David and Courtney had the sweetest and most classy wedding day at Dandy in Milwaukee. Courtney got ready with her mother and bridesmaids at Hotel Metro relaxing and enjoying themselves as I got there to take photos.

As a small business owner herself, Courtney put together a great day and timeline and organized her wedding with the professionalism and perfection of a long-time event coordinator. 

After getting dressed with her mom, she had a first look with her loving father on the first floor of Hotel Metro in one glass ceiling lobby area and then went outside to meet her soon-to-be husband with their dogs and his son.

David was dressed in a custom green 3-pieced suit and saw her with excitement and love. As an artist in Milwaukee, David added refined taste and excellence to the wedding, making beautiful invitations for his guests and the simplest yet most elegant gold band wedding rings I’ve seen as a photographer.

We all traveled from Hotel Metro to Trestle Park in the Third Ward, a large pier that overhangs the Milwaukee River and that has an old abandoned train trestle in the background in the middle of the river. It was one of those that used to rotate spanning the river and then opening to allow boats to pass through. It’s now out of commission.

We took family and couple portraits there before heading to the Dandy, an event venue/antiques store in Milwaukee north of the Milwaukee Brewers stadium.

There they were wed in a lovely ceremony officiated by a friend of the couple and had a reception catered by Flour Girl and Flame, a company that does fire oven pizzas.

They had heartfelt speeches, first dances and a cake cutting and then proceeded to dance the night away with their family and friends.

Dress: Calla Blanche from Vera’s Bridal

Bridesmaids Dresses: Azazie

Groom: NL Suit

Groomsmen: Generation Tux

Flowers: 414loral

Rings: BlueNile Valerie Madison

Makeup: Beauty Unveiled by Tia

Hair: Beauty Unveiled by Tia

DJ: John Koshick & Steven Renteria

Caterer: Flour Girl and Flame

Alissa and David had a beautiful outdoor Milwaukee wedding that showcased the best of what Milwaukee has to offer.

Alissa and David absolutely love Milwaukee and they very much wanted to showcase the city, both during their engagement session and then on their wedding day.

The two got married at South Shore Pavilion at South Shore Park in the Bay View neighborhood on the south side of Milwaukee’s shoreline communities. The park itself gives you one of the best views of Milwaukee’s skyline without jumping on a boat and going out in Lake Michigan.

For wedding day photography and portraits using this view as a backdrop was a dream.

The Iron Horse Hotel

Before all of that, Alissa and David first got started by getting ready at the Iron Horse Hotel, which is on its own accord a beautiful and iconic and stylish hotel in the city of Milwaukee.

I think photographing a wedding at the Iron Horse Hotel is a right of passage for wedding photographers in this city.

It’s such a beautiful place to photograph a wedding and I always seem to get the best getting ready photos in their hotel rooms.

I love playing with the light and shadows in the room and especially getting dramatic photos of brides holding wedding dresses or getting dressed in front of the windows. 

Another point that I really love about the Iron Horse Hotel is actually what is on the outside of the building, even though the inside is already amazing.

The hotel is located immediately south of the Harley Davidson Museum and east of the Sixth Street Bridge. On this day, the bridge was the structure that I was most focused on, since it was one of those bridges that had towering white spires and white cables running across and down them.

Alissa and David had decided to do their first look outside of the hotel and before the ceremony. I loved this, because the hotel had a huge patio area with the bridge in the background. You could just make it out in between a patch of trees and I made sure to get a couple portraits with them in the foreground.

After their first look and a mini session of portraits we headed out to South Shore Park to get ready for the ceremony. 

South Shore Pavilion

If you get married at South Shore Pavilion you have a couple options for where you can have the ceremony. I’ve photographed a wedding where the couple was married right outside next to the seating of the outdoor beer garden. It’s right on a grassy bluff, well a miniature bluff, that leads out to Lake Michigan. 

Alissa and David chose a different spot that gave you a higher view of the Milwaukee skyline and Lake Michigan. It was immediately north of the pavilion higher up on a grassy hill. For their wedding they had built their own wooden arch. It was rustic, made of branches and they had quite the story of how they had to haul the arch by draping it over their vehicle and driving it all the way from their house through Bay View to the wedding.

After the wedding we were able to take portraits in roughly the same location as the wedding. The ceremony itself was angled where Lake Michigan was directly behind the arch, so that served as the backdrop if you were shooting down the aisle. For the portraits I moved the couple and the wedding party to the side so I could have the Milwaukee skyline in the background. This also worked out for me, since trees provided shadows that evened out the harsh lighting of the June afternoon sun.

Being surrounded by a park, the beautiful thing when you’re getting married at this location is that you can take portraits in a scenic outdoor location and then five minutes later be at your reception without having to jump in your vehicle.

One downside to getting married here is that you will have to be ok with lots of people walking around your outdoor ceremony and around and through your portraits. It can be a little disconcerting seeing people wearing swimsuits walking in the background of your wedding day portraits. But, a photographer will always make sure to cut them out of the frame even though you’ll have to have enough confidence and energy to make sure to not let them effect your mood.

This worked great for Alissa and David, because especially Alissa is a down-to-earth confident bride who is very warm and accepting to everyone she surrounds herself with. This actually just reminded me of her speech at the wedding reception. More than any other bride and groom, she went out of her way to mention every close guest and family member who participated in planning the wedding and participated in her and David’s life. It was like listening to one of the best Oscar toasts you’ve ever heard. 

The Reception

The wedding reception was actually inside the South Shore Pavilion. It was in the upstairs ballroom. And, this was a closed off space to the public. I absolutely love shooting in this space, because it has enormous long vertical windows that dress most of the sides of the ballroom. 

This lets in so much light and beautiful light that is golden and gorgeous. In fact, since this was a June wedding where the sunset was at its latest I didn’t even have to use flash for the first dances. After photographing the first dances we then went outside for the sunset portraits and once again we were on the beach in just a minute or two.

Mentioning the reception would be a great time to mention one of my favorite vendors I’ve worked with at weddings. That would be the DJ, Jack Boatman. He stands out for me, because he offers multiple services including playing the violin for wedding ceremonies. He did this for Alissa and David and he did the same thing for another wedding I worked with him.

He also has all white DJ equipment and speakers. This is such a small touch, but it was the first and only time I’ve seen a DJ have white equipment and speakers. It really brought some class to the wedding event vibe.

If you want to see even more of how much Alissa and David love Milwaukee, please check out their engagement session where they visited a handful of iconic Milwaukee tourist spots in a photo scavenger hunt-esque styled engagement session. 

Planner: Heather Farr Events, Shannon Nalt

Assistant Planner: Jenna McReynolds// Heather Farr Events

Venue Manager: South Shore Pavilion

Caterer: Prime Minister Catering

Bar: Over the Moon Bartending

Florist: Hidden Botanics Wedding

DJ: Jack Boatman Music

Desserts: Honeypie Bakeshop

Fortunately for you, I’ve made this handy little checklist of what to do to be prepared and to get the most of out of your senior photos.

Brainstorming your session

Every once in awhile clients will ask to meet with me for coffee and then we’ll talk about their session, locations, clothing, themes and styles.

This option is included on my remix sessions. If you chose the original session we can still brainstorm, but we can do that over a phone call.

Not every client will want to meet up, but I’ve found that the ones that do get the most creative and inspiring session. At the meeting you can tell me about yourself and what you want and then I can tell you how we can translate those ideas into photos.

Choosing a location

This is your first step and is super important, because choosing a location will really change the vibe and the feel and the look of your entire session.

You definitely want to pick a place that fits your personality and most importantly your style. If you’re a down-to-earth country type of person then it makes much more sense to take your photos at a park or in the woods. But, if you like dressing up and being a bit more glamorous we should choose a place in the city to show off.

It’s also important to choose a spot that matches your outfit. If you already have in mind what you wanted to wear and it involves light sneakers, shorts and a flowy shirt then we should definitely choose the beach! However, if you wanted to wear your football jersey or your letterman’s jacket maybe we should choose your football stadium.

How to Decide

I like to ask a series of questions to determine where’s the best spot to take your photos.

1. Do you already have a spot in mind, either because it’s personal to you (your school, home, hangout spot) or because of its look and style.
2. If not, I’ll suggest some options. 
3. Do you have any outfits that’d go well in particular locations?

• Woods, beach or urban?
  1. Woods: Park or Rustic
  2. Urban: Downtown or Neighborhood? Grungy and artistic or pretty and clean

A dress or suit is better in an urban location.

Casual attire works better in nature.

Woods

Beach

Urban (Neighborhoods, Towns)

Grunge

Skyline

Downtown

Nature

Fields

Parks (Pretty or Rustic)

Artsy Location or Personal Storytelling

Here are some of my longstanding go-to locations that I love

Woods: Seven Bridges and Grant Park, Menomonee Park, Doctors Park and Lapham Peak

Beach: Seven Bridges, Atwater Park

City: Third Ward Neighborhood, Fiserv Forum, Lakefront Brewery area and the Fifth Ward

Choosing your outfits

Once you’ve decided on the location or as you’re deciding, you’ll also want to pick outfits. For the original session, bring one outfit, and for the remix session you can bring 2-3 outfits. Even if you only choose one location but want to show off your style in multiple outfits, I recommend booking the remix session.

The first thing you’ll want to remember is to pick something you feel comfortable wearing or can be confident in. Confidence is most important. If that means going with one of your go to outfits you wear on the regular definitely do that. If that means buying something new and you’re excited to show it off, do that!

If you buy a new outfit, I’d wear it once or twice and run through some poses just so you won’t be surprised at the fit. You don’t want to suddenly be at your session and you’re tugging the bottom of the dress down or pulling the fabric in and out and up and down, because you feel self conscience.

If you have multiple outfits, I’d wear a dressy outfit, a casual outfit and a third wildcard outfit that shows off your interests or personality. (Maybe a 70s thrift store ensemble or a sports uniform or jersey.)

Themes and props: yay or nay?

I would say on average I have seniors bring props, not including outfit items, 20% of the time. This could include a musical instrument, a car or sports equipment. I’ve also had others bring items that represent their hobbies, from mixing music to video games to reading books and to pets.

The nice thing about bringing something is that many times it can be an easy addition to the photo session. We can take a couple pictures of you with your saxophone or football for 10 minutes and then move on without it.

If you think of anything else or have any other questions, please reach out!

Ashley and Matt are two friendly, baseball loving people that were married at Kenosha Kingfish Stadium with a reception at the Fountain Banquet Hall in Sturtevant. 

I’ve worked with a lot of couples that love baseball and even love it enough to incorporate it into their engagement photos, either baseball caps and balls or Milwaukee Brewers gear, but Ashley and Matt were the first to photograph a ceremony specifically on a baseball diamond. 

They even broke new ground with their wedding, since the Kingfish told them that their wedding would be a first for the stadium.

The Kenosha Kingfish Stadium

Right away there were a lot of new opportunities for creativity having a wedding at a baseball field, along with several challenges. The first opportunity that came along on their day was where Matt and the groomsmen got ready, which was the actual locker rooms.

I loved this look, since the lockers were more or less aesthetically pleasing, painted a deep blue with a simple look.

After Matt had gotten ready I took some more serious photos with him where he was holding a bat sitting on a stool with the locker behind him. I also took several pictures of Matt’s details in the locker. The locker room scene gave everything a more masculine look.

On Ashley’s side, one of my favorite pictures during the getting ready part was when I hung up her wedding dress on the netting between the stands and the batters box. 

From here I took a photo from both sides, one side showing the baseball field in the background and one side showing the stands in the background. Sometimes you never know which photo will work out best, so whenever you have a chance as a photographer it’s always best to “work the scene” as much as you can.

A pre-wedding walkthrough

One thing I offer all my couples is a chance to walk through the venue before the actual wedding day and in this case it really helped with Ashley’s getting ready photos. 

When we did our walkthrough I saw that Ashley was going to be getting ready with her bridesmaids in an office room. 

There were office supplies everywhere and nothing was romantic about the spot. It wasn’t set up to be photographed and unless I shot everything really up close and tight it would be hard to make the space look romantic and special. 

So, I asked if anyone had curtains or drapes to hang up, even on one side and sure enough one of her bridesmaids jumped at the idea and took care of it on her wedding day. 

Hanging up a curtain on one wall at least gave us one corner of the room that was devoid of office desks, printers, papers and pens.

This is definitely not a super ideal situation. It can be a hassle and it still doesn’t look the best if the curtain is too small but it’s more of a break in case of emergency situation.

The other big challenge for getting married on a baseball field is the sunlight. For obvious reasons, there are no trees or any other shade on a baseball diamond and most people get married in the early afternoon in summer, so if it’s a sunny beautiful day you could really be in a  pickle trying to make the photos turn out softer with less glare on faces.

Lucky for us, this turned out to be a worry that I didn’t need to lose sleep over. It was a beautiful cloudy day and the clouds helped the light become much softer and more photogenic.

Portraits at Harbor Park in Kenosha

After the ceremony, we all traveled to Harbor Park in Kenosha for the wedding portraits with the wedding party and couple.

When I photographed this wedding, I hadn’t had a ton of experience taking portraits in Kenosha, but we did take Ashley and Matt’s engagement photos in this location.

That was super helpful on the day of, because I had spent a lot of time during their engagement session walking around this big downtown/lakefront area trying to find the best spots.

A lot of that walking wasn’t practical, but on their wedding day I knew exactly where to go, which was to head to a fountain in between several buildings directly west of harbor park. 

We took photos at the fountain and then I noticed this beautiful symmetrical walkway leading from the fountain all the way to the park and th elake. There were trees lined on either side and the light was beautiful. 

We took the rest of our photos here and in the park and even on the rocks lining the lake. It was perfect.

Here I also want to mention Ashley and Matt’s great energy and their friendship. These two are very down-to-earth and friendly unpretentious people. They also like to have fun together. So even though they took posing directions really well, I also wanted them to do their own thing and make the pictures their own. 

So, I asked Matt to just have fun and then he started to play around, picking Ashley up, wrapping his arms around her, grabbing her arms and putting them around him and just generally being the affectionate fun-loving guy he is all the time.

This general vibe resulted in my favorite pose of theses two, which was them walking down the street with Ashley’s arm over Matt’s shoulders like they’re movie stars and on the cover of a romantic baseball comedy like Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham.

Hiring a photographer for the whole day!

One other important detail about Ashley and Matt’s wedding was that they loved photos and hired me to be there all day and I mean all day. It was a 12-hour day for us, 11 am to 11 pm.

If you’re wondering why in the world you would want your photographer there for that long there are some positives that come from that.

The first is that you don’t have to tweak or change your schedule just to make sure you get all those “photographable moments” in the time window that I’m present, whether that’s a short six hour day or a more standard eight hour day.

The other thing is that if you want to do a last dance of the day or a wedding send off, like Ashley and Matt then I’ll be there for that and I can photograph that final beautiful moment of your day. 

Kyle was the complete opposite. He is one of the friendliest guys I’ve ever met and from the moment we met at their engagement session in Lake Geneva to his wedding day he would go out of his way to not only make me, but all the vendors, feel like they were the guests of honor.

And as you can see from the photos, Kyle’s personality added a lot of fun to all the portraits, from getting ready before the ceremony, to the actual portraits all the way to the reception and the dancing.

Gatherings on the Ridge

Kyle and Autumn were married at Gatherings on the Ridge in Eastman, Wisconsin. This was one of the first weddings I’ve ever done in southwestern Wisconsin, a funny enough fact considering how much I travel around. Kyle and Autumn chose this tucked away barn wedding venue since it was the halfway point from where their families lived.

This location was remote and out in the country surroundings by woods and valleys. It has a main barn where they both got ready, Autumn downstairs and Kyle upstairs. You can get married inside, but Kyle and Autumn got married outside since it was an unseasonably warm October weekend.

Outside there were other another metal rustic barn you could use as a backdrop along with woods and a wooden swing set. I ended up using this wooden swing set for portraits right after we used the woods for absolutely lovely twilight portraits. With it being fall weather, the woods were all full of color and resulted in some of the most fall-laden colorful wedding portraits I’ve ever taken.

Creative Pictures

Since Kyle and Autumn were so friendly and loved the photo taking process I was able to take more creative shots and portraits than usual.

The first of these shots was with the wedding dress. Right away I saw a wide arched opening in the downstairs connecting the getting ready rooms to the larger ceremony/reception area. There was also a hook that holds wedding dresses. This is a side note for photographers and couples when they wonder where to take photos of the wedding dress. A lot of venues will purposely install a hook or nail into the woodwork or wall to hang a dress. That really takes a lot of questions out of where to take the classic wedding dress photos.

The other thing I noticed is that the upstairs was an open air space and when Kyle and the groomsmen walked to the railing you could see them from the first floor. 

I thought this was a unique feature and so I asked Kyle to walk to the railing when I was taking photos of the dress. That way I could take a fun concept photo of the wedding dress and the groom in the same picture without the groom actually seeing the dress. Looking at the photo makes me think of the dress being a secret, unbeknownst to Kyle who was getting ready. They were together in the same picture, but separated by knowledge and framing.

Another creative photo that I liked was incorporating a painting on the wall with portraits of Autumn. In this case there was a portrait of a woman in a wedding dress walking away and it was located above a lovely vintage love seat. So, I took most of Autumn’s portraits here, a mixture of closeups and full body portraits.

In this same location there was a lovely set of double doors that led to the kitchen. When I looked at the doorway I saw an opportunity to make a photo that connected the getting ready portion of the day to the ceremony part of the day. Thinking of it as a sequence in a story, I decided to take photos of Autumn walking through the doorway, This would create this idea that she was moving from single life into marriage by dramatically walking through a doorway. 

Kyle and Autumn’s own creativity led to another unique photo. The two actually had their vows printed out on small sheets of glass perched on wooden foundations. I’ve never seen vows made like this, but I absolutely loved it. 

I took photos of the vows, but then knowing that you could see through the glass I thought it’d be a neat idea to take each of Kyle and Autumn’s shoes and place them behind each glass. So in one photo you can see the vows and then Kyle’s boots behind his vows and Autumn’s heels behind her vows.

Candid moments

There were a lot of fun candid moments at this wedding. The first of these moments came about with something very inconspicuous. Around the barn and property there were hosts of ladybugs. There were all over the place outside the building and on the walls and porch. 

At one point when I was taking photos of the details and the rings one found its way onto the ring box and I immediately took a closeup of the situation.

However, my favorite moment came at the reception. After the portrait session all the wedding party, family members and guests were mingling around for the cocktail hour. At one point, Autumn and her dad walked over to the doorway leading to the outside. They then stood there looking outside with their arms around each other.

It was a sincere moment that I had to get photos of, and it was all the more special since it was organic and I didn’t have to engineer it with any prompts.

Nightime portraits

I absolutely love creative photography playing with lights and flashes. One of the best times to do this is night time and in the dark. It doesn’t always work out to do this at weddings, but Kyle and Autumn loved taking pictures and were excited to try out different portrait concepts at the end of the night.

For this I set Kyle and Autumn up under one of the doorway entrances which had a small light shining down on them. The doorway gave them a nice frame around the couple and the light above them gave the photo a little more interest.

I then asked my wife who was my assistant on this wedding to hold a flash behind the couple. Kyle then dipped Autumn and gave her a kiss. The flash behind them then created a dramatic silhouette.

It was a perfect ending photo to a wedding day.

Bible Verse of the day: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Philippians 4:4

Venue: Gatherings on the Ridge

Dress: David’s Bridal Rockford, IL

Groom’s Attire: Men’s Wearhouse

DJ: Nicky Avalon Studios

Caterer: U2-BBQ

I first met Maggie through her sister Jess who was married a year earlier on a warm July day in a barn and park wedding. Maggie was the maid of honor and she won me over that day with how helpful and caring she was toward her sister.

A year later, her fiancé asked me to take a small engagement portrait session with him and Maggie at Fox Brook Park in Brookfield.

The particulars of an engagement session

I talk a lot about engagement sessions, but what are they really like? What can you expect when you get there and beforehand? It all starts off with an email from you asking for a portrait session. After we pick a date, I ask is if you had a particular place in mind? If you do, then great! That’s where we’ll do the session. If not, I ask whether you like the city, beach, woods or somewhere else and then based off that, I suggest a place or two.

In this case Maggie and Matt really liked Fox Brook Park and the place was special to them. 

Leading up to the portrait session I let you handle the clothes you’ll want to wear. I can offer suggestions and help if you’d like. The basics are to wear something light and bright to the beach, something casual and earthy to a park and something more upscale and dressy to the city.

Once you arrive I greet you and I might chat with you a bit and then we’ll walk to our first spot. If I’ve never been to the location before, I might have arrived 15 minutes early just to look around, but either way I usually have an idea on where to start.

Once we arrive at our first spot, I’ll usually give you some basic posing guides, nothing strict, but a couple pointers to look your best.

As I take photos I try to talk to you and I’m feeding off your personality and vibe. I really want people to feel comfortable getting portraits taken and I find it helps if I’m talking and communicating while we work. Usually sessions start off with a lot of nervous energy, and I like that, but I usually try to get all of us eventually settling down into a more comfortable happy relaxed vibe. Too much energy and we’ll burn out right away.

Depending on the location, I’ll also bring my portable speaker and play some classic romantic songs to set the tone.

Depending on the spot and how photogenic it is, we might spend 10-15 minutes in each place and then walk to the next spot. In a park like Fox Brook, that would look like sitting at a fallen log overlooking the water, standing up for a few photos and then walking to a trail with trees 200 yards away.

Everything is within walking distance. If you choose multiple locations, we’ll walk around each location and then go back to our cars to drive to the next spot.

If you have a wardrobe change, please give me a shout and I can let you know if there is a place to change or how likely it is to have a place to change. Otherwise, changing in the car is best.

For a single location, we’ll usually take portraits for 90 minutes to 2 hours. It’s probably 50% percent walking, chatting and setting things up and 50% getting your photo taken.

And, don’t worry the whole experience is much easier and smoother than you think!

Cloudy and overcast days

One question I get a lot is about weather. The week of you session will arrive and you’ll start looking at the weather and you’ll see that ‘ooph, it looks cloudy and overcast on my day.’

Clients will do this and then ask whether we’ll still be shooting on that day and the answer is a resounding yes. 

I definitely reschedule sessions based on rain, but that does not include overcast days, because sunless days still turn into great photo sessions.

The first thing is that all cloudy days the light is much more even on your skin and is more flattering. This leads to more options for us. I typically schedule my photo sessions for golden hour or the sunrise golden hour, but if it’s cloudy all day we can even meet in the middle of the day in June and still get soft flattering light on your skin. The clouds act as a giant diffuser, spreading out the sunlight like a giant soft box.

Also, as long as the photographer properly exposes the picture while they’re taking it, the photo will not seem dark, but still bright. Also, the coloring of the photo is something you can adjust in camera too. So, if you think of an overcast day and think ‘oh no, everything is grey and the colors will not be vibrant’ don’t worry, because cameras have a specific setting which you can adjust so that the color will compensate for the grey/blue tone of a cloudy day.

Even if it’s raining a little bit, I have a lot of outdoor spots that have an awning over your head to break the rain. Even walking in the woods can block out scattered raindrops, because the trees create a natural canopy.

Matt and Maggie’s session was overcast the whole day and you would never notice it at the beginning of the session. At the end of the session I purposely edited and photographed their photos to get more of a moody twilight type of look.

Laying in the grass

I really want to give some flowers and credit to Matt and Maggie for our session. There was one moment when I asked if they would be ok laying in the grass and they were up for it. I knew if we all got low enough I could take a photo with flowers totally surrounding them with flowers and grass in the foreground and background. 

Also, I think laying down on the ground, just adds such a unique and intimate element to your session. Here it just created this beautiful romantic and lovely moment for Matt and Maggie. In these photos Matt sat down and Maggie sat with her back resting on Matt’s chest and leaning her head back toward Matt’s shoulders. 

It was just a sweet moment that makes you think of a couple truly in love, enjoying a day in the park and on a date. It makes me think of a couple when they are early on in their relationship and they just can’t get enough of each other.

It’s really quite beautiful and something that you really strive to capture at an engagement session.

Verse of the day

“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire like a mighty flame.

Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love it would be utterly scorned.”

Song of Solomon 8:6-7

Road America

Think NASCAR and the Indy 500 and you’d have an idea of what Road America looked like. It’s an enormous course and property. We drove from corner to corner and never saw the whole course. It’s got multiple spots to camp or view the track and for us to take portraits.

Bob and Carrie had an outdoor wedding at Porsche Park, the venue location. And, in the background was the track with cars and their roaring engines in the background.

My favorite portrait location was a road (a road for spectator traffic and not racers) forested on either side forming a tree-lined tunnel.

The other locations were far more race-centric. We took photos of Bob and Carrie with Bob’s porsche on the championship podium, on top of a spectator overlook, and in the stands of their favorite racetrack corner.

I didn’t know what to expect heading into my first viewing of Road America, but I was pleasantly and enthusiastically surprised by the natural beauty of the property. Even if you wanted a more traditional wedding and pictures without racing cars, it’d suit your needs.

Carrie’s Wonderful Enthusiasm

The one thing I’ll always remember about Bob and Carrie’s wedding day, aside from the unique racing venue is Carrie’s lively personality.

She is full of life and energy. Her enthusiasm and laughter rang throughout the day. And, she was excited for every moment. She made me laugh out loud several times and she added so much to my posing prompts.

In particular, I remember asking her and Bob to walk across the road in front of the large “Road America” entrance. I was looking forward to photographing low to the ground and isolating them in front of the large entrance, sign and sky. 

I thought it’d be a good idea for them to walk across the road, because it’d give them a reason to be out there and they could do a “Beatles Album Cover” type walk.

In the past, I’ve never been 100% satisfied with my Beatles Album covers, but Carrie initiated a whole new way to walk. As a joke she started walking like a robot with her arms at 90 degree angles, over-emphasizing every step and arm movement. Bob did the same and it really made the photos pop.

Especially with wide angle scenic portraits, subtle movements won’t really stand out, because it’s so far away. It’s only big outlandish movements that will show up in the photo. So, her outlandish walking actually made the arm and leg movements stand out enough for you to notice them.

In general, I really appreciate Carrie’s attitude, because it made her so pleasant to work with and it spurred us on to having more portrait time and therefore them getting more and higher quality wedding portraits from their wedding day.

Golf Carts

Andy Anderson was our point person for Road America and he was in charge of making sure the weddings they hosted went on without a hitch.

On the day we visited Road America to tour the facility and see the best places for photo ops, he drove us around in his pickup truck.

On the day of Bob and Carrie’s wedding, however, we instead had a golf cart and I drove around in my car. For our sunset session we all hopped on the golf cart.

This was a really nice setup, because we had a lot of independence and were able to go anywhere we wanted to on our own. This was only possible, because Bob and Carrie were very familiar with Road America, visiting the track for races multiple times a year.

Bob was able to drive the golf cart without getting lost of wasting time going down the wrong roads. He was able to lead us everywhere.

Golf carts are just perfect for portrait sessions and I highly recommend them.

Every golf resort that hosts weddings will have golf carts available and a lot of larger wedding venues like Road America will also have them ready.

The nice thing about them is that it is so easy to just hop on and off and every bride will have an easy time hopping on a golf cart, no matter how cumbersome their wedding dress happens to be.

The greatest thing about them is that they give you access to more areas. At a recent golf resort wedding we were able to visit three places four or five holes away from the clubhouse, because we had a golf cart.

Without it, we would have been relegated to walkable areas immediately beside the clubhouse which may or may not be the most scenic.

If your venue does charge an extra fee for golf carts, I’d recommend adding it to your budget, especially if you care deeply about the portrait session.

Entertaining the Children

Another part of Bob and Carrie’s wedding, which I thought was super unique and I’ve never seen before happened during the reception.

Like a lot of Wisconsin weddings, Bob and Carrie were very family friendly at their wedding. Kids were welcome and most of their friends and family had small children. It seemed like most of their guests were families rather than singles.

With that in mind, Bob and Carrie wanted to do something strictly for the children at the wedding.

Before the first dances started they had the DJ entertain the children with a few games involving a mix of following directions from the DJ and also dancing.

I love seeing a DJ being able to adjust away from putting on a party atmosphere and entertain the crowd, whatever kind of crowd that happens to be. At my own wedding, I really appreciated our DJ who was able to entertain our guests, who were mostly family members and mostly Christian and traditional. 

After a few games, the DJ then had a little dance party and Bob and Carrie threw candy out at the children for them to catch the candy like they were at a Fourth of July parade.

The children absolutely loved it and the good-naturedness of Bob and Carrie really enjoyed seeing all the laughter and joy coming out of the children.

Verse of the Day:

Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

Psalms 126:2

Dress and Bridesmaids: David’s Bridal

Groom and Groomsmen: DuBois Formalwear

Flowers: A Floral Garden

Jewelry: Sienna Moon

Hair: A Hair Affair

DJ Sound Sensations Entertainment

Coordinator: Andy Anderson, Road America

Rings: Etsy & Kay’s Jewelers

Caterer: The Antidote

Miranda and Tim had a spark about them and it shone all the way through their wedding day. This was a couple that brought such vibrant life-filled personalities everywhere they went. On their wedding day, they were just smiling the entire day and bringing their family and friends along for the fun.

The two got ready in the homes of their respective parents in Mount Pleasant and Racine. We took portraits before the ceremony at Petrifying Springs Park. They then were married and had the reception at a farm of a friend in Sturtevant. It was an outdoors wedding on a beautiful sunny June day. 

Chemistry on Camera

One thing I absolutely have to rave about from this wedding day is the incredible chemistry Tim and Miranda had on camera. This is something different than being photogenic, but it definitely makes them photogenic as a couple. And, it really made their wedding portraits some of my absolute favorites.

Every couple I work with naturally has good chemistry. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be getting married! However, once the camera comes out things can get a little awkward regarding to how do you two hold onto each other, how do you snuggle together, how do you kiss each other.

Feeling awkward can result in the photos have a nervous fun energy to them, but too much awkwardness can result in stiff hands and unnatural looks.

A lot of this is about having fun together. It’s fun as a man to give your soon-to-be wife a big squeeze or lift her up, give each other a peck on the cheek or stare into each other’s eyes until one of you burst out laughing.

Tim and Miranda had a lot of fun.

It’s also about having fun in a physical way that looks good on camera. This physicality can be either touching or facial expressions. As for what looks best, it’s all about creating more contact points or touch points. If you hold hands but stand apart you have one single touch point in the photo. If you snuggle together, then you may have a touch point at your knees, waist, hands on waist, hands on arm, shoulders together. It basically creates one continuous touch point. That shows more trust and intimacy in a portrait. If you do that then you do not even need to kiss in order to convey romance and intimacy.

Tim and Miranda were really great at this. 

The best example was the first look. 

Tim had a look that said ‘wow, girl you are fire’ when he first saw her. He then even walked around her while Miranda beamed and flushed like she was 1,000 feet tall. She did this by scrunching up her shoulders and rocking her head to the side with a big smile. 

If you were directing actors and actresses to convey the perfect emotions for a fun romantic comedy, you could not have done better than what Tim and Miranda did naturally.

For the portrait session itself, they continued their excellence. 

Miranda was about a head shorter than Tim, so Tim could really envelope her when he wanted to. They pulled off big showy poses with laughter and then they also pulled off simple shots like walking hand in hand. They also flawlessly executed dancing photos and dips and more serious romantic photos like they’ve been doing it for years.

Working together the way they did really made my job easy.

Photo Assistants versus Second Photographers

I started off this wedding day off with my assistant Danny at the home of Erin, Miranda’s mother. After a short amount of time taking photos of the rings, dress, shoes and other details we rolled over to the men getting ready at the home of Tim’s father, also named Tim. 

There Danny stayed with the groomsmen all the way until portraits. I on the other hand, took only a few getting ready photos and left to go back to Miranda and the bridesmaids. This was a benefit of working with two people, in this case my assistant and I. We were able to split up and cover both the groomsmen and bridesmaids.

For my weddings, I principally use a photography assistant. This is a little different than having a full-time second photographer. A second photographer is a person who has experience being a lead photographer on a wedding day. They can be the person taking the main photos of any scene. 

An assistant, on the other hand, is just what it sounds like. Most of the day they will assist me in taking photos. That might be: holding flowers, moving items out of the shot or in the shot, directing family members for family portraits and holding or moving the lights. 

Anytime they take photos, it will be in a secondary role. For example, during the ceremony I’ll be taking photos with the mindset of needing to cover every important moment: the first kiss, the precessional and the exchanging of the rings to name a few. And, I’ll be taking these photos at the best angle whereas my assistant will be taking photos of everything from a side angle or taking photos that are nice to have for the couple, but not crucial. Everything they take is extra.

In the case for Tim and Miranda, it was really important to them to have someone just with the guys getting ready, so that was why Danny stayed with them. However, just in case I stayed at the beginning of the scene to cover all the basic getting ready photos before I left him alone.

Getting Ready at Home

A big question for most couples when planning out their wedding day is where to get ready? I know when my wife and I got married we spent a decent amount of time contemplating this. We thought about a hotel and then we looked into nearby airbnbs, but in the end we got married at my wife’s parents’ house. 

I really like this move. For one, it saves money and second it also can make the getting ready photos more personal. The background of the photos will be a place that is near and dear to your heart. One day when my in-laws move away from their house, we’ll always have those getting ready photos to remember the house my wife grew up in.

You may think a hotel or airbnb is a better choice due to its fanciness or cleanliness, but a lot of time there’s no guarantee that the hotel or airbnb is a better venue for photos.

I’ve taken photos in a lot of hotel rooms and unless you splurge for a suite or they give you the actual bridal suite (more likely if the ceremony is there) then you’ll be in a cramp space for photos. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been contorting my body into corners or over dressers or beds to get a better portrait.

AirBNBs can be really nice, if you have the money to spend on a bigger place, but you have to be careful to really like their decor so that it’s a style that you appreciate being in the photos. A less expensive place than you’ll be running into space issues like a hotel room.

All of them can be great options, just don’t count out your own home, because it can really shine for you.

Verse of the day:

“Instead they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Hebrews 11:16

The Historic Third Ward Neighborhood

The Third Ward is my absolute favorite place to schedule a portrait session. This historic place in Milwaukee is 10 blocks south of downtown and runs along the Milwaukee River and is just a stone’s throw from Lake Michigan. 

Historically, it was a warehouse district that used to be a neighborhood with a rough and tumble reputation coming from the working class population that lived there. A century or two later, all the warehouses have been renovated into the premier shops, restaurants and apartments. It’s also the neighborhood where you’ll find the most people walking around, the most foot traffic and where the tourists will be.

Part of the draw of the Third Ward, at least for a portrait photographer like myself is the Riverwalk. It’s a continuous boardwalk that runs on the east side of the river, from the southernmost edge of the Third Ward all the way through downtown and then to the lower East Side.

When you go to the Riverwalk on any given day, you might run into a photographer working with a client, but you’ll definitely run into a lot of people. My strategy has always been to meet at the southern-most point of the Riverwalk. It’s still a beautiful area, but there are less pedestrians out and about and it gives me more space to work.

There is also a beautiful park that has a boardwalk that creeps out and over the Milwaukee River with a historic and abandoned train trestle in the background. The trestle is still in the middle of the river and you can only reach it by boat, although you may be trespassing if you do.

This place is called Trestle Park, and more often than not this is where I’ll start my portrait sessions.

From here, we continued down the Riverwalk, where there is a spiral staircase, which I like to use to get some more interesting shots. This included one where Jordan and Marian sat down cuddling and I went up to the upper level of the Riverwalk and took a photo straight down the spiral staircase, giving me a unique perspective.

At the end of this session, we went to a side street that had these classic lamppost and Historic Third Ward signs. These are really beautiful signs and lampposts and it makes for great sidewalk photos.

Springtime

Spring isn’t the first time of year that Wisconsinites think of to take their engagement portraits or any kind of portraits, but it has a bad rap for how beautiful it can be.

Jordan and Marian reached out to me in March and then we ultimately scheduled our engagement session for early May. 

At this time of year, there can be really warm days, but it was a bit chilly for our session. My quick and easy solution for this is to schedule the photoshoot earlier in the day. Normally, when weather isn’t a problem I always have my portrait sessions set at golden hour, the hour before sunset or the hour after sunrise. It’s when the light is best.

However, it also is a bit colder and what I’ve realized through a lot of experience is that in 40 or 50 degree weather, clients can really hang tough if it’s the middle of the day and the sun is shining on them. Once, they’re out of the sun it gets really cold for them.

With Marian and Jordan, we met in the early afternoon and quit well before sunset. We also worked fast and efficiently. With a lengthy wardrobe change included, we were in and out in under two hours.

On the flip side, springtime has some big benefits. For one, the flowers are all blooming and with that, comes some beautiful colors: light greens, pinks and light blues.

Clothing 

It also comes with a beautiful springtime wardrobe: light colors with lighter fabrics and light jackets. There’s a breezy carefree quality to your stereotypical springtime wardrobe, but the temperature isn’t so warm that you wouldn’t want to wear layers. These layers like light jackets, vests or blazers can make outfits pop.

Jordan and Marian were a particular stylish couple. 

To start the day, they both wore blue jeans. Marian wore a cream-colored blouse and Jordan wore a white shirt under a dark brown blazer.

They then switched their outfits halfway through and Marian came back out with a beautiful mid-length black dress with white polka dots and Jordan switched to dark blue jeans with the same white shirt, but this time with a white blazer over top. 

Jordan’s wardrobe in particular is an example I use for my male clients and how they can elevate and diversify their wardrobe. Wearing a blazer over a t-shirt is an easy way for men to upscale their outfit to be upscale casual. If you want something dressier, simply change what’s underneath. A polo is more formal and then a button down shirt is even more formal than that! Wearing a t-shirt and a blazer gives you a carefree look, but is also something you can wear to a fancy lunch date out in the city.

Switching blazers the way he did was also a way to have two very different looks with minimal changing effort. In fact, for a lot of men or senior boys (I shoot a lot of high school senior sessions) you can go from a t-shirt or sweater in one shot and then add the blazer in the next for a completely different outfit. All it takes is the five seconds it takes to put on the jacket.

Also, wearing a blazer can really sell an outfit as a “special outfit” if you want to wear jeans or denim. A friend of mine will routinely do this at work, so he can get away with wearing denim. Pairing the denim with a blazer, makes the outfit more business casual instead of just casual.

If you have any questions on what to wear for your portrait session, please give me a shout at matt@bigskyphoto.com. I may not know everything about women’s clothes compared to men’s clothes, but I’ve had a lot of great clients, male and female, who have excellent taste.

The fearlessness came about, because I found myself taking portraits of Paige and Kyle in a sea of strangers who were just out on the town for a drink at one of the many bars in Milwaukee on a Friday night. 

First, I love working with couples to get engagement portraits that cater to their likes and interest. This sounds a bit complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. If you’re active and like doing a particular hobby it can be really easy to bring something that showcases that. You like eating and drinking, we can do a picnic or take photos in your kitchen. You like hiking? Let’s go to the trail. You like baseball? We can take photos at the park and bring your baseball mitts along.

Some of these ideas, really only require bringing an extra item or two to sell it!

For Paige and Kyle, they really dived right into this concept. And, their two interests were going out for drinks and traveling.

And, one of their favorite places to go out for a drink was Shaker’s Cigar Bar in the Walkers Point neighborhood in Milwaukee.

Shaker’s Cigar Bar

This bar is not your average Milwaukee bar. It’s special and unique. It has a very loud and unique history. It was built upon a cemetery and then later was a speakeasy during Prohibition and owned by the legendary Capone brothers.

It’s a favorite stop on ghost tours and also a favorite spot for people that like cigars while they drink.

It was an exciting place for a photo session, because of its history and how uniquely it’s decorated inside. All the decorations look like they’re from an antique store and they have a multitude of different colored lights throughout. 

They have two bars downstairs and an airbnb upstairs where they bring you on the ghost tours.

Paige showed up with a big floppy black hat and a long black dress that made her look like she was from the 1920s and Kyle styled himself to match with black slacks and a grey button down shirt.

It was a little tricky navigating the bar with the tight space to work with, but as the session wore on I brought out my camera flash and used it to highlight them in different seating and standing areas. 

One of my favorite shots was taking a photo of the two of them playing cards sitting on a table. A single flash behind them really isolated them, making them pop off out of the background.

Multiple Days

Another unique aspect of Paige and Kyle’s engagement portraits was that it was split into multiple days. The first day we met in the evening and spent the whole time at Shaker’s Cigar Bar and Paige and Kyle stayed with one outfit.

The next part of our session was a couple weeks later and we met outside at Grant Park Beach in South Milwaukee for a sunrise session. Both sessions were about two hours long and it really gave us the time to focus on each spot, take our time and get some incredible photos. We weren’t rushed and we weren’t panicked. We were relaxed and got great portraits.

If you do want engagement photos done and do want to get the most out of it and have some really creative ideas, you may want to consider two days. This would be important, especially if it’s not really feasible or practical to combine two disparate ideas into one single day.

For Paige and Kyle it was really helpful, because the portrait session at the bar worked best in the evening and by the time we were even close to being done it was already well past sunset and anything outdoors and in nature was off the table.

There will be an added charge if you’d like to do a two-day session, but depending on your circumstance it could be well worth it!

Benefits of sunrise sessions

As I mentioned before Paige and Kyle did a sunrise session for the second part of their engagement shoot.

I don’t get a lot of sunrise sessions, mostly because they have to be so early in the morning. During the summer you could be talking about meeting at 5 am or earlier. So, it can be very daunting. For Paige and Kyle we met in October so it was a bit later in the morning, but still plenty early.

There are incredible benefits towards having a sunrise session though and the first one is that Lake Michigan is east of us!

This is something we cannot change. Milwaukee and the surrounding areas have incredible beaches, but most of them are all on Lake Michigan and therefore the sunset will never be over the water, only the sunrise!

The second thing is that it will always be more peaceful and less crowded for sunrise. Whether it’s 5 am or 6 or 7 am people will just not be out and about as much during the early morning. Compare this to sunset at 7 or 8 pm and there will always be plenty of people in the scenic locations you choose.

It’s pretty freeing and calming to have an entire beach to yourself for portraits.

For Paige and Kyle we started walking along the beach and getting photos with the beach and water in the background and then eventually we switched to their final creative idea, which was to incorporate their love of traveling.

I also love to travel. My wife and I are big-time road trippers, so I was excited to work this concept out for an engagement shoot.

For Paige and Kyle we decided to use the idea of a road trip and worked out of the back of their car. They opened the trunk and sat in the back with their luggage flanked on the ground beside them.

They also had baseball caps, giving them a more casual vibe and Kyle brought a travel camera which he slung over his shoulders for some portraits. The last touch was that they brought a bottle of wine and shared a glass between them.

All in all it was great a travel engagement session and I was so glad that Paige and Kyle were both creative and spunky enough to make this special portrait session happen.

Verse of the day:

“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil – this is the gift of God.”

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13