MudEyes

Hey guys, I have a super awesome couple PJ & Maggie from Memphis, TN that we did a session for their engagements but we aren’t available for their wedding. Their date is August 15th.

Check out my earlier post for the rest of their engagement pictures but they are a super fun couple that made it really easy to get great images. I have really bee trying to explore all my options to get them a good wedding photographer but with no luck. One of the problems is they don’t have a ton of money, and can’t go much past $1,000 for photography.

Also they are in Memphis. If anyone out there is interested and is willing to throw them a deal please let me know and I would be willing to maybe throw a favor your way as well!

Like I said please read their engagement post to get to know them a little better. But trust me if you have a way to get down there it will be a great time and they know a lot of people that I’m sure you could get a lot of work from!

Thanks guys!

Super busy after these 3 weddings in 2 weekends, but took some great video from the last wedding so thought I would share! Click right outside the play button to take you there and make it bigger!

As he walked in with a Miner out fit complete with hard hat, goggles and an antique lantern, I knew I was going to have to take some video of this as sometimes stills just dont capture the whole effect! The white balance was set very warm for flash so I didn’t have time to change it so I made the video black and white.

This little girl had some moves! I must have takes 150 shots of her trying to get that perfect one!

gangsta’s paradise….WEST SIYEEEED!!

This last wedding was a crazy one! Lots of personality and lots of fun in a unique venue, and getting ready in the swanky Westin Hotel downtown. Sooo fancy MC Hammer had to come see whats up! We got him to take a picture with us… I didn’t even know it was him until he walked away… I just thought they wanted to snap a shot with someone.

HAMMER! I had your tapes when I was 8 years old!!!

Yeah he is way 2 legit 2 quit still =)

I have been loving this tilt/shift trick that Jay Eads showed me

Great Bride and groom!

I about pooped when I saw the vision in my head for what I wanted to do with this neon… It was scrumtrillecent

Holly really brought the awesome color out of this one… who knew a rainy night would be so sweet!!

More to come soon!

This was one of our very favorite weddings and I don’t have a ton of time to spend on a long blog post because we still have 2 weddings to edit before the serious wedding season roles around THIS weekend! So here is a few new shots of this wedding… I dont have a password on their full preview that you can see here

Amazing couple… Had the love for SURE

Super fun bride =)

Super fun DAY!

It happens to the best of us.

We are hoping to get this wedding done real soon and I will let everyone know, because it’s a good one!!

BIG news on the business front!

When Holly and I met she was looking for someone to teach her more about photography and trying to find out if she should go to school again for that instead of sticking with graphic design which is what she graduated with.

At this time, I was looking for someone to design me a logo and website. That’s the premiss of how we met essentially for those of you who didn’t know. So she was looking for a photographer to show her the ropes…We technically have to say we met on-line… Which is kind of embarrassing for us =) She always makes me tell the story when people ask because I can tell it in a way that doesn’t spotlight that fact but doesn’t lie about how we met either!

My point is that at first Holly was with me shooting weddings because I could use a hand being pretty inexperienced, and because she wanted some more practice. We quickly became a great team and have actually been together since my first paying wedding!

So the whole point of this story is that Holly has been more in the background where I got most of the credit for her amazing editing, and a lot of her shots that no-one knew were hers! You can’t say we are just Ryan Richard Photography anymore. It’s not just me, it’s us! She has improved by leaps and bounds and there is no way I could produce what I promise without her. So to celebrate and recognize the goodness she brings to the table, we are now GAUPERPHOTO!

What do ya think? I struggled for a while about changing it to my last name because no one can seem to say it right! If you actually look at it and sound it out, it’s not that hard. Gaw-per. Not Galper, Glopper, Grooper,Goopie,Golper,Gumper,groper or Galapanokis.

GAUPER … I have gone through a lot of frustration, but I am putting my trust into mankind one more so please don’t let me down! Even with Ryan Richard people would always call me Richard for some reason, or say Ryan Richards…So I am counting on you guys to get it right… got it? =)

So anyway, we have a bridal show coming up where we are the only photography vendors. The Radisson is putting on a non-traditional show that is going to be really great! Unfortunately, we have a wedding in Long Island the same day. I have been super pumped to do that wedding but we are bummed to not be able to do the show but we figured a big NY wedding and a big bridal show would be the perfect time to unveil a new logo and name!

Part of the deal of having a free booth and being a preferred vendor all year for the fanciest hotel in town was that I had to shoot the bridal show. Since I obviously couldn’t I asked if I could hire someone out to do that so I could still have the booth. I had someone great in mind and they accepted! My favorite new wedding photographer is Diana Vermeulen of Moxie Photography. I have been referring people to her left and right because she does great work for the price so if we are booked on your date or are a little out of our range, be sure to look her up!

Since we are getting an all new identity, we needed a few fresh new images of us to display at the Bridal show we will be doing a full session soon, with another one of my new favorite photographers we have been hanging out with, Melissa Gregersen

But since we didn’t have time to do a full session we went out for a few shots with my brother in law Dave who we are thinking about hiring on as an intern this summer.

He graduated from Western with a marketing degree and we think he has a lot of potential not only on the business side but possibly behind the camera with some practice! These are a few shots he took for us. Thanks Dave!

Pretty nice for his first time wielding a nice camera right?

We wanted to do a giant overhaul with a new website and blog but that just wasn’t going to happen by the NY trip and we really wanted to do it for the show and the wedding. Be on the lookout for at least a new blog by the beginning of the summer because a nice blog is LONG overdue and we know that. The new one will be much more enjoyable to visit!

But anyways, that’s the big news! I hope you guys like it. I feel like we have more of our own style and the old logo only portrayed our traditional and classic side but had nothing to do with the rustic and industrial side. I think it suits us much better and is much more modern. Let us know what you think!!

Gauper out =)

Our last wedding was a last weekend and it was a ton of fun! We met with Clive and Jamie a while ago and since Clive lives in Dubai, we couldn’t do any engagement photos until this weekend before the wedding! But better late then never! =) Jamie works.. or worked (now that she is moving to Dubai) at the radisson here in Kalamazoo and we scored a little time in the sweetest suite they had!! Check it out!

Tell me thats not suite! This place ran $2,200 a night and came with a huge staircase and dozens of windows overlooking downtown kalamazoo nine stories high. It even came with a grand Piano which they seemed to like 😉

Then off to a location I used the day before but hey it’s still new =) They looked like a couple celebrities here!

Then I wanted to try a shot I had done before with a little twist since he had some sweet shades!

Then came the wedding weekend were I shot a bit of the rehearsal at Stetson Chapel and found a couple cute kids that I would be following around all weekend =)

And then the next Day we started out getting a couple shots of Jamie and the girls finishing up their hair at the willow salon.

This dress turned out to be high maintenance! but it was a great dress so I guess it was worth it!

Our beautiful Bride!

We did a wedding here before and again it didn’t disappoint!

After some waiting to get the bussel right since we didn’t have the directions… no seriously…we did some bride and groom shots! Good thing I had entertainment to tide me over!

We saw this glorious ally while walking back to the hotel from the salon and knew it would be perfect for the money shot.

The reception was held at the highly regarded Rose Street Market downtown and it was a great venue!

They have the best best food in Michigan (so I’m told) Luckily the vendors got the same meal as the guests!

They even came equipped with a spotlight which made things interesting!

This family broke it DOWN all night!

Great couple, Great venues and Great weather make for an exceptional day. Thanks so much Jamie and Clive for trusting us with your day. We had so much fun and I hope you guys love the photos. =)

To see more of the 75 photo preview go to the main site and click the client proofing button to see the whole album!

We are just getting back from our super cool weekend in Denver, where i shot a wedding a little east of Vail at the four star Westin Hotel we did lots of stuff in Denver which Holly wanted to write the post about but I wanted to show you some shots from the wedding.

I borrowed my dad’s Car to get me to the wedding which was a couple hours away and about 15 miles into the mountains i hear some loud grinding or tapping and lots of smoke! Of course! So I am stranded and my dad had to come swap me cars. I HATE being late but luckly I was only second shooting and it wasn’t a huge deal if I was 45 minutes late!!

Luckily my dad traded me this car for this mountain carving turbo rocket. =)

Anyway big thanks again to Jared Wilson who gave me the opportunity to second shoot with him at this awesome wedding. Here he is at work.

Here’s one of my first shots using the Canon 135mm f/2L I rented from borrowlenses.com I used it wide open pretty much all day and loved it.

These kids were suuuper cute so I had to take advantage of the glorious bokah that I used in the shot above.

My first assignment as a second shooter was to hang out in the lobby and take some candids of the family while they wait for the shuttles to take them to the ceremony location. Luckily there was a massive window with lots of light. The 135mm was perfect!

The whole guest list was either from Mexico or from Texas so I’m sure he had a lot of calls from people that couldn’t make it. Never thought of Colorado as a destination location but that’s exactly what it was!

This was a catholic wedding. Which was an HOUR long. but plenty of things going on the whole time.

I also rented a Canon 28mm f/1.8 which I was VERY impressed with, and I really enjoy the focal length! Here it is wide open.

Check out this church!

The Reception was back at the Westin and did not disappoint!

There was even a lounge, talk about setting the mood!! So chill.

In comes the new couple!

We Start things off with the first dance; thank you 135L!

Sweet band as well!

This is my first wedding with a real wedding planner and I have to say I wish I had a lot more, with all the sweet presentation and details they can bring to the table. I mean the bride and groom’s glasses had Diamonds in them! Diamonds!
Taken with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro

After not eating for 9 hours this was really tough to look at =) Don’t worry they did feed all the vendors later on, and while it was a good meal it wasn’t this unfortunately!

I will leave you with this shot of the bride and groom. It was weird being a second shooter but I enjoyed it. Who wouldn’t enjoy it with a great looking couple, interesting venus, and a crazy family? I do miss the bride and groom money shots but I would love to shoot with Jared again!

Double R out 😉

post by: holly

Christy and Garret were our last wedding of 2008 and the first one with our new Canon 5D markII gear.

Getting their wedding really was a blessing for me. I had been tossing around getting a job somewhere during the few months where we didn’t have any work and then Elisa (their wedding preview is coming) had told I believe Christy’s aunt about us so that is how she found us. Last minute weddings are exciting for me, I feel like they seem to come right when I am just itching to go out shooting so it is always good timing. Anyways, back to my story… I was so happy to get them because this keeps me working for another month. I certainly like doing this more than just any job at a store or something. On top of that, it was a pretty great wedding! I did awesome on it and have a lot of keepers, which was another blessing because I was kind of worried about the new Canon gear. I feel like it usually takes me a long time for my hands to learn things as I don’t have the best coordination and Canon is basically the complete opposite from Nikon but I adjusted really well. I have noticed that I learn best when I HAVE TO and at a wedding you know, you only get one shot at getting it right so it was a miracle how quickly I got used to it.

I loved her flowers in her hair. Flowers are such an awesome accessory. I wish I would have thought about that for my wedding. I don’t know how she stuck them in there, but those roses stayed in there until we left the reception which is pretty impressive.

This girls dress was awesome. That is all that needs to be said.

We had so many awesome dress shots. The big stained glass window was as awesome place for them.

Ryan calls the one below “doves delivery” haha he is a genius!

I thought this was pretty hilarious. I didn’t even see it until I looked through all the photos. This is a very good idea though, boys tend to forget things easily….such as washing themselves…thoroughly.

Since it was a winter wedding, she was all ready for the misery of Michigan in December. She had the fancy gloves and a fur wrap and even a fur muff!

The lovely bride.

Time to eat! Something to note about this is the left photo is an extreme crop. I am pretty impressed with the cropping abilities of the 5D markII

I just love this photo, the colors and composition are so interesting to me. Her dress was fabulous as well. It was something different and that was refreshing.

ok last bride shot…but I had to include it, I love it!

The girls being tough in the cold..wind…and rain.

…enough being tough…time to run back inside!

The mens.

This wedding was different from all the rest we have had and thats good for us, it keeps us sharp. I was following the girls back to the room where they were going to walk out of to go down the isle and we walk in, and there is Garret! Typically, the groom is already up there so I was kind of shocked. Luckily, I was able to get this great shot of his face upon first seeing her!

I love how we can get shots from different angles of such great moments like this. The ceiling in this place was amazing which always makes me happy since I always do the shot from the back. 🙂

There was a glass overlook on the top floor of the church which was really exciting for me since I love when places allow us to do some different things.

This was right after the ceremony. He just had enough I guess. He perked right up for the reception though, he was crazy!

See? I told you.

I love how soft this is, a cloudy day really makes things all kinds of magical.

I hate to use this word again so quickly…but seriously, this really is magical. 🙂

They really were troopers with all the rain we had that day. After we took these shots, we went to go back inside as the rain was getting worse and we realized we didn’t wedge something in the door and locked ourselves out. Nobody was around there so I ran around the church to go open up the door and found that the quickest way around included jumping off this ledge in my heels that was like 5 feet off the ground. If you follow my posts, you probably know I am not all that coordinated but surprisingly I didn’t fall. Landing in those shoes sure wasn’t comfortable, but i’ll take that over falling down into a big puddle.

The bridesmaids gave this to Garret at the reception. Not sure of the story behind that…but I thought it would make the greatest ring shot.

The reception was held in a theatre so they had the catwalk going around on top which made for another sweet shot from above!

Haha yay! They love our logo!

The light was seriously crazy in this room. It was black everywhere so our flashes were having problems so I just ditched it and I glad that I did. It really captures the mood so much better with all the crazy lights everywhere.

Haha…oh how I love the comparison.

Ryan took the shot of the woman on the left and showed me and so I told him to go up to this guy who was collecting the money for the dollar dance and hold it out and make a crazy face as I had a feeling it would be pretty nuts…and I was right. This guy was crazy, If only I had video of everything because it was pretty funny.

Overall, it was a great wedding and had lots of fun things to photograph. I am finishing up editing it today so I will give a preview of Gruss soon. 🙂

This wedding was pretty relaxed for us. We didn’t have to start super early so it was great to sleep in. The reception was at the Battle Creek Country Club and is also where they got ready. It was a pretty fun group of people which really makes our job easier!

{{I am going to start with a reception photo just because it is so great….and I took it! YAY!}}

{{Perfect for an october wedding! I thought this was really cute.}}

{{I loved this cool mirror}}

{{before the ceremony, the girls were having some fun in the nursery where they were waiting…}}

{{Little tiny chair in the nursery..haha she tried to fit into the little kid car, but that didn’t work as well}}

{{I was so excited that I got such a great walking out shot! It happens so fast so sometimes I just don’t have time to focus fast enough, but I was just soooo happy with this.}}

{{All the mens}}

{{and all the ladies… I was trying to get them to all do a fish face with the “fisheye” lens. They couldn’t quite pull it off, haha, but I think actually turned out much funnier}}

{{sunset, this was ryans…and he is really awesome}}

{{…and this is mine…I’m awesome in a different way. 🙂 }}

{{Gotta have a little dip kiss in a place like this}}

{{What a cute baby! His older brothers were dancin’ fools at the reception! So cute}}

{{sooo i’m not sure what this is called, but Ryan told me…and I forgot. Either way…its really funny.}}

{{hahah I don’t even know what to say about this….}}

{{Lights! I highly recommend having twinkly lights at your reception, this is what happens when they are out of focus so they give a really cool vibe in the photos.}}

{{hahhaah I love to take photos of people dancing. They make the craziest dancing faces!}}

Andddd thats all.

post by: holly

I guess it was bound to happen sometime. With all of this hurricane business the odds just were not in anyone’s favor for a wedding that was planned to be outdoors.

Danielle & Charlie got married in Grass Lake Michigan at this farm location. There were some pretty cool things on the property to work with if the weather would have just held out! Unfortunately, it was raining all day and since it was a farm, the ground was all muddy and dragging a wedding dress around in mud isn’t really ideal.

Because of the weather and the lack of buildings to shoot in (just 2 small buildings) we didn’t want to stress them out about not getting any good bride and groom photos so we offered to give them a free bride and groom session if they wanted to get all done up again, so that is what we will be doing soon. The weather is nobody’s fault so it is just about making the best of what you have to work with. So when we get those taken and edited I will put them up in a separate post.

The wedding was moved inside the first barn which was pretty small, but tall. It had three levels to it which was very different and made for a cool shot from up above.

Anyways, lets go back a day. We typically go to the rehersal to check things out and look for locations to do photos in the transition time of ceremony and reception. On our way there it was pouring rain like crazy. I am pretty certain we would have died if I was driving. Thankfully, Ryan always drives and we continue to live. I try to just keep my eyes closed because he scares me when he drives but then I get car sick so there is usually a lot of gasping from me. He thinks it’s funny…ugh…anyways…

We didn’t want to drive back and forth for the wedding the next day since it was kind of far away so we got a hotel. It was a motel 6 somewhere around jackson and man, from the outside it was one sketchy looking place. They didn’t even have internet! It was clean in the room though and didn’t smell so I was alright with it.

Since there was no internet, Ryan was playing with his camera and showing off how sweet it is at crazy high ISO. So we had some fun with that haha ryan calls this flubber… This is done with the D700 and 8 frames per second! also 6400 ISO.

annnyways, back to the wedding the next day…

{{They wore this really awesome plaid so I felt the red background was fitting. The plaid was something about his family, but I can’t specifically remember…but it was really cool, I liked it a lot.}}

{{Getting ready. She got all the girls bare minerals sets and was showing them how to use it, so they all took turns. It was kind of like a QVC moment.}}

{{Her dress was huge! We have had weddings with the big poofy dresses and such but none with a train like this one. It was amazing. It had more detail in the thread than with beads which was on a more sheer layer which I thought was different from a lot of the dresses we see.}}

{{The sash part was great as well, I just love the dresses that sit lower on the waist. I’m not gonna lie… seeing all the dresses and jewelry is one of the favorite parts about wedding photography.}}

{{They had a bagpiper at the ceremony! How amazing! I love when weddings have stuff that is different!}}

{{The flowers were pretty interesting, those stick…things were an interesting touch.}}

{{The brides parents during the ceremony.}}

{After the ceremony we found a place outside that was covered and took bridal party photos.}}

{{The bride}}

{{The Groom}}

{{I always get a little stressed out when its time for the bouquet toss because I shoot a ton of photos and just hope that my flash fired on the money shot. This time…it did! Yes! I love it}}

{{The cake smashing! YESS!! So many people do not smash these days and it is soooo boring. This is just the perfect shot too! I was so excited when I reviewed my pictures and saw this. Magical, simply magical.}}

{{Danielle dancing with her dad}}

{{The “other” Holly and Ryan! What are the odds?}}

{{Greatest tattoo ever, dr. suess!}}

{{This turned out so cool! Ryan is so creative. The DJ had a little colored ball thing and ryan made this awesomeness happen.}}

{{Bride and Groom Dancing. I am pretty sure I probably took this and it was one of my exposure mistakes but I really like it how its just a subtle outline of her…its kind of different.}}

{{They had a fireworks show at the end of the night too. We took quite a few shots of them but this was our favorite because its different and wonderfully out of focus.}}

That is the end of the night for us. We will be scheduling the bride and groom shoot soon so I will be sure to put that up as soon as possible!!

Also, if you want to see the full preview of all our weddings you can go to our weddings site at www.ryanrichardphoto.com and click on {wedding favorites} We put up about 40-60 of our favorites from each wedding.

I’ve decided to catch up on the blog one day at a time, so tomorrow will be the brammer wedding from back in August.