Best of 2008, best skies.

Anybody who is familiar with my photography knows I’m a sucker for big skies.  I love looking to the sky and using it as a primary prop in my portraits or other photography.  So much that during receptions, I’m frequently taking a peak outside to see what’s going on, looking for a great opportunity to take my couple outdoors to for a quick portrait session.

Best sky: wedding

That was the case last June when photographing Mike and Nicole’s wedding.  A storm had just gone past and left in it’s wake a beautiful palatte of colors and whispy clouds.  The sun then peaked out and showered the landscape with the most buttery light.   This was one of those “can’t go wrong” situations.  Mike and Nicole were awesome to work with, making for a perfect moment.

Best sky: engagement session

Come to think of it, last spring was chalk full of thunderstorms rolling in.  One such storm threatened to rain on our parade as I met up with Jon and Lacey to photograph their engagement session.  A think wall of clouds blotted out the sun, making for a nasty blue cast over everything and caused me to believe we might run out of light earlier than expected.

Just as I thought we were about to finish, we all stopped to notice the electric storm cell off in the distance that was full of distant lightning.  I decided to switch gears and grab gear for nighttime lightning photography.  Sometimes shooting lightning is easier than others.  Getting a cool sky was easy on that night, but actually capturing a bolt was a challenge.  For one, Lacey and Jon had to sit perfectly still for my 30-second exposures (dozens of them).  Second, the lightning wasn’t breaking the surface of the clouds.  Finally right before the storm hit with its heavy winds, rain and hail, I nailed the shot you see here.

Not bad for a night’s work.