Ok! I'll bring the blog back!

Howdy all!

I stepped away from updating the blog this past year because I figured potential (and current) clients could see what we've been up to by browsing the Facebook feed, which we keep up to date. I guess people liked the blog as well, so here I am! It's easy to forget that being a wedding and event photographer doesn't just mean snapping photos. It's important that you guys get a chance to know me and my work on a more personal level.

So, if you're even entertaining the idea of booking a session (whether it be an engagement shoot, wedding, family, promotional, event, whatever) then please get a hold of me! Let's chat, have a drink, have some coffee, go bowling, etc.

2015 was a super fun year for us. I was able to work with some incredible couples at some really fun events, got to take photos of some legendary musicians, and had the pleasure of working with some new second shooters.

We hope you all had a blast this year as well, and we're excited to see everyone in the coming year! In the meantime, have a very happy holiday season and browse through some of my favorite moments of 2015 below.

Geyserville Inn Wedding

Engagement shoot in Aptos, CA

Van Halen in Concord, CA

Some of the best bridal procession reactions ever. Diablo Ranch. Walnut Creek, CA

First Look in Geyserville, CA. Anthony swears he wasn't crying...

Billy Idol in Reno, NV. The Grand Sierra.

First dance at the Purple Orchid in Livermore, CA

Pre-ceremony meeting between bride and flower girl. Cupertino, CA.

Evening bride and groom at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens

Paul Meany of Mutemath risking bodily injury for our entertainment. Brick & Mortar, San Francisco.

Even a photo of me! Photographer photographing a photographer. Photo: Galen Ducey

Friends celebrating at The Ridge in Lake Tahoe, CA.

Stephen Tyler with Aerosmith ay Harvey's, Lake Tahoe.

How do people sleep at night, knowing that they cut into such a pristine wedding cake?

Slash. A personal guitar hero of mine. The Fillmore, San Francisco.

Sunset wedding stroll. Palmdale Estates in Fremont, CA.

Noel Gallagher of Oasis, serenading us at The Warfield in San Francisco.

Still Alive! Just Plowin' Through...

Hey folks.

It's wedding season. It has been, and it will continue to be for a bit. Which means it's Editing City here in my office, on top of admin stuff, bookings for next year, and traveling.

Going back in my calendar, I realized I've traveled a lot in 2013. Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Paris, Istanbul, Lake Tahoe (again), Denver...

Lancaster Bros. during our first filming outing in Paris last April

...and guess what? My brother Keith and I just coordinated flights and are headed back to Paris in about 3 weeks to finish up the movie we are working on. Time was crunched last trip (3 weeks is pretty ambitious for even the most indie of films) so we missed some shots that we needed. As I understand it, our writer/director has revamped the storyline and added some new stuff, so all of us are headed back to finish up.

There's a couple more weddings to shoot before the trip, more weddings after the trip, then I'll be headed to Florida for Thanksgiving (which is also my birthday this year) to see my parents' new house.

To top it off, one of my good friends (an exchange student from Berlin that I met in 1996) is in town visiting. I had not seen this guy in 16 YEARS, and after a few minutes it felt like nothing had changed:

Martin & Me last week

Oh, and for the first time in my life I actually beat a Zelda game:

Here are some of my other favorite moments since I last updated:

Shot promos for Tracing Figures... a band that contains two of my former band mates from years ago.

Seeing my family at our reunion in Vail, CO. That's me with my cousin & uncle.

Dusk on Lake Tahoe

Got to shoot Gillian's wedding, who is an old friend from our high school choir days

Vail, CO mountains as the lightning storm started coming in

Aimee & Paul's wedding in Mountain View

Taryn & Brian's wedding reception

the moon in Tahoe

It's been a blast so far! Gonna be hard to top the events of this year when 2014 rolls around. Then again, I said the same thing last year.

-Clay

Changes for 2013

It's been nuts lately.

It's currently 3:30am and pouring rain... and I love it.

I just wrapped editing for 3 wonderful weddings. I was flown to Las Vegas to work with a country artist on a video project (the guitar player on his record is also the guitar player for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill), finishing the rest of the video shooting and edits this week, shooting a wedding next weekend, and then flying to Paris two days later to work on a film with my brother.

THEN, after 3 weeks of filming, I'm headed to Istanbul by myself... just because.

...oh, and somewhere in there I have to move from my apartment to the condo I just bought. Ugh.

So check it...

My good buddy Todd is a painter, and graciously took a day off work to help me paint my new place.

...11 hours of painting, sore/swollen hands, and 150lbs of paint. Here are some before/after photos:

Subtle, but lighter ceilings and darker walls

flare

bathroom flare

It's my first time as a homeowner, and as you can see I decided to spice it up a bit.

So what about the rest of my activity?

Well, I went to Las Vegas to work on a project with this guy. Was treated to too many drinks and a little VIP action in the process:

I also did some lovely wedding work, like this:

yours truly... scouting the location.

It's been fun. And stressful. But I think a new life starts soon!

Hope all of you are well :)

-Clay

Holidays, Photos, and Festivities

Hey!

Ok... so I did, in fact, neglect November. In my defense, I was busy with Thanksgiving (family in town), my birthday, a wedding to shoot & edit, and a few other activities.

Here's some fun stuff from the last month:

Sarah & Thomas had a beautiful wedding in Pleasant Hill, CA

Congrats to Sarah & Thomas

My brother and step brother came to visit for Thanksgiving. This is the "portrait" we took for our parents.

Keith had to shoot car stills for a project, so we took this Jaguar out to Treasure Island (across from San Francisco).

Our view of San Francisco when we were done with the shoot.

Ventured in to San Fran to the Aquarium. That's just a bunch of fish over my head.

...then my birthday happened. (FYI that's artwork I created for The Family Crest. Incredible group.)

Later on my birthday, at a city professionals meeting (hence the name tag). I don't know who's idea the cake was, but thank you! I also don't know why my eyes are ridiculously blue.

And it's only December 6th! We got a whole month ahead of stuff to do (if you know me, you know how much I love Xmas time). 

It's gonna get packed, so if you want to book something, you need to do it now! I have some trips to SoCal coming up, a wedding to shoot in San Francisco, a trip to Reno, a promo shoot to do, potentially a video project, various events to make appearances at, people to see, and that doesn't even include the shoots I'll be assisting Jen Cash with.

So speak up if you need me! Happy Holidays everyone.

Video Editing Now an Option!

Howdy folks.

In the last year, I've had to turn down a lot of video inquiries. Doing video for weddings or musicians is much more time consuming and costly than still-photography, from an overhead standpoint. Not to mention that many people asked about it as well as doing still photography for their wedding... kinda hard to do one when I'm already doing the other.

Since Lancaster Photography is a small operation (meaning: myself, and a few part-time affiliates), it's just not doable or profitable at this point.

The thing is, I've been doing video editing for years and am current with the latest software/methods/formats. It's been a strong hobby of mine this entire time, along with audio post-work (see the video page for examples).

So, what to do?

I had this thought. Even if you don't hire a professional camera man with the insanely expensive video rig, you probably have (or will have) a bunch of funny, sweet, silly, stupid, or downright offensive video footage from your wedding/event that you'd like to save, but don't know exactly what to do with. I'm talking video from iPhones, Flip cams, camcorders, etc. that you or your guests filmed throughout the night.

Now, for an hourly editing fee, you can give me all of that priceless footage (I don't judge, trust me) to splice together with music, titles, transitions, captions, video enhancements, and audio enhancements... and voila! ...you have a movie! Once it's finished, I can give you the final product in any format you like, including DVD.

Contact me for rates and ideas, and let's finally do something with all those random video clips that are currently eating up space on your computer's hard drive.

clay@lancasterphoto.net

Walnut Creek Engagement Shoot & 2012 Happenings

2012 is shaping up to be a busy year, and it starts now I guess!

Hopefully it's a sign of a slight economic recovery, but by January 1st much of my 2012 calendar was already booked. I've had to turn away three weddings this week alone because the dates were taken, so get a hold of me soon if you think you're gonna need me. Great for business, but I hate having to turn people down.

Since the week of New Year's, I've been to Reno, NV - Carson City, NV - San Francisco, CA - Los Angeles, CA... and everywhere in between. That's a lot of driving, especially when the starter on my car is acting like it's 90 years old.

Last week I cruised down to Hollywood to work on a video with the other half of Lancaster Media (my brother Keith Lancaster), then came back to the Bay Area to finish edits on a wedding, had a couple of meetings, and then an engagement shoot here in Walnut Creek on Saturday morning. Here are a few of my favorite photos from that session:

Boundary Oak Wedding - Walnut Creek

Last weekend I packed my gear and headed with my assistant Isaac to Boundary Oak Golf Course in Walnut Creek, CA. This was the wedding of Chris and Brooke, for whom I had done engagement photos earlier in the year.

The club house wedding was a blast... beautiful weather, awesome sunset, and lots of dancing and wine. What a job I have...

Until I am finished editing, here are a few of my favorite photos from Sunday.

the ceremony site at Boundary Oak. Walnut Creek, CA.

newlyweds at Boundary Oak. Walnut Creek, CA.

We had some down time during dinner, so i stepped outside onto the balcony to see the sunset. I was explaining the process of HDR to my assistant, when I decided to go ahead and try one then and there. Not too bad, eh?

HDR photo of Boundary Oak Golf Course. Walnut Creek. Photo by Clay Lancaster