Annie and Andy Get Married

It has truly been the summer of weddings. It must be my age, but it seems as though everyone I know is getting married this year. With my own wedding coming up in October, I have been excited to go to other weddings and absorb what makes them fun and great. Annie is my cousin and is very special to me. She was around when I was first started getting into photography as a teenager, and was always an eager subject of mine -- an early muse, if you will. I don't usually photograph weddings, but this one was special. Annie is now a beautiful woman and was getting married to her college sweetheart Andy. They asked me to shoot their wedding in gorgeous Eastsound, Washington on Orcas Island. It was a privilege and honor to be there with them documenting almost every moment of that special day. It was definitely the best gift I could give them, better than any crock pot or towel set. Here are some of my favorite photos.

Portraits of the 47 Percent

This is what the 47% look like.

I still love using my cheap little 50 1.4 lens for portraits. Just give me some window light and shallow depth of field, and I'm good to go.

These portraits were made for a J. Patrick Coolican column that ran last week, coinciding with Mitt Romney's campaign stop in Las Vegas.

From left is Ronald Gladstone, Zulma Pleitez and Pam Ford.

The New Homeless

These are the faces of the new homeless. Families who once had it all, and because of circumstance, the economy, the foreclosure crisis and bad luck, lost it all in a blink of the eye. We do a lot of stories like this in the media business, especially lately in Nevada. But I never tire of hearing these tales. I shot portraits of three amazing families for this week's cover story by Ken Miller for Las Vegas Weekly. These families have come through dark times together and have made it through to other side. Meeting people like this, who band together in rough times and become stronger, is always an inspiration to me. I know it sounds cheesy, but they have made me appreciate what I have now because it could easily be gone.

(Cover and feature design by the always awesome Ryan Olbrysh)

Elevens

Savanna turns eleven today. She also didn't mind wearing a birthday hat for the photo shoot. Is that the cutest? Happy 11/11/11 everyone!

Portrait of a Gigolo

Here are some of my favorite portraits from last week's shoot with Vin Armani, a male gigolo. Some may know him from the Showtime show "Gigolos." I didn't know what to expect meeting him, having a seen a couple episodes of the show... but he was such an awesome and down to earth guy, and such fun to photograph. I can see why people pay to hang with him. See the Las Vegas Weekly article here. And see Vin Armani's website here.

Portrait Hating

Like any good newspaper photographer, I've always been a vocal portrait hater. But inside, deep in my darkest heart of hearts, I love taking portraits. Don't tell anyone. Here's the latest fun, including, but not limited to: yard sale entrepreneurs, gays in and out of the military, Zen Buddhists, and politicians.

From Orange Portrait to Orange Cover

When I shot this portrait of Brandi Harris, senior at Chaparral High School, I didn't think it had a chance for cover of Las Vegas Weekly. Though I really liked the way the portrait turned out, and knew the story was going going to be the cover story for this week, I thought the actual cover would turn out to be a collage of images or an illustration of some sort. I was overly excited to say the least when I spied Weekly art director Ryan Olbrysh mocking up the cover last week with my portrait front and center. Below you can see how the original portrait looked and then see the final cover. Ryan did an amazing job. I will never get over having one of my photos printed on a large shiny piece of paper and distributed all over the city.

Burlesque Rainbow

My task for this week's issue of Las Vegas Weekly: take photos of beautiful and sultry local burlesque performers for our burlesque cover story by Kristen Peterson. My inspiration? Alberto Vargas, of course! Sadly and pathetically, I had never heard of Vargas until early last week, when Weekly art director Ryan Olbrysh sent me a couple dozen of the famous pin-up painter's images to work from. We decided to shoot each performer on a different candy-colored backdrop, and used the Vargas poses as inspiration. The best thing about photographing performers is that they already love the camera, and the camera loves them right back. I hardly did anything at all. I am in love with the rainbow effect of seeing all the images together. Below is a key to who's who.

red = Miss Karla Joy
pink = Dixie Evans, the Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque
orange = Vi Vacious
yellow = Kalani Kokonuts
green = Tempest Storm, Burlesque Legend
blue = Cha Cha Velour

Not Drag Queens

What I learned most importantly a few weeks ago when I shot portraits of David de Alba and Paul Cummings, two amazing female impersonators who worked at the famed Finnochio's in San Francisco: Please don't call them drag queens.