Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by my brand new blog. My name is Masen, and I’m a wedding and portrait photographer working and living in beautiful Southern California. This blog is meant to serve as a journal for me and my photographic life, where I post images, stories, thoughts and opinions from every aspect of my life. I like to think of it as a great way for my clients, friends and fellow photographers to keep up with my day-to-day personal and professional life.
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It’s great to back home in beautiful San Diego! I’ve been out of town traveling and shooting the US Army for 22 out of the last 29 days. While I love having the opportunity to shoot our young cadets, it feels great to sleep in my own bed once again.
This is yet another “bunch of random Army images” posts. I wish I could have posted my favorite images each and every night after returning to my hotel, but most nights I was just too tired to plug through all of my images. I also wish I could post ALL of the images I love from the previous 11 days, but I just don’t have time to do that either!
So, here are just a select few images, in no particular order, from the last couple of days of shooting up at Ft. Lewis, Washington:
The “Recondo” water confidence course included this obstacle that required the cadets to climb and crawl up to a rope, hang down, and then drop down 20 feet into the lake:
Every cadet had their own way of falling:
Having a good time after getting out of the water:
A few more random images:
It was pretty awesome to be right under a Chinook helicopter as it lands and takes off. You can’t really tell by the first picture, (due to my wide-angle lens), but I’m no more than 20 yards from the edge of the helicopter. The blades were kicking up some serious dirt!
From the other side, as the cadets enter the back of the Chinook:
And here’s one last fun portrait of my boys Shredder and Ch4d posing at the graduation field:
Don’t worry… Ch4d will get his own post in the next couple of days. I’ always seem to take a bunch of goofy pictures of him and I on these trips.
Stay tuned!
View/Leave Comments (11)The Army shoot is plugging along nicely. I’ve (begrudgingly) gotten used to the “up at 6:00am, shoot all day, catch-up-on-work-in-the-hotel-room, pass out” routine up here. It’s the same thing for 10 straight days, and we’re just now over the hump and working hard towards the home stretch.
With that being said, here are a few more random shots, in no particular order, from the past couple of days:
Old school land navigation:
(Photographers… NO Photoshop on this image whatsoever. SOOC)
Lots of rope climbing…
And the cadets seem to love being dirty. Seriously dirty.
And this was my favorite shot from today:
Keep checking back in for more images!
View/Leave Comments (11)I’m still working away up here near Seattle at Ft. Lewis. It’s been a very long day, starting with photographing P.T. (physical training) at 6:00am, and heavy artillery in the afternoon. Here are just a couple quick pics until I have a little more time to post.
In the Army, push-ups are common, and difficult after you get past 60 or so:
And a couple from the afternoon:
My schedule should ease up in the next few evenings to allow me to post a few more. I miss all of you back home!
View/Leave Comments (5)There’s a lot going on right now, and I wanted to spend a little blog time catching up on things! Here’s the low-down on what’s up!
::: I’ve finally created a Twitter account! I think I’m officially the last person I know to hop on the bandwagon. It’s true when they say Twitter is like crack. I already find myself constantly checking up on all of my friends using the mobile web version on my iPhone.
For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is (Mom), it’s a way to stay in touch with friends, and see all of the fun little things going on on their lives in between blog posts. I could go write a whole post about what it is and why it’s cool, but it’s easier if you check it out yourself. Or you can watch this cool, informative video made by my friends the Bui Brothers.
I’ll be updating all the time during my trip to Seattle this coming week. I’ll once again be shooting for the US Army! If you want to follow me on Twitter you can check my badge here in this post, or you can visit my Twitter page.
::: Awhile back I posted some images and info about a series of short webisodes called “Zed Lapel Pin”. I shot a few images on set while the episodes were being filmed. My good friends (and the director and producer) Chad Clabaugh and Chris Roberts have informed me the the show’s website is officially up and running! If you’d like to check out the episodes, do so HERE. I think they’re pretty damned funny, and certainly worth a few minutes of your time!
::: I’ll be writing a post soon that has a bunch of images from my iPhone from my last Army trip in Kentucky. I don’t know how, but I always seem to get the funniest, most interesting images with my iPhone. It must be because my iPhone NEVER leaves my presence, and is always there to snag a pic when I need it. Here’s a sneak-peek… On the last day of shooting I dove to get a shot of a cadet crawling under some barbed wire. I got the shot, but I ripped the crotch out of my pants in the process. With half the day left to shoot and no spare pants, I grabbed a roll of duct tape and did what needed to be done. And before you ask, yes, this is completely true.
::: Jen and I are now official residents of Mission Valley! We’re no longer on the outskirts of town, and have returned to my hood! It’s awesome to be back in the middle of town, and not have to drive an extra 20 minutes to get everywhere! I’ll be doing more lunches in the area, so be prepared for invites!
::: People go crazy when a new iPhone comes out.
::: I’m excited to say that I’ll have a brand new website in the couple of months! (Website, not blog). I’ve had my current site for years, and fell out of love with it a long time ago. I’ll be sure to announce it when it goes live!
::: Any photographers out there in the Seattle/ Tacoma area want to get together while I’m up in the area? I’ll be there for 11 days, from the 12th through the 22nd!
View/Leave Comments (4)This past weekend, Jen’s uncle Joe and cousin Kari flew out to San Diego from Tulsa for a little fun and relaxation for the 4th of July holiday. On Sunday we all went down to La Jolla to do a little shopping, and to shoot a few Senior portraits for Kari. Here are a couple of shots from our afternoon:
This past Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing a wedding for one of my most favorite couples! You may remember them from the engagement shoot I posted last year where I traveled out to Sedona, AZ. From the moment I met the couple and their family, I knew this would be a very special wedding, and a special day. I’ve never had such a wonderful sense of being welcomed, and being treated like a member of the family.
The wedding took place at the Grand Tradition in Fallbrook, an absolutely amazing venue to get married. The staff was staff was top notch, including Jenna, the venue’s coordinator.
On to the photographs, starting with a detail of the gorgeous dress:
Little bows on the backs of the Spade’s:
The MA5EN style bouquet shot:
A little “vogueing” in the mirror never hurt anyone!
A little assistance finishing up the dress:
You gotta have 2 garters; one to toss, and one to pass down from generation to generation:
The stunning bride:
The lucky groom:
A perfect afternoon:
I love this emotional moment during the ceremony:
The couple:
A fairly spectacular location after sunset:
The first dance:
A cool moment on the dance floor:
As the couple ran out to their limo, all of the wedding guests held up sparklers a cheered them on their way. It was so beautiful!
Thank you guys so much for making me feel like a part of your family, and for letting me be a part of your amazing day!
I also want to send out a big thank you to my good buddies David Baxter and Aaron Thompson for coming along and helping me out all day. Check their blogs for some sweet images in the near future.
View/Leave Comments (13)After 11 straight days of shooting in Kentucky, I’m finally heading home tomorrow evening. It’s been a pretty smooth shoot all the way through, but I’m very happy to be flying out of here. I’m just flat out burnt!
I know I promised to post a bunch more Army pictures from the last few days, but with the long shoot days and large amount of additional computer work in the evenings, I just haven’t had the time. I hope to take some time in the next week to put up a few more shots. I had a great time and captured some awesome images, and I want to be sure to share them here.
For now I’ll post just a couple. I had such a great response from the tank image in my previous post that I thought I’d post a similar image I shot on Tuesday morning. This is “Tobacco Leaf Lake” just after sunrise with the fog still hovering over the water. The cadets perform rigorous team building exercises on this lake all day long, so I thought I would capture it before all of the chaos ensued:
And here’s a shot of the entire awesome crew I get to work with on these Army shoots. This is just after wrapping up earlier this afternoon. You can tell we just wrapped because we’re all so happy! I shot it using the camera’s timer so I could be in the shot as well:
I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night!
View/Leave Comments (5)Every morning while traveling to our crew “meet-up” spot on base, we drive down “Old Ironsides Avenue”, passing this tank on the way. I don’t know if this tank is the actual “Old Ironsides”, but it looks cool! On Saturday morning we traveled the same route, but noticed the awesome sunrise while passing the tank. I hopped out of the van for a quick shot, and here’s the result.
More shots coming soon!
View/Leave Comments (12)As many of you know, I’m currently out in Radcliff, KY at the Ft. Knox Army base shooting images of ROTC leadership training courses. Today was day 4 of 9, and things have been rolling along smoothly thus far. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next few days, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that we’ll have enough time to shoot before the skies open up and the storms roll in.
While I’m out here, I’m usually up before the sun rises, and then after shooting it’s back here to my hotel to catch up on client work. That means the blog has had to suffer a little bit. There’s just not enough time in my days while I’m out here!
Here are a few random shots from the last few days. Keep in mind that other than the “standard” portraits, all of these images are taken as they happen. The cadets go about their training, and I have to wiggle my way into the mix and pick up moments without disturbing them, or the rest of the training squads and leaders. Most of the time I’m using my telephoto lens, and running around liek crazy trying to capture a moment before it ends.
My buddy Ch4d is out here with me, and expressed his unhappiness to me about the lack of pictures on the blog featuring him. So, to start off, here’s a snap of Ch4d from earlier today. If you look close, you’ll see me doing a stupid pose in the reflection of his glasses. I’m on the right. I don’t know who’s in the left side. The boogeyman?
And here are a few more from the last few days:
A couple of portraits:
Yes, I’m hanging over the edge of a 50 ft. tower while getting this shot. (Sorry Mom!)
Check back for more images over the next few days!
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