I thought I’d follow up Adams with some Weston, albeit, Weston was a bit more conceited about the craft and Adams a bit more pensive. After all, Weston would punch a hole through his negatives after he had “perfected” his print, so that nobody could reprint his negatives in any other way.

“My own eyes are no more than scouts on a preliminary search, for the camera’s eye may entirely change my idea.”

“The photograph isolates and perpetuates a moment of time: an important and revealing moment, or an unimportant and meaningless one, depending upon the photographer’s understanding of his subject and mastery of his process.”

“My true program is summed up in one word: life. I expect to photograph anything suggested by that word which appeals to me.”

“Ultimately success or failure in photographing people depends on the photographer’s ability to understand his fellow man.”

“When subject matter is forced to fit into preconceived patterns, there can be no freshness of vision. Following rules of composition can only lead to a tedious repetition of pictorial cliches.”

I have been going through the internet looking for snippets and thoughts from some of the photography masters, and I thought I’d share some quotes from Ansel Adams.

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed.“

“In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.”

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

“We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium.”

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

Once in awhile I get the privilege of second shooting for my good friend and talented photographer Natalie Moser. On this particular occasion we shot Lyndsy and Elon’s wedding at an estate in Malibu. You can see Natalie’s beautiful pictures of the event on her blog.

I was fresh back from OneLight when we did this wedding, so I set up a little makeshift photo studio with lights and a white wall at the reception and shot little portraits of the party people.

(Thank you, Natalie, for letting me play with lighting and for letting me share these pictures. Lyndsy and Elon, in case you see this, it was truly a pleasure to photograph your wedding. Unforgettable.)

Lifestyle sessions are designed to capture individuals and families doing stuff that they would naturally do anyway. For Anya’s lifestyle session, we went out to Eaton Canyon in Pasadena/Altadena and just hiked around with the entire family. She probably had more energy than the three of us adults combined. It was a joy to hang out with the entire family, and I was really inspired by Anya’s energy and sense of the world. In these pictures, I tried to capture that something wonderous and amazing I felt when I was with her.