What have we been up to lately?

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last but things have just been really busy. For those of you who don't know my printshop handles most of the design and printing for the KC Brigade Arena Football Team. Their season starts this weekend and they've kept us very busy trying to get everything done. In fact, Heather even joined in on the design fun this year. Anyway, I just wanted to post so you can see a small portion of what has kept me away this month.

Be sure to come to the home opener on March 1st and support KC's other football team at Sprint Center. If you haven't been before it really is a lot of fun, and pretty cheap. You can always stop by and see Heather and I in section 122!

Aaron & Annie

It dosen't take too long looking at these pictures to tell what kind of people Aaron & Annie are. Annie is one of those rare personalities that simply glowes, and has an extremely infectious laugh to go along with it. Their love is radiant and shines with all the quirky evidence. If the wedding is anywhere near as much fun as this shoot was then watch out, they'll be some of the best 08 pictures!

Asher & Amelia's Wedding

Our first wedding of '08 was a great way to start the year. Amelia is one of the most engaging and loving people we have ever met. Her and Asher's deep love for each other permeated the entire day and made it a joy to shoot with them. We stayed inside for this one, but found lots of fun places to shoot in this unique and enormous church. The reception was fun-filled and even included swing dance lessons.

Email Troubles

We just found out that our contact form on our website has not been sending us your messages for the last couple weeks.

If you tried to send us a message please contact us now. It's been fixed and we're up and running.

Thanks for everyone's understanding.

The Final Best-of-the-Best

For an explanation and recap of best-of-the-best click here.

Aaron's Picks:

Well it's finally here, the highly anticipated and often debated final post of our Best-of-the-Best series. It's been a lot of fun for Heather & I to go back through all the work of the last year and we're so happy with how our work has evolved in just the last 12 months. It was extremely difficult to narrow down tens of thousands of images to just our 3 favorites and I'm actually a little surprised that only one overlaps with our choices. Thanks again to all of our great clients that let us share their great events in 2007 and we can't wait for more experiences in 08.

As much as I enjoy engagement sessions it's no surprise that one of those pictures would take my top spot. This image means a lot to me for several reasons. First of all Cody and Tina are a fabulous couple and it's one of the weddings I'm looking most forward to in 08. Most of all though because it really shows the direction that my shooting style is going. Honest, pure, candid, & dramatic emotion is one of the hardest thing for photographers to capture because it is largely out of our control. It takes a wonderful combination of comfort with our clients and the strong personalities of the wonderful couples we work with. Throw in some interesting angles, and some urban/fashion flare and that is what you'll be seeing from Hawes Photography for years to come.

I know this explanation is getting long but telling. I wanted to add that this image has earned me the best compliment I've received in some time. A colleague of ours recently told me that when she saw this image for the first time that she instantly knew where the style was going and that we had found our unduplicatable niche. This is honestly the best compliment that any artist can hope to get and I will appreciate it for some time.

Well that's about enough of the insanely long-winded explanations. For me, this is a nearly perfect capture. The expression and great moment of indulgence is simple and wonderful. If you knew the subject, you'd understand even more.

More great expression and personality. We can't say enough good things about these two and I'm just glad we could give them a great image.

Heather's Picks:

Best of the Best – wow – it is ridiculously hard to narrow down an entire year of work to three pictures. Here’s what I’ve got and why – like Aaron you might be shocked by my choices (yes I was). For me the best of the best are not about technical accuracy, but more about how I feel when I look at them – and what emotions are captured.

I just LOVE this picture! Any couple who is crazy enough to lie on the ground in their wedding attire is perfect for our shooting style. Nathan and Rachel are two of the most engaging and warm people I’ve ever met. The welcomed us into their wedding like we were old friends.

I think this picture captures the intimacy of being in love. When you are with the right person, I think you can spend time in the simplest of locations because you are so entranced with each other. This picture makes me want to get lost in that field ...

How can you NOT love this picture. I think it is so fun! I am a huge “Thriller” fan – I intend to learn the dance someday – so this picture makes me want to hear the song and dance! It’s probably my most shocking choice, but something about it just grabs me.

Best-of-the-Best Grooms

For an explanation of best-of-the-best click here.

Aaron's Picks:

We're getting close now, this is the last post before we show our overall favorites from 2007.

Grooms, not shockingly, have a special place in my heart and our style is tooled slightly for them. For the most part guys just don't like to have their pictures taken, I can relate, it's okay. That's a major reason why we shoot with the approach that we do, to make them forget that we're there to take their picture and instead to just have fun. I'm glad we had such a great group of guys this year and the results were pretty good.

Tewaney was definetly one of my favorite guys this year. He has such a wonderful, geniune personality that is electric. I really love everything about this shot, it is one of my favorites this year. It captures so much personality and has a certain amount of honesty to it. Photographer: Aaron Hawes

A much simpler shot than the first, just clean and easy. He is giving quite a look there. Photographer: Aaron Hawes

This is a pick just for the fun of it. Great expression, and it's another Aaron. Photographer: Aaron Hawes

Heather's Picks:

Ok, I’m sorry it took me so long to choose for this category. Here’s the problem – to me a wedding is about the BRIDE. She’s been waiting for this day her whole life – I know, I’ve been there. So it’s a big paradigm shift for me to think, what’s my favorite groom picture. So, yeah it was harder than the other categories. In any event, here are my choices.

This shot says “pure satisfaction” to me. Actually it was hard to pick just one shot of Tewaney. He was one of the most expressive and welcoming grooms we’ve shot. And I KNOW Aaron picked this one too, but it is really good so it has to be on my list too. Photographer: Aaron Hawes

I like this picture because while it looks really fake it’s not. Sean struck this pose without being asked and it definitely captures his fun-loving personality. Photographer: Aaron Hawes

I know this isn’t a traditional portrait but I love how Aaron is concentrating so deeply. I thought Aaron was very intense – in a good way – and all of his energy is focused in this shot. It makes me want to know what he’s working on. Photographer: Matt Frye