America's Next Top Model

I have been crazy busy this week and I was in Salt Lake shooting a wedding and other things from Wednesday till Friday night. I got some heat stroke at the wedding on Friday. I was not feeling well. My temperature gauges have been all messed up since the times when I worked on a concrete crew in Vegas, Pheonix and near Death Valley in the summer times. I live in Cache Valley because it is just right. Anyway, I was able to squeeze a shoot in with Keisha on Saturday. She was accompanied by her boyfriend Rich who is one of my all time best friends. It was great times. Good luck Keisha!

Cade and Tosha Groomals

Cade in his James Bond suit and Tosha fresh back from Switzerland and Korea!! Tosha knows I love Korean food so she was so nice to bring me back a Korean cookbook and some chopsticks for my family and I. Seriously, Korean food is rediculously good. If you don't like it then remember that you don't like all American food either. Anyway, these two cats are getting married tomorrow at the Logan temple. Should be fun.. I will have those up shortly. Meanwhile I have a boat load of posting I need to do. I have been lazy hanging out with the fam.

Kylie and Steve Salt Lake Temple

More to come...

Heather and Derrick

Gotta love the weather. This week has been thunderstorms and sunshine all within minutes of each other. It can make for some sweet sweet light. Fun times.

Camille and Jesse Engagement

Wilbur and LaDell

I spent the last few days down in Sanpete county and made a vacation out of a photo shoot. It is nice having connections all over because that virtually all our vacations revolve around a photo shoot. My good friends Ted and Michelle live in Mt. Pleasant on 10 beautiful acres and we stayed with them while I went down to Manti and spent some time with two of Utah's greatest basketball coaches of all time, Wilbur Braithwaite and LaDell Andersen. I have followed LaDell for years because his son Clint and his wife set my parents up. Clint and Janet are some of my favorite people. I worked for Clint doing concrete for a few summers and he is a large reason why I run my business the way I do. Well anyway they are a basketball family and my dad who played basketball up at USU raised me telling stories of Wayne Estes and I always loved to hear LaDell tell stories of how he coached Estes.
Last year we were able to get some footage of LaDell telling that story among others. I have to lay the foundation of how Wilbur comes in to play. Bob who is another son of LaDell helped me on the footage with his dad and it turns out we have a similar interest which is a desire to tell the story of some incredible people so that others might benefit. Bob approached me with the idea of doing some photography of Wilbur and I jumped on the opportunity. As it turns out Wilbur and LaDell are old teammates up at USU. Wilbur came back from World War 2 after having been hit with shrapnel and still played. To this day he lives with the shrapnel in his body. He went on to coach basketball and tennis at Manti High School. He coached basketball for 37 years and tennis for 52 years. He gave his time voluntarily almost every summer to teach tennis. He has won numerous national awards including the Award of Merit which he shares with others like Gerald Ford. The awards are many for these two coaches but I like them because both of them share a common quality. They make you feel like you are the most important person in the world. When I met LaDell some 15 years ago we stayed at his house and he put his arm around me and couldn't wait to show me his collection of classic movies. I have never forgotten how a man who has coached some of the greatest players in basketball and seen so much put his arm around me and made me feel like I was somebody. Small but significant. Wilbur possesses this same gift. I drove him to a location for a photo shoot and immediately he began with questions. He was very perceptive and interested. He asked me why I would be willing to drive clear down to Manti to take pictures of an old man. I responded that I need my children to have genuine role models and if the media isn't going to seek them out I will. With all the false role models we have I need my kids to have real ones. He responded by saying, "There is always a reason behind what people do." That is my reason.
I have barely scratched the surface on these two but I thought it was incredible that I was able to get them both in a photo together. To me it was a classic moment and I hope the beginning of taking pictures of many more incredible people

Jill Bridals

I love this family. These guys have been great clients and friends since I met them at a bridal faire like 5 years ago. I shot Jill's older sister's wedding and then took some photos for Jill's senior photos. This is a 1966 Mustang named Sally. Coincendentally they bought it two weeks after Jill was born. We took it out and got some sweet shots.

Jill works at a veteranary clinic and taught me more about dogs in two hours than I have learned in a lifetime. We are going to go to the dog show this weekend. I have a 7 year old who has turned entreprenuer and I told her I would pay the rest for a dog if she came up with $100. At the rate she is making money it may be a week before she has it. She made $15 in like an hour selling her easter candy she got and she is my only employee as a lighting specialist (she holds a reflector for me sometimes).
Anyway, fun family, great people!







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Cade and Tosha Engagement

I have had like 10 photo shoots in the last few couple weeks and haven't had much time to post so here is the beginning of many posts to come. This is Cade and Tosha. I met Tosha at the Wedding Showcase and Cade just happens to be my wife's second cousin. They were very fun to shoot and I just kind of let them do all of the work. Tosha left for Korea a few days later. I envy her because Korean food is my favorite.

Campus Fashions

My Adventure in Chicago with Savanah and Daniel

Yes, that is rain pouring down and no that is not Chicago. It is Indiana which I personally thought was beautiful. I can imagine the corn fields in the summer are amazing. Anyway this is a photo of Savanah and Daniel on perhaps one of the most adventurous and eventful weddings I have shot to date. They will forgive me for detailing their wedding day as they are close friends and two of the most optimistic people I know. I think they have a lot to teach and hopefully you will be able to see what I mean. From beginning to end they laughed and enjoyed it all.

The story goes:
Friday Morning: I flew in and accidentally bumped into Savanah on the Shuttle bus going to the rental cars. I followed her to Steve and Brandi's house in Parkridge, Illinois home of Hillary Clinton. We ate lunch and I then took a train to scope out locations downtown Chicago for our photo shoot the next morning at 8:00 am. Chicago was amazing. I have been there a few times but this time was the best.
Friday Day: I ate the second best hotdog I have ever eaten in my life. The first was in Chicago a decade ago.
Friday Eve: I went out to dinner at a Sicilian restaurant with Steve, Brandi, their kids and Spat (Daniel's friend). Steve picked up the tab, thanks Steve. They were fantastic hosts. At dinner I get a call from Savanah that Daniel has not only missed his flight but missed it because he was pulled over by power hungry cop who held him for 45 minutes while his plane flew over head. Daniel's car was registered but just didn't have the sticker on his Cali plates. California offices were closed so the cop couldn't verify and did the next stupid thing which is take the keys from Daniel and impound his car. I was supposed to pick Daniel up that night but the plans were now changed. His friend picked him up and took him to the airport and he left at midnight instead of arrive.
Saturday morn: Because of the late booking of the flight he had to stop in New York and he didn't arrive till 9:30. Spat and I picked him up. We discovered that the airlines had put his luggage on a different plane and it wouldn't be in till 10:30. The wedding was scheduled for 12:30 at the Chicago Temple. We took Daniel to Steve and Brandi's so he could shower and stuff. He had been up all night. Then we went back to the airport dodging the airport parking monitors (mean people) and got his bag.
We didn't really no how to get to the Temple and we got stuck in Construction. Daniel was laid back and we had a good discussion about paving your own way in this world.
Meanwhile the bride Savanah, got pulled over on her way to the wedding and got away with a batted eye.
Fortunately in our lost state we looked over and Savanah's mom was in the other lane and we followed them to the temple. By now the once beautiful morning was turning arctic and windy.
We arrived to the temple and they pushed the ceremony time back an hour to 1:30 so we could get a few minutes of pictures in the cold and wind. We did just that for maybe 15-20 minutes then went inside just prior to Savanah turning into a popsicle.
They invited me to the ceremony which I was honored to attend and it was very nice.
Afternoon: Daniel and I hopped in my car and followed the bride and Alisha her friend. I think he wanted to come with me because of the higher chance of getting something to eat at Wendy's. We were set on eating. We grabbed something then ditched my rental car at a quasi rest stop/ service station area off the freeway. I hopped in with them as Daniel struggled to stay awake finally succombed and eventually curled up into the fetal position as Savanah drove 80+ mph while texting in a rain storm. Savanah if you are reading this, yes, I will admit I was frightened a little. The reception was located two hours away. We had 15 minutes to shoot and where to shoot was the question. We pulled into a Walmart and in one of my favorite scenes of the day Savanah went inside to buy an umbrella and use the restroom to change back into her wedding dress.
She came out and it was raining sideways. We had choices to make. This is where it pays to hire someone with a little experience. She turned around and said, "Where do you want to go?" I had never been to Indiana let alone whatever city we were in which I still don't know. So I said, "Right there, in the field next to the Walmart." The image below was taken just behind the Walmart. I had to take a plastic Walmart bag out of the picture. We had to wake Daniel up but he was a great sport. The image above was in a small town in Indiana close to the reception. By the time we got done we were all soaked.
Reception: We had a great time. The food was great the dancing was fun. I got in a dance circle and after I did my dance routine the bishop looked at me jokingly and said he was going to have nightmares after my performance. I gave it my all what can I say I have never been a wall flower even as a photographer.
On the Way Home: I drove home with my hosts Steve and Brandi and we stopped by what we thought was my parking spot for my rental car and my car was missing. After calling highway patrol we discovered that there is an identical rest stop on the north side of the road. We were on the south and majorly disoriented. We found my car.
Sunday morning: Blizzard. Snow was everywhere. I drove to the airport in the A.M. and dropped off my rental car. As I got on the shuttle from Hertz to the aiport a lady entered the shuttle and said, "Sir you left your wallet in your car." She handed it to me and I opened it and it was Daniel's. Great, I thought. How am I going to get this to them. I knew they were leaving to Mexico that morning and I knew his wallet might be important for their honeymoon. I texted him and as it turns out their flight was delayed two hours and they were just coming to the rental place. I gave his wallet to the shuttle driver and instructed him to drive it back to the rental place. I have not heard from them since so I assumed that received it.
Meanwhile the blizzard was so bad that my flight was canceled with no certainty that they were going to reschedule. Luckily I had Harry Potter 5 on audio CD so I didn't care. I sat in the airport for hours without a care in the world. John Adams once said, "You are never alone with a poet in your pocket." I never leave home without a book of some sort. I am never bored!
I finally got a flight and arrived home. It was a great trip only because Savanah and Daniel are genuinely positive people. They laughed the whole time and everybody around them did too. They turned what could have been a devestating day into a wonderful memory. The important thing is that they got married and their isn't a police officer in the world that can take that from them.