The great thing about wedding photography is that weddings, by their nature, are some of the most beautiful, emotional, and important events of our lives. This makes picking the right photographer all that more important. There are a lot of photographers out there, all with different styles. Me? I grew up shooting landscapes. Having to run around and find the best looking shot, because obviously you can't tell the Rocky Mountains to shift a little left, or tell the stick in front of you to move the hell out of the way, or tell the clouds to roll in a little faster or you will miss the sunset colors dancing all over them. I later learned you could sometimes break the stick in the way or yell at the tourists in your photo, but it still isn't like shooting in a studio. When I started shooting weddings, I found that this helped me immensely with not only taking beautiful portraits but being more in tune with the background, colors, and composition of the image. Always chasing light during the last few moments of a sunset prepared me for working under pressure when there is only a few minutes for formals.

So, you want your wedding all about you and your love for each other, right? The last thing you need is a photographer telling you to cut the cake three times while everyone watches. It needs to be right the first time, because not only will you get full from eating too much cake but your guests will start to think you've had a few too many. I feel the phrase "Photo-Journalistic" and "traditional" is a bit over used these days, and I'm going to fit into my own mold. My style mixes a bit of the landscape photographer's search for the perfect natural light and composition, with a formal portrait photographers understanding of the best poses and uses of artificial light, while still capturing all of the wedding day's emotions and stories from a candid perspective as they unfold. I will coach you into looking your best, set up your formal shots, but still shoot your wedding without stopping the action.

The best part of shooting from this style is it's always different. I don't have a "Money Shot" I make everyone do, or process my photos the same way every time. Every wedding is a new challenge to tackle, with its own interesting set of people, places, and conditions to work with.

So let's say you book me for your wedding, what should you expect? I feel like charging you to shoot your wedding day then selling prints at a markup to you is an antiquated business model. I started shooting fine art landscapes. I love prints. I WANT YOU TO HAVE PRINTS ON YOUR WALL. You can order them through my Pro Lab at COST. COST! It's no fun to just look at them on your computer. What if the apocalypse comes? your computer probably won't work. How are you going to relive your wedding day when the zombies are knocking at your door and you can't turn your PC on? Enough said. What you do is pay a "creative fee." I will shoot your wedding, and then fully edit and process your images and give you a Digital Download of your images to share, print, and display as you see fit. There are so many little things you want documented on your wedding day and not all make great prints, but they all make great memories.

Most wedding packages include at least 1 second photographer and some an assistant. “But Mike, my wedding is small/short and shouldn't need another shooter.” Yes, it probably does. I keep my gear in clean, perfect order. I have backups of everything. But cameras fail sometimes. I might need to run back to my bag to grab a replacement or switch a card. Who's shooting during those precious seconds? What if I'm on the other side of the room when all of a sudden the bride and groom land that show stopping kiss? What if UFOs attack? I could fall into a precipice. You never know. At least one second shooter is a great idea and is why I include them in the price of the full wedding packages. I regularly work with even more than one second shooter, depending on the wedding’s needs. An assistant gives me and the 2nd shooter more time to shoot and set up sick shots!

So how much does all this cost? Send me an email and we can set up a time to chat. I offer 3 different packages to cover what most weddings need. I also offer free engagement sessions for my couples, so we can work together before the wedding and get to know each other. That part is important. No matter what kind of wedding you are having, its important for me to get you in front of a camera beforehand, so that on the big day we have a level of trust and you guys are stoked to try my “it-sounds-like-a-stretch-but-trust-me-it-will-be-sick” shot. Let's start getting to know each other now by navigating to the top of this page and click on "Contact". More than just prices and packages separate photographers, let me show you why I'm different.

Interested in seeing more of my work? Go here to see more of my wedding images: Wedding Portfolio