Hillary+Josh: St. Andrews Catholic Church + Weber’s Inn Wedding

April 4, 2017

It’s funny how your mind remembers certain events of a day. A tiny part of my brain seems to remember driving to Ann Arbor from East Lansing in crazy hot weather when the air conditioning in my car went out, or gulping down water that was hot from being in the car, but when I think back on Hillary and Josh’s wedding day, those little events seem meaningless among all of the other happenings of the day.

What I really remember—what comes to my mind first—is how Josh made Hillary laugh that day, and how he so clearly puts her at ease. I remember them holding each other during their their first dance with a look of absolute bliss. I remember parents that were bursting with excitement to see their children getting married.

I want you to remember that. At the end of the day, you might have a blip of a memory about how it rained on your wedding day, or how hot the weather was. But when you look back, those little things won’t mean much. What you’ll really remember is how that day made you feel, what it was like to see the love of your life and know that on that day, you would be married and what it was like to be surrounded by the people you love most.

Thanks to Diana for second shooting with me!

Scroll to the bottom for a list of vendors from Hillary and Josh’s wedding.

Wedding Vendors:

Ceremony Venue: St. Andrew Catholic Church Saline, MI
Reception Venue & Catering: Weber’s Inn, Ann Arbor
Flowers: Maureen’s Designs
DJ: Mike Staff Productions
Wedding Dress: Carrie’s Bridal Chamblee, GA
Bridesmaid Dresses: Weddington Way
Hair + Makeup: Mod Squad Salon Saline, MI

Check back next Tuesday for a brand new blog post.

What I’ve Learned From Shooting Film

March 28, 2017

As a photographer, I feel like I’m constantly driven to grow and explore. Last year, after talking to a handful of film photographers (and after spending months, or maybe years talking about why I would never shoot film), I finally picked up a film camera on eBay to play with. I was hooked from the moment my first roll of Fuji 400H came back.

Shooting film has made such a difference in how I approach shooting in general. Even though film makes up a tiny fraction of the total photos I take, I’ve found that I’m slowing down across the board to make sure that I’m getting my shots right in my camera. I’m more observant of light, framing and other details, and I’m putting more value into every shutter click (something that’s easy to learn quickly when you’re literally spending at least a dollar every time you click the shutter).

If time allows and the lighting is right, you might see me pull out my film camera at my next wedding or session. I’ve found that it works best with lots of light, and I’m especially keen on golden hour film photos.

Check back next Tuesday for a brand new blog post.

A Getaway to Puerto Rico

March 21, 2017

After an incredibly busy year, I told my friend and travel buddy, Jess, in November that we should plan a mini getaway soon. She’s a travel agent and an action taker, so I knew if I put it out there to her, something would happen. Within weeks, we were on a plane to Puerto Rico, where we met up with my friend, Kate, to stay in the Marriott Stelaris.

I tried something totally different for this trip. I usually pack up my full DSLR for travel, but since I’ve been playing with film, I challenged myself to only take my Nikon F100 with Fuji 400h film. It’s manual everything, even focus.

I didn’t take a ton of photos—I really wanted to spend my time there connecting with my dear friends and recharging. In a strange twist of fate, I decided to only take photos on my phone when we hiked out to go swimming in a waterfall, and my phone ended up with a strange error that made all of the photos show up gray. So I guess old school film really won out on this trip.

And yes, I did in fact pick this hotel out of the options Jess presented because it had a water slide. I went down it more times than I can count, because I’m basically a twelve year old 🙂

I should also mention that if you make your way to San Juan, Puerto Rico, Old San Juan is an amazing area to check out. It’s the second oldest European-established capital city in the Americas (founded in 1521).

I discovered acai bowls at a little cafe down the road from our hotel, and I’m pretty sure that I was there at least three or four times in the less than four days that we were in Puerto Rico. I was instantly obsessed with these things—it was topped with fresh fruit and bee pollen (Jeff still makes some fun of me for the bee pollen, but I’m telling you—that thing was amazing). When I got home, I immediately looked into how I could make these for myself, and I’ve been starting my day with one more and more often.

Fall Family Photos at Fenner Nature Center

March 14, 2017

You may remember this family from their winter session at Winter Brick Park in 2015. I’ve known Christy since I was in kindergarden. I was an extremely shy kid in kindergarden, and she was the one who got me to break out of my shell. I swear that I remember talking to her for the first times on the swings at the playground.

We had a new little addition to the family this time for our fall session at Fenner Nature Center 🙂

Here’s the frame set that ended up in their home—it’s a 16×20″ print in a 20×24″ frame with two 8×10″ prints in 11×14″ frames. I love that this setup leaves room to grow for future photos.

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