This past Sunday I drove to Scranton, IA to photograph engagement photos for Ali and Chris. It was a ton of fun and their fun attitudes just made it that much better. The weather was perfect all be it a little windy. The location had special meaning to them and as we've said before, that is the #1 factor in choosing your location. I also did some video "blogs" from before and after the shoot. You will find those below as well. Check out our favorites from the shoot.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 9:49 AM | Permalink

This past Monday Ashley and I photographed little Eleanor along with Mom and Dad. We shot the photos at the Rose Garden in Des Moines. Eleanor is six months old. Side note: six month olds don't care for grass. She was really happy for the majority of the photo shoot. The only time she got angry was when we asked her to sit in the grass. We knew it was a risk, but it actually turned out some good crying photos. No...not sadistic. But you capture what happens as it happens. That was just part of the story. We had a great time. Below are a few of our favorites.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 8:37 AM | Permalink

Last night Ashley and I had an amazing experience photographing class of 2011 senior Shay. Shay is pursuing photography her self so she had some general ideas for shots she was interested in. I think that as the shoot went on and we talked more and more about Shay's style the photos really started reflect her own personality. We shot inside Java Joe's which was the first time that we'd been there. We'd shot all along 4th street and out at Water Works Park. The entire shoot went great and we are really excited about how the photos turned out. Congratulations Shay.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 1:31 PM | Permalink

This past Saturday Ashley, I, and Chad photographed Stephanie and Justin's Winterset wedding. We were well prepared going into this wedding as we had shot a wedding at this exact same church last Fall. Stephanie and Justin wanted a TON of outdoor photos. So we started outdoors and tried to stay outdoors as much as possible. The weather was great even though a slight hint of possible rain hung in the air. We took a ton of candid formals. We typically shoot all stock formals before the wedding and the more fun and creative candid formals afterwards. For this wedding we had time to take candid formals both before and after. We shot on both the town square and at the city park.

Stephanie and Justine are both really easy going and that meshed perfect with our style. We always go with the flow and plan to have a good time. When those things happen the photos take care of themselves. In the city park we also made one attempt to get the limo to Clark's tower...which resulted in some scraping of the limo's undercarriage. We didn't make it but we did try. We even sent one of our cameras into the limo with the bridal party. You can see one of the resulting photos below. The entire day went perfectly. Ashley, Chad, and I topped it off we a stop at Winterset's Frostee's for ice cream and mozzarella sticks. Perfect day, perfect wedding. Congratulations to Stephanie and Justin!

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 9:03 AM | Permalink

On Sunday morning Ashley and I photographed one year and family photos for Audrey's first birthday. We shot all of the photos at Water Works Park in Des Moines. Audrey was in an awesome mood for the entire shoot. Sometimes you just get lucky with kids. In this case though, Mom and Dad were ahead of the game and kept Audrey fed right up until we started pictures. A little food in the stomach makes a big difference. The weather was fantastic and the photos turned out great. Below are a few of our favorites.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 12:47 PM | Permalink

This past Friday Ashley and I photographed the Stiles Family at Water Works Park in Des Moines. Whenever a two year old is involved...we play by their rules. The ages of 2-4 are some of the toughest to photograph. They don't usually want their picture taken, they definitely don't sit still, and they have the temper of a New York City driver at rush hour. You have to run with them, lay in the grass, roll around, and have fun. Then sometimes they will smile. That or you have to allow things to be in the photographs with them. Footballs, jelly beans, water bottles, ice cream, or anything else they like. We had a great time and below are a few of our favorites.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 7:49 AM | Permalink

This past Saturday we unveiled a new feature for one of our 2010 couples. We took out our photo station to Ashley and Paul's wedding. The photo station is really simple. One camera, one TV, one flash. You take goofy photos and poof, they appear on the TV. The photo station was a big hit and we will be working hard to make it more fun with each wedding we take it out too. Below are a few of the shots from this week's photo station!

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 1:01 PM | Permalink

I am working on a new project and I need Iowa's help. I am looking for 99 people to help take a photo of an Iowa sunset from each of Iowa's 99 counties. You don't have to be a professional photographer or even own a professional camera. A point and shoot camera will do just fine. You don't have to reside in the particular county you take the photo in, but each photo must be taken from each county at the exact same time most likely within a five minute range or so. The time and day are yet to be determined as they will be determined by when I can get the list together of all participants and then based on the specific day's official sunset time. It'd be great to incorporate some of Iowa's most famous landmarks in each of the photos.

The photos taken will not be used for any commercial purpose. Ideally I will be creating a large print that has each photo inside of each Iowa county. This would then be displayed around Iowa at different events and eventually sold for charity (charity TBD). All photographers will receive a photo credit as part of the artwork.

If you have any interest in taking part in this project please contact me at photosacrossiowa@gmail.com or leave a voice-mail at 515-306-9739. Thanks and I am looking forward to working with all of you.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 10:30 AM | Permalink

Not even 1,000 words...

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 8:28 AM | Permalink

This past Saturday Ashley, myself, and one of our new assistants, Levi Yamen, photographed Ashley and Paul's West Des Moines wedding. I've got a ton of stories to tell from this one...but where to start. The weather was windy and cool but not unbearable. We will shoot just about anywhere at anytime. So no effect on us. The church was a fantastic location in West Des Moines with great lighting. So, on to the stories...

Formals went exceedingly well. Despite starting out about 15 minutes late, we knocked them out in under an hour. When the bride asks how we are doing on time and you get to tell her we are done a half hour early...it's a good thing. Bride, groom, wedding party, and family all love having a little time to catch their breath before the ceremony. The ceremony itself was fantastic. The groom had mentioned he was a little nervous about the vows...who can blame him? However, when the time came...well his nervousness showed. You can see the bride's reaction in one of the photos below.

After the ceremony we headed over to Valley Junction for some shots in the back alleys. We've shot in Valley Junction MANY times, but never with a wedding party. It was a great time and the photos turned out perfect. Valley Junction can be a little busy with the vast variety of shops and the relatively tight spaces, but if you look hard enough and work at it great shots are around every corner. Sorry to the wedding party again, as I told them several times they were done and then drug them back out of the limo to keep shooting...but it was worth it!

Now my favorite part...the maid of honor's speech. It was modeled after David Letterman's infamous top 10 lists. The maid of honor broke down the different stages of Ashley and Paul's relationship. I won't go into too much detail but the DJ was in on it and I am fairly certain that this wedding was the first to feature the Rice-a-Roni theme and one of a few to feature the theme from The Office. We had a great time. Big thanks to Levi for shooting with us. Congratulations Ashley and Paul!

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 9:31 PM | Permalink

Last Monday we photographed little Hayden out at Jester Park. Jester Park is a great place to take photos because it provides several different backgrounds and locations to take photos. We took a few near the Lodge with the lake in the background and then headed deeper into the park near a pond for the rest. Hayden stayed in a good mood for the whole shoot, a rarity. We've been using off camera lighting more and more in our photos and these show a good mix of that. A few of our favorites are below.

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 1:45 PM | Permalink

As I prep for tomorrow's wedding I am sitting and contemplating how preparation has changed from wedding 1 a short three years ago to wedding 78 tomorrow. Some things have really changed and others remain the same. I thought some of what we've learned could help some starting photographer out there. We get questions all the time on how we do things and why. So I wanted to go ahead and talk about our current preparation steps.

The Night Before

- Review all notes and details from our final preparation meeting with the bride and/or groom. I am meticulous and will run through the entire day in my head several times. Playing out possible scenarios so I can start to build contingency plans, specifically around outdoor photos and regarding pre-ceremony formals.
- Charge all 16 of our batteries. We have three different types of batteries for our different cameras. It can take some time to get through them all.
- Go through 192 gigabytes of memory cards to ensure that we have everything removed from them. Then format ALL of them. There is no reason to take any chances here. Make sure all of your tools are ready to go.
- When we first started I had a checklist for our camera bags and lighting equipment. I would go through the entire list checking things off. Now this far in, I just know what we always have. I eliminated our list, but still do a through inspection for cameras, flashes, cables, memory cards, batteries, stands, pocket wizards, .... etc ....
- I make sure every camera has batteries and a freshly formatted memory card. All settings are put at our base of Av, AWB, ISO 100, evaluative metering, one shot AF, and -1 step flash compensation. From there things go all over the place throughout the day, but those are our base settings before each wedding.
- I stack all of our gear in piles. Camera/Lighting gear in one pile. Step stool, table, extension cords, and rugs to cover them in another. This helps me validate that I have loaded everything the next day.
- I set out whatever clothing I will be wearing the next day. Time can run short the next morning and if I am waiting on batteries to charge I can always get something else done.
- Check the weather forecast to have an idea heading into the day of what may take place.

The Morning Of

- Check the weather again. Formulate my own prediction. I like Ed Wilson, but when we are out and shooting I have to trust my own instincts and they are typically right. Just ask Carmen and Ron...got all the shots in RIGHT before it started to rain.
- As I load the van I go through the entire checklist in my mind again. Visually checking to ensure everything is in place.
- Double check directions and/or maps to make sure I know where I am going. Google maps even failed us once. The road looked like it was there...but it wasn't. (Sorry for scaring you Emily)
- Check to make sure I have some Vitamin Water for the day, if not, stop and get some.

That pretty much sums up the preparation. From there out we will arrive and start to run through our steps for gearing up on site. Then it's show time...I am so nervous when we start shooting. I'd guess our brides and grooms never know that as one of my main jobs is to keep them relaxed and I have to appear relaxed to make that happen.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 9:35 PM | Permalink

Selective Color. This is also know as hand coloring, partial coloring, or "make the eyes blue and everything else black and white" technique. I'm going to attack selective coloring today, but don't get me wrong, it has it's place. It's place just happens to be in 1995...some 15 years ago. Wow, that was a long time ago. In 1995, the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson started and ended, the 49ers beat the Chargers in the Super Bowl, Sheryl Crow's "All I Want to Do" won best album, Hootie and the Blowfish won best new artist, Braveheart won best picture, and selective color started it's global domination.

15 years later, it's run its course and died. We do not tend to use a lot of selective color, hardly any at all. Pretty much none. That is of course unless it is requested. Selective color has faded so much into the background that you only see it with Photoshop or GIMP newbies. It's a cool technique to play with if you are a hobbyist or just having fun on a Friday night. However, if you are trying to create modern and timeless photos, avoid selective color. Selective color is a fad that has faded and will continue to do so.

To keep images relevant in any time period or decade stick to the basic principles of photography and avoid the fads and gimmicks limited by relevance in a specific time space. Below you will see two examples of selective color that you see all the time. Background in black and white and subject in black and white. The third image is our version of selective color. In which we've selected EVERYTHING to be in color. Let your images stand the test of time.


For those of you contemplating the fact that I did NOT do a great job with the selective color editing.....yeah, that'd be the point.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 12:21 AM | Permalink

No, we do not ONLY take pictures of people kissing...promise. But what better way to show the love you have for someone.

This past Sunday we had an amazing engagement session with Kelsey and Alex. Early in the day we had a crazy hail storm, later in the day we had another round of rain that threatened our photo shoot. We waited it out and it made for some fantastic shots. We started near court ave. and made our way around a couple blocks. We ended up at the Rose Garden for some great shots during sun set. The rain made things unique. Here is the cool part. While at the Rose Garden we shot some video of the two and asked them a few questions. Watch for a new feature soon...engagement stories. In the meantime, here are a few of our favorites from the shoot.

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 2:08 PM | Permalink

This past weekend we had the great pleasure of photographing Heather and Jeff's wedding in Altoona, IA. Heather and Jeff have been living apart for a while leading up to the wedding. That can always be a challenge while trying to plan. Heather did an awesome job and she really put her own touch on all the fine details. Everything turned out perfect.

The weather on Saturday was a little windy early in the day but by the time we got out to take photos it was quite a bit calmer. The wedding party was unbelievable. They were up for all the ideas we had and threw in their own. The girls were jumping all over the place, the guy's climbed walls, and I spent a lot of time laying in the grass. In the end...some amazing shots. Perfect day, perfect couple, perfect wedding. Congratulations Heather and Jeff as well as their families!

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 2:52 PM | Permalink

Camille is currently expecting and due next month. She came into the studio for a maternity shoot. As you'll see in the photos she had her young daughter in some of the photos. Her daughter just happened to fall in the no photo zone...also known as 2-4 years old. For some reason this is a danger zone for trying to get photos. As you'll also see in the photos, we were able to get some great shots. Below are a few of my favorites.

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 2:47 PM | Permalink

Last week I photographed newborn Cole. As newborn sessions go, this one was a breeze. Slept wonderfully. I had taken everything I needed in the first few minutes. Everything after that was just bonus. A few of my favorites are below.

Posted by Ashley Nuzum at 2:43 PM | Permalink