This past weekend I photographed another travel wedding, in Joy’s hometown. (Visalia) A friend in the area owns the rare and elusive Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS, so I borrowed it and used it for a couple shots. WOW, it is a beautiful lens! However, manually focusing at f/1.2 is pretty difficult; so it’s really for details and posed portraits only. For real photojournalism, I’ll stick with the much faster (and lighter, and smaller) 50mm f/1.4’s that have autofocus. Rumor has it that Nikon is working on a new 50mm f/1.2 with autofocus, but my personal decision is to save up for a 35mm f/1.4 instead. The AIS manual focus one is not that expensive, ($600 used) …and unfortunately the AFS one is at least $1K more. I’ll decide which to buy after more personal testing. For now, this camera geek is just happy to have held and created images with, well, one of Nikon’s mythical beasts. :-P (Thanks, Forrest!)

Take care,
=Matt=

Here’s a quick shot from today’s engagement session. It’s a really great time of year for portrait sessions in the parks / gardens / hills around Orange County!

Take care,
=Matt=
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Really though, when I think deeply, it’s the subject matter I love. Meaning- if you told me right now that for some strange reason cameras and mother nature were no longer compatible, I would put away my camera without hesitation. I would thoroughly enjoy the beautiful great outdoors, even if I was only allowed to make memories…

Fortunately, it doesn’t work that way! In fact I believe that without photography over the past few decades, many aspects of the natural world would already be erased by the machines of human industry.

So, the thing that drives me has little to do with how fun it is to operate a camera, and even less to do with using a camera to put bread on the table. It has everything to do with the locations, the subjects, and the light, that cause me to get out my camera.

The following is simply a random collection of my current inspiration and enjoyment. Just a little “light browsing” for your holiday weekend!

The “classically trained”, large-format film photographers:

Rodney Lough Jr – http://www.rodneyloughjr.com

Peter Lik – http://www.peterlik.com

The go-light, high-adventure photographers:

Stephen Alvarez – http://alvarezphotography.com/

Jimmy Chin – http://www.jimmychin.com

Matt & Agnes Hage – http://www.hagephoto.com

…And of course, the late Galen Rowell. – http://mountainlight.com

Next weekend I will be in Lake Tahoe to photograph a wedding; and the following weekend I will lead a Natural Light Portraiture workshop in Thousand Oaks, CA. (A few seats left for new attendees, one or two seats left for re-attendees!) …I know I promised a “best of 2010 weddings” blog post, but that will come NEXT, honest!

Take care,
=Matt=

Tomorrow is the SoCal Photog Shootout in Claremont, CA! If you’re free, if you have a brand new Christmas present to play with, come play around with light with us! Models, knowledgeable leaders, and dinner are provided as usual. The cost is $55. http://bit.ly/scptso-Dec2010

Coming next, the best of 2010 wedding photos!

Take care,
=Matt=

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Here’s another “landscape” image from this weekend’s wedding reception at Bok Tower Gardens with Eric Farewell, the one photographer I know who falls into my “hero” category and is younger than I am. The picture is a merge of two different exposures- one for the earth, one for the heavens.

“I’ll see you again
When the stars fall from the sky
And the moon has turned red
Over One Tree Hill”
(U2)


View Wedding Portfolio • Contact Matthew Saville

This weekend Eric and I are photographing Jennifer & Michael’s wedding at Bok Tower’s Pinewood Estate, and I’m thrilled to say the least! It is an outdoor photographer’s playland… For now, here are three panoramas from tonight’s rehearsal dinner at the ever beautiful (and TASTY) Chalet Suzanne, …while I get some sleep before the wedding tomorrow since it’s East Coast time. Enjoy!

=Matt=

View Wedding Portfolio • Contact Matthew Saville

Speaking of challenges, I also love the challenge of in-camera processing. It’s like shooting film slides- You pick the right film based on your desire for contrast, color saturation, etc… With digital, you have the same thing- You pick the camera profile, the in-camera contrast, saturation, hue, etc… It sounds crazy to upload / share images that are completely un-edited, but honestly, SOOC is not that difficult! And if you shoot lots of images, mastering in-camera processing can save you from photoshop-induced burnout.

I always have a great time shooting natural light portraits with other photographers. All of the following images are from the most recent NLP workshop, and have ZERO color correction or other adjustments. They’re not perfect, but they’re good practice. They are also made with 100% natural light, of course. I shot JPG and uploaded the images directly to the internet. :-)

The next “Natural Light Portraits” workshop is currently scheduled for January 30th, and the price is $145. It will include 3+ hours of shooting, and then a dinner of image review, and Q&A time. There are only five spots for any workshop, so do sign up asap if this sounds like something you’re interested in! http://bit.ly/ms-nlp

The workshop will be in Thousand Oaks, CA!

If you’ve already attended any of the previous NLP workshops this past year, and would like to shoot with us again, just drop me an email and I’ll put you on the attendee list. (Again, limited to 5 people)

Take care!
=Matt=

2005 • Rabbit Island, BC • Fuji Velvia or Provia

=Matt=

Ootah, ootah!

Allay loo ta nuv…

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So anyways, I had way too much fun photographing this wedding, in a backyard somewhere in Orange County. I’ve photographed in this backyard before actually, and the area nearby is GORGEOUS for late afternoon portraits.

But talk is cheap, so I will shut up and get to the goods! Let me know which your favorites are.

Take care,
=Matt=

Brides: These images are not photoshopped specially just for this blog; I don’t believe in misrepresenting the quality of what YOU get. In fact what I deliver on disc will look even better. :-) …Of course for albums and prints, I do re-process and fully retouch every image to perfection. ;-)

Photographers: All images were taken on a D700 or a D300, mostly with primes on the D700 and a 12-24 or 50-150 on the D300. All images (except #7 and #22) are completely SOOC… (I use Nikon View NX2 to sort my proofs, and Photoshop CS5 to apply watermarks and re-size…)

PS: For those of you who know what SEO is, I apologize for the title of this blog post. :-P Business is business!

I HATE TECHNOLOGY! Okay, just some of the time. You see, I’m a camera geek and absolutely NOT a computer geek. That’s part of the reason I use a Mac- I’m not smart enough to maintain a PC… ;-)

…Okay, so, getting to the point: If you’ve tried to use the contact form here on this blog, I didn’t get your message. Aaugghh!!
(Insert Calvin & Hobbes comic here)

Depending on if you’ve visited my blog recently, you may or may not see the correct link now in the menu at the top of this blog. (It has to do with cookies. Yum.) Bottom line: The best way (for clients) to get in touch with me has always been the contact form you can view here: matthewsaville.com/contact-weddings. Or if you’re a photographer and want to chat about something else, matthewsaville.com/contact-photography is the correct form. Or of course you’re always welcome to just give me a call or email me directly. :-)

2011 is still open for bookings, however I’m only going to accept 20 weddings total next year so I can take the best possible care of each client. So if your wedding is on a Saturday in the spring or fall, dates are filling fast. If you love the outdoors and want to do something BIG for your wedding photos, please get in touch asap! …Of course if you don’t make it in time, in 2011 I may do a few select bridal / romantic portrait sessions, and they’re gonna be in some really gorgeous, dramatic outdoor locations. I’m thinking the Sierras, Zion, the Rockies, fall colors back east, etc… But, more later on that opportunity. :-D

Anyways, to try and cheer myself up tonight I looked through some more 2nd-shooting jobs. I try and second shoot on a regular basis throughout the year, because they are great opportunities to get extra creative and try new angles or concepts… So, here’s a few photos from my work shooting for Andrew Jordan, and Michelle of Mila Photography, and JP of John Lauren Photographers… I’ve still got plenty of other weddings to blog too! I have so many 2010 favorites that I still need to blog! Ithink I’ll have to blog like ten photos a day to get through them all before 2011… On that note, check out today’s ten pictures!

=Matt=