Annabella Boone. 2010

You can view it larger HERE.

Scott and Susanne Rockwell making their get away. 2010

Scott and Susanne Rockwell. 2010

Modified Holga. Kodak Porta 400nc film. 2010

Mary Ellen Williamson (Porirua, New Zealand). 2010

Painter Susanne Friedman and musician Scott McCullum (Skin Yard, Gruntruck, Paths Of Glory) are soon to be know as Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell. Rockwell is the family name of Scott’s grandfather.

Susanne emailed me in January while I was visiting my sister Shawnee in New Zealand. She had seen some wedding photos I shot last year for my friend Allison. She asked if I could shoot her wedding as well. At the time I was working full time and couldn’t really wrap my head around doing photography for a living. I had just been signed to Getty Images but I still thought of photography as just a hobby. I don’t know what my problem was. I was receiving emails every month or so asking if I shot weddings and what my prices were. I guess I just lived in the backwards notion that your job was something you tolerated and your passion was something you did for free.

I told my sister about the email. She suddenly got very serious on me. Something you should know about my sister. 4 and a half years ago she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given only a 30% chance of living for another 5 years. You can do the math. She told me that my job might be comfortable, but I’ve been given a gift in this life. She said the last thing you want to have happen is to find that you look back on life and regret giving your time away to things that don’t matter. That night when I checked my inbox, I received an email informing me that the company I had been giving my life to had just gone belly up and I was now unemployed. My sister just smiled when I told her and said, “The Universe is obviously trying to tell you something.”

I emailed Susanne back and told her I would love to shoot her wedding.

In the last 21 days between second shooting weddings for my new friend Rebecca and shooting for my own clients, I’ve had 7 wedding and engagement shoots! It rocks! I love sharing my time and passion with people who are so obviously in love. I love being a part of this moment in their lives. I’m so amazed at the amount of change that’s taken place in my life since receiving Susanne’s email 8 months ago. The Rockwell wedding is going to be happening this weekend at the Georgetown Ballroom. I think it’s obvious that this one is going to be a special one.

I thought for their engagement set it would be fun to do something totally different. I recently took a field trip to the Warhol exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. I became super inspired by his photo booth portraits. I thought it would be awesome to do something along those lines for Susanne and Scott. They seemed to like the idea too. They showed up fully equipped with several hats and sunglasses to meet me at the photo booth at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. I think the image below says it all.

The Future Rockwells 36 Times

View the Photo Booth images larger HERE.

Scott and Susanne are such amazing and talented artists. I am so honored that two people who’s work I am already a fan of have chosen me to document their wedding day. Their request has truly been the catalyst for so much awesome change in my life.

Multiple exposure, modified Holga, Kodak Porta 400nc film. 2010

Heather and Jon’s excitement for photography is absolutely contagious and I feel blessed to have had them share some of their knowledge of the wedding business with me. They spent the day answering so many of my questions… everything from the nitty gritty of how to attract clients, handle bookings, pricing, and contracts, to the details of their workflow and artistic editing process.

One of the highlights of the day was just walking around their neighborhood taking pictures with them. Heather let me shoot a little with her Hasselblad and she also got me up and running for the first time with my Yashika Mat-124G medium format film camera.

Yashika Mat-124G (captured by the iPhone 4 with ‘Camera +‘ app)

I’m so glad I saved breaking in that camera until I was hanging out with them. Below are a few shots I took with the Yashika of Jon on our photo walk.

Jon Almeda (Yashika Mat 124G with Kodak Porta 400 nc film)

I got so much out of spending the day with them. I think my favorite part was all the great conversation, hanging out well into the evening, talking about everything from favorite photographers to our favorite shows on HBO. I didn’t leave their house until well after midnight. When all was said and done, I truly felt like I had made a couple of new friends.

Blogger Michael Niemczyk of Naughty By Niemczyk. 2010