Photography that's good for the Soul!

Danielle and I exclusively shoot weddings. Once in a while we'll make an exception and David was one of them. David suffers from Cerebral Palsy and is being raised by a single mom who's caring and sweet. Here's a real moment between David and I. We had no idea that my wife, Danielle, was taking pictures.

And here's a fun shot that I took of David.  He loved the tunnel at the playground and had to get a shot of him inside.  Enjoy!

And............ We're back!!!!

Hey everyone, we are now back from our three week wedding experience.  It was absolutely incredible!  It was exactly what we wanted and so much more.  Words cannot describe the experience but hopefully our photos and video will.  

We've received hundreds of e-mails while we were gone.  Hopefully everyone received an auto response message.  It's going to take us all week to answer them.  If we don't reply soon please re-send your message or date request.  We will do our best to answer each one but apologize if we miss any.  If we didn't reply that means your e-mail got lost into the abyss of e-mails.

Thank you all for your patience and support!!!  It was nice to be on the other side of the camera for once and experience what all of you get to experience :)

The photo below is a wedding gift from me to my wife, Danielle.  Since I couldn't photograph our own wedding she wanted at least one photo taken by me.  After our wedding her and I drove 2.5 hours north of San Francisco to a remote location that was simply magical.  It was our first time alone together as husband and wife.  The sun was setting in the west as the fog rolled in from the north.  It was a moment that I will never forget.  Enjoy!

Wedding photographers must get married too!

We're stepping away from all technology for a few weeks so that we can enjoy our own wedding!!!

We'll make a new post when we're back to work.

Thank you for your patience and support!

Photo is a self-portrait taken by us at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas while we were there for the WPPI convention!

A Ring shot without the rings!

A ring shot without the rings?  That's blasphemy!  

Vanessa & Anthony had a Disney themed wedding.  They had hidden Mickey Mouse ears everywhere.  I wanted to keep that theme alive when it came to shooting their wedding rings.

I also wanted to do something that's never been done before!

I asked Vanessa and Anthony for their rings and warned them that when I give them back they'll be wet and very cold!  

I used their ice sculpture to create this shot.  

I placed the rings on the ice and the rings quickly melted into the ice.

This shot shows the actual rings being consumed by the sculpture.  Notice that the ice sculpture is vertical and the rings are defying gravity by getting sucked in by the ice

I pulled the rings out before they got consumed into the belly of the ice sculpture!  Then I quickly took a shot of the imprint showing all the details of the rings in the ice.

I wanted this shot to be a surprise for Vanessa but after she cut her cake she immediately saw what I had done and she was more than surprised and happy....

The imprint of the rings lasted all night long and looked cooler as it melted away :)

Pardon Our Dust!

Yesterday I realized that we had not updated the "Engagement" section on nealurban.com in almost two years!  We took the section off-line and we are giving it an extreme makeover!  

We have thousands and thousands of photos to go through so please pardon our dust as we construct the new section with some really nice photos.  Most of which you've never seen before!

Here's a hint of what the new photos will look like!  This photo was taken in Sept of 2011 in St. Augustine, FL.  We shot at the lighthouse.  Most people flock to the lighthouse for photos.  I'm from the north and we don't have trees like this up here.  My eyes were stuck on the amazing trees the area had to offer!

The Thunder of Bellagio

Last week we were in Las Vegas for WPPI.  Due to a busy schedule I didn't take a lot of photos but I made a point to get out and take at least something!  Here's a shot at the Bellagio.  

This is probably one of the most photographed places in Las Vegas so I had to do something a little different...  I stepped out into the street to get this shot.  I don't recommend anyone doing this especially on a busy night in Vegas!

The idea I had behind this shot was to capture how people stop and stare at this amazing water fountain show.  People of all ages and backgrounds stop and stare.  I really wanted to capture that.

Enjoy!

Smiles from ear to ear baby!

Last week while I was in Las Vegas for WPPI Rangerfinder Magazine released the issue I was featured in.  Last summer I was interviewed by the talented Michelle Perkins.  She wrote a beatiful article about my life story from how I got into photography to how I edit my images.

Here's a photo from when I first picked up the copy at the MGM Grand.  It was awesome to see everyone walking around with a copy in their hands!

You can go out and get yourself a copy.  They probably sell it at most major bookstores.  If you can't find it you can read the article here: "Neal Urban: Brides Took Over My Life"

Here's another image that was used in the article.  It's an image I took of an engagement shoot of a future bride and groom (Deanna & Rick) in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was a destination engagement shoot.  We shot from sunset into the night!  

Accolade of Excellence

This past week we attended the WPPI (www.wppionline.com) conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.  I won one Accolade of Excellence award.  This was a suprise to me.  I took this photo only days before the deadline.

It was a great trip!  We learned a lot, found new camera gear, met some new people and had a lot of fun.  Vegas is always good to us and I can't wait until next year.  

Here I am standing next to the print that won.

Reaching for the Cosmos

Yesterday morning (literally 2 minutes after I woke up) I received a special package from China!  

In December I was contacted by an editor from the publishing house for Bizarre & Cosmopolitan Magazine in China.  They found one of my photos from PDN's Top Knots contest I won last year.  The editor told me that they were doing a story called "Images & Moments: 100 images worldwide to show how important images can keep the love moment forever."

The photo is labeled #16 out of #100.  I don't know what that means because I can't read it but I'm thinking that's pretty good :-)

The editor also told me that their distribution area spreads to Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.  They published 550,000 copies per issue!  Not bad for my first major magazine!! 

Two months later I recieved this very heavy package with two magazines inside!  I don't think the images show my excitement but I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning!

Back from the Caribbean

Hey everyone!  We just returned from shooting in the Caribbean on a massive cruise ship.  Now we are gearing up for WPPI in Las Vegas next week.  A lot of new stuff coming up!

Here's a shot from the trip!