I had a great summer shooting weddings. It ran the gamut from beautiful weather to 95 and oppressive to a thunderstorm in the middle of an outdoor wedding where it rained buckets for 2 hours. The poor bride could not get out of the Limo it was raining so hard. The wind blew all the place settings off the tables and soaked everything under the pavilion. I don't think I have ever seen it rain so hard for so long. But the rain stopped the wedding went on and it turned out to be a great wedding. Everyone including the bride Carrie and the groom Doug just took it all in stride and everyone had a great time. It was an experience I'll never forget. I got a lot of great images despite the weather.

With the advent of digital cameras, I now enjoy shooting weddings. When I shot film I always worried until I actually saw the proofs. Now I can see each image on the back of the camera as I shoot. I know what I've got and can relax and enjoy the day. Digital also allows me to experiment and see the results and make adjustments to make the images better. I've created some neat images with digital that would have been impossible with film.

More Fall Pictures

Here are a few more of my favorite images from the past few years

Fall Foliage Pictures

Every year for the past 25 or so years I've taken a day or two and just wandered around with my camera in search of the "perfect" fall foliage picture. The past several years I've been joined by my sister in this quest. We pick a day and play hookie from work and takeoff looking for this elusive image. After all this traveling in the Adirondacks, Vermont, the Berkshires the best images I've ever taken have been right in this area, especially in Washington and Saratoga counties.
The most important factor is the lighting. I've learned to avoid bright sunny days. The lighting is too contrasty. A sunny day may seem to be ideal as the colors seem brighter, but to a camera's digital sensor or to film... that bright sun also creates contrasty shadows that cannot be captured as your eye sees it. The best lighting is a cloudy day which creates very soft lighting and shadows. Last October I shot a series of images on a foggy overcast morning in Spa State park that were amazing. Early morning or late afternoon is the best time of day to shoot. The lighting seems to glow at that time of day. These images were actually shot on a drizzly day. I like to use a wide angle lens (18mm) and a tripod. This gives me the sharpest images. The wide angle lens gives me the depth of field needed to have everything from a few feet in front of me to the horizon in focus. I also use the slowest ASA film speed or digital speed. This eliminates grain in the images. Avoid 400ASA and higher. So grab your camera and take a ride next fall. You might just find that perfect picture.

A busy summer

Now that summer is over I can breath again. I had a very busy summer with weddings and portrait sittings.
The digital revolution has excited me about photography the same way I was excited 25+ years ago when I started. Except digital has made me the lab technician. Every image you take has to be "adjusted" in photoshop for color, contrast, sharpness, retouching, etc. The photo lab use to do all this stuff for us when we shot film. No more! I now control the look of every image and it is very time consuming. But it is also very rewarding. I can create the image exactly the way I visualized it. The lab cannot do this. This creative freedom has made me think much more about how I want the final image to look. It has made me a better photographer.
If you have any questions about any aspect of photography send me an email. The link is in my profile. I am not teaching this fall at Shen HS community ed program and I kind of miss all the questions my students ask. So feel free.

Hello

I've decided to start a blog to help me stay in touch with my clients and friends of my photo business. This is all new to me and a bit awkward, but I sure I will catch-on to how this blogging thing works before too long. It also gives me an opportunity to talk about photography in general and to show some of the other types of images I have created. It is a place where you can ask me questions about talking pictures and also about my photography business.