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1. Catherine Abegg April 3rd, 2010 10:09 pm :

   Good for you!!! These are the same reasons I give my clients and my peers for trying to shoot film as much as possible… I was the last of my fellow local photographers that still shot film, and I was basically made fun of wherever I went. Crazy! And my clients would joke around, like, “ooooh, how darling is that? how quaint are you?!” I am fully digital now (for weddings & portraits) unless otherwise requested, so I completely understand the benefits of digital, but still totally miss the process of shooting and producing film photographs… I feel a little soul-less anymore while going through my images and click click clicking on them. The funniest & most ironic thing is that I actually convert my digital files “back to film” to get that look again… try explaining that to clients without getting a puzzled look! Anyway, your work is just incredible, and I’m so happy for you that you’re sticking to your guns, and shooting film unapologetically!!! Awesome!

2. Ben Q. April 5th, 2010 5:37 pm :

   Hi Jen, I think this is so awesome on what you are doing? I’m also in the process from digital to film. Its just a whole art forum that’s very timeless. Coming from Dallas its going to be very challenging due to there’s nothing here pretty about DFW LOL. The process is having to find labs that are near by without waiting two weeks to get film back. But in the end I know its all worth the wait. Just keep pushing on what you know is right as a business owner. Much love Ben Q.

3. Melanie K. April 7th, 2010 7:32 pm :

   This is such a great opportunity, I have to try! Zach “doctor feelgood” and I are getting married in Puerto Vallarta in Nov (don’t worry about any “november rain” it is beautiful) and having a reception back home in Denver in January. Besides being fun, funky people, we really love a great party and so we decided to do two!
   Mexico is amazing, and our location is right in the heart of Puerto Vallarta or “Paradise City” , where the jungle and mountains drop right into the bay with a perfect adornment of old, historic Mexican buildings and culture – talk about colors! You can’t ask for a better setting to fully exploit the potential of film! The backdrop may be “welcome to the jungle,” but the ceremony and reception will be right on the beach, for a perfect recipe of toes in the sand and fun in the sun! (even baby turtle releases!)
   But in case you’ve been instructed to not leave the country, or you’re afraid of tequila-damaging your equipment, we are headed “home sweet home”" for a rock & roll themed reception in Denver in January. No sit down dinners or boring first dances, this is going to be Martha Stewart meets Motley Crue! Heaven knows what the garter toss will look like… We’re going with a magenta pink and tanzanite blue color theme, and will literally put on a show. A digital could NEVER keep up with this – or handle the setting! Also, I have checked out your site, and I’m confident you would be able to produce amazing, intimate, spontaneous, fun shots – all while “shakin it all night long”! So what do you think – “let’s get rocked”?

4. Erica M. April 7th, 2010 10:41 pm :

   We met through Erica’s cousin. We definitely had eyes for each other, you know… long gazes until the other one looks up and you quickly look away! Neither of us acted on it for about four years, then sadly an unexpected tragedy occurred and Erica rushed to my side and we have been inseparable ever since. We’re game to try new things, I never thought I’d enjoy a Broadway show and she never thought she’d enjoy a heavy metal concert!! It was at a rock concert on bended knee that I shouted “WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

   When we discuss our wedding day, we agree on several things, celebrating our union with our huge families and our closest friends before God as well as incorporating the color blue in memory and tribute to Oscar’s brother, who has and will continue to be a part of our lives. We know that “pictures are worth a thousand words” so having a skilled and insightful photographer is extremely important to us. We want to be able to share our memories of that special day for years to come.

5. heather+dave April 30th, 2010 7:04 am :

   We met mulching. Unglamorous, I know. Nearly 6 years ago to the day, in San Francisco. The director of the volunteer day, of which we were both volunteers, asked Dave if he wanted a really boring project. Before he had a chance to say no, the director pointed at a slab of concrete, near where I was sitting, and put him to work. Fast forward a few hours, with dust and dirt stuck under our fingernails, our volunteer day unfolds into an impromptu BBQ house party on the deck of a friend’s amazing Victorian house, which involves a heated conversation about the best books we ever read, and few too many Full Sail beers. I knew I’d found a keeper. I asked him out to dinner the next night. Five years later, he asked me to be his wife. We constantly remind each other how lucky we are – lucky to have found each other, lucky to have a love as solid, drama-free, and enthralling as we do.

   Some more tidbits about us:
   * we couldn’t have grown up further apart — Southern California & Upstate NY. We met in San Francisco and have since traveled together to Philly and Chicago on grad school and MBA pursuits.
   * we love wine … and beer … especially when drinking outside. Bonus points if we get to play bocce ball too.
   * Dave likes to surf, i like taking naps on the beach while he surfs.
   * we love flip flops, coffee, taking self portraits of ourselves and the rare lazy saturday afternoon.
   * we will challenge anyone to an Iron Chef competition, and are infamous in some social circles for our killer friends pre-Thanksgiving dinners.

   ~What is it about your wedding that is different and unique, where will it take place?
   For starters, it will be in Southern California. In July. Malibu to be precise. It will obviously feel like an amazing night for us, and hopefully it will be a mini-vacation for our guests (and, fingers crossed, you!!). I am planning our wedding with a casual beach chic vibe in mind — very GreenWeddingShoes or StyleMePretty in spirit.
   As homage to my Scottish heritage, my dad will escort me down the aisle in a kilt. There may or may not be a bagpiper there as well.
   As a tribute to my stylish grandmother, her ’signature colors’ – peacock blue and green apple – will be carried throughout with DIY projects and other details.
   The ceremony will be outside, accompanied by chinese lanterns strung overhead, sweeping ocean views, and a cozy al fresco fireplace.

   In addition to all the details, what really matters is this: by the time we get married, we will have been doing long distance for 2 years as I’ve been working on my MBA — in addition to graduating (Yay!) then getting married (Yay!), going on a honeymoon (Yay!), we are thrilled to be moving back in the same city, able to live together again and properly start the next chapter of our lives together. (YAY!!)

   ~Why you think you would be the best candidate for a film wedding shot by me?
   My parents are big photography enthusiasts and somehow I’m the only one in my family who didn’t develop the shutterbug gene. We have boxes upon boxes of negatives from my childhood, my parents lives and my grandparents travels. Photographs matter a lot to our family, and not just the digital kind!
   Our wedding location naturally will lend itself to some great shots. I’m definitely hoping for a fun night that really reflects us, rather than something pristine, picture perfect or stuffy. Signature cocktails (Blackberry mint margarita and vanillabean manhattans) and a big dance party are absolute musts. I have a few ideas in mind (what bride doesn’t!) but from there, would love your inspiration about how to take photos that play into the natural beauty and SoCal surroundings. I adore my family – and his – and our friends, and definitely want to make sure we capture photos of them cracking up and tearing up, which my sister will inevitably do. I hope that on my wedding day, I won’t be calling the shots or stressing about details — I am excited to work with vendors who are fantastic at what they do, and I won’t get in the way of that by micromanaging or interfering with things!

   Thank you!
   heather+dave

6. Julia Roberts April 30th, 2010 8:06 pm :

   My fiance Dan and I met in a very untraditional venue – Facebook. Yup, Facebook! I had lived in a small town in Utah many years ago and had recently moved back to town. After numerous people there found me again on the site I was curious who else I still knew in the area. While browsing, I thought Dan’s profile might be that of a guy I knew in the dorms so I checked. Nope! As I went to hit the back button I did notice something else though – he had the same birthday as me! To the day. I knew a few people with the same birthday as myself but never from the same year. I sent him a quick message because I thought it was awesome. “Hey! I just noticed we have the same birthday. Have a great day!” Apparently he thought I was hot because he responded right away. He’d recently moved to Salt Lake City but came to town occasionally to visit friends. After much emailing back and forth, he wanted to meet up the next time he was in town. I made excuses – I didn’t want to meet some guy off the internet! Eventually, I cracked. I’m so glad I did!
   I went down to Salt Lake City for a college basketball game that he wanted to attend so I picked up an extra ticket for him. We stayed in the back while several of my friends were sitting rows ahead of us (just in case). We didn’t stop talking the entire time! Trust me, with Dan, that’s saying a lot. He looooooves sports and is a very man’s man with a soft spot. I went down again a few weeks later and, this time, we went to a Utah Jazz game. Once again, we talked and laughed hysterically for the entire game. He’s never paid less attention to a Jazz game in his life. Oh, and I bought him a beer when I made a pit stop during halftime which made him ecstatic – apparently he’d never had a girl buy him a drink like that before. (It IS Utah, after all.) Beer = another thing Dan loves. Since that night a day hasn’t passed that we didn’t talk or spend time together. About seven months after our 2nd date we moved in together after he moved to Alaska to spend the summer together. That fall, I moved to Oregon with him so he could attend grad school. Now, two and a half years since we first got together, we’re about to tie the knot! Literally, actually – we plan on including the celtic knot tying tradition in our ceremony. =)
   We are definitely a bit of a quirky couple. Dan tends to dance and sing silly made-up songs around the house. I tend to crack myself up at silly little jokes. We hike, go on bike rides, bird watch, play card games, and goof around constantly. We love nature and try to be as green as we can be. While planning our wedding, we wanted something that reflected our style, that was eco-friendly, and outside. One glitch – it would be a destination wedding no matter where we held it! I’ve lived everywhere from Alaska to Hawaii to Vegas and Utah. Our guests would be traveling from all over the country especially once you took my large extended family into account. We opted to have it near Portland, Oregon – a two hour drive for us but convenient for all our west coast friends and family and a major airport hub. We also wanted a weekday wedding. Oh, yes. You read that right. A weekday wedding. We originally aimed for a Thursday but, after finding the perfect location, we learned that they used Thursdays to hold rehearsals and maintain the grounds. So, we’ll be getting married on Monday, July 12th, in a private 40 acre park complete with a lake, canoes, open fields, pavilions, and the ever-important-to-grandmas flushing toilets. We’ll have the ceremony along the lake followed by yard games, dinner, dancing and fun. Actually, dinner will be served when the Burgerville Nomad pulls up to make burgers, fries, shakes, and the rest of the works. (Burgerville is a bit like the Northwest’s version of In ‘N Out burgers with a more extensive menu. They have a wide array of options and all their produce comes from local farms. The Nomad is their mobile restaurant in a truck powered entirely out of fuel made from their used french fry oil. Awesome!) Our ‘cake’ is going to be cheesecake made by one of the bridesmaids and a mix of pies purchased from a local group of women who donate all their proceeds to charity. Our flowers will be purchased from local growers the weekend before and assembled by yours truly with a little help. Our only vendors are the venue, Burgerville, and, of course, our photographer.
   Yes, we already have one photographer who does amazing work in 100% film (while his 2nd shooter uses digital for a mix). To me though, you can never have enough photos. The sun sets, the band stops, people go home, flowers wilt, the food spoils and the memories fade. When the day is over, it’s the photos that bring you back to that day, to those moments. Digital is great but it can’t compare. The exposure, the lines, contrast, colors, all different. You also run into an occasional pesky issue with how large of a print you can get. What better way to capture those timeless moments than with a timeless medium like real film photographs? There’s just something soft, classic, and timeless about real film. To me, it just invokes more feeling, more emotion in the photos. Those same feelings and emotions I want to experience in 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years as I look back our wedding album.

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