Michelle and Jason's Slideshow

Here's the slideshow for Michelle and Jason's gorgeous wedding. Tons of fun, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of their day!

Michelle and Jason from Chris Culler on Vimeo.

I'll have a preview of one more wedding up this week, then it's off to Chicago for a week!

Michelle and Jason

I was lucky enough to be chosen to shoot the wedding pictures for my good friends Michelle and Jason this past Memorial Day weekend. A great group of friends was on hand to celebrate the occasion, and it made for a wonderfully fun time.

Here's a preview, I'm still sorting through the enormous pile of pictures I took.

Getting ready


First Look


First Look Smooch


Relaxing


The Beautiful Bride


Walking to St. Al's


Coming Down the Aisle


Don't pay attention to me, I'm not the groom!!


During the Ceremony


Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Curtis


Leaving in the Pimpin' Whip


First Dance


"Why won't they play 'Billie Jean'??"


There's more coming, I'm sure...

Anne and James

For a bit of a change, I got to be "just a guest" at a wedding this past weekend. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I brought the D80 and my new 35mm f/1.8G with me.

Anne and James had a beautiful wedding in Issaquah, with lots of friendly people from all different cultures. African singing and dancing, mixed with traditional "wedding stuff" made for a great time. Plus, the Kenyan food was AWESOME. I'm so pleased that I was able to be a part of Anne and James's special day!

Saying "I do"



Cutest Flower Girl Ever




Bubbly Exit








No mercy on the cake cutting...





(more to come...)

Which one?

I have the opportunity to submit some pictures for to a gallery in consideration for a "hanging." Between these two pictures, which do you like better? Which picture do you think has more appeal?

Hula Dancer


Sam

The new 35mm f/1.8 DX

Nikon just dropped it's first Digital Format Only prime lens (besides the bitchin 10.5 Fisheye), the 35mm f/1.8. I was among the first group of customers to pre-order this bargain lens at Adorama, so I received the lens via UPS last week.


After shooting with it a bit, I must say I'm pretty impressed. The lens is sharp as a tack all the way from f/1.8. It's well balanced on the D80, and makes for a wonderful walk around lens. The ability to close focus is very nice as well.



Most surprisingly (and oft-commented around the interwebs) is the lack of a focus scale window. While I don't miss the window, it just...feels weird. I'm assuming that Nikon wanted to come in under the $200 price point, and with the quality optics, including the window just wasn't an option. I'm also somewhat disappointed at the relatively slow Autofocus. The 18-70 focuses much faster, as do all of my screw-driven lenses (50mm f/1.8, 28mm f/2.8). But again, for $200, the lens is well worth it.

Tidepooling

After being a grownup for so long, it's nice to drop any semblance of maturity and just get dirty and play in the tidepools. That's exactly what April and I did at Dash Point State Park in Des Moines.

The waves and tides create some sweet effects in the sand:





April and I had a great time exploring and playing with all kinds of fun things we found:

Why I haven't been posting

You may have noticed a lack of new posts, but that's because of this:





In November, I finally signed the papers to take over and run my own coffee company. Surfrider Coffee has been going great guns ever since.

My goal is to start posting more frequently. I swear.