My favorite weddings are the small, quaint weddings. Felicia and Steve had just that kind of wedding. They invited family and close friends and were married in Bnai Amoona’s chapel (and Chinese food for the reception, yum!). I have only been in the chapel a few times, but I love the light in there as much as I love the light in the Sanctuary.
I’m so happy they chose me to be a part of their big day!
Mazel Tov, F & S!
I’ll share a few of my favs….Ok more than a few!
2015 was a great year!
Here’s to 2016! Call now to book your date!
Whew, I have neglected my blog, mostly because I have been so busy. It’s a great excuse to have, if you ask me! But I didn’t want you to miss the bat mitzvah pics from Temple Israel that I have from early in the month.
Meet Jillian, the sweet, funny and very happy bat mitzvah young lady. I don’t photograph too many of the actual services but for Jillian I did. And I’m so glad I did. She was fabulous and the song her dad wrote and sang to her was just perfect. And when I say there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, I am not exaggerating!
So enjoy a few images from Jillian’s bat mitzvah!
Later this month, I will be photographing Maggie’s bat mitzvah, so stay tuned for more pics.
A few years ago we asked past brides what they ever did with their wedding photographs. We weren’t selling many albums then, but were giving the high-resolution files away. Almost every single bride told us their photos were just sitting on the disc in a drawer because they were just too busy and overwhelmed to even make 4×6 inch prints. At that point, Erin and I decided we needed to change things for the benefit of everyone.
After you get married, life changes fast. You buy a house, you have kids, you move up the ladder at your job. And your wedding day you planned for so long suddenly begins to slowly fade from memory. And the technology used to store those memories becomes undependable or even obsolete. So to help reverse that worry, for them and for their families, we decided to start including an album for every wedding. We didn’t raise our prices, but we took out the high-resolution files.
All of a sudden, giving a tangible product made so much more sense. We were providing our clients a lasting memory of their wedding, and also ensuring their children and grandchildren would be able to feel what the wedding day felt like 50 years from now.
And we finally became a full-service business that took care of people start to finish, which has made us extremely proud of what we do.
…we finally became a full service business that took care of people from start to finish.
It also gives justification for our prices because we know what we are doing will have even greater value to our clients than they could ever imagine at the time of booking us.
We just couldn’t believe the young, beautiful lady we watched on the dance floor was already being moved into Hospice Care. We had, just a couple months earlier, made both sets of parents their own album, and the bride wrote us to tell us how important that book had become to her mother-in-law. She wrote to us: “She absolutely adores her album and shows it to everyone who has visited, even today in the last days/hours with her, she asked to see the album and your photos. So thank you so much for creating it and for capturing so many moments for us that we’ll cherish more than we ever knew at that time.”
So do yourselves a favor, and most importantly, do your clients a favor and give them something they may not fully appreciate now, but definitely will once life kicks into full gear right after the honeymoon ends. There is something magical about looking at a book of photographs. And it’s an honor to make one for every single wedding we are asked to document.
~ Ben Chrisman, Chrisman Studios
Your professional image:
Not convinced? Here is your chance to give it a try….contact me here; leave your name and email address and I will enter you in a drawing for a complimentary on location professional portrait(hurry and enter now, offer ends Friday, September 25 at 12pm). I will come to your office or favorite location, make great images of you, and provide you a copy. You can use it on LinkedIn, Facebook or any media page; you can use it for publication too.
You’ll be surprised at how many likes and comments you will receive on your new photograph!
Why? because your image means everything!
Share this blog with your friends, they can enter too!
Been thinking about getting married but really don’t have that dream of a large wedding? Don’t want to have to invite lots of people, or spend all the time in to planning and taste testing and then of course the money? BUT, you do want something that is special; something that you and your partner get to share between each other, witnessed by a few of your best friends and your family too?
Well, have you ever thought about eloping? You can pick a favorite spot and say your ‘I DOs’ with a real officiant. You can even wear a wedding gown (or your favorite pair of jeans). You can have beautiful flowers and rings and a professional photographer. And it is affordable.
If you want to learn more, check out Elope STL. I have been working with Carolyn for a few years now. She offers complete packages that include her services, flowers and a photographer. Carolyn is fun and accommodating and down right innovative if you need help planning. If you are looking for a low stress option yet still very special, then you will love an elopement!
Enjoy a few photographs from some of the elopements I have participated in with Carolyn.
I met Sammy when he was 8, 9 or 10, oh, I can’t remember exactly. But I remember he was full of energy and driving his mother crazy. You see it was his brother’s bar mitzvah day and Sammy was having nothing to do with family pictures. In fact I believe his exact words were “NO, NO, NO”. And he meant it. After letting Sammy take a few pics with my “big fancy camera”, he warmed up to me and actually let me make some images of him with the family. He was cutting up and just making me laugh. He simply kept me entertained the whole night. Every time I’d see him after that, I would say to myself…”I love that kid”! So you can imagine how happy I was when his mother ask me to photograph his bar mitzvah, and even happier to have his mom call me for his senior portraits too. And yep, I’m holding out for his wedding (though he need not be in a rush!).
Here are a few pics from Sammy’s Senior session.
Well I am back from my fun filled trip with lots of photographs! Don’t worry, I won’t make you sit through a whole slide show….and yes, I have one; a very long one!
My trip started out in Budapest, Hungary where we had an extra day to look around before getting on our small river boat. We sailed from Budapest to Vukovar in Croatia, then to Donji Milanovac, Serbia, and off to Vidin and Rousse, Bulgaria (my personal favorite) and finally to Bucharest, Romania. Oh yeah and we stayed an extra day and took a day trip to Transylvania. Don’t even ask me about our driver, Stefan (hint; he is crazier than me behind the wheel). What a blast we had. I did not want to come home. Not only did I have fun but I learned a lot too. You know all the things they don’t teach you here, in America.
So enjoy some of my images. (click first image to scroll thru at a larger size)
I first met Marie at a wedding. That’s right, she walked down the aisle just like any other attendant at a wedding. Marie is the bride’s seeing eye dog. I’m not sure what makes a good seeing eye dog, but all I know is Marie is very sweet, social and obedient. So last week I got the chance to photograph her again. She really is good at posing for sure; makes my job so easy.
I don’t know much about Yoga either, but Marie obviously does; she is showing off her skills for me. Well after all, her mommy does teach yoga class and Marie goes with her to every class!
Enjoy the pics of Marie!
I photographed another elopement last week with Carolyn. She and I are beginning to make this an every Friday kinda date. And I have to say that works for me! I really enjoy photographing at all the cool spots in STL and getting to meet and know all the new couples. Last Friday we met at the Muny in Forest Park and despite the rain, Megan and Colt said “I do” along side of their moms and children.
While I don’t typically know the couples until I meet them minutes before the ceremony, I can usually connect with them pretty quickly. By the end of this wedding with Megan and Colt, I knew they were all gonna be one big happy family!
Check out a few of my favorite images. Aren’t those kids adorable in their pretty pink dresses?
Fine Art Photographic Pet Portraits by Kristi Foster Photography, Inc. 