This past week was quite the experience. I traveled back and forth to New York twice in the span of 7 days for meetings and a couple shoots. I also took some time to bring my girlfriend with me on the first trip, to finally give us some time to travel together. The down time was completely necessary for the both of us. We even had an opportunity to do a shoot with my good friend Eliesa Johnson, and cannot wait to see the pictures. It was an interesting experience being on the other side of the camera for once!

While I was there I met with a few potential clients as well as one of my favorite photographers Joao Canziani. We had brunch in Brooklyn and had a great time getting to know each other, and it was an honor to hear such great advice from him as well as get a feel for his process, which I really respect. One of the qualities of Joao's work that I truly admire is his artful and careful approach to portrait work. Every portrait feels so calm and genuinely real for each subject. I particularly admire his project for Nike soccer, along with everything in his travel and fashion/lifestyle portraits. Definitely a photographer worth checking out: http://joaocanziani.com/www/

On Friday I did a quick shoot with the Madbury Club shooting some behind-the-scenes for their next feature. Their site is all about delivering fresh new content in the fashion, design, and music industries instead of featuring what has already been done. It was all about capturing the personality of the club and the guys involved, and it was a blast to finally get to know the guys behind the site, especially after they gave my shoot for Cavalier Essentials a full-fledged feature. Phillip Annand, the brains behind the operation, is an incredibly genuine and personable character who seems to know everybody and their mother, along with having a keen and critical eye for style and quality. I'm very excited to work with them in the future. You can view their post about it HERE.

Lots of exciting news to come in the next few months, thanks for reading!

Winter. 

In Minnesota, we are far too familiar with the term and the adjectives that describe it and make you cringe and frown at the drop of a hat: frigid, baren, icy, cold...you get the picture.

Nancy and Grady were married January 26th, Grady being a long-time friend from the band I used to shoot back in my early days as a photographer. Far from the usual couple that would want pictures of themselves on their wedding day, they requested to shoot with me not one week after, but two weeks before their wedding. I'm sure you're scratching your head as to why, and to be honest, I was too. But when Nancy explained the importance of spending their winter wedding indoors with all of their friends and family, it completely made sense to me.

Two weeks before their wedding, in the dead of winter, we got together and I photographed them in their whole wedding attire. The entire shoot was effortless, and Nancy and Grady were ecstatic to have a couple hours together to let the thoughts of married life really sink in. Nancy eventually thanked me afterwards for giving her the time to calm her nerves before the big day. She explained that because I allowed them time to interact without any distraction with the big day looming, it made the whole process more real, meaningful, and surprisingly emotional.

And their wedding turned out beautifully, regardless of the grey sky overhead. It was a blast and we only ventured outside only once. But that is just the way Nancy and Grady wanted it, and I swear the wedding felt that much more intimate as a result.

Thank you Nancy and Grady, for trusting me with shooting these pictures for you, I had so much fun with you two through the whole process!

To view more from their session, click here:

http://cargocollective.com/collinhughes#1101267/Nancy-Grady