Vendor Spotlight: Aurora Meneghello, Wedding Photographer

Growing up in Vicenza, Italy, Aurora Meneghello was surrounded by art. Born with a creative eye and not much opportunity to nurture her photography and film interests, Aurora moved to the US after high school. She studied filmmaking in Los Angeles and later graduated with a degree in Fine Art Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. Here she worked along side a wedding journalist and thus her own love for wedding photography was born.

Aside from having her own business for the past two and a half years, she is also the official photographer of Locally Grown Weddings and they are committed to our environment and our community. When you hire Aurora, you also get the option to tap into this amazing network of San Francisco based vendors who share an emphasis for green business practices.

Aurora tells me whole-heartedly how much she loves working with brides. The way ideas flow, how everyone is so beautiful on their wedding day and how unique couples are. She loves to give people beautiful portraits of themselves.

Her inspirations behind the lens include artists, painters, museums and small galleries. She has a post-it note on her computer screen that reads, “Connect the unconnected, see the relationships where there are none,” and says it’s a great way to sum up what she’s looking for in art: she wants to see something she hasn’t seen before and get a glimpse beyond her experience.

Should you book Aurora, you will not only be getting an award-winning photographer (exhibits in Los Angeles and San Francisco include Intersection for the Arts, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and Galeria de la Raza), you will be working with a collaborator. “It’s important that the couple feels happy and comfortable with me. In short, we need to be a match. I like to get to know the couple before the Big Day so we can be effortlessly in sync.” And with her warm personality, it won’t be hard to fall in love with Aurora and her beautiful work.

Vendor Spotlight: Michelle Walker, San Francisco Wedding Photographer

Ever since Michelle Walker was a little girl bouncing on her Papa’s knee looking at his beautiful photography, she knew she wanted to follow in his footsteps. So many years later, she enrolled in San Francisco’s Academy of Art school for photography and in her final semester, assisted a wedding photojournalist. It was love at first snap for her. While Michelle feels fortunate to do travel photography on her time off from weddings, weddings are the real icing on the cake for her.

“I love the raw emotion,” she tells us, “and I get to spend the BEST day with people—brides are excited, nervous, stressed...it's awesome to capture those real emotions.” We asked her what inspires her and keeps her fresh and she tells us she just started a photo project called The 100andOne Project, created to keep her photography just that. It’s a pure, simple, elegant way to photograph portraits. 100 days only, one set, one prop and one light. Her goal is to get 100 different sessions and potentially turning it into a book.

So why do we love Michelle and her images? Beyond the fact that she’s delightful and witty, you can expect gorgeous, relaxed and fun photography of your Big Day. Her goal is to capture the emotions of the day rather than just a record of who was there and what events took place—she photographs in an unobtrusive style giving you the feeling that she wasn’t even there. And that’s kina what you want when you have a room full of guests swarming around you in awe.

Visit michellewalker.com to view her entire portfolio.

Madeleine Tilin, San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Photography

We had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Madeleine quite recently and how could we not blog about her? Madeleine Tilin is a photojournalistic wedding and portrait photographer in the San Francisco Bay area. Her love of photography stems from a favorite childhood memory: her grandmother playing family slides for her on a projector. “I knew some of the people, not all,” she says, “But the images gave me a sense of history and community. I was hooked.” Graduating with a degree in journalism, she worked as an art director, graphic designer and photo editor in the magazine publishing industry for many years. In 1996, during extended travels in Asia, she realized that photography was her true calling. She has been shooting weddings, events and portraits in the Bay Area for four years.

Because of her background in graphic design and art direction, she tells us she really enjoys experimenting with filters and effects when the situation calls for it. “I try not to overuse them,” she explains, “But I find they can enhance a mood or transform the energy in an image. My custom work on images can be included in certain packages if the client is interested in this option.” Madeleine also tells us she loves love. “Who wouldn't enjoy being around that energy? It's an honor to be invited into this day to document all of the energy, love, emotion, crazy, fun moments and sacred, quiet moments that encompass a wedding day. My radar is wide and very pointed at the same time. I'm so ‘in the moment’ with the person I am shooting, but at a wedding you have to be really aware of everything going on around you. One thing you can't learn is great timing: I have it. Otherwise, you just have pictures of people with no story.” Looking at her work, you can see what she means.

She tells us her influences behind the lens are music, nature, yoga, and her own history. Photographically, Annie Leibowitz, Richard Avedon and Dorthea Lange are her portraiture heroes. “Staying fresh as an artist means being open to these influences around you all the time,” she says, “It means constantly looking at other photographers' work to see what works, what doesn't. It means going to museums and galleries and taking in other mediums of art and reflecting on what the connections are between what I'm looking at and what I do. It means being curious and understanding nuance.”

Should you choose to have Madeleine with you on your Big Day, you will no doubt have an artist and friend by your side. “When I meet a couple for the first time, I'm really trying to get a sense of who they are as people. Before we take another step together, I tell them it is important that we feel comfortable around each other because I will be following them around for 8 hours, and that's just the wedding!” http://www.madeleinetilin.com/ for more insanely beautiful images, totally Bridebound approved.

Vendor Spotlight: Morgen Benoit, Wedding Photographer

A 7-month Europe backpacking trip provided all the inspiration Morgen Benoit needed to follow her passion in photography. She had been currently working in the corporate world armed with a BS in Business Management and Finance. Morgen's father gave her her first camera at age 15 and she says she knew it was the perfect medium to balance logic and creativity. Immediately upon returning from Europe she pursued a position as a photo lab technician and learned the nuances of exposure and light. One of her mentors studied directly with Ansel Adams; Morgen feels beyond fortunate to have made that connection still to this day.

When we ask her about shooting weddings, she says, “Weddings provide me with a structure that is both challenging and rewarding. The limited amount of time available on the wedding day challenges me to get it right the first time, every time. The framework of the wedding day is similar from one to the next but within that framework I try to provide something special and unique for each client.”

Of what keeps her fresh behind the lens, she says the fact that there is only one chance to capture wedding images. She admits to us that she still gets as nervous as the bride when she walks down the aisle! We love that. Morgen’s work is unique and it shows. She’s been shooting weddings for nearly 20 years and has made the digital transition through education and careful planning. Couples will benefit from her background of shooting film and her extensive training in lighting and posing. “Only through the knowledge of the basics can one successfully break the rules: that is my biggest advantage,” she tells us. We think she’s right on the mark. To see what we mean, click here.

Vendor Spotlight: Jere Visalli, Wedding Photographer

It was a chance experience 20 years ago. Jere Visalli accompanied his brother, a Huntington Beach based wedding photographer, along on a wedding shoot. Something clicked, not just the camera. So, Jere came back that weekend and made a bold move and began small: by charging a rate that would be impossible for clients to turn down. It worked. And still to this day, Jere promises an affordable rate for his quality product.

Of weddings, he tells us, “They’re a joy. People are looking their best and the locations are typically conducive to creating scenic backgrounds. One of the best compliments I can get is that they say they never knew I was there.” We agree. There’s nothing worse than a buzzing-bee photographer!To keep his creative juices flowing, Jere tells us he looks at all of the journalistic style magazines and photo books as well as collaborates with other wedding photographers. “It’s great to take an image you've seen or an idea you have thought of and then work it into your own creation.”
After 20 years in the business, Jere says he’s seen it all. He explains if the artistic shots can be incorporated into spontaneous images, then you have the ultimate shot, an image that is totally candid but artistically composed. 80% of his photography is the artistic, candid style—just the kind you wish for on your big day.