This year there will be 2 weddings that are being given away and I have the opportunity to photograph the engagements and wedding for Segna and Elecia. We photographed their engagements on Friday and the magazine goes to print tomorrow – but here is a sneak peak of magazine.

My photo is featured in QSalt Lake Magazine

I will be posting more photographs from the shoot soon – we had a lot of fun in the cold and the photographs look awesome.

FYI, QSalt Lake is Salt Lake City’s own LGBT magazine. It is published on a biweekly basis. It is always fun when my photography makes it to their print magazines! I always like the ego boost, lol.

So, I wanted to show a few film photographs – these photographs are of Kelli Jo and Jonathan. I will be blogging their formals and their wedding photographs soon – but I figured I would share a few preview photos. One is a color film photograph and one is a black and white film photograph.

Kelli Jo, amazing bride, is photographed on Kodak Portra film

Why shoot film? Isn’t digital the way to go? I like to consider the notion that digital and film are simply different mediums much like water color and oil paints are both beautiful means to convey art. Film photography has a look and a feel that can be described as organic – I definitely find it isn’t as sharp and detailed as digital. I like photographing both – with digital I have more control and with film I am still discovering the artistic possibilites. I am discovering the limitations of both.

Jonathan, my brother and the groom, photographed on Kodak TMax

I am learning so much by shooting film. There are photographers that only shoot film – and they have some amazing artwork. Right now I am straddling both worlds – I shoot digital and film. With digital I can do so much including compositing a bride and groom into different locations. With film I gain an organic grain and texture that is unique.

A few days ago Kodak declared Chapter 11 bankrupcty. Is this the end of film? No. In fact I am just starting my discovery into film. I am hoping that I can be one of those photographers who can both shoot digital and film. (Just so you know I have about 14 different cameras that I use regularly)

I have been trying to find a balance between film, digital and even Polaroid. The only thing that seems to limit my experiment is how many bags and cameras I can carry at one time. Anyway, I would love to know if people like the look of film and if they want a photographer that uses film and digital – or maybe even just film. Please let me know!

I have about 70 people who visit my website on a daily basis – yet very few contact me. Am I selling myself poorly? Am I too expensive? Am I not offering the right services? Do you want prints, albums, disks, or more – I want to know!

Joel and Carissa live in Arizona – which of course I equate to desert. And since time is a valuable commodity and we didn’t have the chance to drive to the desert we brought it all together in Photoshop.

Joel and Carissa in Namibia's Death Valley

I need to figure out how to price this kind of work. It is cheaper than flying or driving to Death Valley – yet it does take a lot of work and skill to get this to look real. Hopefully more brides want this kind of artwork for themselves – I am having a blast creating this kind of artwork and I want to print images like these out on huge canvas.

For a photograph like this there is planning and attention to detail. And of course – if a client wants a certain location I will of course do all I can to use that location. If someone wants Paris, New York, Asia or other locations that shouldn’t be a problem.

I will be blogging the photographs later when they are ready for publishing. In the meantime I figured I would share the two family photographs.

The first photograph features the family portrait from the Salt Lake wedding. My brother Jonathan (the youngest of 7 kids) married Kelli Jo in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Jonathan and Kelli Jo were married in December at the Salt Lake Temple

My brother Joel married Carissa 2 weeks later at the Snowflake Arizona Temple. My brother Paul wasn’t able to make it out for that wedding so I will be adding him with the power of Photoshop.

Joel and Carissa were married in January at the Snowflake Arizona Temple

Our family is very excited for our new sister-in-laws! They are awesome and they have really meshed well with our family. Most importantly they enjoy our family’s sense of humor – which is important

Now if we can find someone for my sister…

One of the first things that a bride and groom will ask about are cool locations for their bridals, formals and maybe even wedding photography. The old adage of “location, location, location” will always be important.

When we were planning for the formals for Kelli Jo and Jonathan we had discussed the Bonneville Salt Flats. Unfortunately, the Bonneville Salt Flats are only dry and available for photography from August – October. What do we do? I photographed them in studio and then used Photoshop to add them onto the Salt Flats.

The first photograph here is the final result. Truth be told this photograph comes from 3 different photos. I photographed the Salt Flats in August, The sky is from the Great Salt Lake in October, and then they were photographed in studio in November. It all came together and it is one of my favorite photographs to date.

Kelli Jo and Jonathan on the Bonneville Salt Flats

Here is the studio photograph. We spent the first part of the formals wedding photography at the Salt Lake Temple. We wanted “real” photographs first and then we shot in studio. I will be blogging more photos later.

They were originally photographed in studio - with the idea of using Photoshop

Here are a few more photographs that were shot in studio and then added to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The other advantage of Photoshop is we can use photographs from Stock photography websites and that will be cheaper than flying out to New York, Chicago, Europe or other locations.

Bridal portraits - anywhere and at anytime

Shooting on location will usually always be ideal. I can create a few hundred photographs easily on the Salt Flats or wherever we have the portrait session. If I am compositing – it takes a lot more work in Photoshop – and so a portrait session may result in 4-5 shots. Right now it takes about an hour per photograph to add people to a different location.

If you want to see some of the possibilities – check out this family photo shoot that I did – it is on my other website. This kind of photography is definitely different – and hopefully makes my photography a little bit more unique.

So with a bit of planning we can do almost anything. The fashion world is using these techniques on a regular basis. They will photograph a model in studio and then put them into different locations around the world. It saves them travel costs. And since I like the idea of putting fashion and wedding photography together I am definitely breaking some new ground here.

Where would you want your photographs?

Fake, fake, fake, fake!

I wanted to share a Polaroid photograph I created of Joel and Carissa. I created this at their wedding reception in Orem, Utah on Saturday. A few months ago I bought 2 Polaroid CloseUp cameras – one is for black and white film and the other one is for color photographs.

The past year has seen a number of changes for my shooting style. I have been seduced by the novelty of film and Polaroid film is probably the most unique film out there.

Joel & Carissa on Polaroid Film

To each of my weddings, bridals, and engagement sessions I have been bringing along at least one film camera and often one Polaroid to snap a few photographs. I am definitely seeing the world a bit differently when I shoot film. My hope is to create a unique look for my clients.

In most cases I will scan the film into my computer and then send the client the original Polaroid. In the future I will probably just hand the Polaroid over to the client and they can have a truly unique one of a kind photograph of their very own.

I have a few more Polaroids that I will be posting. Brides have been head over heals for the look. Everyone likes the vintage look and feel. I can imitate that in Photoshop, however, there is a certain magic feeling that a real Polaroid or film photograph contains that can’t be captured digitally.

For those that are curious – Polaroid the company no longer makes the film for Polaroid cameras. There is a new company called The Impossible Project. They are the masterminds who have reverse engineered the film to work with Ye Olde Tyme Polaroid cameras. I just call everything Polaroid since that is what people think when they see this film.

Life has gotten so busy but I am managing pretty well. In two weeks there were two brothers marrying to amazing women in two different states – it has been madness and totally amazing. I was the wedding photographer for both weddings and I will be posting photographs eventually on the blog.

In the meantime I will share with you a photograph of my nephew chilling out at the wedding reception last night. Sometimes I wish I could just relax like this – chill and play on the iPhone. However, the life of a photographer is non stop marketing, photographing, and editing. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.

Chilling out and relaxing at a wedding reception?

And I am sure I sound like a broken record when I promise to blog more – and I am sure I can make it happen. Although blogging is right behind my goal to get to the gym to get in shape. That is my top priority in life right now and it is important. What good is being a photographer if I can’t carry all my camera gear to a wedding? And I need to be in shape to spend 8-15 hours on my feet taking photographs of people’s weddings.

The first day we went to a local park in Orem, Utah to photograph them riding their Razor scooters. They ride them on BYU’s campus and I thought it would be fun to photograph them doing a fun activity they enjoy. I hope the next couple I photograph want to try sky diving

Jonathan & Kelli Jo pose with their Razor Scooters

We picked their scooters as an activity they can feature in their engagements

Riding the Razor Scooters

When the light was too dark for scooters we created a few photographs by the pond in the park. With my gear I am able to shoot in challenging lighting situations and still walk away with beautiful photographs.

After the scooters we created a few more posed portraits by the duck pond

Jonathan & Kelli Jo engagement photograph

I have already shared this photograph in a preview post but decided to include it again. This was the first photograph of the shoot and it is probably my favorite. And Jonathan is very proud of the digital calculator watch he is wearing.

Sunsets can be magic for engagement photographs

A week or so later we had our official engagement session. We were shooting for some posed shots and at most I usually just tell the bride and groom to stand here and then stand there and whether to look at the camera or to look at each other. That is usually the most direction I give when posing a couple.

The second session picked up at the Provo Castle

The Provo Castle is a popular location to photograph. A ton of photographers go there regularly and to be honest I am liking the orchard out in front. And I am finding that with good lighting and some creativity I can photograph anywhere and still create cool photographs.

Engagement photographs at the Provo Castle

Engagement photographs at the Provo Castle

Engagement photographs at the Provo Castle

Autumn is a beautiful time to photograph – the autumn foliage is classic and timeless.

Autumn is beautiful for engagement photographs

Autumn is beautiful for engagement photographs

We moved down to the apple orchard in front of the State Hospital

Engagement photographs in the apple orchard

Lately I have been playing around with film photography. I have been bringing along a film camera to my photo shoots and will snap a few shots in black and white and in color film. I will also edit some of my digital photographs to look like film. I am experimenting with a balance of digital and film photographs. Oh, and I have started creating a few Polaroid photographs as well. How cool is that?!

Creating some photographs that look like film

Film photograph for the engagement session

I am using primarily Kodak Portra 160 for color film

I really like the color, grain and vintage look of true film photography

Black and white film photograph - shot on Kodak TMax 100 film

Back at the orchard we have more black and white film photographs

Back at the orchard we have more black and white film photographs

Ok, done with the film photography. After the orchard we raced east to west to make it to Utah Lake before the sun was totally gone. We got there just in time for the sunset and a beautiful sky. We spent another hour as the light changed quickly.

We finished the engagement session on a dock at Utah Lake as the sun was setting

The Utah County Marina is the backdrop for this photograph

Silhouette on the shore of Utah Lake

Playing with light to create some artistic variety to our photo shoot

A photograph of Kelli Jo's wedding ring - shot with natural light

Natural light photograph - shot digitally and edited with software to mimik the look of film

That is it for the engagement photography for Jonathan and Kelli Jo – watch for the formal session soon. The formals were shot in Salt Lake City the day before thanks giving. I won’t boast too much but they look fantastic.

We will be having engagements, bridals, formals and then of course the wedding day itself. Kelli Jo mentioned that they better be featured on my blog and of course they will be. They are a cute couple and they definitely complement each other. Kelli Jo is studying teaching at BYU and my brother is in the Air Force ROTC with the goal to become a fighter pilot.

I will be blogging more of their photos in the coming weeks – I just wanted to post this preview photograph first.

My brother Jonathan and his fiancee Kelli Jo

We were just arriving to the park when the sun was setting and the sky was starting to explode in a beautiful array of orange, red, and blue. I have never set up my lights and my camera as quickly as I did yesterday. Within minutes we had this photograph created and we took a few more as the sunset. The sunset didn’t last too long but just enough for some amazing photographs.