Wes & Amy's Wedding

A couple of weeks ago we got to fly home to Dallas to be a part of Wes & Amy's wedding (I was a groomsmen). We had a great weekend seeing family and friends and the wedding was beautiful. They had a great photographer, but you know me, I had to take some pictures! I had the D50 and not the D3, so these were shot at ISO 1600 and have way too much noise, but here are a few of my faves:









Congratulations, Wes and Amy!

First shots with the Canon G9

Still in Canada and things are going great. I haven't had a lot of time to take pictures but I thought I'd show you some of my favorites so far. Remember that all of these were taken with my new Canon G9 (pictured below) which is a point and shoot camera. It just goes to prove that no matter what camera you have, if you learn to use it, and you have a good subject, you can take great pictures.

Oh Canada!

Well, I did find an internet connection at this camp here in Alberta, Canada so maybe I will get to blog this week after all. However, it's late tonight so I thought I'd just share a picture with you from last night's sunset. I took this with my new Canon G9 which I bought on Friday so I wouldn't have to take an SLR with me on my trip. The camera is great so if you've been trying to decide whether or not you should get one... go ahead and get it.

I exposed for the sky and then dialed down the flash to get just enough light on the dock. Colors in the sky could have been better so I may try again later this week.



Enjoy!

Canada

I leave for Canada tomorrow and I don't know how much internet access I will have while I'm there. I will try my best to blog but can't make any promises. Remember, there is no assignment for this week, but make yourself get out and shoot. Practice a specific technique over and over until you are excited about the pictures you are taking. See you next week!

More Interesting Places

This blog is all about us becoming better photographers and getting better pictures. And although most of the time that means talking about technique, equipment, etc., today it's about something that is way easier to understand. I've read in more than one photography book that "if you want to more interesting pictures, put your camera in more interesting places."

It sounds so simple, but how often do we go somewhere with for sole reason of taking great pictures? I know that it's hard enough to travel, especially with kids and the cost, but if we are to be better photographers, we need to take pictures of the beautiful and interesting places that God put on this earth.

So... I'm am going to start planning at least one international and one national photo trip each year. No, I haven't told Brooke yet, but I think she'll go for it... maybe. But until she says no, here's the details... this year I will start with just a national trip sometime in the late fall. It will be a short trip to somewhere in the north east where the colors are gorgeous that time of year and the pictures will be the kind of pictures you can only take in that area at that time of the year. So if you are interested in taking a 3-day trip with me this fall with the sole purpose of taking great pictures, please email me or comment here and I'll let you know when I nail down the specifics. This could turn out to be a really fun group that has the two trips to look forward to each year!

I'll leave you today with three pictures:


This is a port on the coast of Honduras.


I took this in the jungle in Ecuador.


Machu Pichu in Peru.

Weddings

I've been to two weddings the last two weekends and didn't take one picture! That's right, two weekends ago I was the best man at a wedding in Nebraska, and this past weekend, I officiated a wedding in Nashville. I had a great time at both and of course I was watching the photographers like a seeing if I could learn anything from their approach while I was performing my duties.

So I'll get out and shoot some tonight and I'll have something that has to do with photography for you tomorrow. Until then, check out the Creative Photography Book website. It has a ton of great information in it. I'm certain you will learn something.

Different Place

I returned late last night from my weekend in Colorado and Nebraska. I've never been to a place like western Nebraska. It's a totally different way of life out there. On the drive back to Denver, I asked Clint to stop on the side of the road and I got out and took a few pictures. I thought I would share my favorite one with you.



I think one of the reasons I like this picture is because it reminds me of the opening of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. My favorite thing about this picture though is the headlights coming right towards the viewer just under the horizon. Enjoy!

Jackass Hill

I'm headed to a wedding this weekend in Nebraska but made a stop to stay with Clint in Denver. I asked him where a good place to take a picture of the mountains would be and he said, "Jackass Hill in Sunset Park". After figuring out that he wasn't calling me a jackass, I was excited because he said it is in the top 4 views of the mountains in Colorado.

So we headed up to the "Hill" after dinner, threw the frisbee and waited for the sun to duck behind the Rockies. Here's my two favorite shots from the night:





Enjoy!

I Want To Go To Peru

Well... back to Peru that is. Let me explain. I got to go on a family vacation to Peru back in September of 2004. Although I already loved taking pictures, it was not until the next summer that I really began to love photography. As an exercise, I started going through old photos to see how I have improved over the last couple of years in my photography and realized how bad I was! If only I could travel to some of those places that I got to go to again! So... I want to go to Peru. Especially Cuzco.

One of the things I've heard and read since the beginning of my studies on photography is to only show your best work. But I thought I'd show you what I mean by letting you see some of the pictures I took in Peru in 2004. The beauty alone in some of the photographs will carry them, but I think you can see why I'd like to go back!