In my own internal battle, I’m constantly justifying my professional existence as a photographer over a skilled amateur. I feel the need to prove that people should hire me over photographing themselves or having a friend with a decent camera do it for them. In that struggle, I’ve created a horrible little hater who tells me my shots look amateur and cliche. It’s been a year since I’ve photographed any flowers and nearly stopped taking pictures of corgi, Penny. I went a few months without touching my camera and blamed it on a lack of inspiration. My little hater tells me to be more original. He almost convinced me that some subjects are unworthy of being photographed at all.

My internal censor can be loud, but I’m doing my best not to listen. I retort by reminding myself of my own professional growth. Right now, my top priority is to create more content. I can’t always out-do myself on every shot, but the alternative is far worse.

Our internal censors tell us that the imperfect content is not worth sharing. The strange truth is that it’s okay to create mediocre stories, write cliche songs, or take amateur-esque pictures. Sometimes it’s about the experience of creating, not the end result. As creative people, we need to control our fear of exposure and accept that “Haters gonna hate”, even if it’s ourselves.

I’d love to hear your own stories involving your internal creative censors, if you’re willing to share them. Also, this article is another good article about with this subject.

It might feel requisite for a wedding photographer to post a wedding photo, but I would not have picked this if I didn’t love it. After most of the guests had left, Carlie, Dan and I had a little bit of time with their venue to get some more pictures. We found a quiet little garden area and ran through a few poses. Since I wanted to get more of a candid feeling, I had them dance a bit to themselves so they would focus on each other. The end result turned out really well, I thought.

Little Dance

Intimate Proximity

During April, I started planning photo shoot based around the theme, Film Noir. I asked my friends to bring their own outfits/costumes and I would photograph them as practice for studio shooting. My plan was fairly loose and I was going to try to play off what my friends had put together for their outfits. My friend, Dalis, hit the nail on the head with his costume. The waistcoat, pocketwatch, fedora, tie and toothpick all worked perfectly to emulate the sort of feeling I was going for. I handed him one of my knives that flips to a sinister looking T-blade to complete pose. There were many great shots that day, but this one was definitely my favorite.

Triad Muscle

This ended up being my most viewed photo of 2011 and for good reason. Christina aka Nadina from Raid Warning and of Zerina Cosplay volunteered to don her latest costume, Alexstrasza (more about the costume here). Half the credit goes to Christina and her amazing costume, for sure. But I was really satisfied with my proficiency and success in the studio that day. I carry a lot more confidence with studio work because of this shoot.

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder

And my top picture from the year 2011 is…

Big Red

I’m in love with this picture. The rich red rust and the sheer size of it gives a surreal feeling that I rarely tap into. A quick history on this ship…

On March 8th, 1960, the Plassy was caught in a severe storm and wreck on the west coast of Inis Oírr , Ireland. The islanders rescued the crew of 11 safely. A second storm eventually forced the ship onto the island. Since then, the storms have pushed it above tide line.

Laura and I heard about this ship when we were planning a day trip to the Aran Islands during our honeymoon in Ireland. Since the island was so small, we biked to this monster. Seeing it in person was something else. There is nothing preventing you from touching or even climbing on it. A truly unique experience.

The ceremony and reception were held at the Wild Basin Lodge. It’s an awesome venue and an excellent staff behind it. The ceremony began at 10:30am, so I was up at the crack of dawn like the rest of the wedding party. Carlie got ready with her bridesmaids at a small rental lodge in Estes Park where I took a few ‘getting-ready’ shots. Once we moved to the Wild Basin Lodge, we set up to do the first look. Carlie and I discussed before that she wanted to do the first look. However, I don’t think Dan knew about this, which made the first look a bit more authentic. After that, we shot most of the formal portraits with all of the family members.

The ceremony site provided an excellent backdrop with the aspen trees turning yellow in the far distance. There were a few non-traditional elements that Carlie and Dan added which made for some really unique and fun shots. Immediately following was the brunch reception, which began with a rickroll straight into the first dance. After brunch, the guests were served some excellent cupcakes made to look like the mushrooms from Super Mario Bros (that were made by the Best Man and the Matron of Honor).

After all the guests had left, I pulled the bride and groom for a few more portraits, which turned out really well, I thought. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I did taking them.

Playful Smooch from the Mother of the Bride

Carlie's Wedding Dress

Carlie's Tiara

Adding the final touches to Carlie's Dress

Carlie sneaking up on her unsuspecting Groom

Dan's reaction during the First Look

The ceremony and reception were held at the Victorian Event Center at Heritage Square in Golden. Since I spent my college years in Golden, it was special to shoot this momentous day for these two.

The ceremony had the option to be inside or outside. The lingering feeling of rain forced us indoors. Both indoors or outdoors were equally beautiful, however the roof blocked some of the extra light that I’m used to working with. Immediately following was the hors d’oeuvres reception prepared by Caitlin’s grandmother. I was quite impressed with how efficient the food was displayed as well as the flavor. I didn’t realize how useful hors d’oeuvres can be to a photographer who has very little time to sit and eat.

The evening progressed through the help of Caitlin’s brother manning the DJ position. Later on, they staged the bouquet and garter toss. The bouquet toss was fairly uneventful compared to the surprise that Caitlin planned with Dane’s Best Man, Dustin. Just after Dane’s blind fold was set, Dustin, wearing a dress and garter, swapped spots with Caitlin. Like a trooper, Dane finished the task.

All in all, I think the wedding day went down without a hitch, and I quite pleased with the pictures I produced. I hope you like them too.

First looks never fail to produce beauitful moments

On their one year anniversary, they'll open this winebox and reads notes that they wrote each other and share the wine.

Home-made cupcakes!

The Kiss

Hugs all around

Signing the marriage certificate

Siblings of the Groom

The Aunts (and Mother of the Groom)

Best Man Toast

Garter Toss Switcheroo

Hey Macarena!

Celebration Cigars

Yesterday, Christina and I met at the studio co-op that I just joined for a new photoshoot. This time, she brought out Alexstrasza The Life-Binder. Alexstrasza is a powerful dragonqueen from the ever-popular game, World of Warcraft. In game, Alexstrasza is the noble leader of the Red Dragon Flight and the Guardian of Life on Azeroth.

In real life, Christina uses Alexstrasza to help the card game company, Cryptozoic Entertainment promote its biggest product, World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. She travels from different festivals and conventions where players and fans can learn this new game, as well as challenge the Dragonqueen herself. In fact, if you’re in Chicago this coming weekend, you can see her there.

Since Alexstrasza is the Guardian of Life, we wanted our pictures to speak to the Life-Binder’s compassion for all forms of life, through a dragon egg that Christina made herself. In addition to the caring nature of Alexstrasza’s character, she is also a fierce protector, another aspect that we wanted to highlight.

Next up is my Save the Date was featured along with other clever Save the Dates on The Broke Ass Bride. Judging by the comments below, our light painting rocked the house. Check it out.

And the one little bit of news is that I signed on for three months with Xposure Photography Studios to be apart of their studio co-operative. This will be the first time I’ve had access to a truly professional studio so I’m excited to see what I can get. If things go well, I might extend my membership. If you’re looking to have your shot taken in a nice studio, contact me and let’s set something up.

In order to have nice clean text, we decided to do a light stencil. My brother and my best man, Alex, helped me create the design in Adobe Illustrator. I won’t go into the process of making the rest, but I will direct you to this excellent tutorial on how to make one.

In addition to having ourselves and the light stencil, I wanted the photo to have more interest or “umph” to it. So I set out to create a spirograph wheel. It’s a pretty simple device, just a wheel with lights around it. The trick is acquiring special battery powered string of LEDs, which I had to buy online.

Our names were simply done by using handheld blue LEDs and writing freeform. The silhouette of us was created with the help of my friend, groomsmen and fellow photographer, Erik. He took a large flashlight and shined it on us, but on the side opposite of the camera. A little of the extra light spill created ring lighting that allows you to see Laura and I. Erik was also responsible for using the spirograph wheel and helping with the editing of the photo.

This whole photograph was definitely a group effort. Laura made sure it actually happened and provided feedback. Alex’s help with the stencil was very key. And Erik was instrumental for many parts of the photo. Erik does his own light paintings and panorama photography. I highly suggest you check him out.