Some good friends had a string of unfortunate events and poor choices by their wedding photographer result in them not getting any decent wedding photos, and I was not OK with that. They are an amazing couple and great friends, and they deserve better, so I offered to do a wedding photo re-shoot for them if they wanted to get all dressed up again.

It ended up being a blast and I had more fun that I have had in a long time. Kelly deserves major kudos for not freezing solid while outside in very cold weather wearing just her wedding dress for a couple of hours (it started at about 50 degrees with a wind and just got colder as the day went on).

The shots were so much fun, I couldn’t pick my top 5, so here are some of my favorites. Be sure to watch the slideshow.

The best part of being a professional photographer is the toys I can bring while on vacation. I shot these while visiting my brother in Oak Harbor, WA and on a trip my wife and I took to The Olympic National Park.

From a photography standpoint one of the things I tried to accomplish was to get some fun angles and perspecitves.

The picture below is of the world famous (see the salmon can) Pike Place Fish Market. I have several shots which show more of the fish stand, but I like this shot better because you still get the feel, but it is something that is a little out of the norm.

I love doing photography that presents some type of unique challenge and offers spots to take risks.

When I do photography for a wedding I don’t really have a chance to take many risky shots, as I have to make sure I am getting the couple a set number of perfect photos, and there is only one chance to photograph a wedding. Portrait photography and some events offer me more of a chance to take some risks.

A relative asked for senior photos, and she wanted something that would standout. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: night shots in Minneapolis. I have done some of these in the past a band and loved the unique look they had.

We did the shots from about 8:15 pm to about 9:30, working well into and past dust. I used my two Canon 580EX flashes to provide the main lighting and exposure for Maddie (the senior getting photos), and set the camera to expose for the background. I love this setup because it offers nice off-camera, dimensional lighting with simple yet powerful controls.

I started with this shot to give her something with a different look, but yet not something as extreme as the night shots.

I love this shot. It was one of my favorites of the shoot. Maddie is sitting on the edge of the Endless Bridge at the Guthrie Theater, about 60 feet above the ground. The lights of downtown the bridge in the background really make this shot for me, however, they are not so overpowering that you forget about Maddie in the photo.

In this shot Maddie is sitting in one of the windows of the Guthrie. You can see the Gold Medal Flour sign reflected in the metal work by her feet.

Here is the slideshow from the shot.