9.18.2007

WE GOT HITCHED!!!

Yes, it's true! We're officially husband and wife!!

Michael and I tied the knot last Saturday, September 8th. It was a perfect day and will be a tough one to beat. We couldn't have asked for better weather for our outdoor Wisconsin wedding (it's always a gamble!) or more supportive and downright fun wedding guests surrounding us on the day. Absolutely perfect. And wow, do we have a better understanding of what our clients are going through now!!

Marc Williams and Ed Bennett flew in from Michigan to do the photography for our wedding. They were wonderful to work with and we cannot wait to see all the photos. Marc sent us a sneak preview (thank you Marc!!) which I've added to this blog for all of you, too! If these two photos are any indication, we're going to have a tough time narrowing down our choices for the album!! :)


9.04.2007

Jena's been accepted...

To the Wedding Photojournalist Association! This is really very exciting for Vantage. In their own words from their website, "Leading the way in Wedding Photojournalism, WPJA represents the most discriminating talent around the world technically, creatively and visually. Qualified members hold industry-leading standards, skills and business integrity." Yeah!!! That's us!!! :)

I'm really honored to be a part of the group--I have a lot of respect for the folks that are a part of it, and look forward to learning a lot and contributing a lot.

7.08.2007

Photoshop Love

In mid-June, I shot the promo pics of a local Madison band, Sound Byte Society. They had asked me to play around with the images in photoshop and here's what I came up with:

Greeny


Creamy Love


Eerie


Old Blue

Used sparingly, these effects would look great in a modern, hip album. I can't wait to find a bride that wants to try some of this! I had so much fun creating these looks!

6.26.2007

Jeremy and Kristi (June 16th, 2007)

What a joyful day! Kristi and Jeremy were married on the 16th of June in the courtyard of Old World Wisconsin and although the weather was hot and sticky, everyone had a wonderful time, thanks in large part to the gracious and fun attitudes of this beautiful couple. Our friend Stacy Hareid, a very talented photographer, stepped in as a second shooter for Vantage (Michael's still in San Diego). Stacey was a BLAST to work with!

Check out some of my favorite images of the day:








6.01.2007

Robin and Travis (May 5th, 2007)

We're back and finally able to post some of our favorite images from Robin and Travis' wedding. Aren't they just the most beautiful couple?! And so amazingly fun to work with, as you can see from these images.

We really did have a wonderful time working with the Robin and Travis and their families. We all just clicked from the beginning; it was like making a good friend in the course of a day! Good luck to both of you from the both of us at Vantage!

5.20.2007

California, here we come!

Hey all! As I type this, I'm sitting in a cute little coffee shop in the middle of Utah near Arches National Park. Michael and I are taking two weeks to drive across the country to take Michael to his internship in San Diego. And yes, life is great right now. We've been shooting photos like mad and trying our hand at landscape photography has been a blast.

We did finish Robin and Travis' wedding from May 5th and I'll post some images as soon as I get back to Madison. Robin and Travis were FABULOUS to work with and their wedding was absolutely beautiful. A storybook wedding in a beautiful Americana town in the middle of Illinois. Pictures coming soon....

Until then, Vantage is on hold and we're driving driving driving...and having a blast. See y'all soon!

5.02.2007

More model shoots!

In the past two weeks, Michael and I have had the privilege to work with 3 different models on 3 different studio shoots. And I got to develop my first set of Medium Format negatives! Here's one of my favorites of Meagan (taken by Michael):


We're still working on the post-processing of those shoots to be able to show you more. Michael's hard at work at school (end of year rush) so it's going a little slower than usual. But that's good, right? It builds up the suspense. ;)

We'll be shooting a wedding this Saturday for Travis and Robin. We are psyched beyond belief--they are a fabulous couple, both laid back, beautiful personalities and beautiful faces, clearly in love. Can't wait to show some pics from that!

4.23.2007

Weekend shoot

Check out the image below from the shoot we did this weekend with Terri Rae. This was taken with the medium format camera. Isn't it amazing what can still be created from an ancient (1970s) camera and film developed in your basement?!

This was great practice, especially for any studio engagement shoots we do. We'll upload a couple more from our DSLRs as we finish them...

4.19.2007

It's been awhile! Michael and I have been really busy the past week and a half--it seems like we're doing a gazillion things at once. But of course we wouldn't have it any other way.

Some of the stuff we're working on:

In addition to working on the weddings we're shooting for Vantage, we've also been busily scheduling a bunch of model shoots for the next few weekends. We're excited to use these shoots to further develop our technical studio skills; the idea is that it'll translate to even better posed work at our engagement sessions and weddings. I'll post some photos soon.

And of course we've been working on our own wedding plans. Whew--it certainly is a lot of work, isn't it?? Brides and grooms out there, we empathize with you!

Michael and I have also been preparing for the end of May when, as some of you already know, Michael will be moving to San Diego for 12 weeks. Michael is currently in the MBA program here at Madison and he'll be working out at Intuit (think TurboTax, Quickbooks, etc) in Cali for his internship. We'll miss each other terribly, of course, but we're also super psyched to be taking a road trip from WI to CA right before he starts work. Grand Canyon, here we come! While Michael's gone, we'll have a couple of women from the area acting as second shooters at the weddings we've scheduled. These women are fabulous--talented, creative, fun. We love 'em.

And last but certainly not least, we spent all of last weekend enjoying the annual WI Film Festival. This was our fifth year of attendance and every year we count down the days until it starts each year. Some people have Christmas...we've got the film festival. :) We both went to 8 films together, and Michael took in a 9th for posterity's sake. Needless to say, we ate a lot of popcorn over those 3 days!

4.08.2007

Our new toy

Recently, Michael bought a Yashica D medium format camera. This thing is great, a real workhorse. Michael's been playing a lot with it, exploring Madison and the surrounding area to find things to photograph. He's found a lot of cool old barns and farmhouses. Here's one of my favorites of his:



He took me on one of his trips and I got to play a bit with the camera. It's fun to notice how my mind has to change the way it thinks when a) I'm using film instead of digital b) I have to "see" in black and white instead of color and c) I have to remember that the Yashica flips the image so when I move the camera to the right, the image moves to the left. Here's one of my photos from that adventure:



I'm sure when the weather gets a little warmer (it's still only in the 30s during the day here in frigid Wisconsin!) we'll go on more expeditions. We'll keep you posted!