Let this be a lesson to never cancel just cuz of weather.
Just be prepared.
Know how to make it work.
It might mean you have to different stuff than on a more normal day.
But that’s how a good photographer and a good photo shoot goes… Roll With The Punches.
This was slated as an 8 hr formals shoot.
I didn’t realize it was a 2 and a half hour drive so it ended up being 6 and a half hours long.
I had several people asking me how in the world we’d be able to go for that long when most times it’s more like 2hrs.
Well I just told them several times to be prepared to work hard too… that’s 6-8hrs of modeling, it’s a two way road.
They were naturals and since they knew and picked how long it would last they never once complained and were totally into it.
What an awesome photo shoot.
By the end her hair was totally wet and nothing like when they started… but we adapted and adjusted just fine.
And we actually all stayed pretty warm.
We had a lot of traveling in between spots… abt 2hrs driving in the car… that was the saving grace.
Being able to warm up from time to time and to reset and find new places with new pictures.
Just cuz it’s snowing doesn’t mean you’re excused from not laying on the ground.
You better have prepared for what you’re wearing to get down and make the shot happen.
If she’s in a wedding dress in 6 inches of snow you can lay down once or twice.
Thank goodness for a lightstand so that the assistant can park the car while you take advantage of the last reminents of twilight.
On the left is a spot he was planning on for a while and very excited about.
On the right is a spot he’s probably past a hundred times and never even noticed… but I saw on the way down and new we’d need to stop there. Both winners!
I took 1400 pictures many reasons
They were really good looking
We shot for so long
I loved the locations
When snow is falling you have to take a bunch to avoid the snowflakes showing up in bad spots like in front of their eyes.
But the picture above was in the first minute of shooting and is amongst my favorites.
They did a great job at expressing emotions in their pictures… and that’s something you can’t really pose.
This was probably the most eclectic day on Kona as we spent most all our time on the south of the island and ended at the volcano.
We saw the moon set minutes after the sunrise.
We were in jungles and on green sand and black sand beaches.
We took pictures of surfers, horses and windmills.
The plan was go up the mountain… but they didn’t let us… so we went around.
They closed the mountain because of snow and ice, so we decided to take a small dirt road accessible by 4wd only.
This is the same road we played on, on a previous day. So thus we were back on the road.
Probably one of my favorite places on the island and for sure one of the least traveled areas of the island.
You’ll also see some pictures of the north east coast of the island where we went later in the day.
You’ll recognize it as the places with water, ocean, waterfalls etc.
This day seemed like several days all rolled up into one!
I guess that happens when you get up at 4am to go shoot sunrise a ways away and then shoot all the way until sunset.
When you are taking pictures and think back to that previous day when you were shooting near the lighthouse… oh wait that was earlier today.
Or when at the end of the day you can barely remember the beginning of the day because it seems like you’ve done sooo much since then.
That’s when you know you were pretty effective with the scheduling of your day.
The First “day”
Sunrise on the north point.
It included quite few miles of driving along along the coast line on fun dirt roads.
This was the longest day and we were in a bunch of different towns all along the northern coast.
“Day” 2
This day came in two distinct parts, but felt like they should be combined.
We went snorkeling in a bay and then met up with the wedding family and friends for some lunch and fun on the beach.
Using my little G11 to take some fun underwater shots.
The final “day”
We scouted out the location for the wedding and did sunset shots.
I don’t usually go visit the location before hand to figure things out, but we usually look for a place to do sunset and this was a phenomenal location.
I enjoyed being able to spot the possible locations and possible routes for the sunset since it comes and goes quite suddenly.
Turns out that info came in very handy for the wedding day and being overly prepared helped move things along smoothly.
I was also glad the element of spontaneity was still very much there and the pre-visit didn’t spoil it at all.
Sunset at this beach is pretty crazy awesome, but I thought i’d highlight some late twilight pictures taken a while after sunset.
Tripod required for this long exposure.
Look at the bunch of other “Day 3″ sunset pictures later in this post.
Hurray for my first ever in the corn fields picture. haha
It’s funny how we often go somewhere to take pictures where the look is iconic and yet you take pictures with a background that you didn’t even think about.
A background that looked like it could have been from anywhere.
It’s as if you go to the Beach to take pictures and yet it doesn’t look like the beach at all… no water, no sand, no glorious sunset or surfers. haha
I often go to a shopping center called Riverwoods and walk away with mostly nature pictures of a pond and a bunch of trees with no shops or buildings in site.
(Thought I’d add the picture in color too)
Seems like most of the time we go out of our way to go to some amazing place and our favorite pics are of the person in front of a wall… or maybe even with just the sky.
I could have shot this corn picture in any number of locations closer to me in tons of corn fields in my city.
Well on one hand it seems funny we put so much emphasis on location to the couples and even sometimes pay lots of money.
But there’s a lot of reason behind it and some of that is perception.
I really didn’t mean to write a schpeil on locations and even though I and many others have lots to say… I thought I’d mention that this time I took a picture that totally matched the name.
I went to wheeler farm and took pictures of the couple in the corn fields… never mind the fields were relitively tiny and a small portion of the location… but it was the first time for me and I thought their glamorous and stylish look would be a perfect juxtposition.
Here are a couple other pictures that did fit them very well.
I suppose going to a city park in the farm format and taking pictures of a old truck could be an example of my previous discussion.
On that note I was happy that my assistant pointed out the existence of the truck.
This was definetly part of wheeler farm and the look… so this does prove why a nice place with lots of options and well maintained is a good fit.
Think about the dress too… a nicely kept lawn is a good thing to keep a white dress clean… but if not… have them hold the dress. Could be fun.
This picture really could have been any any clump of trees
This following picture is a great example of a “this could have been anywhere shot”
We were taking pictures of the truck and there was a bridge i was being pointed to but I just loved how the light was hitting this little section of trees.
Trees that could have been anywhere but I just felt like it would have matched them and their look and the way I was feeling. So …. bammm
I took these a little over a month ago… thought I’d share them.
The pictures were picked by my PA Adele.
I did this photoshoot with a lightstand. Usually I have an assistant there to hold lights.
But this made me consider the location of the of camera flash a little more carefully since I’m kinda lazy.
These two got engaged at this park which is next to Bridal Veil falls.
Not necisarily this spot exactly, thought that would have been fun to have seen.
At the end of the night we went to vivian park.
It was already a bit late so we just did a few here.
This is probably the first time I’ve taken pictures with bridal veil falls in the picture.
There are only certain parts of the falls I really like, so it’s hard to take pictures of. But at night it becomes a lot easier because all you see is the whiteness of the water on a dark background, haha
Are they technically called “Formals” since the groom was there too? I’m not sure
But since I wasn’t going to be around for the wedding (conflict of weddings) while i was there I did these.
Yes I know… It looks somewhat fake eh?
We did shoot middle of the day because I went 4-wheeling later that day.
So I was happy for the chance to get into some shade.
I do like that she had these flowers… they look real don’t they?!
They really liked these types of plants… I thought they were awesome.
I put the f stop up high to catch a bit more of the sun and of course flash to light up the foreground (them)
New places and new faces.
So while i might continue to be willing to do weddings for a long time… but I’ll be putting in more time with the traveling as the years roll by.
And for me I’m not the stay in one place and get the perfect picture type.
First of all because I’m not trying to make a living selling prints.
But secondly because I’m more of a Documenter at heart.
I just want to take pictures of everything
I am more interested in documenting, above wanting the best picture possible.
And I respect the person that will stay in one place for hours searching for the best shot.
It’s just not me… I document. And hopefully I bring out the art and beauty while i do it.
So perhaps let that be a lesson… it might not be the perfect light or perfect situation.
Sometimes it’s a matter of sticking around until it is… other times it’s a matter of dealing with it and getting the best you can in the situation.
This is only the second time I’ve been up Big Cottonwood Canyon.
The first time was on a film set at night in winter, so that probably doesn’t count.
I went with a friend Beth and another photographer Jeffrey.
You can see Jeff’s work on flickr
All of my pictures from the event, keeping in mind I don’t know how to be selective are on SmugMug Gallery
I have set it up so the first 40 and then the first 80 are the ones that I prefer the most. So that way you don’t need to look at all of them.
We made 3 stops and throughout the canyon the fall colors were in various stages of brillance, but in most spots the trees were now devoid of leaves for the year… sad.
Lots of pictures of Aspens changing color
A Bunch of Pictures of the Storm Mountain area
I went crazy on taking pictures of this frost on the grass
Silver lake up at Brighton was partly frozen over.
This is where I actually placed the camera on the lake to take a few pictures.
The moon when we set off on our adventure was still full and hadn’t set yet.
Finished up a photo shoot at the Canyons and was heading home and decided to take advantage of the first fallen snow of the year (a light dusting) and the unique light that was shining through on the fall colors.
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