Molly & Michael : Quad Cities Wedding Photography

I had the great pleasure of getting to shoot another wedding with Jeff Wros from Photo Uncommon.

It was a little hotter than I prefer to shoot, but that’s weddings in the Quad Cities, you can never predict the weather! Even with the heat being a little higher, Molly & Michael’s wedding was a great time and we walked away with some great photography.

The ceremony was at Christ the King Chapel on the St. Ambrose University Campus in Davenport, Iowa. The sanctuary was beautiful. I just wanted to stand at the door and look around and take it all in. The reception was just a hop, skip and a jump away at the Rogalski Center (also on the St. Ambrose Campus). It was a nice change of pace not having to travel far between the ceremony and reception. This left me plenty of time to get some good detail shots of the reception hall and some fun shots of guests while Jeff was off doing the family formal pictures. This is one great advantage to having two photographers on your wedding day. Here are a handful of my favorite images from the day. Congratulations to Molly & Michael!

How I know I have the best clients....

I just want to give a quick thank you for the thank you from Manuel & Paula (see if you can follow that logic...)

I know that most of my clients are happy with the photography I provide, but it's a whole new ball game when you get a hand written thank you from someone; as well as some free Starbucks! This is how I know that I will be working with some awesome clients this year and next. They trust me to capture something different about their wedding and are genuinely happy with the work. It's great to work with people who appreciate you and I just want to humbly say "Your Welcome" to Manuel and Paula for the free Starbucks (even though you are contributing to my habit.... :) ).

Paula & Manuel : Quad City Engagement Pictures

Engagement pictures have always baffled me....

I always fall back into providing that nice clean standard image for the couples newspaper engagement, but I'm so bored with that shot. I feel like sometimes when I've doing engagement shoots it's the same images with different people. As a photographer, I want to push the envelope. I want to be creative. I want to make people stop and say "DANG, did you do that? How, where?..." I'm still new in my career but I'm already bored with providing the same photography everyone else does. I want clients to choose me because my style stands out and no one else would take the same shot at the same location as I would.

I've always got these ideas I wanna try but never have time to put the shoots together. I'm also worried that people won't like the images if I do something different.Before a shoot I go back and forth in my head going over what I can talk about with my clients to make them more comfortable; what locations we are going to shoot and what angles and lighting I'm going to try to hit. I always have 1 or 2 shots that I want to try that are a little different but they usually end up getting scratched due to time constraints.

I finally said enough was enough and I had to try something different. Over the year I've started to sway more towards an "editorial" look vs. the portrait look. I've always wanted to experiment with this and I finally got my chance.

I could tell when I first sat down with Manuel and Paula that they would be a fun couple to work with. I have the pleasure of shooting their wedding next year but knew after meeting them they would be great subjects for some shots I've been thinking about lately. I brought up the subject of doing an engagement shoot and they were so so with the idea. I told them an idea I had for a mountain bike picture and it intrigued them a little. I explained a little more what I had in mind and they were all in. I told them I would give them a break on pricing if I could dictate the whole shoot, and well, here are the shots....











As photographers, we should always be progressing. I'm very pleased I was able to pull off some of the images I have here. (BTW - There is no way I could have done this shoot without my awesome assistant Louis. Thanks for lugging all my crap that night and wrestling a 60" umbrella in high winds... :) ). I am happy with these images and it just encourages me to step out of my comfort zone and try something new again. New ideas are already  stirring up. Any takes?...... :)

Check out some more of their images on my Facebook page here.

Lee & Kevin : Quad Cities Wedding

For this last wedding I had the great pleasure of working with Jeff Wros from Photo Uncommon.

I was the "second shooter" for the wedding. Basically, I get to hang out, shoot what I see and don't have to carry the stress of having to get "the shot". It allows me to experiment a little and try some new angles and techniques and see if they work and then incorporate them into my own wedding shoots (if they work). It's not often that I get to second shoot a wedding anymore. Now a days I'm ordering my assistant around and freaking out that all the pressure isn't on my shoulders for the day (and what a relief because of what happened with this wedding)!

I had just purchased some new equipment and been sitting on bench for a month due to the birth of my little girl. Jeff said he had a fun wedding and that I was more than welcome to tag along with for the day and get some time on the new camera body. Before any of my equipment rolls into a wedding with me, it's put through the paces and I shoot the heck out of it so I know it inside and out.

The freaking thing died! Plain out stopped working and turned into a really expensive paper weight before my eyes!

I don't know if I was more mad (really expensive bum camera), freaking out (bride is walking in the room in 10 minutes) or relieved (I had a backup camera and once again, this was Jeff's wedding not mine..:) ). Any working professional should walk on site with at least 1 backup camera, sometimes you never know whats gonna happen, even with new equipment.

Anyway, even with all the frustrations of the day, I was still able to pull out some good shots for Jeff to deliver to the bride along with his usual. Thanks for letting me tag along Jeff!

Leah's Newborn Pictures

I now have a very new found respect for newborn and baby photographers.....

I took some time today to do some newborn / baby pictures of my little girl. I'm learning all kinds of new things about babies (screaming, crying, smells, ect). They could really care less that you are taking their picture, little lone smile and be an easy client....

It was a little tricky but I think I finally figured it out towards the end. It was much harder than I thought but I'm really happy with the results and it's made me ponder opening up a new branch of Inskeep Photography to focus on baby portraits... but I'm not sure I want the added stress right now....

Here are a few of my favorites below...

The Birth of Leah Ruth

July 20th 2010 at 5:30 p.m. my life was changed forever.

My first little girl, Leah Ruth Inskeep was born into this world. I never understood when people said that the happiest day of their life was when their child was born. I think the only way to really understand that is to experience it yourself.

I've taken this entire month off but my schedule gets hecka crazy starting next month with wedding season going into full swing.

I documented the entire experience and put the pictures into a Facebook gallery to share them with family and friends. You can see the pictures here.

Rachel & Chris : Davenport Wedding at Renwick Mansion

[caption id="attachment_87" align="aligncenter" width="695" caption="I love the simplicity of this picture. This photograph is an example that you don't need to get complicated to have a wonderful portrait."][/caption]

Rachel and Chris's wedding was very unique and ton of fun to shoot. Renwick Mansion in Davenport is an awesome location and I can't wait to shoot there again!

We didn't run around to location after location taking pictures. They truly wanted me to document there day, how it happened. We spend roughly 10-15 minutes doing some artistic portraits of the two of them. The rest of the day I was on my own to document their day the way I saw it through my camera. I think the results speek for themselves!

Here are a couple of my favorite images. More images from their wedding can be found on my website here.

Casey & Bruce : Quad Cities Wedding

A small picturesque ceremony in Geneseo with a fall-themed reception set in the hills of TPC golf course. The cozy ceremony was at Muzzy Chappel in Geneseo, IL. Although not much room in the chapel, it was very intimate and you could feel the energy as Casey and Bruce exchanged their vows.

As I was following Casey and Bruce from the ceremony to the reception, their car did a sudden stop and pulled off the road in the middle of no where. My first though was car trouble... maybe a flat tire...? Wait, will I get to take a picture of a bride changing a tire in a wedding dress...? NOPE! Next thing I know we're trotting off into the corn field to get some amazing portraits!

To view more images from their wedding, see the gallery on my website.