This wedding was a wedding of firsts for 2008.

It was the first wedding with truly Fall/Winter weather with dreary cold rain. Did I mention it was cold?

Also, it was the first wedding we photographed with our new assistant, Julia. Our former assistant, Kim Harms, is now our associate photographer (stay tuned loyal blog readers, you’re gonna find out all about Kim’s new role here in the coming weeks!), so we needed to find a new assistant for our weddings, to groom and train accordingly.

Well, here’s where it gets complicated: Julia was originally a bride, who booked with us about 4 months ago. At our booking meeting, she revealed that while she may be an office professional by day, she really… really, liked photography, and she’d always had this little fantasy about doing it professionally. Her enthusiasm and passion was palpable, and apparent.

However, as many of the local photography and arts students, who have applied for an assistant job here, know very well, we don’t take in just anyone. In fact, we’ve hired none of the photographers who have contacted us. While many of them have had great portfolios, there was usually something missing. A certain, unnameable compatibility that was simply lost from our interactions, and simply wasn’t apparent in their portfolios.

Well, we weren’t about to to it any differently with Julia. We told her she needed to put together a portfolio, and contact us again when she was ready. Well hardly two weeks had gone by and Julia was back. She was obviously nervous, and began making apologies about her portfolio before I’d even seen it. And what she handed me was probably the most haphazard and basic presentation I’ve seen yet. A loose collection of various snapshots, some from film, some from point n’ shoots, and no real connective theme to speak of…

Yet, I hadn’t looked at more than two shots before I realized I was seeing something really interesting, and vaguely familiar. I knew looking through her work that I was seeing a thought process, and “eye” if you will, very similar to Char’s early work.

Frankly, I was stunned. Right there in my nearly shaking hands was that certain “something”, that missing ingredient that had kept me from calling back any of the photographer hopefuls we’d met with over the years. A mild mannered accountant by day, Julia was completely unaware (as far as I could tell) of what a rare and natural gift she’d been born with. Her work clearly showed a keen sense of composition and style, but more importantly, she was adventurous. She wasn’t afraid to play with her photographs, which is the bedrock of what makes Trystan Photography unique!

A sense of adventure is what intitially drew Charlotte and I to Kim Harms’ work. She was realtively new in the industry, but everyday she would update her blog with a new style, a new technique, a different way of looking at the same old shot…

Well, Julia would need all of that, and more, for Audra and Jason’s wedding! Woodmen Valley Stone Chapel is notoriously dark, and Tre Luna is a schizophrenic montage of neo-European/art-deco sensibilities where every surface is a different material, ranging from brick to stucco, to brass to mirrors, and even steel. It’s a really challenging combination of venues and lighting scenarios. Put that together with the fact that we had to work with a really dreary cold day, I think most newbie photographers would have thrown their camera down and run away screaming! But Julia didn’t, and in fact, she had a lovely, positive attitude that worked amazingly well with my goofy effervescence and Char’s nervous excitement.

As for a 1st subject, I think Julia was flat-out spoiled by getting to photograph Audra and Jason. What a gorgeous bride! And they showed such an authentic, relaxed love all day, that made photographing them almost easy. Almost. Except for the wind, and drizzle, and the fact we had to keep taking breaks so the bare-shouldered, bare armed bride could warm up!

What a trooper! Some brides would have succumbed to the weather, but Audra stated without a doubt, “I want outdoor shots!”

Don’t worry about her, though. She had her cuddly new husband to keep her warm, and looking back through the photos as I processed them, I still am amazed at how easy Audra and Jason were to photograph.

Audra. Jason. May your love continue to be so beutiful and inspiring for the rest of your marriage. Thank you for sharing your special day with us, and Julia, the newest addition to Trystan Photography!