A few weeks ago, I moved from Los Olivos (in the Santa Ynez Valley) down to Goleta, which is right next to Santa Barbara. So far, i've been riding and doing a lot more. Two weeks ago, I went to the parkfield race, put on by the Cal Poly Wheelmen. I took a few photos and got a shot for a project in the works. I took second in slalom and seventh in downhill. I had a shitty downhill run. No crashes, but I screwed up several corners and sections and probably lost 5-8 seconds. My practice run before that was dialed...

I got some photos up finally, that i've been behind on. I finally got the surf photos from the morning before Brian and Kelly got married. Here's the gallery: 09.09.06 - Surf Session Before The Wedding. Yesterday, I added photos to the California galleries: Unnatural California and Natural California. They've been blank since I got the site up in April, at Sea Otter. A month ago, I interviewed Brett Tippie after I was asked to by ridemonkey. Here's the final interview all typed up on ridemonkey: Brett Tippie's Life Story.

Yesterday was the first rain of the Season (okay, there was a little the day before...). It's been dumping at mammoth. I can't wait to ride some powder. The first photo is Heavenly, early in the season, two years ago. Yesterday, I went to Ellwood while it was pooring to take some pictures. The second one is from last night. On the way back home, I rode through the area with the jumps. I was slipping sliding all over, doing two wheel drifts and ending up on my ass. By the time I got out to the street, it was raining pretty hard. I was soaked when I got home.

It was months ago, back in June, when I was asked if I could shoot a wedding. I had taken the train (what a surprise!) up to Monterey to help Brian and Kelly move stuff to storage and go to the first Northstar race of the year. I think it was in the car, driving up to the race that they asked if I could do it. Shooting a wedding is pretty different than shooting riders passing by. After giving it some thought, I said I'd do it! Of course, I knew I had to get some kind of experience, even though Kelly said I'd do fine. On the school snow/ski trip at the beginning of the year, one of the instructors told me his wife, a wedding photographer might be looking for second shooters. Remembering this, I contacted her and ended up being a third shooter for a wedding in Santa Barbara. I learned how a wedding happens and is shot. I can't imagine shooting a wedding myself without having first shot one alongside someone that shoots weddings.

Forward to three weeks ago, I was in Palos Verdes to shoot their wedding. They picked me up on the way that Friday. I shot the party at Kelly's parent's house Saturday night. Sunday afternoon, we did portraits in a park by a library before going to the ceremony. After the ceremony, I shot the reception. The most stressful part for me was the portraits before the ceremony. We didn't have much time before the ceremony, so I had to get creative and get the right people together for the shots quickly. After the portraits, we were off to the park above the shore where the actual wedding part would happen. I couldn't have asked for better lighting. The sun was setting over the ocean, behind where they would be. Probably not surprising, the reception after that was the most fun to shoot.

In some ways, shooting portraits and a wedding is easier than shooting sports. Of course, there can be just as many points made about weddings being harder. It was an awesome experience and challenge to myself. I'm really happy with my shots of my first wedding. Obviously, I want to shoot sports primarily, but it's likely that I'll be doing more weddings in the future.

Photo Gallery Of Brian and Kelly's Wedding