Yesterday I was fortunate enough to shoot Chris and Rachel’s absolutely beautiful wedding on a day we all know so well. 09/11/2001.
On this day, Chris’s mother was on the 51st floor of the first tower when it was hit. She thankfully was able to make it out before the building collapsed, and has now written a few books about it. Rachel is a Marine veteran, and she knew she wanted to join the military because of the events that took place on 9/11.
This date has always been significant to each of them, so they decided they wanted to turn that date into a good one for them to remember.
These two were amazing, and they were two of the most patriotic people I’ve ever met. It was so nice to see in a time when we’ve all seemed to forgotten we are United.
Chris and Rachel – I thank the both of you so much for allowing me to share in your special day and hear about your stories. I wish you both a happy ever after 🇺🇸
This wedding had my emotions on a rollercoaster the entire day.
I had the pleasure of shooting Angela and Patrick’s beautiful wedding this past Saturday at Big Horse Vineyards. Their venue is gorgeous, and they did a fantastic job with the entire day.
Angela and Patrick have been together for quite a while now, and have 2 kids of their own. Their years together have allowed their love for each other to just keep growing, and that was made evident in the day I spent with them.
Patrick’s mother recently passed away, and their daughter made a surprise slideshow for him during the time set for a mother/son dance. Seeing everyone surround him and show him how much they love him was so powerful.
The glitz and glamour of weddings is nice, but this is what weddings are all about. Luckily for Angela and Patrick, they had the powerful emotions AND the glamour. Angela rode into the ceremony on a horse and carriage. Talk about an entrance!
All in all, this was an incredibly memorable wedding. I am so thankful to Angela, Patrick, and their entire wedding party for being so great. Here’s to the newlyweds! 🥂
As photographers, we all know how important editing is. A photo straight out of the camera can be good, but editing can make it truly great. Lightroom is an incredible tool for editing, and there are many great tools and tricks within it. This is my favorite one – and you may not be familiar with it.
As a preface – I have not touched this photo at all yet, so there is obviously plenty to still do, but for the sake of the blog I wanted to start with an untouched photo to make it easy to see the changes.
This is the original photo.
As we can see, it gets pretty dark in areas. We could bring the shadows up, but that doesn’t always work very well, and it can be tough to do it in all the right places. So we’re going to grab our graduated filter tool and take it on the side of the photo so that the entire photo is selected.
Then, scroll down to where it says “Range Mask: Off” and you’re going to click “color.”
After this, I turn off “show selected mask overlay” and take the eyedropper tool and select a dark area I’d like to brighten up.
From here, I turn “show selected mask overlay” back on so it’ll show what is selected. I then typically take the amount all the way down so it’s extremely accurate and only what I want. You can see how it selects all of the darker areas.
From there, I’ll again turn off “show selected mask overlay” and then you can play around with the setting to do what you want.
This works with any colors – not just dark areas. I find it to be way more accurate than going in and brushing things like that yourself. I still brush in my own areas, but this is a great tool (and saves time). Have fun playing around with it, and be sure to subscribe to my blog to keep up to date!
This wedding had me crying so many times. Jennifer and Jacob are truly the epitome of true love.
I had the pleasure of shooting Jennifer and Jacob’s engagement shoot a while back, and was fortunate enough to also be the one to shoot the wedding. During their engagement shoot when I got to know them, I learned they are goofy, kind, smart, and most importantly – madly in love.
Jennifer has Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and she talked about how in the past when she’d told people they would just run away. Then Jacob came along. She opened up to him about it, and instead of running, he went home and did his own research on MS so he could become familiar with it and learn to help her as best as possible. Jennifer knew he was the one right then.
They got engaged very shortly after getting together, but seeing them you’d think they’ve been together for 20 years. Their love is passionate, kind, and intimate. I’m very blessed to have been able to share those moments with them. Here’s to Jennifer and Jacob – I wish you nothing but happiness!
Because I work so many weddings, I get to see some unique and personal touches at every wedding that make you say, “wow!” I have decided to round up a few of my favorites in hopes of inspiring future couples to add a little spice to their wedding!
As a disclaimer, there is NOTHING wrong with a classic, traditional wedding, and if that’s what you love, then I encourage that! But, some brides like to change things up sometimes, so this is for them!
First off – caricatures. I shot a beautiful wedding where the bride and groom hired an artist to draw caricatures during the reception. Guests could go sit in front of him while he drew amazing pictures of them. Caricature artists are typically very quick, and this one was no exception. The guests would sit with him for 5-10 minutes, and then they’d have a drawing to take home with them. I thought it was such a fun idea to include the guests in!
Next up – and my personal favorite – live paintings. You can hire an artist to come to your wedding/reception and paint a moment in time. This is such a beautiful touch, and even more amazing as you get to leave the wedding night with the painting. I’ve linked a website below to a very talented artist who provides this service, as well as a link to one of her TikTok videos showcasing this work. The price is steep if you are on a budget, but well worth the cost!
Finally, signature cocktails. While this one isn’t super new to people, it is always such a personal touch that I love (although I never get to try them!). Lots of people include their hobbies, favorite things, or pets into the names of the drinks. This is also a good way to get a bit of cash back for an otherwise open bar.
All in all, every wedding is unique in it’s own way, and that’s part of what I love so much about photographing them. There is a story to be told in every set of photos. I’ll do another one of these posts down the line as I see more unique things. Be sure to subscribe below to get email notifications every time I post a new blog!
Kristen and Zach’s wedding was such a blast. It took place at Kickapoo Creek Winery, which, by the way, did an AMAZING job. The colors, the flowers, the dress…everything was perfect.
The love Kristen and Zach have for each other is powerful. My favorite part of the day was having the honor of watching Zach read a personal letter Kristen wrote him before the ceremony. He made it through about 3 sentences before losing it, and it was such an emotional moment. I found myself crying along with him (although who am I kidding – I cry at every wedding). This made for one of my favorite photos of the day.
It was raining hard the entire day, right up until their first kiss – then it stopped. It was a powerful moment that I pointed out to Kristen and Zach, and they started tearing up all over again.
Thank you so much to Kristen and Zach for allowing me to share your special moments with you! I wish you all the best.
WOW! That’s all I have to say about this wedding. It was absolutely beautiful, and they spared no expense on every detail. But even more beautiful than the material items was Meghan and Jarrod’s love for each other. From the time I arrived until the moment I left, I was overwhelmed by the love between these two, as well as the incredible support from both sides of their families.
Meghan’s dress was breathtakingly gorgeous, and Jarrod looked pretty killer in that navy tux! This was a HOT wedding, with temps well into the 90’s, but that didn’t stop these two from looking amazing.
The Davenport wedding was definitely one of my favorites I’ve shot. I am so grateful to them for allowing me to share in their special day. Here’s to a happy life to them! 🥂
Dark Shutter Studios 