I would say it’s a safe bet that most people know that lighting is important to photographers.  If I’m wrong, please tell me!  I’m working on a post about lighting and if no one really knows how important it is, I need to rework the introduction to that post!

However, what most people may not know is that we need to test the lighting before putting our clients in front of the camera.  I did this backwards earlier this year and ended up apologizing to my bride and groom over and over because I was taking so long!  They were extremely gracious, but Ben and I decided that we didn’t want that to happen again.  So, Ben became my official light tester :-)

Seriously, I don’t know how I shot weddings without this man before this year.  In 2010, I shot all of my weddings by myself.  I second shot for several people and most of them asked me how in the world I did weddings on my own.  But, I didn’t really know any different.  Besides, most of my weddings that year were pretty small, so it wasn’t a big deal.  This year, I shot two weddings by myself because they were a little smaller or they only needed me for a certain amount of time.  While those weddings were wonderful, I realized just how much Ben and I have learned to work together and how much I needed him there!!  Wedding days are long days.  And to be apart for that long on a Saturday or Sunday is tough.  So, for the business (and my sanity AT weddings ;-)), from here on out, Ben will be at all the weddings with me.  And we’ll be there from beginning (getting ready) to the end (departure from the reception).  And if for some reason he’s not able to be there, I’ll have a second shooter at my side.  This is a bonus for our couples as well because it means they’ll have more images AND I’ll be a little more level headed than if I were there alone!  Not to say that I wasn’t level headed at those two weddings this year, but you know what I mean!

Here are a few of my favorites of him from some of our weddings this year.  Seriously, I’m SO thankful that we get to do this together!!

Ben actually isn’t feeling well today so y’all be sure to leave him some love in the comments…

 

Ok, so he wasn’t really testing the light here, but I love this one!  This was from Joanna and Ben’s wedding this past May.

And this one??  It cracks me up. every. single. time. He was pretending to wave at people and depart from Davis and Matt’s wedding!  I love this man and his goofy side!!

Had to put one in of him in action!

This one and the one above are from Elisha and Cale’s wedding.

This one is from Ashley and Austin’s wedding.  I call it his “unintentional model pose”.  And I love it!

I love you, Ben.  Thank you for wanting to be a part of these weddings with me this year!  It is so much fun to shoot with you!