Hawes Photography Blog

Everybody get down tonight … get down tonight!

Aaron’s Picks:

We had, by far, some of the best parties ever this year! That made choosing much harder than in past years. Enjoy.

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Heather’s Picks:

This year’s reception picks were all about fun, activity and atmosphere. We witnessed some great parties and here’s a peak.

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They say the devil is in the details. When you’re planning a wedding, sometimes it feels that way.

Aaron’s Picks:

After about three attempts to write what I think about shooting detail images I’ve realized that I’m incapable of writing today. So this is what you get: Shooting details is kind of like shooting fine art. Creative takes of inanimate objects that spell the mood for a scene. That kinda reads like bacon wrapped vomit. I hope Heather did a better job. Enjoy.

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Heather’s Picks:

The detail category is unusually difficult to narrow down. It’s hard to separate what I LOVE as a detail and what I LOVE as a picture of a detail.

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And now for the main event!

Aaron’s Picks:

It’s a little funny that our biggest staple as wedding photographers is the most difficult for me personally. If you’ve ever been shot by me you know that structure isn’t exactly the driving force so working with the most structured part of a wedding day can be a creative challenge. It was one of my biggest things that I worked on this year and love the results. Enjoy.

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Heather’s Picks:

I love the ceremony images from this year. I’m glad we raised the allowable number to 10 for the year because I couldn’t cut any of these images. They’re so true to each couple – explosive laughter from Katie, relief in the hug between Jenny and Kristian, anticipation as Andy awaits Laura. These images sum up each event in one shot.

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Get your hair did … then get married.

Aaron’s Picks:

I’ll be honest, this is really Heather’s category. Guys just don’t take that much prep time so I’m usually off doing other things that get me in trouble. It’s also fun b/c this  is where our picks really start to differ. I guess marriage is no account for taste. J/K

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Heather’s Picks:

The getting ready part of any wedding day can range from extremely serene to extremely hectic. No matter what, I love capturing it.

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People in love before they put on wedding gear = win!

Aaron’s Picks:

I love weddings but engagements are by far my favorite group. Nothing beats photoshoots without limits and most weddings just don’t fit in that category. It’s also one of the hardest to narrow down. I could have easily done a top 100, but here’s 10.

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Heather’s Picks:

I somehow managed to pluck 10 images out of nearly 800 sitting in our “Engagement favorites 2009” folder (true story). That deserves a reward!

Some highlights:

While the “gun” shot didn’t make it very high in the final ranking, I absolutely love to watch people’s reaction to this image! It totally captures the fact that we’ll do anything that’s personal for an e-session.

The cigar pic – UGH! I really regret that I couldn’t be there to shoot Alyson and Eric’s e-session. So jealous of this image!

I’m calling the Colorado picks a tie because they’re equally awesome. Travel e-sessions may be our true calling.

And topping the list: the only e-session we’ve ever shot at our house with two of the most fun-loving people on the planet. The backyard water games may not have been Rob and Stef’s idea, but they embraced it … and rocked it. Enough said.  

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It’s been a few weeks since we closed the books on 2009, but it’s still fresh in our mind. We decided a few years ago to recap the closing year with a Best of series from everything we shot. It’s always and interesting and a much debated topic in the Hawes household. While Aaron and I agree on many things, our favorite images from a given year are not in that category. We’ll give you an overview of our thoughts for each category, but you want the real low down ask in person sometime.

Now to the good stuff! We’re bringing you around 10 of our favorite images in 8 categories: best of the rest, e-sessions, getting ready, ceremony, details, reception, wedding party and the couple.

So stay tuned!

Oh and feel free to leave comments agreeing with any of my picks. If you happen to agree with Aaron, feel free to keep that to yourself…

Aaron’s Picks:

I love “the rest” because it encapsulates well… everything besides our wedding couples. Getting outside weddings is a joy as I really love anything involving portraiture. Much like Heather I’ll have an order to the rest of this series but not today, how do you compare oranges to pears? Enjoy my favs, which much to Heather’s dismay, are waaaaaay better than hers. You know it and I know it… enough said.

Heather’s Picks:

Best of the rest is such a mixed bag: seniors, boudoir, models, lifestyle and <you> session shots. It’s not like we’re comparing apples to apples here. So my picks tended to be fall into what captures that type of session the best. So you’ll see that I think boudoir can be super sexy without showing a lot skin. You’ll see the some family moments are simple and priceless. And you’ll see that seniors are a strange combo of coolness and vulnerability. Also, unlike other categories, I’m not ranking these.