MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – A PORTRAIT STUDIO FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY

I love this portrait of Alysse and Dan on their wedding day in Bozeman Montana! A beautiful portrait is so timeless, and so powerful! Sadly, portraiture is a lost art in todays cell phone photo saturated world. So we decided to bring a portrait studio to a few weddings this summer and make some elegant portraits of our couples and their guests all dressed up and looking great. This portrait of Alysse and Dan is one of my favorites. Their wedding was at the Big Yellow Barn, so we set up the studio in one of the old stables! Adding our studio lighting with such a cool location really made for a unique set of portraits. Thank you to Alysse and Dan for an awesome wedding day and all of their family and friends for posing for us! Thanks also to Zak Jokela for assisting and second shooting this wedding with me!

The idea of a wedding day portrait studio is to make timeless portraits of the bride and groom, and their guests, looking their best, with beautiful lighting and posing from a skilled portrait photographer. It’s an elegant alternative to the wedding day photo booth. With the photo booth the concept is to look silly for snapshots (similar to cell phone photography), while our portraits are crafted for style, sophistication and a quality suitable for making printed photographs. It’s a unique experience for most guests because for most of them it will be one of the very few times they ever step into a serious portrait studio. After the wedding these portraits make great gifts for guests as well. Stay tuned to the blog for more wedding day portraits coming soon and get in touch with us at www.paulbellinger.com if you’re interested in having a portrait studio at your wedding reception.

Tips for photographers: The inspiration for setting up a nice portrait studio on location at an event came from the Vanity Fair Oscar Party portraits by Mark Seliger. I look forward to the portraits he does each year, and if you follow him on instagram you can find some behind the scenes photos and videos of the set and lighting that he uses. In this case we were limited by the size of the stable we were shooting in. We set up a large, 6-foot silver bounce umbrella in the stable next door camera left and covered it with a piece of white diffusion cloth so that it created a large soft light as our key light. The key light was just a foot or two above head height, as high as we could get it in the stable. For a fill light we used a 4-foot white bounce umbrella behind the camera to the left also above head height. By placing this light further away it creates an even fill, with little falloff compared to the key light that is closer to the subject. We also had two 4x8 foot white styrofoam reflectors out frame camera right for fill on the shadow side of the subjects. These 4x8 foot reflectors also prevented a color cast from the key light bouncing off the other side of the wooden stable.  It’s fun shooting these portraits because they have to go somewhat quickly, but yet still require thoughtful posing, so you’re working really hard and fast and for me that’s exciting.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – EPIC BOZEMAN MONTANA WEDDING

Wow, this was an awesome wedding from top to bottom. It was beautiful, unique, and so much fun for everyone in attendance. Alysse and Daniel definitely know how to throw a party in style. This is just one of the many jaw-dropping views at the Big Yellow Barn outside of Bozeman MT. Consider this a sneak peek of things to come. Special thanks to the bride and groom and all of their family and friends for being so cool, Meredith Curtin and her team for coordinating the day so wonderfully, and my army of one, Zak Jokela for shooting along side of me.

Tips for brides: This one is straight from Alysse and she coined this phrase. Instead of being "bride-zilla" just relax and be "bride-chilla"! Ha! I love that!

Paul Bellinger Photography is based in Billings Montana and specializes in epic, fine art, wedding photography. We are dedicated to making beautiful pictures and will go anywhere and do anything to make the wedding artwork of your dreams. Contact us for your destination wedding here: www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – ALYSSE AND DANIEL’S BOZEMAN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Alysse and Daniel have raised the bar on engagement sessions! They are just so badass as people that I guess they couldn’t help but have an amazing shoot at their Bozeman home surrounded by mountains and farm animals, and then topped that by heading into the Bridger mountains and a beautiful alpine lake. Thank you Alysse and Daniel for hanging with me and showing me your special spots! I can’t wait for your Bozeman wedding! Stay tuned for more from this epic shoot soon.

Awesome people in awesome locations! That should probably be our motto at Paul Bellinger Photography because our couples love going to badass locations and we will go anywhere and do anything with them to make the best wedding and engagement pictures possible. We are located in Billings Montana and offer worldwide travel for engagement sessions, destination weddings, and honeymoon sessions. www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – HYALITE CANYON BOZEMAN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Hyalite Canyon and all of its peaks, lakes, streams and waterfalls, are special for Carrie and Jake. It was their retreat while attending MSU Bozeman where they met and fell in love. Now it’s only 10 days until their wedding in Billings Montana and after that we’ll be meeting up for a shoot in London on their honeymoon. Thank you for sharing your special places and moments with us Carrie and Jake!

It’s an honor to share in people’s special places and moments and it’s something we have always been passionate about at Paul Bellinger Photography. That’s why we’re willing to go anywhere and do anything to make the images that are special for our clients, including worldwide travel. There is no wedding too large, too small, too remote, or too uncommon for us. From the beaches to the mountains, we approach every shoot with the same level of determination to make the best images possible. Being located in Billings Montana gives us special access to the mountains, and mountain weddings are a specialty for us, but we also have an airport, passports and a love for world travel. So where will your love story lead us? www.paulbellinger.com