Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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On November 7th Ashley and I photographed Heather and Dan's wedding.  So weather has been the big story of 2009.  We had an awesome summer with cool temps and little rain.  In October we had weddings where it snowed and one where I had to wear gloves...then...November 7th.  Heather and Dan must be good the earth because it repaid the favor with a 73 degree day.  With the beautiful weather we were sure to get outside and get some photos in Des Moines' "warehouse district."  There really isn't one, but we made due.

Heather, Dan, and wedding party were to great to work with and a lot of fun.  There were times when I felt I was just a passenger  on this ride.  They took control of some shots and I let them.  It's always more fun when the photos have a personalized touch to them.  Below are a few of our favorites and all the photos can be viewed here. 

Congratulations Heather and Dan...can't believe how late this blog is...

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So...this would be the first wedding I shot with gloves on.  It was...cool...some might say cold. 

Emily and Beau recently purchased a farm house in the Iowa country-side.  It was the perfect location for a wedding.  A great symbol of their new start together and their future that lay ahead.  For us it was an awesome location to photograph.  The wedding day has story upon story to be told.  It includes everything from the cold temps to stray cats to a late arriving bridesmaid speech to the photographer getting lost.  Yes, we were lost.  Thanks Google maps for nothing.

Ashley and I started our day getting a little lost and driving a lot further than we needed to.  I am the navigator and driver so I take full responsibility.   However using my normally reliable resources turned out to be a mistake.  A road that appeared to still be there, but WASN'T, caused us to get off track.  We grabbed a free map from the first gas station we saw and quickly corrected course.  As I said, Emily and Beau recently purchased a new home in the Iowa country side.  Which as some of you from Iowa know means dirt roads and in this case muddy dirt roads. We made our way there and arrived with plenty of time to spare.  

The day was cold and breezy so we quickly made our way through outdoor formal photos.  We were told of the previous night's rehearsal and the stray cat that interrupted.  Farm cats are a stable of Iowa and this one was a typical stray farm cat.  It decided it would like some attention during the ceremony and marched right down the aisle and into the action.  It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared though and didn't cause much of an issue.  

We had a great time at Emily and Beau's wedding. Below are a few of our favorites and all the photos can be viewed here.

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On Friday the 6th I had the opportunity to photograph the Broich family.  Craziest thing happened on this shoot...

As we started out we were snapping some shots of the family, Mom, Dad, and 4 boys, and moving from one location to the next.  One of the four boys asked me if we'd be on the news that evening.  I can only assume that with the big camera and lenses he was linking me to a news photojournalist.  So we continued on and moved from location to location in the new Pappajohn Sculpture Park.  As we neared the end of the shoot we were shooting on the north side of the park and by chance a photojournalist from WHO-TV in Des Moines asked if they could video tape part of our shoot.  Crazy right? 

So we were briefly shown that night on the ten o'clock news before the weather forecast.  So the young man's question us being on the news was of great coincidence.  Mom tells me the boys were upset that we were not on the six o'clock news as they were not up for the ten o'clock news cast.  I had a great time and below are a few of our favorites shots.

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While you don't really trash the dress on a "trash the dress" photo shoot, you do act a little bit more careless with it.  In October, Ashley and I photographed Melissa and Andre's wedding.  Shortly after she contacted us and wanted to setup a trash the dress shoot(TTD).  Ashley and I love TTD shoots because they allows us a unique creative opportunity.  They aren't senior photos, they aren't engagement shoots, and the aren't family photos.  They are more like magazine/model shoots. 

For Melissa's shoot she was pretty open to where we went and what we did.  She just required her favorite cowgirl boots.  We headed to downtown Ames and walked through the alley's, a construction site, and across the train tracks.  We also headed to a near by park that provided some great backdrops for photos.  Ashley and I ran off a 1,000 shots between the two of us.  We easily could have taken more, but at some point you just have to stop.  Below are a few of our favorites and all the photos can be seen here.

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 8:23 AM | Permalink

Halloween has come and past, but our boy's are already talking about what they want to be for Halloween next time.  This year Cole picked out costumes for both of them.  He wanted to be Woody and Gavin had to be Buzz.  He also thought he got to pick out costumes for Mom and Dad....not the case. 

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 2:31 PM | Permalink

So when people start thinking about their wedding photos it comes down to a few big events right?  You want nice formal photos, photos of the big ceremony events, and your dances.  For most weddings these are the big moments that are MUST have photos.  But isn't there so much more to your wedding day?  Ashley and I cover weddings top to bottom.  Every little detail.  So that means that at times we are product photographers.  We setup items and take the pictures of all the details.  While the big events may be most important, giving you the photos of all the little details and helping key your memories of the big day are always our goal.  We shoot weddings the exact way we wanted our wedding shot and we do it together in a fun and laid back way capturing the moments and the details. 

Here are few examples of different "product" shots that we've taken at recent weddings.  Photos like these really complete your wedding photo set and we love to shoot them.

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On the 24th of October, Ashley and I were more than just excited to photograph Sara and Mark's wedding at Toad Valley Golf Course in Pleasant Hill, IA.  Following the engagement session that we had with these two were were counting down the days until their wedding.  Even made one of those second grade Santa Clause construction paper countdown chains leading to the big day.  We were pretty stoked to pull off that final ring.  The weather on the big day was fantastic and while we fought the harsh sun for a little while, it quickly clouded up and allowed us great lighting for photos. 

So what would be in their wedding word cloud...how about...Fun, Exciting, Random, Perfect, Love, Together, Cake Balls, Fall, Beautiful Weather, Karate, Mini-golf, and Forever.  Those are just the highlights, now for the detail.  The day started out great and we got right to the fun.  Sara and Mark have great fun attitudes about EVERYTHING.  But this especially true about their wedding photos.  They were up for all the fun and the funky that we could throw out.  Wedding party was great as well.  As is always encouraged, they had some of their own ideas and we incorporated and used them during the photos.  Mark and Sara had an interesting challenge during the wedding which wasn't all too bad.  The Hawkeyes, having a good season, were playing on TV that night.  A lot of attendees of the wedding were interested in the game and being at a golf course with a club house they had TV's readily available.  During the reception you could find several people at the TV's checking the game and a few just lingering there as well.  However, once the game was over the party really got started and with the Hawkeyes winning, everyone was in a pretty good mood.

So, Cake Balls.......I don't know what else to say.  We don't typically eat at weddings but I made an exception for my new favorite food.  They even inspired us to make them for our Halloween party the next weekend. 

To our coolest story of 2009....below you will find a picture from Sara and Mark's engagement session next to their cake topper.  Such a cool idea.  And to think that it was all so random on the day of the engagement shoot.  We were just out having a good time on the photo shoot and I asked Mark to give Sara a piggy back ride.  Well they thought that was a fun idea, but for her to give him one was better.  We ran with it. 

We had great time and the photos show how much fun we had.  Below are a few of our favorites.  Congratulations to Sara and Mark!

Posted by Steve Nuzum at 10:15 AM | Permalink

So what's in a photo?  This one below is an example of something that just happened during the photo shoot and changed what we were doing.  Every photo shoot has moments like this where the photo shoot changes and takes different directions.  Every action has a change in the reaction and the attitude of the shoot.  Every moment can change the rest of the photo shoot after that moment has occurred. 

In the first photo below we were downtown at the new Pappajohn Sculpture Garden and hanging out near the Alphabet man....probably not the correct name.  But as we were walking up to the sculpture I accidentally kicked this sign on the ground and it went flying across the pavement.  Sort of a weird interesting moment given the intense security that some of these sculptures have...including motion detectors and pressure sensors.  So I thought we should grab the sign get a quick photo with Stephanie and Scott holding it.  It was a fun moment and added a little something to the photo shoot that we carried over through the rest of the shoot.

 In the second photo below, Ashley and I were walking along chatting with Nikki and Drew and for whatever reason we got on the subject of taking your own photos.  You know, where you hold the camera as far away as possible and you look like the one armed bandit as you snap a shot of you cheesing big for the camera.  Well, Nikki was the self proclaimed "World's Best Self-Photographer".  So Ashley and I only thought it would only be appropriate for the world's best to snap their own engagement photo.  So we turned the camera over to Nikki and ..... well ..... she's the best.

 Every little moment snowballs over the course of a photo shoot and as long as each one of them is positive and fun...every photo shoot will turn out as well as this one.   Little things like these are what make being a photographer the greatest job.  It gives each photo it's own little story.  We may turn over 200-300 photos from a photo shoot and each one has it's own story that is told via the photo and those in it.  We don't want to just shoot portraits and give you head shots.  We want you to tell stories about your photos.  We want to them to give moments from your life and a fun story to tell all.  We love what we do and certainly hope it shows in our photos. 
 

 

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Visit us on facebook...facebook.com/nuzumphoto...all the cool kid's are doing it.

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