Judd Sather Photography Blog

My #1 piece of advice: TRAVEL. If you have some vacation days, use them – go somewhere. We all get caught up in our own little rat races (sometimes self-inflicted) and whether or not our lawn is mowed as nice as the neighbor’s. Traveling is a great way to put it all in perspective. We had a rare two weekends without weddings in a row so our family jumped into my dad’s RV (to put hotel $ toward gas) and traveled to Colorado, California, Utah, Montana and South Dakota seeing some incredible American landscape along the way. At the risk of being “that guy who shows vacation pictures while we’re stuck at work”, here are some of the pics:

Gunnison, Colorado: stars outside our Adventure Experiences (AE) weatherport where brother-in-law Paul works. I was in a sleeping bag for 30 minutes to get this shot in 30 degree weather mostly b/c I couldn’t see to focus and change the exposure. Have you ever seen stars like this in the city?

My 2-year old playing with the “stoking” paddle for the fire-stoked hot tub at Adeventure Experiences camp.

Los Angeles, CA (Big Bear Lake): new nephew Garret Daniel’s baptism, the main reason for the trip.

The only place in California that sold diesel for under $5!

Santa Monica, California sunset over the beach – shot taken from the pier.

Finding my “inner happy place” in Salt Lake City, Utah. The salt concentration of the lake is so high it is impossible to sink! Check it out.

Collage above is (clockwise) brown bear in South Dakota, Martha and Paul on a sunrise summit ascent in Colorado (They got up at 3:30am; I was sleeping b/c I stayed up late taking the star picture above and had to watch the kids of course :)), cheesy Mt. Rushmore re-creation, the Airstream “RV” in Swan Lake, Utah, and a double decker outhouse…

With three little boys under the age of 6, traveling 4200+ miles over 17 days was quite a trick; the RV bathroom and DVD player proved invaluable. I’m ready to get back to weddings now (once I plant some trees to erase that gas consumption carbon footprint)! -Judd

Click here to see their album!
You’re not going to believe this but I met with these two on Monday and they booked me for their Sunday wedding – yep, 6 days lead time. We deal with all types here including 2 years+ engagements but these guys are rare and simple – just wanted to get married so here we go down to Lake Harriet. The Rose Gardens down there are very picturesque. I try some really unique shots at each wedding and I thought we’d try this slow shutter bicycle shot when I saw all the bike traffic. I had to lay in the 95 degree burning brown grass and use my backpack as a tripod for the shot on the right – worth it! We tried to coax a couple of bicyclers to ride by choreographed but this random one with the real folks going by looked the best. Album design ready by Aug 1! Click here to register for the free pictures from Jung hee and Bernie’s wedding.

Click here to see Lindsay and Jeremy’s album – the shopping cart icon will work once they have had a chance to look at all the pictures first and release them for family and friends. We busted this wedding out in 5 days since we all need a little 4th of July vacation here at the Studio after this latest stretch of weddings – tons of fun, though! Oscar, Lindsay and Jeremy’s dog, makes the blog fresh off his air conditioning shave. There aren’t many things funnier than a small dog with short hair; add jumping near a wedding dress and well, that makes for some good photos. Lindsay and Jeremy’s wedding came complete with the above tractor shot and the best country band of the year at the reception. We lucked out with outdoor pictures as we were in between rain both at the gardens before and at the farm afterward. The picture of the kiss is in the windshield reflection of an old model T truck on Jeremy’s family farm – it has a crank start and windows that you have to prop open to get some fresh air. This was a great way to end a “9 weddings in 27 days” stretch for Studio J. On the way back home at 11pm I got a text from my good friend who also got married today that they were still out so we closed down Brit’s Pub wondering if the country band was still playing in St. Cloud at 2:30am… -Judd, Josh, Joe and Allie

Chad and Jessi shot David and Christina’s wedding in Minneapolis – this one gets “Unity Sand of the Year” award – very cool. Chad and Jessi also had a little fun with the wedding version of “wine glass ‘o monkeys.” No album design on this one, but click here to view all the pictures once David and Christina release them!

Click here to see Meghan and Justin’s album! The shopping cart icon will work once Meghan and Justin have viewed all of the pictures first and release them for you to view. Let’s play a little game I call “Who was the high school cheerleader?” Answer: check out the far left bridesmaid in the jumping shot – you may have to click to enlarge. Am I right Kayla? This wedding gets the “most spirited dancing” award – I almost sprained my ankle walking across the dance floor during “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” It was like I was walking on a trampoline – remember the game “break the egg” we used to play as kids? We also did a same-day slideshow with some of the wedding shots and it went over really well so we may start doing that more in the future. Groomsmen, I’ll always remember the “fish incident” down by the lift bridge – check out those shots if you get a chance. This year is “the year of the clouds” – we go out to get a sunset shot and I turned around and almost missed those clouds on the backside of the sunset! Unreal. -Judd and Joe

Click here to see Amoreena and Cory’s album! The shopping cart icon to view all pictures will work once Cory and Amoreena have released all of the images.
Another 3-wedding weekend! Great weather today – glad it’s not as windy as yesterday – it adversely affected my golf game vs. video guy Joe. Speaking of golf, I love the picture above of Cory and Amoreena with the cool sky at Tartan Park – maybe one of the top 50 pictures I’ve taken but the committee’s still in session. 🙂 Got a good shot of bridesmaid Leslie doing her “inner Michael Jackson” to Billie Jean and then grabbing her boyfriend for Soldier Boy. Cory’s family’s from the South so it was great to hear and feel the southern twang and hospitality; and of course the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The “kiss by the moon” shot was Amoreena’s idea – good call! As for the ’08 wedding awards… “most number of ‘lyrically questionable’ songs requested of the DJ” – sister Becky knows what I’m talking about! 🙂 -Judd and Josh

Click here to view Allison and Jay’s wedding album – the shopping cart will work to see and purchase all pictures once Jay and Allison have seen them all first and released them. Jay and Allison did this winter ice-skating engagement shoot (in 5 below weather), and now they get a wedding shot with a caterpillar doing a chin-up on Allison’s ring – bet that thing had a couple scratches on it’s belly! Do caterpillars have chins? Jessi and Amanda shot this wedding and rated the wedding party as “one of the most fun ever.”