i! Welcome to the all new Jared Wilson Photography 'Blogsite'! I'm so glad you're here. If you're looking for blog posts featuring my most recent work and musings, simply scroll down a bit. If you're wanting to be swept away by slideshows filled with visual stunnery, click on 'Galleries' above! Please have a look around, and make yourself known - Vote for your favorite images, leave a comment, friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter. I look forward to getting to know you! And if you want to know a little bit more about me, well - you've come to the right place!
Thursday's Two-Cent Reviews for September 2nd, 2010
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uickly now, my two-cent reviews on a few items... Every Thursday I'm trying to let you know what I think about different forms of art and entertainment out there. You're totally free to agree and/or disagree and I'd love to hear what you think! Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or Tweet it on over to me! And the reason for sentence number 1? I'm still diggin' my new site and thought it would be cool to see a big 'Q'. Oh, the things I do to entertain myself. Like reading books...
Mockingjay was just delivered to my doorstep by Amazon. I'm leaving today for Kansas for a few days (Kansas!) and hopefully I'll be able to finish it while I'm on my mini-vacation. While I was waiting for it to arrive though, I downloaded the kindle-app edition of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' which was a high recommendation from Melissa Jill (an awesome wedding photographer in Phoenix). I didn't know much about it at all but it's written in epistolary style (letters), it's set during world war 2, there's a love story, there's humor, there's tragedy. Sounds pretty epic and right up my alley. Makes me think of the movie (and book) 'Atonement'. I'm about halfway through it and next Thursday I'll let you know what I think of both. Maybe.
Speaking of movies, I got a chance to see 'The Apartment' this last week. Fantastic! It's on all of the lists for one of the top films and/or comedies ever made and it didn't disappoint. More than that, I really enjoyed it. It won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1960 and was the last movie filmed entirely in Black and White to do so (Schindler's List had some color...). I had never seen Jack Lemmon or Shirley MacLaine young before and they are both terrific. Lemmon's performance has been called one of the greatest comedic performances ever and I can see why. For someone who grew up watching Jim Carrey, this was a real treat to see Lemmon's performance which kept reminding me of Carrey for some reason (Film buffs, please forgive me for mentioning them in the same sentence.) 'The Apartment' deals a lot with infidelity. There is no swearing or nudity or anything that might show up in a similar film today. And while it's classified a comedy, it's pretty tragic to see how people throw away their lives. On the other hand, it's fun to champion Jack Lemmon's character, C.C. Baxter, as he's a great man who truly loves Shirley MacLaine's 'Fran' (though he does play a key role in facilitating these infidelities). You just want Fran to open her eyes... and, well, if you haven't seen it - it's definitely worth your time!
One movie coming soon on my 'Most Anticipated' list is 'Never Let Me Go' based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and directed by Mark Romanek. A Best Picture Science Fiction candidate totally opposite 'Avatar' and 'District 13'? We'll see.
Reviews are coming out now for last week's mention 'The American'. Seems everyone is really divided! Ebert loved it though, and I agree with him most of the time, so that's a good sign.
Wedding at the Oxford Hotel in Denver, Colorado | Jessica and Ryan
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his wedding in Denver at the Oxford Hotel was very hard for me to keep under wraps as I waited for the launch of this new site design! The look of the entire event was so beautiful, with florals and design by the uber-talented Stacy Pisani, Denver wedding planner with Alexan Events, and a beautiful couple - Jessica and Ryan. You may remember their super fun engagement session in Denver from just a few weeks ago - you know, the one with the umbrella? - and their wedding was just as unique. The Oxford Hotel is so rich with history and character and it's just a block or two from Denver's Union Station and so that's a plus too! But the real story of this wedding is Jessica and Ryan - so kind, so gorgeous, and so in love!
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It doesn't really need to be said that the women looked great does it? Ryan and the men looked pretty great too - Grey Converse and everything!
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Stacy and her team did a wonderful job of setting up the Oxford for the ceremony. And I just love all the adorable faces and expressions!
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This next one is probably my favorite 'accident' to happen in a long time!
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After a few photos with the entire wedding party I had a few minutes with Jessica and Ryan. I just love the urban feel of these photos!
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And while we were out taking photos, Stacy and her team were flipping the room (in just one hour!) to accommodate the reception. It was terrific!
Then Jessica and Ryan entered for a fun first dance to 'Is This Love' by Bob Marley. Classic.
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The toasts were hysterical. I didn't quite know what to make of Jessica's sister's speech. It had all the makings of a 'train wreck' except that it was wonderfully BRILLIANT! I guess you just had to be there. :)
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And here is what Jessica and Ryan thought of it all.
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Congrats you two! It was so great to be a part of your wedding day!
chool is in session so you know what that means... It's time for some Senior Portraits!! Did you know that besides weddings the only other thing I advertise or market for is Senior Portraiture? Do you want to know 'Why?' Because I LOVE taking photos with Seniors. Sure, it may be cool to be able to say that I'm a wedding specialist and that's all I do, but I love to do what I love. And so I also do Senior Portraits! (And really, I'm a photography specialist!)
I met up with Gabe a couple of weeks ago right as this new site design was about to be launched. He's a Senior at Horizon High School (which I can walk to... though I never have...). He plays Viola and wants to be a Doctor. He may already be smarter than I am.
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These are two of my favorites. In fact, I'm going to vote for 'em. :)
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Congrats Gabe on making it this far! I hope your Senior year is a blast and you are able to create many positive life-long memories.
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If you're a Senior, shoot me an email. I love what I do, and I know you'll love what I do too!
nless you're a photographer this post might sound too geeky and I'm sorry! Come back tomorrow and Wednesday for more images! But if you are a photographer, I think my take on the latest Canon bodies might be interesting.
In September 2008 I ordered the highly anticipated Canon 5D Mark II. I was using the 1D Mark II at the time, the Mark III had already been released (with poor reviews), and most of my friends in the photography business, if they were shooting Canon, were using the original 5D. With the release of the 5D Mark II, it seemed everyone was getting one - and so I did too. It wasn't just peer pressure though, it was the desire to have the best possible tools I could get my hands on so that I could do my thing with the best possible results.
Unfortunately, while the 5D Mark II takes some AMAZING images, it also takes a lot of out of focus images. A LOT. You see, the Canon 5D Mark II has 9 'selectable AF points' with 6 'assist points'. It also has a 'High-precision center Cross-type AF' point. One of them. And my experience with this camera was that all of these focus points were weak and slow (read, virtually unusable) and only the center, high-precision focus point was any good. This meant I had to do the 'focus and recompose' technique which isn't my preferred way of taking photos, not to mention that when you're using super fast prime lenses whatever you focus on will go out of focus fast the moment you even think about recomposing!
Not to blast away too much on the 5Dmkii - it does take gorgeous photos when it works, and the ability to go up to 3200 ISO with no problems (vs. the 800 ISO that I never wanted to go over on my previous camera) rocks!
But as a pro, I don't want to settle. I hate being limited by my gear. When I have something in mind I want to be able to accomplish it, and I found the 5DmkII limiting. SO...
Three months ago I sold my 5D Mark II (on TWITTER of all places!) and purchased the all new 1D Mark IV! Same great ISO performance, and now I have not just 9, but 45 selectable auto focus point options, and not just one 'high-precision' point dead center, but 39 cross-type, high-precision AF points! Now I can compose first and then find my focus point! This makes me so, so happy. And I've never counted, but my guess is that I get 2-3 TIMES as many in focus images from my sessions and weddings! Meaning I have WAY more images to choose from when I'm picking out the best images to give to my clients. Big win!
Admittedly, this camera has a 1.3x 'crop factor' and sure, I do miss the full frame glory of an in-focus 5D shot. But having more in focus shots and a camera that responds to my wants is more important to me. Yeah, you can have the best of both (sometime soon) and it will be called the 1Ds Mark IV. Oh my! We can only dream...
Thanks Canon for 'Makin' My Monday' with the killer AF system on the 1D Mark IV!
Urban Engagement Session in Denver | Lisa and Pete
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isa and Pete have been waiting for weeks to see their photos here on the blog! I know they're avid readers/viewers and it was a cruel twist of fate that their urban engagement session in Denver happened to occur right when I was ready to put things on hold until this new website was launched. Well Lisa and Pete, and everyone else, I hope it was worth the wait - I know that I sure think so. Your images look just lovely here and I can't think of any better way to kick things off than by showing off some photos from their session a couple weeks ago.
Lisa and Pete met while studying for the bar exam. Sounds romantic, no? Nothing like cracking the books together to get the fire started! What's really neat is that now, even though they have different jobs in the legal field, they work in the same building in Denver and they can carpool together!
We really had a great time together and no one got hit by a train!
(Don't forget to vote for your favorite image or two or three! And if you want... 'Thumb it' or 'ReTweet'!)
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Cubs fans in Colorado!? Okay, we'll let you stay... but only because the Cubs are worse than the Rockies.
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Thanks for everything Lisa and Pete! I had a great time! Really looking forward to your wedding in November!
hat used to be a regular feature here at 'Jared Wilson Photography' is BACK! Recently I actually had someone tell me that they enjoyed it when, on my site, I reviewed movies and such. To be honest, I wasn't sure anyone cared. But at least one person does - so, Chris, this is for you! And if any of of the rest of you enjoy it - let me know. I'd especially love to hear if you agree or disagree with my thoughts on such things.
So, first up is my 'two-cents' on books. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for something to read on my iPad and I was perusing the 'Bestseller' feature, both from the iBook store and the NY Times. Daniel Silva's book was #1 on both. I had never heard of him or this series of his (the current bestseller is like the 11th book in this Characters' series) and so I did a little digging and found out that book one is called 'The Kill Artist'. It's a story where the main character, Gabriel Allon, is a spy and does spy things but he's also an Art Restorer (at the beginning and end anyway). It was enjoyable enough that I moved onto book two, 'The English Assassin', and I enjoyed it as well. Though book two wasn't as good for me as book one, because at least the first book had a little bit of romance... (Whoa, I just reread this sentence and that sounds weird. I'm not into romance novels or anything. It's just that the first book had a bit more character 'arc' and 'emotion' than book two. Yikes! Forget Daniel Silva. Next I'll be reading Danielle Steel!) I realize I'm not giving you much here and even though it was an enjoyable and quick read, I didn't get much from it myself. I don't think spy novels are really my thing.
Mostly I'm just waiting for my copy of 'Mockingjay' to arrive at the door! I decided to order the hardback version instead of reading it on the iPad via the Kindle app because I have the first two books in this 'Hunger Games' series in hardback and thought it would be nice to have the entire set. I loved 'The Hunger Games' and enjoyed book two 'Catching Fire' even though it seemed a bit like a rehash of the first. This one doesn't sound like a rehash at all and I've heard it's very 'introspective'. I'll let you know what I think when I finish it!
Now onto a couple of random items. I downloaded Sufjan Stevens latest EP on iTunes on Monday and, wow, it's interesting! I don't think I'll be jamming to this at home or in the car too much, but I'm certainly thrilled to hear it all live when he comes to Denver in November. I've already got tickets for me and Emily - maybe I'll see you there? Here's the Sufjan MySpace page if you want to check out a few tracks.
My latest app download is 'Tichu' for the iPad. If you don't know, I'm somewhat of a board game fanatic and if we can count 'Tichu' (it's a card game) then I might say 'Tichu' is my favorite! To learn more about the card game you can visit 'Board Game Geek' (yes, I'm one of them). And if you want to download the app which lets you play alone or with friends and includes some helpful tutorials to teach you how to play, then you can visit this iTunes link.
Finally, Chris, if you've made it this far - my 'Two-Cents' on a few films.
I recently caught up with 'The White Ribbon' which, if you don't remember, was the favorite to win the Oscar this last year for 'Best Foreign Film'. It didn't win. Instead 'The Secret in Their Eyes' took the prize and I probably would've voted for it as well. I didn't enjoy 'The White Ribbon' very much. The story was just... strange. However, I did give it 3 stars (liked it) on Netflix for the Black and White photography alone. There were some truly brilliant shots in here - which is why it was also nominated for 'Best Cinematography' (and lost to Avatar). Wonderful use of light and shadow...
I also watched 'Funny People' recently. Didn't like it. Didn't like the people. Didn't like the funny. Should've turned it off. And that's enough of that one.
Finally, the next movie on my 'Most Anticipated' list is 'The American' directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney. Who directed it is very important to me as a film fan and looking at Corbijn's profile on IMDB I don't see much there - so that's disappointing. But when I googled his name and came across his website I got excited again. He's a photographer! AND, he's THE photographer who photographed U2 for their Joshua Tree shoot (you've probably seen the photos). Anyway, I've read in a few places that this movie has a good chance of being one of the 10 nominees this year for 'Best Picture'. It comes out on September 1st. I'll go see it and let you know if it really does have a chance. Because, you know, my 'Two-Cents' matters!
ouston, we have liftoff! These are exciting times at Jared Wilson Photography! And this sparkly-shiny-pretty-green website has a lot to do with it! WELCOME to the brand new home for all of my photo art! And a big THANK YOU to Dave and Brock at Infinet Design for all of your work in making this site so wonderful!
There are a few new features I'm excited to offer and I hope you will all make good use of them. First, you can vote for your favorite images and they'll show up in the 'Voter Favorites' gallery. My hope is that this will turn into a fun gallery featuring lots of awesome photos. And not because I said so, but because you said so!
You can also give a thumbs up Facebook 'like' to your favorite posts and let your friends know, over there on Facebook, that you've found something great and worth checking out. Send the link to your favorite post to Facebook or Twitter or Digg - let the whole world know!
There's even more to explore - so have a look around! And come back soon - I've been saving up some goodies to show off here, surrounded by White and Green!
And just because blog posts are more fun with a photo or two - here ya' go! How dorky am I taking photos of myself? Go ahead. I dare you to vote this as one of your favorites!
