This is the 5th wedding I’ve shot with Scott Nelson. This wedding was the closest to home I have ever been, Laguna Beach. I met up with Scott around 11am at Laguna Beach Inn to shoot the bride getting ready. That was pretty easy; just had to hump the gear around for him so that he didn’t have to. Then we moved on to the ceremony site which was behind a very nice restaurant with an awesome view of the beach. We gathered the Bridal party and took them all over to a nice lookout not far from the restaurant.

Scott started all the different combinations. Bride alone, bride with each bridal party member, then a group shot. Just as we finished with that, we heard a ton of fire trucks. They all stopped in front of the restaurant that the ceremony and reception were going to be held. Turns out there was an electrical fire in the kitchen and they had to kill the power to the whole place, which knocked out the speaker system for the ceremony, as well as the lights for at night. Oh yeah, and to top it off, they had to block the entrance to the ceremony site with Fire Line Tape for about a good half an hour. Scott and I used it to our advantage. Scott took pictures of the groomsmen in front of the fire trucks and in front of the Fire Line tape. It made a great picture (see the sideshow below)

After all the chaos, we were finally able to move to the ceremony. It was a great time of day–nice breeze, sun shining. My job for the ceremony was to shoot all the pictures from a higher level, so I was posted upstairs and took pictures of the bridal party walking down the steps to the ceremony. It made great shots, and a lot of them were used in the sideshow (link below).

After the ceremony, Scott took the couple along with the bridal party and parents to the same place we shot the bride. We did every possible combination then did the group shot. We sent the everyone back to the reception except for the couple so we could do some nice portraits. The one thing about being a wedding photographer’s assistant/second camera is that everything you own and are wearing at the time is expendable. I say that because there were some shots that Scott wanted that required the couple to sit on the wood deck, but the bride didn’t want her dress dirty, so off comes my expensive coat and on the floor it goes to be sat on. I didn’t care; I just thought it was funny.

After all that fun, we move on to the reception. It’s my favorite time! Why? … Because that’s when we can eat. I was starving, and it was a buffet! It doesn’t get any better than that. I think I had around three plates of food. Right when we finished, they started the speeches, and then moved on to the first dance which was nice. It was around sunset. The rest of the night was the dancing. That was my favorite thing to shoot. We had to leave the reception early, so that we could shoot their hotel room. It was prepped with roses all over the place, champaign, and dramatic lighting. After that, it was about 11pm and we were done!

Link To slideshow

I’ve never heard of a wedding being held on the 4th of July, but it’s ok. I wasn’t doing anything anyway. Scott needed an assistant/second camera. I guess I am the first one that comes to mind for him.

It was an easy shoot; the bride and groom were young, in there early 20s, and the bride was very photogenic so we didn’t have any problems shooting her. We spent a good half an hour shooting the bride with the bridesmaids. While the bride was getting ready, Scott and I set up the ring shot with the invitation and the ring pillow; that turned out really nice.

We moved on to shooting the groom with the groomsmen. They were already getting some beers in them and said they wouldn’t get through the ceremony without it! So, when Scott was shooting the groom, I was taking candids of all the guys drinking and having fun hitting each other. Reminds me of my friends. Then we got the whole groom party together for the portrait and we could not get them to be serious so we had to make do with goofy portraits.

From there, we moved on to the reception area to shoot the tables and the dance room–which was a good idea because both places got thrashed after the reception. We shot the tables untouched, and the dance room had a bunch of different types of lights set up, so we turned them all on and it looked like a disco party room. That shot came out great.

Time for the ceremony. That was the time I was allowed to shoot. I was using the Nikon D300 with a 18-200mm lens, no flash because it was outside. Scott wanted me to shoot all the angles that he was not shooting, so that way we both came up with something different and not a bunch of the same shots.

After the ceremony, it was time for dinner. When everyone came inside, the salads were already served due to shortage of time. What’s great about this venue was that we were treated to food the same time as the reception. Which Scott says is rare because venues don’t understand that photographers don’t take pictures when people are eating. We were served huge salads, after that, there was a big steak with mashed potatoes, and asparagus. Must say the best meal I have ever had at a wedding so far!

Now, when I said earlier that the place got thrashed, I was not joking. It’s understandable if one glass breaks through the whole night, Oh no, a wine glass was breaking every 5 minutes. It was getting wild on the dance floor, but it made great candids. I think the bride and groom are going to be very happy with the photos from the reception.

After capturing someone else’s wild party for the 4th of July, it was time to go home and sleep. I didn’t want to sleep, but my feet were telling me that I had no choice. It was a great experience to capture someone’s happy moments.

*I will have the link to the slide show up by next week.*

My boss Peter D. gave me my first official job in the studio. A magazine article needed professional shots of two young country singers. Peter scheduled me as the photographer and his studio manager, Ian, as my tech. It was a little awkward at first because they are both my bosses!

Well, I got over that little hump. It was time to be professional. Ian helped me set up a 10-foot white seamless near the window so we could shoot natural light. My weapon of choice was the Cannon 5D with a 50mm lens tethered to a dual screen Mac Pro. Oh yeah, whipping out the big guns! Then the big question came up from the producer: “So how are we going to shoot this?” That was a big reality check. You know those Twix commercials when an interesting situation comes up and the world pauses so you can think and eat a Twix? Well, this was NOT one of those moments. Out of nowhere I blurted out all these different ideas: bust out the cowboy hats, the guitars, the plaid shirts, and lets get shooting. I pose them all over the white seamless. I can do this! I did some creative shots with a super wide angle lens to distort the picture in a creative way.

Time to switch outfits and background. Oh yeah, forgot to mention we had about 5 different sets in the studio for a good variety. The next set was my favorite; it was a textured gray concrete wall in the studio. Everyone that shoots in the studio loves this wall; it has a great look to it and it can be used for almost anything!

After they changed into another outfit, I had them posed leaning against the wall, standing a little in front of the wall, and sitting against the wall. The wide angle lens works perfect for this; I can make the wall look endless like an alley or like the corner of a recording studio. Every shot I thought was a good shot.

So, we move on through the day with three more sets. We got what we wanted and wrapped up around 5pm. I thought it was over, well it was over for them, but not for Ian and me. We sat at the computer for 4 hours editing down pictures and filing them into folders so it was easier to edit. We didn’t finish. We had about 2000 pictures and got them down to about 700, but we still only needed 10 pictures for the article. It took us about 2 more days to finish the editing. We finally had our 10 pictures edited and ready to be sent out.

It was a great experience to run my own paid shoot. I felt important like everyone was depending on me to get the job done, which was the case! I learned that I didn’t have to take so many pictures of the same thing. It only makes it harder later during the editing.

I will have pictures posted from this shoot soon!

Working with Scott Nelson was an interesting experience. I say this because I am so used to working with the same wedding photographer. I almost forgot that there were other ones out there. After sending Scott an introduction letter and a couple follow up emails, I received an email from him asking me if I wanted to meet him at his office in Newport Beach. It was a nice office and it also doubles as a show room for clients.

It was a long conversation, then in the end, I was the one doing the talking, mostly about what I have been up to as far as working at the L.A. Lofts and working with other wedding photographers. Then, the million dollar question: “Would you like to assist me in a wedding this Saturday?” I said, “No I am not interested.” Duh!!! Of course I said yes. He agreed to pay me $250 for assisting in the wedding on Saturday. That definitely put a smile on my face. He filled me in on the details: a Jewish wedding at The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. The ceremony was in the courtyard and the reception was in the ballroom.

We started off with the bride getting ready in the hotel room and shot some pictures of her in front of the window getting ready with her mom. And some of the groom getting ready next door. It isn’t a tradition in Jewish culture for the bride and groom to not see each other before the ceremony, but we still didn’t want them to see each other until the bride and groom shots were ready to be taken. It’s an interesting method; when they both see each other for the first time there is a certain reaction that you can not capture twice.

When we were done shooting them getting ready, it was time for portraits. We took the bride and groom seperately, and Scott and I put their backs to each other and let them turn around. The biggest smiles, the biggest hugs, and the longest kisses, we were able to capture it all thanks to 5 frames per second. After that, Scott told me that we were going to shoot them by the fountain in the courtyard. This was my time to shine. I knew the venue from when I assisted the magazine shoot with Patrick Dempsey, so I told Scott I had a better place to go. I pointed out the fountain in the front entrance. Scott loved the spot, the bride and groom loved the spot, and Jared scored some major points!!!

It was time to sign the Ketubah: a tradition that all the parents from both sides gather with the bride and groom to sign this circular piece of paper that will Jewishly bind them together. Scott and I took lots of pictures in there! After that, it was time for the ceremony. We shot every angle and every person that was crying. Time for the reception. This part felt like it lasted the longest. I turned into a human tripod with a flash attached to me. 45 degree angles, 90 degree angles, standing behind people to make a silhouette out of them.

Overall, the wedding went smoothly, the workflow was really easy to get used to, and Scott enjoyed working with me, so everyone was happy!

Here is the link to the wedding slideshow of pictures.

This was one of my amateur photo shoots. You have the hot girl, the music, the videographer, the lighting, and of course me: the photographer. This was a test shoot for me to experiment with lighting techniques, practice posing a model, and pretend that I know what I am doing. In the end, I was pretty successful.

I set up a 12-foot wide, black seamless and rolled it out 30 feet. For those of you who don’t know what I am talking about, a really big backdrop basically! The other sets I had were the gray textured concrete wall, a white wall, an imitation of a VIP booth, and the hardwood floor. Those were the sets we used for the day. My weapon of choice was Nikon D70 with a 12-24mm wide-angle lens tethered to a dual screen MacBook. My lighting other than natural light was a Pro 7a pack and a Pro 7a head attached to a big Elenchrome (looks like a softbox but isn’t) which creates a warm and smooth skin tone to anyone that’s in front of it.

I hired a videographer to document this event because I wanted a sample of the shooting I do at the L.A. Lofts in Hollywood. The video turned out great thanks to Hypnotic Films.

Here is the video from the shoot:

Here were my final shots:

So far, this was the most laid back wedding I have ever been to. It was not a traditional wedding. The bride and groom did not hide from each other, in fact, they got ready in the same room, which was easy for us since we didn’t have to coordinate times when we could take turns shooting outside. I also didn’t have to run all over the place with equipment, so we were able to take care of all the candids and the pictures of them getting ready in a 30 minutes. After we shot every possible angle, we hung around for a little bit. Then, as soon as we heard that the cake and the tables were set up, I ran and took care of shooting that. I did my usual fish-eye lens and then my 12-24mm wide angle.

After finishing up in the party room, the ceremony started. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that all the groomsmen were wearing Vans skate shoes and white socks with their tuxedos. That was a big clue that they really were laid back and just wanted to be comfortable! The cool thing was that they were all matching with their clip-on ties and their fake one-sided vests.

We shot the bride and groom walking down the aisle together with their family following behind them. The ceremony went on for about 20 minutes and it felt like it would never end. The only reason I felt that way was because usually I would be shooting the cake and the party room, but I had already done that. So, I had to make myself look busy. I grabbed one of the cameras and started shooting away. After the ceremony ended , it was time to shoot the family and friends with the bride and groom. Because we were a little bit ahead of schedule, we were able to spend more time with this part. Instead of focusing more on family and friends portraits, we shot everything required, and spent more time on the bride and groom portraits. Dan, the other photographer, and I took them to a dozen different places on the grounds and shot every spot that looked perfect. Then sent them off to the reception.

With this crowd, anyone was allowed to give a speech after the family spoke. That went on while people were eating, which meant we didn’t get to eat. (If your reading this blog to gather good ideas for shooting a wedding here is a good one EAT before you get to any wedding just in case this happens!)

We had to shoot anyone that spoke so that we didn’t miss anything. After the speeches were over and everyone was mostly done, the bride and groom had their first dance, then the DJ announced it was time for the Money Dance (anyone that wanted to dance with the bride and groom had to pay 5 or more dollars). I have never seen one of those before; it was interesting to watch. Being that there was nothing else going on after that, we had the “ok” to leave which was good because IN & OUT Burger doesn’t close until 11pm in Temecula and it was a little after 10pm, so I was stoked! We packed all the stuff into the equipment car and another successful day assisting at a wedding!

Last weekend, I worked with Dan Pettus, a wedding photographer located in Temecula. My job was an “equipment runner.” Mainly, I was switching lenses, cf cards, carrying anything heavy. Then I suggested to Dan that I shoot for a while, so I used the 2 lenses: the telephoto, and fisheye. The telephoto was good for me to use because it allowed me to stay out of everyone’s way. The fisheye was perfect for the reception. I positioned myself right in front and it gave a good distorted angle. The dinner party was interesting, lots of running around with 2-3 cameras dangling from my neck. I learned that not everything goes as planned for a photographer, for example, the two flashes we had ended up malfunctioning on us during the party and because the lighting was so dim we needed an artificial light source, so I had to hold a model light to light up some of the shots.

Having the chance to work with Dan Pettus and his crew is a great opportunity and experience. Everyone is very professional and fun to work with.

Dan Pettus Photography

Sample photos I took from the wedding will be posted soon!

Let me start by saying, wedding photography is a lot more fast paced. Instead of a client working around the photographer’s time, the photographer works around the clients. There is no time to switch lenses on a camera, and barely any time to switch out flash memory cards. One thing often goes wrong with the equipment: camera and flash malfunctions.

So, this is where I come in, any heavy lifting, holding four or sometimes five cameras around my neck and shoulders, holding batteries, flash cards, reflectors, flags, the list goes on. Depending on the type of wedding, Dan (head photographer) will send me to work with the other photographer to hold and switch out equipment for the first part of the wedding. Then, during the ceremony, that’s when I usually get to shoot. They like to give me the fish-eye lens and the 12-24mm wide angle on the Cannon Mark II and Mark III. Sometimes, I will be sent to shoot the cake, the table setups, and the entire party room during the ceremony. In my opinion fish-eye is a great lens to shoot all that, but that’s just me. Most people want a simple picture of the cake.

When the ceremony ends, we shoot the bride and groom walking down the aisle. We let them hang out for a few minutes, then it’s our turn. Time to shoot the bride and groom with all the family members only. We get about a half an hour to do what seems like 5000 different combinations that the bride and groom want (and don’t end up using in the end). Meantime, I am holding reflectors, switching out cameras for the different shots, as well as getting anything we don’t want in the background removed. After the family, we usually get the last 10-15 minuets to shoot just the bride and groom…and then they’re off to the party!

The cool thing about weddings is the food! We eat when everyone else eats so that we don’t miss anything. “Enough break time to work.” It’s toasting time: they have brothers, sisters, parents, and best friends get up, talk, cry, toast and sit. We shoot everyone that gives a speech, Usually, I shoot the married couples’ reactions to every speech, then that part is over. Time to party.

This is when I turn into a human tripod. A quantum turbo flash attached to a mono pod, a radio slave attached to the flash, and a 5 pound battery pack attached to my hip = boom a human tripod! This human device is used to create light where there is no light! It can also create some cool silhouette shots, but I am not going to leak any secrets.

That is my job throughout the rest of the night. “It’s time to wrap it up.” is my cue to pack everything and load it into the car. That takes about a good 15 minutes to make sure we have everything and leave.

It was a 50-mile drive back to Orange County from Temecula area. I got home at 1am and slept ’til noon the next day!

Peter Dokus Photography was hired to shoot a catalog for Hudson Jeans company. That’s where I came in. They were in need of a “digital tech.” Weapon of choice was the Hasselblad with a P45 Back, tethered to the MacBook Pro, and the program of choice was Capture One Pro by Phase One. I had no experience with this camera, so I had to learn quickly. What’s cool about these cameras is that you can change everything from F.stop, to shutter speed, to ISO all on the tethered program, without even touching the camera.

My main job was to file name every different pair of jeans so they are easy to differ from; as they are being shot. That’s the hard part. When I am doing that, I also need to check the focus on all the shots to make sure that we were not “blurring out” the jeans. Then, last but not least, change out lenses, batteries, handle any and all malfunctions with lighting, camera, and computer problems. Trust me, on a shoot, not everything is perfect, but it was my job to worry about these things not the photographer’s. That’s the beauty of having a photo assistant.

After a 10-hour day of shooting, I had to take care of the entire wrap up: roll up anything that had a cord, cover packs and heads, roll up the seamless, break down the high rollers and C-Stands, and take apart the camera. After that, the slow and painful part that turned the 10 hour day into a 12 hour day: the client and I had to go through 3000 shots and choose 1000 shots. I have never said “how about this one” or “this one’s good” so much in my life. I said it enough to last two lifetimes.

I learned a lot that day.

My friend, Genesis agreed to pose for a test shoot so I could do an assignment for Peter to give me photo advice and to teach me how to process RAW photos with the program Capture One Pro. It was shot at the L.A. Lofts, Loft 1.