I'll start with a few details. All the flowers were hand-made (Mostly by Hannah I believe) out of book pages. If you know Hannah you know what books mean to her.

The boots and the bouquet fit the theme perfectly.

Hannah's dress was exquisite.

The day started early with Hannah's friend Denae helping with the hair and makeup.

I was honored to shoot Hannah's older sister Emily's wedding a few years back and one of my favorite shots was of the sisters. I knew we'd do this shot again. You can compare how much they've changed in such a short time. 

Finishing up with the gown with help from Hannah's Mom.

A quick mirror check.

And some final details.

Hannah and Shawn decided to break from tradition and do a "first look" or "reveal." This works great because it gives us more stress-free time to get all the group pictures completed. It also provides and intimate setting for the Bride and Groom to enjoy one another all dressed up before the ceremony. Here's a shot of Hannah and Shawn's first look around the Dr. Who themed telephone box and a few of their private moments.

Shawn had a caterpillar on his leg and it made for a great shot when Hannah helped get rid of it. You can really see the beauty of the location in this shot. 

The Bride and Groom.

Shawn and the groomsmen.

And the girls.

The rings, bouquet, and cake.

Hannah and Shawn were having a great time on their wedding day. I think it made for a fun day for them and their guests as well.

As the evening wore on I noticed that the Bride and Groom had wondered down to the ceremony area. I quietly went down and captured a quiet moment as the celebration was winding down. 

Thanks Hannah and Shawn for letting me be part of your special day. I wish you both the best in your life together.

I would like to mention a couple other vendors at the wedding. First, my second shooter Alexey Sorokin. He filled in at the last minute due to sickness and did a tremendous job! He captured all I needed him to and then some. Please visit his website - Sorokin Photography. Additionally I had a great time meeting and working with the DJ's from Premium Sound in Clear Lake City. If you have DJ needs be sure to look them up. Wendy was very helpful to the couple but also to me in keeping the shooting schedule. Last but not least the hair and makeup was done by JN Co Makeup Artistry. 

Holly's wedding dress was exquisite and perfect for her. Here's a few shots.

The Royal Oaks Country Club was a tremendously beautiful venue for the wedding.

The Makup artist at work.

The flower girls seemed to be having a blast the whole time.

The girls.

And the guys (Shot by Alex Sorokin)

A few of my favorite shots of the ceremony.

A few details.

I'll end this blog with a few shots of the Bride and Groom.

Thank you Holly and Chat for allowing me to be a part of your wedding day. It was a great time and beautiful wedding. 

Rachel had many great ideas for decorations and how she wanted the wedding day to look. Here are some of the details.

Rachel wanted this generational photo. I'm glad she did!

Rachel's mom helping with the dress.

Getting ready is always a fun time and we captured some of the moments.

Jason, ready to get the wedding going.

Getting into the dress.

The groomsmen were told to wear a "blue" colored tie. They had plenty of options.

Rachel and Jason decided to do a "reveal" before the wedding so we all loaded up and went to Stone Canyon Park just outside Owasso and they did the reveal there. It was a little chilly but lots of fun.

While at the park we also did some wedding party photos.

Some shots of the girls.

Some shots of the guys.

Here's a fun shot that Rachel wanted us to try and setup. I like the way it came out.

The whole wedding party "ignoring" Rachel and Jason...

...and a little more normal.

I'll end with a couple more of Rachel and Jason.

To see the complete wedding visit here for Rachel and Jason's wedding photos.

In Columbus there is an old oak tree just outside downtown. We spent a few minutes there until my lovely wife and assistant was targeted and stung by some honey bees.

Then we were back downtown at an old theater. The retro look of the box office was kind of cool.

The next stop was out to the property that has been in Holly's family for quite a while. This place was a photographers dream with lots creative areas to use. We just touched the surface of the possibilities.

Lots of old buildings to use as props.

We had the Sun providing some beautiful back lighting.

As the Sun started setting we headed out to the pecan grove to end the day.

One more use of some of the implements around the property and we called it a day.

We had a great time in Columbus, TX with Holly and Chat and wish them the best in their future.

Of course Jennifer did a bang up job picking out her dress. It was perfect for her.

The bouquet and shoes were equally exquisite.

The day started very early with the girls getting ready. Jennifer was the center of attention this day. 

While getting ready Luke sent over a small piece of "art" work that seemed to amuse Jennifer.

Jennifer's sisters Joy and Joanna helped with tying off the back of the dress. 

The bride and groom decided to have a "reveal" before the ceremony. This resulted in some great shots and a relaxed atmosphere getting intimate shots of the couple. Here's a couple "cute" shots of the reveal.

A quiet moment.

Jennifer and Luke were totally up for a little fun with some of my suggestions.

Another quiet moment or two.

As I said, Jennifer's dress was perfect for her.

The bridal party. Sisters, nieces, and friends.

The guys.

The cake and other fine decorations.

The girls pray before the ceremony.

The day was full of emotion. As photographer I even managed to say something that caused a few tears. Didn't mean it, but what can I say?

A quiet moment between the bride, Mom, and Dad.

Even the ceremony had a few tears.

Mr. and Mrs. Luke Harden.

It was a fun day with emotion and great people. I wish Luke and Jennifer all the best in their life together. Thank you so much for the honor of being part of your day!

I've known Bekah's family for a few years and I was thrilled that she wanted me to do her senior shots. With her being a photographer herself it was great that she understood the desire to experiment and get some edgy shots. We first did some shots in a tunnel we found at the location. Of course, being in Houston you can always count on some graffitti.

This was a favorite location of mine during the day. I'm not exactly sure what the building in the background is but it made for some interesting shots.

We had some really nice side lighting coming into the shot.

Another fav of mine from the day.

Bekah knew she wanted to include Arkansas in the shoot somehow. So why not a Razorback jersey?

Bekah had a cool hat with her that she wanted to incorporate into the shoot. Great look.

Last change of clothes and another change of location.

Back to the graffiti tunnel for some final shots.

Looking off into the sunset and a bright future.

It was a great day of shooting and a great subject indeed. Bekah was game for just about anything and didn't get tired of shooting. We pretty much burned all the daylight.

This area had so many vistas it was hard to not get a good shot that time of the evening. This was one of may favorites.

Mountain Views

Banff

My hotel for the first part of the trip was the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club. What a fabulous hotel! Here's an early mourning shot from the park across the street.

I got up early one morning and caught the sunrise over Tampa Bay. Again just a short walk out of the hotel for this beautiful scene.

Ok, I can't post just one sunrise picture. It's so hard to choose my favorite.

In the little park in downtown St. Petersburg they have Banyan trees. They are so cool to look at and photograph. It looks like the roots are growing downward out of the branches.

Another view.

After the "business" was done I had a couple days to sightsee so I headed south to the Everglades. On the way down I had to pass over the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Once over I stopped at a rest area and got some shots of the bridge.

No strip to the Everglades would be complete without an alligator shot. Notice how close the fish is to it's mouth. Dangerous living if you ask me.

Once in the "glades" my purpose was to get an airboat ride. After checking at a gift shop near Everglades City the recommended Wootens.

The first interesting thing was the Mangrove trees. Mangrove trees are well adapted to the transitional zone of brackish water where fresh and salt water meet. The Everglades have the most extensive continuous system of mangroves in the world.In the wet season fresh water pours out into Florida Bay, and sawgrass begins to grow closer to the coastline. In the dry season, and particularly in extended periods of drought, the salt water creeps inland into the coastal prairie, an ecosystem that buffers the freshwater marshes by absorbing sea water. Mangrove trees begin to grow in fresh water ecosystems when the salt water goes far enough inland.

The part of the Everglades I saw pretty much looked like this.

And this.

The airboats were some mean machines.

Wooten's also had a wildlife exhibit. One thing I learned on the trip is that there are North American Crocodiles. This one was scary.

Watch out for the teeth!

I'm pretty sure this isn't native to South Florida but interesting to see.

But a surprise to me, panther is.

Returning back to St. Petersburg I stopped to get a nighttime picture of the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

On my last day in Florida I went to Ft. Desoto which is south of St. Petersburg. Here's a shot of the beach from the fort.

The fort itself is pretty cool and some of the old guns are still there for preservation. These are 12 inch rifled mortars.

After the fort I went back through St. Petersburg and stopped at a small park to kill some time. I saw this Banyan tree that is worse for wear. They actually had it fenced off in attempt to save it. I hope it recovers. I can imagine how beautiful it must be when healthy.

To see the whole gallery from the trip click here.

I’m not too forward when approaching strangers, especially if I want to take their picture. So on this day and in this location there were plenty of people that would walk up and ask for money. So much for breaking the ice. The gentleman in this post called himself “Jay”. He asked if I had a couple bucks. Seeing the opportunity I offered him a few dollars on the condition that he give us a minute to take his picture. I don’t know his story or even if he’s homeless. He looks rather healthy to be on the streets so I’m thinking he was just hanging out in the area trying to score some money for a drink or smoke. There does seem to be a lot of experience behind those eyes.

Here’s a shot of Melissa’s two sisters watching Lisa put on the finishing touches.

The hair turned out exquisite!

After all the hair was done we went outside in the alley and experimented with the camera and flash a little bit. I always love old alley ways and this one was no exception.

Here’s another in the alley with a lot of special “grunge” processing. I like how it came out.

From there we headed to the wedding venue at White Birch. They made a beautiful house available for the girls to finish getting ready in. It made for just the right setting for a shot of the wedding dress.

Melissa got some finishing touches on her makeup.

Then a kiss from Mom and Dad.

The finished product! Melissa was a beautiful bride!

Melissa and her sisters Heather and Beth.

The men arrived on a fire truck so I grabbed a few shots. Here’s one of Dan and his groomsmen.

And the girls.

Of course no wedding shots at White Birch would be complete without a shot in the trees.

Melissa and her flower girl Bailey look over the beautiful venue.

Dan’s first peak at his Bride Melissa as the ceremony starts.

Always tough for Dad when it comes time to give his daughter away.

Did I say the venue was beautiful?

Afterward we went into town for some quick shots with the Bride and Groom. This shot is humorous to me.

A beautiful August evening in Upstate NY.

Since we were at the golf course we snuck away for a few minutes during the reception to take advantage of the beauty of the place.

I’ll finish off with the rings and the cake.

Thanks Melissa and Dan for letting me be a part of your special day. I wish you the best in your future life together.

The dress was perfect.

The colors were black, orange, and pink with some zebra patterns throughout.

Mom and sisters helping with the final touches on the dress. Love the flower girls looking on.

Several yards away the groom getting his finishing touches from the Best Men.

The detail in the dress was exquisite. Love the zebra fingernails.

Great moment of emotion. Mom looking on at her first child to be married.

I took the girls out to the main hallway of the church because I wanted to incorporate the stained glass windows in the pics. It was cool getting the Bride with two flower girls.

A special moment between Father and Daughter right before the ceremony.

Even though it was 90+ degrees outside I was able to talk the guys into going out for a quick picture. I promised them it would only take 90 seconds. That was probably all I could handle anyway.

A touching moment in the ceremony with a demonstration of total servant hood.

The first kiss…literally.

The bridesmaids all wore zebra patterned shoes. I wanted to really incorporate this into a picture somehow.

No wedding would be complete without a cake. Extending the “zebra” theme.

Now for a run of Bride and Groom shots. They were both exquisite.

This is one that I took some artistic license with. The shot has some added texture and color. I like the way it came out.

Heading out for their life together.

It was a great wedding and I was honored to shoot it. Thanks Sarah and Zach, as well as the Stinson and Taylor families for letting me be a part of your day.

My assistant for this wedding was Bekah Crow and she did a great job getting her “feet wet.” She’s got a great eye and I look forward to shooting with her again sometime. I’ll be sure to point out her shots.  Of course, every wedding starts with getting ready.

The dress was a perfect choice and had tremendous detail.

A great makeup shot by Bekah.

Again, fine details.

Joanna and Klifton had a “reveal” before the wedding and we had about an hour for some private shooting with the Bride and Groom. I had a few ideas that I wanted to try out and they were both game. It was a blast for me and I hope they had fun too. Here’s a shot I saw somewhere and wanted to set it up for Joanna and Klifton. I like how it came out.

The Church had lots of places to shoot. This was in one of the upstairs rooms. I love the stained glass and the dramatic lighting.

A signature shot for me and it works as well indoors as it does out.

No blog collection would be complete without including the wedding party. It was cold outside so we went a little more traditional with the girls and used the sanctuary. Pockets in all the dresses. I loved that!

The guys braved the cold (Well for about 45 seconds anyway.).

Couldn’t resist the ring bearer. Another of Bekah’s shots.

Even though there was a pre-ceremony reveal Klifton was still mesmerized as his Bride came down the isle.

The cakes were captivating. Simple beauty and the Rangers-themed groom’s cake.

Elegant rings.

I never saw them wear them but awesome hats nonetheless.

Joanna’s “get-away on the honeymoon” shoes. Rumor has it someone spilled something on them in the air plane.

It was a great day and you could tell Joanna and Klifton are totally in love with one another. Another testimony of God’s awesome plan in the lives of His children.

This Year, Apple Has Two Fangs To Suck The Blood Out Of CES: iPad 2 And Verizon iPhone
I’m drooling over the iPad 2. Hurry up!

20 Shots: Long Exposure Photography Examples
What to do with those “ND” filters.

Canon 5D Mark III Specification
How sweet it would be! But – 28 Megapixels? Do we really need 28 Megapixels?

Samsung launches new mirrorless camera, smart lens
Interesting concept.

How to Make Your Smartphone Photos Look Like They Were Taken with a Nicer Camera
You can start by taking a good, properly exposed picture.

I also agree with the writer, Scott Bourne that the most important and the saddest topic is the “war on photographers” that has cropped up since 9/11. It never ceases to amaze me when I see stories of photographers getting harassed taking photos of buildings, landmarks, cities, etc. that can readily be found with a simple Google search. As if the photographer was endangering national security or something. I’m afraid the next decade may bring more attempted bogus prosecutions and the need for photographers everywhere to fight back with multiple types of civil disobedience. For some examples photographer harassment see Los Angeles Teen Incarcerated Seven Months for Videotaping Cop, NYPD Handcuffs Magazine Editor for Photographing Trains, and Amtrak photo contestant arrested by Amtrak police in NYC’s Penn Station.

It should be exciting! Technology will be mind blowing and business changing. Let’s hope our freedoms remain intact so that we can enjoy all these new advances.

My son and daughter-in-law’s house has two great big windows facing towards the south in their living room. It made for some great natural light photos. So here are a few of my favorites of Luke.

Emma, Noah, and Ethan.

Finally, all the Rector kids. I may be partial but my grandkids are the cutest!

Here’s a shot I took of Half Dome in Yosemite Valley. It was processed using three varying exposures. It was a cloudy day and this shot is close to what I saw that day. The cloudy sky is probably a little more dramatic that it really was but I like the look.

This shot is from Yosemite Valley that I took in October 2007. We were leaving the park and stopped one last time as the sun was setting to get a shot of El Capitan.

This shot is of the Chapel in Yosemite Valley. I wanted the shot to look a little different and used NIK Color Efex Pro’s Tonal Contrast to boost the image. I like how it came out.

This shot is in Yosemite Valley and another view of Half Dome. My wife Carole and I were simply walking around the village along the road. Crossing a bridge we saw this scene. A beautiful expression of fall color in Yosemite. Shadow and color detail brought out with NIK Viveza and Color Efex Pro.

On day one of the sightseeing tour we went to Yosemite National Park and headed strait to Yosemite Valley. I’ve been there twice before and it never gets old. On this day it was very cloudy and the contrast made for some difficult shooting. This location is on the road leaving the valley and provides a great view of things. In the foreground is the Merced River. On the left in the background is El Capitan and on the right, although you have to look closely is Bridalveil Falls. I reprocessed this shot using a combination of tools from Nik Software. First in Viveza I brought up the foreground exposure and darkened the sky. Then in Color Efex Pro I added a neutral density filter. Finally some sharpening was added with Sharpener Pro.

I like the reprocessed version. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.

Here are a few shots from the shoot.

This is a shot that I’ve been wanting to setup for quite some time. Everyone was game and I like the way it came out. We took a few variations and here is one in black and white.

We liked the area and took a straight up shot of the family. Another with B&W processing.

We took each of the kids with each of the parents. Here’s a sample of Mike with daughter Emma. Her eyes just “pop”.

Mom with Jacob. Of course, their eyes “pop” also.

We’ll end with a couple of Marian and Mike. I tried out a couple special effects on these. Feel free to comment on whether you like the treatments or not.

One more with a little nostalgic look to it.

Thanks Denney’s! I hope to get some more shots with you soon.

After multiple setbacks the birth of Luke is certainly a miracle and a blessing to us all. He’s been bathed in prayer for the whole nine months and we’re grateful to our sovereign Lord for bringing him into the world. From Laura’s facebook post – “Luke means “light” and Samuel means “God has heard” or “requested of God.”

I’m hoping to do a “newborn” photo session before Luke is two weeks old but for now here’s a quick snap from my iPhone. Congratulations to Laura and Richard!

The wedding was held in Vacaville, CA at Ulatis Gardens with a cake and hors d’oeuvres reception right after the ceremony. A later reception was held at the Opera House in Vacaville.  The food was fantastic at both venues and time celebrating the wedding with family and friends will always be a special memory for the Rector family.

Once good thing about having two photographers in the family (The bride’s sister Shannon, and your’s truly) is that there was plenty of time between receptions planned for photography. Two great photographers, Rose Koogler and Ryan Greeleaf were the official photographers and even though I’ve not seen their results yet I’m positive they did a great job. (Even if they are Nikon shooters. LOL) UPDATE! – Rose blogged her shots from the wedding. You can see them –HERE–. UPDATE #2 – Ryan blogged his shots. You can see them –HERE–.I was the proverbial “Dad with a camera” at times but tried to stay out of their way. They were very gracious and let me setup a couple shots during the private photo time with the Bride and Groom and even let me snap shots of their setups. Be sure to check out Katie’s sister Shannon’s blog for some of her shots.

I’ll start with one of my favorites of the Bride and Grooms. This was Ryan’s setup I believe and I really love the shots. I’ll back up to the getting ready shots. I shot the guys and Shannon got some of the gals. Here’s the groom, my son, Josh at his place getting ready. He looks totally happy which I know he was. He pretty much had this smile the whole day.

The “Dad and Son” shot with me being the Dad helping out with the tie. Thanks to Chris Valencia for taking the pic.

Josh messing with his hair.

For those that don’t know the bride and her sister Jessica are twins. Jessica is signing the marriage license with Katie and her other sister Shannon looking on.

Bride and Groom right after the ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Rector!

No post would be complete without a shot of the cake. This one was made by the daughter of the pastor of Katie and Josh’s Church, Emily Rost.

The rest of the shots were taken in a private session in downtown Vacaville and a park across the street from the reception venue. It was a beautiful park and provided many places to shoot.

Here’s a couple in the downtown area. If you’ve seen pics on my personal Facebook page you’ve probably already seen this one. They look so happy and are having a blast.

Love the “attitude” in this shot.

This shot is similar to one of their engagement shots and is just as beautiful here.

We all loved the downtown area. One more in black and white.

At one point Ryan told Katie and Josh to just walk down the sidewalk and do whatever came naturally. This made for many great shots. Here’s one that I really like.

At one point I asked Rose and Ryan if I could take a few minutes and setup a couple shots. I wanted to try and reproduce a shot I saw on Scott Kelby’s blog. Here’s three shots from that setup. I was really going for the dusk look trying to make it look like the Sun was shining in from the right. They were actually taken in full daylight.

Katie and her twin sister Jessica.

Here’s another of my favorites.

The rest are of Katie. She was so much fun to shoot and such a beautiful bride.

Subliminal message to Josh? I doubt it!

Last one. Katie, welcome to the family! We’re so glad God chose you to be Josh’s wife.

This was a book I designed for my son Josh and his fiancee Katy to use as a guestbook at their wedding. You get a sneak peak here. The cover of the book is a complete wrap around cover that is totally flexible in design.

I was able to use color and font choices from their wedding as design elements in the book.

The spine looks sturdy and like it will last a long time. You can see how it hinges.

You notice right away that the pages aren’t thin like typical books. Probably 1/16 of an inch or slightly thinner.

The wrap is done beautifully.

Now here’s where the book shines. It’s a lay-flat book. For this album I didn’t use full panoramic spreads because it’s being used as a guestbook for their wedding. But you could very well use it for full page spreads and the seam wouldn’t be too distracting. I’ll probably be making a sample soon that will showcase full page spreads. So here it is laying flat. It will be much easier for guests to sign using this format.

Notice how the photo runs down into the seam. All in all I’m very pleased with the quality and build of this book. The company that printed it was the Pro arm of MPIX.com. This company rocks. If you have an event coming up and would like a product like this be sure to contact me.

The PhotoVision DVD series is delivered to your home or studio every other month. It comes to you on 6 individual 2-hour DVDs produced in high quality movie-like video and audio which can be viewed on any home entertainment system or DVD compatible computer or laptop… on demand!!

PhotoVision is now offering a special deal of six DVD’s for $39 (savings of $110) for using the promo code: PVFAN. Just click the link for details.

UPDATE: Shannon’s shots are on her blog now. Be sure to check them out.

We basically took photos at three main locations over two days. I’ll post them in order so be sure to look through all the shots. I’ve got so many favorites that it’s hard to choose which ones to post and which ones that I like the best. At the end of the post I’ll link to the full gallery of final edits.

Sunday evening we started off in the “Vacaville Hills” . A beautiful area about a 30 minute drive from Katie’s home town. I was trying out some new ways to control my flash remotely and had some issues. So most of these are natural light, no flash. This is a little different for me but it was good to try something different.

So let’s start with some shots in the Vacaville Hills.

Not sure about everyone else, but this is one of my favorites from this set.

A little backlighting and a blown out Sun. A different effect for me.

I’m not sure what Josh said but Katie thought it was funny.

A little glimpse of the hills. A beautiful setting.

Full disclosure, I added the blue sky in this one. Feel free to comment and let me know if it looks natural.

Something funny again!

I have many more from this location that I like but I’ll end the Vacaville shots with this one. Be sure to visit the link at the end of the post to the full gallery.

The next stop on the tour was on Monday in San Francisco. We planned on going to Baker Beach and getting some beach shots with the Golden Gate in the background. By the time we made it to the beach the fog had rolled in and the bridge was totally covered up. While we didn’t get any beach shots there were some other cool locations that were kind of out of the way that made the trip worthwhile.

We went to a place called Fort Mason. There was lots areas there to photograph. We found this old tunnel that looks like train tracks used to got into it. It was covered by this interesting looking door and we got quite a few good shots there.

For those of you who don’t know Katie’s family, she has a twin sister, Jessica. We thought it would be fun to play that up a little bit.

We found a nice area that we thought kind of looked like a secret garden. It was right in the middle of activity all around but looked so secluded.

They’re just off in their own little world.

Well we did manage to get one shot with the Golden Gate in the background. This is from a trail in Fort Mason.

Ok, it’s a cliché shot but I like it.

From their we made our way to Ghirardelli Square.

The last stop for us was the Palace of Fine Arts. It was closed for renovation but we still managed to get some great shots from across the pond.

Here’s another one that I manipulated the sky a little. Just to make it look like it did when we were there.

One the way home we stopped in the Napa area. Beautiful setting. We stopped at Brix the restaurant that Jessica works at and got some great shots. These may be my favorites of the three areas we shot in.

I’ll end this long post with one of my favorites of the weekend. Feel free to comment and let me know which are your favorites.

To view the full gallery of Katie and Josh’s engagement edits visit this link. I had a blast shooting them both and working with Katie’s sister Shannon. I can’t wait to see what she captures. Please come back as I’ll update the post to Shannon’s link after she posts.

The venue was the Westoak Woods Baptist Church on Slaughter Lane in Austin. A great sanctuary for the ceremony with plenty of light and a courtyard for the reception. Although a little warm the humidity wasn’t too bad and some cloud cover made for a relatively comfortable outdoor wedding party.

Kristi right after getting her dress on and in anticipation of her wedding to Levi.

The dress was beautiful.

Kristi and Levi were traditional in that they didn’t want to see one another before the ceremony. That didn’t keep them from getting close.

Kristi’s sisters were her bridesmaids.

Levi’s groomsmen were his brothers.

All the men.

Kristi and Levi’s first kiss.

Another shot of the girls having fun with the flowers.

The couple agreed to a short private session during the reception. There was a small park about a five minute walk from the venue where we got away for a few minutes.

There was a great tree for posing.

I told them to just be themselves and enjoy the time.

It was a great day, great ceremony, great reception, and great couple. Congratulations Kristi and Levi. I hope you enjoy this sneak peak of some of the shots from your wedding day.

This engagement was pretty much a forgone conclusion so Josh had to think hard and get creative to actually surprise Katie. Sounds like he did a great job. Carole and I are proud of our son and we’re blessed and honored that Katie will soon be part of the family.

Here’s a shot I took of them in January when Katie was in Texas for a visit meeting all the extended family.

Katie’s sister Shannon  Morse got a shot of them on the special day before they took off in the limo. Take a look at Shannon’s blog post on the subject. Shannon’s an up an coming photographer in the Northern California area. She’s getting very good, very fast. That’s not flattery, just take a look at her blog. We’ll be going out to the Sacramento area this coming weekend and Shannon and I plan on “tag-teaming” an engagement photo shoot while I’m there. Should be a riot. Stay-tuned….

I always enjoy second shooting. It gives me the opportunity to try new things without the pressure of being responsible for getting “all the shots.” This post contains some of my shots from the wedding day. The venue was a huge house in the Jersey Village area, Northwest of Houston. Amy and Robert rented the house for their wedding weekend and I would say that it was well worth the investment.

Here are a few of my favorites from the Sunday wedding.

The message on the bottom of Amy’s shoes was classic.

Of course, Amy was also exquisite!

There were some great musicians playing before, during, and after the wedding.

Lets not forget the rings.

The ceremony was beautiful. I love the reflection on the pool in this shot.

Bride and groom enjoy a private moment while the guests look on.

The kiss.

Amy’s sisters.

I loved how Amy and Robert simply enjoyed their day.

Hostess and “Jr bridesmaid” with the bride.

I caught this young lady at the end of the festivities.

Finally, just a little detail shot.

All in all I had a blast being Jeff’s backup shooter during Amy and Robert’s wedding. I learned a few things from Jeff that will only improve what I can offer future clients. Thanks Jeff for letting me run with things.