in the shadow of the state capitol . . .

full disclosure time:
THIS NEXT PICTURE....one of my most favorite of chris + stephanie's wedding day.......
(ok, perhaps even one of my favorite wedding pictures EVER!)........
.....was created by NOT ME (darnnit, as kim's daughter sophie likes to say....) annika is the artist of record.

i love, love, love, love, love it! -- the scope, the scale, the composition, the clarity of the story, the light, the soft curves of that train.....wow! love, too, how the only man pictured (chris's dad) is centered between all those women ~ sometimes a picture of someone else taking a picture has a big way-too-cheesey factor; but THIS ONE...WOW!

there were lots + lots of wow moments during chris + stephanie's wedding day ....like this image during a fleeting, quiet, "stolen-moment" (I was shooting from behind a poinsettia if you're wondering about the red in the foreground)
see what's happening here? note the activity of all the OTHER people photographed ....(it's shhh...opening prayer; stephanie's dad had just escorted her up the aisle)
there are great pictures of steph with her dad (his grandkids call him "pops") throughout the day, but to introduce you....here he is first seeing stephanie in her wedding dress:
and HERE's the 1st time chris and his mom were together at the church:
oh how we delight in documenting relationships!!!!!!
isn't it wonderful when through a picture you see how people feel about each other....

sometimes we simply search for the artistic angle and watch for the moments; being witness to all that's unfolding....... (marcy -- flowergirl and neice of uncle chris -- with her dad, below:)

and here you can see marcy in action....
her mom, (pivoting around in the pew to take a picture of her own) shares the "main subject" role here .... MOMENTS may be our primary passion,
but we DO create some planned and posed pictures, too.....

2nd confession of entry:
creating great group shots is significantly trickier in the winter when the world is not as bright/inviting/warm.
Making INTERIOR group shots look lovely is technically, pretty darn tough

[note: when interviewing photographers, always ask to see their INDOOR group images....look at light, shadows, posture...are you seeing good skin color, interesting posing, relaxed postures, light that has a lovely quality? 

believe me; taking a nice family or group shot out-of-doors is like playing chopsticks on the piano compared to, hmmmm.....sight-reading Chopin?]

inside when working with groups, having a ladder helps:
as does having beautiful (and kind, and patient, and funny, and impressive, and melodic, too!) women at hand....
oh, too much rambling, not enough picutes, eh?.....
here's a bit more from chris + stephanie's wedding day..............
...............in the category of Documentary Moments:
as well as Planned / Photographer-Directed Category of pictures....
and the wonderful yummy Category of (?) "Somewhere In-Between" :

A few more favorite-throughout-the-day moments (or to see their slideshow, click here!):

pictured above: larry young (at edge of frame, congratulating chris) and dr. candy young with stephanie (my undergrad advisor, and paul's, too! -- it was in her class that i MET my terrific husband ~ there were LOTS of fabulous Truman grads in the festivities!)
[thinking about our one-last-stop-at-the-state-capitol, here's one more word of warning when selecting a photographer: exterior lighting at night....it might be another one of those things that separates "the....um? .....women from the boys"....]

comment on following image:
often, we employ shallow-depth-of-field (i.e. shooting with prime lenses wide open), but in image below, "going shallow" is combined it with "panning"~ a fun technique i'd toyed with in junior high while shooting sports....liking the feel panning helps create here:

our 3 kids (plus all the many cousins) call paul's dad POPS, too...
not sure if that's why i felt such an affinity for steve, or if it's because steve would, too, probably put on a big pink bunny suit if his grandkids made it for him (see my x-mas entry, below) OR...................OR if it's because during his dance with his daughter (moments after the above) he grabbed chris to finish the dad-daughter dance in his stead so that he could reach out for pat, his wonderful wife:
to the Amick and Bell families, my heartfelt thanks! -- what a wonderful way to end of the year!
and to the made-in-heaven wedding party: whoa, our fingers are crossed for the chance to document YOUR weddings someday...it's hard to think of anything we'd love more!!!

off to the gym!
amy enderle

PS is it that i just can't help myself or that i'm procrastinating b/c i don't so love going to the gym????
.....ok, so we really work to enhance and maximize our files (SilverBox post-processing is not for faint-of-heart).....
and we always think -- "hey, we should share the before-and-after", so THIS TIME, here's a side-by-side: