bad.to.the.bone.

By now, you all know that I love to spoil my little pooch. And I know I'm not the only one judging by some of the doggie boutique and bakeries that exist out there. Over a year ago I found one called Trixie & Peanut. They have some of the most adorable, over the top goodies for dogs. Peyton's first purchase was an aqua colored rhinestone "P" charm for her collar. On the back we had her name added with Simon's cell phone number. However, when he switched from Sprint to AT&T when he purchased his iPhone, he wasn't able to keep his cell phone number (long, long story that still makes us angry so I won't even go there). So, this justified another purchase from Trixie & Peanut (it took us almost a year to remember that we needed to buy her a new charm to update the phone number on the back). After several visits to their website, Peyton and I finally agreed on the new winner...a rhinestone encrusted skull and crossbones! There were several skull designs and colors to choose from. They even have a pink version and a red version for the girlie dogs, but Peyton is such a tomboy that we figured the traditional black and white worked best for her! You HAVE to checkout the site. I mean, checkout this "Pet Bungalow for the low low price of $675!!!! Are you kidding me?? People have to be buying this stuff--why else would they be selling it?!



Here's Peyton modeling her new necklace!

dan & sarah | 06.28.08

When you see the photos below, you won't believe that it was pouring down rain on my drive up north to the church. The entire drive I was running through plan b in my mind assuming that we'd be stuck indoors for photos. But wouldn't you know, it completely cleared off a couple of hours later. And it didn't just clear off, we had beautiful blue skies and bright colors everywhere. Sarah and Dan, I'm not sure what kind of super-powers you have, but I need a touch of that!

They had an absolutely beautiful wedding. Sarah's dad married them, and it was such a cute and personable ceremony. If I remember correctly, when he said "Dan you may kiss your bride" I think he threw in "...but watch it!!!!" at the end. Ha! No pressure, Dan! After the ceremony, we squeezed in some photos of Dan & Sarah since they opted not to see each other before the wedding, before heading a few miles away for the reception. I've never seen so many people so anxious to get on the dance floor. We've all been to those weddings where it's like pulling teeth to get folks on the dance floor. Not this group! It was a great time and I am so honored that I got to capture your day, Dan & Sarah. Here's the good stuff...

It's so funny to witness how differently girls and guys prepare for weddings. The girls started preparing several hours before the ceremony, and well...the guys had other priorities. You'll see what I'm talking about below.



I snuck into the church before the lights were on, and snapped this photo of the stained glass window. No color correcting here! This is straight out of the camera!



Ok, here's what I'm talking about. The guys DEFINITELY had different priorities before the wedding. They were in the basement of the church playing four square. Apparently this is a family tradition.

This is also a tradition. Dan's family uses the exact same ball to play four square before weddings, and they write their names on the ball on their wedding day. How cute!





I love this photo:)


being silly...

Isn't Sarah beautiful??!!



It was extremely hot and humid outside, so once we got back in, the girls were steaming Sarah's dress:)

Dan had a great group of guys. I love this...

One of my faves...







Sweet photo of Sarah being walked down the aisle with her dad...








This was shot as Dan and Sarah were announced for the first time at the reception. The funniest thing happened though...as Dan passed by one of his groomsmen, he gave Dan a bite of something. If you look closely, you can see that he has it in his hands. It was seamless...almost as if they had it planned:) Too funny!



The cakes were gorgeous. And checkout the Groom's cake:)

Par-TAY!



Dan and Sarah, thank you so much. I hope you had a fabulous time in Clearwater! Sit back, relax and enjoy your slideshow! To see ALL of Dan & Sarah's photos, click here and sign-in to Pictage! (And for those of you who have asked about the music that I use, you can always take your cursor over the music note icon below the slideshows to see the name and artist of the song. In this case, it's Dan & Sarah's first dance song.)



And here's one outtake for you. Where's Waldo?

almost.done!

Hey! Today is the day that Dan & Sarah's wedding photos are going to be posted. I just wanted to let those of you that are checking my blog for them, know that they should be posted within about an hour. We lost our power last night at 8:30pm as I was trying to finish up the photos, so I was pretty helpless the rest of the night. I wasn't sure what to do with myself without my computer, the tv...torture I tell you! Anyways, please come back soon...they're almost ready!

-Jamie

big.bertha!

I am a gear geek, and I'm not afraid to admit it. You kinda have to be if you're a photographer. When I set out to start this venture, I told myself that I was not going to buy cheap gear just to get me by. I wanted to buy the best. I knew that would mean I'd have to be more patient to accumulate everything that I needed, but it was worth it. The Canon L Series lenses are the best of the best. I remember the first time I rented the Canon 85mm f/1.2 L lens...it blew me away. Lenses are definitely more important than the camera body in my mind.

After lots of hard work, thousands of photos, hundreds of shoots, and a little sweat, I finally just completed my lens family with the purchase of the Canon 70-200mm IS f/2.8 L lens. I believe that as a wedding photographer, you have to have a wide angle lens, a prime lens and a zoom lens. Before now, I had to rent the zoom...but not now! I am excited to use it this weekend for my Friday wedding and my Saturday wedding. The zoom is the lens that I use the least, so that's why I saved it for last! This puppy is so HUGE. I am used to my short prime lenses, so it's weird seeing this thing protruding off the end of my camera. Just thought I'd share my excitement with you, although this is probably the most boring thing you've read all day!

Here's big bertha...

Here are 3 of my 4 L Series lenses. (I'm shooting with one of them, duh!)



Big bertha on the left (mainly going to be my wedding ceremony lens), the 16-35mm L lens in the middle (used mostly for wide group shots at weddings, but also when I have a cool landscape behind my subject), and the 85mm f/1.2 L on the right (the perfect portrait lens. Most of my engagements, bridal portraits and kid portraits are done with this lens).

The 85mm lens is my rock. It's the one I shoot probably 85% of my work with. It's super heavy and slow, but it has amazing results. The lens I shot all of these photos with is my 50mm f/1.2 L lens. I always use this one with baby shoots, and also pull it out for portraits and weddings. The camera body that I use is the Canon 5D!