Erica & Eric. A Hope Glen Farm wedding.

So, I'm just going to say this right away...Erica has literally been my biggest fan since our initial email. Its every wedding photographers dream to be considered the best photographer out there by clients. Erica was so excited to work with me, she convinced her sister (who was getting married the same year!) to have me be her photographer as well. So, naturally...I will follow up this post with Erica's sisters wedding :) This wedding, though. Yah, there was rain. Yah, plans had to change a bit. The wedding rocked. People had a blast. Memories were made and in the end, an amazing couple shared vows and celebrated their new life together. What a high privilege to witness such things. Thank you Erica and Eric. I don't deserve clients and friends like you. Thanks to my friend, Josiah, for helping on tons of weddings over the past two years. 

A reminder for those checking out my blog these days that I'm doing something different this year. For me, memories tend to surface in my mind in a random, sporadic manner. When I think back on weddings, certain images I captured help me remember the day. I'm trying to post in a non-linear way in attempts to reproduce this sort of flashback. There is definitely a story aspect to wedding photography that I love and try to encapsulate through a collection of photos, but everyone seems to blog this way and why not try something different?  

Alright, enjoy looking back through Erica and Eric's day with me and THANK YOU for your support. Let me know what you think about this way of blogging a wedding. Do you like it? Should I stop? Be honest.       

Amy & Rob's wedding at Stout's Island Lodge in Northern, WI.

I'm doing something different for my journal entries this year. Instead of weddings and shoots being displayed in a linear timeline style, I'm going to drop highlights in random order. Well, not completely random. But, it may appear that way. When I go through a wedding I've photographed, certain moments jump off the screen and bring me back in a way others just don't.  Sometimes its what happened in front of my camera, other times its a moment of inspiration or unique light, etc. Memories of the past usually hit me randomly and out of order, then my mind puts the pieces together and I feel something. I'm hoping to give it a try through these entries this year. Random, often mundane moments, strung together as an abstract collection of records of the past. 

Amy and Rob are amazing. Most of my clients are this way. More interesting, smarter, cooler and better people in general than me. I'm usually left wondering why they hired me? But, I must be doing something right because they keep coming back and keep telling their friends. I'm absolutely blown away. Amy and Rob will go on to do amazing things and travel the world together. They fit. Together. It was a high privilege to spend a weekend with them and witness their love and commitment to each other. I'm just blown away.     

Tons of thanks to my friend, Josiah for helping me with this wedding. A few shots in this post are his. 

2016 / Year in Review

Thank you to everyone who helped make 2016 such an inspiring and rewarding year for me and my family. You have been my biggest fans and strongest support. You've left amazing reviews for me and I didn't even have to ask. You have gushed over your photos and brought tears to my eyes. Your transparency in front of a camera is an honor to witness and I'm left searching for words to describe my thankfulness. 

My clients have been amazing and I consider most good friends. Not just amazing, but a breath of fresh air and fuel for my bones. Looking through the tens of thousands of photos from the past year gave me such tremendous satisfaction and happiness. I love how photographing people is such a joint effort. Its humbling and exciting and I felt inspired in 2016. Couples invited me along to some great destinations and mixing in a little travel was extremely rewarding. I shot more film, in various formats, this year than any previous year and was left wanting to use it more. I had an amazing assistant (Josiah) all year, and what a blessing he was during such a busy season. 2016 was full. Maybe too full. But, its exactly what it needed to be and I'm so grateful. 

2016 was also a year of firsts for me, in a way. After 6 years of pursuing this, it was my first complete year being a full time photographer. I must say, it was eye opening how much time I spent not doing photography, even though it was my busiest year to date. It seemed for every hour I was actually behind a camera, I spent 5 behind a computer. I'm still wrestling with how to handle this moving forward, because I was burnt out by the Fall. I'm realizing, in order to continue this as a sole job, I need to change some things and learn how to say no.. This will be really hard for me. Especially when its saying no to some really amazing jobs and people. I don't desire a crazy, rockstar, photography life. I really just want to faithfully document the people who come my way. I want to be around my family more. I want to have time with them and with friends and enjoying other pursuits in my life. To be honest, I haven't fully processed what 2016 meant to me and how to move forward into 2017. We sold a home, moved, and are currently completely remodeling a new one and my attention has been pulled in so many directions already, I'm still feeling a little burnt out from it all. 

To my 2017 clients and future clients who have yet to reach out...Its gonna be an amazing year. I'm beyond excited for you and that you've chosen to invite me into your life. Looking back has helped motivate me for 2017 and beyond and it'll be an absolute honor to document part of your life this year. One frame at a time. 

-Ryan