Ben Vigil Photographers

Category Archives: Weddings

Grace Manor Photoshoot (published)

January 8, 2010

One of the advantages of being a photographer is that the imagery that you create tends to be the hub around which much of the media in this business revolves — every other vendor is in constant need of new and fresh imagery to show their portfolio of work in the absolute best light. Unless they are out there with a point and shoot, they naturally turn to us, the photographers, and our body of work for the imagery they need. Venues are no different.

My good friend and amazing commercial and wedding photographer David Christensen happened to be busy and was kind enough to refer Grace Manor to me. Grace Manor is a beautiful new property managed by Lease Luxury Properties and they were looking for some imagery to kick off their media campaign.

So this is what you get when you combine a beautiful setting, a dress from the incomparable Anne Barge, gorgeous light and a stunning model…

This is the image they are using for the ad in The Atlantan Brides magazine. You can view the ad on page 21 of the online digital edition.

I included this last one because she has such a bubbly personality and fantastic smile that I wanted you to see it.

Also posted in Bridals, Commercial, Published, Wedding Industry – 1 Comment

Valerie & Will at the Ritz

January 5, 2010

I’ve mentioned both Valerie and Will on this blog before. Valerie is a founding partner in BLANQI, which I can’t tell you much about but she called me with some really exciting news this morning that I can’t wait to share, and Will is a world-class stylist with Van Michael Salon who I’ve worked with before and hope to work with again soon.

I first met Valerie when she was a bridesmaid in her sisters wedding a couple years ago and have looked forward to shooting her wedding ever since. They’ll be getting married soon at the Ritz Carlton, Downtown Atlanta so it provided a great opportunity to grab some interesting portraits of the two of them. I’m saving some of my favorite locations at the Ritz for their wedding images. I can’t wait to see what we come up with at the wedding!

So here we go…

And just fyi, there was no “posing” in the image below…

Also posted in eSessions – 2 Comments

Shelby & Josh in Atlanta

January 2, 2010

I first met Shelby and Josh in 2008 when Josh was the best man at his brothers wedding — Amanda and Ryan. It was great to see Amanda and Ryan again, and this time Ryan was the best man and Amanda was helping Shelby with coordination duties. Amanda was also sporting quite the baby bump since they’re expecting their first child shortly!

They were married at St Mark United Methodist Church in downtown Atlanta (midtown, technically), and the reception was held less than a block away at the beautiful Biltmore Ballrooms, Georgian Ballroom.

I want to take a moment and give kudos to the Biltmore for this event. On the evening before the wedding there was an electrical malfunction at the Biltmore that caused a small fire and loss of power for most of the city block. The problem continued throughout the weekend but by the time the wedding reception rolled around they had arranged for portable generator power for the entire facility, including the lights, band audio, kitchen, everything. The best part of it was that nobody knew, least of all Shelby, who could’ve had her wedding reception ruined by a less professional venue. In fact, Shelby didn’t find out until the next day. So there’s my hats off to the Biltmore.

It was fun knowing and recognizing so many faces from Amanda and Ryan’s wedding in 2008. There wasn’t TOO much kidding about whether Josh was going to faint at the altar like he did when he was the best man at his brother’s wedding and Shelby was the picture of calmness on her wedding day. The reception was quite the party and everybody had a blast!

Here’s a quick peak at their beautiful wedding!

Can you tell that everybody had a great time at the wedding?!

And last, my usual hats off to my 2nd shooters, the trusty Huy Cat and Cathi Milanes, who delivered as usual for Shelby and Josh.

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2009, thanks for the memories…

January 1, 2010

The fireworks are subsiding and we’ve managed to get both of our inquisitive boys back in their beds after being awoken by the sounds of celebration for the coming of 2010. The entire house is back at rest and I’m pondering all that 2009 has meant for my family and for my photography business. It’s been a year of many firsts, many struggles and many joys.

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 Phillip

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…

Paul Phillip

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

Maria & Paul

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.

Celeste

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!

Also posted in Commercial, Events, My Favorites, News, Personal, Published, Wedding Industry – 3 Comments

Oh, to be so Bold…

November 30, 2009

Every so often Steve Bales from Bold American Catering gives me a ring and asks me to capture some images of decor they are doing for a corporate or social event. Occasionally, this means I’m not the “official” photographer for a wedding but I still have the pleasure of taking my time and capturing some really beautiful images of the simply amazing work that Steve and his team at Bold American churn out, event after event.

Here are just a few images from a wedding reception at the Piedmont Driving Club put together by Susan Graham Signature Events. In fact, this first image shows a few of the letter press RSVP’s that Susan put together for the bride and groom…