The new blog is finally up.

My new blog is finally completed and I am very excited about what I have done so far. The new link is www.photosbysticks.com/journal. If you have the RSS feeds activated please update the link so that you can get your feeds as they are posted. Also, the new blog is totally new and I won't be transferring old posts from blogger although the old blog will still be alive and well to view all my old posts.

There is a new post already on there from the wedding I shot last weekend. Let me know your thoughts. Leave a comment! it's really easy now and everything is done inline with the posts.

See you on the new blog!

The PHOTOSBYSTICKS website is up next and it should be up in a couple of weeks.

The next few weeks.......

It's been a while since I posted anything which is largely due to the fact that I am currently out in Louisiana for the next 3 weeks for engineering work. It's a great opportunity to do some field work and I'm enoying every part of it.

I have not posted on the blog because I have been working on some major branding for PHOTOSBYSTICKS which you will get to see soon in the next couple of weeks. The blog is up first and I hope to be done with the XHTML coding soon. I've been working since last week trying to create a new layout and new link for the new blog which is looking really cool already. Some pretty cool features are been implemented and I am calling it THE JOURNAL. Easy accessibility for users is top priority so be on the look out for that. The website will be launched shortly after that so it's all getting crazy and I'm trying to make the deadline I have set for myself...It's always good to have one so that you can keep on track.

Anyways, I have not turned on my cameras in over a week....It hurts! Good news is that, I'll be shooting a wedding in Indianapolis in 2 weeks so that's quite exciting! I hope to head out to New Orleans sometime this week to shoot a few things and get to visit places.

This will probably be the last post on this blog (*sob sob*) so be on the look out for the new one. I'll post the link once it's ready to be launched.

This blog has served me really well and I am glad that the last few months have been nothing but spectacular! The future is definitely looking great!

See you all on the new blog...SOON!

God bless!


Here's the last photo I took on my 40D on the flight to Louisiana.

Biodun & Jare :: Engagement

I had the opportunity to shoot the engagement session of Biodun and Jare while in Houston last weekend. Biodun is a college friend who lives in Norman and Jare is her hubby who lives in Houston and absolutely loves it there. One thing I can't stand in Houston is the "terrible" heat which Jare kept telling me was not bad at all. I was shocked that people can actually get used to it down there and like it so much!

These 2 are absolutely in love and it was fun hanging out with both of them. Jare kept cracking me up with his funny stories as the evening went on. I also got to know the full details of how they met back in Nigeria through Biodun's sister, Rhoda. It's always good to hear such stories and I was deeply happy for both of them and I know they are indeed "meant to be" and they seem to complement themselves in every way possible.

These 2 are troopers too. We had to schedule to finish up the session on Saturday morning @ 6.30am and these guys were indeed ready to go. It was incredible. I really had fun with these guys.

They will be getting married in December this Christmas in Nigeria and I am hoping to catch some of those if engineering life permits!

Thanks Biodun & Jare for letting me share the little time with you. I had a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy your images.

Here are a few of the images:

Yetunde & Jide :: Wedding Ceremony

It was a beautiful day last week Saturday as I shot the wedding ceremony of 2 college friends. Yetunde & Jide's story is simply amazing and it all started a couple of years ago. Houston was very hot but that didn't stop their guests (Over 750!) to show up. And 750 is not a typo, it was a HUGE wedding and VERY well planned. Shout out to The Event House. These guys planned the wedding in the best possible detail which I rarely see at big weddings.

It's always interesting to see the reaction of people whenever I'm lying belly flat on the floor with my white shirt (for some reason I like wearing white shirts to weddings!) trying to get a great angle which is what I did for the entry of the bride with her father as they started their walk down the isle. It got emotional as the groom shed tears of Joy as his beautiful bride walked down the isle. That was the highlight of my day. I remember somebody saying "Oh my God Jide is Crying". I ran over to the front of the church (which was not permitted but I took my chances anyway) to get a close up as it happened and I got the shot with the tear streaming down his left cheek. I was totally blown away..I thought that was just great and was so happy to get it in one frame.

I enjoyed shooting at the church since it was all natural light...No flash allowed! The 70-200mm sure came in very handy.

The day was great. The live band moved the crowd during the reception and it was just a day of Joy. Thank you Yetunde & Jide for letting me capture your day. You guys believed in me from the very first time I had a camera in my hands and trusted me with a lot. Thank you Thank you Thank you!

One of my goals this year is to shoot as many weddings as possible and this is my 5th one already and I am loving it. #6 Coming soon!

I am grateful to all the people that are always encouraging me and giving me tips on how to be a better photographer. I am few days shy of being 1 yr old in the world of digital photography and only a few months old in wedding photography and the journey has been simply breath taking.

I got a message from a friend of mine this morning. Peep this:

********http://www.abigailseymour.com/index.cfm?catID=2
thought I'd pass this along to you, one of my friends wedding
these some good pics but in comparision to yours

THEY can't touch THIS!!!!!  you're good!!! *********************

I am not trying to put myself on any pedal stool but it's simply humbling to see that people compare my work to some great photographers out there. I am simply excited and I know that the sky is JUST THE BEGINNING. 

Check out some of the images below:

Houston Wedding :: Sneak Peek

I am back from Houston and a little Tired. It was a long Saturday with only 5 hours of sleep the previous night but I enjoyed every bit of the wedding. I had to be up @ 6am to shoot an engagement session @ 6.30am. Talk about a full day. It was all worth it though.

Here is one of my images from the wedding during the couple's first dance. I used an off camera flash setup on a stand triggered by pocket wizards. I totally turned everything to black but highlighted the bride and groom alone in a pretty intimate way. I wanted to do something special and I got it during the first few seconds of the dance.

It's definitely a FAV already.

This Weekend | Houston Bound

It's been a little while since I posted something....Engineering life is pretty busy for me! But I am having tons of fun working on a new project!

I'll be heading to the H early Friday to shoot the wedding ceremony of two college friends of mine. I did their engagement session (my first ever) last year and was quite pleased with myself after about 2 months of learning how to shoot with a DSLR camera. I will be gone till Sunday so I should be posting some photos early next week if possible.

While I am there, I'll also be shooting an engagement session of another friend getting married in December. I'm hoping to shoot their wedding in Nigeria also if Engineering life can allow me the time. But we'll see how that goes. A destination wedding will be sweet!

I'm already thinking outside my box once again on how to make this wedding better than my last and I'm pretty positive it will be a good one. I'll be shooting with another Houston Photographer so that'll give me an opportunity to network with photographers in Houston.

By the way, has anyone ever shot a wedding where the church imposes certain rules and regulations that MUST be followed or else...? Well I was quite amazed last year when I saw the form photographers will have to fill out before shooting a wedding ceremony. I had not given it much attention until this week. I guess every church has different rules. I've posted a snap shot of what I will have to follow come Saturday. I just hope it doesn't hold me back from documenting important moments.
Oh by the way....Flash is not allowed in the church chapel! That is quite exciting (You think I am crazy huh?). Natural Light all the way. I guess it must be well lit indoors so the need for a strobe is 0. I love noisy images anyway so if its not well lit, my 30/40D should be more than happy to handle the noise. We'll see how it goes!
Wish me luck!

Lifestyle Portrait Session | Ms. Seyi Adeoye

It's been a while since I did any outdoor lifestyle portrait session so I decided to do one with a good friend of mine who also lives in Tulsa. The plan was to go out shooting all evening and Seyi was quite convinced that she's not a "picture taking" type of person. I told her not to worry, get dressed and God will help us achieve something...LOL! Maybe not that way but I told her we'd just have fun and be ourselves.

We were out driving through Tulsa downtown Saturday evening and couldn't find any interesting places to shoot so we headed to somewhere else. We found a spot which was not so great looking anyways but I was pretty certain we could use it to the fullest. It was around 7.30pm so the light was quite soft and that made our evening much more interesting.


I'm not that into telling people what to do when shooting, so I told Seyi to be herself and will help her out if it was necessary as far as her body position goes.. One thing I noticed she loved to do is LAUGH! Yes, LAUGH! We started off by talking about how weird the location was and she made friends with 2 bugs I think. But that didn't stop us, so I pretty much cracked her open by making her laugh. The first few frames I took produced the first shot which I showed her. She was going crazy! I was laughing all through and was not surprised because she was very natural in front of the camera so we continued our fun time shooting.

She's such a cool person to be around and she loves to write. Our last location for the evening was her campus (ORU) where I told her to take a seat and do what she does best...WRITE! I thought she was faking it but she was actually writing and couldn't stop because it was her moment to put her thoughts down into writing again. I know she'll be posting that soon. Trust me she's so good with words. Oh by the way, the first time I saw her handwriting, I was in shock. It looked like a computer font....No kidding! She's got the wonderful talent of writing and she's got her own inspirational blog called INSPIRATIONS OF SADE. Trust me you need to read it everyday, it's my new source of inspiration. 

Here are a couple of photos I want to show off. There are more but I'm reserving those for something special....You'll get to know soon! 

Wedding Moments

There is a reason why I love to shoot weddings. The moments are simply stunning.

The photo below was at the very first wedding that I ever shot with my new Canon 30D back in February. I had only been shooting with a DSLR about 5 months without any professional training and I was quite scared but excited to take on the challenge. It wasn't a paid gig (you have to start somewhere trust me) but I still wanted to deliver very strong and story telling images regardless. I had started shooting for OU's newspaper/ yearbook at the time and as a photographer, I was drilled on how much you need to tell stories with the images you create.

The fact that it is very possible to freeze the story in a moment as it happens is what drives me to shoot. I have not shot portraits in a while due to school and shooting more events and weddings and I'm not regretting it at all. Not that I don't shoot portraits anymore but I love the fact that when I shoot weddings, I'm not in control of anything...except my camera of course.

The point is.......Moments simply can't be anticipated. You just have to be prepared as a photojournalist to freeze those moments as they happen.


I remember when I took this shot. The bride must have been overtaken by her emotions that she couldn't look up for a while once she got in front of her groom to be. Only God knows what she was thinking at the point but it kept me busy recording her emotion on camera. It was simply stunning!

Alex & Ofi | Wedding Ceremony

I had the opportunity to shoot another wedding ceremony last weekend in Oklahoma City with another photographer from Tulsa. The groom is a friend from College and I was excited to document the beautiful ceremony with my images. I wasn't able to do any preparation shots since the official photographer covered it. It was a long 8 hours but was worth every second. One of the emotional moments was when the bride walked down the isle with her brother. Her dad passed away years ago and it was one of those moments when she cried. The ceremony had both the formal ceremony and the traditional reception ceremony with cool attires and all that good stuff.

Since I had not attended the rehearsal, I just had to go with the flow while anticipating some more dramatic moments. One of the cool things about weddings is the fact that you get to think of more creative ways to make a new wedding better than the previous one (True!). This one was no exception and I did some new things which you will be able to spot easily. I did some things with the video lights and got some more interesting angles. I remember being under the table when the toast was going on to capture another exciting moment with the whole bridal train while some people had fun stepping on me...My back hurts from that! Trust me I put my body under some interesting stress while shooting weddings and it pays off very well. People often wondered why I was flat on the floor shooting. I'm sure they thought I was crazy! Story telling is my passion and I try to deliver it in the best possible way. The couple's first dance was quite interesting as they were joined by friends/family which made it quite hard to focus on the couple. So instead of quitting, I brought out my off camera shoe cord and used the flash to bring out the couple while rendering everything else mostly black. I figured it would be cool to have a type of spot light on them instead of keeping everyone else in the light.

I chose to use a new post processing tone today so tell me how you like it. I always know what PP I would use as I shoot...I think that helps my work flow a lot more.

Thanks Alex & Ofi for letting me document your special day and I hope you both enjoy your photos.

Feel free to leave comments wether you know me or you don't. Thanks!