Alaska Magazine Cover (Again)

Check it out... another Alaska Magazine cover! Make sure to get a copy of this one as the story is really exceptional and very in-depth. One of my favorite written lately. Of course the photos helped too.. it was really cold during parts of this shoot and I was quite impressed with Petra's ok-ness with the whole thing. Weaker-folk would have bailed on the idea very soon. -Joe

Anchorage Wedding - Hannah and Josh

On Saturday Karen and I photographed Hannah and Josh's wedding in Anchorage at St. Patrick's church followed by a reception at the Susitna Club at Elmendorf. These guys were nuts! But nuts in a good way.. nuts as in, super fun. There's only a couple photos here that I posted that show a little of their craziness, but believe me, there were a lot more..

Wasilla Wedding - Amanda and Cody

On Friday I was in Wasilla for Amanda and Cody's wedding at the Best Western at Lake Lucille. Karen and Philip joined me and we had a great shoot!

Sanctuary River Hike/Packraft Trip in Denali

On Sunday, Nathaniel Wilder and Karen Hilton and I drove up to Cantwell where we spent the night on the side of the road and left the car for the beginning of our trip on Monday morning. We hiked about 15 miles on Monday and floated about 20 on Tuesday on the Sanctuary River. The take-out was the park road where we caught a bus that took us back to the visitor center where we were able to hitchhike back to town for pizza and then hitched two more times to get back to the car in Cantwell. Too many stories to list - but the highlight was most definitely spending a couple hours watching a herd of Caribou and a Grizzly Bear unknowingly head right at each other, with the bear finally realizing it's opportunity and chasing the caribou down trying to catch one. Fortunately for the 'Boo, the bear had no strategy or skill, and came up empty handed.

Cordova Wedding - Chelsea & Kevin

On Friday Brook and I flew over to Cordova for Chelsea and Kevin's wedding which took place on Saturday. The location was at an old fish cannery now called the Orca Adventure Lodge and I have to say, it might be my favorite place I've shot at in Alaska. So many cool buildings to work with and great natural beauty as well. Chelsea and Kevin made the job easy and as you can see from the photos, it was a beautiful day, even if they had to have the ceremony in the rain. I'll keep the text limited and just post the goods.

Wasilla Wedding - Elizabeth & Greg

On Wednesday Karen and I were out in Wasilla at the Best Western Lake Lucille to photography Elizabeth & Greg's wedding that took place along the lakeshore. As we were driving in we thought it was going to be rainy all evening, but the sky cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful day to get married. Philip Casey even showed up for a bit on his way home from work, so for a couple hours they actually had 3 of us tag-teaming the photos and we got some pretty cool stuff! One of the cool things I liked about this wedding was that the band was made up of all family members and friends, and one of Elizabeth's bridesmaids even sang a song for them while the band played on.

Girdwood Wedding - KC & Tucker

On Tuesday Karen and I were in Girdwood for KC and Tucker's wedding at the Our Lady of the Snows Chapel followed by a reception at Alyeska. They were both really easy going and we were able to capture some really nice moments throughout the day, including one of my favorites - the bride's dad shedding a tear during the ceremony... it was a happy tear... like this :.)

Girdwood Wedding - Laura & Thomas

On Sunday Karen and I were in Girdwood for Laura and Thomas's wedding at the Crow Creek Mine. They were a very cool couple and this was a really fun one for us to shoot. Lots of rediculousness. The first photo is one of those classic "old time photo" shots we did with some of the costumes they brought just for this purpose. There was a ton of people at the wedding! Check out the ceremony photo to see what I'm talking about. I don't know how many there were but it was a lot. The bridesmaids and groomsmen colors were pretty unique also. Everyone had on a different bright color, which looked great all together. One groomsmen even wore a bright green cast just for the occasion that matched everything perfectly. Thomas makes custom off-road trucks, so we had to get a few with his rig too. Laura was pretty good with making the faces, it's too bad I couldn't put more because she did some crazier stuff! On to the photos...

Girdwood Wedding - Laura & Kit

On Saturday Karen and I were down in Girdwood for Laura and Kit's wedding at Alyeska Resort. There were rain showers on and off all morning and afternoon, but right before the ceremony, it started clearing a little, and no kidding, as Laura began walking down the aisle the clouds completely parted and the warm sun beamed down on everyone. It was perfect timing! Before the ceremony we went on a hike to the hand-tram over Glacier Creek with Kit and his groomsmen. Karen and I both forgot to bring non-wedding clothes so we were out hiking in our nice wedding-wear and dress shoes. Oops! After the ceremony we went up the mountain and got some really awesome photos (as you'll see below) even though it was only 45 degrees up top. I also threw in a cool shot of Karen getting the goods from a precarious perch.

Anchorage Wedding - Cindy and Chris

On Friday Karen and I headed over to Eagle River to photograph Cindy and Chris's wedding at the beautiful St. Andrews Church. We also stopped at the Eagle River Nature Center for a bunch of photos with their huge bridal party. I don't think I've ever photographed a bridal party this big in Alaska, ever! 24 bridesmaids and groomsmen plus the two of them! We got lots of fun stuff and they had a beautiful ceremony followed by a reception at the Marriott downtown. To get to the Marriott Cindy's dad drove them in his "new" 1957 Pontiac. During a break in the reception we went exploring around downtown and found a few new spots that were pretty awesome. Lots of cool stuff as always, always so hard to narrow it down!

Kings River Engagement Session - Erin & Justin

I took sometime off from work today to go meet up with Justin and Erin for their engagement shoot. This was by far the coolest one yet, hence why Joe and Nick wanted to tag along with us. Justin and Erin along with his buddies are extreme outdoor rock crawlers and came along for the ride on the trails for the engagement photos. Justin first found me on craigslist when I was trying to sell some old photography gear and after linking over to my blog, he saw the pictures and knew that he had to have me photograph his wedding this August. When we all met up this morning it was a little embarrassing for me and my Jeep when Justin and his friends pulled up with theirs showing off the huge tires and tall lifts. Once we got back on the trail we unpacked the lights and had a blast capturing the Jeep madness. As you can see we totally rocked it and had lots of fun in the process. Thanks for letting us hangout with you guys! -Philip Casey

engagement shoot with Jamie and Adam

Today I met Jamie and Adam down at Beluga Point for a great engagement shoot. The tide was out so we were able to get up on the furthest big rock. They were such great sports about walking in the muck and then climbing up the slippery rocks. It was totally worth it! We got some fantastic stuff up there. -Nick G

Anchorage Wedding - Elise & Adam

On Saturday Karen and I shot Elise and Adam's wedding at the Holy Family Church with a reception at the railroad depot following. In-between we stopped to do some photos on the beach at Point Waronzof and had a fun time in the sun working with beautiful lighting. At the start of the reception Elise and Adam had quite an entrance and quite possibly the best choreographed first-dance I've ever seen. It was very impressive. Cameo Productions was shooting video all day and was better able to capture the full effect with the music and cheering crowd. Can't wait to see the final cut of that. The middle-bottom picture was really touching because it shows Adam's father while Adam danced with his mom. For the guy's pictures we found a sweet place that I'd never seen before but might be one of my new favorite areas in downtown Anchorage to shoot. Tons of potential and we only scratched at the surface.. As is typical for us, this was a super awesome wedding and it was hard to pull only a few photos that do the day justice, but here's a few of my favs..

Engagement Shoot - Dionne and Matt

Tonight I met Dionne and Matt out at Kinkaid for an engagement shoot. The sun played along and made for some beautiful light. Both of them were great sports about climbing on top of a bridge railing and even sitting in the dirt. Their wedding is coming up in August. I had to reconsider shooting the wedding when I found out that Matt is originally from Chicago and a Blackhawks fan. Oh well, the Wings beat 'em. I guess I'll take pity on him ;) - Nick G.

Glen Alps Engagement Shoot - Ashley & Andrew

On Monday I photographed Ashley and Andrew's engagement shoot up at Glen Alps. Andrew made a suprise visit from Afghanistan so it gave us a chance to get some engagement photos taken before he headed back. This was my first shoot at the Glen Alps with the new wooden fence they've been installing over the past week or so. I pretty much hate the fence from a practical stand point, but from a photographic standpoint it's actually a cool new feature that I'm looking forward to using now. It was a bit overcast with no sun, and muddy-looking so I shot a lot in black and white, but I think the results were great!