As their ceremony began in 2010, Jessica and Adam’s procession was announced with a family heirloom at the Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen, Vt. It definitely got everyone’s attention! Personal touches are what’s great about photographing wedding ceremonies.
Nearly 20 years ago, I attended the Missouri Photo Workshop, a week-long documentary photography class run by the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. Started in 1949, the workshop sends dozens of students and faculty to a different small Missouri town each year to spend a week telling stories. The year I went, we were in Trenton, Mo. The story I found was about David Schafer and Alice Dobbs, a young couple who were running a small farm with sheep, beef cattle, chickens and pigs. This is one of my favorites from the story; Alice got up on a fence post to count sheep in the pasture. It was also featured on the cover of the university’s alumni magazine a few years later, marking the workshop’s 50th anniversary!
Ilaria and Seraphim’s wedding three years ago at the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Claremont, N.H., was interesting to photograph with its unique traditions. Their reception at Ilaria’s childhood home in Strafford, Vt., was filled with music and celebration. In the photograph below, I stood in middle of a contra dance as family and friends enjoyed themselves!
When it came time for the meat birds to be butchered at Fat Rooster Farm in Royalton, Vt., apprentice Whitney Taylor had trouble parting with one of the chickens because she had become attached it. This picture didn’t originally make it into the book I was working on in 2008, but I like the photo’s tenderness when I look at it now. (Poopie Poo was spared that day and lived a full life on the farm.)
On October 10, 2010 (yes, it was 10-10-10!), I photographed an excellent wedding ceremony and celebration at the Hermitage Inn in West Dover, Vt. It was an enjoyable time because Lauren and Yves, their friends and family were so welcoming. The Hermitage is great place to work — I have been there several times to photograph weddings.
While traveling out West a few years ago, my family and I stopped in St. Louis for the afternoon to tour around. We (of course) checked out the Gateway Arch, but also discovered the Museum of Westward Expansion located underneath! I’m headed back to St. Louis in June to photograph a wedding and am looking forward to exploring more.
When Jane and Graham were married in 2010, they invited everyone to the home they built along the Connecticut River in Thetford, Vt. Jane and her father — and the rest of the wedding party — entered the ceremony by canoe! It’s fun to photograph personal touches at weddings.
Looking for newspaper features (photographers call them stand-alones, editors like to say wild art) is a challenge that can be frustrating when it doesn’t work out, or incredibly rewarding when it does. When I found Harris Griffiths working on his truck from a pit in West Claremont, N.H., in 1990, his pet geese became the photo’s special touch. And I loved his quote: “They’re awful pesky,” he said. “They carry off my tools.”
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While preparing for her wedding ceremony on the town green, Morgan checks her flowers in the storage area of a general store in Canterbury, N.H., in October 2010. I enjoy looking at the contrast between her beautiful dress and the store’s mundane surroundings. That’s why it’s one of my Archival Quality favorites.
While the snow flies outside, I’m reminded of the blessing of the snowmobiles event I photographed for the Valley News at the summit of Mount Sunapee, N.H., in 1996. Episcopal priest Alice Roberts gave each rider a blessing as they rode through. I love pictures that are a twist on the expected. I still remember the speedy ride back down on a snow machine!
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May not be reprinted without permission