Having shot DJ’s sister Amoni’s wedding to Toju about 3 years ago, when Obi and DJ walked in, it was pretty much a done deal. They basically just wanted to confirm I was available on their date and to sign their contract. I love shooting client’s family members because they’ve already met me, seen my work and as an added bonus, there’ll be a previous client at the wedding – always fun! And fun it was – I got invited to an excellent party the night before, and the entire reception was a blast – the inimitable Julius Agwu was the MC and he was hilarious! At one point, he made almost everyone on the high table kiss, which was veeery interesting. Oh, and see if you can spot my next clients in the crowd

Just a quick note – the groom asked me to point out that just when he saw his lovely bride for the first time, a bug flew into his eye, right at that moment. Also the church roof was leaking right where he was standing, hence the water that looks like a tear rolling down his cheek. It’s true. I was there. He really wasn’t crying.

I’ve just had a prospective client ask to see 5 of my favorite images. I generally post some of my favorite work on the front page slideshow or on this blog, so if I were to pick out 5, they would be images he’s already seen – so I decided to go with 5 of my favorite images from my last wedding. I think I’l narrate them a bit, and also I might do this on a regular basis. It’s a pretty interesting idea.

It’s always an interesting challenge to creatively shoot the bride’s dress and shoes – there are so many parameters and so much going on during the getting ready – there’s makeup flying around, bridesmaids and maids of honor getting things done and of course the bride. It’s always fun to find a nice quiet moment to shoot the details. This was shot outside the bride’s hotel room, while I was waiting for her to get halfway into the dress. On the right, sometimes a great image (in my opinion) is not defined by how much is lighting the scene, but sometimes areas of dark as well. This was shot by lovely, soft window light and a little kiss of light from inside the room.
  
I love images that hold emotion. It’s important to stay attuned to the events of the day as they unfold – in this image, the coordinator tries to help the bridesmaid (the groom’s sister) as she reads a poem written for the bride by the groom. It was beautiful. In the background, the makeup artist holds the emotional bride’s hand as she applies finishing touches.

It’s important that images tell a story. Each image is a building block of the story of the day. In this frame, the groom’s other sister waits for the right moment to present the bride with a little gift from Tiffany’s from the groom. It’s all about the anticipation. On the right, the couple is bathed with light from a single spotlight in the reception hall. It’s always lovely to see the connection between the couple. There’s nobody in the world but the two of them at that moment.

I shot Yinka and Sola’s wedding back in 2007 – I didn’t get to shoot the birth of their first child, but this time Yinka’s timing was perfect! They live out in Dallas and on Thursday morning I got a text saying that she had delivered her second baby. The following morning, I surprised her with a phone call to let her know I was on my way to Dallas to shoot a wedding and I would be happy to stop by and take her new daughter’s first portraits. She was quite pleased, and that make me all happy too. So on Saturday morning, bright and early, I went out to meet the newest member of her family. She’s beautiful.

This couple’s schedule was unbelievably tight. Even though they booked me almost a year before the wedding, we had such a hard time getting our schedules together. We finally ended up a couple of weeks before the wedding, trying to get the shoot done – it rained and since we couldn’t find another day before the wedding to shoot, we went anyway – and I’m so glad we did! I’m almost hoping for another rainy session…

Tope and Biyi talked me into coming to San Antonio to shoot their session – it wasn’t too hard because (a) I love to shoot in new and different places and (b) Seaworld! So we all rode up there and I checked out a couple of potential locations. We settled on this picturesque location below and it was pretty cool. Tope had warned me up front that Biyi was *so* not into having his photograph taken, but by the end of the shoot he was coming up with shot ideas and not wanting the session to be over. Very cool!

I had a really long week in Dallas – I shot my first 3 day wedding, and then the next day, just before i was to leave for Houston, I shot Chuks and Kelechi’s session. I thought I’d be tired, but as soon as I got there, I was all psyched and we had a bunch of fun! They were both really cool and did great despite all the walking. Like many grooms, Chuks needed a little warming up but when he got into it, we got some amazing stuff. The picture of them kissing in front of the kissing statue is definitely one of my favorite images of the year. We’ve already shot their wedding in Houston so I’ll be posting some of that soon as well. Enjoy!

One of the hilarious hazards of on-location photo shoots, even though they’re much more fun, is the phenomenon commonly known as “Photobombing.” This happens much more often than you’d think. Strangers, upon observing a shoot, sometimes jump into photos – sometimes on purpose, but often quite by accident. The results are pretty funny. I think I’ll try to post a blooper section every now and again, if I remember to save them. Thanks to Chuks & Kelechi, Arthur & Chereece and Lee & Rolake for this set of bloopers.

Ah, IB & Mike. These two have got to be the most laid back (and by laid back, I mean silliest) couple I’ve shot in a while. IB is my cousin, and I’ve been watching Mike fumble around for quite a while now, so I was delighted when they told me it was Go Time. IB has always had her eye on this phone booth for her engagement pictures, even well before she got engaged! It took some doing, including talking to the owners of the phone booth, and power tools. Don’t ask. Worth it though! I’ll be posting images from the wedding shortly, so check those out too, soon.

So… I’m a member of the Flickr group Assignment: Houston. I use the term member quite loosely, because I show up at assignments roughly twice a year. I feel like I’ve sold out to The Man, ‘cos most of the images I create nowadays are paid client commissions. I really miss just going out to shoot stuff for me – even though I *love* the images I create at weddings, it’s always nice to go out and just shoot whatever I want however I want (wait – how is that different from what I do now? lol!). I managed to make it to a pretty early morning meetup at the Wabash Feed Store downtown and it was great fun to just be unleashed creatively and shoot with a bunch of other photographers and see what we all got, and what we all missed. It’s actually a great learning experience, to see through your own eyes and then a bunch of other people’s as well. This shoot was actually a couple of months ago, but what triggered my memory was a bag of Lorna Doone cookies I just opened, and I remembered the Here’s how I saw things…

What a workout! I got to run up to the Woodlands and shoot this super cute toddler Isabel and her older sister Taylor. It’s been quite a while since I’ve broken a sweat while working – and not because it was hot. Wriggly little Isabel basically turned the shoot into a game of duck the photographer. Every time she saw me she would run the other way, hence the multiple shots of her from behind. It was a really fun shoot though, and I think we got some great stuff. Check it out!