As a photographer, I have a short "bucket list" of venues I hope to shoot at in my career. The One & Only Ocean Club was near the top, and I can't believe I already got to cross it off my list... Shooting there was a dream, and staying at the resort for three days completely changed this Floridian's mind of what a tropical experience could be. The beautiful and photogenic venue was matched only by the most gracious and amazing clients. Meghan and Andrew and their wonderful families went above and beyond to ensure that all the vendors were treated like family, including every member of the hotel and catering staff. In the words of her father, "Meghan has always been very very kind, very gentle, talk about words like elegance..." I could not agree more. From their engagement session in St. Louis, to their elegant and intimate wedding at the One & Only Ocean Club, I could not be more thankful for the experience. I'm so happy Voila Cinematic was there shooting beside me, because they truly captured the essence of the day in this gorgeous film.Special thank you to Julie Brewer for being a phenomenal second shooter.More images featured on Style Me Pretty's Main Page
Top 12 of 2012
Going in to 2013, I’m asking myself the question - Can I possibly top 2012? To be completely honest, most of December, I was almost accepting that 2013 would be good, but couldn’t possibly top 2012. Through aggressive planning and goal setting for 2013, I’m slowly setting my sights higher and higher, and my outlook for 2013 just keeps getting better.In 2012, my goal was 33 weddings - I ended with 38. Of those, 4 were destinations and 4 were for photographers. While traveling so much and working with so many clients can feel overwhelming at times, the best goal I set for 2012 was to only work with clients I had a genuine connection with, and clients I was truly excited about working with. The result, I hardly ever felt like I was working.Before I move forward, I want to take a moment to reflect on an amazing year.So, here is my top 12 of 2012… (I made a list of 30)
In May of 2002, I read an issue of Adventure Magazine titled, Secret of the Great Parks. For Glacier National Park, a singular quote has stuck with me ever since – “The Milky Way up here is nearly as bright as the moon is elsewhere”. Needless to say, for more than 10 years, I dreamt of the day I would experience Glacier National Park.
The morning after viewing the most incredible stars I’ve ever seen, we began the journey to Ptarmigan Tunnel, which would become our first glimpse of the high country of Glacier National Park, on the clearest day I could possibly imagine. We opted to trek as far as we could to the tunnel… There was snow and the last mile or so was quite precarious, but if I’ve learned anything… The most valued journeys almost always require risk. Upon returning from this epic climb, we returned to base camp to meet some of the most amazing people from a place I knew nothing about, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 
Lake Superior is the biggest and cleanest of the great lakes, and has a gorgeous color, dramatic cliffs and dunes, and even has beautifully colored pebbles and stones along the shore. But there’s more, the miles of pristine shores have a certain personality, a certain untouched and unspoken beauty. In a town like Marquette, you’ll find 30,000 permanent residents full of pride that live at a slower place, and don’t take a single summer day for granted. I mean how could you, when the beautiful weather only lasts a few short months (I’ll argue that their snowy days are beautiful, but I’ve never lived in frigid temperatures). Those who live in the Upper Peninsula are fully aware of what they have; yet somehow they manage to keep the Upper Peninsula one of the best-kept secrets in America. This summer, I got to visit the Upper Peninsula twice; it was only toward the end of the second trip that I really began to understand. 
Six years ago, I traveled to a place beyond my wildest imagination. A national park where in one day, you can be among the towering sea stacks along the Pacific Coast, then a temperate rain forest with giant Sitka Spruce and Douglas Fir trees covered in moss, and finish the day off with Glacier covered peaks in the Olympic range. This September, I was fortunate enough to return, but this time, I ventured in to the backcountry. In the rainforest, we heard Elk bugling, we saw a black bear cross the Hoh River right near our campsite, and we trekked through a place where we felt small, but feeling small wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The ranger apologized to us as we entered the rainforest because she knew we wouldn’t see a cloud or drop of rain the entire time we were in the rainforest.
After spending an incredible night camped beside the Hoh River, we left the river valley and rainforest to make the grueling but epic climb to where the Hoh River originates, the Blue Glacier on Mt. Olympus. To reach the next camp, we climbed more than 2800 ft and traversed a rope ladder across a portion of the trail that was washed way by an avalanche. We turned in early, and rose at 4:30 AM to face a seemingly endless vertical climb. The entire climb, the rocky trail kept the glacier field and the peak of Mt. Olympus hidden. We persisted, and just as the sun broke the plane of the horizon, the most epic of views burst upon us. On the ridge, we saw the warm morning light gracefully illuminate the very tip of the peaks, and the steady wind reminded us of the temperature. We were close enough to actually hear the glacier creaking as it slowly carved its way beneath us. Time moved as slowly as the glacier itself. The only thing that took us away from the view was the 17-18 mile day ahead of us.
Destination Wedding
Never would I have dreamt of working with such gracious and amazing clients, in such a gorgeous and romantic setting. All that aside, this was officially my first international wedding. While it was just across the water in the Bahamas, it marks the accomplishment of a goal. If this is a preview of things to come, I cannot wait for my weddings in 2013. These clients went above and beyond to ensure that all the vendors were treated like family, including every member of the hotel and catering staff. The full blog post is coming soon.
This shoot also marked another accomplishment; this image alone received 238 likes, 14 shares, 23 comments on Facebook, and also shattered my previous record for visits on my blog. I’ll admit it; I’ve seen the notebook quite a few times… The last time I saw it was just a few days before I met with Courtney and Paul. Maybe they saw it on TV as well, because we had the same ideas for the engagement session… I had the perfect location to fit the shoot, and they had the perfect outfits.
Nothing says nostalgia like the single coated lens of an old Rollei and a Black and White film with high silver content. And nothing excites me quite as much as experimenting with new cameras and film. While I’m always pleased with my current film work, looking through a waist level viewfinder, shooting square format, and composing with a “mirror image”, are all things I’m unaccustomed to, and forced me to look hard, think long, and only then press the shutter.
I started shooting film again more than 2.5 years ago, yet I never took the leap of shooting 100% film for a wedding. If any client was going to understand the beauty of film, it was my right hand, Carissa. It is an absolute honor that she would choose me to shoot her wedding after so many hours of shooting and working together. I look forward to continue working together in 2013
Toyota Prius
Ever since I was in college, the conservationist in me wanted the Toyota Prius. In the past year, I was enticed by other vehicles, but in the end, I loved the redesign of the body, and I knew I would love getting 50 MPG. I also knew that always competing to break personal fuel efficiently records would make me a safer driver. So far, my record is 54.5 and 56.5 MPGS over 50 or more miles.
Every year, I pledge to shoot more personal work, yet it always seems to be put on the back burner. Starting in 2012, I started a project that is very close to my heart, modeled after one of my favorite books, the Secret Garden. In 2012, I tilled the soil for this personal project, and in 2013 I hope to see and photograph many blooms.
Out with the old, in with the new. My old personal and nature website, dated back to 2006. While many of the images remain the same, the new website offers a simpler and more beautiful place to showcase my work. So the new site has my newest images as well as old, and will have information on a 1 on 1 workshop, business consulting, and new and exciting print options.
2013 plans include a summer trip to Zion National Park, a Colorado trip in autumn, a continuation of the garden project, and hopefully more destination weddings and engagement sessions. I plan to make things happen this year.
Meghan + Andrew :: St. Louis Engagement Session
Today I leave for Meghan and Andrew's amazing wedding at a venue that's been on my bucket list for a few years now... The One & Only Ocean Club, on Paradise Island, Bahamas. Not only are they gracious enough to bring me down to the Bahamas for their intimate wedding, but they flew me up to St. Louis for their engagement session just a few weeks ago. Prior to this shoot, I only drove through St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch, so I didn't know much about the city... But Meghan and Andrew made sure I saw the best parts of the city, so I have a new found love/respect for St. Louis. I'll be honest, the crepes I had the morning after the shoot might have sealed the deal.
