A Tiny Bulgarian Town
August 10, 2011 by Brad ·
A tiny Bulgarian town, as seen from a huge castle on a high hill. I had to climb up on one of the battlements to get this view (and don't think I was supposed to be up there). We saw lots of historic monasteries, museums, chapels, and historical markers during my recent European destination wedding trip.
Sneak Peek – Mexico Destination Wedding
June 2, 2011 by Brad ·
Traditions abounded at my most recent wedding. With the bride and her family from Bulgaria, and the groom and his family originally from Mexico, it was not only an international wedding extravaganza, but also an impressive and entertaining union of wedding traditions.
To avoid any confusion from getting married outside of the U.S., Mira & Jose chose to have a short civil ceremony at the courthouse in downtown Phoenix. For me it was fantastic to have such a cool 60′s inspired wedding dress to photograph! I think that having more than one ceremony is a supremely cool way to justify having more than one wedding dress – it gives a bride the freedom to be a little more unique and daring with one of the choices. I think Mira hit a home run with this stylish retro dress!
The rehearsal the evening before the wedding was capped off with this beautiful sunset over the beach left exposed by the low tide. Look through the watermark and you’ll spy some buoys that I can only imagine belong to either a fisherman with traps out in the water, or possible a mooring for a jellyfish net.
Mira was a stunningly beautiful bride in the wedding dress she chose for the beach ceremony. I was honored to be able accompany her during her preparations in the amazing suite that overlooked the ceremony site at the Las Palomas Resort in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico.
Jose prepared in another part of the vast suite, and then exited without being seen by his bride-to-be. Jose is one of those grooms who just makes clothes look good. He is one of those few men today who can rightly be called “debonair”. And it’s all capped off by his big heart and wonderful willingness to share with people how much they mean to him – truly a joy to be around.
The storybook wedding ceremony on the beach was interrupted by a jokester in an ultralight who could not resist buzzing by, as close as possible, to wave his well-wishes to the bride & groom.
One of the most fascinating things about photographing this wedding was that the reception featured dancing that was so much more than what I’m used to seeing in the states. Both the Mexican and the Bulgarian traditions played out on the dance floor well into the night.
The next morning, well more like the next day around lunch time, Mira and Jose went way beyond the original plan of just getting their feet wet in a beach photo session. It turned into a full-on “trash the dress shoot” and we had a blast!
I can’t wait to be able to show you more, but I want to have the bride and groom over for a full presentation of all of their photographs on a big projection display first. And that will have to wait. Why? Well, because this wedding just wouldn’t be complete without a third ceremony – in Bulgaria, of course! I’ll post photos of that adventure when we return…
·More VOS 2011 Stages 1 & 2
February 12, 2011 by Brad ·
“Wait, where are the photos?” Well, it’s late and I have to be up early to work at the 3rd stage criterium downtown. So, I’ll just provide the links to two Facebook albums that I uploaded tonight. The TT one will probably have a few more of my favorites added in the next day or two. But I’ve gots-ta get to bed.
“Wait, isn’t Facebook’s handling of photos an abomination?” Well, yes, it is. But there are networking reasons and the old clock on the wall told me to get the FB albums started first, and then hit the hay.
“Will you add better versions of those images here on your blog or in a gallery?” Heavens above, I hope I do. Staying regular about blogging has been nowhere near as easy as I had expected. But I’m thankful to be busy with great clients.
“You know your galleries are hopelessly outdated and don’t show the vast improvements in your more recent portrait and wedding work, right?” Don’t remind me!
·First Photo from VOS 2011
February 11, 2011 by Brad ·
Photographed some today at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race time trial with an experimental flash rig and makeshift harnesses for me and the camera. This is Eric Marcotte of Scottsdale, AZ. While listed as riding for team SMS PRO, it looks like he’s representing team Pista Palace on this beautiful day in sunny Arizona.
·Festival of Cheer photos POSTED!
December 20, 2010 by Brad ·
Images from the 2010 Festival of Cheer are up on my secondary site. Don’t miss out on watching the day unfold by using the Slideshow feature. There is also a corresponding Facebook album up already, so you can tag yourself silly.
This year’s Festival of Cheer in Peoria was a classic of Arizona’s December perfection. While the weather was great, the groups that graced the main stage were AMAZING this year! So many of the performers really stepped up their game this time around. Photographing them at this event was truly an honor. And getting to photograph the kids at the event was a joy.
Thanks for coming out and supporting the community. I can’t wait to bring the camera gear and photograph next year’s Festival of Cheer.
-Brad
·I’ll be the Official Photographer for Social Media AZ
August 18, 2010 by Brad ·
Hey, I’m pleased to announce that once again, I’ll be the Official Photographer for Social Media AZ.
The premier business focused event to help companies understand and learn the latest techniques in digital marketing and social media.
Learn from industry experts and corporations that have experience in
how to do it right.
With a focus on real world experience which means
we share the good, the bad and what really works.
[TV Announcer "Troy McClure" voice] You might remember this image from the last time I covered #SMDAYPHX which wound up on Mashable.com.
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Ok, you can call it a comeback
August 18, 2010 by Brad ·
Where to start? Holy schmokes, friends…
Skip’s Summer School in Vegas – 180 degrees from my last visit when I was in bed by 9 each night. All the best parties, amazing new friends, incredible new contacts, VIP lists, and late late nights. One of the highlights had to be getting to assist Canon Explorer of Light Clay Blackmore and Nikon Legend Tony Corbell in an impromptu lighting seminar, which resulted in a handful of us AZ folks getting portraits made by Clay. Here’s just one of the images he made for me (he gave me permission to crop, color treat, etc.):
I went with Everardo Keeme, and was taken under the wing of presenter and local Phoenix luminary Kay Eskridge. Along the way, we were befriended by some amazing people like Yvonne, Sara, Elena, Christy, Beverlee, Tamara, Candace, Steve, Larry, and others I don’t mean to slight by stopping the list here.
Several of us are gearing up for a seminar in Portland soon. It will be great to get to visit with some of these folks again.
Since my last post, there have been a wedding, personal portraits, corporate portraits, group shots, more filming, editing, exploding lighting gear, storms, light-painting, dams busting, and more. I’ve been busy and it’s been exciting. I haven’t quite dialed in the blogging schedule. I’m realizing that blogging just doesn’t come quickly for me. I’m S L O W …
But I’ll keep trying to refine it. Thanks for checking in!
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Dani & Ben’s Wedding (sneak peak)
August 7, 2010 by Brad ·
Dani & Ben had a beautiful small ceremony at Freestone Park in Mesa, AZ which was a special place in their courtship. After the intimate ceremony, they arrived at Grace Church in Mesa where a much larger group of friends joined family for a wonderful reception. Being such a quiet couple who placed a high value on privacy and family, I was truly honored to be chosen to document their engagement and to be a part of their wedding day. The day was hot, but it was much nicer than it had been the day before at the rehearsal (I always attend rehearsals), so it seemed so much better!
I was skeptical when Dani and Ben suggested and outdoor daytime wedding in July (here in the Metro Phoenix area),but look at the beautiful sky we would have missed if we had played it safe. We had just enough cloud cover to give us some relief from the Arizona sun.
This and the photo below may be my favorite pair of reception images ever! I captured this one, while my wife Lisa prepared for the catch below. We had no idea about the last minute plan for the Maid of Honor to boost the Flower Girl into the air.
Giving new meaning to the title Flower Girl! I spoke with Kayla, the Maid of Honor, later. She said she had no idea this would work. It was one of the most fun moments at a reception I’ve ever been witness to. My wife and assistant Lisa says she saw Kayla’s hands go under those arms, into a “boost” position and focused in on them. So. Much. Fun!
Photography 101 Seminar: More students’ photos
July 19, 2010 by Brad ·
Last week, we worked a lot on showing motion through the use of shutter speed. Since we had already hit upon lot’s of accidental instances of fast shutter speeds freezing motion that the eye usually misses (mouths frozen mid-syllable, eyelids half shut, you know – real flattering stuff!), we worked mostly on slow shutter speeds creating motion blur. I’ll spare you the many images of my feet and let you see the students’ work that was aimed at Miss Nikki’s much more presentable peds. Nikki brought along some shoes and a few other items she had been doing photo homework with, in hopes of creating original images to populate her own shoe blog.
Even after we wore her out from walking back and forth for us, we worked on using available light to make some impromptu “product shot” images that might suit her blog needs. My goal was to explain how we could use household scenes and common light fixtures to come up with something beyond a snapshot. What goes into real commercial product shots is overwhelmingly painstaking, time-consuming, technical, and complex. It’s also really not suited to the level of class that we’ve got going on here. So we had fun, we made it fast, and we wound up with just what Nikki wanted!
Here’s the motion, captured by Bethany. Nikki, struttin’ her bad self…
After all that walking, we had Nikki stand just so, and worked on composition, filling the frame, depth of field, and low-tech lighting.
This is the behind the scenes view of the photo above. It’s really quite simple, which is what this first series of classes is geared toward.
This one has a story. I don’t normally like selective color (where the color is dropped out of everything except, say, the flowers in a bride’s bouquet) because it’s getting a bit tied to a particular time period (which is pretty much behind us now). But this is an image that Nikki first thought was going to be a throw-away, one we could just delete in camera. But I suggested that she consider its unorthodox composition as viable for alternate uses. I see it as a practical template or background for a webpage/blog-page that would have text (maybe slanted text, hmm?) in the empty space that grows from the top-left to the bottom-center. I dropped out the color entirely to further my point. Then, in an effort to suggest just how vast the possibilities were with this “throw-away” original, I clicked a pre-set in my software and brought back only the reds. She loved it! So here it is.
In the Bicycle Radio studios
July 18, 2010 by Brad ·
Last week I was graciously accepted into the Cat 5 Tattoo Studios; the home of Bicycle Radio’s Escape the Peloton, a live streaming internet radio show and downloadable podcast that reaches tens of thousands of listeners around the world. This being Tour de France season, the show’s audience was peaking, and the discussion was hoppin’. Spirits are always high on the show, and as the photos below attest, the broadcast is a fun combination of joviality, professionalism, and great music. Check it out.
After getting permission to bring my camera, I decided to approach the night as a no-flash, low-light challenge. It was much darker in the studio than it looks in the photos. I had fun stretching the camera’s (and this photographer’s) ability to perform in the dark. It’s always good practice, as the halls, churches, and hotel lawns where I photograph so many weddings and receptions are often barely lit. There, I usually have the option of working with flash, on and off-camera. But location limitation, church rules, or technical problems can occasionally leave one with no additional light. So this was a good low-pressure time to practice.
The Bicycle Radio’s production level sounds great — like top-notch terrestrial FM shows. But this is podcasting, right? DIY radio. I expected to find anything other than the slick professional studio that Sean & Larry have put together.
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The show’s host, Sean Mellor, comes from a deep background in commercial radio, and has taken to the new frontier of internet broadcasting with an unmistakable joie de vivre.
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Co-host and producer Larry Hendon is no silent partner behind the boards. His fingerprints are all over the show, and his commentary and insights are entertaining parts of every broadcast.
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Efraim Rojas is the show’s sage of professional cycling, Belgian beers, and all things linguistic.
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Staff-member Marty was there that night too, but he declined to have his image captured and shared with the world. I am one of the lucky few to have seen his face. And alas, the lass Jerri was unusually absent the night of my visit. Without her, the show was without its news and upcoming events for the week.
Did I have a good time? Of course! But I’m not going to spell it all out here. The photos above tell most of the story. Listen to the podcast for the rest. If you’re a cyclist or a fan of the sport, make it a regular part of your routine, especially the live-streaming music show that begins an hour or so before each episode of Escape the Peloton (Tuesdays 7-8pm MST).
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