wo weekends ago the Wilson family made its third trip to the annual Erie Balloon Festival. Saturday we woke up before the sun and went out to the launch only to have it cancelled due to inclement weather. We woke up early again on Sunday and this time we were rewarded with another spectacular show.
My plan was to bring both of my cameras with me - the 'real' one, and my 'toy'. When I parked the car and began to gather up my things to head out into the field for the launch I discovered that my 'real' camera was left on the counter back at the house. Was this just coincidence, or bad luck? Or was this to be my great fortune?
Last night I was reading an article in the latest edition of 'Wired' Magazine about 'Plastic Camera Pioneer' Hideki Ohmori that starts out "In a world of precision-engineered digital cameras..." When asked "Why make a toy camera?" Ohmori responds, "They take us back to essentials.... If something is perfect, it responds to its creator's quest for perfection. That's not so interesting to me."
My favorite quote from Ohmori in this article is in his response to the question "Why are you obsessed with film?"
"We do not always want a faithful representation of reality. Sometimes we yearn for a dream."
Update: A photographer kindly suggested that I edit out the part about leaving my 'real' camera at home so as not to scare my current, or future, clients. Instead, let me assure you that this has NEVER happened in regards to a wedding. I've never forgotten ANYTHING for that matter! The truth of the matter is that when it comes to weddings I am so completely OCD about things like this that it's kinda over the top - and if you had an inside look into my mind and my preparation for a wedding day you would know, without a doubt, that it would be far more likely for me to forget to wear pants to a wedding than to forget any of my gear. :) (And now someone is going to tell me to edit THAT part out!)
i Friends! I just heard about a hilarious website called 'Awkward Family Photos'. One thing I promise you - no photo taken by Jared Wilson Photography appears on this site (yet). This would be an honor that would take incredible effort to achieve! Of course, if I had a family like this one to make my work easier I might be able to do it. (And I'm sure they're a great family. They just appear to have been attacked by some really bad sweaters!)
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But something tells me that this one was the photographer's idea.
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I can't remember the last time a website made me laugh like this. :)
Engagement Session at Cheesman Park - Jennifer and Tim
J
ennifer works for Samaritan House. Tim is a Project Officer for renewable and sustainable energy. Individually, they're changing the world. Together, there's no stopping them....
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...unless....
Unless you're a young Australian Shepherd who loves to eat carrots and you can wrap your leash around and around their legs before they can even blink twice. That might slow them down!
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Jennifer was getting kisses from both sides.
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She thought that was pretty silly....
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The doggie had better things to do so we just snapped a few without him.
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And then we were off to 'Potagers' - one of Jennifer and Tim's favorite watering holes.
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And of course, as you sip wine on a wonderful romantic evening with your fiance at one of your favorite places, you just know that this is the moment when a fly is gonna strike your Chardonnay.
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I love Jennifer's smile. As you can see, she wore it all evening.
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rad, RAD, RAD! (Gotta give some credit to Daniel Libeskind for this one!)
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Hey you two - I had a blast! Congrats on your engagement. I'm SO looking forward to the wedding in September!
love it when you can just feel the family-ness of a wedding. Yeah, I'm making up words now - but how else to describe it? Michelle and Jamison were wed this past weekend and it was just wonderful seeing and experiencing the dynamic of these wonderful families coming together for this momentous occasion.
Michelle chose a simple color palette - and I'm a big fan.
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I snapped a couple candids of the ring bearer and flower girls. They were so great!
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There was another ring bearer at this wedding too - sporting a cute little tux bib and a fancy pillow backpack!
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Right after the ceremony, Michelle and Jamison went out the back door to sign the marriage license. They were SO HAPPY!
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And then we gathered on the steps for a large group photo. I zoomed in for this one...
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While family and guests made their way over to the reception, Michelle and Jamison took a few minutes for some wonderful photos in the great Colorado outdoors.
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Congrats you two! Thank you for letting me be a part of your day!
Bridal 'Trash the Dress' with Mile High Photographers
R
ecently I announced that there was going to be a workshop here in the Denver area with me, James Christianson, and RJ Kern instructing. Well, it happened - yesterday - and it was a great time! I marvel that nearly 50 people who can call each other 'the competition' can be so close and have so much fun spending time together, sharing with one another, learning together, and teaching one another all at the same time. I think, in the end, we're artists at heart, and creating art is a process better shared with a like-hearted friend.
I snapped this photo at one point during the day. In it I can spot Paige Elizabeth, Andy and Amy Wood, Chad Morgan, Dusty Volkel and a few other photog friends. In the distance I see two other groups of photographers, each working with one of the four lovely models we had for our time together.
Somewhere in the mix is Jessica Bergthold, Shannon Kaple, and Andrew Schaefer - who coordinated this entire thing. Way to go guys! A standing ovation from here at my desk!
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And now I'll go ahead and share just a few of the photos I got during our Bridal/Trash the Dress session. Since this is a sharing and learning affair I'm going to post the settings and lens used for each photo. All of them were shot with the Canon 5D mkii in sRaw1.
First up is Emily.
70-200 at 75mm, f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO 400
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50 1.2 at f/2, 1/8000th, ISO 100
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TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/100th, ISO 100
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TS-E 45 at f/4, 1/2500th, ISO 100
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Next up is Carrie.
TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO 200
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TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO 200
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TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/250th, ISO 500
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TS-E 45 at f/4, 1/125th, ISO 500
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TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/125th, ISO 100
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And finally, a few of Katie.
50 1.2 at f/1.2, 1/5000th, ISO 100
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24 1.4 at f/2.5, 1/640th, ISO 400
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TS-E 45 at f/2.8, 1/1600th, ISO 400
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70-200 at 95mm, f/2.8, 1/1000th, ISO 400
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24 1.4 at f/2.0, 1/320th, ISO 100
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70-200 at 85mm, f/2.8, 1/640th, ISO 100
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50 1.2 at f/1.2, 1/5000th, ISO 100
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24 1.4 at f/2.8, 1/800th, ISO 400
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Man, I can't wait to go peruse my friends' sites and see what they came up with!
n Saturday I had the wonderful privilege of returning to the Lionsgate Event Center in Lafayette, Colorado for the wedding of Tiffany and Ted. The skies were grey and it was threatening to pour, but this night was all about the silver lining. Tiffany and Ted were married on what turned into the most perfect of nights and it was a delight to be a witness.
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The happy couple opted for a 'First Look' (which I heartily recommend!).
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And a few minutes later the florist had a surprise of her own via Ted...
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A beautiful bouquet to accent their wedding colors of brown and green.
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I love this one - during our 'formal' session...
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Tiffany looked fantastic and Ted looked as happy and thrilled as you'd expect!
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Right before the processional.
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One of my favorite pastimes at weddings is to watch the Moms and Dads. Being a Dad myself, I think I have a notion of what it must feel like to watch your child get married.
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I loved the oriental theme that Tiffany and Ted had going on at the reception. Check out the bamboo on the cake...
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Not every wedding has a toast from the flower girl. In fact, this was the first I've heard!
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Congrats Tiffany and Ted! May your lives be filled with days as joyous as this!
ads anticipate these days from the moment they hear the words 'It's a boy!'. For me, it has arrived and it truly is fun to behold. My son Philip is playing on his first T ball team and he's quite the little go getter - when he wants to be. I'd say that his coordination is above average for his age, though his strength is probably less than his teammates'. But it doesn't really matter right now how 'good' he is - just that he's having fun. Learning important things such as how to be a good sport and a good teammate, and the less important things as well - like how to play baseball.
Sometimes I'm amazed that these four and five year olds can maintain their focus for an hour during T ball practice, or the game. It is a rather slow sport - countless moments just standing in a field, waiting...
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But every now and then a child connects and the ball is sent bouncing out into the infield. For the first few practices Philip was just waiting for the ball to come to him and if it didn't he'd watch as some other kid chased it down. Recently, however, he chases after every ball no matter what position he happens to be playing. The other boys are lucky if they ever get their chance to throw it to first.
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To help him appreciate it a little bit more I took him to the Rockies day game yesterday versus the San Francisco Giants. I picked up some great seats for us so we could watch the pros hit it and run to first, or catch it and throw to first which is about the extent of his learning this first year. This is how he looked for maybe an inning and a half.
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But from then on it was all about going to get an ice cream sundae in a little plastic Rockies helmet that we decided was just the right size for our dog. The sundae itself was just the right size for a boy and his father.
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Gosh. I know I'm incredibly biased - but I believe he's the most adorable little guy ever.
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5Dmkii self portrait (with back button focus I might add). No easy task. Maybe Dinger could've helped us out.
