Ashley and Dane Married!

 

Introducing the new Mr. and Mrs. Dane Johnson! The ceremony for this beautiful wedding was held at Christ the King Church in Omaha, NE on August 25, 2012.

 

 - (Above) My favorite shot of the day; the black and white really helps to capture the feel of the Old Market. Although the rain prevented us from shooting at our initial park-location, we made the best of what we could -

 

 

 

- Dane and his best man, brother Brad -

 

 

- Just a few finishing touches -

 

 

- Ashley and the girls -

 



 

- Dane and the guys -

 



 

- My favorites, the rings! -

 

 

- Ring shot 2, switchin' it up -

 



 

- The 'first look' - where the bride and groom-to-be see each other for the first time -

 

 

- A few poses before the ceremony -



 

 

- The bridal party - definitely a fun bunch of people - 

 

 

- Walking out of the church -

 

 

- One of the first shots of the second-location shoot, the Old Market -

 

 

- During our second-shoot, we decided to stop for beers at a local bar. The first drink of the married couple (compliments of a new man watching on the side) -

Aaron and Talya

Aaron and Talya

 



Last weekend, I did a shoot for Don and Billy at Makapu'u beach and at their beautiful home in Waimanalo. After seeing how amazing their house was, they graciously allowed me to do my post-wedding shoot later that afternoon.

 

For this shoot, I wanted to give this shoot the feel of love, romance, and seclusion. Everything from the Pacific-islander themed honeymoon bed to the sparkling pool really helped me to enhance the mood of the shoot and produce some great results that we were all happy about.

 



- The black and white really helped to amplify the reflections for the pool shots -

 

- Almost like they were on Honeymoon! -

 

- Kid's slumber party -

 

- Aaron and Talya -



The Clan

The Clan

Normally when people want to get the golds and oranges for their backdrop, sunset is a logical choice. However, if you're an East-sider, you're more used to seeing the sun come up at 5:30 in the morning (during the summer). Although I'm generally am the worst person when it comes to waking up early, sunrises always seem to get my blood flowing. That being said, waking up was the least difficult part of this shoot. The most difficult part was C.A.D.H.D - yup, Canine Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Laka and Leila were VERY hyper. Evidently just above the life-guard shack lives a family of chickens, and for two dogs, nothing makes their day like chasing some chickens - hence why the dogs never wanted to look at me.

Finally after about fifteen minutes (yes, the shoot took fifteen minutes) we decided it was time to let the kids lose and they took off into the hills overlooking the beach. We then went back to their house to take some shots of their other child - a very pleasant and vibrant macaw. Billy and Don's house is AMAZING as they own a pool and water features company (Tropical Waterfeatures - look them up, they do crazy work!). I was so blown away with how cool their house was, I asked if I could also do my afternoon bridal shoot at their house. Stay tuned in a few days for shots from that awesome shoot!

Hummingbirds!

Hummingbirds

Next to monkeys, birds have been one of my favorite animals to capture. However, never before have I had the opportunity to capture Hummingbirds in the wild. This morning, after coming off a few flights to Seattle then LA, I stopped by to see some family. As we walked through their awesome garden of organic fruits and vegetables, I heard an unusual 'humming' sound. Looking up into the trees, I saw my first Hummingbird. Ecstatic and in disbelief, I ran to grab Tamra (the camera) and Taylor (my white angel lens). Through an hour of standing in the garden, I took 19 frames. Hummingbirds are ridiculously difficult little things to photograph and it seemed as if they were playing 'Cops and Robbers' - a grade-school favorite. Nonetheless, I was able to score a few lucky shots that made my day. Definitely much more difficult than photographing waves!

*Hummingbirds can beat their wings up to 80 times per second!*



- Trying to figure me out while taking a breather from their game of tag - 

Baby Bryce

For some, the camera is not a welcome site. Adults dodge out of pictures, teenagers have attitude and won't smile, and little kids have hyper-hyperia syndrome (yes, I made that up). That being said, Little Bryce is not going to be a model. From the moment I took out my camera, he was not havin' any of it, in fact, he only smiled for the camera once in the whole session! However, despite the slight setback, I think we were all able to work through that and get some great images. Enjoy!

(Above - one of my 'concepts' that I had wanted to do. Using Bryce's mobile as the foreground, I really liked the idea of surrounding him with his friends)

- The one and only smile of the shoot -

- Peek-a-boo really works on infants (Psychology note: the reason is that their brain hasn't grasped the idea of 'object permanence'. When an object, like your face, is covered, they assume that it has disappeared. When your face reappears, it puzzles them because it violates their understanding of humans without heads)

- LOL - that's pretty much all I can say. There were so many times that he looked like he was going to smile and then ended up crying... oh well! -

Meet Emi!

Meet Emi!

 Although she was a little fussy when we first started, her cutie smile eventually came out. Above is my favorite shot of the session.  Our theme for today was giraffes - picked by Mom, of course. At first I wasn't really sure how that was gonna work, but complemented by the warm, neutral colors of the blankets and letters, the giraffes were a very nice touch. 

Simple nakedness



Daddy's Hands

Mommy's Hands