A Faux Wedding Shoot

When my friend Lauryl emailed me in the summer with a self confessed scheme I was a little worried she wanted me to fly a prop plane with an ad banner or walk up and down the beach accosting twitterpated looking people with our business cards. Instead, this was the fruit of that scheme...





Her design work. My photography. Together we will conquer the world... or not. Although I did work up a sweat climbing thistle ridden, rattle snake infested hills looking for the perfect manzanita branches to saw off. I also had one minor panic-stricken moment when I accidentally super glued my shutter-button finger to my thumb while fixing the fabric covered letters. But thorns, super glue, and a brisk wind aside, everything went off without a hitch. We got pictures that make me smile whenever I look at them, and really, what more can a photographer ask for?

Lauryl's mom did the invitations and name cards, and they're so cool, I want to get married again and have invitations like these.


I was so excited Janie over at The Brides Cafe, featured them on Monday. If you're checking out her blog, the DIY section rocks.

I might have been in the sun too long, we went camping this weekend in the desert and now I want to do a bridal shoot out there. We were at the Agua Caliente hot springs and besides the part where it just felt wrong to don a swimsuit in November, we had a ton of fun. I spent most of the weekend finding all kinds of photography potential and getting chills every time I looked across the horizon. The sky was that dark blue that looks photoshopped straight out of camera, the abstract sand art was pure awesomeness and if you can get over the chilly nights, biting wind and thick layer of white dust over everything, then it was pretty much paradise. The last two might also pose problems for a photoshoot, but if anyone knows of a bride who loves jeeps, blue skies and doesn't mind getting dirty. Let me know.

I met a crazy old Canadian who insisted we refer to him as The Crazy Canuck-istan (no lie). He was an outdoor photographer himself and was less than impressed when I mentioned I was a wedding photographer. I just wanted to talk shop with him and have a friendly fight around the campfire about Nikons vs Canons or whatever, but instead he mocked me for taking pictures of people. Something about how I have to find my subjects, and his are all over the world already waiting for him. I tried to tell him that rocks don't have souls and cacti don't fall so in love it makes my lens sizzle when I try to take pictures of them, but he wasn't interested. It's true though, a chiseled canyon that has seen thousands of seasons is impressive, but that same canyon sheltering a bride and groom whose love is about to stand the test of time is a million times more powerful. To me anyway... which is probably why it's a good thing I'm in my business and not his.