Marysville Rustic Summer Wedding

A beautiful Summer Wedding in Michigan

the classiest rustic themed wedding you've ever seen

   It’s a hot summer morning, the sun is baking the Earth, and hidden behind a hotel door is 2 rooms full of beautiful girls running back and forth in oversized button down shirts with flawless hair and makeup.
   In the middle of them stands a Bride... calm, stunning, and smiling.
   A few doors down holds a room full of men, standing, fully dressed, relaxed, with a bottle of Jack pulling the room together on the bathroom sink. Amongst them is a quiet and handsome Groom.
   It’s Avery and Randy’s Wedding Day and we’ve just arrived at the hotel, right before everyone does the finishing touches and we leave to have the Bride and Groom see each other for the first time.
   The First Look between Avery and Randy was something that looked as though it was pulled from a fairy tale, and the First Look Avery did with her Father was nothing short of a fairy tale as well.
   The family piled in and out as we did Family Portraits, right before leaving for Bridal Party pictures.
   The boys teased Randy as they all took turns getting photographed with him for the big day. The girls stayed cool in the AC. After the boys showed off their best poses and bombarded Randy we got the girls out and it was their turn. Every single girl different, every single girl stunning. We photographed them 2 at a time while the rest fussed over Avery’s dress and their good / bad sides in between shots.
   Right before leaving everyone climbed up a hill, heels flying, and we got the whole crew together.
   The ceremony was lighthearted and personal with Randy and Avery reading their own vows out loud, which lead right in to an amazing reception. After dinner we watched the emotional dances between father and daughter, and son and mother. If you want to cry with people you’ve just met- watch these dances up close and feel their emotion spill out of them...
   It’s something that gets me every time, and I always walk away feeling so privileged that I am there, witnessing that moment,  and so thankful we were asked to be a part of this day and allow it to stand the test of time through photographs.

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Want to see more love stories unfold? Check out the full Love Gallery

If you like this wedding.. Check out Jen & Zach's Barn Wedding

For a more a vintage feel check out Cory & Erica's Gatsby Themed Wedding

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Underwater Summer Beauty

An Underwater Photography Session

A beauty session shot 4 feet under water in a pool

The way hair slowly twirls and fights time.
The way the sun rays break through the surface of the water to dance on the skin.
This is the magic that underwater photography brings. 

Take that visual journey with me.

These images reflect the softer side of underwater photography and the absolute beauty I am slowly becoming obsessed with.
Part 2 where images transition from color to black and white show a darker side of my experience, something with more grit, something that feels less peaceful and more like a photograph you found hidden in your grandmas attic and wonder- who were those people?

I can’t end this story without talking about all the HILARIOUS times we had while trying to accomplish this session.
First- it’s a hot, sticky, summer day and I have 15+ yards of fabric for each girl to drape all over herself, almost resembling a horrible 90s prom dress that I PROMISE them will look fabulous once floating in the water- fingers crossed.
We pin, pull, and tuck, and then head out to the pool.
I’ve rented an underwater camera, and despite all the negative things I’ve read about shooting in a pool, I’m confident we’ll still get something beautiful. Instantly... I find out every article I had read was so so so right. The chlorine causes a foggy mess when more than 3 feet away from your subject and what you are left with is either failure, or breaking personal space boundaries. I decided to invade personal space.
The girls who were brave enough to trust me with this vision were amazing, amazing models. Not only did they fight with unruly fabric, they also went under water and attempted to keep calm, open their eyes, and vogue in order for me to get the shot.
My assistant was in the back keeping the tulle in line, cleaning the pool of beetles and being the moral support I needed when it felt like things were maybe going to be a waste of time.
I was fighting with a fogged up, uncomfortable snorkel mask about every 10 seconds, swimming practically on top of my models. Iif I wanted to be below the model I had to release all my air and sit at the bottom of the pool for as long as I could while they fought and floated back and forth for as long as they could. My hair... well, we won’t go there but that was something else. haha
And then just the typical pool things- water in your mouth, water in your nose, chlorine in your eyes. Underwater Photography is a whole new animal.
But the whole vibe of the day honestly kept this project together. We had 4 young women all bobbing in a pool together, no makeup, hair a mess, horrible fashion sense, and it felt freeing. So I thank them for that!

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Love the feel of this shoot? Check out Audrey's Artistic Pillow & The Pond Photoshoot

Beauty & Water go so well together, check out Mackenzie's senior photoshoot on Lake Huron

View The full Beauty Gallery and Senior Gallery

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Watch the BTS video so you can see for yourself! Its hilarious and sums up the day- summer, pool. beauty, lots of laughs.

The Burning Shack Trailer

An indie short film

A journey through ones self to find life and freedom from within, and to not turn back.

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Hidden
Inside Herself
Was Freedom

To Fight Her Heart
Or To Follow It?

And Truly Live...

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This trailer sets the stage for what we will be releasing next- The Burning Shack : a still film. Still film is a term I made up. It pairs still photography frames with the concept of a moving movie storyboard, along with an original poem created specifically for the project.

Very rarely do we get time to create pieces for ourselves around here. But I guess when we do, we go all out.
This is our FIRST short film, everything else to date has been made up fully of photographs or have been used to showcase the portrait work I do. This is the FIRST project where the filming was totally separate from the photography, we just worked off the same story line and concept.

Concept and Vision- Autumn Carufel | AJBC Photography Photographer
Videography- Taylor Walsh | AJBC Photography Assistant
Video Editing- Autumn and Taylor of AJBC Photography
Model and Wardrobe- Audrey Huggard
 

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Now released:
See the full "still film" of The Burning Shack here!

The Burning Shack still film

A journey of self discovery.
A fight with fate and life.
A celebration of hope and freedom.

Turn your volume up to watch the still film and hear the poem recited with it to bring everything together.

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Below are the individual images that make up the still film above along with the poem written out for you (still film is a term I made up for these projects I LOVE to create- still photography images put in to motion to make a film paired with an original poem written and recited by myself for this project.) Enjoy!

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I wasn’t born here.
But somehow these weathered boards grew around me like a womb.

And it’s not that I adored them.
It’s just that my body ached with the idea of stepping out in to daylight at high noon.

I fought to be safe.
I fought to be sheltered.
I fought to avoid false hope.
And I fought to be unaltered.

Translates in to :

I fought to be hidden.
I fought to be trapped.
I fought to know darkness.
And I fought to know lack.

Lack of freedom.
Lack of fresh air.
Lack of warmth.
Lack of determination to care.

I remember first walking into the house.
I had told myself I wouldn’t stay long, just long enough to avoid the storm they had told me about.

But day after day, the storm never came.
It was like they had purposefully lied to me to keep me the same.

What if I die here?

This cloak fits me perfectly like a coffin fitted just for my body.

Coffins are safe, and they are clean.
But they also get buried 10 feet down in to the dirty ground by men who hang out with death as a hobby.

I chose to step out.
I chose to feel the hate.
I chose open spaces.
And I chose to fight fate with fate.

And I said to myself- I wasn’t born here.
But this field welcomes me like a moth to a flame.

To get sucked in by the beauty
And melt in to that dream just the same.

Dirt under my toes, wind in my hair.
Like a wild bird flying south just to get a taste of what’s out there.

And that’s when the panic sank in.

Just like a boat the moment it realizes the storm that it’s in.

But unlike a boat I could run from this storm.
I could hide in the woods from the reality of the unborn.

I didn’t have to sink, I didn’t have to swim. I could go back to port and confess my sins.

Yes, oh dear god, yes I know I shouldn’t have left.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to start a big mess.

But it’s ok, right? It’s ok if I go back?
There’s still time for me to get swallowed by the bleached walls of that shack…

There’s still time for me to die there.

Epiphany is a beautiful thing.

It comes at that exact moment when you aren’t thinking anything.

That moment when you see truth, and death, and light all at the same time.

And you look down at yourself and realize everything will be just fine.

I was born here.

The blue sky reflecting in my eyes just as the ocean does to the midnight sky.

Just as houses crumble in the wake of the fire- they are learning

And me. I am burning.

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A Deeper Look:

Poetry and Art can be a an overly expressive thing. I find that I create pieces with images and words BEFORE my brain can even process WHY I am doing it. EVERY time I think I just have a really unique idea and by the time I am done, I've learned something new about myself.

This is about a personal journey of growing. The dark dramatic spin is just there to pack an extra punch.
My assistant and my model really helped me grow the concept here. I wanted to show a woman fighting to get out of this drab house and it was the model who mentioned we should show the emotional progression through clothing. It was perfect.

But think about your life and how you build walls around yourself that you think are there to keep you safe, and in all reality, sometimes they are just limiting you, or crushing you. "That" idea you have, you know, THAT one.... when you first have the thought, you feel limitless... you feel like you have broken down those walls but there's ALWAYS that voice of panic, there's always that voice of "reason" that tells you to be responsible, rethink everything, take a step back. And once many of us hit that stage, there's no going back. We run away from "that" idea. We sink back in to what we are used to and we will, all dramatics aside, die there.  This still film is what it feels like when you take that leap of fate and run. And keep running. And live.

Check out the actual short FILM we made as a trailer
for this still film!!

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If you want to see more dark beauty check out Taylor's Winter Session

Want to see what another artistic shoot Audrey did with us? Check out The Pillow And The Pond

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