I'm back! July Monthly Special: Weddings

Beautiful Polynesian couple kissing by the Salt Lake City Temple

OK. So my short break turned into a two-month hiatus during which I began to wonder where I ever found the time to do a blog in the first place. One of the many things keeping me busy was wedding season, so I figured, Why not do the July Monthly Special on weddings?

If you're not interested in wedding photography, you will still find posts on other topics this month, including my first interview in a long time and who knows what else? I will be in Seattle and then in Paris during this month, so you can expect some photography or inspiration from there.

But back to weddings...You have no idea how much I want to do a post on the worst engagement photos ever or on some of my pet peeves in wedding photography. But I try not to be mean. Still...I might just have to do a not-so-mean version.

Although I have no actual data on the matter (which never stops me from making wild assertions—just ask my wife), I bet Utah is the wedding capital of the world and BYU is the epicenter. If you know Utah Mormon culture, you're aware of the cliché of 21-year-old LDS men fresh off their missions, hormones ablaze with virtuous lust, zealously in pursuit of an eternal companion (usually blond) while studying for their pre-med, pre-law, or pre-MBA future. If your only contact with "Mormon" culture is Big Love, you should know that you would have to go to some freaky fundamentalist splinter group compound in Southern Utah to see polygamy and that the people won't be nearly as attractive. If you want a look at the equally strange monogamous mainstream, get your hands on a copy of the poorly-executed Mormon comedy "The Singles Ward" and then read the satirical Mormon mommy blog "Seriously, so blessed!" which is seriously, so accurate a satire of a certain Utah type that readers will either be offended or die laughing depending on their sense of humor.

This month, I will give some advice to photographers who want to do wedding photography and will do a tutorial (that can apply to other things than weddings) on making your own Photoshop templates.

And what about those of you who want to participate by posting something on your blog and then linking it back on this post? Why not share your favorite or least favorite wedding photo? Or do a post about what you love/hate about wedding photography. Go ahead and be opinionated. I will.