Connor and Erin tied the knot at the Carlsbad Crossings. Capturing their wedding photos was a lot of fun. We got to cruise around the golf course looking for romantic spots for creative wedding photographs and stumbled on some really sweet spots. Erin was gorgeous in her dress, and I loved Connor's personal touches he chose for his suit. The summer weather was perfect, warm sunny, but not too hot, typical Carlsbad weather!
The reception celebration was my favorite. I setup 4 off-camera flashes and turned them down so I would still get some ambient light from the sky outside. The setup worked perfect and you can see I even was able to find the right angle for some epic backlight shots during speeches! Off-camera lights are 100% needed for any wedding that continues after sunset, future brides should make sure to ask if photographers are equipped and experienced with off-camera flashes before hiring them. With so many photographers flooding the market, this is a great way to separate the pros from the newbies.
With open bar the party got crazy-fun really fast! Lots of dancing and fun times were had on the dance floor. The desserts looked amazing and I thought it was really funny when Erin the bride was sharing her cake with lots and lots of guests after feeding some to Connor. Another one of my favorite shots is the ring shot. I pulled out my Canon 100mm f2.8L Macro and foudn some cool succulents to display the rings. It was sunset time still so I used natural light and cranked the aperature up to 8.0. f8 provided just enough depth of filed to have the rings in focus. It was tough to decide which shots was my favorite wedding ring photo. My selection was based on balance and symmetry.
As always my most favorite shots are the ones captured candidly. the ones nobody new I was taking. The ones that took patience, finding good light, and timing it just right. Those are the hardest and the most valuable in my opinion.
Enough words lets jump to what everyone came here for... the wedding photos!!! Enjoy!