I met Ashtan (and her big sister, Amanda) a long time ago at a Fashion House shoot in Kansas City. She had never modeled and it was a lot of fun to hang out and get some great photos back then.

Surprise, surprise! Ashtan calls me up not too long ago, asking if I remembered her, to which I replied, “Of course I remember you! Big blue eyes and a sister, right?” She had looked me up and was wanting an engagement session for her and her ruggedly handsome, soon-to-be hubby, Jared. This I can do!

Well, Jared and Ashtan are going away to get married [undisclosed location, but involves a beach, but not me ] and so they wanted a killer engagement session. They dated a lot down by the Crown Center area, so I suggested maybe we could shoot at Liberty Memorial. Liberty Memorial is one of the only WWI memorials in the country. They have an amazing museum and the area is really quite amazing, set up on a hill.

They met me down there and we got to know each other pretty well. Ashtan’s mom even came down and hung out with us for a while! Yah!

I hope you love the photos and I can’t wait to see you guys in wedded bliss!

I am so very excited to share with you these images, so I have a quick, quick preview from the wedding this weekend at Jacob’s Well church in Westport and the Arts Incubator on 18th in Kansas City.

Are you totally diggin’ her dress?! Jessica McClintock can design!

Jacob’s Well Church. Beautiful ceremony and exit!

I loved this shot of the groom. I think I caught his smile perfectly, welling up from the inside out…

A special “thank you” to Marco, from Photo Mementos in downtown Lee’s Summit, who came along for the fun day. He was a lifesaver with his ultra-wide lens. I can’t wait to show you some of the shots we set up for that glass. He was even standing on my back for a couple of the shots! Too fun! I can’t wait to tag along and shoot with him again.

The bride and groom… Her dress was amazing. Truly.

The whole crazy crew…

The bride…wowzers! Gotta love her natural look and I’m diggin’ the freckles!

The lovely ladies walking downtown Main street…

The kiss… Shot by a “guest” in the crowd. More to come from that “guest” later.

The first dance…

Matt and Amy’s wedding was absolutely wonderful! I just had to post a few images as fast as I could! To all of you who were a part of their day…it was an honor and pleasure to meet with you all and to hang out!

Many more, including the proofs, will follow with detailed descriptions and such…

The best to you both, Mr. n’ Mrs. Bradshaw!

This session is really, really, really special to me. Really. Do you want to know why? Really? Cool, I’ll tell you why…

Josh is my cousin. In a lot of families, cousins are distant relatives that live in a galaxy far, far away. This is not true with most of my humongous extended family. I was a few years older than Josh, but when we would hang out as kids nearly every week, we were the only boys around the same age, so we played together while all the girls (my sisters) hung out in his two sister’s rooms.

We played with tons of toys like he-man, batman, star wars, g.i. joe’s, micro machines and matchbox cars. We collected baseball cards and garbage pail kids. We ran around outside with capes and hit each other with toys swords, making cool sound effects all the while. Josh and I shot at each other with toy guns and played kickball, and fort, and cops/robbers, and james bond, and wiffle ball and basketball. I even tried to play soccer with Josh, but he was always faster and better than me, because he actually played in a competitive league. We grew up together and I feel more like siblings than cousins.

Josh grew up (so did I, kind of…) and we did grow apart due to life and circumstance, but Josh has grown into an awesome man of God that has a confident, fun-loving personality that has an enormous positive effect on every person he meets. One of the most amazing persons he has met is Beth. Beth is kind and sweet and has a kindred funny spirit…not to mention she is gorgeous! Way to go, Josh!

They have been engaged for a while now and are getting married in a few short weeks. I look forward to being a part of their day and capturing every moment.

We hung out down in Westport, MO for their engagement session, grabbing some coffee at Broadway Cafe and walking around enjoying the beautiful weather. I hope you all enjoy the photos…and sorry for blabbing on and on.

Much love to you all,

-dustin

Oh…and as a sidenote, I shot this with a Nikon D300 (which I rented from borrowlenses.com) and my 24mm f/2.8.

I can go on and on and on about this wonderful couple. Steven has this quiet, assertive energy that focuses on Angela in a way that emits from him truly joyful and radiant smiles. Angela is tender-hearted and a compassionate caregiver to children (she is a full-time nanny) and her love and passion for her match is boundless. They are both Christians and full of the light and kindness that reflects Christ’s actions and it is a beautiful thing to see these people coming together in matrimony.

Anyway, I shot their engagement session a long while back at a beautiful nature center (that actually restricts commercial photography, but we snuck in anyway. Don’t tell anyone! Shhhh!). We had a fun time and got some great glimpses into their personalities. I hope you enjoy.

OH! This was my first engagement session using my 24mm…I totally dug it. I hope you do, too. I used my 50mm for some as well.

It has only been a year since I took the plunge and jumped into this photography business with both feet running. I have learned a great deal and been mentored by some of the best. I count it a credit to God that I had the rare opportunity to meet some of the most influential and inspiring photographers I could have at one place. It was awesome to so quickly bond with them during the exercises and tasks at the Anti-workshop. If you can’t decide on a workshop to attend, I highly recommend it.

When I met these people, I literally only knew of three of them beforehand (Erin Vey by way of Flickr, Heather Cole by way of fellow Kansas Citian, and Fred Egan by way of blog-stalking). I ended up getting to know so many more rockstars in the industry, it is not even funny… I shot with ever-so-fabulous Jasmine Star on one exercise…with Jesh De Rox and our subject Jessica Claire on another (see below). I listened to Doug and Chenin and John and Dalisa. Got to know Jan Garcia and Ed Atrero and so many more.

Anyway, I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction into this new world of wedding photography. I hope I made a decent impression on these people, but I want them to know that they made a HUGE impression upon me. I look forward to making my mark and someday being counted as a mentor myself.

The above photos are a few photos from the Jessica Claire session, but edited with my lightroom presets and Doug Boutwell’s brand new Totally Rad Actions 2, the Revenge. Go buy them, they are totally rad and a bit genius.

If you are in the Kansas City area, you HAVE to attend the veryaltf Tour from the leg-en-dary John Michael Cooper and his lovely bride, Dalisa, (who we all know really wears the pants in the family…inside joke for Dalisa).

Free is good, right? Right. Quality Adobe Lightroom presets are good, right? Right. Well, that is what I’ve got for you. Quality free lightroom presets! Download them now!

The two new free presets are part of my new Steller Utility series (coming soon). Gray and Snap are great little ‘utility’ style presets that I use fairly regularly and I have a bunch of other things (including some actions and textures) that I am working on to put together a full Utility set. In the mean time, I hope all my photographer friends out there enjoy these little gems.

One of these presets (the Guru GreenGold) is part of a series that is included in the 52 Steller Lightroom Preset Pack. You can see samples of many of the presets and even purchase the set for only $40 at stellergear.com. Also, if you have questions on how to use them, install them, or whatnot, please read the readme.pdf included in the zip.

If you download these, please comment and tell me what you think! Let me know how you use them and shoot me links to the photos. I’d love to see them in action!

Smiles!

-dustin

Some words to describe these two… hilarious, playful, comical, genuine and totally diggin’ one another!! They were a riotous ball of fun for the couple hours we spent down by the city market. Matt has a million faces and the combination of both their quick wits and intelligent charm will make a lifetime of beauty. Amy is going to be a gorgeous bride, donchathink?!

Matt and Amy, getting married in a few weeks at the amazing Kansas City Public Library. Stay tuned for their wedding photos not too long from now.

Check out some of the photos below…aren’t they hilarious? We’ve got everything from caveman to 007 going on!

High school seniors are way too much fun, and I still have so many still to blog from this year!

Kelly rocks. There is no simpler way to put it. She and her friend, Ellen, hung out with me at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and we had a great time getting some really cool senior photos. Kelly is a sweet spirit who has the most amazing blue eyes and a smile that warms your heart.

Let me know which photos are your favorites. I am always curious to know.