Winner of the “Best of the Knot” for 2011!

Posted on December 16, 2010

Donald Norris Photography is chosen once again as one of the Knot’s top wedding photographers in Southern California!

Thanks to all of my wonderful Couples who made it happen!

A big warm bear hug of gratitude!

Engagement Cinemagraph!

Posted on July 26, 2011

Just a quick post on Cinemagraphs aka moving pictures or moving gifs.

This image was done for Monica and Jason’s engagement session in San Pedro California. I’m still working on to find a way to make it “cool” rather then just odd or weird. But it certainly is a ton of fun.

The fountain in San pedro certainly is a great place to photograph, a little tough to light a subject from a distance and too wet to light close without taking precautions. I hear the area lit up at night it AWESOME. next time… off camera flash wrapped in a plastic bag or extra large untreated condom with a radio receiver attached to give me the light I want and can survive getting soaked by the fountain.

Cinemagraph first test

Posted on July 1, 2011

Donald Norris in the PRESS: Bride & Groom Ride a Mechanical Bull!

Posted on June 27, 2011

WE just got features in the press and I thought I’d pass it along. See the Full Article

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NEW: Social Networking Photo Booths Starting at $400

Posted on May 4, 2011

So.. What is a Social Networking Photobooth? On the surface its the same as a standard booth, your guest go in. press the button, wait for the countdown, make embarrassing faces and then POW! They are recorded forever in history.  Aside from it being more open so it accommodate large groups, the rest of the process has been updated with the times (and the “Green” movement) Which means…. there is no printing. BUT that’s the idea… We keep the excitement and suspense going until the very next day when we post an online gallery on FACEBOOK, ready for tagging, commenting, enjoyment, and laughter. YES… THE VERY NEXT DAY!! Plus, you and your guests can download the full resolution images to use as they like.  Everyone seems to prefer having the digital images these days anyway. If they don’t have facebook… We create a secondary more traditional gallery hosted through our site as well just in case someone really wants to destroy the environment by ordering standard prints. 

THE RATES: How much does it cost to rent a photo booth for your event?

$600 for 2 hours (Fri & Sat), $400 for 2 hours (Sun to Thursday) WOW. If booked in connection with a standard wedding package the booth stays as long as we are there at the reception too!

Why have a photo booth at your wedding or event, you ask?  Actually I should say… Why have one of our awesome Social Networking totally GREEN Photo booths…

Several reasons..

1. They are SUPER COOL and VERY fun for your guests. Think of it like a ride at the event.. one more thing your guests can interact with to make their experience all that much better.

2.  If your hiring a photographer for your event.. they should be paying attention to the action. For standard photos… let your guest take them themselves in a perfectly controlled photographically awesome PHOTO BOOTH.

3. When there isn’t a person behind the camera, guests might do things a little more outrageously. Fun little surprise photos that resurface later.

4. Photo-booths get you more awesome photos!

5. If you have an over bearing mother that wants lots of pictures.. Send them to the photo booth. Our booth can fit up t0 10 people standing. Yes standing.. .this way the older folks are more likely to use it too!

6. Its right product at the right price and did I mention… its AWESOME?

Engagement session: Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk – ARTWALK!

Posted on March 21, 2011

Last week I had a joy of a fantasticly creative engagement photography session with a couple at the downtown Los Angeles artwalk. This did require a little of planning for the engagement session on everyone’s part since artwalk only happens once a month. Thankfully we have plenty of time prior to the wedding to make everything happen in time.

When it comes to an engagement session i recommend couples choose a location that is important to them rather than just the standard beach or park. The couple here chose the downtown artwalk because its something they like to do together. It’s THEM. Which makes it so important and inspiring to me.

It was also quite cool for me as well because I know so many artists and other people involved in the creating of artwalk that I was able to get my couple into a few special areas to make it ultra-fun. Speaking of Ultra-fun.. The below two images are from the Ultravision 3D lounge which was set up at artwalk. I hear later this year.. they MAY be taking to full scale to burningman this year.  NOW that would be a fun engagement session.. Sorry for  getting off topic… back to the story.

The couple did one of the best things they could have for their engagement session to make it the most artistic it could have been. They dressed up! A little vintage and with costume. This added a little more specialness to the images taking them out of time a bit.

The circle effect of the lighting is produced in camera by dragging the shutter and turning the camera at the same time. I also was using an 580ex flash attached to a cord held off camera in my other hand. This drag and spin technique can add a little fun wildness to the reception party photographs. Making a party look more like a PAR-TAY.

I’m always looking to frame my subjects in their surroundings. This one above was a simple parking garage.

Can you guess the engagement location? It’s the photobooth at Bar 107! It was the couple’s idea. We were getting a few shots to loosen up and we found this booth in the back. This bar never looked so good. (and yes.. we had to get frisked to get in. ghetto fun)

I’ve always loved this alley way in the old bank district. We only had a few seconds before getting kicked out by security guards. 

I can just see the art between them! its magical!

A classic engagement photo from the stairs at the Hotel Biltmore. I shot it with my 85mm from a distance. I’m standing in the center of the dining room of restaurant (thankfully closed at the moment)

This engagement photo was a personal geek favorite of mine. The idea was to capture them with the art exhibit all around them without being upstaged by the other art walkers. It took a few takes and we have several in the series that worked well. I just had them stand really still and again dragged the shutter to blur out the other spectators. Of course it can be done in photo shop after, but that so much less fun then photographing is right the first time.

Trump National Golf Club / Founder’s Park Wedding – Rancho Palos Verdes

Posted on March 3, 2011

Here are a few photos from the fantastic wedding of Davina and Erez. The wedding took place at Founder’s Park on the grounds of Trump National Golf Club with the bride and groom getting ready at The Terranea Resort Hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. Trump and The Terranea are two of my favorite wedding locations to shoot.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to shoot at the Founder’s Park area of Trump National Golf Club. It was lovely, intimate, and overlooked the ocean.

I was surprised to find that my 580EX2 flash, held off camera, over powered the sun! I had to set the flash to 1/1 (aka. FULL POWER) and I didn’t have to break out my Norman 400b (aka The Big Guns). This little beach where they are standing, is only a very short walk from where the bride was getting ready and totally a treasure not to miss.

This is an infrared wedding image taken at The Terranea Resort Hotel again on the little beach close to where the bride was getting ready. I admit I absolutely LOVE my lens flares when shooting infrared. The trick is making sure the flares don’t cross over or blow out the bride and groom. In other words, you have to aim the lens flare when setting up the shot.

This is another infrared lens flare favorite. This particular image was something I saw in my mind’s eye when I did my initial walk through at the location prior to the wedding. I love making the bride and groom part of their environment. This shot is a great example of my philosophy of creating art first that can hang in anyone’s home, whether they know the couple or not.

This is a nice detail shot of bride’s bouquet of white calla lilies (plus some ring bling).

The chuppah was very important to Davina and Erez so I wanted to get some really awesome shots of it. I think it was a success. I used the chuppah to frame the couple as well as also using it as a flag to block the direct sunlight. The infrared camera turned the green foliage adorning the chuppah to a frosty white which looks awesome against the oranges of the sunset.

This is the entrance to their wedding reception at Trump National Golf Course. While Davina and Erez were waiting to be announced to their guests in the reception hall, I took the opportunity to get a few shots in these chairs (they’re more like thrones, actually). The bride was a little reluctant to sit in the chairs in fear it would look too cheezy but, in the end, it looks fantastic and has a bit of a regal air to it. Don’t you think?

Rotary & SOS Mentor Present Music of the Night: An Evening with Davis Gaines

Posted on February 27, 2011

As a Los Angeles wedding photographer it is always a treat to photograph events featuring notable people giving back to our community. Last week I had the pleasure of photographing Music of the Night: An Evening with Davis Gaines; a performance to benefit S.O.S. Mentor, an organization dedicated to education and mentoring in schools with focus on nutrition and fitness for our kids.

Davis Gaines has performed in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic, The Phantom of the Opera, on Broadway in New York, San Francisco, and has the longest running performance in the lead role, the Phantom, in Los Angeles. As a resident Angeleno, he is also a frequent singer of our national anthem for the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Dodgers.

Held at the Alex Theater in Glendale CA, a lively and enjoyable time was had by all despite the rain. Refreshments were offered to VIP ticket holders and prizes were raffled off. One of the big surprises of the night was an auction for Hollywood Bowl tickets to enjoy a fabulous evening with Davis Gaines (he said he’d even bring the wine)! The other delightful surprise of the evening was Davis being joined on stage for an encore by the wonderful actress who played opposite him on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera as Christine.

Weekend Getaway :”The Racetrack”, Death Valley

Posted on January 13, 2011

For the Holiday, I recently took off to Death Valley for a fun photographic time. Here are a few images from a place called “The Race Track”.

They call it “The Race Track” because the rocks mysteriously move around on the dry lake bed, or playa, leaving long trails in random directions.

No one actually knows for sure how these rocks move due to the apparent randomness of each rock’s trail.

The ground is as hard as stone when we were there so you wont see any foot prints. It would take some doing if we wanted to make a dent in the ground, let alone a trail.

The sepia tone images are shot in Infra-red with a modified sky.

This last photo was a long exposure of the sky on a tripod. Can you tell which direction is north?

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What the heck are Bokeh Shapes?

Posted on January 13, 2011

Has anyone seen these things before? It was actually new to me when a friend of mine (Angry Bill Rum) introduced me to this oddity of cheese-ball-ness.

The idea is to manipulate the shape of the "twinkle lights" in images into whatever shape we want. (like the hearts in the lights below expressing how much i love my camera gear)(below image  settings: ISO 640, shutter 1/15, F1.2 with a manual off camera flash at 1/128. I think if i used a tripod or higher shutter my hearts would have been even crisper.

Here I’m using a Canon 5d, with an 85mm f1.2 lens (picture below). I chose the 85 because of the aperture (f1.2), with this process it works best when the lens can open up really wide. In other words… if I shot it at f2.8 or f4 the effect wouldn’t be as noticeable.

Then I ghetto taped up my filter to only expose a tiny heart in the center of my lens. Surprisingly.. it didn’t block my shooting view. (in the future.. I plan to make a more permanent design) All in all… WHAT DORK FUN CHEESE-NESS!

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