Winston-Salem Wedding

Jon and Jessica are a fun couple and they had a beautiful wedding at Home Moravian Church in Old Salem followed by a wonderful reception at the Graylyn International Conference Center.
Company photographer Laura Mueller helped out as everyone braved the unusually warm early June weather.
Thanks to wedding coordinator and director Jo Stanley of Perfect Directions Weddings and Special Events. She and Paula Glover, special events coordinator at Graylyn, helped create an incredibly memorable event.

Jon and Jessica at one of Graylyn's many beautiful settings

Jessica greets her grandparents before the wedding

Jessica looked fantastic

Laura's photo at Home Moravian Church

Jessica gets a hug from her grandmother

Jessica's brother congratulates Jon

The beautiful grounds at Graylyn

I never saw a golf cart I didn't like (Laura caught me in action)

First dance

Jessica's parents

Beautiful evening

Jon tears up the dance floor

Big sendoff

Chris and Sheryl Wed in Winston

There was a great mix of culture at Sheryl and Chris's wedding in Winston-Salem Saturday.
Both the wedding and reception took place at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.
The magnificent church is where Chris and his extended Greek family worship. Sheryl's family is Chinese and they seemed to have a great time taking part in some of the Greek dancing.
Company photographer Laura Mueller did her usual stellar job working as a second photographer.
We had a great time working with everyone.
Thanks Sheryl and Chris - have a great time in Thailand.

A beautiful setting

Sheryl's brother gets an assist from Chris's good friend Brian.
Laura hung out with the guys

Chris gets ready

Sheryl gets help with her hair

Chris's cousin and Best Man Chris gets his smile warmed up

Flower girl Elise

Just after the service

Laura got me at work

Sheryl and Chris

Time to dance

Bridal Portrait Session

Wanted to share some photos from a fun bridal portrait session at our studio Monday.
I'll be photographing Chris and Sheryl's wedding in Winston-Salem in early December. Sheryl traveled down from Raleigh for the shoot and to make other wedding preparations.
Betsy and I had a good time working with Sheryl and she had some creative ideas for the photos.
We tried several approaches using both flash and available light in the studio and some off-camera portable flash. I love to shoot at very wide apertures to "wipe out" the backgrounds and I often use my Nikon 85mm f1.4 lens for that purpose.
I have a set of Dyna-Lite Jackrabbit strobes that can be used in the studio or on location (they have portable battery packs but can also be plugged into an AC outlet). I also utilize my Nikon SB-800 strobe off camera for certain situations.
As far as the post production goes, I really like Kubota Image Tools and I use them mainly for black-and-white conversion as well as to "punch-up" the color on some shots.
Thanks for making the trip Sheryl and I'm looking forward to working with you and Chris!

Window light Nikon D200 ISO 250 1/100th at f1.4

Available light Nikon D200 ISO 400 1/60th at f1.4

Betsy gives an assist with the veil

Betsy used her Nikon point-and-shoot to catch me in action

One Dyna-Lite strobe Nikon D2X ISO 100 1/250th at f10 (17-55mm f2.8 lens)

Window light Nikon D2X ISO 320 1/50th at f2.8

Off-camera Nikon SB-800 Nikon D2X ISO 250 1/30th at f2.8

Open shade Nikon D2X ISO 200 1/2500th at f1.4

Open shade Nikon D200 ISO 200 1/2000th at f2.8 (70-200 mm f2.8 lens)

One Dyna-Lite strobe Nikon D200 ISO 100 1/250th at f20