james christianson - the blog

Andrea & Andrew - engagment

before you read any further you might want to go get a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage to sip as you go through this post...it's gonna be a long one.  i just had too many favorite photos so i had to post all of my  favorites.

their story starts with "i saw her across a crowded room."  at a wine tasting, between sniffing the bouquet and swirling the wine around the glass, Andrew literally noticed Andrea on the other side of  the room.   fortunately, Andrew had a secret weapon with him...a mutual friend that could make the introductions.  soon, they were talking about hiking and golfing and trading stories about their favorite dive bars...which is where we ended up for photos, but more on that later.   the connection was immediate; a few dates and  dive bars later they knew they had truly found something real.  Andrea and Andrew will be married July 19, 2008 and i'm truly looking forward to being a part of their day.

we started shooting at Wash Park the day after the time change and I grossly misjudged the amount of daylight we would have available and spent the next 40 minutes chasing the light around the park.  we then headed over to the Wash Park Grille, which really isn't a dive but they did have a pool table that Andrea and Andrew had a spent a lot of time on.  it was dark, so i pulled out the flash and rigged up a small light box with a piece of paper and my pocket wizards, a far cry from a commercial setup but it did the trick.  this couple...what can i say but, pure fun, pure energy.  i loved every minute of it.  here are a few a lot of my favorites from the day.

this photo was the first frame of the shoot.

i love series...there's a few of them in this post.

this is my favorite shot of the day...i used a lot of black and white because the entire day felt so nostalgic for me...warm fall day, playing in the leaves...ya know.

another series...playing in the leaves.

yummy old school black and white...remember the nostalgia.

another series, throwing leaves.

the wash park grille (the dive bar) and the pool table.

i love the rich textures in this images...this is my other favorite.

thanks guys for being so fun...can't wait for the wedding.

Heather & Michael - Wedding

things have been crazy here and i am behind.  i am just finishing up september weddings, but i'm plugging away and should be completely caught up by the middle of december. 

back in september i had the privilege of photographing the marriage between Heather and Michael.  this couple was a lot of fun to work with because they were so into each other.  at times i think they forgot i was even there.  there was a lot of love between family and friends at the wedding which made for some really great emotional moments.  Heather & Michael, thanks for being so great.  i wish you blessings on your marriage.

here are a few of my favorites:

Heather was a beautiful bride.

a short series from when they saw each other for the first time.

do they look like they are even aware of the camera?

i love this moment right after Michael gave his grandmother a kiss on the cheek...she was on cloud 9.

a couple of great detail shots...one of them from my second photographer Jason Wells.

this is such a timeless image that tells the story of the brides anticipation.

some moments from the ceremony.

i love this shot of Heather and her Dad dancing.

at the last second, i decided to throw a flash in the car right before they drove off.  here's the shot.

F-Stop Workshop - Contest

this last september Jenna Walker and I  held our second f-stop workshop.  with all the great photographers who joined us, it turned out to be a great success.  to wrap up the workshop, we gave each photographer a model and 1 hour to shoot five specific images.  the five images were then judged, not only on the quality of the image, but also on how well they fulfilled the assignment.  the winner wins a gift certificate to The Apple Store

again, a huge thank you to all of you for attending the workshop.  we had so many great images, it was difficult to narrow down, you guys are all such amazing photographers.

so without drawing this out too long our winner is Shannon Kaple of Center Avenue Imaging  Shannon and her husband are new to Colorado so jump on her blog and give her a shout.   Here are the winning images.

congratulations Shannon.

i also wanted to talk about and post some images from our runner up.  Carolyn Bowles of Carolyn Bowles Photography also got such killer images.  be sure to check out her blog and give her some love too.  here are two of my favorites from her series.

finally, a huge thank you to all of our models for being soooooo amazing and easy to work with.

Shannon & Ben - go buffs

for all of you CU BUFFS fans out there, this post is for you.  shannon called me from new jersey and said we  want you to photograph our wedding, we are doing something fun and different and we think you should photograph it.  i said great, i love different.  it turns out that Shannon and Ben are both huge buff fans.  though they live in new jersey, they fly out several times a year to watch home games at Folsom Field.  they love Folsom field so much they wanted to get married there.  they had a small intimate wedding right down on the field and we all had a blast.  thanks Shannon and Ben for knowing that I would love something new, something fun and something different.  you guys are awesome.  here are some of my favorties.
of course we start with a symbol of there love...for CU that is.

of course you can't come from new jersey at not get some shots at Chautauqua park.

game on!

Ian at 7.5 months

many of you know that my wife, Charlene and i recently had our first child.  our son's name is Ian.  the other day, his little outfit was just so cool/cute and i needed an excuse to test my new 85mm f-1.2 lens.  so he and i had a little portrait shoot.  what a boy.  i cannot tell you how amazing it is to be his father.  his mommy and i are completely in love with him.  here are few of my favorites.

WOW - RAW presets

i know that i haven't posted for quite some time and i apologize for my absence.  the good news is that i have been busy travelling and shooting a ton so i will have a lot to blog about!  one other thing before i continue on with this post. you will be noticing a few changes with my branding and look of both the blog and website.  things are happening so keep checking as i will be announcing all the new changes soon.

for now, i just came across an amazing website by Jack Davis with PhotoshopSupport.com not only is this a wealth of knowledge for photographers he is also giving away over 100 great presets for both Adobes Camera Raw and LIghtroom.  you can download the presets by clicking here:  CLICK HERE he even has created these great tutorial videos to show you how to use them.  this will certainly help your workflow.

i promise i will post more soon.