My friend Amy's wedding

These shots are from my friend Amy's wedding on April 18, 2009. I was not one the official wedding photographers, but on occasions like these, I just can't leave my camera at home. Here's the best of the best from my images. The ones toward the end of this set are intentionally blurry; I was playing around with different effects with my flash. Share your thoughts - I'd love to hear them. (As usual, click on any image for a larger view.)

I'll be posting more wedding pictures very soon.

More wedding shots

Here are more pictures from my friend Meredith's wedding last weekend. The ceremony shots could be better, but most of the time I had to shoot from a slight off center angle, since I didn't want to get into the aisle to get in the way of the professional photographers.

In the church, I shot with two Canon L lenses - a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8 image stabilized lens. Thank God for the latter - I could not use flash during the ceremony, so I was shooting at 1600 speed, handheld. Two things became quickly apparent after looking at the ceremony shots - the EOS 5D boasts very, very good resolution even at 1600, and Canon's image stabilized lenses are excellent.

For the flash photos, I used a Canon Speedlite 580 EX II flash with a Gary Fong clear diffuser (with no dome). These shots could be better, but I'm newer to weddings and still learning using a flash. This was a good experience, though.

All images were taken at 1600 ISO, exposures unrecorded (I was just trying to get the shots on the fly) on a Canon EOS 5D.

Me with two of my best friends - Amy (left) and Meredith.

A cool wedding pic... many more to come

I shot my first wedding this weekend, not as the official photographer, but as a dry run for when I begin shooting weddings next year. It certainly was a learning experience, but mostly a good one.

I made some mistakes, which I didn't mind, and I learned a great deal of lessons, which is why I hauled along my gear in the first place (in addition to hopefully getting some great shots of my dear friends Meredith and Patrick, who were getting married).

Anyway, the shot above is a picture of my friend Bill, launching himself off the stage pretty late into the reception. He had us all rolling with his dance moves - besides the ceremony, Bill goin' wild on the dance floor is the one thing I'll always remember from Meredith's wedding day. This photo was not staged at all. At one point while we were all dancing, Bill said to me, "Hey, should I go up and take a huge leap off of the stage?" Laughing, I shouted, "Go for it!" Okay, so maybe a little staged, but I didn't tell him what to do or where to jump or even suggest the idea - that was all him.

One of the reasons I love photography is that it freezes a moment in time; one can look at a snap from 20 years ago and remember the exact circumstances when it was taken. I think this one does that.

I'm almost done cropping and touching up the rest of the photos from the wedding - I hope to have some up by tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.

Canon EOS 5D, Canon Speedlite 580 EX II, Gary Fong Clear Diffuser (no dome), Canon 24-70 f2.8L lens, ISO 1600, exposure unrecorded

Coming early next week: some (hopefully) decent wedding shots

Today we're going to my friend Meredith's wedding in Reading, PA. While I'm looking forward to it because I'm so happy for her, I'm also eager from a photography standpoint. I've been hired to shoot a wedding next May, and this will be a dry run of sorts. More importantly, I want to finally put my Gary Fong diffuser through its paces. I've had the thing for over six months now, but I'm yet to really use it.

It turns out I wasn't using the diffuser correctly the first time I had it out shooting. I'll be the first to confess that I'm not always great about reading manuals or watching how-to DVDs that come with my various pieces of equipment. I'm mostly to blame, but digital is to blame, too; since shooting digital, unlike film, doesn't cost anything but time, I like to just start shooting and experimenting whenever I get something new.

But, my results last time sent me looking for the DVD, and once I watched it, I had about five "A-ha!" moments. So, I hope I have a few decent shots to share with you early next week from the wedding and reception. I know Gary Fong makes great diffusers - I just need to refine how I'm using them.

More to come on Monday. (After all, tomorrow is opening day for the NFL - unofficially that's a holiday in our house.)