Luna Dulce Photography

For my wedding in March of 2010, I hired the lovely Jennifer Buehrer of Luna Dulce Photography and her second shooter Diana of LifeLight Image Studios. As some of you may already know, these two women were the reason I pushed myself harder in photography. I wanted desperately to photograph life in such a captivating way as they did. Every picture from my wedding is so treasured to me (which you can view here, here, here and here). Being able to give someone memories like that…it's an amazing feeling! 

So today, in keeping with my last few interviews with astounding and inspiring photographers, I present Jennifer Buehrer, the gorgeous face behind Luna Dulce Photography and one of my dear friends. Thanks for being so awesome…

When did you first become interested in photography? I was a proud owner of a kodak disposable camera in high school. I took a photo of some daffodils on the school lawn (on my belly too.. i had some moves then) and my art teacher thought it was "special"… I think she thought we were all special though. But I still took it to heart! I also really admired a couple friends that took amazing photos. Christian Metts took my wedding photos and Michael Metts (now Metts Photo) who had established a little business at an early age. They introduced me to the Cannon Rebel to take pictures for scrapbooking. I just wanted good pictures of my friends and our vacations. 

How long after did you decide to turn it into a job? That summer! My cousin was getting married and I wanted to take her pictures. I was the cousin with the "nice" camera! So I looked up all the fashionable photos: looking over the shoulder holding the bouquet, flowers on the train, color selection…. ect. I was on cloud nine and thought I was "the bomb". I decided this is what I wanted to do for a living! I took a wedding photos for friends and family with my trusty Cannon Rebel and my 50mm lens for two years. $300 a wedding! I sold my camera for Christmas money. A year later I started getting requests for wedding photos and senior photos. I decided to get a new camera. I bought a Nikon D80 and a 50mm lens. I slowly added other lenses then let my business grow! I doubled my wedding prices every year! 

Your favorite photographer or biggest inspiration? When I was at my peak of thinking I was "the bomb", I read a book from Dane Sanders that inspired me to go to WPPI in Vegas.There, I was immediately hurled back to the beginners category. Turns out there was A LOT more to photography then taking a couple nice pictures of someone holding a bouquet. I spent three days with Bambi Cantrell. She brought me to tears with tough love. I walked away from her class with a new confidence. I was inspired by Jerry Ghionis' posing techniques and spirit, Dane Sanders was my motivation, Mike Colon was just a dream boat, and Jonathan Canlas was the direction i wanted to go.

What would you say your photographing "style" is? I would say my style is Romantic, Sweet, and emotion driven.

Your very favorite subject to photograph? Couples! I love the emotional connection in couples. And My baby Perry. He's so funny.

Your least favorite subject matter to photograph? Things that don't move. Not feeling it-thing that doesn't move.

What keeps you motivated on a daily basis? Food motivates me.  But photographically. God's beauty motivates me! The wind, the smell of the seasons, green grass, peacefulness of falling snow, the sun, the clouds, sand in my toes, and His grace!

Favorite hobby or past time outside of photography? I love to walk! I also love going to drive in movies. It's not really the movie watching… it's the popcorn and the fact that you get to eat in your car. I guess i could do that at home… but there is just something i love about it. Recently I have decided I like to wave jump. Lake Michigan has big warm waves on windy days. Diving, Jumping, and riding them all makes me happy scream. 

Any favorite musicians that keep you plugging away during editing or do you prefer working in silence? I actually enjoy talk radio. NPR is pretty entertaining to me. sometimes I like to listen to Creative live if it's playing. Any chance to learn… I'll take it!

Advice for photographers breaking into the wedding business? Keep learning but fight the urge to be like someone else! The more you learn the easier it will be to find your style. If you find yourself to similar to others around you, take it as a challenge and think of something new and exciting!

Thank you Jennifer for stopping by today! You all should DEFINITELY check out her pages here:

FACEBOOK   WEBSITE    BLOG

….and because I just can't resist, here's a little photobooth snap shot us at the first wedding I ever "photographed". I didn't know crap, but Jennifer was awesome and let me help her out 😉

P.S. The DITTO GIVEAWAY has ended and our winner is…..

Congrats girl! Emailing you now.

 

My wedding: Getting Ready

So I've decided to slowly migrate some of my favorite wedding shots over here to my blog! I will be putting up shots periodically throughout the next few weeks, but for now, here are some "Getting Ready" shots! All images were taken by the lovely Jennifer Buehrer of Luna Dulce Photography and Diana Kleven of Lifelight Image Studios!

You can check out my Project Wedding Blog here for more pictures and info on that perfect day. All the info is a little out of date since this blog was written over a year ago! Here's a little summary:

"We were engaged on August 13th, 2009 and now are starting a new life together after the honeymoon in Santa Monica, CA! Grant and I met at our church, Calvary Christian's, youth group in early 2007. After a couple months of friendship and me knowing about his little crush on me, we started dating in November. He made a dream come true by, in a way, asking me out through the window in my room. One night, as I was cleaning up some things in my room, I heard one of my favorite songs being played by my favorite band Emery. After getting a tad freaked out, I finally summoned the courage to look out the window. And low and behold, there was my boy, holding a cd player smiling at me. We started dating very soon after! 

For those of you that don't know the story or didn't really know what was going on in the video, I will inform you…

So, my favorite band in the whole wide world, Emery, was coming to town. Grant decided about a month or two before that he was going to try and propose to me at the show! Well, he got a hold of some of the band members numbers and was able to arrange a proposal on stage during the show. 

We get there, and the show is awesome. I am having so much fun! Then one of Grant's favorite songs starts to play and I turn around to find him and he's gone. I have no clue where he went. Well, when the song got over, the lead singer announces that "Their friend Grant has an announcement to make." He comes on stage and I start flipping out (I figured it out almost instantly). My first thought was "Is there any other way that it's another Grant?" But nope. It was him and he asked me to come on stage. As you can see in the video, he proposed, I started crying, said yes, and then everybody congratulated us! It was awesome!!!!! Then the band congratulated me. Never thought they would all know my name so that was weird to hear them call me by my name. 

We walked behind the stage and Grant had asked if they play my FAVORITE song "The Ponytail Parades" next and it was awesome! Everyone knew about it too! People I didn't know knew about it! It was crazy!!! But it was the best and I can't imagine it being any better!

We were married on March 20th, 2010 in Indianapolis!"