Clients
Ashley and Amara Larsen-Atella
Ashley and Amara Larsen-Atella
Roles
Photography
Photo Editing/Retouching
Copywriting
Photography
Photo Editing/Retouching
Copywriting
Challenge
"I like you, you're mine now." Within 8 minutes of meeting each other at a gastropub in Kansas City's Westport district, Ashley Larsen uttered those words to me, welcoming me into her world with her fiancé Amara Atella, and the rest is history. We quickly became practically family to each other, so saying yes to photographing their wedding was one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. The challenge? Perfectly capturing the wedding of two of my favorite people in the world in late-summer, Arkansas heat, involving a rooftop first look, multiple locations with varying lighting conditions, and last-minute assistance writing wedding vows. This was also my first time photographing a same-sex wedding involving two cisgender women, which required retooling my posing styles to fit both the wedding and the personalities of the brides.
Research
Months before the wedding, I sat down with Ashley and Amara to discuss details and requested images. This allowed me to create a shot list for the day, starting from hair and makeup and going through the ceremony to group pictures post-ceremony. This also allowed room for factoring in modern wedding elements such as the first look, and – being chosen family with the couple – opportunities to inject their personalities into the shot list with images distinct to them. From here, I got to work researching posing styles and techniques for same-sex, cisgender-female weddings, using the references I found as a starting point. I then modified them to match the couple's style and included them in the shot list. Additionally, I used the venue – a cabin just north of Eureka Springs, Arkansas – as an opportunity to research natural diffuser techniques including cloud cover and shade from the surrounding forest to counteract the harsh lighting an outdoor wedding can face in the afternoon. I also had a rare opportunity as both the photographer and a member of the wedding to be involved with the rehearsal, which gave me the chance to capture angles and pathways using my phone and review them later to prepare for the wedding day.
Outcomes
The morning of the wedding I went over to a nearby cabin where Ashley was getting ready so I could capture hair and makeup photos, and – to no surprise to Ashley or myself – Ashley was sitting in the bathroom, feet up on the counter and still in her robe, deep in thought over a notepad. She had spent days thinking of the perfect words to say to Amara during their vows, with 7 pages of writing to show for it and no clue how she was going to narrow it all down. I quickly switched into copywriter mode and assisted her, reviewing her notes and crafting the analogy that the people in her world are like her forest – every person she adds to her life is another tree in this forest, and now she had the opportunity to intertwine her roots with someone else's, creating a beautiful woodland together. With confidence restored and vows ready, I switched back into photographer mode and captured 2,476 photos totaling 65GB, covering preparation (with assistance from friends to capture Amara getting ready nearby), a rooftop first look, the ceremony, and post-ceremony group and couple pictures. After putting down the camera for a night to celebrate the newlyweds by dancing with drag queens at a drag bar in Eureka Springs, I returned home and uploaded, organized, and edited the images in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop. AI features were also used in both programs for person/feature recognition, reducing editing time significantly and assuring I could implement a 2-week turnaround time. The final product was delivered to Ashley and Amara with 184 edited photos.
2,476
Photos Taken
1
Happy Couple
Featured Photos
