BILLINGS MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – DOWNTOWN BILLINGS FROM THE LOWER RIMS

Every now and then I see a sunset breaking and run up the hill in time to make a few pictures. When I do, my favorite subject is downtown Billings. It looks so cozy and quaint from this distance. You can’t tell if the buildings are empty or not. You can’t see how dirty or clean it is, or how many homeless people there are. Billings is more than just a pretty city on the banks of the Yellowstone, but sometimes it’s nice to remember that we are blessed with geography if nothing else. My wife and I live very close to the rims and we love to explore the “no mans land” on the Eastern side of the rims with our dogs. Billings has so much to offer, we are fortunate to make this place our home.

Paul Bellinger photography is a full service portrait studio in downtown Billings Montana. We specialize in wedding and portrait photography, please visit www.paulbellinger.com for weddings, and www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for portraits and commercial photography.

Tips for photographers: This was one of those, “Wow it’s going to be a great sunset,” grab your camera and run kind of shoots. I didn’t bring a tripod, a sign I was more interested in the adventure of hiking on the rugged cliffs behind my house than I was in making serious pictures. But I guess when you’re a professional photographer every photo is serious. This image is a composite of four exposures, blended into a panorama in photoshop. This is a crop from an even wider view. I made the exposures with a Sony A7ii and Zeiss Loxia 35mm.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – SNOWY MOUNTAIN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

I had a blast running around in the Beartooth Mountains with Elizabeth and Scott for their engagement session in East Rosebud! I’m always inspired when my clients have as much love and respect for nature as I do and want to head the mountains for any kind of photography session. But East Rosebud is a special treat because it is truly one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I have traveled far and wide, and seen many of the most famously beautiful mountain ranges, and I can tell you that East Rosebud is as pretty as any of them. Thank you Elizabeth and Scott for a wonderful day in the mountains!

It’s the end of the year and it’s been a busy one at Paul Bellinger Photography. Thank you to everyone who helped us make 2015 amazing and we are looking forward to another outstanding year in 2016! If you’re getting married in 2016 and looking for a great Montana wedding photographer please visit www.paulbellinger.com for more information on booking. Our studio is located in downtown Billings Montana and we travel worldwide for weddings.

Tips for photographers: This picture was made with the Sony A7ii and Zeiss Loxia 35mm f/2 at 3.2, 1/320 and ISO 400. My standard tip for shooting in the mountains is to use a long lens, so this is an interesting case where I broke that rule. I usually shoot with a 70-200 lens most of the time when I’m around the mountains because I like the way the compression pulls the mountains in and makes them look gigantic. But when you get this far up East Rosebud creek you’re IN the mountains and a long lens will only let you show a single peak or two. In order to show the epic environment around us I had to opt for a wider lens. Notice however that I did not go crazy wide with a 14mm or anything like that, which would have made the mountains look much smaller and further away. There were some “standing in on a rock with nearly freezing white water around you” considerations to factor in as well, so it can be difficult to use the long lens when you don’t get to stand anywhere you want.

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 – PRETTIER IN MONTANA

Wow, there’s probably no prettier combination than a stunning bride in the mountains! Add in a gorgeous dress and the perfect bouquet and it’s a masterpiece. I’m very lucky to live in beautiful Montana, it seems like everything is prettier here! Of course I’m spoiled to also be surrounded by great people, Montanans and otherwise, that give me the opportunity to photograph them in epic locations. McKenzie and Tyrel’s Beartooth wedding at Emerald Lake was about as epic as you can get. They tied the knot with an intimate wedding on the dock surrounded by their closest family and Montana’s tallest mountains. This is just a sneak peek of the beautiful bride and her bouquet from Katie at Mac’s Floral, who totally outdid herself I must say. Stay tuned for more to come from this Beartooth Mountain wedding. For more information about my wedding photography please visit the Montana wedding photography website by clicking here.

I am lucky to be one of Montana’s most sought after wedding photographers and I am indebted to my amazing clients for trusting me to make the wedding artwork that will become one of their most cherished family heirlooms. The pictures that I make at weddings will be looked at for generations, perhaps forever, and that gives me a great responsibility as a wedding photographer that I take very seriously. In return I give my everything for each and every wedding. I will go anywhere and do anything to make the artwork of your dreams. How do you dream of being photographed? www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – RIHANNA IN LONDON

I had the good fortune of going to London recently for a honeymoon shoot as part of Carrie and Jake’s wedding photography. We call it a honeymoon session, or a day after session, and we offer worldwide travel for these kinds of shoots, but this post is not about that. As usual, no matter where I go or why I am there, I always like to make personal photos along the way. I made these one night when my wife and I were at Picadilly Circus, scouting some nighttime locations for the upcoming shoot. I really enjoy shooting at night and searching out light to work with. I noticed these new ads for Rihanna’s Puma campaign and thought they would make a nice soft light for a night time portrait if the opportunity should arise. As I was looking around at all of the lighting options, soaking in this busy corner at night, I made a few frames of people passing by this Rihanna ad. Looking at the photos later found it striking that three different women all had similar hairstyles and were each carrying a purse on their shoulder in the same way. I think they go well together! And of course I’m a huge Rihanna fan.

Tips for photographers: Keep your camera with you all the time. Countless photographers have given me this advice, countless times, but it never fails to amaze me that the second I don’t have my camera something catches my eye to photograph. I have recently started switching from Canon to Sony for this very reason: my Canon is too big of a beast to carry around casually and I found myself shooting on my iphone more than anything. When I saw these new smaller mirrorless camera bodies for the first time I knew it was the answer to my problem of leaving my camera behind, and I quickly settled in on Sony as the brand of choice, specifically the A7 series of full frame cameras and Zeiss lenses. Now I have a very small kit with the Sony A7ii and a few Zeiss lenses that can go anywhere with me, and it’s the only camera I carry when I’m travelling overseas. Often I will simply grab my A7ii with a 35mm on it and go. I’m not saying you should switch cameras, but just do whatever it takes to keep a camera with you and be ready for pictures when they happen in front of you.

I am Paul Bellinger, one of Montana’s much sought after wedding photographers. My studio is located in downtown Billings Montana, and I am available for any wedding destination around the world. I put everything I have into making the wedding pictures of your dreams, and I’ll go anywhere and do anything to make those dreams come true. From the mountains to the islands, there is no wedding destination too far or too difficult for me and my team of wedding photographers. Get in touch with us at www.paulbellinger.com

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 PHOTOGRAPHER IN ALASKA – FLAT TIRE VIEW FROM ALASKA

If you’re going to drive to Alaska there is pretty much only one way in and one way out, and that’s the Alaska Highway from the Yukon Territories of Canada. After passing the huge St. Elias Mountains of Kluane National Park in the Yukon, you’re greeted by the Nutzotin Mountains just across the border in Alaska (pictured here). If it’s a clear day you can also see the massive Wrangell Mountains further in the distance behind the Nutzotin, but they weren’t visible when we arrived. Be warned, the Alaska highway is pretty rough for the last few hours in the Yukon and flat tires are common. We managed to make it just across the border into Alaska before getting our only flat tire of the 14 day trip. It was sprinkling and there was a beautiful sunset on the horizon, so naturally I photographed the sunset while my esteemed colleague, driver and cousin Chris (aka C-Unit) changed the tire. We were in need of a break from the road anyway and I ended up making a few of my favorite photos from the entire trip, so thank you tire gods! And thanks to Chris for being the craziest and best driver a photographer could ever hope to have.

Tips for photographers: This is a three image panorama that I photographed handheld from the road. I know that sounds bad right?! How lazy! But I’ve increasingly turned into a roadside landscape photographer, using a long lens to pick out landscapes from the road like a poacher dropping big game from a truck. Wow that doesn’t sound like a good comparison! We were on the road for two weeks during this trip, and we did a lot of run and gun, pull over and shoot stops. I know this is not a recipe for success. To make a great landscape photo usually requires hard work to get to an epic location, and then patience to wait for the light, two things that take a lot of time that we did not have. So what was the end result? Well I made at least one good photo this way, and I’m sure I’ll find a few others, but those are far and few between. Chances are, if you’re shooting from the road, with no tripod, you’re not going to make anything very special unless you get lucky.

I am Montana based wedding and portrait photographer Paul Bellinger. I love to travel and our motto at Paul Bellinger Photography is that we will go anywhere and do anything for our clients. There is no wedding too big, too small, or too far for us to travel for, and we’ll gladly make your portrait on top of a mountain as well. Please visit www.paulbellinger.com for destination weddings in Montana or anywhere in the world, and www.portraits.paulbellinger.com for our portrait studio in Billings Montana.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – ROMANTIC MOUNTAIN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

McKenzie and Tyrel are having a mountain wedding and wanted a mountain engagement session to go with it. Since they are getting married in West Rosebud, we did the engagement shoot in East Rosebud. Both sides have beautiful views of the Beartooth mountains that can rival mountain views anywhere. The Eastern side of the Beartooths are kind of a Billings area secret paradise that not many tourists visit. The motto of the nearest town, Roscoe Montana, is: “Where the hell is Roscoe?” How cool is that?! I can’t wait to get back and spend a few days in the Beartooths for McKenzie and Tyrel’s mountain wedding in October!

Tips for brides: It’s time to start booking your wedding photographer for 2016 weddings in Montana. We typically book about a 8-12 months in advance of a wedding and the fall seems to be the booking season when a lot of the best wedding days get booked. Because the wedding season is short in Montana, summer Saturdays go fast, and it’s not just the best photographers, but all of the best wedding venues and wedding vendors book up early in Montana. Personally I find the fall to be the most beautiful time of year in Montana, so you might think about avoiding the crowds and push your luck into September, October and even November for a more adventurous Montana wedding. Some vendors may even offer a discount for booking a wedding date in the fall/winter/spring. It also seems like we have a shortage of wedding venues in the Billings Montana area, so I highly recommend thinking outside of the box like McKenzie and Tyrel have, and having a mountain wedding, because there is no shortage of mountain meadows that would make for a unique and jaw dropping wedding location. Please contact us if you’re interested! We love mountain weddings at Paul Bellinger Photography! www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – CARRIE AND JAKE’S BLACK TIE WEDDING IN BILLINGS MONTANA

Congratulations to Carrie and Jake on their black-tie wedding in Billings Montana! Carrie did a wonderful job planning the big day and it went off without a hitch, bringing together two awesome families in a celebration of love and the start of a new family. I love the contrast in this image between the rustic scene on Jake's family farm and their black tie look. I am blessed that they shared this most special of occasions with me and the team at Paul Bellinger Photography. Thank you Carrie, Jake and all of the family and friends that helped make the day so special!

Thank you also to my team of incredible photographers Jenna Masters, Trevan Hiersche for your hard work. For Montana wedding photographer Paul Bellinger please visit www.paulbellinger.com.

I can’t wait to meet up with Carrie and Jake for a photo shoot on their honeymoon in London! I’ll be in London for 7 days, and of course I’ll be photographing everything. We travel a lot at Paul Bellinger Photography and you can follow along on instagram by following @PJBellinger or click the link: https://instagram.com/pjbellinger/

MONTANA PHOTOGRAPHER – THE BIG SKY AT NIGHT

Montana is an amazing place, and as impressive as the big sky is in the day, it’s even more magical at night. I recently made a huge road trip to Alaska, and despite seeing so many beautiful places in Alaska, Yukon Territories and British Columbia, Montana was still impressive when we returned home. After watching the sun go down outside of Glacier National Park, we stopped near Belt Montana to view the Milky Way and make a few pictures. We really wanted to make some star photos on our trip but it became more and more difficult the further North we went, because the sun doesn’t really go down very far in the summer and there is too much light in the sky to see the stars. But Montana saved the day on our last night of the road trip and gave us a spectacular view of the Milky Way practically from the highway. Wow, it’s awesome to call Montana home!

Tips for photographers: Photographing the night sky is fun and it’s something every photographer should go out and do sometime. There is a lot written about astrophotography and you can get the impression that it’s difficult, or requires special gear and techniques. I found it pretty easy, even using pretty bad glass for night photography. I made this photo with a Canon 17-40 f/4 L lens and Sony A7ii camera body. A faster lens, f/2.8 or wider, would be ideal for night photography, but I was able to make do with f/4 because the sky was especially bright in Montana. The best tip I can give is to use a really heavy duty tripod that won’t blow around in the wind during 5-15 second exposures and is easy to operate in the dark. It helps a lot if your tripod is really tall too, so you can see what you’re doing without bending over all night. More than anything, just go out and try it with whatever gear you have, it’s a lot of fun!

I am Montana wedding photographer Paul Bellinger and I love to travel for weddings. I go anywhere and do anything for our clients. There is no wedding too big or too small, and no wedding destination that is too remote or extreme for us. My studio is located in downtown Billings Montana and it would be my honor to photograph your Montana wedding or destination wedding anywhere in the world. Visit www.paulbellinger.com for dramatic, fine art wedding photography as epic as your love story.

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 – KALLI AND BRIDGER’S FAIRTYTALE WEDDING IN BILLINGS MONTANA

Kalli and Bridger’s big day went off like a fairytale complete with prince charming, a princess and a castle. It was a big wedding at St. Thomas and featured some of the best wedding vendors in the state of Montana under the helm of coordinator Patricia Clark. But like most fairytales, at the center of this big day was something incredibly simple: a true and passionate love. I have had the honor of being able to spend a couple of weeks with Kalli and Bridger, and I find their young love and positive outlook on life to be so refreshing and so simple. They’re in love and nothing is going to stop them! Thank you Kalli, Bridger and all of their family and friends for sharing your precious time with me!

Thank you to all of the vendors that made this amazing wedding into the fairytale that it was.

Designer/Coordinator – Patricia Clark (visit Pat’s website here for links to all vendors)

Floral – Mac’s Floral

Decorator – Moments in Time

Hair and Makeup – Sammie Semmler

Lighting – DiA Events

Wedding cake – Jayne’s Signature Sweets

Rentals – Party Time Plus

Venue – St. Thomas Catholic Church and Lonewolf Energy

Ceremony music – Stillwater Symphony

Reception band – Bucky Beaver Band

Carriage/Limo/Trolley – Total Transportation

Thank you also to my team of incredible photographers Jenna Masters, Trevan Hiersche for your hard work. For Montana wedding photographer Paul Bellinger please visit 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

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – CLIFF SIDE ROMANCE IN MAUI, WEDDING IN BILLINGS MONTANA

Kalli and Bridger’s big day is only one week away and I’m excited to start celebrating with them this week as the bridal party arrives for bachelor and bachelorette parties, a bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, the wedding, the day after brunch, and finally a honeymoon session at Disney World! It’s going to be a busy week of celebration and I can’t wait to photograph all of it!

Before things get too hectic I want to share a few photos from our cliff side adventure in Maui Hawaii. Kalli and Bridger are Montanans, so they had no problem getting up before sunrise, driving 30 minutes North to the rocky coast and hiking to this location that I had pre-scouted a few days before. The rocky shore is really beautiful with waves crashing everywhere and crazy cliffs. This place is known as “the blowhole,” named after a hole in the rocks that shoots water into the sky when waves crash below. But we were there to see the beautiful seascape at sunrise and waves crashing behind a heart shaped hole in the rock. Mother nature rewarded our hard work and we have these amazing photos to remember the even more amazing experience we had. We got lost hiking back to the Jeep but that’s another story!  See more of our Maui adventures by clicking here.

I specialize in making heirloom quality wedding artwork that is as unique as your love story. I am based in Billings Montana, but I am available for romantic adventures worldwide, including engagement sessions, weddings, and honeymoon sessions. From the beaches to the mountains, it would be my honor to photograph your wedding in any destination. www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – MOUNTAIN WEDDING SEASON

I’ve been spending some time in the Beartooth Mountains, and I’m getting excited for mountain weddings this summer! The weather is still too cold and unpredictable for typical mountain weddings, but more daring brides and grooms are already tying the knot in the mountains of Montana. Personally I can’t get enough of the mountains no matter what time of year it is or how bad the weather might be. Thanks to my awesome clients, I’ll be in the mountains a lot in the next few months with mountain engagements and weddings throughout the summer. Stay tuned for a lot more mountain action on the blog soon!

This photo is an outtake from a bridal fashion editorial I did last spring in the mountains with an outstanding team led by Katie Bennett and Cassie LaGreca.  Billings Montana is so lucky to have these awesome ladies raising the bar for all things weddings, floral, and design.  Full credits below.

Photographer: Paul Bellinger

Model: Hayley Anderson 

Styling: Cassie LaGreca Better To Gather Events

Flowers: Katie Bennett Mac's Floral

Dress: Belle en Blanc

Hair and Makeup: Kendra Halvorsen

Venue: White Deer Ranch, Vacation Rentals

Rentals: Party Time Plus

Assistant: Kaushik "Babu" Mukherjee

I am Montana wedding photographer Paul Bellinger.  I specialize in dramatic, fine art wedding photography that you would be proud to call your first family heirloom.  I shoot weddings large and small, from the beaches to the mountains, and it would be my honor to photograph your wedding.  Please visit www.paulbellinger.com for more information.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – MOUNTAIN WEDDING LOVE!

It’s heating up around here and that means we’re gearing up to head for the mountains this spring and summer.  Reports are coming in that roads are opening up, giving us easy access to beautiful mountains for spring engagement sessions.  I can’t wait to get up to East and West Rosebud to see what the winter has left behind for us.  This photo is from Melissa and Jeremey’s beautiful wedding at Emerald Lake, West Rosebud that was featured in Montana Bride Magazine.  I can’t get enough of this area of the Beartooth mountains and will scout the area several times to prepare for a season of shooting up there.  I am so grateful to be able to call this beautiful land my home and spend the summer documenting mountain love stories!

I am Montana wedding photographer Paul Bellinger and I photograph mountain weddings and destination weddings of all shapes and sizes, from the mountains to the beaches.  I specialize in dramatic, fine art wedding photography that is worthy of being called your first family heirloom.  I am located in Billings Montana and available for any wedding destination.  It would be my honor to photograph your wedding.  www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – #TBT MAUI ENGAGEMENT SESSION

This is one of my favorite photos of Kalli and Bridger engulfed by the lush colors of Maui, Hawaii.  I love the eye contact and expression from Kalli, she looks like the goddess of the garden!  Maui is filled with flowers and romance, so these two madly in love amidst the flowers just sums up Maui perfectly for me.  Of course Maui is also all about beaches, seafood and cold beverages, but that’s too much for one photo!  Thank you Kalli and Bridger for an amazing time in Maui, and I can’t wait for the wedding in June!  See more from our trip to Maui here.

Looking at this photo I’m feeling blessed to be a Montana wedding photographer right now!  I’m very thankful that my first year in Montana has treated me so well.  I was lucky to photograph some amazing weddings and travel to many beautiful locations around Montana and beyond.  Thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this point and I look forward to what this year has in store for us.  www.paulbellinger.com.

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – BRUSH STROKES

Photographers do it with light!  This is downtown Billings Montana at night, photographed through my awesome studio windows.  The lights shining through the old school windows in my studio looked like brush strokes to me.  I’ve had painting on the mind lately, hanging out with painters, shooting paintings in the studio, and painting some new backgrounds.  I made this photo after 2AM as I finished shooting a painting in the studio.  It was a long day, and I was bleeding thanks to running my face into an umbrella pole on a lightstand.  It was a scary cut because I barely missed poking my eye out (my right eye though, which is less important than my left J).  But all of that and my bed calling me, and I still couldn’t pass up this pretty light.  It’s during moments like this that I am so thankful to be doing what I love and am passionate about.  I can never get enough photography.

First and foremost, I am a wedding photographer.  I shoot a lot of things, but they all help me to become a better photographer and I put every ounce of skill that I gain into my weddings.  Everything I shoot is like pre-season for wedding season.  Despite my specialization in wedding photography, I don’t shoot a large number of weddings.  I try to shoot 10 or less each year and the reason is because I give each wedding my full artistic attention and every last bit of effort I have.  I go to great lengths for my wedding clients, sometimes traveling around the world with them, or hiking to the tops of the earth.  There is no wedding too big, too small, or too remote for me.  Each one is special and each one deserves my full creative force, with nothing routine or ordinary about the way I work.  I’ll never be burned out, I’ll never be tired from the wedding I shot the day before (because I don’t shoot more than one wedding a week), my creativity will always be at 100% and I’ll never give anything but my absolute best effort.  That much I can guarantee.  www.paulbellinger.com

MONTANA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER – SPRING IN THE MOUNTAINS

Spring is here for Billings and the mountains aren’t far behind us.  It’s time for summer Brides to start putting the final pieces of the puzzle together and finish planning their upcoming weddings.  For Montana wedding vendors it’s kind of the pre-season, where we start to have a few early season weddings while we gear up for the summer wedding season.  Many wedding vendors are booked entirely for 2015 at this point, so any brides still making decisions had better hurry!  For brides looking for wedding design, planning, rentals, or florals, I’d highly recommend the team that brought together this shoot, with Katie Bennett and Cassie LaGreca at the helm.  These two ladies are raising the bar for Billings Montana weddings and we are lucky to have them here.  Thanks to everyone who made this shoot possible.

Photographer: Paul Bellinger

Model: Hayley Anderson 

Styling: Cassie LaGreca Better To Gather Events

Flowers: Katie Bennett Mac's Floral

Dress: Belle en Blanc

Hair and Makeup: Kendra Halvorsen

Venue: White Deer Ranch, Vacation Rentals

Rentals: Party Time Plus

Assistant: Kaushik "Babu" Mukherjee

Tips for brides: Get your planning done early for a stress free wedding.  If you’re a summer 2015 bride, hopefully you’re already finishing up your wedding planning and putting the final touches in place.  If not, or if your “to do list” is starting to get overwhelming, now is the time to call in the pros to help you out.  Professional wedding designers, coordinators and planners can get you back on track for your wedding.  They are well worth the peace of mind they bring, and without them you’ll almost certainly be stressed out on your wedding day, even if things go well, and that’s not how you want to look back and remember your day.  If you’re a DIY bride and moving forward alone, my best advice is to temper your expectations and not be too hard on yourself for expecting perfection on your first attempt to create a wedding.  Even pros with decades of experience make mistakes every now and then, so don’t expect you will get it perfect on your first try.  About 24 hours before your wedding day you need to just let go of the reins and enjoy one of the greatest events in your life as it begins to unfold (and let your family, especially your mother enjoy it too, without having to do a bunch of work).  Spend time with your family and friends that have come to see you and relish every moment of it.  Because when the wedding is over, it’s the feelings you had on your wedding day that you will remember, and you want it to be all love and friendship, with no stress.

For more wedding photography posts and tips for brides click here.

www.paulbellinger.com

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.