Anonymous Comments

We recently had an anonymous comment from someone. It said "dumb". That's it, no explanation, no other comment and they didn't say who it was from.
Seriously, do we still live in a 3rd grade society? Can people no longer articulate their thoughts into meaningful comments? We live in a time where people are free to say what they want, when they want. The dictionary is larger than ever now and getting filled more everyday with new phrases, new words and new definitions. Yet people still regress back to an adolescent communication ability.
If you read this and are the anonymous commenter, please feel free to comment on any post and as often as you want. At least leave your name and a comment that is coherent and actually worth reading. There is nothing wrong with having an opinion and expressing that opinion. Nobody cares, however, for for an anonymous, meaningless, and utterly vague comment. It's a waste of your time to write it, my time to read it, and more of my time to remove it.
For everyone else, enjoy the images, read our thoughts, and comment freely!
Cheers!

A "Legacy" series

We are releasing our legacy series in the close future and have been shooting some families, in the mean time, to use for our promo material. Today we were able to shoot the Fausett family. I have been looking forward to this shoot because I have not had a chance to spend much time with the youngest, Willy. He was a perfect model for the shoot this morning. Everything that we asked him to do, he did. He was easy to communicate with and in a great mood. --which can be, as most of us parents know, a real hit-n-miss at that age.
Anyway we had a great time look forward to looking through the rest of the images.


Thanks again you guys for coming over for our shoot this morning. I really enjoyed it! don't let it be so long before the next time we do your pictures!! Trisdan, we are going to be starting our photo classes soon, let me know if you want some information.
Your kids are truly beautiful, you are pretty blessed parents!
Take care!

On the river bank

It has been a while since we shot in this particular spot on the river. It was really overgrown with trees and weeds since we were there last, which made things a bit more challenging. Anyway we were able to meet up with the Gale family before sunset and take advantage of the light to get some really nice images of the family. Aside from the grumpy older brother, everything went well. The twins are way cute, each with such different personalities. It is really nice to shoot such a cute family! (next time we'll have to shoot your family in the morning before any of the kids run off to the pool and stay all day without telling you) Take care you guys!! We look forward to getting the rest of your images ready and out to you!

A beautiful Friday Wedding

While being deployed in Iraq Travis was not able to help much as Jacqie and her mom planned an amazing wedding. He only returned a few weeks prior to the wedding and minus a few toenails was in great shape for their day.
Jacqie also suffered a foot injury, being smashed in a door the night before the wedding. Though her foot was swollen Jacqie was able to tough it out and enjoy a great wedding.
We started the Friday wedding at 1:00 with Desiree meeting Jacqie in the presidential suite at the Hyatt in downtown ABQ. Once again Desiree's secret survival kit came in handy, being able to sew up a bridesmaid's dress.
While Desiree was photographing Jacqie, keeping her company and running errands, I was off to Corrales to meet with and photograph Travis and the guys.
Jacqie looked beautiful stepping out of the limo into the rose garden at the botanical garden. The ceremony was short and sweet and happened without any problem.
The reception at the Hyatt was amazing. They did a great job with the decorating, serving, and just creating a great atmosphere for the reception. Mille Fleur provided amazing flowers and Karen with Celebrations Coordinated the wedding and did a great job keeping everything together. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time shooting it. all 12 hours!

more images from Jacqie and Travis' Wedding

A few more?!

ol' skool

Bored with some of the slow progress of digital photography in our area. We've taken a retro approach to some of our recent wedding images. Photographers can often get stuck in the same ol' same ol' being content with knocking out the same cookie cutter images. Though they may be perfectly enjoyable images. They get old, seeing the same image with the people, being the only difference. I have been guilty of that on occasion.
Anyway, in trying to step out of the box, I went back into the box and looked at some really old wedding images and portraits a-la "American Gothic".
This is our interpretation of the old school image with a digital approach.
enjoy!

MOM-E-2-B

OK Stephanie, here is your sneak preview of your images. I just randomly went through the session and pulled out three that popped out at me. I know going into the session you weren't quite sure what direction you wanted to take it so hopefully we were able to capture something that you will love.
I look forward to looking at the rest of the images and getting them ready for you. I am also looking forward to September when we can welcome Daddy's little boy, and photograph his first few days with you two. Keep resting, keep your skinny ankles! You look great. Derek, you should be proud that you have such a hot pregnant wife!!
Thanks again you two, we had a great time.

Long delayed post

We had a visit today from one of our favorite clients ( we have many favorite clients). We have had the great pleasure of working with her family for a while now and have been able to photograph them a few times. They have been blessed to two very cute girls and one devil. (most almost two year olds are devils though) Anyway, our last shoot was at the park where we were able to capture the kids just playing together.
We look forward to working with you guy again Mika. (sorry for the delay)!!!

Let there be light - ning

We were driving home from a wedding a couple of weeks ago and stopped on the side of the road to try and photograph some of the amazing lightning that was crashing over Albuquerque. We don't get as many thunderstorm as other parts of the country but when we do, they can really be great.
Somebody asked me how to photograph lightning... Well the first thing is to find a nice thunderstorm. Second, find a nice camera. Third, DO NOT TAKE MY ADVICE AND PHOTOGRAPH LIGHTNING. YOU MAY GET STRUCK AND DIE! Finally, set your settings to somewhere around 400 ISO f8 30sec on s tripod.
Click here to see some of our lighting images.
http://www.jonesregistry.com/lightning

"Rock -and-Roll"

Tonight we asked Lisa and Michelle to give three words that described them. Michelle didn't hesitate to make the devil hands and laughingly said "Rock - and - Roll". That kind of attitude makes life worth living. To be able to say something like that without hesitation, is to be able to see the good in life and enjoy it for what it is. We then asked for some favorite songs and they gave us a list of country songs. So the three words really should have been, "Coun - try - girls".
Anyway, we had a great time walking around the school campus taking pictures and chasing run away dogs. We are looking forward to the wedding and can't wait to see how Michelle looks in her dress and cowboy boots. Lisa whatever you decide to wear, you should include your riding boots I dig 'em.

Easton 6 Months

Yesterday we had another opportunity to photograph a baby from a couple whose wedding we had the honor to capture. Chad and Marissa are the lucky parents of little Easton, a six month old who is all boy. We shot in his bedroom which made the shoot very easy. Babies are most comfortable at home in a familiar setting. Instead of looking around at all of the unfamiliar things, Easton was completely relaxed, letting his personality show like nothing else. I know I say this of a lot of babies but Easton was a real pleasure to work with. He is a very hansom young man and Chad and Marissa are very lucky.
We are looking forward to our next shoot!

The Lucky Couple 7,7,07

Dianna and Paul chose the century's luckiest day to be married. After an intimate ceremony and a small cake reception the, the entire wedding took a cruise through the quiet northern New Mexico town of Espanola. (unfortunately no lowriders were in the party).
Following that, the rest of the afternoon was spent riding golf carts around the beautiful Black Mesa golf course, taking pictures. We had a great time driving from beautiful spot to beautiful spot - just playin' around. Everyone was relaxed and having a great time, no schedule to keep on top of, no guests to make sure to say hi to, just the bridal party enjoying the afternoon together. The best man was having such a great time he asked if Dianna And Paul could get married again tomorrow. We also enjoyed our time photographing this very lucky couple, lucky to have been married on the day they did, lucky to have such great friends surounding them, lucky that the golf course let us free reign, and of course lucky to have Desiree and I there to capture every moment of it. Congratulations you two!
The images are online click here.

Our camera bags

In addition to the last post we are asked what kind of cameras we use. My arrogant answer is: Do you think that people asked Michelangelo what brushes he used, before they hired him to paint their ceilings?
My realistic answer is Fuji s3s as main cameras, Nikon (d-100, d-70) as backups, a Nikon L4 as my IR camera. Our lenses are both Nikon and Sigma. All lenses are at least f:2.8. Any less really inhibits our ability to capture exactly what we want. We use Vivitar and Sunpak flash heads, Sekonic meters, Photogenic studio lights, various light modifiers (purchased and home made). We use Savage seamless. We also use both Morris and Microsync remote triggers.
Our camera bags and card wallets are both Tamrac and Lowepro. I use Tamrac, Desiree uses Lowepro.
All of our computers are custom gateways, and we use all Wacom tablets for input and editing. our in studio printers are Epson. All of our drives, internal, external, portable, thumb, are WD. Our memory cards are both Lexar (256MB, 512MB, 1GB) and Sandisk (2GB &4GB).
We use ps cs2 and will soon jump to cs3, we also use Corel painter 9.
I think that covers most everything!
Talk about a boring post.
Anyway, Why do I answer with the Michelangelo thing? Well I would not have any concern putting my camera down, picking up a disposable camera from a wedding reception table and shooting part of a wedding with it. There are so many tools available to do the same thing, capture time and preserve it forever. Emotion can be captured and art can be created with any number of tools. I don't feel that what I have in my studio or my bag changes what I see or feel or create.
Again, on a realistic note, we have chosen the tools that we have based on the ability they have to aid in our creative process. So far of all of the cameras I have used, I like the S3 the most. It has a great feel, very user friendly, and the images it gives me are amazing. It has an incredible tonal range and dynamic range. Granted it is not the fastest camera (by any stretch) but the dynamic range and tonality is the best I've seen.
Sorry for the boring post, I do it only so I no longer have to go through that every time someone asks.

What cameras do I recommend

We have been asked by many people, what camera we suggest. That question can't be answer in a single response, we have to ask what type of camera they want, what the camera is going to be used most for, what they have to spend on a camera, etc.. however, if I had to suggest a general use SLR camera that it would be the Nikon D40x. Why? It's a good camera based on a long history of good cameras. It's easy to use, makes a great print, and is very affordable. You can get it for about $700.00.
The D40x is 10mp. The d40 is 6. The d40 is available for about $500.00
If you are looking for a point and shoot. There are so many options that is is getting harder to recommend just one. I do recommend Fuji film and Nikon. Why Nikon and Fuji? personal experience. I have never been disappointed or let down by my equipment. even my little Nikon (finepix L4) that I took apart and modified for IR photography, works great!
So there are my suggestions!

Our 10th anniversary

This week Desiree and I celebrated out 10th anniversary. Though we originally had some grand plans of travelling and having a big party, we had a quiet weekend away. After planning a trip to Florence and the Tuscan region of Italy. We settled on Colorado springs. ( next time you plan a vacation out of the country, check your passports and make sure they aren't expired...oops!)
Anyway, we had a great time, we relaxed did some shopping sans kids and just enjoyed being together.
It has been amazing these past ten years that Desiree and I have been married. We have grown a lot together and are looking forward to many decades more!!