Rolf and Katja :: Married after 18 years together!

Yesterday, I got to photograph a wedding for Rolf and Katja, who came to Maui from Switerland for their wedding. Lovely couple! And, they tied the knot after 18 years together. Now that's the test of time.
Thanks for including me in your day Rolf and Katja!

Jon & Raquel :: Married :: Maui Hawaii

Had a fantastic wedding last week with Jon and Raquel. What great families they each had who all came out to Maui from California to see them get married. It is fun loving and easy going (and did I mention beautiful?!?) couples like this that definitely make my job easy!

Jens and Tineke :: Married :: Maui

I love morning weddings. So fun and refreshing!

Lars and Sandra :: Married

Had a great morning wedding at Makena Cove a few days ago. Lars and Sandra were here all the way from Germany! What a great couple. What a great morning!!!

Sonja :: prenatal sess

For me, a pregnancy session is about more than a woman having a baby. It's also about the sensuality of the woman and the last few moments in time that the man and woman get to spend together before becoming a family. Here is Sonja's prenatal session. Enjoy!

Better portraits tip #5: Bokeh!!

Tip #5 is all about bokeh - for art and getting rid of busy backgrounds.

Bokeh is not just a blurred background. Certain lenses can make bokeh into pretty cool shapes. By adding bokeh, you draw the attention to a very specific point in the picture.

What makes bokeh is the combination of three things.

1) a large aperature (small f-stop number, such as f/2).

2) a long focal length (a 200mm lens will give more bokeh than a 24mm lens)

3) increasing distance between subject and background.

Many lenses that have larger aperatures can get quite pricey, but there are some affordable lenses with large aperatures out there. For instance, Canon makes a nice little 50mm f/1.8 which is around $90. But, if you simply don't want another lens, work on the other two points...

Start by getting the aperature as large as possible while shooting in "aperature priority" mode (this may be around f/5.6 for many zoom lenses). Next, use a longer focal length. Finally, move your subject further forward from the background.

Mostly, have fun experimenting with creating bokeh!

Feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Shell hunting

Luke (and Sierra) having fun looking for shells at Lane's beach on Maui. And I had fun playing with my camera :)