.

A Brilliant Peice Of Humor

2008-12-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share what I think is the best uTube video I've seen yet. This is likely something that only digital photographers will fully appreciate, so if you don't get, well, just trust me, ...it is very funny.

I should state for the record, that there is nothing at all funny about the WWII figure who is depicted here. And, it is hard to watch this without feeling a twinge of bad-taste. But, if you can get past that, the sub-titles are hilarious.

Emmalee and Emmanuel, Northridge, Wedding Slideshow

2008-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of shooting Emmalee and Manny's Wedding. Emmalee is a photographer herself, and it's always nice to shoot a wedding for another photographer because the day will always be scheduled with plenty of time to make great pictures. We spent a couple of hours on this beautiful after noonshooting at the CSUN campus, and really got some great shots. Enjoy.

Thanks Emmalee and Manny for allowing me to photograph your day!

Sam And Eric, Redondo Beach

2008-06-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Sam and Eric were blessed with a gorgeous day for their wedding. But then, I suppose perfect weather isn't unusual for Redondo Beach. Sam and Eric chose a back-yard wedding location at Sam's Parents home which has a fabulous view overlooking the ocean. A small group of close friends and family made the occasion special with a very intimate atmosphere.

Thank you Sam and Eric for allowing me to photograph your special day.

The Gamble House, Pasadena

2008-05-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

Some friends and I visited the Gamble House in Pasadena Today. The house was built in 1908 as a winter home for the Gamble Family (of Proctor & Gamble fame). It truly is amazing. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend Google-ing it.

This post has a dual purpose. I need to know if the slide show below is small enough to run smoothly on most computers. If it runs good, just tell me what you think of the pics. Otherwise, let me know if the large file is choking your computer. So, please leave me a comment below. Thanks.

Here's the slide show. Just press "play," or you can browse one by one. Sorry, ...no interior shots, ...photography is not allowed inside (boo). Hope you enjoy.

Lisa and Matt, Newport Beach Marriott, Images and Slide Show

2008-04-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday, I had the opportunity to photograph Lisa and Matt's wedding at the Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach. The Marriott is now a great venue for weddings! I had been there several years ago, and I was pleased to find that there had been a dramatic renovation since then. The hotel now has a lovely outdoor space for wedding ceremonies, and the grounds have landscaped walks that are great for portraits of the bride and groom.

The wedding was beautiful and I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to photograph Lisa and Matt's day.

I've posted a few of my favorites from the day here. And don't miss the slide show at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

Pic Of The Day #2

2008-04-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Pic Of The Day #1 ...?

2008-03-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is an image that I took recently on a visit to Florida. I was visiting my parents who winter in Sarasota each year. I've never been really into shooting flowers, vegitation, or in this case, trees. But, this tree trunk seemed unusual to me, since I'm not from Florida. This was not the best image from the trip (most are also brighter and less discomforting), but today was not the most productive day for me, so this image seemed to express my frustration. Tomorrow will be brighter!

Watch out for more "Pic Of The Day" images in future posts. Who knows, this post may start a tradition?

Los Angeles Travel Museum

2008-03-21T21:48:00.000-07:00

Even though I've been in Southern California for a few months now, I haven't explored much yet. Many of my Sunday afternoons are spent on the couch recovering (from long Saturdays shooting). But, last Sunday afternoon, I drove over to the LA Travel Museum to check it out for a future engagement shoot. I got these pics while I was there.

Other places I've visited recently are: The Nethercut Museum, and The Norton-Simon Museum. These visits were a while back, but I may blog them anyway, so stay tuned.

So nice of them to paint that handle red so I could make a more interesting image!

...Oh come on! ...there are children around here!

...do I detect at theme going on here?

Beautiful Bride

2008-03-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

...brought to you by the new, and complettely amazing Nikon D3, ...and a lovely bride!

I don't usually have a lot of time to review past weddings once I've finished editing them, but the recent wedding I shot in San Diego was different. It's the first wedding I've shot with the new Nikon flagship DSLR, the D3. It's likely the most advanced digital camera on the planet, and its precision is truly amazing. So, I've spent a few hours that I normally wouldn't to study the images from this wedding and gain some insight into this camera's personality.

This is by far the most advanced and configurable camera I've ever shot, and it's going to take some time to explore its posibilities. But I knew imediately upon picking it up that no camera before had felt so natural and well balanced. I think this may be the first camera that will just "get out of the way" and let me take pictures. I'll post more updates as I learn this amazing camera.

But in the mean time, as I study the images from the D3, I keep finding images that I can't resist adding a little photoshop magic to. This is an image of the lovely bride enhanced with an "old photo" treatment.

Wedding At The Abbey, San Diego

2008-02-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot a beautiful wedding in San Diego with Mark Bassam of Bassam Design. The weather was perfect, and provided incredible views for my early morning drive to San Diego. It truly was a perfect day for a wedding.

We began shooting early at Jet Rhys Hair Salon, a super cool salon with an awesome atomosphere, and very cool wall murals. The salon is in a small courtyard between buildings, and it was like a little oasis away from the noisy cars on the street.

The details were simple, yet beautiful.

...Getting ready at the Hyatt.

...these girls have been busy with weddings!
...the stained glass windows of The Abbey provided perfect light for a lovely bride;
...and the handsome groom too!

I love this shot of the flower girls coming down the isle.

The groom's sense of humor kept the guests laughing through the ceremony.
The beautiful, and very tastey cake.

The old Abbey church has very cool architectural details and stained glass windows.

The brides father had some really fancy moves for the videographer. At one point, he was break-dancing on the floor, ...doing "the worm," and various other moves that would put me in the hospital.The bride knew a few moves as well. ...Guess she got them from her father.

...the first dance, of course, was more reserved.

Wedding At The Portofino Yacht Club, Redondo Beach

2008-02-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I shot a wedding in Redondo beach. The setting was the beautiful Portofino Yacht club. We were blessed with beautiful weather that was perfect for a wedding, and made the day all the more enjoyable.

The handsome groom.
The flowers were provided by Ava's Garden.
...and the beautiful bride.
The Portofino's facilities were really lovely.

Party Of 5 Engagement Session

2008-02-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

It was really fun to get to shoot a few shots of one of Becker's engagement couples. And they were the best of subjects; ...the makings of another beautiful [b] wedding. I can't wait to see the images on [b]ecker's blog.

The weather on Sunday was as perfect as it could be, but the light... the light was more than perfect. As promised, here are a few more images from the session. And thanks, again, to Becker for this opportunity.

This shot was taken right before the shot in the previous post. I think I like this one better. What do you think?

Becker's Party Of 5 Was Awesome

2008-02-10T22:11:00.001-08:00

I just had the most incredible opportunity to meet The Becker. Becker is one of the best (and most successful) wedding photographers in the world. Five of us spent the day at the [b] pad, [b]ecker's [b]eautiful home in the OC. Becker is so open and generous with info about how he has generated his success! There was lots of priceless info, and it was fun too.

We also had opportunity to shoot a real engagement session with a couple who's wedding he'll be shooting later in the year. Becker kicked out hundreds of awesome images in no time, and each of the 5 got to shoot too. I've posted one of my shots here. Check out [b]ecker's blog for more. I'll post a few more tomorrow, but for now, I'm [b]eat. Thanks [b].

And here's a pic of [b] in action...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

I'm confused! ...and amused. It seems many of the doors at the Grifith Park Observatory are having an identity crisis. The observatory is facinating, no doubt. But watching visitor after visitor trying to decide whether or not to go in was priceless! Its the first day of '08, and some friends and I decided to check out the Grifith Park Observatory. I hadn't been there before, and I really wanted to scout it as a potential location for engagement portrait sessions. We had a good time touring the observatory and then ate lunch at the cafe.

Christmas Pics

2007-12-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I didn't really take very many pictures at Christmas this year, so there's not much to show. But I did like this shot of a delicate lace angel hanging on my mother's Christmas tree.

Each year at Christmas I take a few quick portraits of my only niece (so far). They have to be very quick as the window of opportunity for posed shots is very small at her age.

She is her grandparents' pride and joy, and being an only child, she is showered with gifts and attention.

2007-12-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot the nephew! Here's a cute pic of my niece with her older brother.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T20:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Just a quick note to wish every one a beautiful day.

I'm fortunate to celebrate the Holidays twice this year. I'm spending Christmas morning with friends here in California, and later on I'll fly home to the Midwest where I'll celebrate again with my parents, brother, and his family. I'll post a few pics in a couple of days, but for now I'm much too busy consuming far too many calories, exchanging an amazing number of gifts, and all the other Holiday stuff. We are truly blessed.

Before And After

2007-12-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

In the distant past, ie., the pre-digital age, it was unheard of that photographers would ever release the film negatives from a wedding or portrait shoot to the client. There were two primary reasons for this. First, photographers would often charge a session or shoot fee that was so low that the photographer's income had to come from a large mark-up on the prints that only the photographer could provide from the negatives. A secondary reason was that most photographers felt that they needed to control the printing of their images to insure that the print quality was befitting of the high standards and reputation of the studio.

Today, however, its becoming more and more common for photographers to charge a much higher fee for their time, expertise, and artistic style. This higher fee assures the photographer's time and expenses will be covered, and allows the photographer to include the "negatives" (now, digital files) without fear that their work will be "unpaid." But now that many photographers are including digital files with some packages, how does the photographer insure that the prints made elsewhere will be of the same quality that the studio would have produced for the client? Well, the photographer can't be sure that the client will get a high quality print elsewhere; particularly if that "elsewhere" is a consumer grade mini lab operation like you find at Costco, Walgreen's, or Walmart.

The majority of the wedding packages I offer include a DVD of the hi-res images from the camera. So, I want to show you how the images come straight out of the camera, as compared to how they look when I produce prints for my clients. Sometimes a client will ask me why my prints are priced the way they are and I have to take a moment to explain that a good photographer will always spend that extra time to make sure that there images look awesome. So, there has to be a charge for all that processing time (and expertise). The images out of the camera look great, but any image can be made so much more awesome with a little tweaking in photoshop.

When I include a DVD of the images files in a package, I know that you may choose to make prints from them at some point. And that's OK, ...but for most of my customers making their initial print order, quality is important enough that they usually want to get their reprints with my personal enhancements. And, the cost difference is often not all that great anyway.

I want to show you a few examples of the professional image enhancement that you won't get if you take your images to be printed at a local mini lab.

Click the images to see them larger:

This is a casual portrait of the lovely mother of the groom, taken with the afternoon sun filtering through the trees onto the grass behind her. The color is true, and it will print great just like that! But with a little color enhancement, contrast adjustment and sharpening, the image on the right comes alive with a more 3D quality and depth. This is the difference you get when you get your reprints from me.
This is a casual portrait of the handsome groom from the same wedding. On the left is the image straight out of the camera. It has a touch of a blue cast since it was taken in the shade, but it will make a great print. But after my custom enhancement, the image on the right is sooo awesome!

2007-12-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

And you can get your images printed in black and white. But the super cool custom warm black and white conversion shown on the right is soooo much better.

Details! Details!

2007-12-19T17:39:00.000-08:00

The fleeting moments of genuine emotion that make up a wedding day are the most important part of any wedding story. But photographers, ...we get exited about all the beautiful flowers, textures, and other objects that offer inumerable opportunities for making really cool photographs. I love the details of weddings! But what excites me most about detail shots is that years from now, these tiny details will unlock wonderful memories for the bride as she thumbs through the pages of her wedding alblum.

Testimonial!

2007-12-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

I have been so fortunate to have really wonderful couples as customers. And Lemuel and Joyce are no exception. Well, ...really, they are exceptional! Not only was their wedding one of the most fabulous I've photographed. But I was thrilled to see the members of the family interacting with one another in a unusually warm and genuine way. This family is truly blessed.

And I have been blessed to have Lemuel and Joyce as customers. I was thrilled when Lemuel sent me this email note from the road shortly after their wedding:

Mark,
Joyce and I are traveling (she decided to go with me on a business trip!). We have reviewed the pictures and are surprised with the excellence of your work and extremely surprised at what was captured. You have done very good work!
Thank you!
+ Lemuel Nathaniel Moore II

Thank you Lemuel, Joyce, and family!

Wedding At The Braemar Country Club

2007-12-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to shoot and awesome outdoor wedding at the Breamar Country Club in Tarzana. The weather was windy, but otherwise as perfect as it could be. The two families were warm and welcoming to their guests, and everyone enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere.

Here are a few images from the day:

What a view!

I love moments like this.

The first kiss....

And, the second kiss!

A gorgeous Bride...

...the handsome Groom.

This is where the Bride and Groom get their good looks!

The First Dance.

Ted's Headshots

2007-12-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

I recently had the opportunity to do new head shots for Ted. Ted is a transplant from Oregon who came to LA to find work in television. And congratulations are in order! He just landed a national television spot for Nissan which will air next year. So watch the Nissan commercials for this face.

Here are several from the session:

Starks/Moore Wedding Album

2007-12-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most exciting and satisfying moment for a wedding photographer is when a gorgeous wedding album comes back from the bindery ready to be delivered to the bride and groom. There truly is no more elegant way to preserve wedding memories.

The following wedding album page designs are from the Starks/Moore wedding album. The Bride and Groom ordered a beautiful 40 page wedding album. Here are several pages from the album:

By the way, I'm always available for weddings outside the Southern California area. Saint Louis is great, but I'm really looking for a gig on a tropical island somewhere!

House On The Hill

2007-12-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I blogged about my recent boudoir shoot with my friend Miriam. Well, after the shoot we took a moment to enjoy the incredible sunset view from her yard, and I wanted to share this view. Yes, I said this is the view from her yard! I told Miriam that I'm going to pitch a tent and live right there in her yard.

I've never been to Italy or Greece, but these pictures remind me of images I've seen from that part of the world. I hope to visit there soon!

And this is Miriam. She's as pleasent and humble as she is beautiful. She said I could blog any of the headshots from the session.

Portrait Session With Miriam

2007-12-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Miriam has an amazing story, ...too much to tell in a single post. She's done so much for someone her age! She's a single mother, business owner, investor, musician, ...even a licensed helicopter pilot, ...enough to make your head spin. She has an energy an drive that doesn't stop.

She also loves to be photographed. I've photographed Miriam several times, and its always a joy. I'll post more about her story in the future, but just to tease you; get this, ...she grew up in a religious commune, and they didn't even have electricity!

This photo is from shoot last week. The shoot was actually a boudoir shoot she did for a special someone, so there's not much I can post. But we took this one in a park near her home before we did the boudoir set.

Stay tuned for more of Miriam's story in the future!

The "Digital Negatives"

2007-11-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

THE ORIGINAL HIGH RESOLUTION DIGITAL FILES ARE INCLUDED WITH YOUR WEDDING ALBUM.*

Why do I offer the "digital negatives" included with your wedding album? Because I am not a salesman.

Many photographers will not release the digital files because their pricing models require them to make additional sales after the wedding in order to turn a profit. But because a fee is charged up front for the service and my talent, I can focus on creating great work in a relaxed atmosphere without worrying about how many prints, frames, etc. that I have to sell afterward.

My goal is to provide excellent customer service and build a relaxed and friendly relationship with each customer. So charging the creative fee up front allows me to only be a salesman once, during the initial meeting, because I don't have to sell anything else to make a living. And as a customer, you can rest assured that you won't get hit with any surprise costs after the wedding.

Now, my customers may choose to get their reprints from me, or to upgrade their albums because there are so many good shots, but I don't have to feel pressured to make that happen. In fact, there are plenty of good reasons to buy reprints from me, here are several:

1. When you buy reprints from me, the color and density correction is always right, so the prints will always look beautiful. If you go to Sam's Club, or Costco, the prints will never look as good as they should.
2. Asking your friends and family to make their own orders online is far more convenient than the hassle of having to coordinate multiple orders from all the aunts and uncles. That's a hassle you don't need!
3. While my reprint prices are higher than the mini-print labs at Costco, I don't mark them up for maximum profit, and they are better quality prints. The difference in cost might make a small difference today, but the difference in quality will make a big difference for many years to come.

*So, what if you haven't ordered a wedding album? No problem, you can still add on the "digital negatives" if you want them.

Starks/Moore; The Renaissance Hotel, St. Louis

2007-11-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Starks/Moore wedding was quite an affair; one of the largest weddings I've photographed. Held at the completely restored Renaissance Grand Ball Room atop the most historic hotel in Saint Louis, the 10 hour wedding celebration was an extravaganza of live music provided by family and friends of the wedding couple. I was truly astounded at the musical talent present among this group of people. And these were by no means amateur musicians; ...how cool is it to go to work and be entertained with a live concert! It was truly amazing. This wedding was so stunning, and there were so many great shots, I may have to blog it again, so stay tuned.

Click the images to enlarge.

The Power of Music

2007-11-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

I'm a person who likes solitude. I can be quiet with myself and explore my thoughts for hours. I guess that's useful to keep a person grounded. But today, as life seemed to be bearing down a bit more than usual, I found myself surfing blogs and photography sites searching for a diversion (and some inspriation) from myself and my thoughts. Just as my search for a diversion had become tiresome itself, I came across a site playing a really cool song I'd not heard before. Not sure of the artist, but the song was from a Hotel Costes compilation. I decided to leave the song to repeat in the background while I sorted laundry (the diversion of last resort). Its easy to forget how powerful a little music can be. Now the laundry's sorted and I feel so much better.

Picture Of The Day

I thought I'd throw in a couple of lovely details from a recent wedding just to add a little color to this post. I'll be blogging this wedding in the next few days, so here's a sneek preview.

Happy Thanksgiving Day

2007-11-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

What am I thankful for?

Well, I thought a lot about that through the day yesterday, and I was surprised that not much in my day-to-day life jumped to the forefront of my mind! And then it occurred to me that I must be awfully spoiled when I have so much, to then expect so much more!

So, I decided that what I am most thankful for is that I have the opportunity to live in a place where life is really fairly easy, and I don't directly face poverty, war, famine, etc.

I am truly fortunate to live in a blessed nation, and my thoughts are with those elsewhere who have not been so blessed as I am.

What's in my bag?

2007-11-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

I get ask this question a lot; mostly by other photographers. But occasionally a bride, groom or parent who is a camera buff will ask about my equipment.

I'm not a brand loyalist. I shoot the best quality equipment, and right now, that leave a choice of Nikon and Canon. Beyond that I like a camera that I connect with; one that has features and a control layout that feels natural to me. For me, that's Nikon.

So, here's the list of things you may find in my bag right now:
(though, not all of it at any one time)

Camera Bodies:

Nikon D300 camera bodies
Fuji S5 Pro with grip (this camera has a magic all its own!)
Nikon D70 (bought it years ago as backup; have never had to use it)

Lenses:

Nikon 17-55 2.8
Nikon 18-200 3.5-5.6 VR
Nikon 50 1.4
Sigma 30 1.4
Nikon 85 1.4
Nikon 105 2.0 DC

Lighting:

4 Nikon SB800s
Pocket Wizard slaves (although I find the SB800s built-in system very reliable indoors)

Other Stuff:

Cards: 4 Sandisk 16GB Extreme IIIs
Other Cards: Misc. Sandisks of various sizes
Lexar stackable card readers
Various batteries
Laptop
Showit Software
Bottled water
Granola bars
Change for the parking meter
Cellphone

So, now you know what's in my bag! Post a comment to tell me what's in your bag!

Will the amazing Nikon D3 be making an appearance in my bag? Stay tuned!

Party Of Five!

2007-11-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited! I just learned today that I'll be attending [b]ecker's next "Party Of Five" workshop in January. For those of you who don't know, [b] is and awesome photographer, and kind of famous too. I firmly believe that [b] should take his rightful place on next years AmPhoto Top Ten Wedding Photographers In The World list. I've been watching [b]ecker's website for a while now, and it's been a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to me. [b] is certainly one of the stars of wedding photography, and I appreciate his willingness to share his expertise with others. Thanks [b].

Hello California!

2007-11-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

I've lived a number of places, mostly in Kansas and Missouri; ...can you believe I hadn't heard the phrase "fly-over states" until I got hear to California? Well I am officially from a fly-over state.

It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I am excited to be here. I'm looking forward to building my photography business here in LA/OC. I haven't been here long, but it already feels like home. And, it's really nice to be excited about the future; ...change is good! The future's so bright....

The Inaugural Post; This Is Fun!

2007-11-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

So, here I am, my first post on my very own blog! So this begins my online journal of where I’m headed in life. I feel a little excited starting something new, what will it become? There are several reasons I've decided to start blogging, but maybe the most important is so I won't forget! There's a lot of my past that sometimes seems more foggy than I think it should. So with this blog I'll kill two birds with one stone. That is, I'll not only have a place to show my work as a photographer, but I can record a bit of my personal life as well. I think I should have started this long ago, but its never too late to start a good habit.

...wonder what I'll blog about tomorrow?

Testing, testing, 1...2...3...

2007-11-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Is this thing working? ...Hmmmm, guess we'll see.