Mike Varel's Blog - wedding photojournalism + cinematic wedding films - Kansas City + worldwide

meg + joe: married [chicago]

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:07:41 -0600

I first met Meg at Focus Seminars. We quickly became friends and stayed in touch even when she went back to work in Chicago.

I got phone calls and emails telling me about how she met Joe at church and how amazing he was. Then the day came when I got the call. They were engaged and she wanted me to shoot her wedding pictures.
I was so excited for them and to finally meet Joe, but I really felt like I wasn't Meg's photographer. I knew I could do it, but what I wanted for her was better than I could do.
I sent her to my friends at Wirken Photography. I really wanted Becca to shoot the photos for them, and if I was asked to do video I'd love it, but would've been happy to just be in attendance.

In the end, Tyler shot the engagement photos, Becca and Jewel got to shoot the wedding and Ryan and I went along for the video. It was one of my favorite weddings of all time for so many reasons. One, it was Meg & Joe, and I love them - for another, it was Chicago and their wedding was gorgeous. I had also met Meg's mom and sister at Focus, so it was awesome to be a part of the family for the day. The ceremony was amazing at the Moody Bible Church and the reception was by far the best I've been to. The band Sway performed all night and I've never heard better - the dance floor was packed!

The entire day ran so smoothly and I loved the detailed & professional service from Kristin at Big City Bride.

Thank you Meg & Joe for letting me into your world, on your most special day. I was truly honored to be there and capture all of those moments for you. It was one of the hardest edits for me to do because I wanted it to be a 4 hour video. You guys are wonderful & I hope you enjoy this short piece before you get the full length piece... which may be 4 hours.

The music in this video is by Amy Seeley - she's amazing, swing by her website and check out her stuff or grab her record off iTunes. Music was licensed through WithEtiquette.com

Details:
Wedding Planning: Big City Bride
Church: Moody Bible Church
Reception: Germania Place
Band: Sway

For the technical folks out there:
You may see a visual difference in this video compared to the rest that I've done or posted here - Canon released a new camera and it arrived literally the week of the wedding. I shot this entire piece with the 7D, hand held with a 20mm and a 50mm lense. I didn't have time to buy anything else for it. Since that wedding I've shot and produced several other projects with it and all 2010 weddings will have the same visual quality, plus a few new tricks.

For those of you that were left hanging at the end of the video wanting to see more; all of my videos cover the whole day. This is just the opening piece, followed by a full-length ceremony shot with multiple cameras as well as the whole reception edited to music as well. Contact me today so I can get your day on my calendar, 2010 weddings are filling up fast!

kara + domingo: married [nebaj, guatemala]

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:30:16 -0600

This was a new experience for me.
Typically I meet a couple, we have some time together at the engagement shoot and then I see them on the wedding day.
With Kara + Domingo, I got to shoot pictures of them for an entire week leading up to their wedding. (see past blog posts for the story)

I connected more with them and their family than anyone I've ever shot in the last 9 years. It wasn't work, It was truly a blessing for me to be there and experience their day with them.

Part of what made this wedding so amazing was all the behind the scenes stories that I got to be a part of.
The other incredible thing was that Domingo's parents speak Ixil (pronounced ee-sheel), so there was really only pointing, nodding and body language to communicate with them unless Domingo translated - Yet these two families came together in an incredible way.

After having 8 sons, Domingo's mom expresses how she feels like she has a daughter now:

The wedding was held in Domingo's backyard. The entire thing was landscaped and designed around his future wedding.

Here are a few from the beginning of the day:
I love Kara's shoes, the calla lilies, and her dress. Kara also kept peaking out the window to watch Domingo setting up while her incredible sisters helped her get ready. I loved catching moments of the close relationship she has with them as the week went on.

As a gift to his future bride, Kara's great grandfather bought this bracelet from the Vatican. Passed down over the years, Kara's mom leant it to her to wear during the wedding. Amanda and Laura wore it in their weddings too.

Here are more from the wedding:

Domingo, Kara, Paula, Laura, Amanda, Ed & Ruth - thank you for inviting me into your lives for an entire week. (All of the rest of you too!) It was an ubelievable experience that I cherish. Thank you for letting me capture the moments from your day and I look forward to many more visits to Guatemala and Canada. (eh?)
If you are a member of the family, please visit here and for the online galleries.

Guatemala

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:56:38 -0600

This was an incredible week. It's hard to describe really. Meeting new people, having an instant connection and sharing amazing experiences and meals together for an entire week really made this special for me. So much so, it really made me forget all about the vacation I had taken the week before.

I flew into Guatemala City to spend the week touring the country with Domingo + Kara, plus her Canadian family. I knew we were going to see some stuff leading up to the wedding weekend, but I had no idea what.
It was an adventure, and I was along for the ride - camera in hand.

We started out Monday morning in Antigua, Guatemala.

If you're from Kansas City, picture the plaza, just hundreds of years older with incredible architecture, charming little shops where practically everything is hand made, and oh yeah, volcanoes in the distance. This happens every 15 days apparently, and we happened to be there on one of those days -

We visited a candle maker's shop to pick out a unity candle and anything else that we could use for the wedding:

I love this moment with Kara and her mom, and Andrew's face in the background

We spent a lot of time on this:

Kara + Domingo didn't seem to mind:

The first day we went zip-lining in Panajachel, right off Lake Atitlan which had 3 volcanoes behind it. Imagine flying over the tree line 50-100 feet up and looking down into a valley leading to a lake with volcanoes behind it. It's even more amazing than it sounds. The whole family came along, even Kara's 9 yr-old nephew Andrew who did amazing.

Day 2 began with Domingo loading our luggage on top of the bus

I gave our bus driver Juan my sun glasses because he was cool, and I sat up front with him a lot. "Tu & Yo, Juan" (You and Me) I would say pointing at the horizon and he would laugh as I pretended to have any idea where we were going. He didn't speak a lick of English, and got lost every day of the trip.

We visited a glass blowing shop and I got to shoot them in action -

After that, we hit the hot springs - naturally heated by the volcano.

We drove further north each day getting closer and closer to Nebaj, which is where Domingo is from, and where he and Kara first met.
On the way we stopped by a children's camp to show the family what Kara's dad had been helping with on missions trips, as well as cutting down some bamboo for wedding decorations.

You'll get to see what was done with the the bamboo in the wedding post.

Let me throw in some shots of Domingo + Kara now. I'd take them from time to time, place to place, but we also had an impromptu engagement session right there in the Mayan ruins.

I'm going to leave it at that for now. I'll show you all some wedding photos and maybe some set-up stuff too in the next one...

Guatemala: Mercado de Atesanias

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:38:57 -0600

The artist's market.
It's open each day of the week, but even bigger on Thursdays and Sundays.
I got to photograph it on a Thursday.
I'm going to let the images speak for themselves. Color, texture, character, beauty.

where to begin

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:22:18 -0600

I have no idea where to begin here.
I'm back in town after two incredible weeks, one that made the other look just silly.
My vacation in the southern caribbean was much overdue and great, but completely overshadowed by an unbelievable week in Guatemala.

There's simply too much to share for one blog post, so several will be coming.
I'm not even going to bother with talking about vacation although it was great to hang with some of my old Nashville friends on some really great islands. (and eat way too much)
I'll include a couple of shots though for those of you stuck in the cold KC weather:

Here is what's to come:
- zip-lining in Guatemala
- a glass blowing factory
- hot springs naturally heated by a volcano
- a Guatemalan market
- being adopted by an incredible Canadian family (practically)
- an unbelievably beautiful wedding with an epic mountain backdrop and over 500 Cala lilies

for now, a scene from Guatemala:

(that's a volcano in the background - one of the 6 we saw)

Out of the country till Feb 2nd

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 16:43:44 -0600

Incase you're trying to reach me, I most likely have no phone or email service until Feb. 2nd.
I believe in working hard, and playing hard. Over the last 6 months the wedding season has been so busy I haven't done a great job at the playing part - SO - after a vacation in the Caribbean with some Nashville friends I'll be back in Guatemala for a little over a week shooting Domingo + Kara's wedding.

I first met Domingo at the Summit conference held by Food for the Hungry last February and was incredibly impressed with his passion for his work against poverty in Guatemala.

I was incredibly excited when I found out I got to spend a week with him last September touring his country with him as an advocate for FH, shooting pictures and video to show the power that Child Sponsorship has in those areas of extreme poverty.

Now, our friendship continues as I tour the country with him and his fiance Kara. Her and her family are from Canada so we'll be touring the beauty that Guatemala has to offer during the week, then their wedding that weekend.
I'm excited to be shooting photos for them of all their experiences, and especially the wedding.

If you're on here because your wedding is this year and you're looking for an incredible video to remember your day, please email me at mikevarel@mac.com (or use the contact button at the top) and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

2010 dates are filling up quickly - I Iook forward to meeting and working with you, or referring you to some of the other incredible photo/video friends of mine!

emilee + dan: married [kansas city]

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:02:58 -0600

I met Emilee + Dan at the Gathering. They are one of the most fun couples I've had the pleasure of photographing. Dan's facial expressions are hilarious and Emilee follows quickly behind his goofiness. (I looked up how to spell that, it's right, trust me.)

I loved Emilee's friends and their expressions in the photos as they watched and helped her get ready that morning.

Their wedding was at Emmanuel Baptist Church where Dan's dad is actually the pastor. He officiated the ceremony which I loved because him and Dan shared several glances and moments as it went on.

I think I was in a black and white mood for this wedding - Here are a few more for you:

We were done by early in the afternoon and decided to go shoot some pics on the plaza. It was freezing that day - but a speical thanks goes to the Cheesecake Factory for letting us use their elevator waiting room which was quite toasty.

Ryan + Beth Wedding Day Highlight

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:19:49 -0600

Ryan + Beth had a gorgeous outdoor wedding in the Rose Garden at Loose Park.
I was the lead photographer that day with my good friend Jenaé while Ryan and Jonathan handled the filming.

For their video, I edited all the pre-ceremony footage, full length ceremony, all the reception highlights and this piece at the end. I occasionally get questions about whether or not the full length ceremony is included on the DVD and I always film the whole thing.

Each of my wedding videos end with a wedding day highlight and each of them are different depending on the couple, the day and the music they help choose - Here is Beth + Ryan's:

Lindsay + Morgan Wedding Day Highlight

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:36:49 -0600

Morgan and Lindsay spent a year apart before their wedding. She was in Australia while he served our country in Kosovo. They were an incredibly fun couple and I loved being a part of their day.

Their ceremony was at Monteserrat Vineyards in Knob Noster, MO on a crazy hot July day. Immediately following the first kiss a huge thunderstorm (with sideways rain) drenched the guests hiding under the tent, but they all stayed and had an incredible party shortly after.

Monteserrat is a beautiful vineyard and I highly recommend swinging by for a tasting if you're in the Kansas City area it's just about an hour away.

Christmas with the nephews

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:17:56 -0600

This year I unfortunately got food poisoning somewhere on Christmas Eve and after being sick all night I slept through the entire Christmas Day and woke up sometime Saturday.
Thankfully I got to hang with my family and nephews Wednesday night before all that though.
Grady and Casey recently starred in their very own video on my blog, but here are a few photos:

Grady tried to open a present by sitting on it:

Grady also got a workbench for Christmas - he was occupied for the next 2 hours, even through changing his pajamas:

Casey didn't get his two front teeth, but he's working on standing up:

Grady is on the phone with Bob Villa about starting his own show:

Coming Soon: Emilee + Dan

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:48:09 -0600

Emilee + Dan were married December 19th - here's a little sneak peak:

Help Portrait

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0600

Here's an update to an earlier blog about Help Portrait.

Check out their website to hear what it's all about, but basically a bunch of great Kansas City photographers joined in with over 6,000 photographers worldwide and gave away professional portraits to those in need on December 12th.

Studio 132 in downtown hosted our event, one of several in KC that day. Thanks to all the photographers that donated their equipment, time and money to help in this incredible cause.
Thanks to Jason Domingues for helping coordinate the event, edit all the photos and handle the printing process!

Here's Jason's shot of me filming:

Also thanks to Digital Labrador for donating the lenses and Zacuto video rig that helped make this video possible:

Family Fusion

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:56:28 -0600

So incase you haven't heard, the new digital cameras like the Canon 7D and 5D Mark II shoot incredible video as well as photos. "Fusion" is a term those cool folks out in California have been throwing around that basically means photo + video together.
So here's my Family Fusion piece. I used my awesome nephews Grady & Casey along with my sister and brother in law Aaron to try this out on - You've seen Grady & Casey on here before in photos - get ready to see them in live action - enjoy:

this time last year...

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:44:11 -0600

...I was in the Bahamas with these two shooting their wedding:

The other day we went on a quick photo shoot on the plaza - I'll share more later -

Happy Anniversary Adam + Whitney. Thanks for letting me be a continued part of capturing memories for you and your family!

Teaching

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:07:35 -0600

So, this last minute, like a week away, but I'm teaching a class next Tuesday night at Digital Labrador.
It's one of my favorite places because I rent lenses and fun gear from them all the time for all my weddings. I've even covered the shop for them a few weekends while they've gone to Mexico or the Flint Hills for one of their awesome photo workshops.
So Brud, one of the awesome guys up there approached me one day and said "what do you know about shooting video with a Digital SLR camera?" Well gang, quite a bit.
I actually used the Canon 5D Mark II shortly after it came out to film for a Food for the Hungry video early in the year, did another marketing piece with it, and I recently bought a Canon 7D for all my corporate marketing and wedding videos next year.
So - are you a photographer or videographer wanting to know the basics of shooting video with one of the coolest things in the video world right now?
Swing by the Digital Labrador site and check it out under the "Learn" tab.
There's some exciting new things happening in the photo/video world with these cameras - come learn about shooting video, composition, creative shots, dealing with audio and later editing - I look forward to meeting you!