Never Do Too Much At Once….

When we were making our wedding plans, it was SUCH a flurry of decisions.
We wanted a short engagement, but we weren’t expecting to end up with just
3 months!!

Everything we’d planned suddenly was pushed forward. We’d look at wedding
magazines and they kept insisting that the things we were just considering should
have been done 18 months out… It was nuts!

But, we got it all together; primarily by deciding to separate our wedding ceremony,
and our reception; by a week.

See, we REALLY wanted to enjoy them both, but we knew that if we tried to
do too much on the day of, all we’d want to do was get away to the honeymoon!
So we split them up… And boy-oh-boy are we glad we did

I’ll blog images from our wedding as soon as I’m able, but for now; let me share
a few from our fabulous celebration.

Here’s Riley:

Just as my friend Matthew Saville was flown in to photograph our
wedding, Riley Spiller flew in for the Celebration.

It’s really quite special… See, Matt taught me how to take perfect
photos TECHNICALLY; Riley taught me how to capture moments
in the fashion world, and then I convinced both of them to come
capture OUR moments

We had a blast

Nelle and I arrived from our honeymoon, directly into the waiting party.
It was oh so exciting… Just ask Nelle!

The best part of the Celebration (for me) though, was that I actually
got to shoot a LOT of it.

Many of the next photos are mine

There were many fantastic conversations:

We also had simply the BEST helpers in the world:

The Matron of our family (My Grandmother, Vita Hinshaw)
was looking lovely as always:

If you’re wondering just what the heck that pink is in the background;
it’s one of the main buildings of the Chalet Suzanne…  Founded by my
Great-Grandmother in 1931, it’s where I was born and raised.

Some of these photos were taken by my new sister-in-law’s boyfriend
Michael Flores; he’s a real up and comer, and has been growing by
leaps and bounds under my tutelage.

Above is my little brother James… One of my favorite people in the world.
(He is SO friggin’ cool)

A few more of Nelle and I…

Laughing at something… Or someone

As it grew later, sunlight and perfect diffusion gave way to flashes
and moonlight… Oh, and the party began

Just in from Scotland, where he’s been studying for his Doctorate;
here’s Robert… My brother-in-law, and his wife Katie… They were cutting it up!

In attempting to do something a bit different; we gave
away the flowers as favors… And apparently it went quite well!
We heard lots of reports from folks that said they lasted over a month

One more thing we did to be a bit different…
Here comes the toss!!

I told you it was a bit different

We’d assembled 12 roses… 6 loose, and 6 together.
That way, MORE WINNERS

Amazingly (and unplanned) Alexandra my little brother Joseph’s
(then) girlfriend caught them… And as of LAST NIGHT, they’re
engaged as well!!

And THEN the party really got moving

Taking a breather with my older sis…

LOTS of old friends came to join in the fun…
Here’s a rare moment that Cody wasn’t dancing like a madman:

Two of my favorite people of all time… Riley and Emily.

And here’s the PERFECT picture that explains the three
way relationship between Nelle, myself, and her darling sister Emilie.
These girls are pretty much the uber-awesome; I’m so blessed to have them in my life.

My awesome sisters…

And the new sis, once again:

All in all, an amazing night… With loads of incredible moments:

My Dad Rocks

Many thanks to each of you that read this far; many, MANY thanks
once again to all of you who made this possible.

I’m so in love with ALL of you, and so HONORED to have you in my life.
I can’t wait to share each of our next chapters

Saturday, my darling wife and I are heading off for another adventure…
This time, a cross country road trip to California to capture another couple’s
perfect wedding day.

Keep us in your prayers; and let us know if we can do
anything to bless your life!

http://ericandnelle.com

Lots and LOTS of working on”Bugsie”…
Oh, and FINALLY surfing!

“Let’s wake up fairly early”
I’d said the night before… 9 hours later, I rolled over and stretched
my weary bones.

So began a frenzied day, calling shops, parts stores, and more.
Desperately  working on my car, roaming all over town in search of
parts and completely tearing apart nearly every part that connected to
my engine.

There was more than one moment that day where I thanked God for my years
of working on Buses with my Dad, and airplanes on my own… I learned SO much
in those days… SO many things that allowed me the ability to know exactly how
things work… And how to put them back together so they’d work even better.

(without any leftover parts!)

After a (very) exhausting day of nasty grease and silt covering work, I was easily
convinced to go surfing by the Santa Cruz gang… I’ll admit though, this was the first
time I was wearing 4 layers (including my scarf!) before getting into water… It was
going to be CHILLY!

(Photos by Barbara)

Cold Water Eric Action Figure!

And boy, oh boy was it ever cold… 49 degrees!!
My two wetsuits, booties, and borrowed hood blocked out the cold at first… But then
I gave the hood back, as it was far too small… And experienced an INCREDIBLE
sensation after my very next wave.

You know that feeling you get when you’re sucking down the largest ICEE or slushie,
known to man? The feeling you experience when someone stuffs a giant snow ball down
your back… Or your pants?

Well, apparently, when you dive head first into 49 degree waves…
You get all those same excitingly mind numbing tingles! It literally shocked me at
first… It took me ’til the 3rd wave I dove through to put 2+2 together and realize that
what I was feeling was actually brain freeze!

This Florida boy has always avoided water that bloody cold in the past, haha.

Finally, a picture of me surfing!

Yup, I still look pretty darn goofy
There was so much kelp in this area that I was soon forced to try my hand at
surfing without using a leash (the cord that connects you to your board). At first,
I’d tried to surf without ditching the leash, but on my second good wave, I’d just
built up some speed and was starting to cut down the face of the wave, when
a bunch of kelp reached up from the depths and grabbed my leash.

Next thing I knew, my board had STOPPED… But I had not.
Head over heels, I flew forward… And that’s about the time I discovered that whole
“brain freeze” thing I mentioned

So, I took off the leash… And on my NEXT wave; the board, no longer being bound
to me, decided it wanted to head into shore! I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried it, but
you should know… Swimming in two wetsuits and a pair of booties; through massive
clumps of kelp certainly isn’t easy!

Haha, ahh well… At least it gives me a great opportunity to show ya’ a bit more of
how insanely cold it was, and just how much seaweed there was in the water

Our surf session was cut short just before nightfall and we all set off back toward
my dear friend’s home (who’d graciously allowed me to extend my planned visit
from lunch, to what looked to be DAYS!). The night was filled with great food,
friends, music, and believe it or not, blogging about the first day of this adventure.

Here are a couple of the images Nancy snapped that evening


My Mondo Sized Feet…

The Musical Gang!

So, that was my Sunday… And a cheery day at that, even considering the incredible
amount of stress I was under trying to get the car running so I could be on my way.
I was already 2 days behind!

Monday was an incredible day… From oversleeping, to painstaking… AND painful
motor work… To a Grandpa (not mine) who became my hero… From tears, to joy.
(Oh, and some KILLER photos of the Golden Gate Bridge

But you’ll have to wait for tomorrow… Can ya?!

P.S. I think this is the first time I’ve EVER blogged using just one single image
I’ve taken… That give you any idea of just how busy I’d been?! Insane!

Haha… I promise tomorrow’s post will feature none BUT my photos, and there
are a couple I’m especially excited to share with you

Slowing Down…

That’s what I’m learning to do… At least a bit.
After living my entire life CONSTANTLY on the move,
rushing from city to city, experience to experience, I’m changing…

Slowing things down more and more every day, removing some of
my expectations and needs for rapid development, intense change.

I’m slowly beginning to understand the beauty of HOME.
The completion of satisfaction… And the joy of subtle discovery.

____________________________________________________

But hey, you’re here for the pictures, aren’t you?
Without further ado:

____________________________________________________

As always, I’ve been “up to” a lot…
Even despite my new, “slower” perspective .

Last week, I took a quick trip to Colorado to visit with Joel Comm
to work on his branding a bit, and gather some of his big picture,
“genius” perspective on my business.

After a couple of days spent hanging out with Joel and his staff, I set
off with a very old friend to see his older brother, and then venture
down to some of my very favorite places in the country…

On the way to see Dawson’s brother in Fort Collins we stopped by
a small reservoir to capture the stunning sunset… It was cold (my
fingers are still thawing a week and a half later), but TOTALLY worth it!

Dawson Swan…

After a triumphant reunion with Travis (Dawson’s older brother)
and his lovely wife (whom I’d never met.. It’d been 7+ years since
the last time we’d all been together!), Dawson and I headed South
toward Evergreen… Aka Paradise.

Along the way, we took a very different route… One that took us
high above the city of Denver with a perfect view of the sprawl…
It was sub-zero with the windchill (40+mph) but it was just too
gorgeous to pass up shooting a few long exposures.

“More Than A Mile High”

*Large Version Here*
[Click that... You'll be glad you did]

The next morning, I awoke feeling the most intense peace, and pleasure…
Filled with the precious experience of home, I always experience when I’m
in Evergreen… Which of course immediately inspired me to start researching
Real Estate listings in the area… Lord willing, I’ll own some property there
in the near future

Dawson finally talked me into ending my ecstasy induced MLS and craigslist
searching, by showing me THIS LINK and promising me a day filled with snow
storms and incredible photo opportunities. Of course, this California boy was stoked

The normal travel time from Evergreen to Colorado Springs is
about 90 minutes… OUR trip took over 6 hours. What follows, explains why…

Snow… “And Lots of It!”

I promised Dawson he could play with my lenses and gear…
I think he fell in love

(He put on a jacket shortly after the previous photo was taken, haha)

One of my favorites…

*Large Version Here*

Winter Wonderland….

*Large Version Here*
I’m not sure why I love the last photo so much, but I really… REALLY do.

Perspective…

My God IS an Awesome God.

Alas… The Clouds.

I wish you could have seen it with us… So breathtaking.

This next photo is a technical marvel…  297.6 megapixels of stitched, RAW
amazingness… It nearly killed my computer to stitch and process.

It took over 5 hours for the computer to catch up with the stitch alone and
more than 35 gigabytes of cache to complete… Never have I EVER attempted
something of such magnitude… But as it stands, I can easily print this image
8′ long or more with absolutely no loss… I can’t wait to try it!!

SO… Here goes… I have a bunch of different tints and feels, but this is the
fairly “straight” look… As such, I think it has it’s own raw appeal

Incredible.

*See The Extra Large Version Here*

As the hours wore on, I captured another massive stitch… And a plethora
of other beautiful images… But this is long enough for tonight and I have
other, similarly fabulous adventures to share

I’d love to have you check out Dawson’s photos from the adventure as
well though, he’s done some incredible work and is really growing his
style extremely rapidly!

His blog links are available here:
Day One - Day Two

Goodnight all… I have missed you