I have been a photographer for 10 years, and besides shooting weddings, I have been published in numerous mountain biking and surf magazines. I have a Master of Science degree in physical geography and I love combining this knowledge with photography to find spectacular locations to shoot portraits and landscapes.

Choosing a wedding photographer is one of the many important tasks to accomplish in preperation for the big day. As you make this decision it is important that you look for past examples of the photographers work but it is just as important that you spend a little time talking to the photographer to make sure you can form a good rapport. Ultimately the photographer will play an intimate roll interacting with both you and your guests so before you sign any contracts and turn over you deposit have a face-to-face conversation. A friend of mine from Canada put together a nice guide on choosing your photographer.

Photography has been recognized as one of the most popular pasttimes in the United States. As such, many people visiting this site may be knowledgeable about SLR equipment and may be wondering what I use, so I have created this section for those with a keen interest in photographic gear.

Let me just start off by saying the resolution race is over. A seemingly little known fact is that print labs print photos at 100dpi. At this resolution you can print an 11x14 image from a 3 megapixel camera and it would look exactly the same as if it were taken with a 24megapixel camera. As if to prove the point (that the race to cram more pixels onto a sensor is over) Nikon released their D3x (24megapixel) to replace their D3 (12megapixel) camera. The result was an increase in price from $5000 to $8000 and DECREASED performance. Not only was the camera generating huge files that are slowing down the workflow for photographers but the smaller receptors on the sensor were actually degrading the quality of the low-light (high ISO) photos being produced by the camera. For me 10megapixels marks the end of the race to increase resolution in digital cameras. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy a camera with higher resolution but unless I'm generating billboard size prints there is no motivation to "upgrade" for the sake of resolution.

Canon Gear

- SLR Body - Canon 1DmkIII. This is the third generation of Canon's flagship professional body. It is unique in that it uses a 1.3x crop APS-H sensor rather than a 1.5x crop APS-C sensor or full frame (1x crop) found in other DSLR's. This larger sensor size (larger than APS-C) provides lower noise images at high ISO settings.

- Tamron 28-75mm F2.8. This lens is a true diamond in the rough. Available in different mounts for all brands of DSLR, this lens exceeds the quality of many brand name professional series lenses (including Canon "L" glass).

- Canon 24-105mm F4L. This versatile lens has a huge zoom range while maintaining excellent optics under all conditions. On top of that this is one of the few Image Stabilized lenses in the Canon lineup allowing shooting in much lower lighting conditions than most of the alternatives.

- Canon 135mm F2L. An exquisit low light telephoto portrait lens. I suspect the engineers at Canon were thinking specifically of weddings when they built this lens

- Canon 70-200mm F2.8L. Another one of the famous Canon "L" lenses. I find this lens a little on the large size for weddings (it weighs 2.9 lbs) so I leave it at home if possible. When the situation calls for it, however, this is a beautiful piece of equipment.

- Canon 580EXII flash. Canon's current top-end flash for on-camera use.

- Pocket Wizard Flex TT5 - In spite of some of the bad press these units received they provide unparalleled capability for a wedding photographer for both on and off camera flash work

Pentax Gear

- SLR Body - K-7. This is Pentax's current flagship SLR body. With a 15MP sensor and built-in Shake Reduction AND HD video, I believe this is one ofthe finest cameras currently available to wedding photographers. In-body stabilization means that you can shoot in very low light without the extra bulk of IS or VR lenses required on Canon or Nikon mounts.

- SLR Body - K20D. The previous generation of Pentax's top end body

- Pentax DA*16-50mm F2.8. One of Pentax's professional series "star" lenses, this lens is sharp and fast with very nice color saturation and contrast.

- Pentax DA*50-135mm F2.8. Another professional series lens by Pentax, this is probably the nicest zoom lens I have ever used.

- Pentax DA*200mm F2.8. Yet another professional series lens by Pentax that has enough reach that I can get the close and intimate shots I want without getting right up in your face. Several reviews have indicated that this is one of the nicest lenses to hit the market in the past several years, and I tend to agree with that assessment

- Pentax FA43mm F1.9 Ltd. This limited series lens is wonderful in low light environments and is my favorite portrait lens.

- Pentax 360FGZ. TTL metered flash for on camera or off camera use.

Examples of images taken with this gear can be found at the Pentax Photo Gallery.