Lukas VanDyke Fine Art Photography

I had so much fun doing the underwater session I posted yesterday, that I decided that I want to do another one! But this time I’m going to make a contest out of it, and will give away the session for free to one lucky couple. I have some really awesome ideas for the next session, so it will be even better than the first! The great part is a little pool water isn’t going to do any damage to most wedding dresses, so you can do the session and still save the dress for your kids! For those of you who like the idea but don’t feel it’s for you, I would love if you would tweet this link, set it as your facebook status or email it to all your married friends who you would like to see looking gorgeous in the pool.

How to enter the contest

To enter you need to write a blog post on your personal blog or a facebook note and include the following:

1. Why you want to do an underwater session & any creative ideas you have.

2. Why I should pick you to do the underwater session.

3. A photo of yourself in your wedding dress with your husband.

4. A link to this page “http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=5234″

Once you have finished your post you need to either tag me in the note on facebook or leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog. The contest ends at midnight on Monday 9/13 at which point I will pick the winner!

If you’re not sure how to write a note on facebook, there is a great help article here
If you want to start a new blog check out Google blogger
Contestants must be married, still have the wedding dress they were married in, and be available in the near future to do a session
Contestants agree to pay to have an underwater makeup specialist do their makeup. ($60-80)
Session will be at my place in the East San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles CA
Winners will be picked based on the creativity of their blog post and ideas for the session.
Click here to see the photos from the last session
If we aren’t facebook friends and you want to enter feel free to add me “Lukas VanDyke”.
Feel free to enter if you live in another state, you will just need to provide my flight there and the pool.

I don’t really like using the term “Trash the Dress” because it sounds negative, and makes it sound like you are out there to intentionally wreak havoc on your wedding dress. Sessions like this are more about creating some really cool art.  It just happens that in some cases the dress doesn’t survive the process. I think I’ll just be using the term “Fine Art Post Wedding Session” unless someone can come up with a better idea.

I’ve really been wanting to try an underwater session for a long time now, but I never seemed to have time and things never seemed to come together. But this last week has been in the 100′s and a nice cool watery session sure sounded inviting. I also recently saw my friend Jessica. Although she did a session involving some paint and already destroyed her wedding dress a few years ago, she always mentioned if I had some good ideas her and Paul would be game. Well last week I shot them an email, bought a dress on eBay and here are the photos!

Please please leave a comment below as I would love to know yours thoughts!

I also need to give a shout out to Jen at “Simply Skin by Jen”. She did all the makeup using a special underwater blend and sealer. Seriously I didn’t even know that stuff existed until she put it on! Give her a call if you ever have makeup needs, especially if your going to be wet, sweaty or need to look extra good on that surfing date. Just make sure to tell her I sent you!

I did a really fun session today. But that’s all I’m going to say about it right now. =). Check back in the next couple days for the rest of the photos and the story. =)

The next morning after Michael & Ashley’s wedding we met up again and headed back to the beach. This time however we weren’t worried about getting a little wet and sandy. In fact we got soaked and covered in sand. But it was a ton of fun! Day after sessions and post weddings sessions are some of my favorite times. It’s fun because there is no schedule, no time limit, and you can just relax and do whatever. You two are the best! Check out the rest of the proofs here.

Suzy got a few if me as well. As you can see it’s pretty impossible to get the good angles and stay dry at the same time. .