Of all the people who have helped me in my career, and kept me motivated to push on when things got tough, nobody has had as big an influence on me as my friend since junior high Nate. So it was no surprise that I was honored when he asked me to shoot his wedding. He and Esther have been a couple for years, and finally decided to make the commitment and tie the knot. The wedding was absolutely a blast. It was unique and catered specifically to them. My sons Grandfather presided over the ceremony, and they ended by each shooting an arrow into a target (they are both avid bow-hunters.) But the best part of the ceremony, was having my son Wyatt working along side me as my second shooter. He did an amazingly good job for being his first gig. Maybe I will have to change the name of the business to Thompson and Son Photography???

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day.

I am back here in the Beehive state. After spending a couple of years in Southern California shooting weddings, and honing my skills, I have returned to my home state of Utah. I had a great time In Cali, and will definitely miss the state, but I am back where I belong. While in California I had the opportunity to rub elbows and become good friends with some of the worlds greatest and most famous photographers. I learned a lot from them, and hope to continue my friendships from a distance.

I will continue to do lighting and photogrpahy workshops, but I will now start doing them in Northern Utah. If you are interested in learning to run your camera better, learn the business of photography, or professional lighting, please send me an email, and I will let you know when my first workshop will be.

Thanks for following along with this new change in my life, I am truly excited to see what the future holds!

This weekend was Kenny and Briana’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony, and a wonderful reception. Enjoy a few of my favorite photos from the day.

At last weeks wedding, I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of rolls of film durring the wedding. Although I began shooting weddings years ago on film, and I have shot tens of thousands of images on film, I haven’t shot any film in over two years. However I love film. I love the look of film, I love the smell of film, and I even love the challange of shooting film. It is much more difficult to shoot film than digital, because you cannot see your image. With digital, you can see right away if your exposure was right or wrong. With film, you need to know exactly how your meter works, how to judge a scene, and set your camera to get the photo right the first time. It is sort of like working without a net. If you don’t get the settings exactly right, then you don’t get that image because you won’t know for a couple of days.
I shot a Kodak print film, 400ASA speed. It worked pretty good, but I don’t really like the grain structrue, so I will keep trying different films.
Here are a couple of my favorite shots from the day I got on good ol’ film.

Over the last 13 years as a professional photographer I have had multiple opportunities to shoot so many different types of weddings. I have shot the most extravagant to the most humble, but I don’t think I have ever shot one as easy and as much fun as the wedding I shot this last Saturday. From the moment I first met Michael and Nichelle, I knew I wanted to shoot this wedding. They really just seemed like “my kind of people” They were very laid back and easy going, and had some great plans for their wedding day that I was very excited about.
The day began at the local Hamton Inn, where Nichelle and her bridesmaids were getting ready, meanwhile, my second shooter Michelle Meiner was shooting Michael and his groomsmen. We then traveled to the house for a beautiful backyard poolside ceremony. The whole day was absolutely amazing, and went off without a hitch. Everyone in attendance had a great time, and will remember this day for years to come.
Thank you so much to Michael and Nichelle for inviting me to preserve their memories of their special day. I had a great time, and even got to shoot film at a wedding for the first time in years. Stay posted for my blog post with those film images.

Hair Stylist: Christina Pastore
Makeup Artist: Vanessa Rae