Baby Wyatt

I went down to San Diego last week to meet with a very cool wedding coordinator- Emily Smiley- I worked with last September at the Hotel Del Coronado. I brought her some big framed prints to put up in her office.

She brought her new little guy Wyatt with her- she said "hope you don't mind!". She don't know me very well do she! I told her I would love it....!!

Of course I brought my rig and got some cool shots of Little Mister Wyatt right there in the office. There was a big window letting in a huge bank of light which made for the perfect set-up. It also helped that he was so happy and so stinkin' cute!

Check out some shots here.

Lightroom Lightens the Load!

I have been using the beta version of Adobe's new Lightroom and just love the functionality of it! I was seriously considering switching to RAW just to take advantage of the postproduction benefits: ACR in particular (ACR- Adobe Camera Raw).

Now, with Lightroom there is no need to shoot RAW for these benefits because it gives you the same type of processing power with jpegs!! and it doesn't modify the original files, it just uses sidecar files to remember the changes you have made.

There are also 'Presets' which allow you to save a cool treatment or effect you create in LR and apply it to other images in the future. Kinda like actions... but it is instantaneous!

The coolest thing is that I know I'm not using it to it's full potential- there is so much more!!!

FYI: ACR in Bridge allows you to correct one raw image and copy those changes to other like files without correcting them individually or running a batch on them. Furthermore, the alterations you make in ACR don't effect the original raw file. Now this is all possible with Lightroom!!

So Cool!!

I already subscribed to the lightroom magazine by NAPP (www.photoshopuser.com) and can't wait to learn more about this breakthrough software.

Regular price is going to $299 on www.adobe.com but for the first 30 days it will be ON SALE for $199... better still- use discount code: macworld07 to get it for $169!!!

I Love Adobe!!

Lizard Wizard

My son Caysen was so excited for the Lizard Wizard to come to his class!! He loves bugs and creatures as much as the next four-year-old but he was so looking forward to this day it was rediculous!

Daddy was there to get it all recorded- Cayse is so proud whenever we go to his class to help out. Mrs. David, his teacher was complaining about the disposable camera she was using... so we donated a little digital point-and-shoot to the class!! She was so excited to have a decent camera!

This is Cayse in the pond setup: "Oohhh, coooool" was his reaction to the little froggies.
He's such a big boy!


Yep, that's a real croc!

And they all held the boa:

Wedding Life Orange County

Last Sunday was the first episode of Wedding Life Orange County (channel 31 on Cox in southern OC at 10am)!! Alex Hill, the creator, is a long time friend of mine- met him in the wedding business four or five years ago.

Alex had this great idea to create a trustworthy resource to find all types of wedding professionals in the area- from coordinators to photographers. The great thing is that he hand picked the best vendors in the area to keep the credibility of the business high.

Now, this vision did not just include a website with links... he wanted it to be very interactive and information based. He has created a weekly TV show about wedding planning and styles, a very cool interactive website, a location to view vendor's work and portfolios, and, in the future, a magazine or catalog of the vendors.

Of course, I was invited to join and did- I think any resource that is truly information based is a good one. I was unable to view last week's show... as I am in North OC... and we don't have cable!!

This upcoming show (this Sunday at 10am) will be my television debut!! I will be in this next episode so check it out!! there is also a cool commercial Alex made for me.

Kyle

A couple weeks ago I did a shoot to help the brother of one of my grooms get a modeling portfolio started. We shot around Fullerton a bit and had a great time! Kyle was fun to shoot and did a great job for his first time out.

next to the mechanic shop:across the street at the antique shop- loved the brick color and the reflection in the windows!then we went over to the tracks to get some shots. I brought a chair from the living room to use as a prop- Jeni is such a good sport for letting me take it!!
as you can tell, I was using an off-camera flash (nikon's wireless sb-800) . While we were shooting on one track, a train was coming on the next track over. I wanted to get some blur so I quickly adjusted my rig to get some blur and got the shot below... he was going about 50. he blew his horn right as he passed and I just about soiled myself!! here you can see the setup- pretty fancy, huh?

Great Interview.

Cartier-Bresson is my hero! I have enjoyed his work since I first found photography over 10 years ago. This past June I was lucky enough to see a showing of much of his work at the Museum of Rome- so amazing to see these silver prints in person.

I found this interview by Charlie Rose on Google- Cartier-Bresson is so funny in person- I have never seen video of him.

I could really relate to some of what he says:
I rarely ever crop my images either- like he said, you compose in the viewfinder.
You can't teach composition- so true.
He laughs when Charlie tries to make a big deal about his work and tries to over analyze- I just love that- who cares why a photograph is good, it's just nice to look at!
He is very humble- laughs when Charlie calls him a master.
I love the sniff he does when he is explaining why a photo is good- it's just a feeling, nothing concrete, another sense maybe.

The things I didn't agree with:
He can't accept he is a master- more of timing and predicting than anything else, but he is a master.
He doesn't like to print his own- I love, love, love taking an image all the way to the print- either in photoshop or in the darkroom.
A fixed 50 all the time?..... I couldn't handle that!

Have a look, it's an hour long so make sure you set aside some time: click here.

I may be headed to the bookstore to look at his books tomorrow- so inspiring!!!