Emily and Tyler 7/28/08

A photographer's dream wedding. Sic location in Playa Del Carmen, MX, Stunning bride, amazing energy, fun, beautiful friends and family. What else could I have asked for?... perhaps to stay an extra day or two, but I am thankful for the time I had with them. I flew into Cancun on a friday afternoon, at customs, the line wasn't a line, it was an entire room full of people, shoulder to shoulder and up the stairs (where I was). see picture. There were 5 or 6 custom officials checking passports, so you do the math! Yeah I didn't leave for 4-5 hours, but, I made the best of it. sending out positive energy, enjoying the people around me, really soaking in that I'm in Cancun and this, and everything, is just perfect. And you know, just doing that, connecting with people, makes it one of the best parts of my trip. anyways, off to the hotel. All inclusive and beautiful resort at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya. The hooked me up to say the least with a mini suite...
Emily met me before sunrise....5am?... the next morning. quiet morning, so freakin beautiful, dark sky, stars, waves crashing. Then to watch the sun come up....come on! so we just relaxed took our time and shot for a couple hours, Emily was a natural, easy to shoot...then about an hour later, the wedding was on, 20-30 guests, on the beach, Emily comes walking out with her dad....what can I say, it was just...perfect. I'm not quite sure what I was doing wearing a black polo shirt, cause it got pretty hot, pretty fast, but none the less, everything went flawlessly. I went back to my room after, took an hour nap, spent some alone time in the ocean, and proceeded to meet everyone in the pool where we started our drinking.... We 'celebrated' all afternoon, shot some more pics at sunset and went to dinner. We ate and drank and everyone was merry. And if you were there, that's how I want to remember the night ending =).
See I don't really drink too much, wine here, a sam adams there does me quite well. so when I woke up at 6am the next morning after drinking tequilla and whatever all day, i really thought I might just die, and that was before I left for the airport at...let's say 7am. I climb into the taxi and...........out. I remember hearing other people get in, and someone saying hi, but that's it...misery. airport, stumbling to get my stuff, i've only felt that bad a few times, and i will never again! ANYWAYS, so I'm in line waiting to check my bags, propping my self against what I can and I turn around and asked the guy who rode in the cab with me to watch my bags so I could go pay 8,000 pecos or something for a gatorade. he kinda looked at me and.."..uh...i don't know"....lol. i mean we're in MX, I would have been a little weary too. but i explained that I was about to die and he was cool with it, and I'm telling you, after about 4 drinks of gatorade, I felt amazing. I think they make it a little different down there. So, I start talking to the guy and the girl he's with and, they're getting married in Cancun next summer and came down to check out hotels. "oh, well, i'm a photographer and .....etc" LOL, but they were totally cool, very laid back, wonderful energy...and we all sat down and went through my pics from Paris, and the ones I took the day before. They thought it was hilarious they could tell everyone they found their wedding photographer passed out in a taxi in Mexico.
You know those people who you just hit it off with immediately and there's no hesitation, real people, the kind you just feel comfortable with from the start. that's John and Steph, and I'm so glad I woke up with a hangover. I do not believe in mere coincidences, and know I created that with all the positive energy I was putting out the entire trip.

Long one aey. I cut out so much to spare all you poor ADD nintendo grown ups, myself included. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed E&Ts wedding, and the entire experience. The end.

A: slow shutter speed makes an ocean look like a lake
"is that your final answer?"
"final answer, yes, that's my final answer"
*dramatic music*

-commerical-

*dramatic music*
"time for dinner!"
"MOM!"
-tv turned off
"MOM!"
"Go to your room!"
"Dang it"
"What?"
"nothing..."
"............dang it..." -runs away-

for all you foot fetish people

i was requested to hand over some feet shots for the same magazine...so here they are. don't know which they'll use. i really didn't realize how much i shoot feet. not sure why that is, sometimes you just shoot feet or kids...either one will always look good, well, feet don't always look good, but at least they don't fake smile. =) fake smile

Happy New Year

So my last post was in the middle of December. I can't be the only person that slacks around the holidays, right? (or just in general) so i'm just not gonna feel bad about my...non...doing stuff and watching football instead. We went to Springdale for NYE and to the party at the Spotted Dog. I dont' think I've been to a shoulder to shoulder party in years. We had a great time and now I'm trying, trying to get myself back into the swing of work. We've got wedding shows coming up, which are always pretty crazy as far as preparation goes. $$$$, that too. Have a list of tick tacky things to do, people to contact, emails to write, etc. But I do have the thought of going back through all my old weddings and picking out 5-10 favorite photos that i've forgotten about and posting them here. I got the idea cause Nicole, the magazine lady (that's about all I know of her, except she seems nice and has great taste in my pictures), called me with a list of 12 photos (these) from my website that she really liked to use in her magazine that's coming out. So I had to sift through my ext. drive and find the original full size versions. Anyways, I went through a bunch of stuff I havn't looked at in years. I say this not being cocky, I've got some great stuff in there, photos from weddings I'm really proud of. I think when you put your heart into something and then put it away for a while, when you retrieve it, it just hits you, and you can really see and feel what you were going for. When I shot the Paris wedding, we looked at the pics at the hotel right after I finished shooting all day. My energy was down, I was exhausted, I hated them. I really thought I did a horrible job and I never wanted to look at them again! I couldn't see them, all I saw was bad lighting and ugly colors. I look through them now and think, wow I really did a great job. This isn't new, I've recognized and delt with this phenomenon for some time now, but I still think it's pretty amazing and really interesting. If you have any comments on this, I'd love to hear it.
So new years resolutions...
Read when I want to read.
Stretch every morning.
Finish Artist's way.
Start K2 school.
Take Karate (or something similar).
Be Patient.

mary & blair

good friends of ours, wonderful cute kids...
just a 10 minute quickie
(low on the wordage tonight)

if ya wanna see more, go here.

oh, just got back from a cross country road trip. well, missouri to utah, but we drove the last 300 miles at 25-30mph, lots of snow, lots of wrecks, lots of rockstar.

Why? Why. Why!

Choosing the right photographer for your wedding.
By: Kevin & Katie
of Kevin Hulett Photography

There are as many wedding photographers out there as there are bridal gowns on the rack. How do you know you’re going to have quality photographs, a true professional and every detail covered?
Ultimately, it comes down to how you really feel about the photographer you’re looking at. Don’t price shop. The important thing is to find the one that fits with your style and personality - someone you find a connection with. My advice is for you and your fiancé to chat with as many photographers as you can in person and view their work. Narrow it down based on who you feel the best about. Only then look at what they charge. The photographer you just fell in love with will be worth the extra $500 that exceeds your budget. Or you may find that the photographer you like the most is priced well under what you had in mind.
What to look for:
• An artistic style that matches your personality. Do you want fun, candid shots? Elegant studio styled images? The images the photographer shows you are his/her finest work, and they will reflect the creative method that they are best at. Some photographers are more comfortable shooting what they know works. And some take each wedding as an opportunity to evolve creatively.
• Do you and the photographer get along? This is important. A photographer may have great work, but if you find him/her stuffy or unenthusiastic, it could be distracting on your wedding day.
• Look at the photographer’s body of work. Does every wedding look the same but with a different bride and groom? Some brides want to know exactly what their pictures will look like before they make a selection. Others want to leave it up to the photographer to create a distinctive look based on the unique relationship of the couple.
• Extras. Many packages will include things you may not want or need. They are usually fillers and are great for making the couple feel like they are getting lots of perks. Get what you want. Many photographers are happy to customize packages for you.
• Book with them as soon as you know your wedding date. The sooner you are on a photographer’s schedule, the easier it will be to work with you if you have any changes or other issues that come up.
Finding the right photographer for your wedding is as important as anything else you choose for your entire wedding experience. Pay close attention to their most recent work, ask a lot of questions, and most importantly, go with how you feel about them as individuals and professionals.

I wrote this for the new wedding magazine that's coming out in Janurary. You know the one, it's at every supermarket, gas station, etc in STG. So let me know what you think.

I was really stressed about getting this done. it's done, i'm really glad...

I didn't want to be pro-expensive photographers, cheap photographers, me or any other photographer. I just wanted to write something honest that would help brides choose.

anywho, time to get the kids to bed!