Mike and Beth's Carmel and Monterey Wedding

Last week I had the privilege to shoot Mike and Beth's wedding in Carmel, California. I was really excited coming into the weekend because this would be my smallest wedding of the year with less than 10 people. It is so fun to shoot intimate weddings because I really get to share in the day and get to know everyone who is there.
We started out at the Salon at Lincoln Lane where Beth and her daughter Laura were getting their hair and makeup done. Gaspar and Carrie took great care of us before we headed back to the beautiful Old Monterey Inn. The Inn was an amazing location that I can't wait to visit again and provided a great location for bridal shots! It was so good in fact that I'm going back to shoot a bridal fashion shoot there later in the year.
We then loaded up and headed down to Carmel Beach for the ceremony. Is was pretty breezy but warm enough and the light was gorgeous! It was so cool to have a very free ceremony where everyone was very much a part of the wedding and yet could feel the sand between their toes. Everyone was so happy for Mike and Beth and had a great time, I was totally honored to be a part of such a beautiful wedding.

Down time

My friends Tim and Cheryl Halberg stayed a night with us last weekend. It was a quick visit as they had dinner plans Friday and I had a Carmel wedding on Saturday but it was still great to see them. Tim ran up my back hill in flip-flops and got a couple quick pics of me showing him one of my trails. The jump is a little step-down jump that doesn't look like much but really puts you in the air for a long distance, it's pretty fun for a little guy. I'm all laid up with a nasty cold right now so I can't do much of anything, including riding my bike, so these pictures are making me even more anxious to get back out and ride!
And yes, my dogs get to go on rides with me, aren't they spoiled!

Meghan & Richard's Paso Robles Wedding

I am often far off shooting destination weddings but last week I had the opportunity to shoot Meghan and Richard's wedding in Paso Robles at the River Oaks Hot Springs and Spa. It was great to be a part of their day and being just 15 minutes from home was even sweeter!
We started the day at the salon with the girls then headed over to the beautiful Villa Toscana where the girls got ready. The guys went over to the steakhouse for lunch and drinks then met up with us for pictures before the ceremony. I am very respectful of tradition but I also really enjoy mixing it up! In that vein, we had Meghan and Richard meet before hand so that we could shoot more at Villa Toscana and so that we could have the ceremony just before sunset for the best lighting. It worked out really well as the sunset really made for some beautful moments during the ceremony.
A big thanks goes out to my friend Tim Co. for flying all the way from France to shoot with me!

Change is in the air...

Now that things are starting to slow down a bit I finally have time to catch up on some things...and in the interest of never getting any real down-time...I am now in the middle of a make-over of Colin Michel Photo along with my logo and other branding. I'm really excited about this as I have not really updated my website with new images in almost a year! I am going to do my best to make all the changes over-night and will let you know as soon as it all happens, so keep your eyes out for some exciting new things over the next few weeks!

Elisa and Rob's foothills e-shoot

Last weekend, after my Tahoe bike ride, I went back down to Placerville and met up with Rob and Elisa for their engagement shoot. We met up at Starbucks (which is always difficult as there are so many different Starbucks even in a small town!) then headed up the hill to Boeger Winery which was really pretty and had some amazingly red colored vines. There is so much iron in the soil up there that, combined with their climate, it allows some of the vines to have even more intense fall colors than most other regions. The winery was actually first started during the 1850's gold rush so there were some really interesting old buildings to work with, we had a great time and even tried some wine :)
We then headed back into town and had some dinner then headed back out to do a bit of night shooting which is always my favorite time to shoot! I'm really looking forward to shooting Elisa and Rob's wedding here in a couple weeks as they are really fun people and they have an amazing connection with each other.

Like Father, Like Son!

After my last post you all know that I love riding bikes so I had to share these pics from this morning of my son Caiden learning to ride his tricycle. He has been riding in the trailer behind my bike for over a year and loves to push his tricycle around but has only just learned to pedal it.

You can just about see the 'wheels' turning in his head!


"My feet are on but now what?"


He's trying really hard here :)


Now he's rolling along!


He is really getting the hang of it and now is asking me to let him take it on the jumps! I'm sure In no time he will be up on two wheels hitting my jumps, berms and drops!

Lake Tahoe

I just got back from a real quick trip to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe for an engagement session which was a blast! But more about that later :)
I stayed with my long time friends Ian and Casey and their two kids at their home just above Placerville. Ian and I rode and raced mountain bikes together all through high school and both still ride as much as possible. We headed up the hill to Tahoe with Ian's friend Jerry (also an ex-racer) at the wheel to squeeze in a ride before we all had work to do. As soon as we pulled up we knew we were in for a pretty unique experience as there was way more snow than we expected! The ride started at about 7,000 feet, dropped down to the town of Meyers, which is near South Lake Tahoe, then headed up to about 8,500 feet where Mr. Toads trail begins. As we got close to the top the snow went from patches to a solid blanket but was only about 4 inches deep and offered enough traction to still ride.
Truly, the downhill was the most fun I have ever had! The downhill is about 5 or 6 miles long and was completely snow covered 3/4 of the way down. I managed to only crash twice and had the time of my life. All said and done, we rode just about 30 miles with a little more than 4,000 feet of climbing in about 3 1/2 hours which wasn't bad considering how much the snow slowed us down.
I can't wait to ride that trail again though I have a feeling that it will never be quite as much fun as it was yesterday.

Sorry I didn't take more pictures but I was way too busy having a great time! This first picture was what we saw getting out of the car. The snow was pretty patchy so the trail was easy enough.



I was wearing a ton of clothing, I look like a marshmallow but I was warm! It was 25 degress when we got out on the trail and probably about 30 in this picture. If you look real carefully you can see a couple tire tracks that showed us where the trail is. We were very lucky in that someone who obviously knew every corner of the trail had gone through the day before and we could follow their tracks.


Here is Ian showing off his bike handling skills. What you don't see is that he has to make a 90 degree left turn right at the bottom to avoid going off a 30 foot drop-off into rocks!

Scott and Paige San Francisco Wedding!

Scott and Paige did it! With just two months to plan they managed to pull off an amazing wedding! Not only did they get their friends and family from all over the country to their beautiful San Francisco wedding but they also put a lot of their personalities into it. I feel so blessed to have been asked to shoot this wedding as they are both very into the arts and appreciate fine photography.
I started the day with Paige in her suite at the luxurious Hotel Griffon near the Bay Bridge on the Embarcadero. The lighting was fantastic so I was able to really push my lighting techniques to get some amazing portraits! We then headed over to the Swedenborgian Church on Nob Hill for their beautiful ceremony. September is a beautiful time in San Francisco, it was about 70 degrees and sunny, you really couldn't have asked for better weather!
The reception was at the St. Francis Yacht Club right on the water in the Marina. Everyone had a great time and we pretty much closed the place down but not before I got in a few great night shots!
Huge thanks goes to my friend Jason Groupp for flying out from New York to help out!
There are way too many great images from this wedding to post here...so I will put my favorite 30 or so up on my website later this week!


Paige looked amazing, and wasn't the light phenomenal?


Pretty hot shoes :)


Beautiful dress (I'm totally blanking on the designer but am sure I will remember as soon as I post this!)


Jason shot this great image of the guys


Jason's amazing image of the groom just before he headed into the chapel


Paige having a great time just as she is about to walk down the aisle


They did!


We took a convertable down the hill to the Yacht club, it was a perfect day for it


This is one of my favorite images from the wedding, it really shows how passionate they are for each other!