things to come.... hopefully

erin and i do weddings together now. she still calls the shots and is definitely in charge but has let me run with some things as of late. we actually are very different in how we approach photography. sometimes that's stressful but mostly our strengths compliment the others weaknesses.... for example: one of erin's strengths is her undying devotion to auto focus which i often forget to turn back on. she kindly reminds me that if we want to keep taking peoples pictures our shots should be in focus. it's a good point i think though i just call the blurry ones "artistic".

one of the coolest things about this past year of starting our combined business, has been figuring out where we each fit into the puzzle. amazingly we don't overlap all that much which just helps to confirm what we are doing.

one of my jobs is to get good at photo editing. sometimes i think this is harder than learning the camera. i am a purist for the most part, meaning i don't like a lot of manipulation on the photo. i used to accuse people of covering up bad photos with effects but really i objected simply because i didn't know how to do the things they were doing. turns out it's been a long time since most people have seen a truly pure photo anyway.

i was talking to my aunt over thanksgiving and she used to develop film. i learned (because i've never been in a real working dark room in my life) that people would manipulate their photos in the dark room in a very similar way that photoshop and other software allow you to manipulate your digital images. obviously it was much more difficult and tedious but still the good photos where probably going through some sort of intense post work.

all this to say that i'm feeling more liberated these days and trying my best to make some really good photos turn into really great graphics. we have been doing a lot of planning this fall and are making some major adjustments in how we shoot and process. here's a shot from a wedding that reflects some of those changes.

whiskey falls

it has been a long time since i've posted any of my real work. the last 3 months have been dominated by the house but there have been a lot of shoots in between. i hope that this blog gets back to actual photography at some point soon although it's been fun documenting the house. its a little strange to have people you don't know come up do you and ask how the house is coming. i'm just glad i've offered some entertainment on some level.

if you listen to rick & bubba and admit it then you've probably heard of whiskey falls. my wife is all about poppy, 3 chord progression, 3rd person written, 3part harmony songs. i typically am not. in fact i really did not like whiskey falls before i did this shoot.

i was asked to be the photographer for this big oak ranch benefit concert that featured michael tolcher and whiskey falls. both were great. i will admit that whiskey falls was exceptional. their harmonies were tighter than i've ever heard in a live band. their version of seven bridges road was unreal. i felt really bad because i told erin she couldn't come because she had too much work to do. i know, it was really mean but i did hold my phone up and let her listen... which we all know is just like being at the show, especially with our awesome free motorolla's.

anyway, i got to meet the lead singer "seven" after the show and i'm hoping they will post a few pics on their website at some point. i'm not holding my breath. anyway if you ever get a chance to see them, i would recommend it.

week 7&8

alright, i'm finally able to post some of the progress from week 7 & 8. the real crunch came when the kitchen floors had to get done so the cabinets could be put in and then so I could start on the hardwoods. while i had the tile saw i also had to finish the tile in the bathroom. all of this was with the deadline of the moving day and then a week later the renters in helena moving in. oh yeah, and this has been one of the busiest times for the business since we've started. as jackson browne said, we have been "running on empty" these last two weeks. anyway, i'll spare the life commentary for now.... i'll have the holidays for that. there is LOTS more to post since these were taken but lets not get ahead of ourselves okay.