It’s obvious from my portfolio that I am a fan of the black and white medium. I feel it sharpens the mind to the core structure of an image, the real meaning of it, without being distracted by the color dimension. There’s a purity in it. All my clients receive a selection of their images in black and white, and this becomes my way of saying, “These are among my favorites.”

But color has its rightful place, too. Some images are better defined by color. Some simply lose their energy without it. And so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare the two from Christine and Mark’s wedding. The challenge was to relate the wedding day in fifteen images. My selections turned out to be very different when in color versus when in black and white. First, the black and white series.

And now the same day, in a selection of color images.

So what was behind my choices? As a set, the black and white images showcase more geometry in their details - the way shapes and faces gently direct the eye back to the main subject. Adding color to that geometry only confuses the eye, makes it wander around the image. The color images, on the other hand, show the instances when color adds dimension instead of confusion, images which would have been less meaningful without it.

In my next blog post I’ll be reviewing over some of these same images, and will give more detail into what makes the images work for me.

Congratulations, Christine and Mark! Your wedding was amazing.

Another landscape post, this time a panoramic. The best of photography comes from seizing moments when they present themselves. In the case of Erin and Phil’s wedding, that moment was a thunderhead spiraling upward in the distance behind their altar. In the heat of summer/fall, these clouds will amass beyond the mountains, and though they rarely reach closer to the coast their great height is still impressive.

I broke the rule of thirds with this shot because that’s what the shot was about. From the petals on the ground, to Erin’s dress, and reaching up into the cloud formation, the energy for this image was meant to stay along the center of the frame, and it has become one of my most enjoyable wedding panoramics because of it.

In my travels up and down California, I’m usually hugging the coast. I know the ocean, I know how to photograph it. The last few years I have been fortunate enough to have Lake Tahoe become another part of the regular locations I travel to. In comparison to the ocean it has a serenity, a stillness to it, totally unlike the crashing of waves and the bustle of beach crowds.

Despite the glaring beauty all around Lake Tahoe, showing this in my photographs is easier said than done. Take this shot, for instance. The time of day put a shadow over the ceremony - nice for the guests who were baking in the summer sun, but not good for including the brightly-lit lake behind them.

The clients received many other shots of the ceremony, where the lake was inevitably very bright in contrast to their shaded faces. But this one shot I feel best encapsulates the atmosphere that day. I walked away from the ceremony, halfway up the hillside to a spot where I could put the people into silhouette. From this vantage point, Lake Tahoe comes into focus and becomes a participant in the event, which is as it should feel for those people who love the area enough to make it the location of their wedding.

With a recent Virginia wedding, I found myself flying across the country on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Milestones have a way of adding perspective to tragic events. As I drove toward the airport on 9/11/11, the local Norfolk radio greeted me with no news flashes, no scare tactics, nothing but a cooking show exploring the conundrum of how to incorporate okra into dessert recipes. It made me smile.

I don't mix politics with business. My personal beliefs are irrelevant to the scope of my clients' different tenets and lifestyles. But we must agree that, while opinions on the last ten years vary, no one can say the American system is not still flush with pluralism. And that is a victory. I've been reading a lot lately on Jefferson, Madison, and the rise of bipartisanship. And so in commemoration of a new decade, I begin a series of single-image blog posts with an image celebrating pluralism and multiculturalism, a combined Hindu/Jewish wedding on the California coastline, supported both in spirit and literally in the lines of the image, by the armed services.

Their first dance was slow and sweet, but afterwards the combined father/daughter and mother/son dances kicked it up a notch, and kept me on my toes to follow it.

Katie was previously an Apple Store manager, and here she is troubleshooting the slideshow at her own reception. It was a fun moment.

The kids made a big showing at this reception, and didn’t seem to mind me in the slightest.

Congrats to Katie and Dave. I loved being there.

An example of one of my guest books, featuring photos from an engagement session I did with Katie and David on a previous Monterey trip.

The kids at ceremonies are funny. Bunking the formality surrounding them, they keep on being kids. The moments are unexpected but it’s fun when they’re presented to me.

David and Katie let me do portraits my favorite way. In this post-ceremony session (we spent all of ten or fifteen minutes in total), I did choose the place where they stood, but then let them figure out the rest. No direction for these two shots. When I have clients who get this, it makes for the best portraits.

Part three on its way…

I was driving into the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area during a particularly stormy day, and spent some time on windy side roads adding to my California collection of landscapes.

I have too many to show at once, so this is part one in a series. Starting with a shot overlooking the bay from Katie’s hotel room.

I’m happy when this happens, where the dress hangs in the background during preparation. Here Katie was relaxed with a mimosa while getting hair and makeup done, her dress at the perfect position to appear in the mirror. I spent extra time at this angle.

While Katie was doing her mascara, her videographer Jesse took a break and pulled out the harmonica. Not your typical video-guy moment, but Jesse was an old buddy of David’s and so had the friend thing going on with them. Having photographed for many of my own friends, I appreciate the dynamic. He was a nice guy.

More to come soon…

This first image was one of the funny and unscripted moments of the wedding. Their room at the Hyatt was in line for the window cleaning crew, who were kind enough to move their equipment for pictures (but not before I caught a few of them too!).

Here Laurence’s father helps him with his tie. I love this impromptu portrait of him.

Garter hijinks.

The reception featured a song troupe, headed by one of her bridesmaids. It made for a fantastic first dance. Jamie also had a great band playing into the night.