Sometimes you get to pick when to take family photos. Sometimes you have a small window of when everyone will be together and you just have to get it done. Such was the case with the Priebe family. They were all in town for Christmas so we headed out to the 20+ degree weather to get some photos. It really was a beautiful day in spite of the cold, which was bearable—until the wind picked up (which also picked up my umbrella from the light stand and carried it about 20 feet).

The Priebes are a great family and a celebration of what families can be. So I was honored to be able to capture them all together.

To the photographers out there who read this, this session was a great example of the importance of back-ups. I had an extension cord, 2 umbrellas, and my wireless flash triggers (and their flashes) all fail. Fortunately I had backups of everything and we were still able to go ahead with it—thank goodness.

Thanks to Reagan & Kelsey (and various Priebe family members) who held down my light stands suring the shoot.

What a great weekend! It exceeded, not only my expectations, but my dreams as well. The booth was beautiful (more on that coming later) and ended up looking better than the design I had in my head.

Thank you to all of the future brides that I talked to over the last 2 days. Hopefully you’ll take a look around and see that we’re a good fit, if not I hope you find exactly what you’re looking for somewhere else—you deserve exactly what you want on your wedding day. If you look at my work on my websites and aren’t sure or have any questions, please send me an email on the contact page or give me a call—the sooner, the better as the dates are starting to fill up.

A very big thanks to Jamie & Regy, Justin & Nicole, & Naomi & Sean for entrusting me with your special day. I can’t wait to capture your moments.

Another thank you goes to the many vendors I got to meet at the bridal expo—especially to those I was only virtual friends with before finally meeting in person. I look forward to working with all of you.

Trust is a great thing.

This was one of my all time favorite sessions I’ve had because of that reason. These guys trusted everything I threw their way. They know it was my job to make them look good. I think trust goes both ways too. I trusted that they would work with what ever I threw their way and they’d just work it. Plus I trusted that they’d look as fantastic in the camera as they do outside of it.

On our way to the first location I told them that the pressure is on me when I have great looking clients, because if something goes wrong and the pictures don’t look fantastic, I don’t have any excuses. I didn’t have any excuses. Danielle mentioned that she didn’t feel terribly comfortable in front of the camera. Never has there been a person who had less reason to be uncomfortable getting photos taken. Danielle has a perfect face for photos. No offense to Cory—he can hold his own (he’s family, what am I supposed to say?), but Danielle is stunning. Fortunately, trust came in to play and 5 minutes in, they forgot about the camera and did what they do best—look good.

One of the reasons for the wedding dress shots was that they made the cardinal mistake of hiring somebody they weren’t in love with as their wedding photographer. To all of you future brides reading this, take heed. The pictures suffered because of it and they ended up with wedding photos that they don’t really enjoy. The only solution was to get the photos after the fact—I’m glad they entrusted me with that. Because of it, I took some of my favorite photos I’ve ever shot.

This also technically counts as a “Trash the Dress” session. Notice they didn’t really ruin the dress, they just made the photos the priority rather than keeping the dress immaculate.

After covering my camera—and feet in ocean water and sand (you can tell my camera is wet in the left side of photo #5. See the softness around her dress—wet lens. Also you can see the fog/rain in the atmosphere behind Cory’s head) we headed back so they could change and take some head shots before heading out to the bridge. We only got to shoot a few minutes since the rain started coming down and my lights kind of frown on that.

I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them. Cory & Danielle, You guys freaking rocked it. I’m glad I had the chance to work with you.

Thanks to Gina for her help carrying lights and holding them down so they didn’t blow away on this wet & windy day.

It’s hard to believe we’d never met before heading out to Riverfront Park on that freezing (in the 20s) afternoon in December. Within moments of being in front of the camera, these two were ready to go—so much so that you’d swear they were seasoned models (which they swore they weren’t).

Owing to that was the fact that they are such great friends in addition to being engaged. For example, when getting down from the tall rocks (and jumping the partially frozen water) Jamie didn’t just jump—she leaped in to her man’s arms. Not the kind of leap where you hope somebody helps you land. The type of leap where if you’re not caught, you’re landing in the hospital with a broken tailbone. All without so much as one single word of warning to Regy. Of course he caught her perfectly and I got it all on film (or the compact flash card). And now you all get to see their love in action. They were even happy to let me take a little extra time on the first photo (which is using a completely new to me technique) which gives it a unique, but great, look.

Repeatedly I say I have the best clients. To the point where it’s easy to assume I’m just saying that because I should. I can tell you I’m not. I hope whatever luck that brings me these great clients stays. It makes my life so much easier. Jamie and Regy are perfect examples of why I always repeat it.

Many thanks to Eric Strate for braving the temps and helping me with my gear.

On with the pics. Which shots are your favorite?