So many awesome details! Such an awesome day. I was looking forward to this wedding and it didn't disappoint. It's such an honor to be part of these days and I wish you guys all the best in your marriage. Check out the love at the end too. Nobody wanted to leave, which is a good sign that you threw an absolutely wonderful party. Congrats!
Hair and makeup: Refresh Hair and Design Studio
Venue: Bread and Chocolate
DJ: EA Pro Music
How can you argue with a beautiful breezy beach wedding? Montana was a beautiful bride, and it was obvious to everyone how much Landon cares about her and the kids. Congrats guys, and I hope you have a fantastic July 4th :-).
What a wedding. I've had the honor of photographing both of the Troyer weddings and I always love it. They are so heartfelt and so much fun. This one was set up in Gene and Brenda's back yard, and I loved that we could photograph in a place that meant so much. Congratulations, and it was an honor to be with you guys.
Maggie and Branson had a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a wedding. Wait till you see Branson's face at first look, and I loved that we were able to sneak away at dusk and get some photos. There is just so much feeling in late evening. Congratulations guys, and thanks for having me be a part of your wedding day!
Ceremony: St Patrick's park
Reception: The Brick
Decor: A Trick or Two
Lovely, rainy, classic. Luke and Ali's wedding had a beautiful setting and a crew of friends and family to celebrate with them. Congrats!
There are a lot of photos here. I don't regret that. I'm loving getting back into wedding season, and I'm happy it was with these guys. The whole day was full of fun, and it's great to photograph with a crew that doesn't take themselves too seriously. Congrats!
Also, venue was Potawatomie Conservatories, which was lovely.
Great and wickedly funny night of honest songwriting and musicianship at Ignition Music Garage.
This is the areas best venue bringing the best artists though, and I'm happy they are here. The photos stay similar, but trust me when I say you have to be there for the experience. On a special night, you can't duplicate it.
I'm discovering that collaboration is the next level for me in creativity. It feels great to be working with people who are bringing their vision to me, and working together to achieve it. For this shoot, we brought 4 people together who all brought strong artistic visions and decided to see what we could do. I loved the process and I'm happy to recommend everyone listed here.
Model: Miranda Savoie
Stylist: Tania Ballvé
Makeup: Ashley Troxel
I love this family and I'm so glad this was how I started my year off. A wonderful and crazy crew of kids are now a family, and will surely terrorize dance floors wherever they go.
Taking photos of people is delicate work.
There isn't so much danger for a photographer, but for someone who sits for a photo, (particularly for someone who isn't a professional model) it is a vulnerable experience. In some ways I've blocked that out of my mind because for a photographer, the job is intense enough without that weight. Do we have the right light? Is everyone on time? Are my 22 batteries all charged? Do I have the correct modifiers? Do I know where I'm going, and will my contact be there? Of all these concerns, many times except for the most basic concerns, the comfort of a subject is not high on the priority list. Even less, my understanding of their story.
While writing my best of 2016 blog, I stumbled upon a realization as I was writing. A camera serves as a shield. In fact I've kept it up at the expense of knowing almost anything about my subjects. This gets work done, and allows me to make photos, but I'm not sure that it allows me to make portraits. To me, a portrait is made through a connection. It can be as simple as putting the camera down and asking questions. So that's what I did. I recruited 10 volunteers to meet with, and simply put the camera down. I planned to ask them 3 questions.
1. How did you grow up?
2. What is a good memory you have?
3. What is something you miss?
After 1 or 2 people, I realized that the first question could simply open the communication by itself. As it turns out, people generally are happy to tell a story to someone who is actually listening (as I have failed to do so many times), and the stories were wonderful. People are so much more interesting when you are interested. After a while, I found my camera and took a few simple photos, or photos that i thought they would enjoy, sometimes while they told me a story and that was that.
I was thinking of a clickbait headline for this project. "Photographer asks questions, and what he found will change everything!". That would be a good way to both cheapen and complicate a thing that was neither cheap, nor complicated. It was a simple exercise, and I learned simple but important things. We all want to be heard, and we all have much more depth than we are able to show on a regular basis. It's refreshing to share that depth on occasion, and it's important to share it with the right people. We need face to face time with people who listen. That transcends photography.
