Sucia Island

Last week, my best friend flew out to Seattle from Washington DC for a week of vacation. The weather being as good as it was, it only made sense for us to remove ourselves from the craziness of the city for at least a couple days. So we decided to go boating in the San Juan Islands (northwest corner of Washington state… next to Canada). Since taking a three week kayak trip several years back, this place has sort of become a fortress of solitude (yep… superman reference). Since taking this trip, I typically make it up there at least once a year for some relaxation and reflection. Last year, my dad and I took a boating trip through the islands and up to the Canadian Gulf Islands. That was when I was only beginning my photographic journey. However, some of the shots turned out pretty well.

This shot was from that trip last year. we dropped anchor in this isolated cove for the night. Nearby there was a small opening in the land masses, and from the right point it appeared as though it were the edge of the world. Mix that angle with the shades of colors and it’s not a bad photo.

Each island has it’s own story, which contributes to their appeal. One of the San Juan islands played home to a rich and eccentric man who collected African animals and shipped them to this island as a local preserve (think Jurassic Park). As the story goes, the country’s wildlife departments and organizations didn’t like that too much, so he abandoned the project, but left the animals. So it is said that to this day there is an island with African wildlife.

D’Arcy island, in the Canadian Gulf used to be a leper colony. It is positioned adjacent to an active ship lane and people would be sent to this island to live/die. The creepiest part is that the ravens on the island are very talkative and make a wide variety of noises.

This time around we only stayed a single night in a Sucia Island bay. The inlet we chose faces west, which lends itself to some pretty epic sunsets. I stood on the back of the boat for a good 20 minutes taking a variety of shots. The water was like glass, and there were a few clouds to accent the sky, which made the shots even better.

 

Not bad eh?

-Elldub

To everyone who has asked for photo prints!!

Today is the day I begin monetization. It's a big day, and while the process isn’t quite perfect (buttons and links are appearing in illogical places on the page) I think it’s a big step forward for me. To kick off this milestone, I’m including several of my photographs for which I’ve received print requests, or feedback that suggests they would make for good prints. This will also help me get ready for my first photo showing in October (stay tuned for more details there).

At any rate. Please enjoy.

 

San Juan Sun Stream:

 

Where soul meets body:

 

With these hands:

 

In the desert:

 

Watch for Signs:

 

Observed Loneliness:

 

It’s blowing in the wind:
 

 

Kirby:

 

Like the corners of my mind:

 

March Forth for Peace:

 

  We’re nowhere, but man we’re alright:

 

The Opera House:

 

 

Czech Wall:

 

Thinking Tree:

 

The view through the window:

Archangel:

 

 

WWI Memorial:

 

 

BC Water Shack:

 

Forbidden Cauldron:

 

 

Panorama of the Louvre:

 

Sun King:

 

French Fresco:

 

American City:

 

Hear me roar:

 

Angel of the American Revolution:

If you remember seeing a photo on the blog that you don’t see here, just look for the blog post and there should be a link next to each of the photos that are for sale. Happy e-commerce!!

 

-Elldub

Bucket of Honey = Barrel of Laughs

  This was a fun photo shoot. There have been some very difficult shoots lately, but this one was creative, wacky, and enjoyable. Annie, who you may recognize from previous posts, recently started a band with her roommate. The sound is a mix of comedic banter, peppy and re-worked cover songs, and a small roster of original songs. I was able to catch a show last Saturday, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Seeing them perform really helped me conceptualize the shoot. As a result, I think we managed to come up with something interesting and unique to the stuff I normally take. The three main things we were going for;

- Interesting
- Unusual
- a series that mimicked the band Swell Season (from the movie “Once”) 

The duo will be playing the Sunset Tavern on September 6th.

So…. thoughts?

 

-Elldub

Maui Wedding? Sure!

Well I’m obviously back from Maui (the rumors of a hurricane were greatly exaggerated). The island was definitely beautiful, and despite a little wind and some sleep deprivation it was actually quite pleasant. I’ve spent nearly every spare moment since my return, editing the photos from the weekend. I think I’m finally at a point where I’m ready to share and tell the story of the Schneider wedding. 

Last year I was asked to take the engagement photos for the cousin of a friend of mine. I had met her a couple times, but didn’t know her too well. I had just begun taking photos, and I was happy to try an official shoot of sorts. At the time, I thought they turned out okay. Looking back I feel I’ve gotten better. See the photo to the right. At any rate, I’ve since grown to know David and Melissa quite well, and I was honored that they wanted to fly me out to Maui to take photos for their big day. So several months after agreeing, I found myself on a plane headed to Hawaii with my camera gear in tow.

The day before the wedding, I drove around the island with David and Melissa to visit the ceremony site and scout locations for the “trash the dress” session we had been planning for in between the ceremony and the reception. I think it ended up taking longer than any of us anticipated, but it was a good time and we got some great photos from it.

David (the groom) was determined to set up a live video feed to webcast the wedding ceremony for people back home. I don’t think he figured it out, but he really gave it his all while we were there checking it out the day before. This photo pretty much captures the scene. David on the phone troubleshooting with a friend back home as various tech items are scattered in his wake. Pretty funny in retrospect.

When Watching David talk on the phone grew less interesting, Melissa and I walked around the grounds and took some photos.

The area where the ceremony was to take place the next day was back in the trees and was going to be in the middle of the afternoon. This meant two things… harsh light, and sharp shadows. So in an attempt to predict what that would be like to work with, Melissa stood in for a couple quick shots, I really happened to like this one.

The shadows weren’t as much an issue near the under cover area, but the lighting changed with every cloud movement, and so I found myself looking up as much as I was looking forward. It was definitely a challenge keeping my camera set to take correctly exposed photos. For every one that turned out, there’s easily six that didn’t. Eventually I had two cameras going (one with a telephoto, and the other with a wide angle) and they were both taking rapid fire photos. In total, I ended the day with over 2000 photos (roughly 16GB). That’s as much computer hard drive space as my entire college computer.

The day of the ceremony was beautiful. I woke up early and followed the bride around all morning to record the various events leading up to the ceremony. David had little to do to prepare, and since there was only one of me it was determined that I was going to be the bride’s shadow all morning. I was competing with the bride’s mother for that title. It was simply adorable as she looked on her daughter with such pride. She was so attentive and interested, this made for some great captures in the bridal suite. There were several similar shots to choose from, but this ended up being my favorite in the series. 

Being in the room for a few hours prior to the ceremony gave me plenty of opportunities to search for interesting shots. The room wasn’t very big, and most of the brides maids hadn’t arrived yet, so I really searched for something to mix up the photos of the bride getting ready. As I was pacing in the room i caught a glimpse of this reflection and paused to capture it. The groom’s mother doing the bride’s hair. It seemed sweet and worthy of recording. They got along so well, and this shot captured that pretty well.

As the bride was getting herself ready, people slowly started arriving (including the groom). While the bride was changing in to her dress, I left her side to go see what was going on elsewhere. To no surprise, David was still working to get the webcam up and running…. it didn’t work. However it was at that time that it occurred to me that 80% of the photos I had of just the  groom also contained a computer somewhere in the shot. Coincidence? Maybe.

The bride was dressed fairly quickly, and after a equally fast shot of tequila with the moms and bridesmaids, we were off and ready. The walk from the bridal ready-room to the garden was roughly 200 yards, so the bridesmaids chipped in and held the train while in formation and they were off. The whole way, Melissa (the bride) had an ear to ear grin on her face. It was precious. For as much as we all hear about cold feet before a wedding, if Melissa had them, nobody could tell. Certainly not the camera.  This shot looks like she’s practically running to the ceremony.

As things got underway, I could tell tears were coming… and they did. I will hold from posting those photos because it looks misleading without context. There’s no question that they were tears of joy, but without being there it’s unclear. The minister who presided over the ceremony had a few unique elements that I hadn’t seen before. For example, he gathered sand from the beach and a glass jar. He gave each of them half of the sand, and together they filled the jar until it was full. It was like a Maui version of the “unity candle” except they could take it with them as a memento. Beautiful metaphor. 

Before we new it, the bride and groom were man and wife and kissing. This is arguably the most important photo of the entire event. After being frustrated with several shots leading up to this point, I was relieved and thrilled to see how well these shots turned out. The lighting at that particular moment agreed with the aperture setting on my camera, and these crisp and colorful images  required almost no touch-up work.

Between the engagement shoot I did for the couple last year, the photos from the day before, and everything leading up to this moment, I had seen these two kiss several dozen times. But this moment was probably the most passionate and loving I had ever seen from them. It is indescribable as you look at their faces. It either makes you think of the last time you felt something that pure, or makes you want something like that. Either way, I love this photo. 

Immediately following the ceremony, Mister and Mrs. Schneider and I drove out to a couple local beaches for what’s affectionately referred to as a “trash the dress” photo shoot. Melissa loved the idea, but even though we had planned on it, I half expected her to change her mind when we got out there…. she didn’t.  Despite having such strong backlighting from the mid day sun, the shots turned out pretty well. And for those of you thinking “what the hell was she doing?!?” the dress didn’t get too destroyed.  This shot on the right is among my favorites because it looks as though the two are dancing in the surf. At the request of my mom (who is one of my biggest fans) I cropped the shot to just show their feet. It was a brilliant idea, I liked that version so much that I’ve turned it in to a postcard-sized image.

David and Melissa were great sports, and took direction exceptionally well, and they also had a handful of ideas they knew they wanted. This photo to the left was Melissa’s idea. It was so windy that weekend, that she knew her veil wouldn’t stay on, so she asked that we get one of just her with the veil blowing in the wind  It worked out beautifully.

The walk down to the beach they chose was a little treacherous, and despite looking beautiful, Melissa didn’t want to be seen by a bunch of strangers. So we took a back trail to a more secluded part of the beach. This worked out quite well for the photos. It gives the appearence that it’s only the two of them in the whole world… and for several moments throughout the day, it was. 

We had lots of time to kill as the wedding party raced to the reception location to set up. So we really took our time on the beach and I’m glad we did. I think these will be among their favorites to look back on. This shot to the right is among my favorites. they look like they’re ready to step out in to a new world. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s what comes to mind when I see this one. After capturing all we could on the beach, we drove over to the reception where everyone was waiting for their arrival. The awaiting crowd of guests attempted to blow bubbles in to the tropical storm winds… it sorta worked. 

The famished crowd quickly followed them inside for food, beverage, and conversation. Soon, the sun began to set and I was forced to operate with only my flash. I haven’t yet gotten to those photos. But suffice it to say that it was yet another challenge. After a long day and little time to sit and rest, taking a moment to eat was very welcomed. The toasts were insightful, the bride and groom looked very pleased with the day, and it was soon time to eat cake and race off to the after party on the roof of one of the rented condos. After two full days of photos. I left my camera in the room and had a drink instead :).

Overall it was a tremendous experience. I learned a lot, and I’m relatively pleased with the results. While I obviously didn’t post all of the photos on this blog, I assure you there are many more. As always, let me know what you think!

-Elldub

What would you hang on your wall?

 

Lately I’ve been envisioning some cool images to hang on walls. I was given the opportunity to show some work in October, and since then I’ve been realizing that most of my photos are portraits. This leaves very little to sell (since nobody really wants a photo of another person). Therefore I’ve been working to  assemble a collection of my other photos… and even create some works of art from rather pedestrian photos I’ve taken while on my various travels.

This fresco looking painting to the left was something I ran across while in a pizza place in NY with my friend Scott. The original (right) was taken while I was sitting, which led to a poor angle for the photo. I corrected the dimensions, rotated the image, brought back some sharpness, and added more texture. I wanted it to look like it was cut out of an old French wall. I would love to have this printed large (and maybe on canvas) hanging in my kitchen. It would need to be a floor to ceiling print, but you get the idea.

I recently flew to Hawaii to photograph a wedding. I was seated in the very back of the plane, which means no reclining seats…. huge bummer. So instead I tried to come up with a photo splice that looked like a work of art.  So I spliced together a photo of the Louis XIV statue at the Louvre (right), with another photo I took of the historic Paris city backdrop (left) . I adjusted the lighting, color, and texture, to give it the look of something you’d see in the Louvre. The result was one that I was very pleased with. It conveys a sense of movement, and I think ol’ Louis would appreciate the look of power in the image.

The End Result:

What do you think? Would you hang either on your wall?

 

-Elldub

Meet the Schneiders

IMG_8166edit
Originally uploaded by lwestcoat

I just returned from Maui to photograph the wedding of Melissa & David Schneider. It was a beautiful weekend, and I will post more photos when they're finished. However in the meantime I wanted to provide you all with a taste. Enjoy!