BYU Idaho, formerly Rick’s College, is probably what Rexburg is best known for. AJ, a Calgary native, has been attending BYU Idaho in the music program where he met Ashley, who is local to Rexburg. So, that is the reason for my travel .

The temple in Rexburg was much larger than I had anticipated.  Nothing but an extreme wide-angle lens could capture it close up.  It’s a very beautiful building.  The outside only hints at the amazing beauty inside.

The weather was still a bit unsettled, so the photos needed to be taken quickly before more snow settled in.  It was still quite cold.  AJ and Ashley were really fun to work with and were very easy to photograph.  The overcast sky also gave such a nice even lighting that, aside from the cold and snow, was ideal for photography.

The reception, just South of Rigby, was also great.  Their custom-made cake topper featured Charlie Brown kissing the Red-headed girl.  AJ’s sister made a video slideshow that featured part of  the Charlie brown cartoon where he’s floating on air after being kissed by the Red-headed girl.  It was all a part of their romance story.

Overall, it was just a marvelous time and I was happy to be a part of it!

We only spent about an hour at the temple doing family photos, some formals, and the composite shot. I love doing composite shots. They are so much fun when you’re letting them be spontaneous and silly in a bunch of different ways. It seems a bit odd to them at first, but when they see the results, it’s always exciting for me.

The rest of the formals were done at the park in Moose Jaw. One of the groomsmen is wheelchair bound, so it was a neat challenge for me to compose the shots in a way that was inclusive, yet still flexible in showing the beauty of the park.  Her little sister was certainly a feature in a lot of photos and is cute enough to steal the attention of everyone.   She’s very shy, but absolutely opens up in front of the camera.  At the reception, during the dance, I got down on the floor and all the kids just loved that.  It was so fun.

We took the wedding party to Prince’s Island Park in downtown Calgary. We’ve had heavy smoke in Calgary from forest fires in B.C.. I was concerned about the effect of the smoke on the photos. Positioning the wedding party with their backs to the sun added a nice glow effect that minimized the problems with the smoke. It diffused the light nicely. Having such a beautiful park with a variety of features to work with makes it a great place to go. Many of the pedestrians were polite and I think they enjoyed watching us play.

I was accompanied by Chris Ratzlaff, who also got some amazing photos. We really worked well together and it was nice to have him focussed on getting more candid shots while I set up the group shots and formals. We were able to get really creative with the poses and the wedding party was very easy to work with.

One popular spot is at the falls.  We got the rest of the wedding party photos there before I took the couple to my personal favorite.   I love the lake shore.  We were able to work with the bright sunny backdrop and the wind to get a really dynamic shot of Jenn.  She just loves the camera, and it in turn is very kind to her.  It was definitely one of my more challenging and fun weddings to shoot.

They were easy to work with and, while I wanted to make sure the photos look more formal, we made sure to have some fun too. The formals we shot at Beaver Dam Flats.  It’s a bit wooded with some wetlands and a bridge that made a great backdrop.  Our biggest challenge is not getting run over by people using the pathway.

This was only a week after Bior’s wedding and it was an amazing difference in weather. We had a warm, pleasant afternoon to shoot in. I took longer than expected, just because we were having so much fun.

One of my favorite things to do, is make composite photos. I positioned the camera in one spot and had them pose in several locations. Afterwards, I pasted together an image that they weren’t expecting. They were absolutely delighted by the result!

The ceremony was small.  It was held in a small room, so that had its own challenges.  Despite the difficulty, the wedding and the photos turned out great.

We went to Fish Creek Park for the formals.  We were past the fall colours, but the background of the trees still made for an interesting backdrop.  There was a lot of room, but no warmth and a brisk breeze.  They were able to put up with it long enough to get some good shots.   The whole family was very friendly and fun to work with.  They all wore fabulous outfits, especially Akeela with her beautiful henna tattoos.

This was my first wedding to use a 50mm lens almost exclusively. I pulled out the 75-300mm zoom lens once to do some close-up shots of some of the decor. The 50mm performed admirably. I had to be more active though and it forced me to re-think some angles. I think that made for a better variety of shots.

The ceremony, being indoors, required a bit more setup than I’ve done in the past. The lens helps to a degree. I can’t always shoot with a wide aperture because it limits the depth of field too much. Because of the angles I was at, I needed to make sure that enough people were in focus to make the shot usable.

Fozia and Mike gave me a lot of room to work with and were very accommodating. I was able to set up my lighting system in a way that lit up the room so that wherever I was, there was enough light to get the shot.

I used two umbrella strobes set in slave mode so that my any on-camera flash would trigger it. There’s an automatic setting for the flash that gives beautiful exposures if you do a pre-flash to lock the exposure. A wedding ceremony is too fast to be constantly locking the exposure for each shot. I set the flash manually and lowered the flash output on the camera (so I don’t waste battery), and just took pictures without worrying about the lighting anymore.

Slave strobes are a funny thing. They have an eye that detects a flash from any camera. They were pretty busy with other guests taking pictures also. I would hope that it improved their shots too, but I can’t be certain. When a strobe fires, there’s a tremendous energy release. It has to re-build the energy for the next shot. The time it takes to rebuild the energy is called the recycle time. Cameras with built-in flash use a battery, so sometimes the recycle time can be a few seconds long. With everyone else triggering the strobes, it can make a battery powered strobe be unavailable when you need it. The strobes I have are AC powered, so I never worried about recycle times. They were always ready.

We went to Lake Chaparral, in SW Calgary for the formals. The fall colours are an amazing feature for any shot. The lake offered a couple of waterfalls to work with, as well as many bridges, rock features, ponds, flower gardens, and a simple gazebo. The trees are significantly mature enough to offer a more forested feeling. My only complaint is that we spent too much time wanting to shoot something at each new feature. But I loved the gangster theme!

For a technical note, I used a Canon Digital Rebel and the 18-55 mm kit lens as well as a 75-300 mm lens.  I used a polarizing filter that made it a bit tougher to stay at a high shutter speed with the zoom lens, even in the bright sun.  I don’t always like being tied to a tripod, but it would have helped here.  I’m planning to purchase a 50mm f/1.8 lens that should make a big difference for some of my shots, especially indoor and low-light.

This is the first wedding I’ve shot using the RAW format.  I’ve been using it now for a while and find that the buffer on the camera (it’s a first generation Digital Rebel) made me miss more shots because I’d have to wait for the buffer to empty.  It’s really tough for active scenes like the bouquet toss.  I’m saving up for the 50D.