phipps conservatory

Phipps Conservatory | Personal

It always makes me smile to see so many cameras at Phipps. Each room is full of DSLRs- usually professionals and amateurs alike- and those that don’t have them still squeeze in iPhone shots. I love to see so many people practicing photography. Whenever I go somewhere like that- where I have shot before, and where the subjects have been photographed hundreds of times before- I always make it a bit of a personal challenge. Getting the standard shots is nice, but I like to push myself to photograph it in a new way, to come home with shots that I haven’t seen before.

That seems to be my philosophy to photography, especially with weddings. Weddings can seem very predictable. The white dress, the rings, the kiss- even nontraditional ceremonies have similar elements. It would be easy to shoot weddings the same way every week and come back with the same list of images, over and over again. Easy, but boring. I love challenging myself every day, to find a different way to look at the ceremony, to find a creative way to capture events. To deliver artistic photos filled with the couple’s personality, unique each time.

It’s one of the reasons I love weddings so much: there’s always the white dress and the rings and the kiss, but each one is a new challenge, and you never know quite what to expect.

I actually haven’t photographed a wedding at Phipps yet, but I would love to. There beautiful nooks and paths abound, and the ceremony gardens are just gorgeous.