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Colorado Springs Wedding: Marc and Julie

Jun 10, 2008

I shot our first wedding of 2008 on Sunday! Jump-starting our wedding photography season were Marc and Julie (whose engagement portraits sneak peek is here)!

colorado springs wedding photography

They held their wedding at The Margarita at Pine Creek here in Colorado Springs:

colorado springs wedding venue

colorado springs wedding photography

It was a cloudy day and rained for a few minutes during the ceremony, but word on the street is that a little rain during the nuptials is good luck. Plus, all the cool kids get married in the rain (Nic and I had an Eeyore-like cloud of rain pass through during our wedding ceremony). :)

colorado springs wedding

colorado springs wedding photography

The Margarita did a wonderful job with the food (yum, yum) and the cake was as pretty as it was delicious:

colorado springs wedding photography

Here’s one of my favorite candid moments of the day. “Cake smashing” was a big topic of conversation (everyone warning Marc not to do it) and here is their pinkie promise to one another to be very nice at the cutting of the cake:

colorado springs wedding photography

Since the wedding was small (around 30 people), and the guests all very important to Marc and Julie, I made it a goal to try and catch a great candid portrait of everyone there. Some people were trickier to catch than others (they would look at me every time I got my lens pointed anywhere near their direction), but one of my favorites is this shot of Julie’s dad:

colorado springs wedding photography

Julie and Marc wanted to spend a bare minimum of time on portraits with a real emphasis on candid photojournalistic style coverage, so we knocked out all of the formals very quickly. Here are the bride and groom:

colorado springs wedding photography

The sun finally poked out at the very end of the wedding, and I love this shot of Julie’s brother and sister-in-law dancing:

colorado springs wedding photography

Congratulations to Marc and Julie! It was an honor to be their wedding photographer and I wish them the best!

colorado springs wedding photographer

Posted in Photographer Tips, Wedding Photographer

Photography Tip Tuesday – Week #9: Golden Light

May 06, 2008

colorado springs engagement portrait

This week’s tip is simple and easy because I have a date with a movie rental tonight.

Evening and morning light creates beautiful images. The soft light and long shadows are dramatic and flattering.

Of course, if you live here in Colorado Springs, you’re at a disadvantage because we don’t have much of a sunset–the sun drops behind the mountains before it really sets. But if you are determined, you can catch our amazing morning light (thanks to those endless plains stretching toward Kansas).

So if you’re going to pull the family outside for a quick family portrait, don’t do it at noon. Wait until after dinner for some nice evening light.

Posted in Engagement Portrait Photographer, Photographer Tips

Photography Tips Week #8: Filters

Apr 29, 2008

colorado springs photographer silly picture

As I mentioned in my last post, my 135mm lens took a tumble this weekend at Andrea and Jason’s engagement shoot. It was a pretty major tumble–it popped out of my lens bag as I was bending over taking portraits and bounced down a flight of cement steps. Nothing quite like seeing your favorite lens rolling into the street!

It was a hard fall, but the lens itself is fine (I put it through many tests and it’s resting comfortably now). I had a lens filter and lens hood on it that took the damage like a champ. Nic had to cut the filter to get it off (he was ready to call in the jaws of life). Instead of being out hundreds of dollars to repair the lens, I’m out a mere $65 to replace the filter.

And that is exactly what UV filters are for.

Filter pros: Saves you money when your lens tries to commit suicide by jumping out of your bag. Ensures that any scratches are limited to an easily replaced filter instead of your actual lens.

Filter cons: Any time you add a filter onto your lens you run the risk of decreasing the quality of your pictures. However, investing in high quality UV filters is a great work-around to this problem (though it will run you $50-$100).

Bottom line: All of this being said, I used our pricey lenses for three years personally without UV filters and for eight months professionally without filters and never once had a scratch. As long as you’re careful, I think you’re fine. I always had the lens cap ready to pop back onto the camera the minute my finger was off the shutter. But with weddings I felt that our lenses were more at risk. Close quarters with guests, less time to deal with constant lens cap use, and more chaos. It is nice to have the peace of mind of the filter, but if you will only use your lenses in nice controlled situations (or your lenses are of the $200 variety), it’s an easy purchase to skip.

(PS–not really sure how the pic up top plays into all this, it’s just one Nic snapped as we were packing up on Sunday and it makes me laugh. It’s the sort of dorkiness that people who drop lenses exhibit.)

Posted in Photographer Tips