Timeless.

When I use the word timeless, I do not mean vintage. What I do mean is this: a timeless image will look just as powerful in 2 years (when the current photography trends have passed us by) as it will when they display it at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration. So before I ruin it running my mouth…

These are my two personal favorites that we captured at the beautiful Capital City Country Club in her stunning Lazaro wedding dress.

The image below is the image that Sarah ordered as a canvas to display at the reception.

Now, knowing Sarah the above two images are quite a change from the rather joyful and exuberant Sarah we all know. Here is an image that really captures that…

They were married at the Cathedral of Christ the King and hosted their reception at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta where we shot their engagement session back in December.

As you take a look at their slideshow, you’ll notice that not only does Valerie have the coolest vintage dress ever – there aren’t many women who can pull it off like she did — she changed during the reception into a more modern and fun dress. Take a look and leave a comment below…

Facebook readers: CLICK HERE to view the slideshow.

PAUL PHILLIP

We started off 2009 very different than it ended. At this time last year Maria had been in and out of the hospital more than once in her struggle to carry our 3rd son to full term. But the new year started with a bang. On January 6, we welcomed Paul Phillip Vigil into the world…

Paul came about a month early and he spent a couple weeks in NICU, but it marked the end of months of bed rest for Maria. It was truly a welcome time for us as a family. And he’s grown into quite an adorable little kid. Much better than the first two

Here he is back in October in our foyer…

…and just a few weeks ago trying to stay awake with my wife Maria at a family wedding…

FIRSTS

2009 was a BIG year of firsts. In the past year I’ve had my first $20,000+ bride, my first book cover was published (even if it was in German), I was invited to shoot my first magazine cover (more on that in a minute), and I shot my first military wedding and first high school sweetheart wedding that was 50 years in the making.

In 2009 I also took my first and second “serious” forays into commercial advertising work with Blanqi and 4Laces, both of which launch in Q1 of 2010 as women-owned and -driven apparel businesses. I’m super excited for both of these companies and where they are going. Commercial work (headshots, architecture, advertising) has never been a large part of my business and I’ve never targeted that market segment but if the fit is right and I’m confident that I can serve my client well, I’ll take the business.

WEDDING INDUSTRY

2009 saw a big shake up in the bridal magazine industry. A whole spate of bridal magazines have closed and a few more have popped up. January saw the first anniversary issue of The Atlantan Brides, a sister publication to the Atlantan. The Atlantan Brides was a key part of my marketing efforts in 2008 and 2009 and I still think they represent the pinnacle of luxury bridal magazines in Atlanta.

I was fortunate to be able to work with Celeste, the [now former], Publisher of the Atlantan Brides. She continues to be one of the most impressive and talented people I’ve ever met in this industry. I credit her with starting my “vendor headshot side gig” when she asked me to shoot her headshots when she became associate publisher, and then, publisher. Alas, she was married and we were all sad to see her go as she followed her new husband on a great new adventure across the big pond in England.

Meanwhile, as The Atlanta Brides prepared for their 4th issue to go to print, there was a celebration taking place down in Hampton, GA as Heather Vreeland was preparing to launch the first issue of Atlanta Occasions Magazine. She flattered me by asking me to cover the launch party which took place in July.

Heather has since become a good friend and I’ve had the opportunity to work with Atlanta Occasions, including a photoshoot and event imagery for the Winter 2010 issue and shooting the cover for it too. The new issue officially launches today and in a day or two I’ll have a full post on all our work for this issue.

In addition to shooting Heather in a magnificent Anne Barge dress in October, during the magazine cover photoshoot we managed to squeeze in a moment and shoot her headshot for the new issue of the magazine…

I’m already looking forward to the incredible work Ben Vigil Photographers and Atlanta Occasions will do in 2010!

WEDDINGS GOING STRONG

2009 brought a number of really amazing weddings but one of them sticks out for a personal reason. My good friend of many years now, Skotti Ray Frese (I love her new name! It sounds like a super hero character, doesn’t it), married the man of her dreams in June. I actually spent 3 full blog entries on it — Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

To this day, I still credit Skotti with almost single-handedly launching my photography career. She’s been a constant cheerleader and personal inspiration to me. I can’t thank her enough and I wish her all the best in 2010.

BEN v2.2

Today, January 1, 2010, also marks the beginning of a new stage for Ben Vigil Photographers. We’ve rolled out a slightly tweaked branding, an entirely new pricing structure and we’ve laid all the ground work for a new stage of our business, the upcoming Ben v3.0

Here’s evidence that I’m still a total geek at heart: as a holdover from my days in software and web development, I’ve started giving version numbers to each stage of my business. You may or may not have noticed that for the better part of the last 6 months we’ve been sitting at Ben v2.0. Today marks the upgrade to Ben v2.2.

Thanks for coming along for the ride and I look forward to sharing a fantastic 2010 with you!

Rewind… when Sarah contacted me about their wedding next year she told me something that’s always nice to hear: she had come across my site years ago, and had saved it because she knew she’d eventually need it. I’m glad she did because it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know them and their family the little bit that I have so far. They invited me up to their beautiful family home on Lake Burton for their engagement session a few weeks ago. What a beautiful area!

I don’t think I’m going to say much more and just let the images speak for themselves…

One of my favorites aspects of my work as a photographer is that I get to capture people in ways that they’ve never seen themselves or even imagined themselves. These two are for Christopher…

I can’t wait to see the two of you again!

Big. Mistake.

Being a HUGE fan of Anne Barge, I thought it was a great idea and Heather got more than she bargained for. I enlisted the help of my friend and future groom, Will Darragh, to handle styling Heather’s hair. Will is a top stylist at Van Michael Salon in Virginia Highlands. He also happens to be engaged to the co-owner of Blanqi, which was the subject of my last post. It’s sorely understating it to say that Will is good at what he does. In the words of Katie Torres: “Ahh, best hair cut of my life….”

Also, a big thanks to Steve Bales and his staff at Bold American Catering who took care of us while we shot at the beautiful Studio 887.

Heather, being the happy-smiley-people-person-plus-sunshine, she likes the last one the best. Or maybe the first one. It’s just that this is one of the few times you’ll ever see her not smiling in front the camera (or otherwise). I was going for that classic Anne Barge “look” in the first couple images.

Which one do you like the best?

It was fun playing with the visual effect of a curved AND slanted wall.

Check out the slideshow… and don’t forget to watch it full-screen with the icon in the bottom right corner.

Enjoy!

Ben Vigil — St. Peter Chanel Wedding Photographer

Every step of the way since then. Jenny and Dave have been perhaps the nicest couple I’ve ever met, and THAT’S saying a LOT! I was emailing Lysa after the wedding and here’s what she said: Ben, you are DA MAN! I can’t believe what great shots you get. Thank y… oh wait, wrong part… here it is:

That had to be the nicest couple we’ve ever played for. So incredibly thoughtful from the start to finish.

And that pretty much sums it up.

Here’s a few from their engagement session the week before the wedding.

My associate, Huy Cat, was on hand to second shoot and Brian, who’s always THE MAN, was assisting.

Speaking of …, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. All these photos have something in common. I’ll tell you what that is after you see the images.

Here’s the secret: every single one of those photos was shot by Huy or Brian. After every wedding we get the same two compliments: someone will say “man, you guys were everywhere… working hard”, then somebody else will say, “I can’t believe you get those photos, I hardly saw you the entire night.” My personal opinion is that it’s nearly impossible to do a wedding justice with just one photographer. Sure you can do it, and sure you’ll get “most” of the same images, but you end up sacrificing moments. The moments between the “important” parts. Sometimes it’s those moments that a bride cherishes forever.

That’s why with every wedding collection you book, you’ll get 2 full-time photographers covering your wedding, and during the important parts, probably 3, since my assistants can shoot too. In the end, I shoot 60-70% of the images but I process every single one myself — I don’t farm it out to some worker in a third-world country or a kid on the west coast.

Okay… sorry for the tangent. — back to Jenny and Dave.

Check out the slideshow… and don’t forget to watch it full-screen with the icon in the bottom right corner.

Enjoy!

Ben Vigil — Skotti & Tony (part 3) is up next…

The Wedding Mass

This is where I have interject a little story to set up the next picture…

Fr Todd did the homily (sermon) and he happens to know Tony and Skotti quite well. At one point he told a story and read from an email that Tony had sent him. One relevant fact you need to know is that Tony is 48 years old. There’s probably a cliche or two that we could drum up about a very handsome (I think Skotti would say “gorgeous”), exceedingly nice, personable, “in charge”, and VERY eligible man like Tony who has never married. To dispel any such notions Tony wrote this, in part:

As people see Skotti and I get married they may come to the conclusion that it took me 48 years to find someone like Skotti and although true, the real fact is it took 48 years for God to prepare me for HER – someone that is worthy of her holiness and her goodness.

How AWESOME is that!! Tony’s response was this photo:

The vows…

Flowers for Mary…

You think they’re happy much?

I just LOVE this shot of Mary Carter and Jim watching their mom and Tony walk down the isle as husband and wife…

A quick shot I grabbed of Skotti while we waited for Tony to track down his brother

These next three I think would be GREAT as a framed set so here they are…

Next up, the party…

Ben Vigil, photographer — almost there Skotti & Tony.

I’ve known Skotti now for a number of years and I’ve shot portraits and Christmas cards for her and her kids for a number of years too. As a matter of fact, I attribute much of my success directly to her and the chain of relationships that find their way back to her. She always said that one day when she got married that I was going to shoot her wedding and when I found out that she and Tony were heading that direction you can imagine how happy I was for her.

I have a bunch of images so I’m breaking things up a little bit. It’s going to drive Skotti absolutely batty, but she’ll be getting two or three posts on my blog instead of a measly single post. She pretty much deman… uh, “requested” that when I post her stuff on the blog that I leave it up at the top for at least six months. Since I can’t do that, at least I can show her some love this way.

Meet St Anthony. He plays a big part, which I’ll get to later. This is what Skotti sees every morning when she stairs at herself in the mirror.

I could tell from a mile away that these two were sisters.

A few casual shots of Skotti in the bridal room at St Peter Chanel.

Here’s a scant detail or two.

Hey look, it’s St Anthony again…

Tony’s the man!

Here’s 2 out of 3 triplets (which we’ll see more of later)…so cute.

The wedding procession…

I included this image because that’s Nonni there in the middle, Tony’s 100-year-old grandmother whose been praying for Tony to find a wife for over 25 years. She is so amazingly happy to be sitting there while Tony awaits the entrance of his bride. Oh, and guess who she’s been chatting it up with there in heaven?

St Peter Chanel Catholic Church was just built and dedicated in the last year, so it was a real treat shooting there for the first time. It’s a beautiful, beautiful church and I look forward to shooting there again. I know I’m shooting there at least one time (so far) next year.

Skotti was escorted by her son and daughter.

I know Huy (my awesome 2nd shooter/associate) will claim that it was on purpose, but he got lucky here mid-zoom getting Skotti in perfect focus and the rest of the frame in trails. I love it.

So that’s it for this post. Next up for Skotti’s wedding is the wedding Mass…

Ben Vigil, photographer — hang in there Skotti & Tony.