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Are you in the mood for a fabulous story? Read along and share in an adventure with snow covered mountains, a castle, helicopters, and waterfalls. Do you have a friend that is in need of a quick break from reality? If so, you’ll want to send them a link to this entry. A warning though! This is the longest blog entry I have ever produced and contains a large quantity of images, so it may take a while to load should you proceed.

Have you ever experienced something surreal? As an artist, I would like to think that I have a great imagination, but I don’t think I was fully prepared for last weekends shoot. Right now I wish that I was a great poet, because I know that my words will not give this adventure justice… but my images might come close.

Aric C. Hoek – The Master of Shadows
Solaris Studios
713-524-3303

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For me, shooting in Las Vegas is so mcuh fun! I always make sure to visit the Welcome Sign each time I visit. If you have ever seen the sign, then you know that it is flanked by fast moving traffic on both sides. When I am photographing a bride or couple there the sound of the passing motorists honking their horns to celebrate the bride is deafening.

On this particular shoot, I knew that I only wanted to see a hint of the subject’s face, and that I wanted the shadows created to be as black as the night sky that I was using as a backdrop. To achieve this, I had my camera on a tri pod, while I stood behind the bride to her left with a hand held flash. This allowed me to backlight the veil, and skim the light across the front of the dress to maintiain some detail in the fabric.

Aric C. Hoek, The Master of Shadows
Houston Wedding Photographer
Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today.

The strength of this image comes from the many leading lines drawing the viewer to the subject, the never ending row of ancient stone pillars, and our bride standing proud.

In addition to the stone pillars, the shadows placed on the subjects back gives our bride added weight and power. No props were needed to help convey this feeling; only attitude.

This once in a lifetime portrait was created at San Marco Square in Venice.

Aric C. Hoek, The Master of Shadows
Houston Wedding Photograpehr
Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today.

Without question this image is one of my all time favorites! I had been hired to travel to Paris and I had never been before. I had gotten up extra early in the morning the day before our scheduled shoot time to scout out good locations, so when I picked up my clients I would know exactly where to go and not waste any time.

One the way to our shoot, it began to rain. Thinking fast, we pulled into a department store where I ran in for a red umbrella. As our drive continued to our location, I spotted a florist. I jumped out and bought a dozen red roses.

What are they doing behind that umbrella any way? The couple kept the umbrella as a souvenir.

Aric C. Hoek, The Master of Shadows
Houston Wedding Photographer
Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today.

Just south of Paris is Versailles. It is a truly magical place to be with a camera and a bride. This particular client had a thing for flowers. She absolutely loves them!

Figuring out the balance of this image was not the easiest thing to do. I had my subject walk up and down this ramp nine or ten times until I captured her with perfect placement in the image.

Aric C. Hoek,
The Master of Shadows
Houston Wedding Photographer
Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today.

I wanted to write about one of my favorite images today. It was 4:00 am in Venice. I was traveling there with a couple on their honeymoon, and it was our 3rd day there. The hotel lobby was a small two-room facility, but nicely done and very romantic. Most everything was red in that room, but you couldn’t tell that morning because all the lights were out except for a small lamp at the front desk. After all, what tourist in their right mind would get up so early that they can’t even see the sights yet?

There I was, standing in the lobby with my cameras and tri pod. There was snoring coming from the second room. The door-man had fallen asleep. Just then, I could hear footsteps coming down the stone stairs of the lobby.

There they were, my bride and groom with huge smiles on their faces. They had hired me to travel with them to the other side of the planet for the images we were about to create, and they were excited about the shoot, even at 4am. They drank my brand of cool-aide.

She had her dress on, with her shoes in hand. Flip-flops were the shoes of choice as we had a small bit of walking to do to get to the location that I had scouted out the previous morning.

Now, I understand that having a photographer come with you on your honeymoon sounds very strange, but you have to admit that it sounds very exciting as well! Can you imagine what that couple was thinking? She had packed her dress on a plane and taken it with her from Houston to Venice. She actually got to wear her wedding dress for a second time, and in one of the most romantic cities in the world. Then there was the anticipation of receiving the images to be created.

We began walking to the location of the shoot, and the groom pulled out his digital camera and began shooting pictures of me! So I need to share those with you as well.

It was really an adventure in itself walking around Venice that early in the morning. I had to make sure that I remembered where we were going, because anyone that has been to Venice knows how easy it is to get lost in the endless maze of canals and alley ways. All we could hear while we walked were the sound of our voices and footsteps. Truly, the entire shoot was rather surreal.

The hike was less than 10 minutes and we had arrived at the spot I wanted to shoot. I did a number of arrangements that I had drawn out on cocktail napkins the night before. After a quick review I began shooting, and I would like to share one of those images with you now. To view the rest you will need to read at a later date.

Aric Hoek
Houston Wedding Photographer

Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today.

Have you ever been to The Louvre in Paris? It’s a magical place. The Mona Lisa is housed there, and without a doubt it’s the biggest pull to the museum. If you have never seen the museum, you are sure to see parts of it on the big screen soon in The DaVinci Code.

The last time I was in Paris I was working. I had just shot a wedding three days earlier in Houston, and then I traveled with my clients to Paris during their honeymoon. Yes, their honeymoon. They brought their wedding dress and tuxedo, and I was commissioned to photograph the couple in both Paris and Versailles. Now, I know it sounds funny to have your photographer come with you on your honeymoon, but think about it for a second. The bride gets to wear her dress again, and you are more than likely going to end up with images that are out of this world, rather than a tourist shot.

There is a large courtyard at The Louvre, and on this courtyard are three glass pyramids. The largest is in the center, and is the entrance into the museum. Naturally the entrance is packed with people, so I decided to shoot in the back of the courtyard away from all of the tourists.

The courtyard is lined with these tall European lampposts, and they were calling my name. I had my couple just get comfortable on one of the posts, and I picked up my camera and started shooting. I wasn’t more than five shots into the session when I noticed something in my background. I peered from behind my camera to find four security guards headed my way! Yikes!

I started shooting like crazy. Closer and closer the security guards came. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a blank memory card for my camera, so if they asked for my “film” I could give them a blank card and keep my images. It was explained that professional photography was not allowed on the grounds, and that we were to leave….. now. They were actually very nice about the entire thing, and as it turns out, I was allowed to keep my images and I got the shot.

So, I handed my tripod and bag to the groom and we began walking out. I had the groom walk in front of us, I was second in line, and the Bride was third. I then put my camera on what I like to call idiot proof mode (a.k.a. automatic). The three of us had traveled from the other side of the planet to get shots in Paris, and I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by. Walking backwards, I held my camera chest high, aimed in the general direction of my bride, and held down the shutter release. The camera was happily clicking away, focusing on its own, and the three of us kept walking. By the time we were out of the courtyard I had filled up a 2 gig memory card with 100 14 mega pixel exposures.

I had no idea what I had on that card, but I was like a kid in a candy store! I had just gotten kicked out of The Louvre and I still had my images! I wanted the shoot to be over right there so I could look at what I had just captured. At that point though we still had about an hour of daylight left. We all jumped back into the limo that I had rented for the evening for my clients and I, and we were off to the next location that I had scouted out the day before.

Once the shoot was over I hurried back to my hotel room and I immediately began downloading my images onto my 12” Power Book. It was dificult, but I forced myself to back up all of the work before I began looking at the images.

Image after image was garbage. I had cut off her head, or the camera hadn’t focused quickly enough, or the composition was wrong because the focal length was set incorrectly. But then, I found it. One image that just sang out to me! It was perfect! My bride was smiling, the wind was blowing. The sky was beautiful and warm due to the setting sun. There was a tourist in the background, but a bit of Photoshop would fix that right up.

Aric
Houston Wedding Photographer

Contact Solaris Studios and book your wedding photographer today!

P.S. Are you serious about photography at your wedding? Is photography the most important item on your "to do list"? Are you going somewhere exotic on your honeymoon? Take a moment and try to envision what your pictures will look like when you return home. Will your images look as good as these?