Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction–
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher–
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly–
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat–
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility–
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

We seriously can’t get enough of the gracious Ms. Ricci.  We photographed her wedding and bridal session, her pin up session and now her anti-bridal photos.  Now all we need are maternity and newborn;)  As you may or may not know, JMC has been coined as the “godfather” of the Trash the Dress phenomenon. Considering we actually don’t even offer “Trash the Dress” sessions, we find it humorous.  But we do offer anti-bridals and we do not offer them to just anyone.  Not only is there a hefty price tag attached to these but this art is more about the concept and about finding the right person.  John Michael Cooper came up with this idea just under a year ago while photographing a live concert.  Ricci was the perfect subject and when she arrived for her pin up shoot, we explained that we had finally formed the concept for her very own anti-bridal.

Make up by Jolana Adamson

photography by john michael cooper, blog post by dalisa cooper

Jessica and Matt had a gorgeous Four Seasons wedding so imagine how psyched we were when Jessica decided to do a bridal session.  Where, you ask?  Only one of the coolest places in Las Vegas… should we have you guess?

love her Louboutin’s…

If you have ever seen Cirque Du Soleil’s Love, you might recognize a few of these pieces.  Yep, we shot this session on the Love stage.. we are really, really lucky.

Add a smokin’ hot couple and we admit, we are beyond lucky.

photography and blog post by john michael cooper

The two best times of the day for a location shoot? Evening…. a little bit before the sun sets, just shoot through it. And before the sun rises and shoot through that..  Yessica and Christian opted for a sunrise bridal session.  Sunrise in the desert is always a special time, for one - it’s much cooler in the morning and 2nd, after seeing the beautiful colors changing in the morning sky you still have the whole day ahead of you. I think that is why I am a morning person.

photography and blog post by john michael cooper

A little pre-wedding day studio session for Shellene and Jeff.  It is getting harder and harder for me not to consider our new studio as a “day light studio” . Technically, I don’t think it qualifies as a “day light studio” but from about 9am to about 5pm - if I roll up the bay door, I get this beautiful light on the cyc wall (above) and no need for other lights or reflectors or any other tricks… just beautiful clean light. Needless to say I’m loving the new studio, and especially more when I have a couple like Shellene and Jeff that make it feel more like a studio fashion shoot rather then a studio bridal..

.john.

Just because we are shooting in a studio doesn’t mean that I’m not going to pop outside for a few shots..

Back inside and switch from pure natural light to busting out our old hollywood lights.  Can you tell we love shadows!

And below: the last images on the temporary wall we put up to study and pay homage to the great Irving Penn.

They say “all good things come to an end”, “change is good”, myself -I  said at the Mystic conference “it is always a good time to re-invent”.  Enter Finao, a bad ass album company, to help us with the reinventing of altF.  Yes…. an album company.   As of the beginning of 2010 we have been changing things all across the board here at altF and our albums are not immune to those changes.   As of a couple of months ago we have stopped the production of our hand crafted albums and passed over the craftsmanship of our books to the folks at Finao.   I know some will be disappointed, as we have been at the very forefront of artist crafted books for the last 11 years, but not to worry - I will still have my hands busy creating things, it will just be in a different place. Having Finao produce our wedding books will free us to do what we do best which is push the boundaries and do things people haven’t seen yet.  So with that, I’ll leave you with a small hint on why we have chosen Finao over all the other album companies:  There are a lot of great album companies out there and Finao’s quality (which is superb by the way) was only a very small part of the equation.  We picked Finao because of their attitude, passion, and style line up with our philosophy here at altF.  Frankly we are just “trying our best” to be bad ass fucking photographers and we need one bad ass fucking album company to make our books. Finao!

.johnmichaelcooper.

ps. I also like that there is an “F” in Finao.

a few of our new samples and a good segue into moving away from our albums to Finao’s with a 12×18″ book with a decade of our artwork,  signature images from 2000-2009.

Rockabilly style! In for a Rockabilly convention Emma and Trevor, all the way from Australia, got married, bought this beautiful classic ‘67 caddy and had one sweet and cool bridal session with us.  Everyone knows I like to shoot classic cars, and when it’s a prop for a photo shoot, even better…  A killer car, a super cool couple, how can you go wrong..  I can just imagine Emma and Trevor driving this piece of American steel down the Australian highways.

.jmc.

photography and blog post by john michael cooper

photography by john michael cooper, blog post by dalisa cooper

The current Irving Penn set in our studio (which will be coming down very shortly) was used to execute the first and last shot of this darling duo

Jacqueline came wrapped in a semblance of sweet composure. The essence of peace wades through this couple leaving you calm and at ease.  We were so lucky to take part in capturing that.

The last shot of Rick is my favorite.  Its such a true and sincere expression - I will let you guess who he was looking at when this shot was taken:)

Thank you both for hanging out in our studio for a short time - all of the best to you and your future together!

and the Streets of San Francisco!

This Valentines Day we were lucky enough to witness two extraordinary people who are very much in love. Sunol Valley Golf Club served as a spectacular location for this duo’s commitment location

JMC is a super big fan of Cherry Blossoms - I like them too but he claimed them first.  The Sunol property was just flourished by them so we hopped on it as soon as we got there.

Below is my personal fav - this tree gave us a totally different feel from the rest of the property.

Danielle’s family friend had this cool old car (another one of John’s favorite props) so we took full advantage.

As if we didn’t have a great day of photographs on the wedding day we were on Cloud 9 when we hit San Francisco the next day for some more fun.  The Golden Gate Bridge - another pretty cool prop…

And lot’s of play in the streets of San Francisco!

and a little something that we haven’t done in years - a little polaroid action!

Thanks you two - we had a great time and were so honored to work with you!  We hope to see you in Vegas sometime!

-dc

A little bit of Houston and a whole lot of New Orleans - this magnetic couple brought the fun to Vegas!

And the very talented Missy Moran was Heidi’s make up artist

The Four Seasons - one of our favorite locations to work with.  I think I have said this before but you really can’t find better hospitality and atmosphere than what is offered at the lush property.

With the coordination of Ms. La Chanda Jenkins and the talent of Naakiti Floral, this room made you swoon with excitement as soon as you walked in. lounge Decor provided by Barker Decor Service

Ooohh…. my new joy, the Second line, a New Orleans tradition.  I participated in a second line a few years ago and fell in love with the energy and laughter that emerges from the group.  Heidi and Marcus’s friends and family brought it back home, I was torn between taking the photos and joining in, so I did a little of both.

And of course, the party wasn’t complete until Spinderella came in to work her magic on the crowd

Suzi & Terrance Lighten of Lighten films were there to capture all of the magic! Click here to see the trailer they put together!

It was a great celebration and more fun than I was prepared for but then John took these two out for a bridal session the next day and worked his own magic

Just gorgeous.  Heidi and Marcus - congratulations on your new life together, I truly hope our paths cross again sometime.  Thank you again for allowing us to capture your heart felt event.

-dc

You might recall these two hotties from their engagement & wedding post - they had a gorgeous event at Red Rock Casino last October and we were lucky enough to get them back to our place for some great bridal portraits.  This time, The Dude was in tow..

k-i-l-l-e-r clouds, I really could not have asked for better weather.  It’s might have been freezing, but it looks great

The Dude is Nikki and Eddie’s 130 pound baby - he was so much fun and very well behaved, they are clearly great parents

And just like us, these two have a strong belief in champagne for any occasion - it just happens to be on our daily menu at the studio

N & E, Thanks for another fantastic day of beautiful photos and for bringing The Dude - my dog sitting offer still stands, we could have alot of fun together:)

-dc