Sydney Opera House Breakdown "Cinderella"- this is an image of a wedding I shot in Sydney Australia in May 2009 that I get a lot questions about so I thought I would do something a little different and show a before and after. At a recent wedding one of my photographers asked me if I had the "guts" to show a picture before it was photoshopped. I love "dares" and I thought for this picture it would be instructional so I'm showing the before and after so you can see the difference.

I always tell my photogs that good images can't be made great, only great images can be made a little better. In this day and age of photoshop SO many photographers make the mistake of saying, "Oh well, I'll fix it in photoshop." When I first started I was very dumb and said the same thing. If you want to become a great photographer than you need to hone your skills and not use PS as a crutch. It's a great tool but you have to get the shooting part right. Become a professional photographer than a professional editor, THEN you are DANGEROUS. Enough with my rant.

I used a tripod to capture this image, my video guy to shine light on the bride and groom, put a video light next to her shoe to illuminate it, cropped the image a little, used some dodge and burn, and blurred the sky some. Settings: Nikon D3, shutter 1/80 at f/1.8, ISO 6400, 20mm. Hope this is helpful!

Halo- the wedding story of Mike and Melodie Thompson

CLICK TO VIEW SLIDESHOW!

I am very excited to release the slideshow of the wedding story for Mike and Melodie Thompson shot in Sydney, Australia last month!  I have shot so many weddings and I truly love each and every one of them.  This wedding is definitely one of my all time favorites and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to share this day with this wonderful couple.  One of the reasons I loved this wedding so much was because the family was just so welcoming and honestly wonderful.  We also had the opportunity to do extended shooting after the wedding which you will see in the slideshow.  

I love preparing and sharing slideshows because I think from a photographic standpoint it is the closest thing to attending the wedding...especially if you weren't able to attend.  With all the destination weddings I do there is almost a certainty that someone from the family or a friend can't make it....and that's why couples hire me....so I can take their most special day and preserve it in a way that anyone across the globe can feel and share.  I hope you enjoy!!!

Cinderella

I'm very excited to release my first image from my most recent wedding in Australia!!!  I have named this image, "Cinderella" for obvious reasons.  This is one of the last images I shot as part of the wedding. As a photographer there are a few distinct areas of the world that you have to shoot before you consider yourself, "Complete."  For me the Sydney Opera House was and will forever be one of them.  

This unbelievable piece of architecture creates lines for photography that are out of this world. It is also one of the most recognizable buildings in the world...and I was determined to get this shot.  I can't thank the bride and groom Mike and Melodie enough for working so hard with me to get this shot.  I also can't thank Kara and Cameron for providing the lighting that made this work.  A shot like this takes many people to create...and for me it took our team to make it happen.  1 Photographer/Director (me), two lighting assistants (Kara and Cameron), and the bride and groom....a total of 5 people....but it was worth it....I truly love the shot and I hope you do too!  This will be my first entry into the WPPI competition coming it.  I hope you like it!