Anchorage Wedding - Jenna & Geoff

On Friday Joe and I teamed up again to photograph Jenna & Geoff's wedding. There were a lot of friends and family in attendance and the church was packed to capacity. Because they got a package with two photographers, we were able to get some great angles and vantage points that you wouldn't normally get. For example, the shot of the bride and her father coming down the aisle looks great from below, but is even more interesting looking down from above. We went over to the Susitna Club on-base after the ceremony, for the reception. We were able to sneak Jenna and Geoff out for a few miuntes and found a few nice places to work with just as the sun was about to go below the trees.

Nick's Anchorage Wedding - Juli & John

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to another amazing wedding. It's funny to think back to when I was shooting in Michigan dreaming of shooting weddings like this one. Juli and John got married at John's parents' house in a beautifully done ceremony in the living room. Afterwards, they had the reception on the tennis courts outside. We were only feet from the Coastal Trail and the water. In fact, while Juli was singing a song for John, a train went by and added a little of its own music. -nick

Moose Pass Wedding - Becky & Paul

Last weekend on the 23rd I went out to beautiful Moose Pass for a wedding at The Inn at Tern Lake. It was my first time there and it was amazing. Paul and Becky came up from Seattle and had a gorgeous wedding and reception. The two of them were great troopers and went for a walk with me through the woods to get to a great little spot by a little lake. I had a couple of close calls with almost falling into the water, but it was well worth it with the lighting that I ended up getting with the sidelight hidden in the bushes in the pond. They did two ceremonies, one Korean and one American, to celebrate both backgrounds. Paul and Becky had really outgoing personalities which made for some great photo opportunities. -nick

Palmer Wedding - Justin & Amy

On Saturday I was out in Palmer at a home wedding with Justin and Amy. They had their ceremony at the Church of a Thousand Trees and then went back to her parents' beautiful house for a reception in the back yard. The weather and lighting played along and things seemed to fall perfectly into place all day. The bride's dad even had a special "poker-room." The guys went in before the ceremony where there were some awesome colors to work with. At one point the game got so heated Justin had to wager the wedding ring to keep things rolling. Luckily he won! -nick

Parents in Town and Fishing/Glaciers in Seward

Today was one of those great Alaska days when you're just happy be living here. My Parents are in town and we went down to Seward to do some fishing and wildlife/scenery viewing. It was just the five of us, Brook, Joe, my parents, myself, plus our captain Tony. We started off the day heading 45 miles out of Resurrection Bay and made it to one of the glaciers. We actually saw a massive chunk break off just as we were pulling up to it and it created quite the wave. By the end of the trip we had seen the following critters; Humpback whales, Eagles, Puffins, Steller Seals, Black Bear, Seagulls (everyone loves seagulls, right?), and a Sea Otter. We then proceeded to catch 25 Rockfish and 2 Halibut. The fishing only lasted about 2 hours out of the whole day, which was ok because I think we ended up enjoying the other stuff just as much, if not more.

Eagle River Wedding: Hondo and Carla

On Saturday I, Nick, had a great wedding shoot with Hondo and Carla. They had their ceremony at the new church in Eagle River, St. Andrews and then went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Between the two, though, we took the road back up the valley to the Eagle River Nature Center and did a small shoot up there. The weather was incredible and we had some awesome views, but it made for very difficult lighting. I managed to pull it together and work out my lighting and get some pretty good stuff (if I don't say so myself). I hope they think that they are as cool as I do. At the reception, we even managed to take a photo of everyone who made it! It was a huge group but we squeezed everyone in.

East Twin Peak Climb

On Thursday Bryan, Will, Joe and I climbed East Twin Peak near Eklutna Lake. We started to the top of the 5873' peak at 1000' and made it to the top in about 4 1/2 hours and 4 miles of hiking. We were the first people to sign the register since last September and it looks like very few people actually get up there each year. Along the way we saw a bunch of dall sheep and watched the dust blowing off the Knik Glacier moraine system. The descent was steeper and more exposed, taking us down the middle of the west face through a narrow gully. We got some awesome views and had a few sketchy sections but overall it was a great climb and we were down by 6:30 eating french fries and ice cream at Rochelle's Ice Cream and General Store. Our route can be found here, drawn in red for the ascent and blue for the descent.