If you’d like to book us for your wedding at the Mesa Arizona Temple or any other venue, contact us today.

Mesa Arizona Temple Wedding Photographer

Mesa Temple Wedding Photographer

LDS Wedding Photographer

Mesa AZ Temple Wedding Photographer

Wedding Photographer Mesa Arizona Temple

If you’d like to book us for your wedding at the Mesa Arizona Temple or any other venue, contact us today.

Scottsdale Engagement Photographer

These are a few of the images from a recent engagement photography session in Scottsdale, Arizona near old-town Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Civic Center. There is a lot of photographic opportunity there, from grass and trees to cool alleyways and storefronts and of course, the famous ‘LOVE’ sculpture in the gardens near the Civic Center.

The photo above was created by photoshopping another photo from the session to create a ‘Polaroid’, which was really just a piece of paper that the couple held up.

If you’re interested in shooting your engagement photos there, just let us know.

Scottsdale Engagement Photography

Engagement Photos Scottsdale

Scottsdale Arizona Engagements

Scottsdale Civic Center Engagement Photos

Jerry shot this video at a recent wedding on his 7D. The white balance is way off, but he didn’t have time to calibrate before he could catch the action.

LDS Wedding Photographer

LDS Wedding Photography is one of Jerry Ferguson Photography’s specialties. We specialize in LDS weddings at the Mesa Arizona Temple, but we also photograph weddings at other temples and chapels around the country. We are eagerly awaiting the opening of the Gilbert Arizona Temple and the Phoenix Arizona Temple as well.Our most popular package for LDS couples is our 4-hour package, which provides enough coverage for about 1.5 hours of shooting on the temple grounds and 2.5 hours for a typical LDS reception. Current pricing for our packages can be found on our pricing page.

After photographing thousands of Mormon weddings at the Mesa Temple, we’ve found that it’s almost like clockwork that couples will exit the temple about 45 minutes after their sealing is scheduled to begin. We like to get photos of the bride and groom exiting the Temple, so we are usually waiting right outside the doors to capture the moment.

After a quick ‘big group’ photo on the steps of the temple, we’ll usually do all of the rest of the family and group photos somewhere else in the Temple gardens. Rather than monopolizing the front steps of the temple for group shots, we try to be considerate of other couples and photographers, especially on busy Saturday mornings, when there can be 5-6 couples per hour getting married. The photo above was taken on a Saturday afternoon, but there were still significant crowds around the Temple.

We usually photograph the largest groups first, and break it down into smaller and smaller groupings from there, so that we can dismiss folks as we finish their pictures. This is nice because they can head out to prepare for the luncheon or reception, and don’t have to stick around for ALL of the photos. Sometimes it takes a little coaxing to get everyone together, but once it gets going, it usually only takes about 15 minutes to knock out all of the family/group photos.

After we finish family and group photos, we spend 30-50 minutes photographing the bride and groom. We know the Mesa Temple like the back of our hand, so we just take a quick tour around the grounds, getting as much variety in settings and poses as we can.

All said, we usually spend about 1-1.5 hours photographing the family, friends and couple on the Temple grounds. For some couples, that’s all the photography they want, but for most couples, we’ll also cover the reception. With most receptions, the DJ usually needs about 1.5-2 hours to get through all of the typical wedding reception events (father-daughter dance, mother-son, cake cutting, bouquet, etc).

So the 4-hour package works well for a lot of LDS couples, but if you’re planning on serving dinner at the reception, or need coverage for a longer LDS reception, you can add more hours right there on the spot – we’re very flexible.

If you want to book your LDS Wedding with Jerry Ferguson Photography, or if you have questions, we’d be delighted to accommodate you. Just contact us and let us know what you’re planning.

Phoenix Family Portraits

Just in time for Christmas, Jerry Ferguson Photography is offering family portraits sessions in the Phoenix area, including Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler and other areas of the valley. Family portrait sessions are only $200 for an hour of shooting. You get all of your images from the session on disc in full resolution. We’ll shoot as many photos as we can within that hour. You can bring as many families or kids as you like, and get all of the different family groupings  that you need, including individual shots of your kids if you like.We’re available most weekday evenings and some Saturday mornings, but bookings are ‘first come, first served’.

Family portrait sessions are an excellent Christmas gift too! We offer cute gift certificates that you can purchase last minute – all the way up to Christmas Eve if you like.

Contact us to schedule a family portrait session today or to purchase a gift certificate.

Videographers

ArizonaVideography.com – http://www.arizonavideography.com/
Hal at Arizona Videography does wonderful work at reasonable prices. He specializes in hollywood-style videos and shoots everything in High-Definition, which is cool. I highly recommend arizonavideography.com.

Flowers

Watson’s Flowers

Watson’s Flowers in Mesa is one of the oldest and most respected flower shops in the valley. And they also hapen to be a great place for wedding flowers. Call them or visit thier website:

Watson’s Flowers
2525 E Main
Mesa, AZ 85201
Toll Free: 800-967-5215 Fax: 480/967-8067
http://www.watsonflowers.com/

Other Wedding Links

We’re a preferred vendor in the Mesa, Arizona Photographers section of Marketingtool.com

www.onewed.com

www.wedj.com

Local Wedding Photographers

Click here for more wedding planning sites

Decidio Wedding, Party & Event Planning

Other Photographers

Looking for photographers in other areas? Check out the following links:

People often associate us with wedding photography, but did you know that we also do baby portraits? We love photographing baby portraits, and we apply the same unique style to our baby portrait sessions that we do with all of our photography.

Here’s our goal: For you to have the cutest baby portraits that any of your friends have ever seen. Seriously. Be prepared to have a ton of comments on your Facebook profile about how amazing your baby photos are, and how cute your newborn looks.

We have babies and young children ourselves, so we know how challenging it can be to pack everything up and take the baby down to the studio, so that’s why we offer to photograph newborns, infants and babies in your home if you like.

Here are some tips on how it works:

1. Book a baby portrait session with us simply by contacting us and telling us which date you’d like to do them.
2. We come to you, set up a ‘mini studio’ in your living room or nursery, and photograph your baby.
3. We usually shoot for about an hour.
4. You can have as many changes of clothes as you like.
5. We have a ton of ideas for cute baby photos, but we always welcome your ideas.
6. You get back ALL of the photos from the session on disc in a matter of days.
7. You get unlimited rights to make as many copies, reprints, enlargements, etc. as you want. You own your baby’s portraits!
8. All of this costs just $200.

Check out some of the following photos from a recent baby portrait session with little Lily Mae. She was SO CUTE! These are just a few of the photos that we got from the session, but should give you a good idea of the variety that you can expect from your baby portraits session. Once you’ve checked out the photos, get a hold of us to reserve a time for your baby photos.

Such a cute flowery bow. We went for a soft warm glow on this one.

We loved the cute tutu, and had to try a high-key baby photo with it. She looks like she's floating on a cloud. Goo!

There's something about black and white baby photos that is so clean and pure. We love including the parents as well, in this case, a young mother's hands.

Have a cute idea for a background for your baby photos? Buy some fabric and bring it along! We also have a ton of backgrounds and ideas to choose from.

A classic, warm baby photo.

One of our favorites is the baby's cute wrinkly little toes with mom and dad's wedding rings.

At this session, mom brought a cute little black hat with a flower. We love it when parents bring cute ideas along with their cute babies.

If you would like to book a baby portrait session with us, just contact us with a date you’d like to do them.

Information about these photos -

You can check out these photos at Flickr. Lighting and setup information is there.

Arizona Wedding Photographer

We have really come to enjoy shooting in the late afternoon Phoenix Arizona sun. It provides some truly magical results, especially when you throw in a couple ‘extra touches’ with off-camera lighting that really play up the detail and create a unique feel for photographs. We think that it is these small details that take a photograph from ordinary to something that is really worthy to hang on a wall and put in an album.

We photographed Michael and Marissa today at the Mesa Arizona Temple near Phoenix, Arizona. For these photos we wanted to evoke a painterly ‘Caravaggio’ feel, so we used a soft/hard lighting scheme in combination with some late afternoon sunlight.

Sarah and Jerry teamed up on this one, with Sarah clicking the shutter as Jerry arranged lights. Perry Sevey shot did some wedding videography, and did an excellent job as always. For the photo above, Jerry was actually hiding behind that tree on the left, holding a flash which is providing the ’spotlight’ on the bride and groom’s faces.

Another flash was placed behind a shoot-through umbrella camera-left to provide just a touch of fill in the shadows. And the sun finished off the rest of the photo, providing that warm glowing light from the right side of the photo.

Arizona Wedding Photography

Arizona Wedding Photograph

Phoenix AZ Wedding Photographer

The photo above is a fun shot of the groom spinning the bride.

Check out this video of the setup for this shot:

Arizona Wedding Photography - Bride Spinning

Phoenix Arizona Wedding Photographer - Bride and Groom

Yes. If you’d like to arrange a meeting, just contact us any time. We are available most weeknights and some weekends. We are equally comfortable doing business via email and phone as we are meeting in person.

Do you require a deposit?

No. We don’t require any deposits to book and confirm your date, so simply contact us as soon as you want to book us.

Why are your prices so low?

The short answer is that we run on a lean business model, and we love what we do, so we can pass savings on to our customers.

Since all of our photography is ‘on location’, we don’t have high overhead costs associated with a studio.

Most photographers will try to make money on every service or print that they offer, or they will charge inflated high prices for packages. We operate on the philosophy that if a customer is willing to save some money, we encourage them to do it. For example, we encourage customers to save money by making their own prints if they choose.

Do you do digital photography? What are the advantages of digital photography?

Yes. We actually prefer digital photography for a number of reasons:

1. We have more control over the final product becuase we can correct things like color, contrast, brightness, etc.
2. Our digital images are sharper and look better than comparable images from negatives.
3. You can share digital images much much more easily and in a greater variety of ways than negatives. Take, for example, our DVD Slideshow.
4. Digital photography is archival. It lasts longer because there are no negatives that fade or yellow.

Do you give the customer their negatives / originals?

Yes. Our customers always own their originals, whether the originals are negatives or high-resolution images on CD that they can make reprints and enlargements from.

Do you provide prints / enlargements?

If customers want prints with thier packages, we can provide them at extra cost based on size, quantity, etc. We like to allow customers the option of saving some money by making their own prints and albums, and so our packages are priced without prints and albums. We are certainly willing to do prints for our customers, but regardless, they will always have the option of making all of the reprints, enlargements, copies of CD’s, etc. that they want.

How do I make prints from the digital images you give me? Are they really as good as prints from negatives?

If you have never made photographic prints from digital images, it is very simple. You simply take your CD/DVD down to any Sam’s Club, Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens, etc.

Insert the CD into the kiosk(a touch-screen display), choose the desired size and quantity of your images, and they are ready in 30 minutes to an hour.

Your digital images go through the same machines and process as prints from negatives, so you get REAL photos from your digital images. These prints are just as archival as any that you would get from negatives because they are printed on the same paper. Most people say that our prints from digital-source look far better than comparable prints from negative-source. Most locations can make prints up to 8×10″ in an hour or less.

Who are you? How long have you been in business? What is your history?

Jerry Ferguson and his partner, Sarah Walker have been doing wedding and event photography for over 10 years.

We built up our business together with a goal to be the best – in price, quality, and style. Since we built the business together, we have very similar styles. Our ‘Gallery‘ features images from both of us. Find out more on our ‘about us’ page.

How can I make sure that my pictures will look great?

The best way to ensure that your photos will look great is to plan. Plan to have the most flattering clothing, including gowns, suits, etc. Plan you event for a venue that is well lit and has ample possibilities for backgrounds. The variety and quality of your images is directly related to the quality of the venue. We’ll make our best effort to photograph at any venue, but can’t guarantee that we can produce ideal photos under conditions that are outside our control, including lighting, house restrictions, couples that won’t smile or cooperate, etc. We’ll do our best.

Will you stay longer at my wedding reception? How much do you charge for extra time?

You can always purchase extra time for your event. We charge $100 per 30 minutes of extra coverage on your package. You can decide right there at the reception to extend your time if you need it.

1.

Amount: $

2.

You’ll be taken to a site that looks like this. When you get there, click on the ‘Continue’ link if you don’t have a PayPal account:

This is a short sample of one of our wedding slideshow DVD’s so that you can get the idea of what they are like. Crank up the resolution to at least 480p, or watch it full screen at 720p.

Our Wedding DVD Slideshow is included for free with every package 4 hours and above.

Senior Portraits, Family Portraits, School Portraits and Kids Portraits – we do it all. We specialize in Arizona portrait photography.  We travel all over the Phoenix metro area and other areas in Arizona, so book your portrait session today.

Family Portraits

When was the last time you had decent family portaits taken. It’s ok. Even if it’s been a while we’ll make sure that we make up for that gap with quality photos of you and your family.  We’ll meet up at your home, a park, or any other location that has meaning for you. We also have a number of locations that we love, so don’t worry if you can’t think of any good places. We’ll then take the best family photos that you’ve ever had. Have lots of kids? So do we! We know how difficult it is to get them all together, so we’ll make it worth it with incredible family portraiture.

Senior Portaits

Did you know you don’t have to use the portrait photographer that the school tells you to use? Get the senior portraits that you really want instead of the ‘cookie cutter’ looking senior portraits that many photographers will do. Jerry Ferguson Photography will talk with you or your senior to plan the perfect session, then we’ll spend the time to get the kind of awesome photos that you’re expecting. Check out a recent senior portraits session and book your senior pictures today.

Jerry Ferguson Photography specializes in engagement photography in Arizona. As one of the premiere providers of quality engagement photography in the valley, we have a number of locations in Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe and other areas of the valley where you can take your engagement portraits or ’save the date’ photos.

Most couples usually take engagement photos around three months before the wedding if they plan to send out the photos with the wedding announcements or ’save the date’ mailers. If you expect a lot of folks from out-of-town, you may want to do it even earlier. If you don’t plan to include the photos with their announcements, we can often wait until even closer to the wedding to get some nice photos that will be matted and framed in a ’sign-the-mat’ frame, or displayed on each table at the wedding.

The process is pretty easy and relaxed. We simply choose a setting and plan to shoot for about an hour or so, usually in the early morning or late afternoon when the light is nice. You can pick the location, or leave it up to us to choose one of our favorites.

Which setting you choose really depends on what you’re into. We are based on the east side of town, so many of the locations we choose are also on the east side (Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale), but we’re also willing to head out to any of the other valley areas if you have a specific location in mind. Here are some suggestions for engagement photography locations in the Phoenix area -

• Val Vista Lakes in Gilbert, Arizona is great if you like the traditional lakes, trees, waterfalls, grass, etc. This is a great location for a sunset engagement photography session.
• Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona is a great place for engagement photos if you’re into the urban look. It is especially quiet on Saturday mornings.
• Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona is great for those that prefer a desert setting or a setting that really says ‘Arizona’, and offers some incredible opportunities. Even if you’re not into the desert setting, there are some really neat engagement photo opportunities with the red rock and the other natural settings near the Papago Park area. Sunsets at Papago Park are especially spectacular for engagement photography.

We typically set aside Tuesday and Thursday evenings as well as Saturday mornings for engagement photography, but we’re pretty flexible and can usually accommodate most schedules.

To see when we are available or book your engagement session, just shoot us an email or give us a call – (480)-463-4648 to make us your choice for Arizona engagement photography.

Sedona is a beautiful location for wedding photography, and wedding photography at Tlaquepaque is effortless because it is such a beautiful venue.

Just south of Flagstaff in northern Arizona, surrounded by incredible red bluffs, Sedona offers some of the best opportunities for photography in Arizona, and is almost overwhelming in its possibilities for wedding photography. Tlaquepaque is a jewel set in the center of Sedona. It is a village of shops and galleries that evoke feelings of being in old Mexico or somewhere in Italy. It also happens to be one of the best wedding venues in Sedona. Tlaquepaque offers so many photographic ‘nooks and crannies’ that it at once overwhelming and easy to photograph because everywhere you turn, the settings just get better. Our couple were married at one of the many small plazas, the Patio de las Campanas, and celebrated a romatically lit reception on the Calle Independencia. If you are considering booking a wedding in Sedona, you should definitely check out Tlaquepaque.

Ready to Book?

Filling out the form below is probably the quickest way to get a hold of us, but if you hate web forms, our telephone number is: 480-463-4648

If you’d like to book a date, please fill out as much of the form as possible. You can also use this form if you just have questions.

Your Name(s) (required)
Your Email (required)
Phone
Your Wedding Date
Shoot from	until (times)
Wedding/Reception Location(s)
Your Message

Arizona Wedding Photographer Jerry Ferguson Photography photographs weddings in Arizona and around the world. Specializing in Arizona Wedding Photography, Jerry Ferguson Photography covers Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Tempe, and many of the other valley cities.

• It is easy to book your wedding photography with Jerry Ferguson Photography, just check to see if your wedding date is available, then contact us to book your wedding.
• We have a variety of wedding packages available – all at reasonable prices.
• All of our clients always get all of their originals on disc, along with unlimited rights to make as many copies, reprints, enlargements as they like.
• If you’d like to meet in person to chat about your plans, just contact us and set up an appointment. We work from home in the east valley, so we’ll typically meet up at a Starbucks or cafe somewhere in between. Just let us know where you’re at in the metro Phoenix area, and we’ll set up a meeting.

Ask a Question / Book Your Wedding Now

You can use the contact form below if you’d like to ask a question or book your wedding right now.

Your Name(s) (required)
Your Email (required)
Phone
Your Wedding Date
Shoot from	until (times)
Wedding/Reception Location(s)
Your Message

Yep, that’s us.

Jerry Ferguson and Sarah Walker are the ‘dynamic duo’ behind Jerry Ferguson Photography.com. We are crazy about photographing weddings. We are crazy about photographing just about anything. Actually, we’re pretty much just crazy.

Give us a call if you want us to shoot you: 480-593-4999 or you can drop us an email at: info@jerryfergusonphotography.com

Jerry Ferguson, Photographer

Jerry Ferguson - Ferguson Photography

Jerry Ferguson has been photographing weddings for over 10 years. He started in high school, and continued his education in photography at the college level. He shoots in a photojounalistic style that captures the natural emotions of the event.

“There’s a misconception in the industry that weddings are hard to photograph, and that there’s no room for creativity,” says Jerry, “but I love the opportunity for creativity and challenge that comes with each new wedding. Wedding photography doesn’t have to be boring, it can be incredibly moving.”

Sarah Walker, Photographer

Sarah Walker - Ferguson Photography

Sarah and Jerry have been bosom buddies from the beginning. Literally. They are twins. And no, not identical twins (You’d be surprised how many people ask about that).

Sarah studied Art, and brought that education with her when she and Jerry formed the company almost 10 years ago. Having built up the business together with Jerry, Sarah shoots with a very similar style, which is just as well, since they are twins after all. It is very rare to have two photographers of the same excellent caliber available at one company. The healthy rivalry they developed during childhood has translated into their photography over the years, and now they continually strive to out-do each other.

“I have always loved photographing weddings most,” she says, “Where else can you go to work where people are always happy and having a good time? I love capturing the excitement and joy so that our couples can remember it forever.”

Ryan and Julie were married in Scottsdale, AZ at the FireSky Resort. It rained all day, (or as one guest put it ’sprinkles of love’) but we got a nice sunset and some spectacular images. Ryan and Julie hosted one of the best parties I’ve been to in a while, and that’s the perfect atmosphere for awesome photos.

The resort was beautiful and the staff was awesome! We had to scramble as the weather turned from rainy to cloudy to rainy again, and switched the ceremony from outside to inside to outside again, but everything came out well in the end.

Like I said, the wedding staff at FireSky Resort was awesome, and even though the weather was sketchy, they handled it beautifully – like any good wedding venue should. If you happen to be looking for a venue, you should definitely give them a visit at: fireskyresort.com

Our “Wedding Strobist” lighting setup for bride/groom formals. We meter for ~1 stop under ambient (for mood), and then bring the flash power down to something that looks good. We’ll usually gobo the back flash or move it off-axis enough so that it won’t flare. We feather the main light across the front of the subjects, and voila!

This is the resulting image:

In this case, we were shooting at Stonebridge Manor, a Wedding/Reception venue in Mesa, AZ – one of the nicer venues in the Phoenix area that isn’t associated with a swanky resort. The late afternoon sun was just about to disappear, so we worked quickly. This is a 2 minute setup that yields far better results than taking the easy way out and shooting with on-camera lighting or hoping for the best with available light.

We used 2 Vivitar 283’s on stands. The main light was at 1/8 power into an umbrella, camera right, and the other was at 1/16 power, bare, camera left. We have Varipower VP-1’s on the Vivtars to dial down the light. Flashes were triggered with Cybersyncs. You can also just make out our self-built batteries (just some 6v SLA batteries wired to some fake battery ’slugs’ in the 283’s battery compartment) used to provide quick recycle times.

This is the actual design of the Gilbert Arizona Temple (courtesy Town of Gilbert)

The Gilbert Arizona Temple has been announced. LDS church president Thomas S. Monson said that a third and fourth LDS temple are slated for construction in Arizona – in the east-valley suburb of Gilbert and in the Gila Valley in eastern Arizona. There are no details on an exact location for the new temple in Gilbert or any initial pictures, but Arizona’s LDS spokesman, Don Evans, has said that it will be constructed near Pecos and Greenfield roads in south Gilbert. The image above is of the Panama City Temple, which is similar to other modern temple designs, but every temple is a bit different in design, and officials have said that construction is a couple years away, so we may not know what the Gilbert Temple looks like for a while.

Interestingly, Architekton, the firm that is designing the Gilbert Arizona Temple, also designed the Tempe Center for the Arts and the ASU Institute.  Paul Gilbert, a legal representative for the church said of the new design, “It won’t follow the typical pattern and paragon that has been used in many of the other temples.”

An LDS chapel will also be built on the site, sharing the parking lot.

From the release: The First Presidency has announced the construction of a temple in Gilbert, Arizona. Located in the southeastern section of the Phoenix metropolitan area—just south of Mesa—Gilbert and its surrounding communities enjoy a high concentration of Church members, who currently attend the Mesa Arizona Temple. A temple in Gilbert will help relieve demands currently placed on the Mesa temple, which serves over 70 stakes throughout southern Arizona.

LDS Temples serve as the sacred centers of worship for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS or ‘Mormons’), and are where LDS marriages take place. These new temples will serve the southeast valley communities of Gilbert and Queen Creek, and the eastern Arizona cities near Thatcher and Safford. They will join the currently operating Arizona temples: the Mesa Arizona Temple, opened in 1927, and the Snowflake Arizona Temple, opened in 2002. These new temples in Arizona are the first to be announced by Thomas S. Monson, president of the LDS church.

We are anxious to see the location for the new temple in Gilbert, it’s design and how the grounds will look. We look forward to photographing more LDS weddings and family portraits at these new temples and at the original Mesa Arizona Temple. If you are planning a wedding in the next couple years within those districts, we hope to see you there! To check out some images that we’ve photographed at the existing Mesa Arizona Temple and other valley wedding venues, check out our wedding photography gallery.

Jerry and Sarah (the Phoenix engagement photographers at FergusonPhotography.com) teamed up again on this shoot for some Phoenix engagement photos. Sarah scouted an excellent location in a wheat field near Williams Field Airport. Jerry and Sarah switched off shooting and lighting, holding a strobe in an umbrella above Chase and Kaela and using the awesome Arizona sunset as our backdrop.

The RadioPopper X system is here. The short summary is this: There will be two main models, the RadioPopper PX, which will be $249 for each transmitter and $249 for each receiver available in mid-late January, and the JrX system priced at $99 for a transmitter + ‘basic’ receiver, and $129 for a transmitter + ’studio’ receiver(the studio receiver will control light output of AlienBees and WhiteLightning studio strobes. Bought individually, the JrX transmitter will be $69, the JrX receiver ‘basic’ will be $59, and the JrX ’studio’ will be $89. The JrX versions will be available in late February 2009. Link to their press release: http://radiopopper.com/docs/radiopopper_xsystem_pressrelease.pdf

We photographed Erica’s senior portraits at Val Vista Lakes in Gilbert Arizona. She dances, and we wanted to evoke the feeling of stage lighting with the lights that we used. We shot until well after sunset, but came back with some spectacular images.

If you’d like to do senior portraits in Arizona, please contact us.

Picasa 3 has officially been released, and Jerry Ferguson Photography had a chance to run a couple weddings through it. We agree that this is the best version yet of the popular consumer-oriented photo editing and organizational software.

A lot of wedding photographers may scoff at the idea of using Picasa in their workflow, but we make regular use of its organizational features. We haven’t yet found a tool that matches Picasa for raw speed when we are going through hundreds of photos in a rough edit to weed out the best. It is so simple to star each of the good photos, and ‘hold’ all of the bad ones so that we can move them to a ‘trash’ folder. The new Picasa Photo Viewer that is integrated with Windows explorer is a welcome addition, and allows a slick interface for viewing images from explorer. You can rotate, star, and quickly upload images without even opening Picasa. Talk about convenient.

There are a couple of other welcome features that seem to be especially well-suited for wedding photographers. One of the long-standing gripes a lot of users had with Picasa was it’s lack of a ‘clone tool’ for retouching. Well the wait is over, and Google has finally added a retouching tool similar to the one found in Adobe Lightroom. Now if they would only add a ‘vignette’ effect, Picasa would be almost perfect.

Picasa 3 had really upped the ante with it’s video support, fleshing out a few new tools to easily create movies with music up to 1080p in resolution with automatic transitions that can ’see’ faces (how awesome is that?) and enhanced support for easily uploading videos to youtube right from Picasa.

Thanks, Google!

This couple’s wedding was photographed at the Scottsdale Mondrian in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their wedding photos were unique because of the variety of the surroundings at the Mondrian.

The bride and groom walk from a small ceremony in an area near a pool at the Mondrian Hotel to the main hotel.

The bride’s father leads her to the ceremony. I love that she’s barefoot.

The surreal white lobby of the Scottsdale Mondrian.

Phoenix Arizona Temple

This is the original design for the Phoenix Arizona Temple. It will be redesigned to a lower height.

The Phoenix Arizona Temple has been announced. This is a new announcement in addition to the previously announced Gilbert Arizona Temple and the Gila Valley Temple announced for eastern Arizona.

This will bring the total number of LDS temples in Arizona to five. The Church’s Temple Department reports that the Mesa Arizona Temple, close to the city of Phoenix, is attended by more worshippers than any other Latter-day Saint temple in the world outside of Utah. This temple will presumably serve the residents of the west valley and Phoenix. We join in the excitement for the new Phoenix Temple, and look forward to seeing what the grounds and design will look like.

Thomas S. Monson, Church President said, “The blessings of the temple are eternal. Those who come to this holy house will feel of God’s love for His children and come to a greater understanding of their own divine origin and potential as His sons and daughters.”

The Phoenix Arizona Temple likely serve as the main location for marriages for LDS members from Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Suprise, Avondale and Buckeye, which have seen enormous growth in the past few years.

This engagement photo was taken at Villa Siena in Gilbert, AZ. Jon and Lauren wanted some photos at the same venue that their wedding would be at, so we met in the morning and knocked out a few shots outdoors in the sweet morning light. As it got warmer and the light shifted into the not-so optimal range, we came inside and found this old leather bench tucked away in a corner.

I wanted a slightly underexposed ambient feel for a more dramatic portrait that ‘popped’, but didn’t want the shadow-side of faces to get completely lost, so I filled the shadows with a Vivitar 285 flash at 1/4 power into a shoot-though umbrella. The main light is a snooted Vivitar 283 at 1/4 power which is providing the harder-thrown light from up high camera-left. This is similar to a technique that David Hobby used on the Strobist blog. Funny thing is, I don’t think I’d seen his post yet, and figured that this was the best way to get the particular look I wanted. I guess great minds think alike.

For the photo above, we shot into an umbrella to create some nice, soft light from the left, and tossed in a touch of light from the right, behind the couple. If you need a wedding or engagement photographer in Gilbert, please let us know.

These engagement photos were taken in Tempe, Arizona – home of Arizona State University. We met on Mill Avenue, which is a great place for some casual, urban engagement photos.

I’ve always loved the way the sun reflects off buildings in the early morning hours, so that’s the look we were going for here.

In the second photo, we are in a back alley just off of Mill Avenue and we are going for a more urban moody feel:

And in the third variation, we had our couple seated and brought our strobes in closer, again, in an attempt to darken the background a couple stops. Sometimes you hit, and sometimes you miss. But even when your shot comes out a bit on the overexposed side, you can sometimes still make something of it like we did here, giving it an edgy feeling:

We photographed this model on Mill Avenue in Tempe Arizona. This happened to be her first modeling shoot ever, and she did great. I’m sure that future shoots will be even more relaxed.

Beverly (the model pictured) wanted us to help her start her portfolio and her jump into commercial modeling. Of course, every model needs a good comp card with some head shots, and other photos to help potential agencies and clients identify the look, facial and body structure of the model. Models also typically need a portfolio with several shots in a variety of poses that show different aspects of the model’s look – sporty, casual, dressy, etc.

Since Beverly is looking into commercial modeling rather than sports or glamor for instance, we have focused on an approach that includes a lot of variety and will give her the widest range of modeling opportunities.

As for the location – Mill Avenue is a great place for portraits with a fun, urban feel. We also shoot a lot of engagement photos there as well. We shot from 7-9 am so that we could underexpose the ambient light a bit and avoid the harsh, direct Arizona sun. Mill Avenue is lined with some helpful shady trees that extend the sweet lighting hours of the morning.

Technical/Strobist Info:

.

We used a Vivtar 285 at 1/2 power into a shoot-thru umbrella camera-right, zoomed in a bit for a hotter spot on the upper body, and a bare Vivitar 283 strobe at 1/16 camera-left for a sunny highlight on her hair. We dropped the exposure and saturation of the street scene slightly to really focus attention on the model.

Shadow Rock Church has a great view of the sunset over Phoenix, Arizona, making it a great spot for wedding photography. This particular wedding started a little late, so we missed the sunset by a few minutes, but the evening glow was nice.

I snuck into a seat near the back of the bland conference room at the Phoenix Airport Hilton this past Saturday not quite knowing what to expect from the latest Strobist seminar. Little did I know how much I’d learn about turning a boring conference room to into a photographic playground.

The Strobist movement is a revolutionary approach to lighting just about anything – weddings, still life, photojournalism, portraits – with small but effective shoe-mount strobe flashes.

Our instructor, David Hobby, has been a photojournalist for the Baltimore Sun for the past few years, before becoming the 4-star general in an army of photographers using his unique blend of guerrilla lighting techniques. He would probably say he didn’t invent it, but he has certainly been instrumental in spreading the word about this novel approach to photographic lighting, and his blog – strobist.blogspot.com is certainly one of the most influential photography blogs on the internet today.

His marching orders are simple: Less Gear, More Brain, Better Light. And on Saturday, I sat riveted as he took the recruits through a lighting ‘boot camp’ with a combination of theory and practice.

The morning session was an in-depth review of 7 key variables that affect the quality of strobe-based lighting: Position, Softness, Balance, Restriction, Reflection/Refraction, Color Shifting, and Time-Based Controls.

Then the afternoon was a ‘live ammo’ session where David took us through some simple but effective demonstrations of what a little light can do with a little knowledge as leverage. David put it well when he quoted David Tejada as saying that “a photographer using the Strobist approach is like a special forces soldier, using lightweight gear to get in, shoot with nimble precision, come out with spectacular results”.

David used me as a subject(I like to think it was because of my good looks, but it was probably just because I was wearing black) to show us how to turn a white backdrop into pure black, then pure white again; how to light a large conference room with just two small shoe-mount strobes; a bread-and-butter setup for separating your subject from the background with a bit of backlight; and how to use a bedsheet as a giant softbox.

My only regret was that I had to leave early to shoot a wedding that evening. But you can bet that the bride and groom got a little taste of the Strobist recipe that evening.

Strobist Info: This shot of David was captured using my own internal bio-wizard cat-like reflexes. Which really just means that I slowed down my shutter speed to 1/40 sec and got lucky pressing the button at the same instant as David. Either that or pocket wizards can trigger involuntary twitches through aluminum tooth fillings.

Strobist, the off-camera lighting phenomenon, came  to Phoenix on March 15-16, 2008 at the Phoenix Airport Hilton.

I’m looking forward to finally meeting David Hobby, the inspiration behind Strobist.com. As a photojournalist with the Baltimore Sun, David started the Strobist website a couple years ago as a way to share his knowledge on the art of off-camera lighting using small, battery-powered strobes.

Since then, the Strobist movement has swept through virtually every photographic discipline from photojournalism to wedding and portrait photography, elevating the craft from boring on-camera flash to dynamic, dimensional, creative images. David has seen such an enthusiastic response to his lighting tips, that he’s actually spending more time teaching the Strobist principles on his blog and at Strobist meetups like the upcoming one in Phoenix.

For me at least, David’s thoughts and tips have inspired me to play around a bit more with creative lighting and to think critically about how I light each situation. The Strobist motto: “Less Gear, More Brain, Better Light” truly appeals to me as a pragmatist wedding photographer. I know that I could lug a ton of equipment to each shoot, but the minimalist approach to lighting lends itself well to the fast-paced flow of wedding photography.

I’ll be attending the Saturday session, and I look forward to seeing some other professional and amateur photographers from the valley there as well.

P.S. – In case you’re wondering, the image above was taken using techniques gleaned from Strobist.

We did senior Portraits up at Las Sendas in northeast Mesa this morning. You wouldn’t expect it in Arizona, but it was freezing cold up there. I think it was mostly the wind, which also played havoc with my umbrella and lighting. Thanks, for the good catches, Nick.

We were going for a slightly different look on these senior portraits – a sort of homage to Dave Hill.

Info: f7 @ 1/200

Sun behind subject @ 11:30

Vivitar 285, 1/4 power into umbrella camera left @ 5:00

Vivitar 283, 1/8 power camera right @ 2:30

Processing: I darkened the edges slightly and desaturated them. I also created a duplicate layer, which I cranked up the contrast to 100% on. I then dragged that layer’s opacity down to about 20% to get the slightly desaturated yet contrasty look. I know it’s not perfect, and I’m never satisfied with anything that I do, so I certainly look forward to trying to perfect this technique as just another interesting look for senior portraits.

Las Sendas in Northeast Mesa, AZ is a great place for family portraits, and since Sarah hasn’t had a family picture in a while, and I wanted to try out some new lighting, we decided to do a family portrait session up there.

We arrived close to sunset and started to set up. Since we’d arrived a bit later than we’d hoped, I’d say that the ambient light was around 1/30 of a second at f4 – challenging, particularly if I wanted to maintain the silky smoothness that ISO 100 produces on Canon’s excellent CMOS sensors.

I set up a white shoot-through umbrella camera-left at 8:00, with the sun camera-right at about 2:00. I balanced the flash – a Vivitar 285 – and ended up with it at 1/16 power.

The hardest part was corralling the kids. They just want to play in the grass and the fountain, and I can’t blame them. There aren’t many places in the metro Phoenix area that offer grass, fountains, desert, and cool stone arches. It’s a virtual playground for a photographer and for kids.

Glendale AZ Wedding Photographer

Damon and April were married in Glendale Arizona. Their reception was at an LDS Chapel in the area. Their wedding was at a friend’s house in the backyard. Since the house was a lakeside property, it was a really nice ceremony. After the ceremony was over, we went to their reception at a nearby chapel. They had a small ring ceremony and it was all very nice. They also had dinner.

Scottsdale Engagement Photographer - McCormick Ranch

Brian and Lindsay’s Engagement Photos were taken at the McCormick Ranch Country Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. They brought their Wiemareiner (dog) with them. William Wegman would have been proud, we even did some pictures with the pup.

Strobist Info:

I set up an umbrella camera-left at about 3:00.

Sun was behing me at about 6:00.

Post Processing: Slight bump in saturation to give it a little more colorful tone. Thanks for keeping your grass green, McCormick Ranch!

Mesa LDS Temple Wedding

Gregg and Danielle were married January 5, 2008 at the Mesa Arizona Temple (LDS). The overcast day didn’t put a damper on the mood, though. Everyone, from the family to the bride and groom themselves were excited and happy.

Mesa Arizona Temple Wedding

We even got to play in the leaves, which is pretty rare in the Phoenix area, although since Gregg, Danielle, and their families are from Kingman, they are probably used to the cooler weather and trees whose leaves actually change color.

Mesa Temple Wedding

Things were pretty busy at the Mesa Arizona Temple, with 3 weddings coming out at the same time that day, so we were a bit behind schedule, but we ended up with some great shots, and I hope Gregg and Danielle got to eat at least a little bit at their luncheon at the Landmark Restaurant in Mesa.

Arizona Baby Photographer

We photograph Baby Portraits! Every once in a while we get a call from someone asking if we do baby or infant portraits, family portraits, or senior portraits. Because we are primarily wedding photographers, many people don’t know that we also do baby portrait photography.

This picture was taken in Mesa, Arizona on location. We find that a lot of infants, babies and kids are happier when we do in-home, on-location portrait photography, so we just bring the studio to them.

When we found out that mom could make Vienna smile just by blowing raspberries, we had to get a picture of it. This is her funny ‘Pirate Face’.

Strobist Info:

Vivitar 283, 1/4 power into Umbrella, camera right at 5 o’clock

Bare Vivitar 285, 1/4power, camera left at 11 oclock

Mesa Arizona Hilton Wedding Photographer

Justin and Raquel were married at the Mesa Arizona Hilton. The nearby golf course is a great place for photos, and Justin and Raquel were gracious and accommodating even though it was very hot.

I really admire the couples that get married in the summer in Arizona. Here are some of the images from our formal session as well as a couple from the reception at the Pavon, a club downstairs in the basement of the Mesa Hilton. Here are some more photos from the ‘formal’ wedding portraiture session:

Shooting engagements in the rain can be risky, but sometimes it creates the perfect setting. Especially when you have a fun couple like Jesal and Achal that are very relaxed.

Instead of worrying about the rain during our recent engagement photo shoot on Mill Avenue in Tempe Arizona, they embraced the weather, and the portraits turned out great. It’s not often that you can get ‘great’ weather like this in Arizona, but it can really create light with magical qualities. Thanks Achal and Jesal!

I recently did an engagement photo session up at Las Sendas for a couple that needed a variety of photos for their invitations. They will be putting some text on the side of one of the photos. This is a fairly common request, and we can photograph engagements with this in mind.

Following is an example of how the final image would look. We darkened the background so that it will be easier to read the white writing against it.

Of couse, we always try to get a few classic poses, that can be used for engagement announcements or framed and put on the guestbook table at the reception, so that people see them when signing in. One of the common things I hear is “We really don’t have many pictures of us together,” so we’ll always try to do a broad variety of poses and shots during an engagement session. Many couples will even bring changes of clothing so that they get even more variety with their pictures.

Again, variety is what it’s all about. We try to capture couples in a natural way. Nothing overly rigid or posed, but something that really says “you”. And retouching is always included. Planning a wedding is tiring, it’s not suprising that engaged couples are among the most tired people. No worries, we can get rid of the circles under your eyes, and any other blemishes. We’ll make you look like a supermodel. Well, at least we’ll try.

Today was the last of a series of great photo shoots with Becky and John. I did Kristen’s wedding (Becky’s sister) a short while ago. It was great to spend more time with the Shipley family. Again, I had the pleasure of working with Perry Sevey, a great and experienced videographer who has bionic super powers. But he keeps that under wraps.

The reception was held in Tucson, at the Heritage Highlands at Dove Mountain golf resort. A live piano & jazz band enchanted the guests. A send-off with lit sparklers finished the evening, although I was worried at one point my hair might catch on fire! Have a great honeymoon!

Michelle & Lonnie are just made for each other. I did their engagement photos at Las Sendas in northeast mesa. Always a favorite place to shoot. These were taken from about 5:30-6:30pm which works great for this time of year. Also, I love Las Sendas for the variety of backgrounds.

There is desert landscape, waterfalls, grass, stone walls, and benches in close proximity to the community center. As you can see, the late afternoon sunlight was warm and inviting. I look forward to doing Michelle & Lonnie’s island themed wedding in September!

Another one:

We shot Chris and Stacy’s engagment photos up at Las Sendas in northeast Mesa Arizona. The stone arches made a great backdrop for a fun session. This location really epitomizes Arizona because it has the best mix of desert, green grass lawns, fountains, and Red Mountain stands off in the near distance. This engagement session took place right before a storm, so the lighting conditions were perfect. Sometimes the wind can be a challenge, but in this case, it really enhanced the images. The lighting couldn’t have been better, and we finished just as the sprinklers threatened to soak us. Thanks for driving out from Scottsdale, Chris and Stacey!

Here are a couple more:

Vintage Wedding Photo

Dave and Arriane were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple. They actually had thier reception the night beforehand, which is becoming more commonplace, particularly for summer weddings in Arizona, when it gets really hot. It was nice to get out for an early morning shoot that next day, and the light was just about perfect.

High-Key Portrait

Vintage Wedding Gown and Corduroy Tuxedo

Bride and Groom in Black and White

Kristen & Nick were a great, fun couple that made my shoot a breeze.We went to the Mesa LDS Temple grounds early in the morning to

capture some great lighting and cooler temps. As always, its a

pleasure to work with videographer Perry Sevey, (mormonweddings.com).

Perry is very laid back and has great experience. Kristen and Nick

will have wonderful photos that reflect their fun loving personalities. Another image from their session with the selective color effect:

Bethany and Rulon were beautiful together. A very charismatic bride, Bethany was striking and very easy to pose. Rulon was easy going and very patient with all my requests. We did one hour after the ceremony, which produced great results.

All images were taken at the Mesa Arizona Temple grounds. The following attest that not all great photos are taken in early morning or late afternoon. These were taken during a generally unfavorable time, mid-day. And yes, it was toasty.

Steve Soter is an Insurance Agent based in Gilbert, Arizona. He came to us because he wanted something better than his existing website’s portraits. First impressions are incredibly important – particularly for insurance and real estate agents, CPA’s, bankers, and other professions where reputation and image is paramount.Anyone who meets Steve will quickly realize that he is an incredibly genuine person with outstanding professional integrity, but conveying that message on an impersonal website is difficult without images that convey your charachter. I think we did well. And if you ever have a need for auto, home, business or life insurance, contact Steve and get to know him for yourself.

I did a great shoot with Jill and Abe at the Mesa Temple grounds, a popular location that lends unique results with each couple.What can I say…Jill and Abe were a handsome and classy couple, and I especially liked Jill’s unique vintage looking dress.

Also, both of them were very striking in photos.

For this couple, I did a lot of sepia tone images that seemed to fit the style. When added to the right photos, Sepia tone can add warmth and richness. Sepia is shown in the first and last images.

What a beautiful wedding this was!

Christian and Carla were married at the Scottsdale Performing Arts Center, in a public park area behind the center.Although this was not a typical venue, the shots turned out to be intimate and magical. This couple was truly a pleasure to work with in all aspects. The spring flowers and late afternoon light was a great bonus, truly a perfect day for an Arizona wedding.

Jeff and Annie’s Wedding took place in Mesa, Arizona. Jeff and Annie’s ceremony was at the Holy Cross Catholic Church on Power and Baseline Road in Mesa, AZ. The wedding reception took place at the Superstition Springs Golf Club, also in Mesa. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were a lot of fun and the pictures really showed it.

The picture above of the groom and groomsmen walking up the hill was taken on the golf course right before the wedding reception at Superstition Springs Golf Club and converted to sepia-tone.

The Superstition Springs Golf Club is a great place to consider getting married, especially if you have a smaller wedding party. The clubhouse at Superstition Springs Golf Club is surrounded by hundreds of windows, so it gives a very romantic feel in the twilight just after sunset.

This is one of our favorite places to photograph weddings in Mesa.

Brophy Chapel in Phoenix, Arizona was the setting of Anna and Ernie’s wedding on September 30, 2006. Ernie attended school at Brophy, so it was a natural choice of venues for their wedding ceremony. A former teacher and good friend performed the ceremony in the historic chapel in downtown Phoenix, AZ.