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July 2007

July 29, 2007

Jen & Noah's Last Minute Booking at The Inn at the Round Barn

Many couples plan their wedding a year in advance. Others do it all in the 4 or 5 months prior to the big day. Some do it on very short notice.

We received a call last week from a groom whose wedding was only one week away. July 28 was the only remaining open Saturday we had for quite a stretch, and we were able to quickly work everything out, even squeezing in an engagement portrait session the day before the wedding (see earlier post below)!

One of the best benefits to having two photographers at your wedding is the expanded coverage it provides. Veronique and I are both fully accredited WPJA (Wedding Photo Journalists Association) members, and we each carry two cameras. This allows us to switch lenses more or less instantly, going from a wide angle to a telephoto at will. We are able to simultaneously capture key moments from different points of view. Our clients see this expanded window into their day in their proofs and in their album pages.  There is simply no way that a solo photographer can match this kind of coverage. Another benefit is the added security it provides in the event of equipment malfunctions or suddenly blocked views.

Check out our dual coverage of the exchange of rings and the cake cutting at Jen and Noah's wedding at The Inn at the Round Barn today.

July 28, 2007

Jen & Noah's Engagement Portrait Session

We get asked whether we shoot digital or film, less and less, but it still happens from time to time. We even had a specific request recently for us to shoot film. But why would we ever shoot film again?!?! Shooting digitally allows us to change ISO on the fly, avoid missing key moments due to changing rolls, and most importantly, to bring our work directly into our digital darkroom.

We pride ourselves on the post-processing that we apply to every image that we print or place in an album, often spending hours enhancing our images, much the way a lapidary cuts and polishes a gemstone to produce a finished diamond suitable for a wedding ring. The things we do range from cosmetic retouching, to vignetting, dodging and burning, color toning and conversions to b&w, sepia and duotones, and more.

We do this work full-time and view ourselves as storytellers and artists foremost, and we view our photography as a tool we employ toward that goal. We are looking for only a few dozen commissions per year, and we yearn to produce big, fat, magazine-style contemporary albums which artistically evoke the spirit of our clients' wedding celebrations.

Check out the following image from Jen & Noah's Engagement Portrait Session, presented first as it was shot SOOTC and then below, as a  fully-worked, finished art print. One of the things that post-processing did was to bring out the blurred tiger lily that our wide-open 85mm lens had captured directly in front of their faces, which created a warm, orange glow reminiscent of a lens flare.

July 22, 2007

Christina & Kris' Mt. Mansfield Wedding Celebration

Sometimes the winters seem a bit long here in northern Vermont. Veronique's dad describes our weather as "nine months of winter followed by three months of poor skiing!" But the pace of life, the wonderful family and friends, and the stunning scenery go a long way towards compensating for the darker side of the weather in these parts.

That's why so many people travel to our state to hold their destination weddings here. Whenever we shoot a wedding we make sure to capture the scene setting images that help put the event into context and perspective. Of all our weddings this season, none has topped the scenery of that of Christina and Kris, who tied the knot high up on the slopes of Vermont's highest peak at the Stowe Mountain Resort.

Check out a few select album spreads to see our way of blending the environment into our storytelling...

July 15, 2007

Erin and Alex at The Edson Hill Manor

There are a lot of buzzwords that get thrown around when people talk about wedding photography. Words like photojournalism and unobtrusive, candid and real, etcetera. Some people claim to be these things, but take a look at their website, and all you see are posed shots.

Veronique and I were accepted into the elite Wedding Photo Journalist Association within one month of shooting our very first wedding, way back in April 2005. That's right, we've only been doing this for three seasons now. But we have taken to the art of capturing real emotion like ducks to water. Why? Perhaps because we're both very passionate and caring individuals and we have an eye for it? Whatever the reason, we are always on the lookout for real emotion when we're shooting. Every wedding is different and presents a fresh canvas for our storytelling brushes, and our observant hearts.

Erin and Alex' wedding today at The Edson Hill Manor provided us with many moments of true emotion...