“Hi, are you Christian Arthur the wedding photographer?

“Yes!”

“Hi! My fiancé and I are getting married in November and want to meet on the waterfront at Lake Champlain, then walk down the middle of Church Street in Burlington at the busiest time of day on a Saturday all before heading to the church to get married.  Sound good?”

“Wow!  Sounds great! …you do realize it may be 15 degrees that day and windy?”

“Yes, we don’t care.  We want great photos!”

—

Ask any photographer and they will tell you we sit around just wishing for clients like this to ring our bell!  Such were these 2 amazing people, Jenna & Sean,  who married this past autumn in Burlington, VT.  OK, so it wasn’t quite 15 degrees but still down right chilly and they loved every minute of it!   The wedding was at the UVM Catholic Center, and the reception was held at the Sunset Ballroom.  We did meet right on the waterfront for the “1st look”,  stayed for a few minutes while these 2 had several incredibly real and tender moments over looking the lake.

Sean, waiting ever-so-patiently for his bride to be.

guess who?

Me: “hey Jenna & Sean,… wanna walk on the train tracks?  It’s obviously dangerous and you’ll probably get dirty?”
Them: “Sure!”

No, I didn’t ask Jenna to do this.  What would I have said… “hey.. embrace, then kiss his forehead softly and make it look passionate and real?”
They needed no words from me to make the images come to life.

Can’t get enough of each other.  My job was effortless.

The two were simply rock stars on Church Street for the 20 or so minutes that we strolled up and down.  Passers-by stared and gawked and sighed.
I felt like the paparazzi photographing hollywood sweethearts!

Next stop… the UVM Catholic Center.

Love this kind of gorgeous simplicity.

One should always play ping-pong before getting married.

The skylights in the Catholic Center made for exceptional portrait lighting.  I wish I could take them to every weeding and place them where I please!

What is the proper amount of fluff?  Such questions were passionately debated by the wedding party during the pre-game!

I usually shoot with natural light whenever possible, especially inside a church.
But if someone else’s camera flash acts as a rim light or halo around my subject then… welcome the happy accidents!  Looks great, and I never saw it coming.

Jenna & Sean let their parents take the limo to and from the wedding.  How cool is that?  They drove off to the reception in a sedan.

yum.  In times likes these I wish I was a guest,… with a sweet tooth.

This halo is mine, and not an accident  I set up my off-camera lighting at most receptions and using them for dramatic effect is O so much fun.

Slow shutter speeds + dancers + lights + cocktails = WIN.

Most folks who have lived, visited or simply driven through Waitsfield, VT are likely to be well aware and fully enamored with the all-too-gorgeous Round Barn Farm. It’s such an amazing venue, for weddings or just a weekend away from home, in any season, for any reason!  As a photographer, my task was made easier by the stunning vistas offered by the Round Barn as well as the beautiful and charming faces I was lucky enough to find in front of my camera this past November at Kelley & Tim’s wedding.  These two were having a blast all day with friends and family and I enjoyed every minute of it.

We started at Afterglow day spa on rte. 100 in Waitsfield.  By the time I arrived mimosas had been realized, several times

Headed over to the Round Barn after everyone felt sufficiently beautiful, and they were! I could spend a day just shooting the grounds at the Round Barn, just so much to see and capture, details were everywhere begging to be shot.

They do an incredible job making you feel welcome and cozy, both inside and out.

I found Tim upstairs, all set and fully prepared! Love this image of him in all his glory, the light in the bedroom was wonderful, fully illuminating Tim and revealing the rustic character of the building.

Wedding crasher.

For a photographer like myself that prefers to shoot natural light when possible, the “getting ready” shots are often a fun challenge.  I have to be on my toes to find the light, maybe open a shade or two to encourage more light getting in, but most of all position myself to take advantage of this available light while at the same time staying unobtrusive and letting things happen naturally.

The mystery of the lone shoe in the bride’s path before leaving for the reception.  Still unsolved to this day? Perhaps, but definitely a good omen for a wonderful day and happy marriage!

This is Kelley clearly on her game, ready to roll, and waiting for other VIPs to get in gear! She was an awesome bride!

Kelley & Tim originally had chosen a church in Waitsfield but Hurricane Irene came through and rendered several buildings, including the church, unusable.  They found St. Andrew’s Church in Waterbury, Vermont as a great alternative.

Love when this happens with light…this gentleman was waiting very quietly for the ceremony to begin, I saw this solem moment and a second later a shaft of light shone through and lit him up.

She’s not happy or anything, ..right?  :)

One of my goals during the ceremony is to capture several different vantage points. This is great for me because I hate staying in one place for too long, even without a camera in my hand!  I always take several shots from each aisle in the church, And when possible I get up onto the balcony for some wide angle, aerial shots.  The story is told so much more effectively this way .

No, this is not a Photoshopped picture.  A few times during a wedding I like to have a little fun with my zoom lenses.  The image was captured by zooming my lens in at the moment I clicked the shutter.  Definitely more editorial than photojournalistic, but I love the look!

I’m NEVER the only photographer!  I love how many people have a passion for great pictures!

Kelley looking very happy to be in the limo with her first cocktail as a married woman!

We made it back to the barn and I grabbed this image of the B&G coming down to the back yard, they didn’t see me… love it!

Kelley & Tim were so playful and relaxed.  These moments show it.  So great.

It was cold and a few bridal party members took advantage of the extra apparel

No doubt the honorary member of the wedding party.

Love how the sun was sitting just above the roof for this image, barely making it to our wedding party here and filling the scene with a warm glow.

The Round Barn has a really interesting floor plan. The bottom floor is an open area for cocktails and receiving guests, while upstairs we find the main room.  Too cool!

As a rule I never partake of libations (unless I’m off the clock , this was very tempting, though.

The folks at the round barn did a such an exquisite job with design, decorations and catering!

Kelley & Tim had the brilliant idea of setting up a Polaroid camera and several hilarious props for guests to have fun with.  More people got into it after a few drinks, not surprisingly.

Waiting to be announced, loving every minute of it.

1st dance was outstanding, simply stunning in this venue.

Kelley & Tim, gracious as they are, went around to each table and spent much of their time connecting with friends and family.

They didn’t disappoint the those occasional spoons on wine glasses either.

Dancing started with a lively crowd and the floor was still bouncing as I left for the evening, it was my pleasure!

So, I found a Nikon F100 on ebay for just over $200 and bought some film.  Why not give it a whirl…

Questions in my mind were simple.

1. Will I see a major difference in the film images compared to the digital images?

2. Will my shooting style change when I can’t instantly see each capture on my LCD?

3. Is this worth the time and $$ it requires to purchase, process and print film images?

All answers turned out to be a resounding Yes!

The first thing I noticed was that my shooting style did indeed change.  No longer did I just click away with my slutty shutter. I was forced to wait for that decisive moment for every frame; knowing that each click of the shutter equates to a dollar amount.  And knowing I’ve only got a few dozen clicks available per roll!  Quite the change, but a welcome one.  From my first roll it was obvious.  The shot above was the first frame I took with my new camera. My niece played on the deck for several minutes with me tracking her.  I snapped this single shot of her.  If I had my DSLR I’d have clicked 5-10 times already, and likely wouldn’t have found this moment exactly as it is here.

Inspired shooting continued through several rolls but the real bomb dropped on me when I got my first few rolls back from the lab.  The images were …just better, better everything.  Better contrast, better highlights, better shadows, better skin tones…(OMG the skin tones on a roll of Kodak Portra 400 are like butter), better vibrancy, better color gradations,… damn!

And as I discovered, the lab you use to process your film can be just as crucial to getting a great image.  I sent these rolls out to North Coast Photo, an outstanding lab just north of San Diego, CA.   Had them back to Vermont in just over a week.

The biggest differences in color were the greens and magentas.  Just perfectly rendered…so unlike my digital Nikons that  have a very particular way they process greens and magentas, usually over-doing the magentas and pushing the greens towards yellow.  Seeing these rolls for the first time was like taking a pair of dirty goggles off!

These few images here are good examples of how film has great color separation and vibrancy right out of camera.  Often results like this take several steps in processing for digital images.  The shot below in particular kills me, his red shirt is soooo red, without having that over-saturated, digital look.  One of my favorite shots from the roll, despite the band of discoloration on the right (my daughter opened my camera before the roll was done and gave me these pretty bands of color on several shots : )

Next up to blow my mind was that ever present film grain.  I can’t describe it,… it’s more of a feeling, a texture, a state of mind.  Kind of like describing the feeling of listening to analog records vs. mp3′s.  The image below has awesome grain.

a closer look… the shot below is a crop of the film image.

and here’s a crop from a digital image.

both images have grain but the film is so much more…sexy, earthy, tangible, whatever you want to call it.  It has it.  Some would call it noise, but just as I prefer a bit of record scratch on my analog records, I dig the hell out of this type of noise.

Landscapes just sing on film. The shot above has those rich greens again.

Another thing that floored me was the detail retained in the highlights of a film image.  The top half of this frame would have been solid white behind the trees on a digital capture, but here you can see the blue sky and clouds in back.

Here’s a perfect situation where I would have lost highlight information were I on digital.  Direct sunlight, directly overhead is strong and harsh light.  Under these conditions, white shirts on digital capture will very often blow out to pure white if the exposure is made properly for skin tones.  On film it’s all good!  Detail in the highlights.

The image above is a digital file captured at twilight, you can see clearly that nearly the entire surface of the water is blown out to white.  Film would have retained much more detail.

Not a perfect comparison by any stretch, but the shot above has plenty of detail on the water while still rendering the sky beautifully.  Below are several film favorites from this past year.

Jenna and Sean walk on the tracks in Burlington.

2 cuties from a family portraits session this year.

Love this moment.  I get a kick out of it when my camera catches the split second of someone else’s flash going off!

Another favorite moment.  Anne  & Johnmark start to relax after their wedding ceremony in Stowe, Vermont.  Best smiles ever!

Jonathan & Brittany enjoy the view aboard the Ethan Allen in Burlington, Vermont.

As cakes go… Kelley & Tim had a beauty at the round barn in Waitsfield.

Is this an “I’ll be married in 2 hours” face or what?

These are the moments I strive to capture.  So easy to see that they are madly in love.

Love the negative space in this shot.

The Round Barn in Waistfield, a November wedding but still plenty of color!

Hillary & Jesse at their Engagement shoot.

I took 3 or 4 of them in focus here but on this last one I focused on the street and left them at frame center.  I love this kind of thing, but it’s not for everyone.

Leading lines galore…. see the S curve into the barn and then out again.  This was just begging to be framed this way.

Stephanie… the rock star bride!  Trailing lights captured by zooming my lens at the moment of capture.  Cool effect!

The West Monitor Barn in Richmond, Vermont.

A wedding this year where all guests got to play with sparklers at the reception.  This gentleman ran out into the field with one and on his way back I snapped this.

Ira Allen Chapel, University of Vermont Campus.

This was a total missed shot, out of focus, a throw away.  But I feel in love with the vibe it creates.  Makes me think of watercolors.

Bridal portrait overlooking lake champlain.

The Bradford Meeting House, rain starting….

“Damn! …The door’s locked!…. quick… to the outhouse for shelter!”

I thought we’d have the ceremony in the outhouse, thankfully the cavalry arrived, key in hand.

Yes, this is a beautifully handmade artificial rose!

Dixieland Band for the wedding ceremony… genius!  They were so perfect! Check out the Granite State Stompers.

The holding room for VIPs was the old school house across from the main meeting house.  Justin and mom share a moment.

almost time….

love this one…

Reception was at Justin’s family’s property, just up the road.  Stunning landscapes and a classic old barn to party in!

Guests moved into the tent for music, dinner and toasts.

I always light with off-camera flash when possible.  Tents are perfect for this, you can set up a light on a stand in the back and fill those dim spaces with light.

After dinner it was the Barn and dance party!