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.

Last Saturday I was down at the Finch Arboretum for a family portrait session (I’m still working on those photos and they’ll be up as soon as I’m finished with them). Due to the beautiful Fall colors the Finch was packed with people. The title of this blog is more than just a title, it really is my philosophy. As much as I enjoy taking pictures, I really feel at my best when I can find people who are willing to step in front of the lens.

So for an hour or so after my portrait session I wandered around and asked to make portraits of people. The weather was just about perfect for photography—bright and overcast with some cloud definition. Here are a handful of the photos I took. Many, many thanks to my willing subjects who were all a lot of fun and allow me to do what I love.

The reason that this is part 1 is I have a couple more family shoots at the Finch this coming Saturday, and if time (and weather) allows, I hope to be able to run around like a crazy person, meet more people, and get some great portraits.

I’m adding an iPhone photo I took of my shoe. Sometimes when I’m shooting I completely forget where I am. You know, like standing precariously on the edge of a stream. Inevitably, all it takes to get the perfect shot is one more step, so I take it and end up with a shoe full of mud. It happens—frequently.

I’m also including a TTV (through the viewfinder) photo I took at the end of the portraits. To see more about TTV photos click here.

Click the thumbnails to see the full photos.

A few weeks back we traveled to Enterprise, a tiny town in the NE corner of Oregon for a family reunion. My sister in law, Jaqui (herself a great photographer) has been wanting to have her own ‘trash the dress’ (TTD) photoshoot and we figured we’d find some spots to take pictures while we were there.

A trash the dress shoot is a great concept that stems from monogamy and the idea that you’ll only need your dress once so you might as well get your full use out of it. Brides spend all this money on a beautiful gown only to wear it once then retire it to a closet never to be enjoyed again. The TTD idea lets the couple get a little more use out of the gown than the traditional idea of bagging it up and storing it in the closet. Of course, the dress doesn’t have to be ruined, but no worries if it gets a little dirty (dry cleaning will take out just about everything anyway).

Travis & Jaqui are the best people in the world. I always say that each of them are the only people good enough for each other. Our girls idolize each of them and love to see their aunt and uncle. Of course we had a blast taking the pictures and those two are naturals in front of the camera.  In my oh so humble opinion, I think the photos turned out to be quite special.

Have a look by clicking on the thumbnails below.

P.S. Do you have a wedding gown languishing in a closet? Do you want to get some more use out of it? If so, Let’s schedule a time for your own TTD photoshoot.

I’ve been a slacker about posting my iPhone photos. While I’ve been staying incredibly busy with my big cameras I still keep my iPhone at the ready for things that look interesting. Here are some that I’ve been holding on to.

Click to view larger and uncropped…