Vegas WPPI

WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) was such an awesome event! It was held in Las Vegas this last weekend and it was jammed pack full of speakers with talks from how to run your business to getting inspired and creative about your photography to help you stand out. We took a lot of notes and really tried to look at ourselves to see where we need improvement and how we can make ourselves better and a customers even happier!

   On the way back from Vegas while driving through the desert we stopped at an abandoned gas station and did a little mini shoot. It was such a blast and we were pumped from WPPI so we had to pull out our cameras and start shooting.

  

Knapp's Castle Star Trail

     I've never taken pictures of the stars before so I thought I would take a night trip up to Knapp's Castle. I wanted to have star trail photos with an interesting background and I thought where better than Knapp's Castle on a clear half moon night. It was so beautiful this night and great for pictures (not for staying warm however). It took 35 minutes for this exposure and in total I only took 4 photos despite being there for almost three hours. This photo shows how the earth rotates around the sun and, when the shutter is open for long enough, the stars start to trail giving that motion blur. It was a lot of fun enjoying the view and sitting in the great wide open at midnight looking at all the beautiful stars. If you haven't been there, Knapp's Castle is definitely worth a trip and is really not that far off the beaten path.

     Interestingly enough, there has been some construction up there for the first time in 70 years. For more info about that and Knapp's Castle, click this link to a recent story done by the Santa Barbara Independent.

Sunsets

Sunsets are great for photos and we love adding a new bride and groom to the mix too. This was shot this last weekend in Morgan Hill. The bride and groom were great and their wedding was a hit. Hopefully they'll love this shot of them at sunset on the most important day of their relationship.