Bryana + Brian

Here are a couple of vertical shots of B+B. I've noticed that the more pictures I've taken, the less horizontal pictures I take. I love the top picture and would print it large and put it up somewhere on the wall but that's just me. I hear Costco has some good enlargements for cheap but I haven't tried it yet.

I've been renting the 70-200 lens for weddings but I'm starting to wish I had one for engagements. I'm going to have to invest in one in the future depending on my next gig or two. Unfortunately, they are super expensive and renting is not cheap either. The nice thing about lenses is that unlike cameras, they never really go obsolete. However, I am a big believer in having the right equipment. Speaking of which, this video has been circulating the photo blogs. My opinion after the video.

A lot of photographers have been siding with the photographer (naturally), but I'm going to have to go with Joe Brown with this one. I shot a few weddings using a low end Nikon d70s and go some great results with the right lenses, and Judge Brown knocks her for using entry level equipment, but bottom line is this woman isn't prepared for darker rooms. Not surprisingly, the pictures came out blurry etc. No one really cares about the equipment, true, as long as the pictures are awesome. In this case, they weren't. I don't think having professional equipment makes you take awesome pictures, but I've realized is that professional equipment is important (and expensive) because it's designed to take a beating and still work. For example, with the D3, I just focus on the pictures. I don't even think about the camera. All I know is it's going to do what I want it to do - no matter what the situation. If I drop it on concrete, I can pick it up and continue to shoot. Just my 2 cents. Also, buy insurance!

More Engagement Pics of B+B @ SD

Lookin lovely

Brian was all smiles despite being exhausted from a test (he's in med school!)

B was a good sport for doing this. Brian actually had his foot on the scale but it only came out to 120! No diet necessary for the wedding, that's for sure.

This was at the end of the night

Here are a few more pics from last weekend in San Diego. I only posted a few horizontal shots because it takes several steps to post here to embed the pics. Blogger is not too great with their built-in pictures feature. The pictures come out like small thumbnails and you click to make them bigger. Also, this resizer program I use makes the pictures a little blurry but the full res ones are razor sharp. Anyway, enough technical complaints.

I was asked by my friend Ty (who I will be shooting some engagement shots as well) to participate in his wedding ... by text message! And I mean a mass text message to several people. Haha I guess this is a sign of the digital times. Hey, why not...I can quickly text him back with "busy". But...I didn't so I said yes. So in October I'll be sporting a tux again.

Back to the photos. From what I've worked on so far they have been coming out very nice. Thanks to the D3 and shooting RAW, they only need very minor retouching. Also thanks to B+B for having great teeth and skin, which makes my retouching a LOT faster. More soon...but I'll send them the stuff first so there's at least something to be surprised about. Stay tuned.

Bryana + Brian Preview

Recreating this famous pose is harder than it looks!

I'm finally back and I brought along some goodies to share. I was in San Diego for a conference but luckily I managed to squeeze in some picture time with Brian and Bryana. Here is a preview of B and B's engagement pictures taken at the awesome Seaport Village in San Diego. The weather was gloomy but that's ok because the soft light made for some great pictures. I'll keep posting more soon.

Charlie

Some Doggies

Suzanne and Jennifer and their dogs. Charlie (chow chow) is getting up there in age so Suzy thought it would be nice to have some pictures. Being a big dog fan myself (thanks to Mochi and Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer), I was excited to shoot these pictures. Some people seriously love their dogs - even more than other humans! Here are a few pics I've spruced up so far. It was a perfect day in Southern California to spend at the park. Then I get back to Texas and it's ccccold. There's a cold front coming in this week too. Going to be in the teens at night...yikes!

All is not bad though - I have hit the reset button so I'm ready to get back to work. I have a shiny new office (I'll take pics later) in a brand new building. The view is spectacular. I mean I can sit there and just stare. Surprisingly, I haven't gained any weight since my holiday binge. But I'm going to hit the gym again.

Lastly, big thumbs down to LAX. Monday was BUSY. I got to the airport an hour early and it was too late. The line went outside the sidewalk - I spent over an hour just getting to the security checkpoint. I had to pay $50 for a change of flight. It came with 2 "free" baggage check-ins. Whoop-dee.

Guess Who's Pregnant (again)?!!

Guess who's pregnant again?!

This was Sienna's idea to sit at a bench

Someone was extremely excited about feeding ducks

Today is the last SoCal day, sniff. The weather was perfect, roughly 79 degrees, sunny and clear. Let's see...DFW, 39. Ouch. I took some doggie pics the other day too but I haven't had a chance to get to the pictures yet. So I think I'll work on a few on the plane. This is it for Sienna for the next few months.

First Post of the New Decade!

This is how Sienna feeds ducks

Happy "twenty-ten" everyone! How better off to start off the new year than in sunny SoCal (73 degrees) taking pictures. And of course Sienna gets to be first...but she's about to share the attention in a few months ;) I'll post more soon. Later today I'm going to take some doggie pics. Speaking of doggie pics, you guys ever watch Dog Whisperer? Cesar Millan is awesome.

My only new years photo resolution is to take a photo trip somewhere where I round up my picture-lovin friends and head to a scenic place. That's going to be a tough task though getting everyone together. I'll try to take more pictures and be more active posting pics too.

San Francisco

Fisherman's Wharf

The resizing program didn't do a good job with this one

I'm back in California this week - first a little visit to the bay area for a little break, now I'm back home in SoCal. Also, I went to watch Avatar in 3D - the 3D part was awesome...the movie itself was pretty good but way over hyped. I think my favorite movie I watched in 2009 was District 9. I'll catch Up in the Air soon. Can you believe the first decade of the 2000s is almost over??!! Insane! Coming soon, Sienna and a big surprise! I also uploaded a few more Gabey baby pics below.

More Gabey Baby!

I thought I'd squeeze this post in before I take off to Cali. Next up are some more Sienna and doggies pictures. Oh, and San Francisco too!

I finally get to take a few days off. The last few months have been a marathon for me - just physically and mentally draining. I've been on a diet and doing more exercises but I haven't been sleeping as much as I should. Probably because I'm up late doing this haha.

Finally, I have been sold on shooting in RAW format. I'm not sure if I'm going to shoot a whole wedding with it, but I'm getting some razor sharp pictures right out of the camera. It takes longer to process and convert them but for small jobs I think it's the way to go...for now. I learn something new about photos every time I shoot. Much more soon - Merry Christmas everyone!

World, Meet Gabe!

Mom, Dad, and Brother Ben

Move over Silas and Sienna, here comes the newest cute sensation to hit this blog, Gabe! He's only 7 weeks old and learning to smile. I wasn't going to post any pictures because I've been swamped lately but I couldn't help taking some time off for this. I'll be posting more pictures soon.

Also, this is the first time I've shot RAW (NEF) format and so far I really like it. I do notice the pictures are coming out crisp if I've done everything right. The bad news is that I don't think this lappy can hang with the 10MB pictures. I'll eventually need to get a more powerful machine with giant monitor. But that's later. Anyway, back to cute overload.

Some Christmas Family Photos

Paige and Cody

Black and white version

Here's Pam (in the red) with her family plus Cody (next to her) and Maggie (the dog). This was the fastest, most freezing, photo shoot. Lasted about 5 minutes. I didn't do a good job with this shoot with the focusing and settings. A lot of pictures were blurry but it was getting pretty dark out there.

Christmas Tree Lighting @ TCU

Frog fountain

This past week I fought the chilly weather and checked out the annual Christmas tree lighting at TCU. It was a big production, complete with Santa Clause coming in a carriage, reindeer, carolers, etc. This year they had it inside the courtyard area in front of the new student center. Also, our new building is nearly complete - behind the picture of the fountain. We get to move in in a few weeks, which means my trailer days are numbered.

Nat Geo Interional photo contest winners

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/national_geographics_internati.html

I haven't blogged in a while but I stumbled upon these amazing pictures. I think there are probably two things that are important: being at the right place at the right time and having an "eye" or interesting perspective. Well I don't have anything new to update other than I have been very busy with my non-photo related work. I am thinking about writing something more in depth about moving from an amateur camera and lenses to pro gear and what that's like.

Thanksgiving is coming up, which means some good eating but for the life of an academic, it also means a good time for work. I'm going to catch the movie Ninja Assassin. Assassin is a funny word...anyway, enough rambling. I'll try to take some pictures of something or someone soon.

"This cake is freakin good!!!"

The dance floor was bumpin to the sound of live music

Here are the reception pictures. Probably the hardest part to take pictures of because it's usually dark and you don't want to be flashing a bulb in people's faces all night long, especially when they're eating. The trick is to get the subjects well lit using your flash while not blacking out the ambient lighting. It's really cool when people use colored lights in the background. Here's where the little point and shoot cameras and cell phone cameras start to struggle. No worries though, I'm here to save the day.

On to more random stuff. I have discovered nature's crack cocaine - the highly addictive honeycrisp apple. No joke, these things are delicious. Unfortunately, I think I ate one that I might not have washed thoroughly so yesterday my upper lip was FAT from some allergic reaction. I have like 8 more, so I'm going to wash them a little better and eat them. I take that back about them being from nature, because they were actually created at the University of Minnesota using some cross mojo-nation. Anyway, they're in season so try some, seriously. Also, Halloween is almost upon us and I think I have the right costume. It will be a surprise of course (no, it is not halo or xbox related). It's more cool than funny - well I guess it could be funny if I'm wearing it. Anyway, more later.