Seriously… literally… ah-Mazing!!!  Well that’s what I think about this shot.  While editing through July & Jeremy’s beautiful day from Saturday I was so pleased with some of the surprises I was able to capture.  Kadie Pangburn from ‘Pangburn Photography’ let me tag along and second shoot.  It was really neat to see how another wedding photographer’s workflow and setups work.  Kadie was really relaxed and didn’t seem to rush anything.  The day was so calm and the weather turned out great… even despite the wind gusts.  Though the lighting made for some killer images it’s not every day we get magical glowing clouds in the sky.  With that said I made my shots completely different from Kadie’s since she did most of the directing… cause duh she was in charge.  I chose different angles and view points to put my style on them.  I was able to get this killer photograph while Kadie was setting up the next shot with July at the top of the hill.  Her flower girls were so cute and helpful.  But what little girl wouldn’t want to carry the train of a beautiful wedding dress?.  I LOVE all the different textures & how dramatic the lighting is.  There’s more to come but I just had to get this one posted…

That’s what I always say anyways.  They’re my favorite and I thrive on them.  There’s just something about finding little surprises, angles, and odd textures that give me a rush.  This collection was all discovered while I was at Brad’s house last Friday night.  He wanted me to document all our progress with his green-scaping along with the lighting and rock forms.  Not to mention his super cool paver pad (which yours truly stained every block… 4 different colors I believe.)  I hope you enjoy…

While Eric & I were at Barnes & Noble the other night searching for some architectural inspirations and graphic designs for his new business cards… I of course had to wonder off into the photography section for some inspirations of my own. Well since the isles are placed right behind each other I didn’t go too far. I did stumble across this book by Michelle Turner who is a wedding photographer herself.  It’s called “Wedding Photography NOW!… a fresh approach to shooting modern nuptials.”  Usually I can’t stand most of the so called ‘Wedding’ educational books cause they’re either getto old, or too traditional, or too boring.  But this one immediately caught my eye and probably because of the clean hip feel that the cover image gleamed.  As I flipped through the pages I couldn’t help but to keep turning them and investigate.  It covers everything from the tools to get started with to selecting software, computer & camera equipment and maintaining them.  She explains exactly what has helped her along the way including other suggestions as well.  The wedding day workflow is easily documented throughout the book with her beautifully urban filled images.  Her photography is totally up my alley.  There’s no ‘old style’ typical cheesy posing here… it’s inventive, real, and inspiring.  Oh and my favorite part of the book are her chapters on ‘Evolution of an Image.’  Several tutorials are expressed showing off her raw ’shot out of the camera’ state to the middle process and then of course the amazing finished results.

It’s just a neat little 128 page book that let’s me know that I’m on the right track with my workflow, set-ups, and creativity.  So for all you wedding photogs out there who like to shoot in the new exciting field of ‘wedding reportage,’ I recommend checking it out.  For only $19.99 I feel I’m ripping her off from all the knowledge I gained.

Last night I headed over to Brad’s (Eric’s business partner & our good friend) to take some shots of his finished backyard for their new Square11 website. We’ve been working on the yard for quite sometime now & finally decided to document it while the coloring was still in full bloom. Brad designed the whole concept including the steel gabion rock encased walls (which is back braking work) and selection of plants with their layout. Very impressive. This is just a peek at what I captured. I wanted to post my current editing so Brad wouldn’t pee in his pants with anticipation. There’s more to come I promise. He has the best agave I have ever seen… I’m jealous. You’ll see more of them shortly. Stupid bugs keep attacking ours. All in all though I’m so happy with what I photographed. I don’t have very many opportunities to do nature shots but I sure *heart* them. There’s just something so magical about that golden 10 minutes while the sun is still setting and the stars & moon come out. Makes me giddy.

During the summer some of you might remember Phuong’s flipside portrait session that took place up at Mount Lemmon.  We did several outfits, multiple sites, and lots of variety.  It seems like we were up there forever… but she did bring her inner model so it was ok. The camera loves her. Along with her edgier shots Phuong really wanted to capture the essence of her culture through images of wearing her traditional Vietnamese dress… which is gorgeous by the way.  After her portrait session she submitted some proofs to ‘But Tre’ -a non-profit Vietnamese organization that distributes a monthly magazine to several states here on the west coast.  They absolutely fell in love with her images and decided to do a full spread as the September 2008 cover shot!!!  How exciting… and for both of us. This is Purple Nickel Studio’s first ‘real’ publication and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.

Side note: Phuong said she bought like ten issues.   Rock on!