Megan + Justin :: cold weather, warm hearts

It’s cold here in Wisconsin. You may not expect to be outside taking a lot of pictures at a wedding this time of year, but Megan and Justin don’t listen to the naysayers. Yup, that’s right, Megan and Justin are tough as nails and are willing to do what it takes to get the picture that they’ll remember for years to come. Ok, it took a little coaxing, but they were good sports about me dragging them outside every 20 minutes. Luckily I could remind them that they’d be in Saint Lucia soon and it would be nice and warm there.

This is one of my favorite series of images from the wedding. Three generations of hands (Megan and Justin, Megan’s parents, and Megan’s grandparents).

Lensbaby experiments (and a quick review)

I picked up a used Lensbaby the other day. I’ve been wanting to play around with one for a while and when I saw a used one on Craigslist for a good price, I snatched it up. This morning, I did some experiments with it so I could get a feel for how well it would perform.

The model I have is the 3G with the optional macro kit. This is the same as the newly rebranded Control Freak. It has double glass optics and a handful of aperture discs.

Just like I read in every other Lensbaby review, it is difficult to focus and get used to, but with some patience, you can get a good feel for it. As you use smaller aperture discs, it becomes more difficult to see and focus, which means that working with a lot of ambient light is essential. I found that shooting with at least the 5.6 disc, and preferably the 11, I was able to get a respectable depth of field. Anything wider and the depth of field was so tiny that it became nearly impossible to find a focus point.

When I first heard about Lensbaby lenses, I was under the impression that they were an inexpensive option for tilt/shift. Unfortunately, that is not true. While they do allow you to tilt the focus plane, the design of the lens is such that there is a central circular focus sweat spot with the sharpness of the optics falling drastically towards the edges. What this amounts to is a fun and unique tool for playing with focus and depth of field, but not a tool for architectural photography.

I have some hopes of using this for my wedding photography, most likely it will be relegated to ring and flower shots, but probably not too much for portraits. It’s fun to play around with, but I’ll need to use it for a while before I feel comfortable enough to pull it out during a fast-paced wedding when time is short.

Would I recommend a Lensbaby? It depends on how you want to use it. With the macro attachments, shooting closeups is fun and rewarding (and more cost-effective than an expensive macro lens). As a portrait lens, it will never be a primary lens, but if you allow yourself the time to become proficient with it, you should be able to get some fun and creative shots with it. In the end, it falls in the same category as Holga cameras for me. It’s fun to use and gives you a non-traditional image, but is not going to be a primary lens in any camera bag.

A cold kick-off to the 2010 wedding season

Aaron and Melanie are now forever known as Mr. and Mrs. They got married this past Saturday at the Madison Club in Madison, WI. It’s a safe bet that if you book a wedding in Madison in January, it will be cold. Sure enough, the high for the day was 14 degrees. Luckily, though, the sun was out and they were willing to tough it out and take some pictures outside. We didn’t stay outside for too long, but we made the most of every opportunity we had.

This was a great way to kick off the wedding season of 2010. Aaron and Melanie are a great couple and they have wonderful families and friends. I’m blessed for having the opportunity to be a part of their special day.

Project: White

Ok, so I’ve slacked on my Project 2009 series a little bit. I started out well enough, but then got busy with wedding season (and other excuses). To finish the series off, here’s my submission for the final month of the year. We’ve been hunkered down under a bunch of snow, and honestly, it’s quite nice. We haven’t gone very far and have simply enjoyed our time together playing games and relaxing. Enjoy the final project pictures from 2009, and have a safe and happy New Years!

Baking up some tasty images

This past Saturday was one of those great lazy days where we had nothing planned. Unfortunately, I can’t sit still. Vicki was noticing me pacing around the house and said “stop pacing around and do something — how about you make pizzas for tonight?” Sure, I can do that, I thought. So I jumped on the computer and went on over to the King Arthur Flour website where I always get my pizza dough recipe from. On their home page, they had these yummy looking cinnamon rolls and they totally distracted me from the pizza I was going to make. I clicked on the recipe and thought, “hey, this is pretty easy, I can make these.” So I did.

Along the way, I also got the itch to take some pictures of these tasty treats. A while ago, a buddy of mine asked if I have ever done food photography. Years ago I had done some, but nothing recent. This was the perfect opportunity to take a nice lazy day and fill it with project upon project. Not only would I end up with something tasty (assuming I didn’t botch the recipe), but I would also end up with some pictures for my portfolio (assuming I didn’t botch those up either). I don’t claim that they’re the best food pictures in the world, but they sure do make me hungry every time I look at them.

As a side note, I did also make the pizzas. It turns out that you have to wait a long time for the dough to rise for the cinnamon rolls, so I again found myself pacing around with nothing to do. Actually, what really happened is that I tried to take a nap on the couch while the dough was rising, but my boys wouldn’t let me. So, I decided that I should just make the pizza dough (with their help, of course). The best part about all this is that Vicki, who’s idea kicked off the whole fiasco, left to go watch that new Twilight movie. It actually felt good to have her go out, have fun, and then come back to a home full of the smells of baking for a change. Usually when she leaves, she comes back to a destroyed house and a bunch of rambunctious boys…

Anyway, enjoy the images!