The Texas Capitol and SOCO are such fun places to shoot engagement pictures in Austin. What could be better? Carrie and Shaun were planning on making some of my unique save-the-date post cards from their engagement and wanted something that would work with their personalities and the the postcard. I think the pictures below show what they were looking for.

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Anisa had a combination birthday / quinceanera on the Flagship Texas on Lake Travis today and I can say that this was certainly the coolest 15-year-old birthday party I’ve ever been to or been hired to shoot. Wow! I didn’t ever have a quarter the friends that Anisa had when when I was 15. It was amazing to see so many people who loved Anisa and wanted to be there for her. The Flagship Texas is a pretty big boat. Too big in fact to ever be pulled out and put on a trailer and taken to another lake. It had a room for Anisa to get ready in, a galley and the roof of the boat could be used as an open air dance floor or even a wedding ceremony. There was a crazy rain storm that prevented them from using the roof for dancing but that didn’t stop them from dancing like crazy inside the main room! Anisa’s birthday cake was made by Janet Pfertner who is renowned for her unique cakes.

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I haven’t shot three weddings in a weekend in a long time, but Danie and Kris made it worth my while to shoot one last wedding for the weekend by having a great group of people as their wedding party, a blues band from Chicago, cupcakes from Hey Cupcake as their cake and so much dancing that I had way more pictures than usual. Kindred Oaks near Georgetown served as the wonderful location for their wedding. Enjoy this amazing couple! This is what makes wedding photography in Austin fun, fun, fun!

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The day started off a little rough as a storm decided to pound the crap out of Austin just as we were on our way to Sherry and Kevin’s wedding. WOW! I will always be surprised at how crazy the rain can get here. Sherry and Kevin’s ceremony was at St Austin’s Catholic Church on Guadeloupe and for a wedding photographer always gives many unique places to shoot. They had typical Catholic Mass, beautiful and thorough, though a little more long winded than usual. The couple and their guests ran off quickly to the UT Alumni Center on campus where flowers were abundant, food was everywhere and alcohol was readily available for everyone. Their very white cake was unique in it’s simplicity and a great brass band played dinner music until the DJ came out later.

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I’ve become quite adept at adapting to situations. Weddings are no place for those who are not flexible. If you find yourself a wedding photographer one day and get upset when things don’t go your way perhaps you should continue on your journey to find your true calling. I’ve had many problems with my old strobes when used manually off camera. Firstly, I needed to fire them using pocket wizards which meant that I needed some sort of adapters from pocket wizard to Canon flash. The first adapters were $12 and worked 99% of the time, though they did decide to not work at a wedding which caused a little heart flutter for a moment until the adaptive genes kicked in and I found a solution quickly, quietly and without a fuss. After that episode I decided to buy the most expensive adapter made: $35 each. They fired 100% of the time but had a downside. The wire coming out of the adapter was easily torn out. By easily I do mean difficult for a normal person who is not pulling the adapter out of the camera bag full force. I broke one and lost one.

A new solution was forming in my mind when I saw someone on Flickr had done a mod to their Canon 580 flash which inserted a 1/8″ jack inside of the flash housing and soldered stuff inside the flash to achieve this. I was a little skeptical because the 550s I had were different than 580s. But I finally went to Fry’s, found the parts for $.99 each and started tearing apart a flash. After an hour and a half of testing and a hole drilled in the wrong place with the drill press, I figured it all out and had a shiny new adapter on the flash and everything soldered internally. The second flash took 20 minutes. I ran out of jacks at this point because I’d had o actually scrounge on the floor at Fry’s to even find the two I had bought. I’ll get more adapters soon and finish the project. I also was amused to find out that all the pocket wizards to is complete a circuit. $180 for a little radio receiver that just completes a circuit. I might have to invent my own pocket wizards in the future that are better, smaller and cheaper.

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Edmond and I went on a little trip to downtown and shot a couple of fun pictures on top of a parking garages. It was great fun! My kids are so much fun to photograph on our crazy little trips!

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Eder and Grizelda had a very sweet ceremony at their church not too far from the studio in North Austin. At least it sounded sweet. It was all in Spanish and I speak as much Spanish as the Taco Bell Dog. So I was a little limited on knowing what was actually happening. Thanks to Arrested Development though I was able to pick out ‘hermano’ every once in a while.

After the ceremony all of the bride and groom’s family and friends went up to Kindred Oaks north of Round Rock where friends and family were treated to an incredible dinner, very tasty cake and dancing!

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Along with my trusty sidekick , Megan, I shot Haley’s senior portraits at the Texas Capitol and at the studio! Haley and Megan knew each other from high school and had quite a dialog going on about dance at Cedar Park High School. It was like they were speaking another language. I suppose I am pretty out of touch with dance having two left feet and a big part of my brain that just can not understand rhythmic movement but they seemed to have a lot to say. Wow! Haley’s pictures were great. I think I want to photograph more people in dance!

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Bryan and Emily have a long distance relationship going on, but it’s not what you think. She’s in Houston and he’s in Austin. They’re having their wedding at Nature’s Point on Lake Travis, a wonderful venue for a wedding. We shot their engagement portraits at th Texas Capitol and then off to the 360 Bridge overlooking Lake Austin. What a fun shoot!

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Mayra was awesome! She took advantage of having our make-up and hair artist, Thelma, make her beautiful for her shoot. Boy was it humid that day. We drove to downtown and shot a bunch of fun stuff. Then back to the studio to grab the couch and out to a field of flowers for some wild shots with a dress that she was wearing to the prom which was a masquerade ball. Gosh, I wish my prom had been that cool. Then back to the studio for a little air conditioned studio session. I loved the shots in the field.

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