The photography world has been abuzz over the last several days over the announcement of the new Canon 5D Mark 2. The original 5D (released back in 2005) has become a staple of wedding and portrait photographers everywhere (at least, those that shoot Canon). Recently, Nikon released their D3 which sent Canon people jumping over to them. I think, however, that the 5D Mark 2 is going to bring those people back! Check out some of these specs:

21 Megapixel sensor. As my wife dutifully points out, megapixels aren’t everything. But if you need them, you can’t do better for the price.

Extended ISO range up to 25,600. Put simply, this means better shots in low light.

Full 1080P HD recording. This is a biggie, because you get to record using all the lenses that you have. So narrow depth-of-field, extreme wide angles, etc are now available in your videos just by changing lenses!

3 inch LCD. This is a step up from the 5D’s current display (2.5 inches).

The street price should have it under 3k (the 5D started just over 3k in 2005, if I remember correctly). You can see a 1080P video created with the camera here. The video was done in just 72 hours!

Here are some shots from Rob Golbraith’s preview:

Dana has a Nissan 350 Z and it’s quite awesome. She’s totally into cars, and she has an extensive knowledge about them.

As a historical side note, Nissan manufactured the Z series for a long time, and then stopped in 1996. They returned with the Z Concept a few years ago, and the car is now back in production.

We shot Saturday morning in downtown Austin, and I think we got some great shots!

I just completed a big update for BoxOfficeBaby.com. I added several new designs, bringing the total to 37 (in both birth announcement and birthday party versions, so really it’s 74 :) ). I also added a new category of designs - Tech! Have you ever seen a tech birth announcement before? Me neither :) But I thought it would be cool to take some inspiration from some of the social networking/tech interests out there.

Here are a couple of the new ones:

Pretty cool! I also hope to have some retail-related announcements soon!

So if you are going to have kids, or already have them with a birthday coming up, check out BoxOfficeBaby.com.

Trevor’s invites have gone out (except for people in the neighborhood), and so I decided to post it.

I am showing the image from the card without the bottom (which includes all the details.)

This design (minus the baby) is part of a new batch of Box Office Baby card designs that will be coming out shortly. And if you are a neighborhood friend of Trevor, pretend you didn’t see this! :)

Liz is an incredible opera singer who has performed at several venues, including our newly-opened Long Center. We talked about doing some portraits that were different, and I think we accomplished that!

A special thanks to Melanie Steele for handling makeup and Kristin Farwell for assisting.

We started at the Jackalope bar down on 6th street:

We put some people around her and had a mini-concert for them!

After the bar, we headed to the Long Center and did some shots in front of the main entrance.

Normally with flare like this I would have trashed the image, but I kind of like the moviestar-esque look to it.

Finally, we headed over to a nearby fountain:

Yesterday’s wedding shall go down as one of the most unique ones that I’ve photographed. Robin is from Texas, and Greg is from Scotland. The wedding was an incredible mix of both American and Scottish traditions, and it was pretty cool!

The ceremony began with some bagpipe playing.

Greg and all of the groomsmen wore kilts! This wedding also featured two best men.

Robin looked incredible:

The toasts were hilarious, and Greg had a few sentimental remarks about growing up and his future with Robin.

Greg’s parents:

Time for a little sas:

A lot of the dancing included Scottish traditions like this one, where the bride and groom are literally kicked during a song by the crowd!

Here, they sit on the floor and perform a whole routine:

The wedding was coordinated by the fabulous Amanda and Katelyn of Big Day Event Productions.

Congratulations to Robin and Greg!

Almost a year ago, I photographed Christine and Erik’s wedding. It was cool because Christine had a couple of dress changes that were very unique.

Christine and Erik play a lot of pool, and Christine asked if I would photograph her in that environment. We hit up their favorite pool hall and started shooting last night around 9PM. Luckily there weren’t too many people there as I was popping 2 or 3 strobes at a time, although one or two people were taken off guard initially and laughed about how bright it was.

Here are some favorites. I think Christine will be the next black widow - what do you think?

Trevor’s first birthday is coming up soon (can you believe it?). We had some fun over the weekend shooting his *official* announcement, and I have to say it’s one of my proudest creations! :)

I can’t post the whole image until the invites come in and we mail them out to friends and family, but here’s a sneak peek:

Had a quick opportunity on Friday to shoot some adorable kids as a gift for their mom’s birthday. How cool is that? We hung out by the basketball court and the pool for a little while and got some good shots!

I had the opportunity today to photograph a beautiful baby named Chandler, and she’s pretty cute! We were trying to figure out who she resembled more (mom or dad) but so far we are undecided. Here are some favorites.

Love this one - BLAH!

Father-daughter time, and a big yawn:

Welcome to the world, baby Chandler!