New Year's Eve is one of our favorite nights of the year. In fact, we had never before worked a wedding on New Year's because we like to dress up, go out and live it up like everyone else. But after meeting with Jessica and hearing her plans, we knew this wasn't going to be a typical wedding. Jessica and Jake wanted to throw a big New Year's Eve party at Dogpatch Studios, and get married in the middle of it as a surprise to their guests. Getting to photograph such a unique celebration, plus having the chance to work with Alison Events, made this a wedding we didn't want to miss. And it didn't hurt that they encouraged us to dress up and be part of the party.

We were grateful to have our good friend Dave Getzschman – who also happens to be one of our favorite photographers – shoot with us. The night was a blast - one of those weddings that feels more like fun than work.  

Dave's photo below:

Erin's photo below:

Dave's photo below:

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It's amusing where our schedule can take us in the span of a week. On Dec. 13 we were hanging out on the beach in Key Biscayne, FL, recovering from a big wedding the night before. And a week later, we were tromping through the snow for Ashley and Jan's wedding in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Ashley and Jan were married at the historic Wren Chapel on the College of William and Mary campus, where they met, and also where Thomas Jefferson went to school nearly 250 years ago. Jan is the brother of one of our best friends, Vlad, whose wedding we photographed back in October. We rarely get the chance to shoot snowy winter weddings, so it was a nice change of pace, especially with such close friends who feel like family to us now.

Erin's photo below:

Erin's photo below:

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Erin's photo below of Vlad:

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We are on the hunt for new talent to join us at Ben Chrisman Photography. In exchange for helping us with post-production, we will help you learn the basics of photography and develop your own shooting style through second-shooting alongside us and our associate photographers.

We're looking for someone who:

- is solid in Lightroom and Photoshop

- is enthusiastic about learning photography

- lives in the San Francisco Bay Area

What you'll do:

- RAW color correction in Lightroom

- basic Photoshop retouching

- second-shoot with Ben and Erin, and the Ben Chrisman associate photographers Dave, Aaron and Mauricio

If this seems like a good fit, please email us by February 1 at info (at) benchrisman.com with the subject line INTERNSHIP.

Tum and Eli got married in the backyard of his parents' beautiful and inviting waterfront home in Key Biscayne, with 250 friends and family looking on. The entire day had a very rock-n-roll vibe to it, as several of the guests were either entertainers or music industry people. During the wedding-party processional, a black-tie choir belted out segments of songs such as Guns' 'n' Roses' Sweet Child of Mine," and the DJ mixed in Rolling Stones classics with the usual Top 40 pop. Eli, the groom, spent much of his life on tour with bands, but when he found Tum, he left the road full time to be with her. It was easy to tell by listening to the speeches that Tum and Eli are crazy in love, and that giving up his rockstar lifestyle was an easy decision.  

Thanks to our associate Aaron Morris for traveling with us for the wedding. Many of the photos below are his.

Erin's photo below:

Aaron's photo below:

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It's been nearly three years since I first met Tamra and Chris in Las Vegas for their engagement session. Then came their unforgettable wedding in Cabo, which was featured on the TV show Platinum Weddings. And since then, Erin and I have had some of our most fun and memorable days with Tamra and Chris, going out in Dallas where they live. But we had never gotten around to photographing Tamra's bridal session, which she had always dreamed of happening in San Francisco at the Palace of Fine Arts. So a few weeks ago we lucked out with some sunny weather when Tamra was in town, and she finally got the day she had been waiting for.

Erin's photo below: