Photo Shoot

 By Beth Anne Piehl

Will you remember everyone who was there? Will you recall who stood up to make a toast? Can your mind bring you back to the first dance with your new spouse?
Memories fade, but photographs preserve the intimate moments of the wedding day in clear detail, and it’s important to click with a chosen photographer in terms of style, package options and a checklist of what they are expected to shoot.
Laura Teeple enjoys taking a photojournalistic approach to wedding photography, finding special moments between the bride and groom and their families and friends. She rounds out her offerings with portraits and traditional photos that tell the whole wedding story.
She said her customers specifically request the photojournalistic, more candid approach. “It tells the real story,” Teeple said.
Teeple operates her own photography business, Laura Teeple Photography, out of Traverse City and services the Emmet and Charlevoix counties region, and the UP, regularly.
“I’ve always been into photography and I was one of those people who was always documenting everything that was happening, the family historian in a way,” Teeple said. “I started getting into photography seriously about eight years ago, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”
Aside from photographing weddings and portraits, Teeple has an interest in documenting and shooting historic architecture, which provides a consistent blend of talents.
“Weddings oftentimes incorporate that historic architecture, and with the portraiture I do as well, it’s really a nice blend of all three styles,” she said.

Like most photographers today, Teeple shoots in digital but will use film upon request. She works with an assistant at each event, and offers a full range of photo handling techniques afterward, such as hand-coloring, black-and-white conversions, and other effects that capture a couple’s personality.
“I often hear, ‘I feel like I’ve known you for a long time,’ and ‘My family is so comfortable with you,’” she said. “It’s such a nice thing to hear.”
Find more information at www.laurateeplephotography.com.
 

Team approach

Husband-and-wife Wes and Susan Ketchabaw own Birch Creek Photography in Harbor Springs, where they capture stills and video moments of brides and grooms on the big day.
“I’m a hopeless romantic when it comes to weddings. I’m always looking for those moments when you say, ‘Oh they’re so in love,’” said Susan, the photographer.
The couple’s business recently relocated from Cheboygan, where it had opened nearly five years ago. Now in Harbor, the Ketchabaws are looking to make a name for themselves with weddings, senior and family portraiture.
Susan said her lifelong interests in artistic endeavors like painting, drawing and graphics, plus photography, provided a natural transition into starting a photography business. “People have always said to me, ‘You see things that I don’t see, what are you taking a picture of?’ I have a different viewpoint, and I’m trying to capture what catches my eye,” she said.
After relocating to Northern Michigan from Florida, Susan met Wes and after they wed and decided to start Birch Creek Photography to provide affordable packages and options for couples.
Wes will shoot video of a wedding even if the couple can’t afford to pay for it; he archives them for later purchase so the moment isn’t lost. “Between the two of us we can offer couples our three high-end packages, the video and the photography together, and our highest package is under $5,000,” Susan said. “Our feeling is, we want to be these couples’ wedding photographers, but we also want to grow with our families, their kids, their senior pictures and their kids’ weddings.”
She also said the business offers gift cards as shower gifts for couples to put toward the expense of photography, because the photos are what remain when it’s all said and done.
“Once the music has stopped, the food’s been eaten and the sun is set,” Susan said, “this is what you have left, this is what you’ll cherish forever.”
For more information, visit www.birchcreekphotos.com.

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