a great time, I’m looking forward to next year! So much more fun stuff, I had 7 shoots over the past 2 weeks so I’ve got tons of blogging to catch up on. But you know how it goes, you leave for a week and it takes a month to make it up!

Last week I headed out to Death Valley to meet up with my friends for some fun and photography. Meeting me there were Jason Groupp, John Griffin, TJ Cameron and Tim Halberg. It was a great opportunity for a bunch of wedding photographers to get together and do something different! We got there on Tuesday afternoon after stopping at one of my favorite diner’s in Mojave, Primo Burgers. Note: when you go to a burger place, stick with the burgers! haha, some of us learned that lesson the hard way! It was pretty overcast and the light was flat so we just kind of setup camp and hung out. I cooked up my “college special” of macaroni and cheese mixed with chili and corn, mmmmmm!
The next day we were up early and headed over to the sand dunes but the light was completely flat, we couldn’t even see our own shadows. Most of Wednesday we spent sightseeing by checking out old mines and ghost towns. I got some kind of cool shots in the rain (yes, it was raining!) of one of the towns but it’s all on film which I don’t have back yet. That night we consumed plenty of frothy adult beverages then woke up at 6am to shoot at Zabriski point the next day.
Zabriski is well photographed but the light was good so we shot away. It was pretty funny to see all the other wannabe nature photogs out there (I definitely include myself in this category!) as people were taking pictures of all sorts of things! It was a total nerd pack! LOL
I had developed a real bad cold by this point so I was taking it pretty easy and didn’t really get to shoot as much as I wanted but the light was hit or miss so it was not big deal. That afternoon we jumped in my Jeep and motored out to the Racetrack. The Racetrack is that weird dry lakebed where the rocks somehow slide along and leave tracks behind them. It is a really cool place but there were high winds so we didn’t stay all that long. We did manage to get some good shots of all the wildflowers that are starting to bloom which was beautiful. I think I will head back on my way home from Vegas next month as all the other colors of flowers ought to be blooming by then.
If you have never been to Death Valley I strongly recommend checking it out. It is the least visited National Park so you are guaranteed no crowds which makes it worth it right there!

These pics are just what I shot as extra’s from my digital camera. When I get my film back I will get some more fun shots up.

The flowers aren’t quite all that thick yet, it needs another rain. This was near Salt Creek.

The view from Zabriski Point

Laying on the ground was the only way out of the relentless wind out at the Racetrack!

Some sort of interesting desert plant. I love how everything in the desert is all about texture and form.

Here’s a pic of the moon just before the total lunar eclipse. It was pretty amazing, it completely covered the moon for about an hour. It got super dark so the stars became very vivid, it was one of the most star filled skies I have ever seen!

I got back from Santa Fe last night and I’m exhausted! Thankfully we had a smooth and uneventful flight home and got to stop in Sedona again for breakfast. I still can’t get over how gnarly the landing is there! The 5,000 ft runway is perched on top of a 5,100 ft long, 700 foot tall plateau so when you land you come in over a cliff and when you take off you fly right off the edge! Between that and some really gusty and unpredictable winds and the amazing rock formations It is a pretty wild place to visit.

Laurie and Alan’s wedding was beautiful and they were such nice people, we all really had a great time. I have to thank Jason Groupp again for bringing me out there to shoot. Getting to work with such a talented photographer and one of my good friends is such a treat, I can’t wait to do it again. Did I mention that Jason was recently named Best of Photographers in New York by readers of the Knot?! That is a well deserved honor for him.
We started off the day with lunch at the beautiful El Dorado Hotel with Alan and his brother-in-law Anthony. Both of them are great and genuine people who it was a joy to get to know. We then split up with Jason heading over to the Presidential Suite to shoot Laurie getting ready and me staying with Alan. We shot some getting ready stuff and then headed over to the historic downtown area of Santa Fe for a session with Laurie and Alan together. Laurie had the most amazing Vera Wang Gown, it was beautiful and a perfect dress for her.
We ran all over town and got some great shots, then headed back to the hotel for touch-ups before the ceremony. After the ceremony cocktail hour and dinner were held on the huge patio at the El Dorado Hotel’s Presidential Suite with views of the sunset over downtown Santa Fe, it was spectacular! Cake and dancing were across the street at the Georgia O’keefe Museum where special tours were arranged and the DJ was rocking.
It was an amazing day and tons of fun! I’m looking forward to my next trip out to New York to hang out with everyone again