Happy Holidays, everyone! It’s Christmas day and I just wrapped up Larry and Laura’s fantastic wedding at Ana Y Jose’s in Tulum, just down the coast from Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Tulum is one of my favorite places to get married on the Mexican Riviera due to its laid back atmosphere and lack of high rise megaresorts. Larry and Laura had my wife and I down there to shoot their wedding, and we had so much fun with their friends and family.

I’m going to embarrass Larry for a minute because he’s got one of the coolest proposal stories I’ve ever heard: the two were at a parade, where every year, ping pong balls are shot into the crowd with certain deals for local businesses printed on the balls. Larry was about ten steps ahead, so he found himself a ping pong ball beforehand, split it in half, and hid Laura’s ring within. Then he pocketed it and headed out to the parade. Sure enough, the ping pong balls were shot into the crowd and Larry enthusiastically jumped to the ground on his hands and knees to find one. In a stroke of luck, a newspaper photographer was standing right behind them and captured the whole thing. Once down, Larry rose to one knee and showed Laura his hollowed out ping pong ball with the ring. Well played, sir. Well played.

At any rate, the celebration lasted for a couple of days, with a welcome lunch and dinner, a beautiful beach front wedding, and a day-after trip to Hidden Worlds, a cool cenote adventure park in the jungle. What follows are some favorites from the wedding day itself. Larry & Laura, congratulations, and thanks so much for having us down there. You’ll be pleased to know that those goodie bags you left us with were most appreciated! We’d love to connect again, so if you’re out in Colorado you have to give a shout.

Had a cool fall engagement session up here in Estes with Taylor and Cory, who are out in this neck of the woods contemplating a move from Texas. We went to a favorite place of mine just outside of town as the sun set, and found ourselves some gorgeous golden light to complement the bright fall colors. Here are some favorites. Congratulations, Taylor & Cory!

Ally and Scott were married recently in Beaver Creek, just down the road from Vail, in the Beaver Creek Chapel, and had a great wedding reception afterward at Beano’s Cabin on the side of the mountain. The wedding was gorgeous, and Beano’s was in perfect form. The grass was green and carpeted with wildflowers, and the sun cast some incredible light across the Rockies as it set.

Ally and Scott’s wedding had a number of firsts in it, the best being a unique toast given to the kitchen staff for a tasty meal. A groomsman led the way, and had every single guest at Beano’s raising their hands in the air, shouting and clapping for the food. I’ve also never seen a ring bearer sprinting down the aisle with a teddy bear in his mouth (though I have seen one dressed literally as a bear), nor have I seen people jump up and down with so much enthusiasm that they destroyed the paper globes hanging from the ceiling. That means only one thing: people were having a LOT of fun. At one point, a wedding guest grabbed my camera and starting to take pictures with it.

Anyway, great vibe, great party, great couple, great wedding. Congrats to Ally and Scott, and thanks to the awesome folks who made this happen: Carolyn Moorman at Artistan Events, Fred Hammond at A Great Time DJ, the Shamane’s Bake Shoppe, and Vintage Magnolia for the flowers.

Here’s a fun screen capture from the homepage of Pictage, which is the printer/album bindery/order fulfillment company of myself and the about 11,000 other photographers around the world. Recently they ran a a contest where they asked their members for images of fall for their homepage; this image of mine, along nine other images, were the contest winners. To get this photo I had to scramble to the top of the spindly little aspen tree you see on the bottom of the frame. It was about eight inches in diameter and I was probably 20 feet up. Luckily there was a nice fluffy bed of leaves to land in had it fallen over!

I need to interrupt my regular scheduled programming to write a little blurb about the new iPhone 4s. I keep reading over and over again how great the camera is in it, especially in low light, but few seem to have compared its pictures to the pictures of anything else. So while the word on the street is that the camera does as good a job as a point and shoot, and that it basically makes having a second camera kind of redundant, nobody’s really shown any substantial evidence to back that up.

I didn’t want to take the tech pundits’ words for it, so tonight I drank a PBR, put the can down next to a cool Vespa calendar, and decided to make my own little comparison. I scrounged up every camera I could get my hands on and took a picture of my PBR/Vespa scene. The list of cameras included the iPad 2, the iPhone 3, the iPhone 4s, Panasonic’s DMC-FX500, Canon’s G9, the Rebel XTi, the 40d, the 5d, and the 5d Mark II. I fitted Canon’s 24-70 f/2.8 L series lens to the dSLRs just to make for a fair comparison. I mean, the optics in a Canon L series lens are about on par with a phone’s camera, right?

I dimmed the lights in the room and created a scene with the following exposure: ISO 800, f/2.4 to 2.8, and 1/15th of a second. Basically, in layman terms, that means there was about as much light as a restaurant at night. Not a dimly lit one, and not a bright fast food place. didn’t use a flash and I shot with Auto White Balance on all the cameras. I actually took the first shots with the Apple phones, imported them into the computer to find out what their exposures were, and set the rest of the cameras to match. I’m sure there are all sorts of people who are going to argue with my methodolgy, but this isn’t really intended to be much more than a rough idea of how these these gadgets stack up against each other.

So what did I find? Well, the pundits are kinda right and kinda wrong. The iPhone 4s’ camera isn’t bad at all — in fact, it’s great (for a camera in a phone) — but I hesitate to compare it to a quality point and shoot, at least in the poor lighting conditions that illuminated my PBR/Vespa scene. Of course the 4s is way better than the iPad, and it’s also significantly better than the iPhone 3, which suffers from a soft lens and heinous color noise in low light situations. But to say it’s as good as a point and shoot is a bit of a stretch. The flash is underpowered and there are no manual controls that would otherwise let you milk a scene for the best results. There’s a fair amount of noise at ISO 800, even compared to my 3 year old Panasonic DMC FX500, and the iPhone lens just can’t compete with the more sophisticated lenses in dedicated cameras.

But — and this is a huge but — there’s something to be said about an 8 megapixel camera stuffed into a smartphone. For everyday purposes, this thing does outdo a point and shoot simply because it’s already in my pocket. And what’s more, in broad daylight, the gap between the iPhone 4s and the point and shoot cameras narrows dramatically (see below). I anticipate it’ll take two to three generations of smartphones to truly close the gap with point and shoot cameras. But meanwhile, I bet you I could make a pretty fancy looking 20×30 canvas print with my new iPhone 4s if I took a picture in well lit conditions.

Anyway, as I expected, the iPhone 4s camera came in just behind my Panasonic DMC FX500 from 2008. It got trounced by the Canon G9 from 2007.

Here are images from all the cameras, roughly resized to the size of the image from the iPad at the top. I realizing that resizing them doesn’t make for a fair comparison, but I’ll leave that to the camera review sites. Hopefully this will give some people a rough idea of how everything compares.

Some general thoughts:

• iPad 2 – The camera is basically a joke. I included it for reference only. It’s less than 1 megapixel and the noise is horrible.
• iPhone 3g – Check out the shadows on the right of the picture and you’ll see the color noise. This is hard to clean up. You can also see, when compared to the image below it, how soft the lens is.
• iPhone 4s – Pretty good, though there’s a lot of shadow noise. The good thing is there’s nowhere near as much color noise as in the images from its predecessor, which is impressive.
• Panasonic – This is the closest competitor to the iPhone 4s camera, but it’s still sharper and cleaner.
• Canons – These are in here just for reference. Notice how tight the grain is on the G9 compared to the iPhone.

I also decided to to check things out in daylight, the results of which are below. Realizing that the only real competitors in my closet were the Canon G9, the Panasonic and the iPhone 3, I left the iPad and dSLRs out. The results were still pretty much the same, though (as expected) the gap in image quality between the cameras narrowed dramatically. The G9 still stands on its own, but the difference between the iPhone 4s and the Panasonic is very narrow. There’s less chroma noise in the 4s, though its grain is really ugly. I found the white balance to be pretty good on the iPhone. Go ahead and click on that below image if you want the full res version.

I was intrigued by how the iPhone stood up to the Panasonic in daylight, so I decided to just take a picture outside to get an idea of what regular snapshot actually looks like. Pretty good, particularly on the web. Again, clicking below will get you a high res version.

But I was a little disappointed by the amount of noise present in the sky, which you can see below at a 100% crop. Otherwise, the lens performed well and is pretty sharp.

Anyway, all in all, not a bad little camera. The iPhone 4s is not a replacement for a point and shoot, but it’s pretty close if you have a cheap one or an old one and you shoot pictures primarily during the day. If you are traveling and want a good camera for your trips, consider investing in a good, modern point and shoot.

Now, enough pixel peeping. Back to the fun stuff: people getting married!

Sarah and Aaron were married in a beautiful and emotional ceremony on the Larkspur Lawn in Vail this summer, and had a lively reception in the restaurant right afterward. The weather was gorgeous, and the Gore Range seemed so big and close you could almost touch the snow-capped peaks. I was honored to get to photograph such a deep connection between Sarah and Aaron. My wife helped me out with this wedding, snagging some of my favorite images from the day.

Thanks to Carolyn Moorman at Artisan Events for planning this great evening; Fred at a Great Time DJ for keeping the party rockin, the Larkspur Restaurant, and Petals of Provence for the great flower arrangements.

It’s usually toward the end of August when my life gets the busiest, and this year is no exception. I’ve been busily editing and have had a hard time freeing up time to blog, but here’s a quick peek at Megan and Paul’s recent engagement session in Estes Park. We shot at a favorite place of mine called Lilly Mountain, amongst some gorgeous rock formations with awesome views out over the Continental Divide.

These two are getting married in Colorado in December and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding; they’ve got the best attitudes ever. I called Megan the morning of our shoot to tell her that the weather looked ominous and to ask if she wanted to reschedule, and she said no. They wanted to wing it! So they drove up to Estes and we ventured out into a storm full of rain, thunder and lightning. Megan brought along an umbrella, but it promptly fell apart and was happily cast aside. As a result, all three of us wound up drenched — the only thing dry was my camera, which I’d wrapped up in a garbage bag. Our efforts were beyond worthwhile, though, because every so often the clouds parted and the rain stopped and some of Colorado’s most epic evening light came streaming onto us.

When night fell, we ran down Lilly Mountain as thunder boomed overhead. At one point, an 8-pronged lighting bolt hit about a half mile away and made us run a little faster

Here are just a few of the shots we got in our storm.

Congrats, guys, see you in a few months! Next time you’re in town you have to come by for a drink!!

Here’s something that doesn’t happen every day: Not only did I get to photograph a wedding proposal, but one of a fellow photographer, and one with a photography theme. Fun proposal photos to follow…

David first contacted me a few weeks before he and his now-fiance Claire, an awesome children’s photographer in Dallas, were headed out to Aspen on a little trip. He planned on proposing to her either on the 3rd of the 5th of July, sometime early in the morning at the Maroon Bells. I was shooting on the 2nd in Vail, so after a gorgeous wedding, my wife and I hopped in the car and headed off toward Aspen so we could catch David and Claire early the next morning.

The morning-of, I sent David an SMS telling him what we’d be wearing, but I was scared to do it. What if he was in the shower or something, and Claire saw? I deliberated on how and when to contact him, and while I was staring at my phone, an SMS arrived from him. So I quickly responded and hit him right back, since I knew he’d be in front of his phone.

We arrived at the Bells and as luck would have it, wound up parking right next to each other. I saw David while I was unpacking my monster 500mm wildlife lens, and followed him into the men’s room where we hatched the final plan. It was all a little seat-of-the-pants, so it was good to finalize plans face to face. In the bathroom. Kinda weird.

Anyway, he left and wandered off to meet Claire. We decided that it was going to happen at 9am, so Rannveig (my wife) and I followed them to the lakeshore. David and Claire sat down on a rock, Rannveig camped out in the bushes with the 500mm, and I wandered up behind them with a 70-200 and pretended to be taking pictures of the mountains. Every time Claire so much as turned her head, I looked away and started off into the hills. I felt like a bit of a peeping Tom, but whatever, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

David had Claire on his right side, and his phone in his left pocket. As the hour approached, he kept leaning over to check the time. 8:59:00? Check. 8:59:15? Check. 8:59:30? Check. One last time he checked, and then it all began.

First, he stole Claire’s camera and took some pictures. I think he was getting warmed up…

Then, he told her he had a gift. A camera!

It was an old Brownie Bullet camera, and he’d hollowed out the inside and made a small ring box. He carefully positioned the ring so that the diamond shined through a little red window on the back, where I think the film label used to go. Here’s what it looked like. Clever, David! You get major points for this!

Next, he handed it to her and had her take a picture or two. He was hoping she’d see the diamond, but it didn’t work out that way. Claire handed it back. It didn’t work!

So… David had to take charge. He also tried to take a picture with it, but that didn’t work… So he just opened it up and got down on one knee.

Here it comes! Wait for it… Wait for it…

Will you marry me?

She said yes!

Afterward, we approached them (Claire had figured we were just bigtime camera geeks) and introduced ourselves, and we spent the next little bit shooting some engagement photos. Didn’t wait long to get engagement pictures done!

Congratulations!! Totally stoked for you! Thanks for inviting me along for such a big part of your lives!

Blaire and Scott had one of the most memorable weddings of the year with a gorgeous ceremony on the Larkspur Restaurant’s lawn, followed by an absolutely rockin’ reception at the Four Seasons in Vail that went well into the night. Scott was almost thrown out of his chair during the horah dance (see the shot below) by his incredibly enthusiastic friends, who partied hard amidst the incredible flowers and purple decor. It was just so outrageously cool to be there shooting everything. Everyone was having so much fun, and there was a great sense of connection between Blaire, Scott and their family and friends. I’d been looking forward to the event for months.

We all first met back in March when I returned to Colorado from Norway for a couple of weddings, so it was fun to reconnect. I shot their engagement photos in Vail on a bluebird spring day, and the weather followed us into the summer. The Larkspur has an incredible back lawn with views up to the Gore Range, and Blaire and Scott’s big day was one of four in a row I shot there. The others will be online soon!

Also, I’d like to give a shout out to all the folks who helped make this wedding so special: Vintage Magnolia for the flowers, Vail wedding planning by I Do, and great lighting and decor by Pink Monkey Solutions.

Blaire, Scott, a hearty congratulations to you both! Give a shot next time you’re in Colorado!

Amy and Matt are getting married in just a few weeks at Red Rocks, so we spent a recent afternoon traipsing around Buttonrock Reservoir outside of Lyons. Somehow during our engagement session we got onto the topic of ghosts — I think there’s a ghost in my house — and Amy listened intently. Turns out she’s got some family members who have experience in dealing with spirits. I’m definitely going to be all ears when we meet at the wedding!

The long and the short of my ghost story is that Jerry’s Wife (the ghost who came with the house) seems to like to flood things. When I moved in, despite having what I thought was a thorough home inspection, the roof leaked and every window leaked. Then the water heater blew up and flooded the basement, which lead to a 2 year remodel. Just a few months after it was finished, the dishwasher blew up and flooded the whole house, so I had to remodel the basement again, as well as the main floor. Then, while we were in Scandinavia last winter, Jerry’s Wife came along and flooded our bathroom in Norway as well as the livingroom of the unit downstairs. Damn!!

Turns out that my wife’s brother’s fiance, Maja, met Jerry’s Wife once while meditating here. Maja and Jerry’s wife communicated, and Maja learned that the ghost died in the upstairs bathroom, was kind of depressed, and the bathroom was painted red. When Maja told me this, I kind of shrugged it off, since, at the time, I didn’t believe in spirits and ghosts. Fast forward a year to the time I met a neighbor who told me that Jerry’s wife died in the upstairs bathroom. WEIRD. Fast forward another year to when I remodeled the upstairs bathroom: when I took the light switch cover plate off, the paint underneath it was red.

WEIRD, WERID, WEIRD.

Nothing’s flooded in about six months. Maybe I’ve got something coming, since the flood schedule is about one per year. Or maybe the ghost has finally found peace. Or maybe she’s just stuck in Norway!

Anyway, sorry for getting distraction. Back to our regular programming…

Amy, Matt — See you soon!! Stoked to shoot your celebration