Ben Vigil Photographers » Beer

Katie & David in Kings Park, New York

Ben Vigil — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:46:27 +0000

About a year and a half ago, I was fortunate enough to shoot Christina and Mike’s wedding in Atlanta. Up until then Christina had been working as a physical therapist on tour with the stage production of The Lion King. One of her co-workers and good friends was Katie, the bride you’ll see in just a moment…

Katie flew in for that wedding and when I met her I was touched by how close she and Christina obviously were. I was absolutely thrilled that she asked me to shoot her wedding in Kings Park, NY on Long Island. You’ll notice below and in the slideshow that they’re Skype’ing with their friends who are still on tour and are just minutes away from going on stage.

This is one of my favorite images that Huy captured on the wedding day. I just love the composition.

I’m quite certain Huy had a great time shooting the guys most of the afternoon. They’re like a walking movie set.

Just a couple more of my favorites from the day…

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Shelby & Josh in Atlanta

Ben Vigil — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:33:43 +0000

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.

Atlanta Photographer’s Poker Night

Ben Vigil — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:18:17 +0000

One of the little known secrets in Atlanta’s photography world is that despite the fact that we’re all in the same business and sometimes even compete for the same brides, we’re all great friends and enjoy a good game of poker now and again. We used to do this a little more regularly, but it’s been a while since we played last. This time around, Chris Torres needed some baby diaper money so he rounded us all up to try and take us. I came in 2nd and got my money back so at least I could go home and say, “Sweetie, I didn’t lose any money!”

So here’s the scene (L-R):
Chris Torres from 6 of Four (not shown father-to-be and host), Livingston Jackson, Terrell Clark, Jeremy Roth, Mark Adams from LaCour, Patrick Williams, Drew Newman, I’m the one with the camera in my hand.

No Shows (no link love here):
Zack Arias, Charlie McLarty, Matt Yung, Hassel Weems, Ross Knight, Scott Chester, Marc Climie, Adam Linke, Chris Rank, Andrew Niesen, Jerrod Brown, David Christensen

This one is beautiful, so poetic and full of emotion. The money shot. The caption: “You’ll do better next time honey.”

Jeremy and Mel (above) have a baby on order so these poker nights are crucial for him before his social life goes on lock-down in a month or two. He was last to leave last year. This year…. uh, first. As a father of three, I know the routine.

Can you believe that Patrick ditched Bible Study for this…

Chris Torres showing the deep, down, fierce hunter/gatherer in victory.