{You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this gift.}
Introducing Eclectic Images: Our Featured UnBride Vendor. Here is some information about them in their own words.
I found the above message in a fortune cookie years ago. It came at a pivotal point in my life when I was feeling unfulfilled with my then job (in finance) and I felt a stirring inside for something more. At that point I decided I was going to do whatever it took to become a photographer, even if that meant working at the mall portrait studio (which I did!) After “paying my dues” for a few years working at the portrait studio and also at a local newspaper as a photojournalist and shooting weddings part time, I finally jumped in full time about 5 years ago. And I’ve loved every moment since.
A little more about me – my name is Heather Banks and I specialize in weddings and portraits, though my motto is that I’ll shoot anything. I live in Austin, Texas with my husband Mike (we’re newlyweds!) and our two Boston Terriers, Linus and Moo, in a groovy 1970’s house that we are currently remodeling (we call it our brady bunch house). I’m also opening a studio soon in the fabulous East Village Lofts on East 11th Street right in the heart of Austin.
In addition to taking wedding photos and family and senior portraits all around Austin and central Texas, I’m also a destination wedding photographer, I’ve photographed weddings all over Mexico and also in St. Kitts, Barbados, Napa, and Martha’s Vineyard to name a few.
This super stylish save the date comes from one of our absolute favorite husband and wife photography teams, Michelle Ferry and Josh Beller of Mi Belle. No superimposing here, they actually had the sign custom set to announce their date. Way to go the extra mile and completely set the mood for a fabulous celebration.
I thought that while half of the country is snowed in right now, it might be an appropriate time to post these gorgeous snowy day portraits that my good friend Nicole Wolf of Sota Dzine shot during one of the last big snowstorms. Let me tell you, as a wedding photographer…there’s nothing we love more than clients who are willing to be a little adventurous and take some risks…even if it means getting that gown dirty or wet or both. Come on Unbrides, this is the stuff we are all about. If you live close to your photographer or have a 4-wheel drive, why not get out there in the snow?
Hello Unbrides!!! Today we are super excited to reveal a collaborative effort between myself and my amazing Unbride partner, Ellen Petty. We are both pleased to announce and show off the brand new Studio Diana Photography blogsite. Studio Diana is the Washington DC area studio that I run with my lovely mother who gave me my start in wedding photography about 8 years ago. Although I moved to Los Angeles a few years back, I’ve still been flying back to the east coast to shoot about a dozen weddings a year. In 2006, I started working with an amazingly talented photographer named Jenni Green who started shooting for us as a principal wedding photographer in 2008. Anyway, long story short…after the gradual evolution of the studio, we needed a whole new look and website. So I turned to my favorite designer, Ellen and this (click here) is what she and her amazing team turned out. I hope you’ll all come take a look and leave us a comment & subscribe to our feed because there will be lots of wedding goodness to come.
Remember Julie & Joe’s gorgeous vintage-inspired wedding which was featured a few months back? Well Julie was kind enough to share her finished video by Alan Silva of Artistic Imagery with us and it is just beautiful. See it here.
We LOVE Our Labor of Love, which is why we invited them to be a part of our UnBride Guide. The UnBride Guide will be debuting in January. Some of the coolest cats in the wedding industry, all together in one guide. Here’s what makes Our Labor of Love so very UnBride:
We think you, your family celebrations, your friends and your true loves are beautiful, and any images that represent these milestones should illustrate the pure joy in these moments. In fact, the wife part of this husband-and-wife team will no doubt disarm you with her gentleness and charm while the husband part loosens you up with his cynical witticisms so that before you know it, you’ve got a miasma of artful photographs so achingly beautiful it will make your heart break like an egg. In fact, that is our hope here at Our Labor of Love Photography Studio, to break open everyone’s heart, because a closed heart is not photogenic.
The idea of shooting an engagement session at IKEA would not have occurred to me in a thousand years but I’m so glad that it occurred to the extremely talented DavidM. Talk about unlimited sets! Of course if I attempted this, I would probably get thrown out of the store but luckily DavidM and his super cute clients made it happen. Visit DavidM’s blog for more awesome images.
So who is going to be the lucky one to win a free engagement session in NYC? Send your email to themoldbreakers@gmail.com
Here is the fine-print that is a bit hard to read above.
*You must live in the NYC area or be willing to travel to the NYC area for the photo shoot. We are remainign anonymous to ensure contestants do not go to our website for inspiration. We do not want to mess with your creative flow, so just be yourself and be completely original.
Back in September I had the pleasure of photographing Emily & Andrew’s wedding, which turned out to be one of my favorites of all time. It’s stylish simplicity was just so refreshing and beautiful. Some of you may remember Andrew as one of the amazing creators of my own wedding video.
Recently Emily & Andrew moved out to Los Angeles to begin their new life together and Andrew launched his own new video company so be sure to check them out. Visit Stereo Waltz Films to see some of the amazing work he has on there.
And especially check out Emily & Andrew’s own incredible video here.
So much has changed since I got married. One of my favorite changes that makes me want to get married again, is the fashionable e-sessions. I love how these photographs (when done well) really capture the spirit and personality of the individual couple. Wedding photography is about the day and their commitment and often family and friends. An e-session is just about the couple and who they are together. the above are a handful that really caught our eye. Finding stores and signs and doorways to frame a passionate kiss. Gorgeous!
I would describe my style as modern, stylish and photojournalistic. Modern because wedding photography can be what ever you want it to be, there shouldn’t be rules and stylish because I used to work in the fashion industry so I love anything fashion-forward and editorial-like. But I have to say my specialty lies with documenting the event in an unobtrusive manner. I recognize the importance of capturing the moments, whether small or large, because the bride and groom will not always remember them throughout the whirlwind of emotions going on that day. Years from now when a couple looks at the pictures they will see a complete perspective – from environment, captured gestures, looks and overall feeling. I am able to achieve all this by simply documenting the day as it unfolds in a fun, relaxed manner while gracefully fitting in. Combine all this and you get something I like to call wedding photojournalism with style.
In complete opposition to “Question One” we would like to feature the gorgeous wedding of Laura and Susie. They were married in Portland Maine this Fall, prior to the passing of Question One. We actually saw this wedding in two places, So You’re Engayged and on Brooke Schwab’s blog.
From Brooke Schwab, who photographed the wedding: “This wedding was sweet and beautiful! Laura and Susie two met 6 years ago through a job and fell in love quickly. They moved to maine to work and knew that this is where they would be married. These two were fun brides and I learned that it sure does take a lot longer for two brides to get ready. We shot along the coast of maine and in a national forest prior to the ceremony and it was beautiful (minus the rain). The reception was held at a beautiful home with an attached barn where they had an early dinner with friends and family. This misty wedding day was a beautiful affair.”
Happy Monday Unbrides! We have an amazing offer for you. Austin Warnock, fine art wedding photographer has offered to giveaway a wedding photography package. He is a true UnBride vendor, we love the fact that he still shoots with real film, a lost art. Included in the wedding package giveaway is:
An unlimited number of hours of shooting on their wedding day (covered by myself and an assistant)
An engagement session
High Resolution DVD copyright free
The winner will be responsible for covering the cost of film (approximately $500 + any travel expenses)
EST value of $4000.00
Includes a 25% discount on all albums (Cypress)
About Austin:I began my photography career photographing bands and was published nationally for my music work. I absolutely love portrait work and I spend a lot of my personal time photographing portraits of every day people I encounter. I love the ability of a photograph to suggest a story or instill a feeling of mystery or curiosity. Some of my favorite photographs are straight forward portraits that make the viewer wonder about the life behind the face.
I have recently transitioned into weddings and love the documentary style of photography that weddings allow me, as well as photographing beautiful bridal portraits! I am running the contest so that I can transition into creative weddings while keeping the same fine art approach that I use in photographing bands and personal projects. My goal is to attract a very specific type of DIY/unique wedding/vintage wedding. You can check out his work at austinwarnock.com
How to Enter:
1. Submit a photo of both the bride and groom
2. Give a brief description of the details/location/what it is that makes your wedding unique
3. Submit a styleboard depicting your unique wedding style choices
Hillary Maybery Photography is based in Sun Valley, Idaho. I had the distinct pleasure of working with Hillary, on her branding and packaging last year and absolutely fell in LOVE with her photos and her style. Not only is she an amazing artist but she is a dream to work with.
Hillary says: I am always honored to be a part of someone’s wedding day and consider it to be my passion to capture the emotions, fun, love and energy of the day. I seek amazing lighting and look for beautiful backdrops. I capture your day as it happens and glamorize it. Never obtrusive, only stepping in when needed. My approach is fun, creative, easygoing: images that are YOU. I emphasize color and work on each individual portrait to give every photo a custom look – fresh, modern, and beautiful. I care about people and the experience we will have together!
This post may be a week late but seeing as how my Unbride wedding was now one year ago, I thought it was appropriate to take a minute to reflect on the whole thing, even if just to give a boost of confidence to all of you brides out there who are still in the planning stages.
About 13 months ago, Gary and I had this enormous piece of seamless paper taped up to the wall of our living room covered completely in “things to do” scribbled with a sharpie.
We stared at it every day and checked things off one by one and wondered what we had gotten ourselves into. I didn’t think we would ever get it all done and sometimes I wondered if we might kill each other over some stupid detail and then we’d be dead before our wedding arrived and wouldn’t that suck. But somehow it all came together and even though we had a few minor arguments over it and spent more than we planned on etc etc, when the day finally arrived, it was magical and worth every second of nonsense we went through to get there…and if anything I think the planning taught us how to talk through the little disagreements as opposed to actually killing each other over wedding cake or confetti canons. I think that all engaged couples end up fighting over wedding stuff so if you’re in that stage right now, my advice is to use it as a learning experience, pick your battles, and hang in there…because you will both get there in one piece, eventually.
Now as a wedding photographer myself, I can be a bit jaded at times when it comes to weddings. Don’t get me wrong, I love every minute of it. But one thing that even I have noticed over the past year when it comes to shooting, is that I have become a total sap over what it actually means to be married. Like for instance when it comes to people who do the “marriage dance” at their weddings. You know the one, where the band/ dj invites all of the married couples to the dance floor for a slow dance? Then they start whittling down the crowd on the dance floor based on how long they have been married until there is just one couple left. I used to just watch and shoot and not really think about it. But now I find myself tearing up and practically crying behind my camera when I see these older couples who have been married for 45 or 50 years and they are still in love and still dancing. Because now that I am married I get it. I get what a huge deal it is to find someone with whom you could spend 50 years of your life. And I feel so lucky that I am one year closer to that. Photo by SOTA Dzine
So happy anniversary to my darling husband…and here’s to another 50 years!
Engagement Portrait Sessions have come a long way from the stiff portraits for The Times. The uber talented Jason Groupp takes them about as far as you can. His e-sessions look like a spread in W Magazine. I have had the great pleasure of knowing Jason since my own days in New York. This video of how he creates his I (heart) NY sessions had me absolutely homesick and so totally inspired. This is what happens when a real (gorgeous) bride and groom to be meet a real make-up artist and hair stylist, oh…and real hot pants. So super sexy. So very Unbride!
As a photographer myself, I feel very lucky to have the first glimpse into some amazing photoshoots by some of my very talented friends. So a couple of minutes ago I received a text from my good friend Nicole Wolf of SOTA Dzine that I should go have a look at her blog and I knew right away that I needed to feature these photos. Especially since the awesome veil was by Unbride friend, Castle Bride Couture.
GORGEOUS or what?!!!
I think that these “Mr. & Mrs.” or “Day After” sessions are such a great idea because most brides and grooms don’t want to spend their whole wedding day posing for pictures. I certainly didn’t which was why I hired SOTA do shoot some portraits of us the day after. We had such a great time and got some amazing images that we never would have had time for on the wedding day. So all of you brides out there who are into it, think about adding a separate session with your photographer. It’s totally worth it!
Here are a few words from Nicole about how this particular session came together:
So Brad and I did this incredible Mr. and Mrs. session with Mike and Colleen Cook. I had this idea a while ago, stirred by the Chanel 2009 spring campaign, to create a white flower garden in the Studio. I found a very willing tissue paper flower designer on Etsy and my idea took off!
So with the help of our lovely assistants and good friends, we sat for four hours and unfolded 150 tissue paper flowers and then stuck them up on the wall to create a 3D feel for the shot. We were blown away by the results.
Brad and his magic, added a little color to the look in post and the result nearly took my breathe away.
So did anyone else do a post wedding session or are you thinking about doing one?
On my photography blog it’s yellow dress week, here at the Unbride, it seems to be awesomely creative video week. I actually received a tweet the other day from Dana LaRue, also known as The Broke-Ass Bride, a cheeky fellow Los Angelean and wedding blogger. She wanted me to check out this adorable video created by her wedding videographer, Digital Princess Productions made as a take off of the opening of Fresh Prince of Bel Air, it’s the whole story of their courtship expertly rapped in classic ’90’s Will Smith style by Dana’s adorable husband.
Apparently it received a standing ovation when played for the guests at their wedding reception. I can see why.
Photo by 
