Inspired and Honored

Let's start with inspiration. I subscribe to a few photography blogs, and this was in one of today's entries.

I love shooting portraits, and have done pretty good with my Big White Box shots, but Dustin Snipes basketball portraits have me rethinking my approach to "portraits with an edge."

I love how Dustin captures the joy and intensity in the young men he shot, and his set up is relatively simple. It is a tribute to Dustin's ability to "see the light" and to make his limits into opportunities. Instead of bitching about less than an idea setting, he made it his own, styled it, and, as Tim Gunn would encourage, made it work.

The Honor - a former co-worker has asked me to shoot her wedding. Okay, after you finish shuddering and cringing come back and read the rest of the story.

The wedding will be a traditional Indian/Hindu wedding, and she wants it shot in a journalistic style instead of normal Western wedding style. I've looked at a few slide shows of other such weddings and am excited about shooting my friend's wedding for her.

There is so much color, texture, pageantry, laughter, and dancing - far from the oh-so-predictable and common Betty Sue and John, Jr. black tux and white gown wedding most. I look forward to working with her and her family to document her joyful day. She will be a beautiful bride!

One last thing for the day. At the moment of posting this, I am under 17 days before my week-long vacation in St. John with my lovely wife. That vacation will be yet another break from my photographic comfort zone as I work on documenting my travel as well as getting unique and beautiful nature and landscape shots. I will try to get a sunrise over the Caribbean, but I can't promise that.