They got me...

Ahh, they finally caught up with me! I am on standby for my civic duty so if you aren't able to get ahold of me I am sitting on a trial. This is actually the slowest time of the year for me so it is probably the best time for jury duty...as long as it doesn't keep me from vacation at the end of the month!

Martin Paris Band

Over the weekend I shot the Martin Paris Band. They are a great local band that does lots of gigs at weddings and winery events. I recently saw them play at Summerwood Winery just down the street and they were a ton of fun. I just put up one of their songs on my website, go check it out at ColinMichaelphoto.com
We got together down at the Paso Robles train station for a shoot on a breezy and cold November afternoon. As soon as I got setup one of my strobes (a strobe is a big studio flash) started acting up so we shot without it for awhile. After the light warmed up it started working again and we were able to get these couple of really cool images.
In case anyone is wondering, these images were taken around 4pm on a cloudy day. All I do to create this effect is to turn up the power on my strobe so the exposure is around +1 1/2 stops over the ambient light. This makes the background darker than the areas affected by my strobe and I really like the effect.

Flowers in Fall

This has been such a beautiful and warm fall that the flowers have decided to return! This was taken on the road up to my home, quite an interesting plant to be flowering in November. If someone knows what it is please email me.

Something a bit different

I wanted to really challenge myself photographically so I decided to try an underwater photoshoot. No, I have never done underwater photography before. No, I don't own any special underwater equipment. No, I haven't ever tried anything even remotely close to this before but I am really happy with the images. So much so that I might just get myself some underwater equipment so I can get some even better images.
The model is my friend Jessica whose wedding I will be shooting in Mexico next year. Look for more pics of her soon; we are doing an engagement shoot, bridal's and a trash-the-dress session. She is very photogenic and works hard to get the best images; she must have dove under me about 50 times to get these shots!

Sam and John

My good friends Jon and Sam never had any engagement shots done (I didn't shoot their wedding) so I took them up to Sonoma State University so they could have something to make up for it.
We ran around campus and had a great time. Sam thought it was so funny how the camera seems to give me the power to get just about anything to happen. I ask Jon to carry Sam, he carries her. I ask Sam to do the same, she gives it a shot! I thought about asking them to jump into this fountain but thought better of it ;)

Jeanné & Andy's Wedding Happening!

What an amazing and unique wedding! I had so much fun shooting this one for Studio 101 West. Jeanné and Andy are wonderful people and cyclists as well; as soon as I found out that they are avid mountain bikers and highly involved in the local cycling scene I knew we would get along famously.
The day started off rainy but Jeanné was confident it would clear up (which it did). We started at the Quality Suits in Uptown San Luis Obispo which has some great hallways and gardens. The ceremony was held at the historic Jack House which is a beautiful location in the heart of SLO's downtown area. Beautiful location, beautiful bride and fun groomsmen, what wasn't to love!
Many of the guests were the cyclists that I normally see out on the trails; there were so many ultra-fit people (including Jeanné and Andy) that I didn't eat dinner!
The first Thursday of every month in SLO there is an event called the "Bike Happening" where local cyclists kind of take back the streets from cars. For the perfect end to the wedding we had a "Wedding Happening" in which we sent off Jeanné and Andy via a lap around downtown. I can't say it was the safest thing I have ever done to take pictures with 7 lbs. of professional digital camera equipment in one hand and a 40 year old rusty brake lever in the other but I made it and got a few great pictures as well.
I can't wait to ride with them again!

They Did!

Ok, I am a bit late here (again!) as Clint and Jen tied the knot on September 9th, but better late than never right?
It was a beautiful ceremony at Atascadero Bible Church with everyone in a very relaxed mood. In fact, Jen was so relaxed and ahead of the game that she was actually early to the wedding; who has ever heard of a bride being early?! Something that was pretty touching was a really cool slideshow during the ceremony that had tons of pictures from their lives, both growing up and since they have been together. I was most impressed by a picture of Clint in his truck about 8 feet in the air, though I will remember to never buy a used car from him!
After the ceremony we went to the park in Paso Robles for a few pictures (where the above pic was taken) then on to the reception at the beautiful Park Street Ballroom. The food was amazing, Matthew's at the Airport did the catering and even had a nearly perfect cheese plate. I ate way too much Triple Cream and Stilton with apricots, I almost didn't have room for dinner.
I had a great time and am so glad I got to be there. I was really happy with some of the shots I got everyone dancing, the Park Street Ballroom is a truly gorgeous location.

Moon over Sextant Vineyard

As many of you already know, I do a lot of work for vineyards in addition to my wedding work. Nancy Stoller from the up and coming Sextant Wines asked me to do some vineyard shots including some more creative work using the full moon. I love it when I get a chance in my commercial work to be creative. The above is my favorite image of the shoot.

Joe and Bianca

So this is a pretty random story...I get call from a friend (also a photographer) from Fresno who knows a photographer from New York who is doing a wedding in San Luis Obispo and needs some help. I had the day free and I love to shoot with other photographers so I emailed her. It turns out the wedding is for an old Cal Poly friend of mine Joe Koenig and his longtime girlfriend Bianca. Talk about a small world! Joe is an awesome graphic designer who does lots of work for surf companies.
I meet with Catherine Hall and she is this really amazing and talented photographer and just a generally fun person to be around. You know those people who are just so happy they make you smile and put you in a good mood? Yup, that's Catherine. She does lots of editorial work all over the world, you really should check out her site. To make everything even more fun Catherine is long time friends with the bride, Bianca. It really was too funny.
It was a beautiful day on the beach at Cayucos and they had a great band "The Jammies" play the reception. Everyone rocked out until the wee hours of the morning--that is always a sign that everyone is having fun!




And did I mention that a lot of my friends were there too? I always do my best to make everyone look good! Here's my good friend Brad showing off his dance moves!

Cait, just a bit late

Steph's sister Caitlin and her longtime boyfriend Matt visited last weekend all the way from Arkansas. Arkansas you ask? Yup, her parents both went to the U of A so she kept the streak alive! I didn't have any weddings scheduled so we decided to go out and have some fun. We did some serious shots, but a lot of funny stuff that I use as concept development for use later at weddings--you didn't really think I just came up with new ideas on the spot did you?! Ha ha, I wish!
We all had a great time and got some really fun shots, here are a couple of our favorites.

No, REALLY!

People keep asking me why I like to shoot weddings so much, I tell them it is just so much fun. For some reason they are always skeptical; I guess that show "Bridezilla" on TV really scares some people :) Seriously, as a photographer who put in nearly 4 years at a paper, I have shot SOOOO many people who did not want their picture taken that I began to wonder if there was general camera shyness in our society! Now I get to share in the happiest day of peoples lives, documenting the occasion for everyone to see for years to come. How could I not love weddings!?

UC Davis with Clint and Jen

I rarely do morning shoots (if you have ever been around me before my coffee you know why!), but Clint and Jen are really good people so I decided to drive out to UC Davis campus for an e-shoot. I am so glad I did! Not only were Clint and Jen absolutely awesome to work with, but there are some really interesting buildings out there. There was this one faculty office building nicknamed the "Death Star" that Jen suggested brining food and water for. I thought maybe she was exaggerating a bit until I was so lost I couldn't even tell which way would get me out! I think the whole building was some mean professor's idea of a way to keep freshmen intimidated :)
Seriously though, Clint and Jen were great and their hard work really shows in the images we were able to get. I am really looking forward to shooting their wedding in September in Paso for Studio 101 West.