The Gehmans | Photography Blog

The blog is back with another senior session from this Fall. We have been thoroughly enjoying this year’s Senior class… they have blessed us, and we feel so honored to be asked to step into their lives to create portraits and photographs of them.

Thanks, Whitney, for allowing us to spend a day with you, and get to know you! Have a great senior year!

According to The Bridal Association of America, the average bride invests $1505 on her wedding gown. Our thoughts are, why put it away after wearing it for just one day? Don’t put that gown away just yet! You’ve heard of “Trash the Dress”, but that’s not really how we roll. We like the idea of “rocking” the dress.  It’s a great chance to get away to some new locations, or just get a couple more shots than you were able to get on the wedding day.

A couple weeks ago, we took three couples to the Indiana Sand Dunes to Rock the Dress. One of these couples, Ryan and Krystal, had a January wedding with snow on the ground, so this was an entirely new look for them. Another couple, Nate and Janene, had a crazy thunderstorm/tornado come up on their wedding day and it chased us inside and the church lost power for a bit…. this kind of session allows them to get those shots we weren’t able to get on the wedding day.  And the third couple, Nevin and Natalie, made this the last stop of their honeymoon! Congratulations again, you two. :)

Chuck and Jean commissioned us this summer for this photo session in honor of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. The location was their 315 acre farm, where they had a host of rescued animals and the most amazing views the country has to offer.  We had a wonderful evening with them talking about the joys and struggles of life, and we left their home that night feeling inspired and alive and realized that all of our experiences… good or bad… are God’s way of either helping us grow or equipping us to help others who are going through similar things.

This weekend was a real pleasure for me, as I watched one of my best friends and band mates get married. Nevin and I have been playing music together for 7 years or so now, and he was the last of the 4 of us to get married. So, congrats pal!

But over the course of a week or two, Jodi and I worked with Nevin and Natalie to produce something extra special for them… an Engagement film.  You’ll be hearing two songs in the film, both of which were written by Nevin for Natalie, the second of which was the song he sang to her when he proposed!

We have been hanging on to this video for two or three months, waiting until after the wedding to show it to you all. So, without further ado, here is Nevin and Natalie!

Engagement Motion is another area of our video work that is fairly new to The Gehmans. We’re always looking for ways to incorporate story in the images, and film is such a great tool in storytelling. We throughly enjoy hearing couple’s tell their story of who they are, how they met, and it’s so much fun to work with them creatively to capture those stories in images and film.

You too have a unique story.  We would love to help you tell it!

Here’s another great senior we were blessed to work with this summer… Meet Erin!

It’s been a pleasure working with Adam and Nicole over the past couple of years, as we enjoyed being able to capture their engagement session and their wedding last summer.  But this time around, they had something unique, something special on their minds. Adam and Nicole bought an old house soon after they were married and as those of you who live in old homes realize, there is no end to the projects you encounter, from painting, to redoing floors, to carpet, to electrical work… it never ends. Nicole is also a huge fan of handmade and DIY-type things, as you can tell by their wedding (if you clicked the link above), so Jodi and I decided to work within that framework, and here’s what we came up with for their announcement:

We’ll call this a Motion Feature blog post today, how’s that? Here’s Adam and Nicole’s “2000-mile-engagement-session” Motion as well for your viewing pleasure.

Jodi and I have always enjoyed the perspective that young people bring to life. Their energy and enthusiasm for life is contagious, and we “grown-ups” could stand to loosen up a bit sometimes.

Dillon is one of those great kids that leaves you wanting to hang out with him again.  I gotta give him props for working hard for some sweet senior portraits. For one, it was about 102˚ the day we photographed him. We started in the morning, but it still was almost too humid to breathe. But that didn’t stop him from putting on his hunting gear for some pictures in a pond he had scouted out. He worked hard for those images, but I think it paid off.

When it comes to golf, Dillon has his sights set on being a professional and he’s well on his way by winning at the Iowa Games earlier this summer. We wish him all the best this year as he looks to add a state title to his resume!

This past Saturday’s wedding was both gorgeous and memorable… the kind that we’ll think of when people ask us “so, what moments of your photography career stand out to you looking back?”

The day began like any other wedding as we spent time with both Nate and Janene as they got ready to see each other for the first time that day.

*Intermission Advertisement*: If you’re planning your wedding, I would like to give you two solid reasons you should meet each other before the wedding.  1) We provide a quiet moment for you two to spend together before the busyness of the day kicks off. It’ll likely be the only one you’ll have all day. Brides… this gives your man a chance to ooh and ahh over you, something he can’t do at the altar. 2) It provides extra time to get some great images.  If you wait till after the wedding, the time is a bit more crunched, and you’re limiting what your photographer/videographer can do by shortening their time.  Almost all of the artistic images you see on our website/blog are created before the wedding. Not all, but most.  *End Intermission*

Okay, back to the wedding. Nate and Janene were getting ready to see each other. They finished up, and it was time for first looks.  We had a nice location set up, and soon after Janene tapped Nate on the shoulder and they shared a sweet moment together, the sky started to show signs of rain.  A few drops fell, but we pulled the umbrella out and the rain seemed that it would blow over.

A farm next door was the location for the rest of the pre-wedding images, and as we pulled in the driveway, the sky let loose with a gorgeous summer rain. While Nate and Janene sat in our minivan, Jodi and I ran from barn to barn looking for a dry place to shoot. We found refuge in one small barn, and pulled the van right up to the door. As we photographed inside, the sky got green and violent (read “tornado weather”). The wind picked up and rain started blowing sideways. We shut everything down and ran for the van again. By the time we got back in and started to make phone calls to find another place to go, the rain was so full on we couldn’t see 30 feet in front of us, and the wind was rocking the car and nearby trees enough to chase us back to the church looking for cover.

We learned on the way home that straight line winds had visited a little town about 5 miles away, knocking over several feed bins, putting at least 2 trees into two houses, blowing off roofs, knocking over buildings, and destroying a camper. We praised the Lord together that we were all kept safe and that Nate and Janene were dry and okay.  A few minutes after we got back to the church, the power went off in the church and everything came to a stop. But the rain had stopped, so we moved back outside and found incredible storm skies that made a great backdrop for the bridal party images.  The rain started back up again during family formals, but by that point everyone was rolling with the punches and quite relaxed!

The “Day After” session is something that has our clients and friends raving!  Angela and Kevin took advantage of a beautiful afternoon to get back into their wedding clothes for a relaxed photo shoot without the additional pressures that a wedding day brings.  We met on their family farm… something they wouldn’t have been able to do on the wedding day… and were able to work without worry of keeping guests waiting, sticking to a time schedule, or paying for extra time in the limo.

One of the best reasons for a Day After session is that, as a bride, you don’t have to worry about keeping your gown spotless! You had high standards when you chose your gown. You searched and searched until you found the right one. Some of you spent quite a bit of money on your gown, knowing that it was too perfect to pass up. So why pack it up and put it away already? Try a different hairstyle if you want. Have your groom in a more relaxed outfit (which just might be the bribe it takes to get him back in nice clothes for more pictures!).

Either way, the result is the same… Great, relaxed images!  Here’s Kevin and Angela’s Day After Session, and I’ll link you to another one at the bottom of the post.

If you enjoyed Kevin and Angela’s Day After session, and would like to view another example of one of these great, relaxed sessions, click here for JJ and Michelle’s Day After.

Luke and Summer were an absolute joy to work with. Their girls are so sweet and polite, and it’s fun to watch them interact and explore the world around them.  Their giggles and precious little voices will be something their mommy and daddy will cherish for a long time!