Jason Janik: Life Through the Loupe

A January wedding...

2010-02-10T21:21:00.000-08:00

Another fun wedding with an absolutely adorable couple! I thought I'd share a few of my favorite pics from the evening...

Another winner!!!

2010-01-28T08:57:00.001-08:00

I had another photo place in a monthly national wedding image competition! This image got third place, which is pretty good, considering I was competing with photographers from all over the country. Not too bad, I'd say...

Iphone images...

2010-01-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

A lot of people have been publishing their iphone (and other brand of camera phone) pictures on the web and in print for a while now. I'm not sure that I've ever shared my iphone pics here before, though I do post them on my facebook page and email them to friends and family.

So, I ran through my phone and picked a few favs from the last year, including one from the Warped Tour concert, a wild looking sky and my oldest boy asleep with his trains...

They shook him, all night long...

2010-01-10T22:57:00.001-08:00

This little boy was just as cute as can be! He laughed and played, hugged and joked... he was having a great time at the reception! When the DJ started playing AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", he got on the dance floor and had a blast! The guitar kicked into a solo, and he got down on the floor and spun around as he played air guitar. He looked just like a little rock star...

Finally, a new wedding!!!

2010-01-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

OK, I finally got around to putting a new wedding up here. I still have two more recent ones that I could display, and another that I'm shooting this weekend. Maybe you'll see a lot more pictures pop up here real soon? In the meantime, I loaded a bunch from this wonderful Garland, TX wedding. Let me know what you think...

...

I know I should...

2010-01-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

I know I should be updating this blog with new wedding pics. I have a lot of great wedding images from November and December. I just got so busy with my magazine and newspaper shoots. How about this: I promise to update this blog ASAP!!! In the meantime, if you are interested in having me photograph your wedding, let me know and I'll try to email you a few new, cool, beautiful pics right now.

October Wedding Pics...

2009-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

I only book a limited number of weddings every year, so I try to pic ones that seem like they'll be a lot of fun. This one surely was! The bride and groom were really nice, and I always enjoy this venue. I've shot at The Tribute in The Colony, TX ( or, maybe it is Frisco, TX) several times over the years, and it provides a nice backdrop for such an important day. Here are a few random pics that caught my eye while editing the images...

I win! I win! I win!

2009-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I win second place, anyway. It's a monthly contest among the nation's top wedding photographers through Bella Pictures. My detail shot of a bride and her chopper came in second for the month of September.

Random Shots From a Recent Wedding...

2009-09-22T19:54:00.001-07:00

My last wedding was a lot of fun. There were a million little special moments to capture on film, and I was kept busy recording all the fun! I decided to grab a random sampling of the afternoon and evening to share with you, in no particular order...

Footloose...

2009-09-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

I always like taking dancing shots the best. Something about the emotion, the energy, the fun... quite often a good dancing picture sums up the reception, like a good first kiss picture sums up the ceremony...

This week's bridal shoot...

2009-08-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Did you know that the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas and Bass Hall in Ft. Worth both allow you to rent/have access to the building for photo shoots? Yup, and they are both such beautiful buildings, making them perfect for bridal shoots! This week's bridal shoot took place at the Meyerson, and you can see just how amazing the architecture is, giving the bride an amazing backdrop:

Keeper of the ring...

2009-08-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

I love the idea that the bride's ring was safe inside this special heart-shaped box. I think normal ring boxes look nice, but this was a bit different...

I also really liked the peaceful feeling of the bride and groom alone after the ceremony...

I think it's the little moments like this that really make a wedding special. Every wedding is filled with special little details, and it's just a matter of finding them and capturing them with the camera.

Sunday Weddings...

2009-08-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

I'm getting my photo gear together and heading to Southlake for a wedding. Sunday weddings are becoming more common these days. So are Friday weddings.

Maybe it has to do with limited availability at a certain venue (there are only so many venues in the Dallas area and tons of brides wanting to book them). Maybe it is the only day that key family members can attend the ceremony (military personnel or out of town guests may have a difficult schedule to work with). Maybe it is a great financial decision, allowing the wedding couple to get more bang for their buck (scheduling on "off days" will save you up to 40% on venue booking fees).

Whatever the reason, I think non-Saturday weddings are just fine. They can be just as fun as a Saturday wedding. It really depends more on the bride and groom. If they seem happy, the day will be happy!

Picture-perfect wedding...

2009-07-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

This wedding was just about as beautiful and perfect as you can get (without spending six figures). It was a dream to shoot, because everyone and everything seemed so... so, perfect! Here are a few pics from the big day:

I love a fun wedding!

2009-07-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you get a wedding couple that wants to have fun. That was the case this weekend. The bride and groom were so nice. They weren't worried about anything going wrong, they just wanted to have a special day with their friends and family. That easy going attitude showed up in the photos, as everyone looked happy. It was the way weddings should be!

This is just one photo from a whole day of good times. The groomsmen decided to have a little fun behind the church before the ceremony:

I love bubbles!

2009-06-18T00:05:00.001-07:00

I love bubbles for a fun wedding departure. The guests always seem to like them, too. Sometimes, they like the bubbles so much that they've blown through the entire bottle before the bride and groom even exit the church! Always give guests an extra bottle, so they have a backup...

...and here is a fun bouquet toss:

Fun at the bridal shoot...

2009-06-04T00:26:00.000-07:00

These are not very traditional bridal portraits, but that's OK. We shot a lot of conservative images, and it was time to have a little fun. These two frames just caught my eye, because they have a lot of movement and energy in them.

Bouquet toss...

2009-05-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

I love the bouquet toss. Usually, there is a mad scramble for it, and the girls get very competitive. It can make for some action-packed pictures! You can bet these ladies got a few bumps and bruises by the time it was done...

If you want to see more fun bouquet toss images, keep an eye on www.jasonjanik.com and keep checking this blog.

May 2nd wedding pics, set three...

2009-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

OK, so I finally had a little free time to play around with more pictures from my May 2nd wedding. I've finally made it into the dancing pics. I also want to try and dig through my last two weddings, because they had a TON of really nice images, but they'll still have to wait a little longer, I guess...

I decided to do a few color images, a few black and white, and a few sepia toned images on this batch. I wanted to show the options available when finishing out wedding pictures. They don't have to be full color. The album might actually look better as a mix of color and B&W, or maybe all B&W pictures. That would definitely give it a more classic feel. And the sepia tone keeps the B&W feel, but warms up the images a bit... keeping them from looking too cold and harsh.

But enough talking, here's the next batch of pics. I might still do another batch or two from this wedding if I have time. There were so many good images with a lot of potential. It's just a matter of finishing them out like these:

Feel free to look at other fun wedding images at www.jasonjanik.com or keep checking this blog for updates!

Great wedding DJ...

2009-05-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

I met an amazing wedding DJ this last weekend. His name is David Allen and he can be found at djdavidallen.com, for those of you in need of some great wedding tunes. I've shot a LOT of weddings, and the DJ is a place you just don't want to skimp on. Besides the cake and the venue, the DJ is a "make or break" element for the evening's success.

I'm not saying that photos aren't important. However, if you didn't have a photographer at all, the evening would still go fine. Of course, you wouldn't have any sort of historical record of the big day, but that's not the point. The point I'm trying to make is that no DJ or a bad DJ could very well make for a dull and/or awkward evening. A good DJ can keep things moving, keep people excited, and make sure everyone is having fun.

I've worked with a bunch of good DJ's over the years, and Dallas seems to have some really spectacular ones. And I've worked with some really bad ones. I wonder how they even get hired in the first place...

Sparklers!!!

2009-05-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

I love sparklers at weddings. They are my favorite way to send off the bride and groom. If I had to list my favorite wedding send-off materials in order, I'd definitely choose sparklers first and bubbles second. Then maybe flower petals and rice...

More fun wedding send-off pictures can be seen at www.jasonjanik.com, so be sure to check it out!

The jumping bridesmaids...

2009-05-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

It was dark and the bridesmaids wanted to have some fun. They decided to start jumping and laughing. Soon it turned in to this:

Sometimes you will see some wild, silly, fun things at a wedding. This one was filled with great moments like the one above. I'll try to go through it and post some images online soon... This one took place at Chandler's Landing Yacht Club in Rockwall, TX. Instead of leaving the reception in a car or a horse and buggy, they left in a boat.

I don't think I've done any reception exits in a boat before (and I've been shooting weddings for about twelve years now), and suddenly I shoot two in one month. Last weekend's wedding had a Venetian-style Gondola exit, and now this one left on the lake. Interesting... maybe boats are the in thing right now?!?

May 2nd wedding pics, set two...

2009-05-13T22:30:00.001-07:00

I finally had the chance to go through another section of the May 2nd wedding. It's amazing how you can actually get work done once you aren't sick anymore... Anyway, I'm finally catching back up with a bunch of work, and I thought I'd share some more images from this fun, beautiful, energetic, rainy wedding.

I still have one more batch of images to look through, and I think they'll be the best. This wedding got more active as the night went on. Lots of dancing and singing and laughing. But, until I make it to those shots, enjoy these:

A nice thank you...

2009-05-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

It is customary to give an extra "thank you" to many of the people who serve you on your wedding day. The preacher normally gets a gift (usually in the form of a check or cash), as well as others that attend to you on your big day. The photographer is usually not one of those people.

I have received some very nice "thank you" gifts from wedding couples in the past. Quite often, they will give an extra hundred dollars, or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. However, I'd say that happens at maybe one in ten or one in twenty weddings... so not very often.

Well, I recently booked a last-minute wedding and helped out the bride and groom (who would've had NO photographer if they hadn't found me). To show their thanks above and beyond our contract, they gave me the best gift ever!!!

Those gold coins are gift certificates to NorthPark mall. Each is basically a fifty dollar gold coin that can be spent throughout the mall. Leave it to NorthPark to do something more cool than just a paper gift certificate!

The big envelope contains another gift certificate. That one is for McCormick & Schmick's, which is my favorite place to eat at NorthPark. If the babies weren't sick, I'd load us up right now and go eat there!

I haven't opened the card yet (I was so excited over the gift certificates that I had to come blog about it ASAP), but I assume it's a nice little thank you for helping them out with photos on such short notice.

Anyway, it was such a nice treat to get these extra little "thank you" gifts from the bride and groom. It was such a great wedding, so this was just icing on the cake!

May 9th wedding, part one...

2009-05-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to look through the first half of this weekend's wedding and I thought I'd share a few images from it...

...and don't forget to keep an eye on www.jasonjanik.com for more fun wedding images!