Kira & Zac: Portland Bridals

Since my cousin was married over a week ago now i figured it was about time to post some more pictures. I haven't even looked at the wedding pictures yet (don't have room on my hard drive to download them), but here are the bridals we took the day before the wedding! I know us Johnsons are a last minute bunch, but i've got to hand it to McKays, i think they took the cake! But i love 'em! I love them so much, in fact, that after shooting these pictures throughout the morning and early afternoon, i stayed up until 3 AM touching them up! If that ain't love...

This first series of pictures were taken at the Women's Forum in the Columbia River Gorge outside of Portland overlooking Crown Point (you can see it in the background occasionally).
The overcast morning resulted in some fairly nice lighting and negated the fact that we weren't really out there all that close to sunrise.

My Mom actually made this bouquet. Isn't she so talented? I guess the blue flowers are actually painted or stained that color though, and they kept staining the bride's dress. She wasn't too happy about that.

i absolutely love this shot, it's one of my favorite poses - as any bride i've ever photographed will attest to - seeing as how i typically waste a good amount of time trying to get it just right.

I thought this one was funny. I think they were congratulating eachother for putting up with me for so long.

This is actually a follow-up shot to an earlier engagment picture.

If this was really candid, it'd be awesome, but it wasn't. But it looks candid, right?

Ah, yes - the green sweats. These facilitated changing in public. If you can't tell, the groom is indicating to the bride that the shoe/slipper does not fit.

The pout. It was almost as much fun trying to illicit this face as the "come hither" look.

Now we have moved from the Women's Forum over to Crown Point, the little building you could see on the ridge in the bacground in some of the earlier shots.

I know, i know, it's washed out, but i actually did it on purpose. I think it looks cool. i may be the only one though.

The benefit of two photographers: One of my aunts also came along on this bridal shoot and while she was taking her picture i got this one! One of my best candids and also the bride's favorite! When you're out on a formal shoot it's so hard to get real candid shots... unless you have someone else taking pictures, or some other entertainer - or maybe i just stink. Who knows.

The beautiful Columbia River Gorge.

This picture reminds me how much i like the idea of a flash. Notice the catchlights in her eyes which you can only get with a flash or if you have a reflector and reflect the sun directly in the subject's eyes (which the subject always loves). But my stupid flash batteries kept dying! It annoyed me (and everyone else, no doubt) to no end that my batteries wouldn't even last for one shoot. In the middle of this shoot and the wedding shoot, my newly installed batteries would already be taking forever to recharge. i gotta find some new batteries.

Against the bride and groom's will, i believe, i dragged them over to Multnomah Falls for some more pics. In my defense, the bride did originally request pictures here although her enthusiasm by this time had been severely depleted. This goes to show that a free photographer is not necessarily a nice photographer (that'll teach 'em not to pay me!). But i'm glad we came, i thought the pictures turned out wonderfully!

Look! Come hither, she got it! Yay for me... or for her.

Well, there you have it. Maybe i'll hold out on the wedding pics until someone funds a new portable hard drive for me. Anyone? Anyone?

The Truth is Out There...

Alright, i guess i should finally post the truth, eh? I was waiting for Alysia and Topher to post, but i see where i fit into their blog-checking priorities. By the way, you should be humming or otherwise singing the x-files theme right now, i am.

1. I fell asleep at an Alanniss concert while on a date. Unfortunately, this is true. I don't think my date was very impressed, but i think she should have been. If i can fall asleep in the noisy Delta Center, then i can fall asleep anywhere. And i really can, ask Jen. She's always trying to talk to me at night and i'm falling asleep. i used to fall asleep during my buddy's drum lessons! And i was sitting right next to him in a small room. Oi!
2. I'm a Ute fan. i don't feel being a Ute fan and Cougar fan have to be exclusive. I went to the Y and i went to the U, i like both their teams, and cheer for them whenever they play. I typically don't know who to cheer for when they play eachother, and there have been many years where i wanted the Utes to win simply because it would mean an undefeated season, or they were just having a better year - but deep down, i still root for the Y. It's probably a result of having grown up outside of Utah in the Church and going to the church-house to watch Y games on satellite. But there ya have it, i like 'em both.
3. Came face to face with a cougar and two cubs while mtn biking. Yep, back when we lived in California my parents wouldn't ever give me a ride anywhere and i had heard of a trail that was quite a ways away. So i hopped on my bike and rode it about an hour to the trailhead. Got on the trail and came around the first turn and there, in the middle of the trail was a cougar with two baby cubs. i couldn't believe it! She was just standing there, no more than 10-15 yards aways, so i got off my bike, put it between us, and took a drink from my water bottle. As a i looked up, i saw her take off into the bushes. Since it took me so long to get out there, there was no way i was heading back without the ride, so i waited a few minutes, went back a little ways to gain some spead and hauled past there. i heard some rustling in the bushes and didn't look back. It was a fun ride!
4. I nearly drowned in a flash flood. Back when i lived in Missouri, me and my buddies loved to play army in the woods surrounding our houses. One rainy afternoon we headed out and found that one of the little ditches/gulches we loved to play in was a raging little river (more like a raging creek). Anyway, we started playing in it, and came to some places that were like water slides, I slid down one of these mud slides into a big pool and my foot got stuck or something, but i remember i couldn't get back up to the surface; then my buddy grabbed me, pulled me up and we went on our merry way playing in the water.
5. When i got back from my mission, a Jehovah's Witness i had met in Russia started writing me some seriously affectionate letters. I'd gotten along well with her, and thought she was attractive (although, if i remember correctly, she was 30!), and had actually looked forward to heading back to Russia to meet up with her again. Then i met Jen.
6. I won first place in my first half marathon. My first half marathon was in Kiaserslautern, Germnay. i trained by riding my bike a lot, and don't remember if i even even bothered running. Anyway, i ran it and got first place. Granted, i was the only person running in my age group, but hey, i got a cool little trophy and some other prize.
7. One of my photos won something in a photo contest. Ironically enough, i have never submitted one of my photos into a contest. i need to see if it's too late to submit anything for the state fair. But i can never choose which one i like best!

There you have it, now you know even more than you ever wanted to know about me! Thanks for playing.

Kira & Zac at the Great Salt Lake

Alright, until the wedding this should be my last post of Kira and Zac's engagements photos. granted, they're such a cute couple i don't know how anyone could be tired of them.
We took these pictures on a very windy evening out at the Great Salt Lake on the dry lake behind behind Salt Air. We didn't get to shoot for that long because it was already pretty late by the time we got there. But even if it had been earlier, it was so windy we wouldn't have stayed that long anyway.

It was actually kind of funny, because the last time i shot at the Salt Lake it was SUPER buggy! If you've ever been around the Salt Lake this time of year you know what i mean, if you haven't, you're just better off not knowing. I went biking on Antelope Island once with some friends, and i can't even begin to explain to you how miserable it was. No exaggeration here, if i had to picture hell on earth, that would've been it.

Anyway, on the way to the lake, or once there, i remarked that with the strong wind at least the bugs wouldn't be bothering us. As usual, i was wrong. Granted, they couldn't hover and swarm us, but the wind was just blowing them into us. It was like a horizontal bug rain. We were constantly getting pelted with bugs. Kira and Zac absolutely hated it, but were real patient anyway.

And then of course we had to walk through the weird salt mud to get out to the lake; nobody seemed to appreciate that. Well, maybe Anya did - she, Jen and Aaron came out to the lake too. But at least no one was buzzing us in an ultralite (parachute with a motor). Last time i shot there someone kept flying really close to us and the wash from his motor would mess up the bride's hair. But we had fun anyway, right Kira? Kira...? Hmmm... maybe not.


I know a lot of these sunset pictures are really similar, but i couldn't decide which one i liked best. Sorry. BTW - i posted completely from Edit Html, and didn't have any problems with the pictures. I'm not sure if it was the fact that i chose None for the formatting on the picture, or that i never switched over to Compose, which apparently messes stuff up.