This fall, Taylor’s sister Maddie got married and we were invited again to document this time they took us to Destin, Florida with them. Taylor and Tony and their little buddy-boy Sutton took that opportunity to have us take these EPIC sunset beach photos on the white sands of the Destin shores!
Read MoreAndi + Ben | Backyard Ceremony + Hines Hill Reception
Andi & Ben.
Two people who saw the opportunity to have a wedding day full of intention and with so much personal meaning. The ceremony took place under the giant tree lovingly named "The Mighty Oak" by Ben's family. The ninety-some acre family property, that was owned by Ben's grandpa and has been passed down, is meadow after meadow who's edges are traced with thick tree-lines and trails. The estate; an eclectic and warm home where Ben grew up surrounded by gardens, kitties and chickens.
Ben and Andi saw each other early in the day, Andi in her bridal robe and Ben in his work clothes. The guys helped set up the ceremony just an hour before donning their suits for the festivities while Andi and her girls enjoyed a sun-soaked lunch on the breezy patio. Each moment an opportunity for us to sink into the background and document quietly. The morning folded into late afternoon and the perfectly orchestrated ceremony under the rustling leaves made way to the celebration at Hines Hill Conservancy.
This wedding was featured on Junebug Weddings
Ceremony Venue – Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Reception Venue – Hines Hill Conference Center
Catering – Old Carolina BBQ
Cake – Dancing Desserts
Ceremony Music – Adam Day
Reception Music – Bottom Line Band
Invitations – Mason Milani
Wedding Dress – Nicole Miller
Groom’s Apparel – Bonobos
Editorial on El Matador
Coast to Coast!
"Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline,
no matter how many times it's sent away"
- Sarah Kay
The winter season is way way over. We woke up this week and it's summer and we're wasting no time getting around to adventures of all kinds. We're road tripping east with our friends for their wedding on Hilton Head Island next week, then a quick stop in Savannah and Charleston before we set off the California coast for a wedding and a week's worth of exploring and shooting.
The mountains AND the ocean are calling and we must go!
The spring unfolds
We waited for weeks for the cold to end, for the rain to stop, for the sun to shine. Then we waited for the trees to turn green and the flowers to bloom. Mara + Brad waited patiently to have this adventure with us on the most beautiful spring evening at Hinckley Reservation, a place they picked as a location for their future married adventures together!
We can't wait to spend their wedding day documenting this love story!
Lakeside Love
Carmen + Tommy
Evidence that love is the greatest adventure.
These two have obvious chemistry. An energy that can't be concealed.
The adventure is over in STORIES.
Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
We just wanted to get away. We watched the weather for weeks leading up to "spring" break. Low 40's and high 30's. A few hours south the forecast was a bit warmer so we looked for the nearest mountain, we loaded up the car, we packed a cooler and we got away.
The tee-pee was too cold to sleep on the ground and we didn't bring sleeping pads, so we slept in the Jeep. Waking up to fog bellowing out of the mountain canyon and the smell of pressed coffee has got to be one of the best feelings in the world. We met a dog at the Harper's general store who ended up following us all the way to the top of Seneca Rocks. We made friends with a cardinal that kept tapping it's wings on the windows as we slept. We discovered that some of my ancestors might have been early settlers of the area. We sat on the edge and climbed farther than you're supposed to. We drove into two feet of snow at the top of Spruce Knob and had to make a scary turn-around. We ate pie at a diner where we were the only customers. That's what adventures are all about...the unexpectedness of it all.
In the direction of the mountains
I have to start this first entry by saying that not all posts in this new journal space will be this long. This is a special announcement about some changes that are very important to us and in that there is some back story to be told.
I have a hard time articulating what it is I love so much about the wild. Most people probably think I just like taking pretty pictures and posting them to Instagram. Although, that's true there exists a more inherent love of wilderness areas. It's the place I feel indescribably myself. Growing up we'd spend days wandering through the woods. The eighteen acres of farm and forest behind our house was all the space that we needed to feel away from everything. Long summer days were spent wandering in the woods. The fern covered hill and fallen logs over the creek became a second home. There weren't trails or tree-houses to hang out in, just trees and the space below them to create whatever kind of adventure we wanted.
It wasn't until our road trip across the country last year that I realized we'd slowly been making a transition back to that notion. Since our first time in the mountains, our heart strings have been pulled gently and ever so slightly in that direction. We took the long way here. And I'm grateful and humbled by that. I remember being graced with these ideas, so long ago; On a plane home from WPPI or while ordering at a restaurant in Denver my first time there. Ideas that took years to come to fruition. Ideas that I thought of and wrote down and then never thought of again until I started putting this together. Those ideas were who we we wanted to be, they are who we've become.
It's more than a re-brand. We've done that too many times before. It's more than graphics and tag lines, those can be changed with a click. Those are just how we look now. And it's hard to be entirely original in that respect. To us, this is a risk we're taking. It's an entirely new direction. It's how we feel that really matters. All this; Imagined on long roads between forests of tall trees. Fostered in the many mountain ranges of the western United States, during sunsets and sunrises. Over the last four years. And built to the sounds of Bon Iver and Ben Howard over red wine and the occasional cigarette.
We introduce to you (sans drum roll) Mallory & Justin, Adventure Wedding Photographers.
What's that mean, though? Well, it means we're actively pursuing couples who choose to have free-spirited, outdoor weddings in unique and nontraditional venues. We're hoping that means National Parks, mountain tops, canyons and cliff-sides but we're OK with it if not. We want to meet couples as strangers, to venture down unknown trails and climb steep hills with them...then share a meal and a beer at the top as friends. We want our work to be ingrained in the authenticity of the experience and laced with a spirit for adventure.
We chose to have elements of our rebrand designed for us by local folks who could add a bit of their vision to our story. Bespoke. Because the sentiment really matters this time. We wanted a collaborative vision, eraser marks, a hand-to-paper process... we wanted something deeper than what we had before because it feels deeper to us. We wanted something that said 'handcrafted goods' were being sold here with intricacies and wear, like they'd been around forever. Artistry. We wanted something a little vintage and rustic with a wild & naturalist vibe. We looked at shipping crate art and old lithograph prints as well as the wilderness for texture and design inspiration. My tattoo inspired our logo. M & J in the mountains. Yes.
We'd like to thank:
Chad Austin Design for his work on our logo.
Letterpress Jess for her magic with our collateral.
Blair, Eric, Erin and Mark for taking me on adventures in Colorado.
To Squarespace for this template and for many things, mostly being awesome, simple, user-friendly and cheap.
And the mountains for being bigger than we are and inspiring us so much.
The Artist
I was driving the other day thinking about artists and their work. Artists are blessed or burdened, depending on how they look at it, with passionately feeling everything. Not only passionately feeling but passionately seeing everything about life. I'm starting to realize that I own some of those characteristics. I'm deeply affected by the simplest things. I can be overly passionate about a feeling and I'm easily transfixed by things most people pay no attention to. The other night in a caffeine induced insomnia, I started connecting the dots. In college I had a period where I painted emotive paintings with deep meaning to me. I lived and breathed inspiration that mused me to create more deeply and I made some of my favorite work during that time.
I don't necessarily see myself as an artist. I think I'll continue to strive for that. But I am starting to realize that my need to create is inherent. I'm starting to realize that my work is synced with my mood. With photography, I'm able to continually feel and see, so passionately, the romance and elusiveness of human connection and love and I try to make art out of it. I've come to see that I'm more an introvert, exhausted by crowds and happier in my own head. And I've come to realize that telling stories is my form of art. Our adventures, our photographs, our view and how we document love is our art.
If you asked me three years ago about my work, I would have said it was for our clients and for the purpose of savoring a moment. And all that is true. But now, it's for me too. It's for what I'm passionate about. When I can create a moody moment that induces a passionate feeling about anything and romance about that feeling...in the moment and in the photograph, then I am the artist.