Elise + Matt :: Indianapolis Wedding Photography

Okay… so maybe Indianapolis is a stretch. Elise and Matt got married in Anderson, Indiana, which is just outside Indy. They’re one of those perfect couples, they’re both amazing looking people, but they’re just so awesome to be around too. Elise is soft spoken and sweet, and Matt is just fun. And he looks a little bit like Jude Law. They were the first couple we met with after our trip to Las Vegas, and it paid huge dividends. We met up with them a few weeks before the wedding at Chili’s (which by the way is one of those weird restaurants that we rarely go to, but EVERYTHING on the menu is amazing), and sat down and got to know them on a more personal level and hashed out details.

That meeting spurred them to hunt down a cool location near the church for pictures, and you can see the SHA-WEET barn they found. Did I mention how great they were to work with?!

Elise and Matt both went to Cedarville University, which is where Mindy and I first met. It’s always great to work with couples from CU, one because they’re always fantastic people, but two because we usually get to see old friends that we haven’t seen in a while.

Donna + Chris :: Dayton Engagement Photography

Donna’s a teacher. She teaches high-schoolers. Chris is in the military. He works on explosive protection. They’re awesome, and their wedding is on August 7. You’ll be seeing them again :)

We wandered around downtown Dayton looking for good spots, and Chris thought Mindy and I were hilarious. Mindy kept telling me where to go and I kept missing turns… bickering like an old married couple. Apparently we “sounded just like them” so I guess it couldn’t have been too embarrassing. Luckily the wandering led us to some great spots! 

The Schildknechts :: Las Vegas Maternity Photography

While in Vegas I had the opportunity to second shoot a maternity session with the amazing Leigh Caraccioli. Leigh is a fellow Dayton photographer and {SNAP} member. We headed out to the beautiful Red Rock and couldn’t have asked for better weather. The Schildknechts, Vegas locals, thought is was cold, but being from Ohio it felt amazing. Check out this beautiful view!

The Schildknect Family consisted of Tom, Amy & their son James. Children photoshoots can sometimes be an adventure. James turned out to love the camera, he was the perfect little man to work with! Such a cuttie!

Amy had most fabulous idea ever for a marternity shoot, a henna tattoo! It turned out to be such a beautiful piece of art and it made for some very cool photos. 

Thank you Leigh for this awesome opportunity and thank you Schildknechts for being an amazing family to work with! Congrats on your new memember of the family!

.Mindy

WPPI 2010 :: Las Vegas

This was our first trip to Vegas. We were prepared. We each had a little roll of quarters with us, intent on using these to build our future. I mean, we were going to win big, right?

As it turns out, we’re back in Ohio, and I’m staring at two unopened rolls of quarters sitting on my desk. We never even touched them. Unless the quarter has magically gained value for no apparent reason, we didn’t win a thing. But on the bright side, we didn’t lose anything either.

We may not have “won” anything while we were away, but we certainly gained a semi-truck worth of ideas and concepts. WPPI (which stands for “Wedding and Portrait Photographers International”) was so incredible. The conference was held at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and we stayed in the ‘West Wing’ which as it turns out is at the complete other end of the hotel from the Convention Center. And this isn’t a normal hotel. We’re talking 20 minutes of walking one way every day at 8:00 am. But I’m not complaining… it was a great place to stay.

The convention was part classes part trade show. One word can be used to describe the trade show floor: OVERWHELMING. SO many products from so many great companies. We made stops by some of our favorites including Canon, Mpex and WHCC. What we didn’t expect was to fall in love with Finao and their albums. Just wait until you see these bad boys in person. They’re going to blow you away! We also got a bunch of crap from a bunch of companies everywhere we went. Something like this:

We seriously learned so much great stuff from some amazing photographers. Kevin Kubota, Jasmine Star, Doug Gordon, Kirk Voclain to name a few. That’s quite the list. They were all fantastic, but there was one class in particular that really made our jaws drop: Justin and Mary Marantz. Ugh, I don’t even know what to say to describe how awesome they are. Our business will certainly never be the same.

The whole trip was amazing, and it was a great place to network with other photographers from all over the place. There are so many great photographers that we follow online and it was great to finally meet most of them!

After almost a week of non-stop on the go “conferencing” (hence why we still have our quarters), we took Wednesday night and did the tourist thing. We walked up and down the Vegas strip with our good friends Shannon and David Perlow of Locke Innovations. It’s quite a sight at night.

The Flowerman!

We are a featured vendor on The Flowerman blog! The Flowerman is a local flower shop that allows their clients to design their own arrangements with the help of seasoned designers. We’ve shot three Flowerman weddings, so they’ve graciously offered to give us a little publicity.

Check them out for your wedding!

Twenty Five and Counting

Friends, yesterday was my twenty fifth birthday. It’s probably the first birthday where it’s really hit me how old I’m getting. I’m actually an adult? Maybe, but I’m gonna keep acting like a kid. I don’t want to be an old man. Not yet.

Of course, 25 comes with it’s perks. I can now rent a car without paying extra for the “underage” fee. And I’m told my insurance premiums on my car will go down. Which could be awesome because they dropped when I was 21 too.

I want to thank all my friends who helped celebrate the big day with a little trip to our favorite birthday restaurant, Red Robin. I know I’m getting old, because there were four kids under the age of five at my birthday party. All of our friends have babies, some of them start Kindergarden soon. NUTS.

Also, I’m pretty sure no one actually goes to Red Robin unless their celebrating a birthday. The waiters and waitresses must have sung the special birthday song four times while we were there. And I can almost guarantee I was the oldest person celebrating a birthday there… which leads back to the first point, I’m still a kid inside. And I hope I feel that way for a long time.