That's me, up there, with the brood of boys I live with. They're also my source of inspiration, and my partners in crime. The biggest boy is my husband, who also happens to be my business partner and uber talented super 8mm filmmographer. and the two little ones... we'll they're distraction and chaos, but we adore every second of it. We love traveling all over the country to photograph amazing events and milestones... it fuels my soul to see people fall in love with each other, their babies, their lives. The links up above you can check out my maternity series (when I was pregnant with the smallest one), and find out more about the weddings and sessions we photograph for free (under Giving Back), as well as links to older posts and helpful information. You can also read more about us at our main photography website at www.sugarleafphotography.com
Sometimes, i come up with wild artsy ideas for engagement sessions. and sometimes, i can find willing clients to go along with my wild artsy ideas, and trust that the photographer they’ve hired hasn’t lost her marbles. Luckily, that couple was Challen and her wonderful fiance, John. we had scheduled a regular engagement session, and then i emailed her saying “hey… i have an additional idea, if you want something truly original and fun. but you’ve got to trust me. all i’m going to say is that you’ll need your snorkle gear, but you wont be getting wet.” and she did… and so did John.
I was inspired by how they got engaged… while snorkeling and clamming. John had place her ring inside a clam shell, and while they were hunting for good clams, he pulled it out and surprised her underwater. i thought it would be cute to re-enact the scene in a stop motion video! this was our first attempt at stop motion, and we’ve learned a lot since, and can’t wait to add this to our normal repertoire of photography services we offer!
Super 8mm films have this amazing timeless quality to them that we adore here at SugarLeaf. There is such a growing market for vintage films for weddings, but we think they’re just as great for family sessions. I’ve always thought little naked babies at the beach were quite possibly the best things in the world, so as a forewarning, this film does have a little bit of nudity in it (on our 1 year old son’s behalf).
on this day, Tavish learned how to blow kisses (as you can see in my excitement halfway through the film), and even 6 months later, he’s still doing it all the time. he’s a heart melter, what can I say!
we are starting 2010 off with a serious bang here at Sugar Leaf. we worked all through the holidays (sometimes pulling 12 hour days) to continuously improve and develop and move our business forward. and all of this hard work is paying off, i feel like i’ve made big announcements on this blog more times this week than i have all year!
but this post is one of the BIGGEST announcements i could make! we’ve officially launched Sugar Leaf Filmography!!!! it’s been something that has been in the works for a long time now, ever since i fell in complete love with vintage super 8mm films. and then i was laying in bed dreaming of the day, one day, when by chance i could make a super 8mm film myself. cause those of you who know me, know that film is my first, true love. it seems film and I have a long distance relationship… one that’s still strong but i don’t get to see or use often because the demand for it is just not what it should be. But when i can sneak away from digital, film and i have wild affairs. don’t tell my digital camera though, he might get offended.
so as i was dreaming about the romance of super 8mm… i leaped out of bed. HELLO…. WHERE IS THAT MOVIE CAMERA THAT MY GRANDMOTHER GAVE TO ME!?!?! the one that’s been sitting in my closet for oh…. 2 years? could it possibly be a super 8mm movie camera? and sure enough… it was. TEARS! oh! the tears! immediately i began researching, studying, finding out where to buy film, where to develop it, how i could market super 8mm wedding films and films of babies, births, children, you name it. And my husband caught the super 8mm bug as well, and dove right into it with me. He now heads up the super 8mm department of our company, and does an amazing job filming
and although i still have that camera of my grandmothers, and a few others, we decided that if this was something we wanted to pursue, we’d need great, professional super 8mm cameras. so we invested in not one, but two. and then, thanks to Mark and Evan, a wonderful couple (who you’ll remember from their engagement shots i took in both digital and film) who so graciously entrusted with us their most important day (even though they had never seen our super 8mm work before), we were able to create a portfolio for weddings.
and, without further ado… check out this quick clip (a shortened version of the full length feature) of their absolutely exquisite affair in st petersburg Florida. and thanks to Voila events and their planner Samara who made it so easy for us to film, the day so well organized and clear! (not to mention beautiful!)
A little about their day:
the ceremony took place at Evan’s grandmother’s house, the original house that Mr. Snell, of Snell’s Isle, built and lived. it is a place with a ridiculous amount of historic pieces housed inside, there are chairs in that house that have probably seen more turns of centuries than i can imagine. and i’m pretty sure there is a bed in that house that was used in Abraham Lincoln’s era. The ceremony took place just in front of those doors with the glass bottle bottoms inlaid in the windows. Evan decided to use greenery (as opposed to floral bouquets), and the eucalyptus bows that were strung up throughout the courtyard absolutely filled it with fragrance, unlike any floral arrangement would have. In addition, seating from within the home was re-purposed and utilized throughout the courtyard and garden as lounge areas for guests drinking lemonade and tea out of the beautiful mason jars tagged with Evan and Mark’s calligraphy. After the ceremony they drove away in the vintage Rolz Royce, and arrived at the Museum of Fine arts. Guests enjoyed a cocktail hour with fabulous hors d’oeurves serenaded by a lovely string quartet (loved them, they were fantastic) in the museum garden. Normally, super 8mm does not do well after dark, but luckily, a spot light stayed on the couple for most of the night, which allowed us to get shots of them dancing, and cake cutting! Props to the band as well, they were by far, the most amazing musicians and singers i’ve ever heard at a wedding before and got literally EVERYONE (even Evan’s grandmother) busting a move and breaking a serious sweat.
If you’d like more information on our Super 8mm services, please shoot us an email at lexia@sugarleafphotography.com or dustin@sugarleafphotography.com. Films are all silent, with an average length of 20 minutes for the full length feature. you’ll also receive a trailer, like the one above, set to music. films are black and white, or color (or a mix of both if you’d prefer!). and the color is just as absolutely beautiful, with the colors slightly “off” and vintage! we’ll be posting more of that very soon .
This is such a beautiful artform, and not many photographers are still trained well enough to be able to handle film and all it’s tricky intrinsic qualities. we can not express how THRILLED we are to be bringing back the film movement (and all it’s beautiful graininess) and offering this as a fine art service to our clients. HD video absolutely without a doubt has it’s place in our society, but it feels so good not to let go of the romanticism of super 8mm filmography. we hope you love it as much as we do
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