James — James Studio Photography | Madison Wisconsin Wedding Photography

Orpheum Theater in Madison Wisconsin

September 7, 2010 By James Leave a Comment

The Orpheum Theater in Madison is a historic treasure. It is more than 80 years old and continues to have its original French Renaissance interior. According to the Orpheum Theater web site, the theater once held 2,400 seats! This makes it the largest theater in Madison. It currently holds 1,700 seats and is still an active movie theater and restaurant. The Orpheum had many stars appear there prior to it becoming a movie theater, restaurant and wedding venue; for example, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, Sonny & Cher, and Johnny Cash all performed there.

I am shooting a wedding there on September 18, 2010. I came with my associate, Paul, who appears in a few of the pictures. The following are some of the pictures I took.

Though the theater is fairly dark, with off-camera flash I am still able to get some well-lit images.

With my 50 mm f1.4 lens I expect to get some great shots during the wedding which have a shallow depth of field.

This is a nice picture of Paul.

The lobby area has been restored and looks beautiful.

There are lots of very cool details along the stairway.

Next we walked over to the Overture Center and looked around. We were given a quick tour by Jean, the Wedding Coordinator. The following was taken of the Promenade Lounge.

Here is another view of the Overture Center Promenade Lounge. With all the large windows and the huge skyligh,t there is plenty of natural light for the whole area.

Filed Under: Blog, Daily Photos Tagged With: Madison Historic Theater, Madison Wedding Venues, Micheal Herman, Orpheum Theater in Madison Wisconsin

St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff and the Double Tree Hotel in Madison

September 5, 2010 By James Leave a Comment

Kalena Hensy and Timothy Vierus were married at St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, Wisconsin August 28, 2010. This is a very pretty church only about 10 minutes outside of Madison. It has a beautiful exterior brick and viberant stained glass windows throughout.

The following picture was taken in the getting-ready room. You can see another sample of the stained glass windows, which makes for a wonderful photographic background.

I hung up Kalena’s dress and set up her shoes and jewelry for some creative shots. Then I saw this activity out of the corner of my eye. A bridesmaid was applying hair spray to Kalena. I was able to capture the brief cloud of spray even though the focus was not on Kalena.

Kalena Getting Ready

Outside the church I got some shots of Tim with his groomsmen.

Here one can see some of the beauty and ornate character of the church. It is a beautiful sanctuary.

The following is a shot of the wedding party from the balcony of the church.

Tim & groomsmen during the ceremony

Here they are lighting the unity candle. I got this shot from the vantage point of the balcony, which gave me a clear view. It is very helpful when a church has one.

After the ceremony we headed over to Union Memorial Terrace on the University campus. This is a nice way to get everyone in the shot and it looks a little different. To get the shot I am laying on my back using my 5D Mark II full frame camera and a 24 to 105 mm lens. One has be have a pretty wide lens to get this to work (having a full frame camera helps a lot too).

Tim & Kalena wedding party in a circle

One of my favorite shots to do with each newly wedded couple is to shots of them out of focus while the rings are sharply in focus. It is also nice to get a shot like this and keep the blue sky blue and the faces well lit.

Next we went to the Capitol. I recommended that we get this shot from State Street so that the whole building could be seen. With some basic instructions on how to do the dip, we got this photo. Later I noticed at the reception that Tim went back to practicing the dip. It works very well for pictures.

In this photo a pedestrian is eating his lunch while all this activity is going on in the middle of the road. I think it’s funny.

Tim & Kalena dipping in front of the Capitol

The reception was held at the Double Tree Inn on University Avenue.

At the end of the evening, after the special dances and traditional fun and games, we went outside to get a few more creative shots.

This was one of several poses using a slow shutter speed. It requires the couple to be very still in order to keep the focus on them very sharp. There are cars in the background creating an interesting look.

Tim & Kalena at the DoubleTree Inn with cars

Filed Under: Blog, Weddings Tagged With: Double Tree Inn Madison, Kalena Hensy and Timothy Vierus, Kalena Hensy Wedding, Madison Wedding Photographer, St. Marys of Pine Bluff, Timothy Vierus, Wedding pictures WI Capitol

St. Bernard’s Ceremony and Hilton Gardens Reception

September 3, 2010 By James Leave a Comment

Heather Beard and Clayton Lautenslager were married August 21, 2010 at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Middleton, Wisconsin. I served as photographer and my associate, Paul, shot the video for their wedding.

Now from the picture below you can probably tell this was a pretty stiff crowd to work with. No, not really. The guys enjoyed showing a little leg. One of the guys thought I should reduce my fee for them doing this shot. Well, that is not going to happen, but I am glad that they were willing to give this a try. This photo was taken using my 50 mm f1.4 lens which provides a shallow depth of field. It puts the groom’s leg in focus while the others’ legs are gradually out of focus.

This was a really attractive location outside the church for the formal pictures. This is Heather with her parents.

St. Bernard’s sanctuary is gorgeous. This shot was taken from a fair distance back, but looks close up and sharp. It is because I was using the 70-200 mm image stabilized lens.

After the ceremony and a few more pictures at the church, we went to the capitol. Would you believe that about an hour before the following photo was taken it was raining? It is true. But gratefully, it cleared up very quickly.

I like to get a really good kiss picture in front of the capitol. Heather and Clay were very cooperative, so this is just one of the good ones.

A polarizing filter allows me to get those deep colors. It provides great blue hues in the sky as well as nice warm skin tones on my subjects. This is true even though the sun is shining its brightest in the middle of the afternoon.

Coordinating a good bridal party jump is always fun. It is easier when everyone makes a giant leap in the air like this group did. The groomsman on the end was the ham in this crowd. He added some spice to the group pictures. Everyone did a great jump, and I appreciate their efforts!

We also took time to get lots of great photos of just Heather and Clayton.

The reception was at the Hilton Garden Hotel in Middleton. It is very nice location for receptions. There is plenty of space for a few hundred guests and there are also several nice places to shoot couples’ shots both inside and out.

This shot was set up, but you wouldn’t know it. It was tricky to get the right angle and distance, but it was worth it.

Outside the Hilton Garden Hotel that night was a beautiful blue sky and the moon just overhead. Heather noticed it first, so I will give her credit for this picture.

This was one of the final pictures of the evening. I took the opportunity to get the wedding party and a few other wondering souls to be part of the background and cheer while Heather and Clayton follow my instructions. This is what came of it.

Filed Under: Blog, Daily Photos, Weddings Tagged With: Heather Beard and Clayton Lautenslager wedding, Hilton Gardens Reception, Middleton Wisconsin wedding, Saint Bernards wedding Middleton Wisconsin

DeForest ceremony and Crown Plaza reception in Madison Wisconsin

September 3, 2010 By James Leave a Comment

On July 17, 2010 near Deforest, Wisconsin, Keirsta Mickelson and Brandon Storm were married in the Spring Prairie Lutheran Church by pastor Sylvia Lee-Thompson. I found Keirsta to be a cheerful, flexible bride who was totally excited about her special day. Brandon was a gentleman watching out for his new bride. It was fun to watch them interact with each other.

Keirsta’s dad was a goof off. Here he is paying Brandon off just before the wedding. Of course Brandon was glad to oblige his offer. No, he didn’t keep the money. By the way, Keirsta really enjoyed this picture and included the picture in their album.

An hour or so later Brandon and Keirsta sealed the deal as they exchanged vows. This shot was taken from the back of the church using my Canon 7D camera with the 70 – 200 mm image stablized lens. It provides a nice, crisp image with the background nicely blurred.

I like this photo because it is just a little off center, a little tilted and from a low position.

This photograph was taken after the ceremony. One of the family members suggested and set up this pose. She said that it was done for her wedding and she loved it. I agree that it is a very nice pose and I will use it in the future. I do enjoy getting good ideas from both the young and the more mature participants.

This shot is a James Studio staple. But it is a tricky shot to get since the couple needs to hold the rings out as far as they can while positioning them so that their hands do not obscure their faces. Meanwhile, I need to be in the right position with the right angle and get a crisp focus on the rings while handholding a camera with along lens and doing it without moving. One could argue that this image is not as good as it could be because Brandon’s face is mostly cut off, but artistically I think it works really well.

I always love it when people in the wedding party pictures are exuberent. I love the groomsman in the air and the bridesmaid acting like a kid flying. This image was used for Keirsta and Brandon’s wedding album cover. Notice the text at the bottom of the image.

Keirsta & Brandon running

This image reveals the couples fun personality. Keirsta told me that it does a good job of capuring Brandon’s great facial expressions. That is why it is one of my favorites from their day.

Filed Under: Blog, Daily Photos, Weddings Tagged With: DeForest Lutheran Church Wedding, DeForest WI wedding, Keirsta Mickelson & Brandon Storm wedding, Madison Wisconsin wedding, Spring Prairie Lutheran Church, Sylvia Lee-Thompson

Studio Photography of 5-year-old child Dylan

August 18, 2010 By James Leave a Comment

I am on the video team at my church. A few weeks ago I was shooting with Chris during the morning worship service. It was still very early, so Chris had his son, Dylan, with him. As we were chatting, we talked about updates to my new studio on University Avenue and portrait photography of kids. A few days later Chris made arrangements to have Dylan come in with his mom, Kelly, for studio portraits. The following are some of my favorites from our session.

Dylan is showing off some of his Kung Fu moves. This could come in real handy as a Yankees Fan.

In every session I try to get unique poses and looks that I have not done before. As in the image above, it is great when people show their personality and some spontaneity. Even so, I always get the traditional poses too. Here is one with mom.

Dylan is a bright kid. He has bright eyes and lots of personality. I think the photograph below reveals some of his spunk.

Child Portrait Dylan

One of my favorite backgrounds is made of barn wood. The multi-toned wood provides an interesting character to the photograph.

Child Portrait Dylan

I like this up close look at Dylan while his legs and feet are fading in the background.

Child Portrait Dylan

I have a variety of stuffed animals in the studio. I also have a rubber chicken. As I was holding the chicken, I asked Dylan to mimic what he guessed the sound of the chicken would make. I had him do it a couple of times and then I squeezed the chicken. It does not crow or go, “Bawk, bawk”. No; it howls! This was hilarious to Dylan, which resulted in the following shot.

Family Portrait Dylan