The Venetian: part 2

I really liked detail they put into the Venetian. There is seriously no detail that escaped the designer's eye.

This little beauty is next to the doorway from yesterday. It's actually in an outdoor walkway leading up to the shopping area.

The Venetian

Most of my pictures from Las Vegas were taken on the last day. I did take almost a whole memory card on Saturday, but we were at a private wedding and this wouldn't be an appropriate venue to display the pictures without consent.

This architectural beauty is from the Venetian. What a spectacular hotel.

Again, I'm not really sure how these exposures are working here. I'm really hoping that Santa is good to me this Christmas in the IT arena.

Looking up

We were trying to find our way to the downtown area of Las Vegas. While at the Sahara mulling over the question bus or cab, I looked up and had an idea.

These lines were amazing!

It's not Las Vegas without neon

We made it to the end of the monorail. It travels the length of the strip. What a fantastic deal it is.

The last stop is the Sahara.

I played with the exposure on this one. The P setting for this really seemed to get washed out. Manual overriding the shutter speed seemed to help.

Yep, I like lines

Before we leave the Paris Hotel, I shot this one waiting for the elevator to take us back down. I really love the converging lines.

You can see the wire mesh that surrounds the entire deck. I'm not a huge fan of our time of day we were up here, but you get what you are dealt in Las Vegas.

I took a lot of pictures up here, I might post more later.

The Bellagio

Not sure if this is my most artistic pictures, but I was really excited when I saw it.

This shot was taken from the observation deck up inside the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. 

Here's a list of things to remember when attempting this shot that will hopefully allow us to improve on it.

1. Dress warmly. It was freezing up there with the wind in December.
   
2. Camp out for the good hole. The whole deck is surrounded by a cage to keep people from falling. There is one really good hole pointed at this hotel...get it early and don't move.
3. Bring extra memory cards. I only had about 50 shots left when we got to the top. D'oh!
4. Pay the extra for the night shot. Enough said.

Street Lamp at the Paris Hotel

The interior of the Paris Hotel is really beautiful. The feeling of old Paris is everywhere.

Like most of Las Vegas, you have to be very careful where you pull out the camera. The 30D isn't exactly inconspicuous.

Lamp posts don't complain.

I'm still having computer editing problems. I'm not sure how much detail will show up here.

The Paris Hotel

I'm alive! Las Vegas was a blast. So much so that I've been pretty well exhausted all week. I should really remember to take a buffer day after getting home.

I took ~400 pictures while in Nevada, but the focus of my weekend was poker and I'll be honest, it was pretty cold there at night. Travelling with the Mrs makes it hard to stay outside too long when it's in the 30's.

This first picture is from the shopping area at the Paris Hotel. This hotel was beautiful, but I have to wonder, how many hotels in Las Vegas have a cloud painted ceiling. The Venetian/Pallazo, Caesar's Palace and the Paris. Hmm.

I did find the old Paris street facades were fascinating.

Getting ready for Christmas

Is there a busier time of year for a parent?

The Mrs. and I have decided to take a long weekend to Vegas for a meet up with poker bloggers. You know, one of my many other blogs?

Before we take off for one of my favorite photo ops (I love shooting in Vegas!), I wanted to share a picture of my youngest getting ready to hang one of her favorite ornaments.

If I happen to take any good photos in Vegas, I'll be sure to get them here as soon as possible.

Another Pretty Flower Picture done up close and personal

Here's another picture I found trolling through my last 6 months of pictures.

Usually I hate shadows, but for this one, I think it adds to the story.

Act Natural

Here we have the OhPrincess' hamming it up for dad.

This one is as shot. As soon as the new Mac gets here I think this will be one of the first to hit Lightroom.

Happy Girl

During the outing with Grandpa, I tried to make sure I captured some of the more casual moments and not worry as much about getting the shot set up.

Here we are taking a break near a sandstone cliff. OhPrincess2 is always a very happy girl to be out 4-wheeling with the family.

Autumn Road

I'm not sure why this is, but every time I upload these pictures, they get darker. Ugh.

I'm back to the shots from our 4 wheeler weekend with Grandpa.

We call this area "The Golden Forest."

Delicate Flower

The city recently did a large landscaping project in the park behind our house.

They were nice enough to plant this flower for me to photograph.

Smiles

Most of the reading I've done this year related to photography has to do with portraits.

I used to be really uncomfortable taking pictures of humans that were looking at me.

I was really happy how this picture of a new mom turned out. The smile on her face just captured the mood...

You can almost hear her say, "What are you doing???"

Warmth

I have no idea why I like this picture as much as I do, but here it is.

This is exactly as I found the scene. Go figure.

M

On a visit to my wife's Grandparent's house, I got to spend some time out in the garage with one of Grandpa's favorite possessions.

When he was growing up on the farm, his family was one of the first in the state to own one of these machines.

Fireworks

My computer is just so slow. I took one whole memory card this past 4th of July but didn't really look at them until recently.

I love fireworks.

Update: MemphisMOJO reminded me that I should probably mention how I get fireworks to work without much effort...I take notes quite often when I'm out shooting things. I documented the fireworks process on this post in the summer of 2007. I've used these settings ever since. They work like a charm as the base. Minor tweaking is always encouraged, but with this you will at least be in the right ballpark when you start.

Just swingin'

This shot was taken this past summer at the Park at the Mall of America.

Don't think I've mastered this technique yet, but this is the closest I've gotten to getting motion to work will following the subject with the camera.

I think OhPrincess2 is gonna bend that bar...

I have a dream...

I'm about to give up on all the computers in our house.

I spent some time tonight going through all the images I have taken in the last 6 months. I figured there had to be a few images in there that I've missed.

Yep.

This was taken this past summer in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins (Part Deux)

More pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

I found this huge pile of pumpkins just fascinating. I also really like saying the word, pumpkin.

I'm trying something new with Picasa in hopes that these pictures quit sucking when posted with this tool. Photoshop is running so slow on my computer that it is almost unusable...thus, yet another picture posted "As Shot".

New puter is in the plan...now to get it push out of the merely spoken of plan and into the getting action plan.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins

I took this picture last weekend while taking the kids to the pumpkin patch/orchard. It's a family tradition for us. Hopefully, not too many of my readers/viewers are save the pumpkin people. I like me a good slice of punkin pie!

As is typical with me. This photo as shot. Fxmixer...I haven't got a new puter yet. This is all I got. It's age and lack of sofistication seems to be rubbing of on me writing too.

Fall Leaves

I have a backlog of pictures just waiting to be released here. I'm also behind in everything else.

Two weeks ago, we took the kids to some land up in Wacota, MN. It was a fun day of 4 wheeling and playing.

Of course I brought my camera.

This is the first of a few pictures I captured this fall. Minnesota is beautiful this time of year. It distracts us from the fact that winter is coming.

Sometimes I just like lines

One last picture from the wedding service.

I felt I just needed to capture the beauty of the glass in the ceiling. The lines of the glass mixing with the lines of the ceiling.

My Cousin's Wedding Part 3

The light still dancing pefectly, this is a shot at a different perspective and slightly more exposed.

I enjoyed how the light was hitting the pews in the lower corner.

This picture is displayed as shot and has not been altered.

When the light is just right...

I was amazed sitting in the church at just how perfect the light from the sun was coming through the stained glass.

The white of the priests robe really helped to illuminate the moment.

Again, this was taken from the pew and is displayed as shot.

Leg In Church

It seems I found myself in a church again today, a family wedding. And for a guy that doesn't really fancy himself much of a church goer, I sure do take a lot of pictures there.

This shot just kinda fell into my lap. I'm sitting there, the service was beautiful and my youngest daughter can't behave and I see it: the stained glass creating this magical lighting and a lonely foot to tell my story.

I'd love to hear stories about your pictures that just seem to fall into your lap. Some people like to tell me, I have the eye. I have no idea what that means, but I think it's because I sometimes see the world in a 3X5 frame.

A little Captain inside

Here's the last picture for a little while of this series.

I had an absolute blast working with this couple capturing the start of their young marriage.

We even had a little fun. The bride tried this pose first, but unfortunately, you could never tell with that dress on, but the groom. I think you can tell, there might be a little Captain in him after all...hehehe

Thanks for looking!

Framing with your surroundings

In this next photo, We found this beautiful stone arch door. I decided to use it to frame the couple. The black zoot suit did make this whole day a challenge. It was almost impossible to get the exposures to show him clearly.

We live and learn.

This what it's all about

The almost kiss. Is there a better story?

This is my favorite picture from the shoot.

Romance is in the air.

A Day to Remember

I'm going to show this one first. I caught this scene twice.

In this first view, the couple shares a very romantic moment. This marks the return of the fountain.

Finding a shutter speed that would smooth out the water, but not blur when the couple tried desparately to stand still was very hard.

I'm happy with this exposure, but tomorrow I'll be sharing my favorite picture from the day.

Finally - Now I'd like to intoduce the bride & groom

I just loved this path. The lighting that day was a beautiful overcast day. This allowed me to let the background fade to black. Light can be so much fun to play with.

The hardest part of doing any of this shooting today was the groom's tux. He was definitely dapper, but black in such a dark place made it tough.

I do now understand why many wedding photographers have an assistant. Getting everything just right is hard.

Siting while gazing

We took a break and had them sit down and relax for a while.

I found that when I just let this couple be themselves, you could see the happiness in their faces.

This was not a staged shot, just a couple sharing a moment.

Heading into the future together - Part 2

A different part of the trail heaing to the garden.

I really liked the light coming down the stairs and the moss covering everything.

Again, this was a candid shot. Thankfully, I was walking with my camera in the ready position.

Heading into the future together

Not quite ready to show you the faces of the bride and groom.

This picture he wasn't staged at all. We were walking out the garden where the fountain is located with the bride and groom leading the way.

I was really taken by the sidewalks look.

A fun candid.

Finaly - The Bride & Groom - Sort Of

Here's they are! The bride and groom!

Well, sort of.

This pose was the work of the groom. I couldn't let it go by. Of course he wanted to share a private moment with his bride and there was this crazy man with a camera following them around.

He he!

I think this picture turned out fantastic. Just enough heads so you know they are probably humans, but enough modesty to just melt your heart.

Yeah me!

The Water Fountain

In the garden at the Plummer House is this fountain. I really wished I could spend more time shooting just his, but alas, someone was paying me NOT to do that.
I tried 3 different poses. I'm thinking I like the top right exposure the best, but I'm not sure.

If you ask Mark, at Mark Parry Photography, I can be very frustrating when judging my own photographs.

This shot at the right was done with a longer exposure then the other with a much tighter look.

This last frame is a wider view of the pond and fountain. Later, you will see that this was the backdrop chosen by the bride and groom for many of their posed portraits.

Which fountain do you like best? What are your favorite ways to photograph scenes like this?

A Couple in the Distance

The garden at Plummer House is really a spectacular place. The city of Rochester, MN maintains the grounds. They do a fantastic job and keeping the jewel just spectacular.

I wasn't really sure about this shot when I took it. The subject seemed too small. But in time, it has grown on me.

This is one of those times I wished I had more then one camera body each with a different lens on it. As it typical for me, I had mounted on my camera the 17-85mm Canon IS lens.

A Portrait of a Thinker 2

After his initial surprise of being photographed while reading and a little small talk, my subject went back to reading.

I again found another great opportunity to snap a portrait.

The Plummer House is actually a great place for a shoot. My greatest difficulty was lighting, ain't it always?

Neither of these first two shots were done with a flash. I am also displaying them here as shot. I'm not sure I'm getting the exposure quite right. These web browsers suck.

A Portrait of a Thinker

This past July, you will remember, I had my first paid gig. Damn, that was exciting and extremely nervewracking! 

I fear legal retribution. There, I said it. I had hoped to share some of those pictures from that paid gig a while, but it wasn't until recently I got all my ducks in a row.

Here is the first in hopefully a fairly long series of pictures of what my camera and I did this summer.

This first picture is of the grandfather of the bride. He's also my former boss and great guy. I've always had great respect for him. This shot was really quite candid. I snuck into the library at the Plummer House and snapped this before he was the wiser.