Probably the best thing to be put into a can.

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Specialized Hard Rock (Mine) left, Marin (right)

Today I went down to St. Louis with friends/coworkers to Chubbs Trail in St. Louis. We originally ventured out to go the trails at SIUe, but they were completely muddy from last night’s rain.

I hadn’t been on my mountain this year at all. I’ve been starring at blacktop and road kill the last few months. It was a welcome change from the norm though. Mountain biking is different in that you can’t not let your mind drift for the next 2 miles. No, you’re thinking about the next foot and a half with the sharped edged Dolomite and how you’re going to clear it without clipping your pedals on a tree stump.

Above a former pro biker and his equally good son.

I wish I had taken a better camera with me and taken more photos, but at the time I was more worried about not falling.

Christa pushing her 29-er up.

There were some truly gnarly sections and we did a lot of the above (walking the bike). The downhill was an incredible rush though. I think I topped out around 15 mph which is considerably fast when you’re wizzing by trees and crossing rock beds. Mom, we were all wearing our helmets. Don’t worry

We all had a great time, no one got hurt, and the truly amazing part: no flats.

I’ve had a few late nights this week. Sonic to the rescue.

Ya, it’s hot.

Sarah needed a photo of a necklace she made tonight. I made her do some artsy-fartsy photos. I like this one the best.

Dogs love ice.

My expert block layer doesn’t work on Sundays or even days so it was left up to me to finish the other half of the block border.

Who knew all those years playing in the sandbox would pay off?

I had to call it quits before finishing up the side by the driveway. Very close to being finished. Really liking how everything is turning out.

It’s official, I am now an experienced wedding photographer. What that means? Is open to interpretation.

I’ve been to a ton of weddings, which is usual for anyone in their twenties. I know the whole rig-amoral of ceremonies. Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran… the whole gamut. Just based on religion, I could probably give you within a 5 minute window how long the ceremony is going to last.

But being a photographer at a wedding opened a totally new perspective.

It felt like a game of Duck Hunt, gun ready, finger on the trigger, shoot the duck. The one thing I worried about was setting up my shot at the right time. I tried not to leave my finger on the trigger and just shoot a barrage of machine gun shots.

And I wasn’t worried about posing people. I did a few posed shots, but I left it to the subjects to pose themselves. It seems to be a popular perspective with wedding photographers to pose couples in unnatural poses. “Look at him in deep emotion” – translation: “This is your ball and chain for the rest of your life.”

It’s just not my style. Luckily, the couple had requested nothing like that. They’re also good friends of the Shoo’s and had seen a lot of my photography on Flickr and knew this was my first wedding.

Now please don’t get the opinion that I know (or even think I know) everything about wedding photography; or even photography at that. Far from it. There are plenty of pro’s out there. I am just you’re amateur photog who borrowed some nice lenses to take some pretty pictures for a day.

Of course I learned a ton from this experience. I had some great shots that would have been even better if my lighting was better. RAW editing fixed a lot of under-exposed photos. Shooting people with squinty eyes in the sun is also a big no-no.

I had a great time. I won’t be open Shoo’s Wedding Photography Studio tomorrow. But who knows?

I wonder if we can get Buddy and Clancy into bride and groom doggy costumes?

I had a busy weekend with doing some do-it-yourself landscaping this weekend. The front of the house has been in disrepair since last fall when I started to remove all the rock from the front. It was one of those projects that fell to the wayside for other activities.

Yup, nothing pretty about it.

This is what the house looked like pre rock removal.

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Either we’re all going to get really skinny. Or play with it for 15 minutes and go back to the controller.

I spend way too much time down here. Bike ride definitely tomorrow night.

The easiest crossing may not always be the best.

Our weekend wasn’t completely ruined by some nasty food. These are a few shots in Forrest Park before the concert.

Sarah and her obnoxious sunglasses.

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