Weddings | Alex Farris Photo Blog

In this year full of pre-med classes and the MCAT (which is exactly one month away!), I've managed to fit in two weddings, an engagement photo session, and a stealth gig of a proposal. They've been nice fiscal supplements to the Star assignments, but they've also been welcome changes of pace from getting names of strangers and editing on a tight deadline (and devising chemical reaction schemes!).

The first wedding I covered this summer was of an old high-school friend, Kateri Fites. She married Ben Gilliland-Sauer on June 7 at St. Thomas on the Purdue University campus, which meant I was taking photos in West Lafayette for the first time since my stint at the Journal & Courier. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, and I got what may be my favorite pre-ceremony photo of a bride. The expression and the veil really make it.

Enjoy! I'll have two more entries up later this week.

It's always a pleasure when I can find an excuse to go to Bloomington, my favorite big small town. Kristina Hunter (now Kristina Mullis) provided me a very good reason to go back when she asked me to take her wedding photos. Kristina is a fellow IDS alum, so I was thrilled; and she celebrated her wedding to U.S. Navy seaman Patrick Mullis at Woolery Stone Mill, which made me even more thrilled. To top it all off, the groomsmen climbed up the rusty stairs and a dilapidated firetruck for their group pictures, and there were at least two babies in the bridesmaids' RV. (Oh, and there was an RV.) This was definitely the most unique wedding I've shot, and I'm glad I was a part of it.

Awesomely enough, the wedding gave me a second reason to visit Bloomington, as yesterday I delivered the photos to Kristina in the Indiana Memorial Union. Bonus.

Kristina Hunter and Patrick Mullis got married on Sept. 8 at Woolery Stone Mill in Bloomington, Ind.

I've been a secondary photographer at a wedding a few times before (e.g. my cousins' weddings, one time with Jeff Dillow, another time with Jeff coming up Sept. 1), but I hadn't been a wedding co-photographer before. That's where I found myself, though, on August 11, at a ceremony near Anderson. Along with Arec's father, Steve Ligon, I worked with Rosi Jane's Photography, and our tandem effort meant that I didn't have to do everything. It allowed me to focus more on each shot and situation, as well as enjoy the first perfect day in a long time (75-80 degrees, slight wind, slight cloud cover, beautiful sunlight). The only thing that could make the day better for a photographer was an epic cake-smash, and I was so glad when it happened!