Shooting (in a Good Way)

To see more info about Chris and Jill, see:

Jill and Chris Sneak Peek!
Jill and Chris are Engaged!

I finally finished editing photos from Jill and Chris’ wedding and it has been a joy.  The event was fantastic and I think the photos turned out really well.  Let’s start from the beginning…

Chris and Jill chose Cranky Al’s in Wauwatosa for their rehearsal dinner.  Cranky Al’s is an amazing little place.  In the morning it’s a bakery and coffee shop and in the evening it adds fantastic pizza to the menu.  Nothing like topping off a pizza dinner with and awesome donut or cupcake!  I can’t say enough about Cranky Al’s, although Al himself was in a pretty good mood that night.

The bulk of the wedding party stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel Milwaukee in downtown Milwaukee. It was an extremely nice hotel with some of the most interesting modern design and decoration I’ve seen. I did some scouting for locations for photos on Saturday morning and determined that I could shoot in that location for hours and not get bored. Unfortunately Saturday morning was pretty tight, but the family formal photos went off without a hitch and the couple had a lovely and quiet place to meet each other.

The wedding ceremony and reception was held at the Lake Park Bistro right on the shore of Lake Michigan. The Bistro is a wonderful little French restaurant with beautiful light fixtures, copper accents and a knockout dining room overlooking the lake.

The Ceremony was highlighted by a beautiful wedding party, a string trio that accompanied Jill’s niece in singing Ave Maria, some very funny and heart-felt vows and a unity candle that just wouldn’t cooperate.

The Lake Park Bistro really showed their stuff with the reception lunch.  Wild mushroom soup, coq au vin, beef tenderloin and pasta, followed by an apple tart…Sacrebleu!

Toward the end of the afternoon, I was able to steal Chris and Jill away and  I dragged them out into the 20 degree day for some portraits in the snow.  It was totally worth it!

Again, it was a fantastic event and I am so pleased that Jill and Chris chose me to document their day. Everything about it, from start to finish, showed their personalities and their lives together. The food was delicious, the settings were beautiful and people were delightful! Congratulations!

Rehearsal Dinner – Cranky Al’s Bakery Cafe and Pizza
Host Hotel – Intercontinental Milwaukee Hotel
Wedding Venue - Lake Park Bistro

This weekend I was in Milwaukee to attend and photograph the wedding of my good friend Jill to Chris.  It was an absolutely beautiful wedding and I am so honored that they chose me to document it.

There will be a much longer post discussing the entire event coming up soon, but I wanted to put a few sneak peeks up as soon as possible!  Like I said the wedding was beautiful and I’m going to have a very tough time narrowing down the images.  It’s a good problem to have, though!

Much more to come!

With the upcoming wedding season, I want to give potential clients an idea of what they can expect when they hire me. I plan on doing this through a series of blog posts titled ‘Expectations’. You will find a listing for ‘Expectations’ in the Categories list to the right. Check it out!

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As part of my base package for wedding coverage, I provide you with a ’slideshow DVD’. This DVD is formatted for a DVD player and contains all of the final retouched photos and video clips captured during the event edited together and set to music. This DVD is designed, very much like the album, to tell the story of your day and give you a feeling of what it was like to be there.

The DVD can range in running time depending on the length of the event and the number of photos that are chosen. The DVD is then custom labeled, printed and packaged in a keep-case.

Here are some images showing a previous wedding DVD. This wedding had an ‘old Hollywood’ theme. The event was even held in an old theatre so I tried to go all out with the DVD and case and make it look as much like a commercial release as possible.

Enjoy the photos and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me! 719-287-3469 or me@dustinstone.com.

It Happened One Night! 

Breayna and Sean Cotter were wedded on Saturday, September 19th in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.  The ceremony and reception was held at the Orpheum Theater on State Street.  The Orpheum is a historic and beautiful vaudeville era theater and Madison landmark.  Bre and Sean used this lovely backdrop to create one of the classiest and most stylish weddings I have seen.  Everything from the procession down the lobby staircase to the delicious food in the glow of the silver screen to the perfect flowers created an environment that recalled glamourous Hollywood.

Greater than all that, though, was the bride, her groom, the bridal party and family.  They could have all been transported directly to an Oscars after party in the ’40s and looked completely at home.  Everyone looked fantastic, but the crown jewel was Breayna.  She was an absolute knockout in her gown with period brooch, clutch and veil.  Photos couldn’t really do her justice!

I again want to thank Bre and Sean for making me a part of their wonderful day.  Here is a sneak peek at some photos from Saturday. 

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Dana and Aaron hired me to be the photographer at their wedding.  It was a huge honor and was a wonderful time.  It was a beautiful ceremony (when the bride is a graphic designer, no detail is too small) and a rockin’ party!  I did my best to be everywhere and to capture the event in a way that will allow the couple to experience things that they didn’t see that night as well as properly relive what is probably the best night of their life.

That was the plan anyway.  I feel pretty good about the whole event and truely hope that Aaron and Dana are happy with the results.  Here are some shots from the day, plus you can see more in the gallery!

Thanks again, guys!  Congrats!!

I travelled to Wisconsin recently for a week of work at the day job and my first real wedding gig.  I brought alot of gear with me including my cheap Gadget Infinity Cactus radio triggers.  The wedding ceremony was scheduled for 4:30, which in Wisconsin in December means pitch dark outside.  I knew that the lighting would be low and that I would need more than just the Speedlight 430EX on camera.  My 70-200mm f2.8 is good, but not that good.  I wanted the radio trigger to fire my second strobe (Vivitar 285HV) from the balcony of the reception hall. 

Unfortuntately when I was looking through my gear a few nights before the wedding I realized that the Cactus trigger receiver was dead.  I knew it wouldn’t work without the second light so something had to be done.  The local shops had options like the Elincrom Microsyncs and Pocket Wizards.  All good options, but I wanted something more versatile than the Microsyncs and cheaper than the Pocket Wizards.  Enter Paul C Buff, Inc.  I’d been reading about their monolights and really want some Alien Bees gear, so their triggers had my attention.  After reading some reviews online, I decided to give them a chance.  I ordered them on a Thursday morning and had them on Friday morning.  Even with next day air shipping the transmitter/receiver set was a little cheaper than one Pocket Wizard.  The receiver only has a miniphone plug, so I had to find the correct adapter for my Vivitar flash, but after finding that, I had no problems.

As for performance, the triggers fired every single time without fail, which is all you can really ask for.  They are also very small and use readily available batteries.  They can fire a strobe or a camera and the system is inexpensively expanded with more transmitters/receivers.  Bottom line, worked when I needed them and got the job done.

Here’s a little sample as proof that it was working

The Coniff and Breunig families got the party started tonight during the wedding rehearsal dinner tonight.  We all went over the ceremony at Rennaissance Place and then headed over to County Clare, an Irish pub, for dinner.  Sheppard’s pie, the most rockin’ mashed potatoes, hard cider and bread pudding.  Fun times between two families.  This is why I love weddings!  Anyway, It was great and I am looking forward to watching Aaron and Dana start their lives as husband and wife.

Check the pics!

Looking forward to tomorrow!