I know this game was a couple of weeks ago, but I had to share some of these photos with you. All of the photos can be viewed at the following website [Lake Orion vs Clarkston Photos] Lake Orion had a great season, and losing to Clarkston during the first playoff game was tough. I had a great time on the sidelines this year capturing the players and the action. The sights, sounds, smells, and emotion was a lot of fun to photograph, and I feel honored to have been there.

This final shot is my last photo of the season. The walk to the bus after a defeat is a long one.

Lindsay and David fell in love at Oakland University (my alma mater, go Grizzlies!) They are both about to graduate and start the next phase of their lives together. When I asked how they were engaged David told me a familiar story. He had taken the ring with him to Las Vegas where they vacationed with Lindsay’s family. The whole time he was hiding the ring from her until the moment was right. Reminded me of the time I gave my wife an engagement ring on the Eiffel Tower in Paris and I had to hold onto the ring for 5 days in Europe before giving it to her (that’s another story I’ll tell later.) Lindsay and David were a pleasure to work with and we had a great time walking and talking around the park in downtown Rochester Michigan.

This first photo I saw before they even came to the park. This image came to me as I walked the park before our meeting and I had to replicate what was in my head. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just be on the other side of the lake.”

I asked them to hold still for this one so I could drag the shutter and let the water mist over the rocks. Sometimes this shot doesn’t work, but you have to try. On this day it was a success.

Love, love, love Lindsay’s smile in this next photo.

[Click to view Lindsay and David's online proofs]

Sometimes I go location scouting before a photo shoot.  It’s a great opportunity to view the world photographically and to take my time seeing images before they happen. Sometimes I love the serendipity of finding a great location while I’m walking around with a couple, but a larger group of people requires a bit of planning and foresight. Sometimes I purposely take only the iPhone with me on a photo walk because it really forces me to concentrate on lighting and composition. Below is one of the photos that I took with my iPhone while location scouting for this shoot.

And here’s the resulting image that came from it:

This next shot came to me during the walk as well. I liked the spacing of these trees and the high grass.

The weather this weekend was amazing.  We could not have had better weather for our day at the zoo.  This family has season passes and spends a lot of time here, so it was the perfect place for a lifestyle portrait session.

I understand that seeing the polar bears outside is rare.

If you look closely you can see the polar bear in this next shot.

We ended the day with play time at the playground

The day begins sometimes with stress, but mostly gitty excitement about the day to come.  Is my hair right?  Do I have something old, new, and blue?  Where are the wedding rings?  Is the florist on time?  The excitement and the nervousness is fun to capture on camera, and I feel like I have an all access pass to the behind the scenes of the wedding day.

The emotions of the wedding day span all across the spectrum beginning with nervousness and excitement, transitioning to joy and happiness during the ceremony, and ending with vivaciousness and happiness during the reception and beyond.  Being a part of this and being able to document it with a camera is like no other thing in this world and I cherish the opportunity.