I’ve been friends with this family for a number of years so when Lauren & Matt decided to tie the knot I was delighted they asked me to cover their wedding. It was fun for a number of reasons. Lauren’s parents actually work at Catholic Church of St Andrews so the rules the church places couples under was, shall we say, not an issue. It’s nice when the father and mother of the bride have keys to everywhere you need to go. Second, the Pastor of St Andrew’s used to be our old pastor so we had a great time catching up and talking about camera gear, etc.. I knew more than half of the people in attendance which is always cool, and finally Katie and Chris were on hand to help me out before we caught a plane to Tampa later that evening. Enough of me…

Lauren was radiant and stunning on her day!

I thought I’d present Matt as the stoic here on the blog. He’s a really cool guy and handled everything with ease…

Ahhh Bernie. Can you tell Lauren’s father was a little tensed up as they were getting ready to take that long walk down the isle? I think Lauren had to relax him a little

But he did just fine!

Here’s Msgr. Marren, our old pastor giving the couple a little advice. The whole party loved Msgr. Marren and I overheard one of the bridesmaids telling Lauren how cool he was.

So I was wondering if Bernie was going to make it through the Ave Maria but being the pro that he is, he did just fabulously.

Lauren and Matt caught a brief moment after the ceremony to say hi before the bridal party rushed in and the congratulations started…

This young man was actually in the party for wedding I did back in 2006. It’s obvious he has the stuff it takes to begin a career in photography!

Congratulations to Matt and Lauren!

Ben Vigil

I’m so jazzed that Nikki and Johnny’s wedding in Islamorada (FL Keys) last April was featured in the Spring/Summer issue of The Knot Florida. And not only that, they gave it a 4-page spread! I know that Nikki is super excited about it because she worked so hard on all the details and they meant so much to her. So congratulations Nikki!

If you look at the sidebar to the right at the top, you can see a hint of more news that I’ll be posting soon!

Ben Vigil, The Knot Florida, Islamorada, Florida Keys Destination Wedding Photographer

Chris and Katie Torres and I just landed at TPA for the ImagingUSA for the next few days (they’re waiting for luggage). They shot a wedding with me this afternoon and we caught a flight out of Atlanta this evening. We’re all jazzed to be here with so many other amazing photographers and I can’t wait to show you some images from today’s wedding with Lauren and Matt.

Talk to you soon!

Ben

Stephanie and Chris were in town for the holidays so it was the perfect time to get together and capture a few engagement images. It was great to see them because I hadn’t seen them since they commissioned us early this year to cover their wedding in a few months.

So we headed down to the Swan House, which fits their style to a “T”, and this is what we came away with…

I just love this next image. It’s so many things at once, like they’re lost in another world.

Ben Vigil, on the fifth day of Christmas.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that pressing the shutter is only the first step in the process that makes the image. Many photographers have developed a signature style that incorporates not just the subjects and the moment they captured but also the “way” they process their images in Photoshop: the color pallets they prefer, the effects they employ, the textures they apply to the background, etc.. Indeed, the reality and the final image are often quite far apart. On the other side of the spectrum, even those photographers who get paid hefty sums for their “candid and stirring photojournalistic style” often labor over the post-processing of an image. The difference between the former and the latter is simply a matter of style and sometimes degree.

People sometimes seem to think that we press the shutter and out comes a piece of art. This thought process usually precedes some question about how we can justify charging $xxx for a 4×6 photo or why albums cost so much. Setting aside the artistic element (which in the end is reason enough to charge whatever your work as an artist is valued at), the simple fact of the matter is that the amount of work involved in producing a 4×6 is the same as a 30×40 canvas gallery wrap.

Here’s an example to show you what I’m talking about. This first image is basically straight out of the camera. Natalie and Ben specifically requested this picture and I obliged. As I was getting ready to take this shot I’m thinking no less than 5 things to myself: I want the big branch at the top of the frame so you feel like the couple is wrapped in the environment; I want you to see the church towering upward; I need to underexpose (darken) the shot so I preserve the details of her dress and the trees against the very bright sky; all that splotchy sunlight on the ground is NOT going to make this easy; and last, that I’m going to have to Photoshop-out the wires later. You hire me to shoot your wedding precisely because I’m thinking those 5 things (or any one of a hundred other things) when I pull the camera to my eye.

Here’s the shot. Not that great, huh? I wouldn’t even deliver that as a proof to a client.

But we’re not done. First, the image passes through Lightroom to give me the basic color, exposure and dynamic range I want. That gives me an image that I deliver to the client as a proof if you get the hi-res images on DVD with your package. But when you buy an image from us online or if this image when into your album it gets all the TLC it needs before it goes out the door.

This is what happens in Photoshop to make the image below: it gets recropped to remove the tilt, an edge vignette is added to draw the eye in, there’s a little “midnight sepia” in the foliage, a little cross-process to Natalie and Ben to make them pop, and finally, the electrical wires were removed as well as the stop sign and street signs in the bottom-left of the frame.

Which would you rather put in your album?

Ben

Some of you may have noticed that today is Christmas, or more specifically, the first day of Christmas, the season. Yep, while the stores and malls feverishly rip all vestages of the Christmas season from your sight you can rest easy knowing that you still have 11 days to go…

Which brings me to my last wedding of the year. I thought it would be nice to post their images today as a humble Christmas present of sorts. Kassie and Andrew were supposedly not too comfortable in front of the camera but I certainly couldn’t tell — they were clearly in love. Chris and Katie Torres from 6 of Four Creations were on hand to help me out and did an amazing job with a lot of the details as usual.

***CLICK HERE*** to view the slideshow

Location: Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
Coordination: Lisanne McDearman with Watermark Weddings
Catering: Affairs to Remember
Jewelry: Kelly Wenner Designs

Many years of blessings to you Kassie & Andrew!

Ben Vigil

This year I managed to attend exactly one Christmas party. This has been an extremely busy season for me (probably the busiest so far) and it was a nice little foray into peace for an evening. Unfortunately Maria wasn’t able to go with me and that was a HUGE bummer — she missed an evening with very kind friends.

Andrew and Rachel from LaCour and Chris and Katie from 6 of Four Creations planned a little holiday gathering around the winter solstice at Andrew and Rachel’s place. They’ve already blogged about it so I won’t go into details but Rachel and Katie went all out with the decor and theme for the evening.

Here’s the lay of the land from (I think) Andrew.

Katie and Rachel worked so hard and they had NO IDEA how much I love fresh green beans. I could’ve died when I saw this…

Chris Torres doing what he does best…

Below: That’s Chris over there in the corner in my shot!

Am I the only one that finds humor in this shot of Mark and Erin Adams?

Not sure who took these last two images…

Ben Vigil

I think we spent about 45 minutes total. With as busy as families are these days, we had been juggling a few dates but carved out a few minutes over the weekend to grab some beautiful images of the family.
My friend Huy Cat came along for lighting support (the truth is, I told him if he came and held a reflector for me, I’d let him hold my new Canon 1D Mark III camera for a few seconds) and we had a great time. It’s quite the challenge getting 6 kids and two adults to all look the same way at the same time, much less take a picture of it.

Ahhh… such is the life I lead. But I love it. I love it because I can’t wait for them to see all their images!

We tried to do a family pyramid, which quickly turned into this:

But 27 seconds later we were here:

I don’t want to spoil the surprise too much, but here’s one more of mom and dad…

Ben Vigil, photographing saints

I’m starting to loose track of how many years I’ve shot the Stewarts. The first time I took their Christmas pictures they caused a little bit of a stir with all her friends when they received her Christmas cards. So now every year I have to live up to the pressure of knowing that all her (and our) friends will be wondering “what the picture will look like this year!”

I literally think about it all year long.

Mom loves black & white so I go there as much as possible when I am processing them. This one is too normal for a Christmas card so I’m safe posting it on the blog.

This think this is my favorite of the kiddos.

[ This is where the image I think she’s going to use for the Christmas card goes… but nobody’s allowed to see it yet. ]

And one last shot of mom…

Ben Vigil