Now that Makes It All Worthwhile

AWESOME PICTURES JOHN! WHAT A JOB YOU DID CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF THE DAY. I COULDN'T HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. WE LOVE THEM.

Maryann Boyle, Westport, Connecticut



Young (at heart) Love

Older couple who renewed their vows in the hills above Monterey Bay on a gorgeous day.

First Dance

Weddings and receptions usually result in such stilted pictures. I try to take a "journalistic" approach to add some interest. I rather liked this image. Her eyes say it all.

Shooting First Wedding

Son Will asked me to join him in shooting a friend's wedding on Saturday. It was the first time I have done this other than amateur shots in the past. It was a "freebie" job. It was quite an experience.

I put up a few shots of the newly weds, but felt uncomfortable about that, like it was intrusive. It was their day. So I pulled them down. So I will just describe what it was like and put a few shots taken at the site.

First of all I learned that the 100mm f2.8 macro is just great for shooting occasions like this. While it lacks zoom, it has good clarity in the images. I will be sure to use this lens for similar occasions in the future.

The light was late afternoon so there was a lot of glaring. I should have left the polarizer on. Lesson learned.

I also learned to watch where I put my fingers! The back of the Canon Rebel, like most cameras, has a quick key for changing ISO. Somehow in the middle of the ceremony I hit that key and changed the ISO from 200 to 1600. Talk about noisy images. Glad this was a pro bono job :) The pix are recoverable to acceptable levels but could have been a lot better.

The other lens was a 20-35mm wide. Once off individuals, it was good for shooting the festivities. By that time I had also noticed the ISO fiasco and corrected the situation.

Will was shooting with a D5 and a 70-200mm L IS... beautiful equipment. I have not seen his images yet, but I am sure they will make up for my learning experience. At least I hope so.

I will be shooting a wedding for real in August, so I was grateful for this practice.

A Fine Ride!

Now this is what I call a getaway car!