Website Update!

After a few weeks of having my website in limbo, finally all my updates are done and I have a have a shiny new website. Check it out and tell me what you think!  www.brilliantimagery.net

Photographic Art History

I found this great blog by a fashion photographer out of New York. I just love all art history, but of course photography especially. It's so important to look back. How can we move forward without knowing where we've been.    http://www.ricophotography.blogspot.com/

Desert Pregnancy Session

On Saturday I took Monica out to the dry lake bed just south of Las Vegas to photograph her pregnancy session. We get there only to find out that there is dirt racing going on all weekend there so we can't shoot there. But just on the other side of the road is some large red rocks out in the desert so we set up there. I was really bummed at first that we couldn't shoot where I had planned, but the session really turned out great. I love happy accidents.

Derrick & Rhea's Wedding at The Paiute Golf Club Resort

This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Derrick and Rhea's wedding at the Paiute Golf Club Resort located just a few minutes north of Las Vegas. 

 Starting at the Red Rock Hotel we had long day of running around. 

We trekked out to Red Rock Canyon to shoot on the rocks.

Then we picked up the whole bridal party and photographed at the Vegas Welcome Sign and along the Strip a bit.

And on to the Paiute Golf Club Resort  for the ceremony and reception.

This was my favorite part of dinner, the lemon sorbet. This frozen palette cleanser was just so cute and of course delicious.

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It was certainly an action packed day, but I had so much fun. Derrick and Rhea, your wedding was a joy! 

Ideas for Trash the Dress and Engagement Sessions

  So I have gotten requests for trash the dress and engagements sessions, wanting to know where the best places in Las Vegas to photograph are. So listed below are some of my favorite places, ideas and themes. 

  This image below is at night in downtown Las Vegas. Downtown is a fun place to shoot either during the day or at night. Lots of lights and it still has a bit of that old Vegas feel.

The Vegas Welcome sign is always a popular choice of course.

Uptown strip has the larger, nicer hotels. Most of these hotels have tons of gorgeous architecture, fountains and bridges. The down side to this area is that is is usually packed full of people.

The Neon Boneyard is totally awesome! It has all the old neon signs from the hotels and businesses. It's a really neat place for a TTD session. 

Your engagement pictures especially should reflect you as a couple and the things you like to do. So pick a theme that you enjoy or that has special meaning. If you're a golfer, there are tons of golf courses in Las Vegas. 

The areas outside of Las Vegas offer lots of interesting places as well. This is a dry lake bed just south of Las Vegas.

Here is a TTD session on train tracks in a small town north of Vegas.

Valley of Fire or Red Rock Canyon both have beautiful red colored rock formations. Both places are less then an hour from downtown Vegas.

Think out side the box. Go for something more than a pretty backdrop. Rental a cool car or even a small plane (below). Recreate your first date or go play your favorite sport.  Do something interesting and fun, you'll have a much better time and will love your images even more.

What would Justin and Mary do?

Of course there are other wedding photographers out there who's work I love. Justin and Mary Marantz are my all time favorite! Sometimes I ask myself "What would Justin and Mary do?" LOL! So they are going to be doing their "Spread the Love" tour and they are taking votes to the cities they will include in the tour. So my follow photographers: Go Vote!

 http://www.justinmarantz.com/

Dragonfly Wedding at Paiute Golf Course Las Vegas

Derrick and Rhea's wedding yesterday was awesome. I'm going to post some more images soon. But I just had to share this one. During the ceremony there were huge, beautiful dragonflies all over. They added such a romantic feel. I'd never seen that before. One of the dragonflies landed on my lens and he stayed there until I took him off.

Ryan's Horse Ranch

 So I've been  taking horse riding lessons for about 8 months now I'm really feeling very comfortable being on a horse. These are some images from this evening. This horse's name is Seville. The sunset was amazing and the weather turned black and crazy right after we took these images.

This is Tom Ryan of Ryan's Ranch. 

New Camera Gear!

I just got some new camera gear in the mail today! What could it be? Watch the video and find out.