Best of 2019: Weddings and Elopements

WHAT a year y’all. I went through more than 15,000 edited photos for this blog post ALONE (and this year in review post is just focused on weddings and elopements!) Total, I think I took something along the lines of 50,000 images that documented 20 weddings or elopements in five states (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia) and about 30 portrait sessions. 

The venues you’ll see here are:

• Blackwater State Park

• Shenandoah National Park

• The Charleston Marriott Town Center

• J.Q. Dickenson Saltworks

• Seaman’s Barn

• Valley Roads Vineyard

• The Inn at Willow Grove

• The Charleston Courthouse

• Brix and Columns Vineyard

• Hemlock Springs

• Chanteclaire Farm

• Four Fillies Lodge

• James Monroe’s Highland

• Mount Ida Farm

• The Clay Center

• Snowshoe Resort

• The Winery at Bull Run

• Adaland Mansion

On a personal note, my husband and I went to California for vacation when I was five months pregnant and I flew to Montana solo on a girls trip two months later. My daughter was born in late September in the height of my busiest fall season to date. And throughout it all I continued working full-time as a public radio journalist. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the amazing colleagues who worked with me this season, notably Hannah of Hannah Kittle Photography who was there for many of these weddings, including associate shooting one. (Gabby of White Sails Creative also acted as an amazing associate for a wedding shortly before my due date.)

I also worked with Katherine Zell Photography, Ramble and Ridge, Amelia Schmid, Molly Moroose Photography, Lindsey Paradiso Photography, Rocha and Co, Rebekah Emily Photography, Adrianna Pearcy Photography and Lauren Webster Photography. These women are truly amazing, talented creatives and some of the images you’ll find in this post were taken from their perspective. 

I also still can’t believe that when one of my brides found out I was pregnant and wouldn’t be able to shoot her wedding, she canceled her big fall wedding and eloped in the spring instead. That gallery is one of my favorites of the year. 

Looking back at these images, I’m simultaneously proud of my work and see so many things I would have done differently both with shooting and editing. But I think that’s always the case with any creative endeavor. And is particularly true for my personality — I’m always going after getting better and honing my craft.

A few things about my selection for this post stuck out to me, though.

Although I deliver about 75 percent of my client’s images in color, I find I’m personally drawn to black and white and included many of those images in this blog.

As always, my favorite moments are the in-between ones and for 2020 I am going to work on doing an even better job at documenting the real. I guess you could call it wedding photojournalism for lack of a better term. Or “real stories, told beautifully” if my philosophy were a tagline. 

In part because of my love for real moments, one of my goals for 2019 was to improve my “detail” shots, which is where I felt like I was weakest. People > stuff after all. I’ve never been particularly drawn to still life art, but “details” are part of this work. And this year I took some of my favorite detail shots I’ve ever taken — some are included here.

I find, though, that my favorite way to photograph wedding details is in context — a ring on the finger, a veil being put on. For me, it is the human connection that makes details meaningful. 

Speaking of connection, I worked with some of the most amazing couples this year. I am so grateful that these men and women trusted me to tell their stories — it’s a charge I do not take lightly. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

XO Kara