Point and Shoot - Part 2

About a month ago, I had a cup of coffee with a very nice young Indian couple; Shefali and Dushyant. They were friends of friends so I thought it would be a great to visit and talk with them to learn more about the Indian culture in our little town and doing some photography work with them in the future. Shefali was "all in" and immediately excited about things but we had to get Dushyant there. Well it didn’t take him long once he started sharing his own ideas with me about pictures he liked and some he wanted of the two of them. We spoke for several minutes doing some collab/idea kinda stuff and the love these two people shared with one another shined through in the course of the conversation which was very cool to witness. It’s always nice to meet people and people from other cultures to learn about their experiences and find out how much we have in common versus the things we think might divide us or make us different.

I needed to finish this post from last month so here are Shefali and Dushyant; stay tuned for more this

summer.

David

I Got Schooled

That's what we normally say on the basketball court when we get a much needed hit to the "ego" in the opposite direction right? Well I stopped off at Starbucks to use the restroom, sit for a bit and review images after a morning shoot. I was going through the images trying to see which ones would make it to the Blog, website, etc. when I ran into another professional photographer. He noticed me from several others visits I made to this particular Startbucks to meet with potential clients.  This day he decided to introduce himself, start a conversation and four hours later he was off to a shoot and I was scratching my head trying to absorb all that I learned during the course of those four hours.

We talked medium format, large format, digital, film but lighting mostly. He did some napkin drawings as part of my impromptu course and I am sure the rest of the customers must have thought "get a room why don't you". I was hanging on his every word trying to get all my questions out in the middle of him explaining a prior question; I was like a kid in a candy store. The photographer I am referring to is Bobby Martinez and he lives right here in my town. I didn't get too far into reviewing my images but after his little seminar I thought, let me please do that shoot I just did all over again and please Bobby let me watch you shoot sometime??? Well we exchanged info and off he went to meet a client who came all the way from Chicago to take 5 pictures; yes I did say 5. This might seem crazy to us youngsters but Bobby has been doing this for quite some time and spends most of that time working with the customers on posing and breathing while the rest of it is getting his lighting "just right".

Here are a few of my early favorites of Atoi and Malcolm from the shoot today. I am also looking forward to putting into practice what I learned from Mr. Martinez today. Thanks Bobby!

I'll be back soon Bloggers!!!

David

Please Don't Stop The Music - Part 2

I did a shoot early this winter with Sandra which I posted a sneak peek of a few months ago. I've been catching up on my Blogging and wanted to share more of my favorites from the shoot. We went through 3 CDs and 5 outfit changes before the shoot was over. She had fun during the shoot and here are a few of her pictures that she will be sharing with friends and family.  

Enjoy!

David

Point and Shoot

Coming soon!

In My Spare Time

I have ave been pretty busy with my day job over the last couple months as well as some editing from 2009 shoots. I am looking forward to the spring where I can get back out there are start shooting more frequent then I get today. Been learning a new techniques with creating collages and other stuff which you will see over this post and others. Hope you guys enjoy and I promise to get back to blogging more frequent then I have.

David

Reach

I had the opportunity to shoot at one of the local colleges in town for one of many Asian organizations in the area promoting cultural awareness through celebrating Chinese New Year.  I had a wonderful time as I knew I would meeting people, learning more about the culture and enjoying in the pageantry and colors that are just a part of the Asian culture.

I hadn't shot in almost two months and definitely felt a little rusty but it's like riding a bike right!  There were many other photographers present which must have been an interesting sight to see as we ducked and crawled around on the floor trying to get shots, not get in each others way and exchange "hello's" in the process.  There wasn't shortage of sights to shoot during the 90 minute program.  I took my fair share of photographs during the event but this photo of a little girl trying to REACH onto the stage during one of the performances is one of my early favorites.  I believe will stand the test of time and I hope you agree.  I call it "REACH".

Beas

Puja - Unfinished Business

Last year I did a shoot at McGraw Park with Puja and Karthika and I didn't quite finish with my editing because I got busy with other stuff. While cleaning some of my 2009 projects off the hard drive and putting the final touches on my last wedding for 2009, I ran across these photo's on Puja. I had to share these with you guys as I am tweaking out some split toning and Black and Whites. If you don't remember who Puja is, the first photo should be a good reminder. I hope you guys enjoy my experimenting.

David



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Jaime and Ryan are Married!

GO West young Man and that’s exactly what I did to shoot my second Destination Wedding and fourth and last wedding of 2009. I had the opportunity to meet Jaime (the bride) a couple of years prior when we worked on a project together as part of a virtual team. I was very new to Photography and Jaime was looking to upgrade her photography gear and we just went from there. The project we worked on together spanned about 12 months and Jaime and I started a friendship. One day out of the blue she said to me, which I will never forget “ When I get married I want you to shoot my wedding”. I thought how cool is that!?! She must see something in my work that I didn’t so I would have to go with her judgment on this one.

Well a couple of years passed, we stayed in touch through email and my Blog and then to my surprise an email from Jaime entitled “I got a ring” to myself and several members of our old team. Well I got my congratulations email out to her and before she could email her request to me I asked “Do you still want me to shoot your wedding?”. She didn’t hesitate with her response of “Yes”! and the rest is pretty much history. I went into 2009 pretty excited about her wedding being towards the end of the year which would give me a chance to try out some things before the wedding, since this would be my very first. The story didn’t end that way as I was blessed with this being #4 for me to wrap up 2009.

From the moment I landed in Spokane after a side trip to Seattle, I felt like part of the Weston/Yob family. Both Ryan (hubby) and Jaime (Mrs. Hubby; I mean Yob) are blessed not just with each other but also with very cool families who made me feel very welcomed throughout. As I was looking through their pictures a few days ago to start my editing, it was hard not to get emotional remembering the time I spent with these wonderful people and all the memories from the rehearsal, dinner, wedding ceremony and reception. I couldn’t have had a better experience to end the 2009 wedding season. More pics to come soon...

Beas

P.S. There is a picture on my website (second one) where their wedding party jumps in the air and somehow Jaime made her legs disappear; that was NOT a Photoshop trick. LOL!

Andy and Beth are Married

I had a lot of fun with this couple before the wedding and after the ceremony was over. It's a joy to watch people just having fun being themselves which makes my job as a photographer very easy. I knew the groom about a year prior and had the pleasure of meeting the bride a couple months before the ceremony. As soon as I met her, I knew they were a perfect match for each other and saw the kids as the cherry on top.

I joked around with Beth and started referring to her as "The Blinking Bride" as she blinked on almost every other shot in anticipation of the picture or my flash. Once I saw what she was doing, I just worked around it while making her and the rest of the wedding party laugh about the situation. When I did my editing I wondered why I had so many of the same shot and noticed that only 1 of 3 had her eyes wide open which was followed by a shot of her smirking as she blinked and laughed. There was no blinking however as she looked into Andy's eyes and said "I do". How cool and special a day this was for the couple who I wish all the best for them and their lovely children.

David