MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – FASHION EDITORIAL OUTTAKES FEATURING THEIA

My fashion editorial for Montana Bride magazine featured an early look at spring/summer 2015 fashions from two outstanding designers, Theia and ti Adora by Alvina Valenta.  The Theia dress is featured here and it is truly something special with intricate bead work and sleek silhouette for an elegant and luxurious look.  My jaw dropped when Katalin (the stylist for this shoot and publisher of Montana Bride magazine) pulled this dress out for the shoot.  Katalin has the best eye for style in Montana, hands down, and the connections to get us these dresses straight from the New York bridal fashion runways.  We had an exceptional team for this shoot and it wouldn’t have been possible or successful without everyone on the team.  Thank you all!

See previous photos from this shoot here.

Photographer: Paul Bellinger

Styling: Katalin Green

Hair and makeup: Sydney Ross

Models: Arley Knerr and Braydon Sinclair

Dress: Theia

Hairpiece: Paris by Debra Moreland

Bowtie: Hitched Bowties

Suspenders: Jess Leather

Wedding band: Montague’s Jewelers 

Men’s Clothing: Jim’s Formal Wear

Stylist assistant: Brett Conner

Photo assistant: Zak Jokela

Location: Paul Bellinger Studio, Billings Open Studio

Tips for Brides:

There is a lot that goes into picking out the perfect wedding dress.  You want something that fits your body type, your personal style, your wedding theme, and your pocketbook.  Few people have more expertise in making sure you get all of these things and more than Katalin Green, the stylist for this shoot, publisher of Montana Bride magazine and owner of Avant Bridal, an intimate bridal boutique where you can meet with Katalin herself so she can help you pick out the perfect dress.  Get in touch with Avant Bridal on Facebook here.

Tips for photographers:

There a few different lighting techniques featured here, including natural light and studio strobe.  The first photo is lit with one large beauty dish (mola setti I believe, it’s about 3 feet wide) about 10 feet away from the models and the shadow on the background gives away the placement.  The two photos on the black background are lit with window light.  The window is closed down with the curtains so that the opening is about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide with the opening up high, above 6 feet.  This use of the window light resembles a high beauty dish (or softbox if it’s cloudy outside). The models were surrounded on three sides by black, either a wall or the black side of my V-flat reflector to eat up the light spillage (also known as negative fill) to accentuate the fall off define the shadows more.  The remaining white background photos were all lit with one light, a bare strobe about 12 feet away from the models creating a hard, edgy light that I love in black and white.

I am proud to call myself a Montana wedding photographer and I love to mix studio work with my wedding work, which usually takes place out on location.  I am always working to improve my photographic craft so that I am at my absolute best for my clients, whether it’s a wedding day or a marketing campaign.  It would be my honor to be your photographer.  Please visit http://www.paulbellinger.com for more info about my wedding photography.

BILLINGS MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – STREET PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRED BY INDIA

Travel is one of my favorite pastimes, and I was very fortunate to spend 17 days in India this winter with my family.  It was my third trip to India and it seems to get better every time I visit.  For someone who grew up in Nebraska, India is a different world to me, and I find it endlessly fascinating.  Curiosity makes for great photography and I kept my camera handy.

These photos feature my wife’s hometown, mostly at night.  Most of them were made one evening when I tagged along with my wife’s parents for a quick trip to the market.  But my favorite photo of the set was made next door to my wife’s house, in a building that was under construction.  I noticed that each day some of the workers would start little fires in the lower level to keep warm as it cooled off in the evening.  I’m not sure if they were cooking with the fires, or if they were camping out in there over night, or just using the fires to heat themselves up at the end of the day.  I never found out.  But I did stop by one day at about the right time and made a few frames.  I didn’t realize there were three people sitting around the fire until I got home and looked at the photo on my big screen.  There is a lot going on in this photo and I can’t wait to print it really large to show off all of the little details.

Thinking about going to India? 

Here are more of my thoughts about travelling to India:

DEEP BREATH

Deep Breath, Columbia MO

Big Red taking a break on the trail at Grindstone Nature Area.  Another rare black and white from me.  I guess it's getting less rare lately.  See my favorite black and white photo here.

I know shooting into the sun is usually frowned upon, and more than that, it's usually very difficult to pull off, but I couldn't resist when I saw Big Red backlit like this.  I was able to use the zone system to get the exposure just right while getting off a quick shot before Big Red caught his breath.  I employed the zone system quickly by spot metering on Big Red's face and and adjusting the exposure so that it read -1 stop.  Knowing the zone system, I knew that -1 stop exposure on Big Red's face would provide enough details so that his face can be seen while also giving me a good range of mid-tones and highlights, preserving some details in the highlights that would have been blown out if I had increased the exposure 1 stop.  With the zone system I was able to make the decision quickly and confidently, and could start to think about composition and timing the shot with his breath.

By the way, it's hard to focus when you're shooting into the sun!

Photo taken Feb 18, 2012

ANGEL BOY

Angel Boy, Columbia MO

Big Red sitting on guard in the sun at the end of our bed.  Isn't he a handsome boy?  We have lots of nicknames for Big Red and not all of them are very flattering.  But in this photo I think he resembles "Angel Boy," the nickname I use most when he's behaving like a perfect angel (very rarely used nickname).  And the light was so beautiful on him that it could have been shining down from heaven directly.  Fitting for an Angel Boy.

I really like to use natural light.  In this case I wish I would have turned up the ISO a stop or two and increased my shutter speed so I could get a sharper image handheld at this range.  But I'm quite happy with this exposure.  I have not converted many photos to black and white in recent memory and this is one of the first I've tried using Lightroom3.

Photo taken Jan 28, 2012