October 29, 2009
So the other day, my friend and publisher of Atlanta Occasions Magazine was so excited to be wearing a stunning Anne Barge dress to a benefit event that she asked if I’d take a few quick pictures of it.
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.





Also tagged Anne Barge, Atlanta Occasion, Blanqi, Bold American Catering, Fashion, Heather Vreeland, Katie Torres, Steve Bales, Studio 887, Van Michael Salon, Will Darragh –
November 9, 2007
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
November 3, 2007
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