Rock'em Sock'em Wedding Cake

I photographed a very sweet shy couple last night at Hyalite Youth Camp outside Bozeman. They hada very cool cake. (see the photo below)

Tristan + Matt      june 27, 2009

I'm sure photographing children will always be my favorite subject. How could it not when you see a face like this.

Dog of the Day

Dog of the Day

I took a few minutes out from the wedding this past weekend to photograph the family dog. This dog seems to have a very good life and where she belongs.

Meredith + Xavier    June 20, 2009

Venue....DanWalt Gardens, Billings, Montana

This past weekend I photographed Meredith and Xavier's garden wedding at the DanWalt Gardens in Billings, Montana. This is easily the most beautiful garden in the Montana. A perfect setting for Meredith and Xavier: full of whimsy, romance, beauty and fun.

Photo Tip #3

Here's a tip that even the pros have to remember sometimes. As a photographer you are responsible for everthing in the image. That makes the background as important as the foreground.

Below is a shot from a Georgia photographer whom I am tutoring this summer. She is just getting started in still photography. Here is one of her first shots.

Try this: put your hand over the brick wall and see what jumps out at you. Then take the hand away and see what jumps out at you this time. I know it is somewhat trendy to use brick walls but sometimes a brick wall is just a brick wall. And that means that sometimes a brickwall gets in the way of a good image.

Tristan + Matthew ..engagement session

Recently I photographed Tristan and Matthew's engagement session. Years ago I photographed Matt with a small bird on his head when he was 7-years-old and put it in my book "Portrait of Montana". Two weeks from now I'll photograph their wedding with a reception at Beall Park, so it was fun to take these images on the swings at the park.

Megan + Ryan   June 13, 2009

Reception Venue.......Hilton Garden Inn

Flowers...................Avant

It rained in Bozeman before the wedding day and the following days but on Megan and Ryan's day it was beautiful. Below are a few images from their day.

Megan and Ryan: I hope you're having a great time in Hawaii. Don't forget to drive to Hanalei Bay and beyond to the end of the road. It is very beautiful on that end of the island. But it is all beautiful and I hope you have fantastic time.

Brooke + Lance     June 6, 2009

What an absolute pleasure to photograph Brooke and Lance's wedding last weekend in Red Lodge, Montana. Brooke is so beautiful, elegant and sweet. And Lance is the nicest guy. It is difficult to imagine Brooke driving a tractor and wrestling cattle on their Montana ranch after seeing her in these images, but that is the kind of woman she is; she can do everything.

They had a great sense of humor and great patience on their day as the weather gods threw wind, rain and snow at us all day. It was because of their attitudes that we were able to get wonderful images. And I say "we" because I consider the bride and groom to be in a collaborative creative effort on the wedding days.

Thanks Brooke and Lance!

Fancy Flours Christmas Catalog Sessions

We just finished our Holiday Season catalog shoot for Fancy Flours this week. The last shot was of our dog Diamond holding one of Nancy's cookies. We're sorry to see the sessions completed. It was so much fun to spend the time with Nancy and Sarah of Classic Ink.

But now that our minds are off the Christmas Holiday we can get back to weddings and summer families and kids.

icing on the cake

Hey, we just met Abby and Sara of icing on the cake: event planners for lunch the other day. Stana and I had an event planner for our 1990 wedding and it was the best decision Stana ever made other than marry me and stay in Bozeman. Best decision I ever made was to marry Stana and agree to have a wedding planner. I thought it a total waste of time before the wedding, but on the wedding day I saw the tremendous value in the planner's work.

So now we tell all our wedding clients that they really really need a planner. Abby and Sara are very nice, hard workers and easy to get along with. There are great planners in the area and we work with and recommend many of them. Now we are adding Abby and Sara of icing on the cake to our list of recommended planners. We think Abby and Sara will be a great match for many of our clients.

Matt + Tristen...engagement