- I use the highest quality Canon professional digital cameras and a wide array of Canon lenses.

- Yes I bring back up equipment to every shoot. I pack back up equipment for our back up equipment.

- For those who think they can just rent a camera and do what I do, my most recent tally from a local rental is that it would cost over $800 to rent what in my wedding gear bag for the day.   Factoring that in my fees seem almost bargain basement.

- I’ve been active in photography over twenty plus years.  Doing it semi-professionally over ten years.  Running my own business over two years.

- I deliver a balanced mixture of family, candid-photojournalist, detail and bride and groom photographs.

- Yes, I photograph in color and images can be altered to my signature black and white and sepia looks.

- I’ve been shooting commercially for years but recently have found the creative outlet of wedding photography to be my greatest love artistically.

- I select images from every session, both weddings and portraits, to further modify and create unique artwork from.

- I will only shoot one wedding a day. You get the full attention of me and my team before, during and after your wedding.

- The same goes for portrait sessions.  I only schedule one session a day.

- Yes I accept credit cards… go ahead, and rack up those bonus points, cash back bonuses and frequent flyer miles!!

-The studio is not a storefront studio, it’s staffed by appointment only.  It’s just south of downtown with easy access from I-25, Speer, and Alameda.  There is ample free parking.

-The studio space is leased from a church – no Sunday morning portraits sessions in studio.

- I absolutely consider pets part of the family.

Other photography professionals I love and am inspired by…

Denis Reggie - The father of wedding photojournalism as a style.

Joe Buissink – Wedding photojournalism meets fine art

Jeff Ascough – English wedding photographer based in Lancashire.

Dain Linder of Photography by Dain.  A great friend and wedding photographer who helped re-ignite my love of wedding photography.   Often as not he’s my second photographer and I often am his second on his weddings.

Anna Jarske – The wonderful thing about the internet is making friends the world over, Anna is such a friend.   Located in Helsinki Finland, Anna is a remarkable photographer and her blog an inspiration to me.  Anna Jarske – Helsinki Finland Wedding Photographer

Becker.  Sharing the same birthday (although I did have it many years before he did) isn’t the only thing I like about this guy.  His dedication to teaching and sharing information opens new doors to so many wedding photographers.

Jasmine Star – walking away from a full law scholarship to follow her dream of wedding photographer.   Shooting to the very top of the industry in just a few short years this lady is a striking example of determination and branding.

Parker J Pfister – photography isn’t his career, it’s his life.

Tim Will Photography – his vintage style has been a huge inspiration in my own work.

Other “Hayes” Photographers

For some reason I find other Hayes photography sites all over the place, here’s one or two of my favorite “no relation” sites

Emily Hayes  Washington DC Wedding Photographer

http://hayesphotography.blogspot.com/

Colorado Venue Listings

If you’re looking for a venue for your Denver or Colorado wedding we’re building a library of venues here:   Colorado Wedding Venues

Photographers are gear geeks.  We’re often looking at each others stuff and comparing notes.   Here’s a list of my current favorites.   

Q: What camera, lens, flash, etc do you shoot with? 

A: I’m addicted to things Canon. Cameras, lenses + accessories.

Canon Cameras 

5D mkII, 5D, Xsi back-up, 20D back-up. 
Although the 5D’s are too slow a frame per second burst for for sports type action shots, it yields amazing colors and is used for portrait sessions. I prefer to shoot everything raw but will shoot some stuff straight jpg depending on the event. 

Canon Lenses 

Canon 85mm f1.2 L 
This lens is amazing for portraits of all types.  Shot about f2 it yields tack sharpness on the focal points yet fades quickly to the most beautiful bokeh. Granted it cost more than most of the cars I’ve ever owned.   

Canon 50mm f1.4
This is a very unassuming, crispy lens. Great for street shooting due to itd diminutive profile.  In super low light conditions I’ll use this with no flash. 

Canon 50mm f1.8 
OK so this one isn’t in the bag anymore – I donated to my graphic designer friend over at DDFL.  For new photographers the “nifty fifty” is the absolute best lens value there is.  At under $100 it’s tack sharp and great for a wide variety of uses.  

Canon 85mm f1.8
Tack sharp prime lens for portraits + details, with awesome bokeh.   While I use the 1.2 much more often now I still have this around for some uses since it focuses much faster and is great for keeping on one of the backup cameras.  

Canon 24-105mm f4 L.
This lens is pressed into service quite a bit. I use it for the majority of group portraits, and throw an extension tube on it for close up details. 

Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS.
I love this lens. If your a canon portrait or wedding photographer I consider this your true “must have” purchase.  Typically shot wide open or closed down a few stops this killer telephoto yields superb color and tack sharp images with a stunning background blur. The image stabilizer, essential triples your shutter speed.

In studio I love to use this lens mounted directly to the camera stand with the barrel mount.  

Canon 16-35mm f2.8 L.
Wider is better.   Used primarily for larger group portraits and for scene setting shoots + landscapes, this is a quick focusing lens.  

Canon 15mm Extension Tube + 25mm Extension Tube:
Snap on to the 24-105 f4 L, your have an image stabilized macro zoom lens for amazing close up details of rings, invitations + any other detail you can think of. 

Canon Extender EF x2 II:
This handy accessory turns the 70-200 f2.8 L IS into a 400+ mm lens for super tight close-ups or when you are cordoned off to the back of the church. Note: You will only be able to open up to f5.6 once you’ve snapped on this puppy.  

Canon EF 100mm f 2.8 Macro:
This marco is razor sharp and a stunning lens for super closeup work. The 100mm F2.8 also makes an effective portrait lens as well.  

Flashes +  Radio Slaves 

Canon 580 EX Speedlights:
I have two and use them for bounce only and sometimes as master / slave units. Use with the ST-E2 remote transmitter they are great for off camera use indoors.  

For indoor event use I love to use the Gary Fong lightsphere.  

Pocket Wizards:
These radio slaves are phenomenal and never fail to perform.  I use them in studio and bring them out on location for off camera flash use.  

The Studio Gear 

Studio Flash:  For strobes I use a variety of Alien Bees.  For constant lighting I love my Westcott SpiderLites. 

Purchasing: Most my camera gear is purchased from B&H photo video.  

Web Site: my current website at www.mhp-studio.com is a custom built showit site.  I also have various blu domain templates I use from time to time for special events.  

Custom Blog: Designed by Jaz at Cats-Cradle Design.   She took my input about what I loved about certain blogs and hated about others and created something wonderful and unique.  

On Line Proofing and Print fulfillment : Pictage.

Siganture Prints:
For out studio signature prints we use three main vendors.  WHCC, Millers Lab, and Simply Canvas.  For books and albums we use Pictage, Zookbinders, and Couture Books.  

Computers 

Hello, I’m a Mac: 

And before your go assuming I’m a life long Mac fanboy keep in mind I was a network administrator for Novell and Windows networks for almost two decades.  I’ve upgraded DOS machines to Windows 3.1 , to Windows 95, and then Windows 98, Windows 2000, who could forget XP and I even got to play with Vista a bit.  I bought my first Mac in 2007 and haven’t looked back since.  

Apple iMac 2.8GHz Intel COre 2 Duo  with 24″ apple display 4 GB ram 

Apple 13″ Macbook laptop.
Drobo’s with 2 Terrabytes of backup and storage.  

Amazing Images: The recipe starts with a great capture. Years of commercial shooting taught me that “I’ll fix it in photoshop” is something often said by people who simply don’t understand exposure or their gear well enough.  A great image starts with a great capture.  I use color calibrated monitors and tweak the files in Adobe Light Room and apply our Signature looks in Photoshop. 

Words to live by:

We all start at the same place.