Monday, February 8th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Families | No Comments
I get lots of requests for extended family photoshoots over the holidays. For some families, it is the only time of the year everyone is together. I can relate to that, although our one time of the year is usually in the summer at our annual family summer party/gathering/vacation. The Olsen family wanted their photos taken over Thanksgiving. In fact, we arranged to take the photos on Thanksgiving day. So once again, this post is a testament to how far behind I get with the blog. Rest assured that my clients get their photos within a week. I just don’t get around to posting them here until later.
Sunday, February 7th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Kids, Lifestyle | 1 Comment
I haven’t posted any pictures of my own kids on this blog before. Okay, so I have, but it has been a while. I figured I would keep that separate from my official photoshoots. But why? I don’t have a good reason. I take a ton of photos of my own kids so I figured once a month, I would share just a few of my favorites from that month here on this blog.
These are from January. My oldest is four. It is a fun age. He is definitely testing his boundaries and starting to look more like a little boy. He has grown almost 3 inches in the last few months. Still he is a lot of fun. It always takes some coaxing to get him to cooperate for photos. We usually come to a compromise of no more than 2 pictures that I can take at a time. I usually sneak in a few more than that:)
My youngest is almost 18 months old now. He is the cutest kid ever. We are going to have a struggle on our hands when it comes time to dump the binkies. Notice in this first shot he has two, one in the hand and one in the mouth. That is not uncommon for him. He’ll walk around like that and just keep switching every couple of minutes.
I tell people all the time that smiling pictures are over rated. I hear people say things like “oh I wish he was smiling.” Why? Don’t get me wrong. Smiling photos are great and it is always nice to capture kids when they are happy. However, the reality of life is that sometimes kids cry. It doesn’t make them any less cute though.
Now I feel obligated to show you that he does smile.
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Weddings | No Comments
Laura and Clint got married last September. This blog post is better late than never I suppose. The reception was held in Luara’s parent’s back yard. Here are just a few reception details.
Parowan Gap has become one of my favorite places to go. I like to go there for a number of reasons. First, I am always fascinated with rock art. I’ve spent a lot of time exploring places just in search of it. I grew up in Emery County Utah where you can find a plethora of cool writings.
Second, Parowan Gap intrigues me. Specifically, the theory about the Gap being used as an ancient calendar. Ironically, another place considered to be an ancient calendar system is the Rochester Panel in Emery County, a very unique collection of rock art. I have yet to visit the Gap on any of the solar events, but I plan to. Definitely need photos of the sun right smack in the middle of that gap. I’ve seen some on the interwebs elsewhere and they suck. I can do better:) I have lived in this area for almost 10 years now and I only recently went to Parowan Gap.
Also intriguing to me is that Chief Wakara is said to have referred to Parowan Gap as “God’s own house.” There is definitely something special about this place. It keeps drawing me back to it.
It is also a really great place to take photos. It even makes an awesome setting for portraits. Interestingly enough, there is an art exhibit opening at Southern Utah University soon with works inspired by Parowan Gap. So, I am not the only one drawn to it.
This is a view looking South toward Enoch from the West side of Parowan Gap. The Gap is just out of frame to the left in this photo.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Bridals | No Comments
I have done this whole wedding backwards. Well I did post their engagements first, but everything else has been out of order. I tend to get way behind on blogging. I’ve got a bunch of photo shoots in the “to be blogged” queue.
Stephanie’s bridals were done on a freezing cold day. We had to seek shelter to warm up several times during the shoot. In spite of that, she doesn’t look that cold. We ended the shoot with Stephanie in pointe shoes (see below). Had it been warmer we would have sought out some more outdoor locations in those pointe shoes too, but sometimes you just have to deal with Mother Nature and sometimes that means staying inside.
Stephanie is a dancer, a really good one to. She is the lead role in an upcoming performance of the full length Cinderella Ballet. That means she is Cinderella in case you were wondering. Dancers are just awesome, I know, I’m married to one.
Stephanie wanted to do some pictures in her pointe shoes. Awesome idea.
A continuation of Nate & Steph’s wedding. They were married in the Manti temple on a cold snow covered December day. I shot the whole day with natural light, uncommon for me. It was just too bright for my speedlights to be useful. No worries though, I can work with natural light when I need to.
Nate & Steph were married in the Manti Temple and had their reception the next day at The Villa Gardens in St. George. I’m posting backwards here. Their wedding photos from the temple are yet to come. The reception center has a lot of options inside and out when it comes to good photo spots. We didn’t have much time before the reception started, so we only scratched the surface. Here are a few of my favorites.
And a few reception details.
Kristina and Cole got married today. We did their bridal/formal pictures in November. It was freezing cold, an overcast day with threatening skies. It didn’t snow all day until about half way through the photoshoot. By the time we wrapped up shooting (okay we were forced to wrap it up), we were in a full blown blizzard. The snow however, was awesome in the photos. A little hard to focus at times with huge snow flakes falling, but it sure made for some cool pics.
This next shot is one of my favorites. I love the dramatic shadows, falling snow, background, twilight sky.
We ended the shoot indoors where it was warm. Kristina was awesome. She was climbing rocks in bare feet in the freezing cold. I was impressed.
Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Families, Kids, Lifestyle | 1 Comment
What can I say, the Rees family was great. This is the way all family photoshoots should go, especially big families. They were very relaxed and laid back. They wanted me to spend the first hour just taking candid shots of them doing their thing. The family had rented a cabin at Brian Head over Thanksgiving. It was an extended family photoshoot the way it should be done. Only one big group shot was taken.
The Rees family was different. They were very fun. They had no expectations of having everyone looking in the same direction. They also welcomed the fact that some kids would cry and get upset. They thought it was cute. They are right. As much as we would like to control how kids behave and how a photoshoot should go, kids are kids and I welcome that.
A beautiful family in a beautiful setting.
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 by Parker Grimes Cedar City Photographer
Families | No Comments
Josh and I talked several times about doing some photos. First it was winter and he wanted to wait until spring when it was greener outside. Spring came and went. Summer came and went. Them Mary emailed me in the fall and we finally got it scheduled. They picked a great time. Better than spring I think, my favorite time of year in fact. Many of the leaves on the mountain had all fallen off, but we found a patch of really great color to work with. Turned out awesome.
