Christina & Jeff's Wedding

Glen Ellen, CA, in the Summer, is a beautiful place to visit, but WOW does it get hot!
The entire wedding weekend was orchestrated perfectly by Christina (a very talented event planner in her own right), and her "right-hand" for the day of, Amy Nichols (www.amynichols.com)
I was honored to be asked by Christina & Jeff to photograph, and where I knew I really had to pull out all stops to please Christina's high expectations for quality and great taste, I was also welcomed like a member of the Family, which made my job as easy as could be!
Photographing weddings requires alot of things to go well, and outside of what can be controlled through experience, there's also a little bit left to chance; like the cherry on the sundae. Christina & Jeff had all the luck and love in the world, which made for constant chances to to capture those defining shots.

Thanks again C&J, Enjoy your memories!

Spanish Lightning!

From the rooftops in Malaga, Spain, I was able to catch this photo of a dry lightning storm that passed over the city in the early morning.

I have always been determined to expose a full lightning bolt at some point in my life, but never imagined that I'd be on a high rooftop standing beside a camera mounted to a 6-foot tripod while doing it! It's a very sketchy feeling, a lot like harvesting apples with a golfclub during a thunderstorm.

I found that my best strategy was to lock-on my shutter drive for continuous 15 second exposures, cross my fingers, and get as far and low from the camera as possible. Realistically, and as a footnote to you purists out there, there's no other way to get this shot! After 40-50 photos, I knew that I had it! The lightning seems to have grounded to a construction crane which is just out of the frame to the right, as well as a bolt in the distance that hits the roof and antennae of an apartment building.

Thanks, Gerhard, for the perfect vantage point, and thanks also for the cigars! Muchas Gracias, Amigo!