NEW BLOG and Mexico Wedding!!!

**THIS BLOG HAS MOVED**CLICK HERE FOR NEW BLOG

I have been so excited to announce my new blog. I have been working feverishly with Andrew Childress at Shutterhive. He contacted me with some ideas after he saw me on the Jasmine Star/CreativeLIVE event and I told him I wasn't quite ready to create a new blog yet. About 1-2 weeks ago, I emailed Andrew and told him let's get things rolling. He started working on it right away and started the creating process.

Andrew as unbelievable to say the least. First off...I'm a bit picky (understatement). I'm honestly probably not a great graphic design client. I don't know how he put up with me constantly asking for things to be tweaked. He did a phenomenal job. He was able to take my vision and ideas and put them into the works in an incredibly timely manner. He helped me with all the things that I have no idea about, like CSS, and SEO and HTML code and jabberwockies and all those things that are seriously over my head. He made it possible for me to continue to work on Photography while he worked on my blog. My biggest fear before was that it would take me two months to create a new blog that I liked, and that my actual photography business would suffer because of it. Andrew let me focus on photography, and did all the things that would have taken me months to do (and I still wouldn't have got it all right).

So after countless emails, and chats, and screen shots, here we are. I hope you love my blog as much as I do. Have a look around. I've uploaded all of 2010's posts from my blogspot blog. Feel free to drop me a comment or message. I would love to hear from you!

As of now, this will be the LAST post on this blog (I'll still leave this old blog up), so without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to the new blog of Nate Perkes Photography (click here). (and MEXICO WEDDING)

**PS...As if you can't tell, I have been so SO happy with Andrew Childress. He is currently accepting web design on a first come first serve basis. You can contact him directly at andrew@shutterhive.com

Greetings from Guadalajara!

It's been an amazing last few days. Luisa and I are in Guadalajara for a wedding shoot which was yesterday and it was amazing! Everyone has been so unbelievably generous. Today we're just relaxing a little bit, and then taking the trip out to Puerto Vallarta which we're very excited about. The night we got in (we're staying in downtown, or El Centro) we took a walk around the city. It was so beautiful and fun and full of life. We ate at this little restaurant called La Chata that was incredible. We've had such an amazing time so far.

Yesterday, after breakfast, I told Luisa I wanted to test some light in front of this really cool church cathedral connected to our hotel.

I loved the light and texture so much that I brought Dorys back to this door in her wedding gown right before we left for the church. Can't wait to share the images!

Have a great Wednesday!

Aruba Adventures

I feel like I'm a pretty lucky guy. I get to do what I love (capture images), with the person I love (Luisa of course!), in really cool places that I love (New England, the Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, West Coast etc.). I feel blessed. Life is good. I've been lucky enough to be able to have Luisa join me on most of my photo adventures, and I have to say traveling with her is a blast. Here's a little video we made of our last trip to Aruba to shoot a wedding (which can be seen here). So what if our travel plans weren't supurb: drive to SLC (5 hours), red eye to Georgia, early morning flight to Aruba. Coming back it was a late night flight to my personal favorite airport EVER (kidding) JFK...spend the night in New York, really early morning flight to SLC. Drive the 5 hours back to home sweet home in Boise. But we had an amazing time. Like, an unbelievable time. So we made a little video to showcase the trip. Hope you enjoy!

I think the words to the song say it perfectly. "Home is wherever I'm with you".

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Ballard Farm

The week after I bought my first DSLR, I headed out to photograph the texture and character of my Grandparents, and their farm in Benson UT. All I had was a borrowed 50mm 1.8 lens from my Mom, but it was images from this very first "shoot" that inspired me to start a photo blog. In fact, as embarrassing as it is, you can see my VERY first post right here, showcasing a few photos from my first photo journey in January of 2009.

I love Grandpa Ballard's farm; it is filled with texture, history, stories, experiences and memories, and BEAUTIFUL character...a lot like my Grandfather. What an intriguing and amazing man. I did a post on him a few days later that can be seen here.

Recently Luisa and I had the opportunity to visit Benson, and see my wonderful Grandparents shown below.

We took the opportunity to talk and laugh with these two amazing people and captured some of the history and beautiful textures of their farm.

It was wonderful to return once again and capture the rich history and details that inspired me almost two years ago, to embark on this photographic adventure.

Shooting with my wife.

Alright!

I didn't want to dwell too much on this on my previous post, because I didn't want to take away from how amazing Natalie and Brian's day was, and how incredible they were, and are. It truly was their day, and their post. They did absolutely awesome.

But seriously, I feel like my wife rocked it. Hold on, let me back up. Ever since attending Jasmine Star's workshop, and meeting her husband JD, Luisa and I have played with the idea of shooting together. There are a lot of successful photographer husband and wife teams, like Chris+Lynn, Gavin Wade, Jasmine and JD. Seriously check these guys out. They're beyond awesome.

So Luisa and I thought we'd at least give it a shot. And I'll be honest, I was nervous, and so was she. Let me rewind again. I think the last time Luisa took pictures of something was last Christmas, up in the mountains, taking pictures of some hawks on our way up to a cabin.

I gave Luisa a little training pep talk a few nights before that went just about like this: "Okay, here's a 50 1.8. I want you on 'A' mode, at 2.8 pretty much the entire wedding. You see this button? This is the exposure compensation button. If you want your picture brighter, hold this and move the dial this way. If you want it darker, move it the opposite way. Got it? Good." Then I just told her to take a LOT of pictures, and try and experiment with every angle. And that's it. Off she went.

Long story short(er), she did amazing. At times it was hard, for sure. I think especially for her, not really knowing if I was going to like what she was getting. She felt like she didn't get anything good for me. Well...she was wrong. To be honest, some of my favorite images from the wedding...are hers. And I LOVE that.

For example, here is one of my favorite shots of the wedding. To me it shows true emotion and love, a couple privately holding hands and sharing their love together, just before the Priest performs their marriage. I LOVE it.

And just because I couldn't include every great shot of hers in my last post, here's a shot she got of the adorable ring bearer.

Now I don't know exactly where we'll go from here, nothing is in stone. I can teach her the camera mechanics and f stops and shutter speeds and ISO levels etc...she can learn that in time. But I do know that I LOVE her images, that she has an AWESOME eye, and that we love working together. With the many exciting new beginnings happening in our lives right now, here's one to add to the list. ; )

Our New Adventure

Growing up with four brothers, and two adventurous parents, people would call us Ken, Jen and the Adventure Men. Adventure stuck with me, and so Luisa and I LOVE adventure. We love exploring, going to new places, meeting new people, living like the locals when we travel. We have had some amazing adventures in our life, but yesterday, this new baby adventure really kicked in gear for us. Our future baby looked more like an actual baby, and less like a little "gummy bear". It was real, we could see the baby move, yawn, and clench its fist.

The Sonographer dimmed the lights, and started the ultra sound. Immediately Luisa and I saw exactly what we were looking for and started laughing. So as soon as the doctor said, "Do you want know what it is?" We both screamed out "IT'S A BOY!!!!" and started laughing and cheering. The sonographer was a little taken back by how excited we were, and asked if we had a bet going on or something. Nope. Just really really happy to begin this new adventure. Thankfully, everything looked incredibly healthy. We were so happy. A little boy. A baby boy. We couldn't be more proud and humbled at the same time. The new adventure begins.

Sitting on a fence

Today, I'm sitting on a fence. I come from a family of all boys. Lots of them. 5 to be exact. Every time I tell someone that there are five boys and no girls in my family, their immediate response ALWAYS is, "Oh, your poor Mother, what a saint." And honestly, she is. I don't know how she did it. Boys will be boys, and boy, were we boys!

Today, Luisa and I woke up happy, excited, anxious and even a bit nervous. Today we go to the doctors, and find out whether we're having a boy or girl. We've always joked that we wanted boys. All boys. It seemed to work out fine in my family. No drama, no trying to balance between the difference between boys and girls. Just boys...give them their Tonka trucks, and they're happy. Usually. All boys would be nice...until just recently, we've talked about having a girl, and how wonderful that would be. Even this morning, Luisa woke me up and smiled at me, and said, "I would be so thrilled if we found out we're having a girl." And it's true.

Luisa and I were driving home one night, and she spotted turkeys, sitting on this fence. We laughed so hard, we had to pull over and take a picture. So here we are, sitting on a fence, not knowing quite what we'd prefer, boy or girl, as if our preference has any weight in the matter.

We've been thinking it's a boy all along, but in the end, who really knows? How about you! Any predictions!?

Happy Labor Day

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Vermont with my wife and her family. It was a perfectly timed, and much needed break in between photo jobs, and it was SO great to be in this incredibly green state again. Not joking there, the ENTIRE state is green. Rolling hills, beautiful forrest, gorgeous farms, and the cutest old New England towns with their little white churches and everything. It was beautiful.

We spent the weekend reading, playing games with the family, cozying up by the wood fire (not to be confused with the "flip-a-switch" fire), and canoeing and row boating (? is that a word) on Lake Champlaine. It was an incredible weekend!

I left Monday evening to catch my flight the next morning out to Seattle for the CreativeLIVE and Jasmine Star event. As I left Vergennes Vermont, the sun was setting, and there was an incredibly dark rainstorm in the mountains. The sun caught the rain and created one of the most spectacular double rainbows I've ever seen. I kept driving, blasting the only station I could pick up, "105.3 The Peak - World Class Rock", snagging a few photos with my iPhone here and there...nothing special. I finally decided to get out, ran in the rain into a very wet (and muddy) field in my shorts and flip flops with my D3s and fisheye. I started laughing out loud as I hopped around the farmers field getting soaked, thinking of the owner coming out waving a shotgun, yelling at me to get out of his property. Just one sec...snapped a few photos of the rainbow, then turned the camera around and snapped a few of me. I've been told that I always make faces into the camera. I don't know why I do it, I guess it's my way of feeling more comfortable in front of the lens. I'm quite happy to be in my normal spot, right behind the lens.

Happy Labor Day everyone. Enjoy your Monday!

Photography Top Ten

On my flight home from Seattle I wrote out of list of things that blew me away, things that have changed the way I look at the photography business, and about photography in general. Yesterday I posted the business Top Ten list. Today, I post the top 10 things I learned from Jasmine and JD regarding photography. You'll see that a few overlap from yesterday's list, because, well...they apply to both.

So without further ado:

10. Take Care of Vendors - How? Showcase their work. Get amazing pictures of the venue, table settings, and flowers. Make them look good, and make sure they're happy, and FREELY share your images that showcase their work. Remember, more Don Kings!

9. Have Fun - It's pretty simple. If you're having fun, then they're having fun . If you're miserable, there's a pretty good chance that your clients will be too. If you're happy, and they're happy, you'll see it in the photos.

8. Don't Wait - Learned this one first hand through a mistake I made. Here's the thing, Jasmine talks about how it's not about the moments when they're posing for the picture, it's the moments in between, the true, unaltered, candid moments. SO...don't put your gun in your holster. Keep your camera ready at all times, even up at your eye even while your talking. Sure you'll look ridiculous, but that'll help with #9.

7. Stay In Control - BE CONFIDENT! If you lose control, or confidence, you're clients will never have confidence in your abilities. Stay in control of the situation, and be confident.

6. Good Light First - Many photographers (including myself MANY times) have found amazing locations, and then tried to make the light look good. 99% of the time, it doesn't work out. Find the good light first, and then you can make almost any location look beautiful.

5. Beautify - Yes I just said beautify. Meaning, give your brides the permission to be beautiful. Teach them to pose, SHOW them how. Be fun and confident, and react to their beauty. If they feel beautiful, chances are they'll see it in their photos. Help your clients FEEL beautiful.

4. Everyone Needs a JD - Jasmine and JD are an incredible combo, and I swear can read each others minds. It's amazing how they work together. They balance out each others strengths and weaknesses. JD showed me the value of an amazing 2nd shooter, and how important the 2nd shooter is.

3. Be Yourself - From the business and branding top 10 list, but applies here as well. Be yourself. Don't copy another photographer because you like their work. Not everyone's methods, even Jasmines are perfect for every single person. What may work for her, may not work for you or me. Always stay true to who you are. YOU are your greatest asset. Capitalize on that instead of trying to brand yourself like someone else.

2. Tell a Story - Wow...this also rocked my world. Total gold nugget here. It's all about the details. If you set out to take pretty pictures, you'll probably do just that. Tell a STORY with your photos. Jasmine is an AMAZING visual story teller. Again, learning here that photography is not ALL about the photos. It's about the story, the experience, and sharing and capturing that love and story.

1. 3 Words - I don't know how I missed this one yesterday. It was right there in my notes in BOLD. Evocative, intimate and romantic. Shoot for your three words. Have them embedded in your mind as you photograph. Every photograph should be a symbol of your brand, even as a logo would be. Everyones words are different and are even an appendage of who they are. I'm still a bit doughy on this one, still baking, and still growing, learning what my three words are.

That's it! I can remember taking a taxi to the airport after it all, feeling...exhausted but energized, sad to leave, but excited to head home, stronger but more aware of where I'm weak; like I was just given a giant golden nugget, and now it was up to me. The mix of emotions was crazy, but more than anything, I was happy. Really happy. Life is good...nope...wonderful! So much to be thankful for. I had a huge grin on my face, even laughing out loud to myself, as I headed towards the airport, because I knew that in just a few hours, I'd be getting off a plane and I'd be home, with my wife, and our little future baby.

Yes, it sure is good to be home.

Top Ten

Home again, after one of the most influential and life changing weeks of my life. If you're just tuning in, I was fortunate enough to be one of five photographers that were chosen to attend a workshop hosted by CreativeLIVE and Jasmine Star. The workshop was 5 days long, and involved shooting a live wedding. The five days were, well...crazy. Absolutely crazy, intense, fun, life-changing, and amazing.

Many have asked what it was like to spend 5 days with Jasmine and JD. It honestly was one of the best experiences I've ever had. If you can, once they open up another workshop, GO. It will rock your world and change the way you see your brand and experience. They are two of the most giving and honest and genuine people I've ever met.

To try to put into words, what I've gained from this experience is not an easy task. I've come away lifted, liberated, and humbled. But to try to capsulate what I've learned, I've made my very own Top Ten Countdown, of things that have "rocked my world". As I listed my top ten, I found I had two lists, one primarily on the photography side of things, and then one on the business side of things. So today, I'll share my Top Ten things that I learned from Jasmine with regards to business and branding.

10. CREATE - Are we creatures to our circumstance or creators? Chase Jarvis quoted Owen at Viget.com, saying "It's easier to be inspired than it is to create". I have often found myself busy being inspired, but not creating. Create connections, be involved in the photography community, create experiences for your clients, create conversations, create BUZZ!

9. Be INTERESTED - Instead of trying to get 200 to be interested in you, become genuinely interested in 2 people. Pay it forward, help others, again...get INVOLVED, and it the return will always be greater.

8. Under Promise, Over Deliver - This one is pretty simple. If you are always delivering more than you promise, then everybody is happy. There are SO many ways this is possible. I feel like I've always been trying to promise the sun, moon and stars to make clients happy, and then trying so hard to accomplish that. Promise the sun, and then moon and stars are a happy bonus.

7. Create "Don Kings" - Don King promoted some of the best professional boxers including Muhammad Ali, and Mike Tyson. As you share with a bride and groom their wedding photos, they immediately become Don Kings for you. But what happens when you share a same day slideshow to 50+ people at their wedding?

6. 80/20 - A successful photography business is 20% photography, 80% business. This one is huge, as I'm learning that it's not ALL about the photos!! It's about the experience. A bride and groom should like their photos before they even see them. Great photographers don't take or make great photos, they create great branded experiences, and tell the story THROUGH their great photos.

5. Connect and Repel - This blew my mind. Connect with brides that relate to YOU, repel brides that may not be the best fit. More on this later...

4. Leverage Strengths, and Outsource Weaknesses - Now outsourcing isn't for everyone, but KNOW your strengths, and expand them. USE them, leverage them, and make them even stronger. What makes you different? Jasmine is one of the best at knowing her strengths, and knowing her weaknesses, and growing where she's strong, and getting help where she's weak. There is nothing wrong with having weaknesses, just know how to use them.

3. Branding - Wow. This could have it's own top ten list, but brand. Everything. A logo is not a brand, but a symbol of a brand. A brand is an experience, even a feeling. I have SO far to go with branding!

2. KIR! - Keep it real. Don't fake the funk. People are naturally attracted to people that are REAL. "Leave your ego at the door" and K.I.R...Keep It Real!

1. Be YOURSELF - My favorite. Why? Because I feel liberated in a sense that, if you keep it real, and BE YOURSELF, then people will love you for it. OR, they may hate you for it, but remember, connect and repel. The ones that hate you for it, probably wouldn't be a good fit to begin with. Before going to the Jasmine Star workshop, I felt like I already knew her. I'm sure she has received the comment "I feel like I KNOW you!" many, many times. She's real, she's herself, and so people relate to her.

Again, what an incredible experience. Not a workshop on photography, but on YOU, on me. Thank you Jasmine and JD and the CreatieLIVE team for an unforgettable week.

Photography Top Ten coming tomorrow!

Jasmine Star - Day 1

Hi there! If you don't already know, I was chosen to attend an INCREDIBLE 5 day workshop with Jasmine Star and the CreativeLIVE team that will be broadcast LIVE from http://www.creativelive.com/. You can check out a post all about it here. If you didn't tune in yesterday, I think they're running a "re-watch" until today's workshop starts, and if you haven't tuned yet, you're seriously missing out, because it's been incredible. Jasmine and her husband, JD...are absolute rockstars. They're absolutely amazing to be with. I have learned so much already and have about 9 pages of notes to go through.

First off, the team is amazing. The other 4 that were chosen to attend are so fun to be with and it's a blast to be able to experience it all together. Here we are the day before the workshop starts at Pike Place Market

Now here are the biggest things that I've learned so far:

First and foremost! BE YOURSELF! Jasmine is EXACTLY like she is on her blog in real life. Honestly, I felt like I knew her already before I came, and in a sense I did, because she keeps it real. Which is number 2. KIR...KEEP IT REAL!

Another HUGE point. Attract and repel. Don't try to please everyone, or you'll just end up being boring. Jasmine doesn't just get lucky with the coolest brides ever, she ATTRACTS those kinds of clients, and repels the ones that wouldn't be a good fit.

And then don't even get my started on branding. We'll talk a bit about this later. But all I can say right now for it is...holy cow, it's important.

Anyways, I need to leave to our second day of the workshop, so tune in right here: www.creativelive.com. Here's a picture of Jasmine and me at the end of the workshop...

...and one of Sachin and me from my iPhone, who can't believe that we're actually here. Crazy!

Happy Thursday! More pics and behind the scenes to come.

Catch up!

Life has been crazy lately, and I've definitely neglected the blog. But great and amazing things are happening. For example, I'm sitting in the Las Vegas airport waiting for my connecting flight to Seattle to attend the Jasmine Star and CreativeLIVE workshop! I'll be posting every day this week bits of "catch up" and also pieces from the workshop.

So I guess I'll start with NYC. As you've seen in the previous post, I did a bridal shoot in NYC which was so much fun. I also took the opportunity to explore New York: walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, eat at fun hole in the wall restaurants, and even visited some of the touristy sites.

I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I liked these ones. The pano of the city was shot from about 12 vertical shots stitched together in CS5.

Anyways, happy Tuesday, and come back for more catch up and updates on the Jasmine Star and CreativeLIVE workshop. Can't wait!