Rain, rain and more rain is the news of the week here in Southern California. The rain began late last week and is expected to continue for at least a few more days as storm after storm rolls in. Normally, I love the rain. However, this weekend the rain has interrupted my Internet service in our neighborhood as the towers set up in the nearby foothills have been bombarded with snow causing a power outage. So, I’ve been forced to venture out to nearby Internet hot spots like Panera Bread to do such simple tasks as check email. Though inconvenient, I’m actually liking blogging from somewhere new. Creativity flows differently when you put yourself in new situations.
This week has been a very busy week, but really fun at the same time. Thursday, I went to the Light & Fast photographic lighting seminar with John Mireles and Jules Bianchi, two incredibly talented L.A.-based photographers. (Check out Jules’ post about the seminar here.) It was an entertaining and educational opportunity to meet photographers from all over the country and to learn some great lighting techniques from two of the best photographers in wedding and portrait photography. I initially learned about the seminar from a newsletter I receive from John every month regarding business topics for photographers. It’s a really informative newsletter that covers everything about the business side of photography. (To learn more, click here.) A few months back I saw that he and Jules were planning a seminar together. I had heard of Jules many times from Kim Fox, who just adores her and her approach to photography, so I signed up. By pure coincidence, Kim herself had already singed up, so we were able to attend the seminar together and are looking forward to utilizing the many lighting tips we picked up while we were there!
Also this week, I had the pleasure of FINALLY shooting Nicole and Matt’s engagement shoot. I say “finally” so emphatically as Nicole and I had tried to schedule the shoot two times before, but were forced to postpone until now because of rain. Can you believe it? It hardly ever rains in the Palm Springs area, but each time we tried to get together there were major storms! We even thought we’d be rained out again, but were lucky to get beautiful weather on Wednesday.
Nicole and Matt are getting married this November in the Palm Springs area and were referred to me by Mandee and Doug. They are such a nice, fun couple and we had a lot of fun shooting on the ranch where Matt works in La Quinta, CA. Matt is a horse trainer so they decided that doing the shoot on the ranch would really fit them. I love doing shoots in locations that really mean something to the couple I’m shooting. It makes the photographs that much more special and interesting. Here are a few shots from our shoot. There were so many great photos, so I may end up doing a “part II” post in another day or two.
We started out doing a few shots with Cal, this two-year-old horse that Matt is currently training. He was beautiful and didn’t seem to mind the camera at all.
He was actually pretty interested in the sounds the camera was making. I love this shot.
And here’s a great moment of Nicole and Matt. What a lovely couple!
Then after a quick change of clothes, we gave Cal a rest and ventured out onto the grounds of the ranch. What a gorgeous place! … and isn’t Nicole’s dress adorable?!
This is my absolute favorite shot of the day. Because of the clouds moving quickly across the sky, our lighting was constantly changing. I was able to catch this shot and seconds later, the sun was gone again.
Finally, a simply lovely portrait of the happy couple.
Thanks guys! You were so great. I look forward to the big day in November!
I have a bunch of shoots coming up soon, so I’ll be able to blog more in the coming weeks.
Wonderful session……can you share with me your post processing on #2 & #4?
Heather these turned out beautifully! I love the last image with Nicole on the horse, so sweet. Some how you were able to take a photo with a beautiful horse and still my focus went first to the bride and groom to be, you never cease to amaze me ! xoxo
How did I miss these?? I read your DWF forum on this and think you handled your concerns really well!!! What actions are you using these days?
PS. I’m posting on here simply to tell you that yeah I decided to go with Finao! … They’ve had a few issues lately with their turn around but their packaging BLEW me away… and everything is REALLY simple to handle ordering wise… plus the price is right. I specifically wanted flush mount digital albums that can handle creased pages as well as cut … I was THIS close to using White Glove but their albums are just too expensive for our packages right now… I mean.. really… an $800 album has to be marked up to like $1500! Finao is really great so far and YES i will most definitely show you the finished product when it comes. I am really racking up some “start up costs” around here lately…
[…] shot an amazing wedding last weekend for Nicole and Matt (you can see their engagement session here and here). Here’s a quick […]