Break it down!
I think this shot of Kyle from his wedding four weeks ago in Texas pretty much sums up how I feel about getting this most recent update online and available for all of you to view.
This afternoon I uploaded a total of 57 new images to the Weddings section of my portfolio. There are images from four different occasions: The DuBose Wedding, the Knudson Wedding, the D’Orazio Engagement, and the DeLand Wedding… in order of most recent first. The image of Kyle above, is him showing everyone his version of Thriller… I have the entire series of Kyle breaking it down – and it’s hilarious. Maybe I’ll share it in my next blog post. I’m sure many of you read my previous post and saw the portrait I did for Kyle and Tiffanye, right?

Among other shots I selected this image of Tiffanye during the Daddy-Daughter dance. Typically I focus on the father during this moment in the reception. However I love the expression on Tiffanye’s face – she just looks so happy. And the lighting, color, everything else seemed to work in this moment.

And this last image from the DuBose wedding is one of my ultimate favorites from the entire reception. This moment between Kyle and his younger brother is just so pure between the way these two interact and joke. It was very easy to see how happy Ryan was for Kyle that whole day – and I feel I was able to capture that right here.

The Knudson wedding was the second wedding I shot during back-to-back weekends in Michigan while keeping my very busy schedule here in California.
Lisa told me many times on the phone that she “just wanted someone to take pictures during the event” and that “she wasn’t really too worried about it”. I told her that she would probably change her mindset at some point. While I don’t know if she did or not, I wanted to give Craig and Lisa photos that were truly spectacular.
I always say weddings are easy because it’s so simple to photograph two people who truly love each other. And if you read my previous blog post you’ll see how easy it was create great images of these two.

The marina that the Knudson’s chose for the reception was beautiful. After doing portraits, and some fun shots, on the docks/shoreline I found myself in this room with some really great lighting and color to work with. Nearly all the photos on the dance floor were full of purples, violets, and blue due to the color changing ceiling lights. This is their first dance as husband and wife. Please go view this in high resolution since this blog won’t do my shots justice.

Earlier I mentioned that the Daddy-Daughter dance is my favorite dance to shoot. THIS photo of Lisa and her father is EXACTLY why. The amount of emotion in Mr. Favazza’s face as his dances with his little girl says everything. I can’t imagine the feeling of knowing that your baby is all grown up and married; and I can only imagine what it will be like when I’m watching my sister and father share this same moment. Lisa actually told me this evening that this photo makes her tear up when she looks at it. I really feel as though this is one of my best images that weekend.

And the wedding that kicked off my month of madness and traveling all over the U.S. shooting… was Todd’s.
Todd is a former classmate, photographer, and friend from college. And as I’ve said in the blog entry about his wedding weekend, it meant a lot to be flown cross country for his wedding. We had a great time that weekend, too.
This shot above was when we were shooting at the shore, and the guys said “Hey, how ’bout we pick him up…” and they did.. They actually held him there for a while – but I of course ended up liking the very first shot.

Lighting at dusk was a bit tricky, and I appreciated Todd’s full trust and faith in me that I’d manage just fine. This moment during their first dance as husband and wife worked out perfectly. Todd leaned in a kissed Jessica right as they spun toward me. One of so many great moments between this couple  that I was able to capture on my weekend with their families.

And to end on a fun photo, here’s a shot of Jessica sitting down for the garter belt removal – on the knees of men that were told to kneel for her. Hahaha. Todd then had to crawl up to his new bride and remove the garter; the whole process was hilarious. And I’m pretty sure Jessica enjoyed every moment of it.

I didn’t realize just how crazy the four weeks of weddings and travel would be – I even shot off road racing in the middle of everything. I had such a great time being able to share is moment in the lives of old friends scattered around the country. I’ve received such amazing compliments from everyone as well. Jessica told me her and Todd spent 2 1/2 hours going through their images after receiving them. Lisa and Craig told me they spent a couple hours going through their shots laughing and reliving all the moments from their wedding. And I can’t wait to hear from Kyle and Tiffanye when they receive their discs of photos in the mail.

It took me a bit longer than I anticipated to edit everything. From these wedding, and Mike’s engagement shoot, I took nearly 4,500 images. And a few hundred of those got affected by a small hair that found it’s way in my camera while shooting in a salon – what a pain! But, over all, I’m VERY happy with everything.

Next up I have nearly three months of racing photos to edit. I haven’t done a racing update to my portfolio since the Long Beach Grand Prix – and I’ve photographed tons of events from probably 5 different sports (at least) in that amount of time.
Check back soon for a major racing update. And coming soon I’ll have the racer portrait series online that I started last month.

Good night all!

And Enjoy!

(link to the Weddings section: here)