Top 10 of '10 - Bridal Portraits

2010 was a wonderful year! I had the chance to make so many interesting images and meet many, many incredible people! I was thinking of how I wanted to reflect on the year and this is what I decided.
I'm starting a series today of my top ten images from 2010 in different categories.The criteria are simple. They're MY favorites. I'm excited to break them down and figure out WHY they're my favorites, it should be informative for me at least. I will comment on some and tell you my thoughts as well.
Up first, BRIDALS!

Bridals are a lot of fun to shoot because it mixes the technical aspects of lighting and posing with the more creative aspects in a nice little package. I really like helping women realize how beautiful they are. All of these shoots could have had multiple entries into this top ten, the brides were simply amazing!

So without further ado, here are my 10 favorite bridal portraits from 2010!

Oh, it was hard to choose one from this session! Janna wanted classy vintage. The Ogden Union Station was the perfect venue for the style. She pulled out every stop in making the look her own. Classy.
Click here to see more from this shoot.

I love the way she looks and moves towards the fairy tale steps. The color temperature is cooler than what was shot. Go check out the highlights of her session so you can actually see her from the front, Lauren is stunning!

In one of my favorite shoots ever, Andrea Hanks took Las Vegas by storm in an original couture dress. She took the over-the-top feathers and makeup and made it feel like a comfortable pair of jeans. She pulled it off like no one else. We shot mostly with her husband, John, but this is one of my favorite images of just her.
Click for the whole Vegas tour with Andrea and John.

There is nothing as fun as being told by the bride that she's not photogenic and then watching her transform and own the camera and project the kind of confidence and grace that burns right out of the image. Sorry, Samantha, you are photogenic!

To be honest, I'm not sure what it is about this image that I love. It just feels right. You really can't beat Thanksgiving Point as a location.

Amanda. I knew she was going to be a fun bride when I used a baseball analogy and she not only got it, she did the pose perfectly! I love this image because it feels like she has taken charge of the situation and is posing on her own terms. I also love the lighting. It's one umbrella up-left and a 1/16 speedlite from behind to make the veil glow. I just dig this image. Click here for the whole shoot.

After a crazy string of events ate up most of our time and moved us down to about Plan F in the list of locations, Mindi brought it from the very beginning of the shoot, allowing us to get everything we needed in the short time we had. I love this image because it has a candid, natural feel and demonstrates that you can shoot amazing images in ANY location. This was a vestibule between two sets of doors.

I LOVE images with a mood. We were out of light and done with our shoot and walking back, hoping not to get rained on. We saw this tree and figured we'd do a couple more. Sarah jumped in and despite basically zero light, she worked it. We ended up with a dark, mysterious, magical mood. Love it.
The location was Red Butte Gardens.

This image is technically not a bridal as much as a product shot but I love it anyway and I shot it like bridals so I'm putting it in here anyway. This was a shoot in Las Vegas for a dress line for Modest Couture by Elizabeth. I like this one because you simply have to smile when you see a bride running in a nice poofy dress, in Vegas pretending to be Venice. You just have to!

I like this image because it's a simple, straight-up portrait. Zenya looks stunning, and that's the point. Some people want something crazy artistic, some people don't. Portrait photography, beyond lighting and posing and whatnot is about connecting with your subject. When it all comes down to it, I love that you can see what an amazing person she is inside as well as how stunning she is on the outside. The little wisp of a smile is just coy enough to hint at a complex, interesting person.

Sunbrook Country Club - St. George - John + Maree, Part 2

I know how often I say that I work with awesome people, but I really do!...and I can certainly prove it when it comes to John and Maree. When we first met to talk about the photos they dreamt about, we all thought that we could combine forces and create some great images. We all had some inspiration and some innovative ideas to add to the collective pot, and we were proven right. Their engagement session on the Salt Flats has been a portfolio piece I adore, and Maree's bridal session at the Union Station in Ogden was some of my best work, and both shoots make up some of my favorite memories as a photographer. Add in a fantastic wedding day in Manti with a follow up reception in Riverton, and how could we go wrong? With such wonderful photos and so much time spent together we all grew to like each other and trust each other implicitly.

The final reception for these amazing kids was at a fantastic golf club in St. George, Utah. The course looked out at the red rocks in the background, and as the sun started to set it was too beautiful for me to pass up. I knew that I only had about ten minutes tops to capture the light, but I was able to run inside, pull John and Maree out of their receiving line, and take some of the most amazing photos in my portfolio. I trusted that they knew it was important. They trusted that I was going to give them something awesome in return for those ten minutes away from their guests, and they followed me out onto the green without hesitation. Through our entire relationship, in the choices we made, I think we've been proven right at every turn...but I'll leave it to you to decide.

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Janna's Vintage Train Station Bridals - Union Station, Ogden

Janna and Dave are getting married in Manti, Utah on Saturday.
Their engagements captured the various sides of their personalities with a glam portion in down town Salt Lake and a more natural side up Little Cottonwood Canyon. Wonder which side Janna chose for her bridal session? Vintage Glam all the way, baby! Janna brought some fantastic classic portraits of Hollywood starlets as a reference point of the looks that she hoped to achieve, and I'm happy to say that not only did she channel Lucy and Grace in certain angles, but I was able to capture some Janna-out-of-the-50's herself...which I like even better than when she mimicked the stars. Thanks for the trip through time!

If you can't see the slide show below click here for the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Maree - Bridals - Union Station, Ogden Utah

Maree and John were referred to us by Summer and JD (See the last post) so we knew right off that we'd love them, and we do. The inspiration for their engagement session was derived from her wedding colors so when we were looking for a location for bridals we needed a similarly inspiring location. Maree gave me a lot of creative control through the whole process of her wedding and that's always exciting. I knew what feeling I wanted but not really where to find it--Maree's not really a nature girl but also isn't the urban graffiti type. She needed a location that was classy and unique but still relaxed and approachable. Ogden's Union Station fit the bill perfectly.
Stay tuned, John and Maree's beautiful wedding is coming up soon! (Their formals overlooking sunset on the red rock hills of St. George are killer.)

For all you smart phone people who can't see the flash slideshow below because of the amazing injustice that withholds Flash from all of us, click here to see the images on facebook.

Alex & Brittnie - The Holy Family Catholic Church

Brittnie and Alex were married in a beautiful Catholic ceremony in the newly completed Holy Family Catholic Church in Ogden, Utah. It was a dramatic, emotional ceremony worthy of the magnificent church that was only a few weeks old.
Following the ceremony the party moved to the previous church building for a sit-down luncheon and a reception that can only be described as a rocking PARTY!
Enjoy the images of this classy, unique wedding...and stay tuned because the Maid of Honor in this wedding--Brittnie's sister Blayr--got married just a month later, making this an epic summer for the Holmgren clan. I was excited to be there for both and will be posting Blayr and Brock's images soon!

If you cannot see the flash slideshow below, you can click here to see the album on my facebook page.

The Last Big Weekend of the Season!

A chill is in the air and halloween costumes are coming out to play, (Hannah's going to be a cow--she's very excited.) That is the signal for the end of the wedding season. We sent the busy season out with a bang this weekend with four, count 'em, four weddings this last weekend. I photographed three and Lori did flowers for three. Two overlapped, leaving four total. (and you thought story problems wouldn't be useful in life...) All four were very different and all four were incredibly fun! I'll post more from all of these as I process them and after I post a few others from this summer but here is a taste. I picked a couple of shots from each to show what a fun weekend it was. We are physically and emotionally drained but we got to work with the most amazing people--it's what makes this job worthwhile!