3 years ago we tied the knot.... and i dedicate this blog entry to nicole, my wife, lover, pooper picker-upper, church goer, movie buddy, bench press spotter, cuddle bug, pie maker, 'white-trash news flash' laughing companion, associate shooter, mother of a four-legged child (that would be dash), medical expert, spanish translater, interior decorator, travel-on-a-shoestring mate, comical parallel parker, back tickler, photo critiquer, first-degree black belt instructor, name rememberer, and i can go on and on.... i love you more knowing you'll always be with me with God at our side.

all images taken by our stellar wedding photographer, jason hayes.


ahhh.... i can vividly remember this moment.


we danced to robbi williams singing "beyond the sea"


shortly after the ceremony, outside the university of denver chapel, nicole's alma mater... i still love her dress to this day!!!


it was about 95 degrees when this was shot, but it remains of my favorite photos from our wedding day :)


mmmm... hands down the best wedding cake i've ever tasted :)

julie & jru (pronounced "drew") tied the knot on friday, june 27, 2008. i was thankful to feel the power of spirit, love, and passion while being around julie & jru on their wedding day, which was filled with fine hand-crafted music, tears of happiness, and completed with the spirit of God.



julie got 'stuck' while getting into her dress (next 2 photos by christina):


julie's first manicure/pedicure, done just right for her wedding day:


the first smooch after the FIrst Look:


and here they are:


julie is a talented violinist:


accepting the hot hot hot temp, we castaway our plans to head away mountainesque photos 30 minutes away and opted for some creative backdrops on walking distance from the ceremony location at timberline church in fort collins, colorado. one of the bridesmaids couldn't have agreed more by saying, "i love you!" (to the notion of not driving in construction traffic in hot weather on short time).


nicole couldn't make this one, so christina stepped right up and did some stellar work including this bridal portrait:


and this one, too:



jru just trying to relax before the ceremony, with his father and the officiant meeting in the background.


6:51 p.m. marks the minute where julie & jru relish in the newly-minted couple feeling while her girls hustle to bustle the dress in front of their reflection.


immediately after the ceremony, julie & jru entered into this room for some quite time. her dad peaking a glimpse made her excited :)


carried off in style with a 1932 chrysler (sorry, but if you look carefully you'll see the notorious PT Crusier with flames in the reflection (photo by christina)


the first dance, which was a custom song by brian kane with interviews revealing details about their engagement... sooo heartfelt :)


father-daughter dance:


a sweet finale for their dance:


jru's kiss to his mother at the end of their dance brought tears in the crowd:


the departing shot leaving their reception at the lory student center ballroom at colorado state university:

taking some time away from the computer from editing two awesome weddings from friday & saturday, dashalicous and i headed to the local high school football field for kicks. i forgot his toy, so we played the imaginary toss game that goes something like this:

rj: 'dash, sit. stay. good boy' (holding up an invisible toy :)
dash: shweet! ok
rj: gives the release command, "OK!" (and makes a fake toss gesture)
dash: is off running and running and running... 'perhaps thinking, " oh, boy, oh boy, oh, boy..... uhhhhh, waitaminute.'
rj: 'dash come! (dash, stops, turns, and runs back :)... good boy!!!'
dash: 'oh, ok.... perhaps this time i'll get a treat....'

and the story goes and goes for about 20 minutes until panting begins.

meanwhile, there's some mysterious radiopopper flash action while field testing take place (consistency is best at about 40 yards or less :(

here are a few favs from our mini-shoot:

here are a few more favorite shots from a road trip back in april, i just got these back from the lab. if you haven't done so already, you check out holga series of southwestern colorado landscapes round 1 if you'd like to see more.

a roadside pit stop near the top of red mountain pass, colorado, shot with a holga:


canyon of the ancients national monument are well preserved by tax payer's dollars:


wildfires in 1996, 2000, and 2002 burned much of the park. for the first 20 or so miles of driving in, the not-so-green-table looked very much like this, as shot from the fire lookout at park point overlook:


the spruce tree house, among the best-preserved cliff dwelling at mesa verde:


to avoid harsh shadows, i chose to shoot the largest cliff dwelling, cliff palace, at dusk using a tripod and my 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed to 200mm for 1/4 sec, f/11, iso 200. sorry, my holga just didn't have the low-light capability that the nikon d300 has. it boggles my mind to think ansel adams pulled some great stuff back in 1941 that still rival what a 100 megapixel camera could shoot today. if you scanned in one of his large format negatives at 300dpi, you'd get the about equivalent of about 100MP image. it just goes to show you megapixels don't matter.


and a 4 second exposure after sunset (f/6.7 and iso 800) was needed for this panoramic perspective using the nikon 12-24 f/4lens. it was super peaceful, quiet, and had the place all to myself for the better half of two hours. now, that is a luxury!


the balcony house, built some 1,400 years ago and 'found' in 1884, is an intriguing place to explore. my imagination had fun thinking about what it was like to live a thousand years ago, without the internet, global commerce, and reality-tv. while i was walking around, the rangers were so patiently answering visitor's questions. i overheard one of the small kids ask the rangers, "why did they built their houses so far from the road" :)

i probably would have asked the same question if i was 5 years old!


while many the the areas have been excavated and restored, there are many reminders of the ancestral puebloans of mesa verde like rock drawings, pottery shards. i enjoyed seeing the tiny foot holds cut into the rock and spaced apart like a grade 5.7 or so at the rock climbing gym! and to think kids ran up and down this rocks all day long carrying water, food, and toys!

ah... the excitement of getting back film :)

it seems those days are long gone for mainstream professional portrait & wedding photographers. however, the giddy landscape photographer hobbist in me still loves to shoot medium format film. perhaps it is a step back to simpler shooting, the greater dynamic range, the "happy light leak mistakes," or just the thrill of not-so-instant gratification of seeing photograph captured months ago.

for a few extra bucks, pictage scans in the images at a decent resolution and allows me to quickly download them directly from their servers via ftp. sure, the whole process of buying film, mailing it in, paying for the cost of developing may cost a bit more than shooting digital. but i will say that the entire process of shooting film medium format film on a low tech camera forces me to think different. creatively different.

talk to experienced film photojournalists: they shoot very differently at the beginning of a roll of 36 than they do at the end of the roll.... especially when they haven't captured a 'worthwhile' moment.

similarly, when shooting with a roll of 12, i find myself thinking long and hard before pressing the shutter. the funny thing i'm discovering, is the "keepers worth printing" are almost at a 90% rate.... waaaaaay higher than the percentage from shooting digital. for personal work, i actually print maybe 2% of what i shot digital. gulp.

chromatic aberations, light leaks, double exposures, and soft vignetting: these are among the hallmarks of the $30 plastic holga. here are a few from my latest 3 rolls of fujifilm fujicolor pro 400h (120mm). you have the option to get 16 images in a 5x6 format, or 12 square images larger in size (my preference).

shot months ago, but posted for the first time below, here's the black canyon of the gunnison national park in colorado, as seen through my holga:



a shooting range just outside the park entrance... gotta love the dynamic range straight out of the camera:


view of montrose from a short hike in black canyon of the gunnison national park


palm trees in avalon, california


love the grain in this photo of nicole, taken after enjoying a bottle of riesling and chocolate cake on a hot day in avalon, catalina island:


nicole gets a "free hug" at balboa park in san diego, california. behind me, the museum of photographic arts, showcases some awesome photographic art and has a killer artsy bookstore and cool photobooth inside. it is a must see if you are in the area!


an extra cool 'happy mistake' resulting from an accidental sideways double exposure:


stay tuned in a few days for a series of landcapes of mesa verde national park, among other colorado locales also shot with the holga-nator.

dogs elicit a sense of humor only humans can appreciate. here's dash, asleep and dreaming of who knows what:

i just don't get how this can be even a remotely comfy nap position. go figure. (taken with iPhone camera)

best friends for more than 8 years, lisa & jason celebrated their big day at the denver botanic gardens on saturday, june 21, 2008. while it was super hot, we relished the breeze and the beautiful surroundings of the gardens. while the botanic gardens remains a popular oasis from the hectic urban surroundings (and is very popular place to get married), it is still easy to get away from it all and find a place for reflection & solitude surrounded by lush vegetation, which is exactly what we did and loved it :) to view more images from their wedding, check out their slideshow by clicking here.

timeless beauty... this picture could have been taken 60 years ago :)

the one-shoe shot for variety & spice:

shaking it up for the anti-bouquet shot:


moments before the ceremony:


jason's first look:




a single nikon sb-800 triggered wirelessly provided some impact for this shot:


all the girls:


lisa's tear captured at the right moment at maggiano's little italy in denver.


party on!

nick's steady persistence finally paid off when carrie said "yes," 'cause for the longest time, she didn't know what to do with him :)

august 23, 2008 will be a duezy of a day for carrie & nick when they take over her parents' backyard, "father of the bride" style.

they warmed up to the camera super quick on their engagement session in boulder this week. we all had a giddy ol' time in search of texture, color, and romantic spots. one special thing i enjoyed about this particular shoot was all the wonderful, colorful places in boulder we found with little effort that made for great backdrops. it's kinda like we take for granted so much of our surroundings, but then when hunting for something to boost the creative energies, quite often we have what we need around us (if we open our eyes and hearts to see it :)

to view more favorite images, click here to see a slideshow.


they hammed it up in front of this cool wall:

we found a field chock full of the world's biggest dandelions and had a mini-contest to see if they could blow them off... it is waaay harder than you'd think.

chasing the light up chautauqua trail in boulder proved to be an exhilarating way to connect and enjoy the scenery:

the right spot for a denim ad:

and a fun moment being kids again:

of course, some pg-13 time was needed:

and a gentle moment to say goodnight, the last shot of the evening:

jayme otto's stellar writing and saavy marketing has made her an up and coming freelance writer in boulder, colorado specializing in cycling, nutrition, travel, and wellness. her most recent work has been published in velonews and rocky mountain sports. in her free time, jayme serves as a captain for a local cycling team and races frequently. talk about growth! i vividly remember her first few wobbly rides with clipless pedals. ah, but we won't tell those stories :)

she's a wonderful friend and i'm excited to see her grow creatively. she studied english in college years ago, and is just now starting to put the writing energies on the front-burner.

her husband, ryan, has the model look enough to walk the catwalk. this time, however, it was jayme's turn in front of the camera. here are a few portraits for her first pulitzer prize winning book just waiting to be written.

she's sassy:

smart:

and sincere:

thank you for your friendship over the years. we wish all the very best in your creative pursuits :)

friday the 13th of june was lucky day for megan & jeff. warding off all superstition, they embraced their day carefree of black cats stepping on a crack under a ladder. i've never been superstitious, as my alma mater, colgate university, was founded by 13 men with 13 prayers, 13 dollars & 13 articles.

i consider the number 13 a good omen i wish to pass along to them. congrats x 13 !!

having dated through high school and danced at more than just a few proms together, megan & jeff now join the '2% club,' exclusive to those who dated through high school/college then tie the knot together :)

both are talented musicians at csu. but on friday, jeff put down his trumpet and megan put down her trombone and marching shoes at the stonebrook manor and let friends & family enjoy their wedding music.

view their slideshow here.



dapper details:




three sisters, dolling each other up:


jeff grinned from ear to ear almost the entire day. he seemed to embrace every moment, including his groomal portrait :)


the stonebook manor wasn't enough for guys being just guys, so we headed across the street to grab this shot:

ah, but rewind to watch the process and make sure you see the full effect on the slideshow here:

the guys enjoyed the 'mini-bonding teamwork game.' thanks again, guys, for your trust :)

megan radiated with timeless beauty with some creative processing:


megan's father diffuses tension with his soft humor:


moments before the ceremony ( i love the juxtaposition between the organic foreground/background vs. the parallel lines created by the sidewalk and her blowing veil):


the wind made it a tad difficult to light the unity candle, but jeff was packing a bic lighter, which did the job right :)


jeff's mom was so sweet the entire day. at the end of the evening, she gave me a huge hug which made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

during the lighting of the unity candle, jeff's uncle sang & played an original song on his guitar:

so crisp and excited, introducing the newly minted mr. & mrs:


christina did a wonderful job second-shooting. she brought out the big guns for formals... a 7 foot octabank supplied with a 1.21 gigawatt plutonium-powered nuclear elinchrome setup which was a blast to shoot with. she created some stunning images including these next four shots:


flare in focus with a soft subjects in the background: a kern-photo treat :)


a new favorite-most action out of the brand-spakin' new totally rad actions 2 toolkit, ("grandma's tap shoes @ 50% with some "snap" and "yin/yang"):


a beautiful moment in a summer colorado sunset:


letting go of it all:


the whole bridal gang in our 'fresh. modern. fun' style:


and a quick shot of the girls:


tossin' fun:


a favorite shot with taken with an ultra-wide view of some yummy lingering rays: