Nikki+Max Marry at Museum of Life and Science

Nikki and Max! Also known to everyone as Mackey and Nix or Mickey and Nick or a variety of other combinations. I’m pretty sure I arranged their names into my own version quite a few times despite clearly knowing who they are, and so did their officiant, Geoff, and possibly a few other people. I’m not sure why their names were so combinable, but I’m pretty sure they’d be the best celebrity couple ever. Like Nix, or maybe Mixxey. Or maybe Nax or Ikkiax.. or. Hmm.

Anyway, this was our first opportunity to photograph a wedding at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham and I have to say it quickly became one of our favorite venues. Awesome outdoor space, awesome indoor space, a ton of shooting variety, random sculptures of wolves with wings and bug eyes, and a whole lot of creepy crawlers that entertained the guests to no end (in particular was the giant orb spider who didn’t have an enclosure but rather lived on a tree inside the museum and just happened to stay there because that’s where they feed him. That’s right. He technically has free reign. Don’t set down your drink).

We had an awesome time getting to know Nikki and Max in real life outside their Instagram accounts that we’ve been stalking for some time. Geoff also had the distinct pleasure of meeting their cat Mickey (who is kind of like their celebrity combo name but the shelter had already named him when they got him so not really). I was a bit jealous because I had been waiting to meet Mickey for SO LONG and Geoff always gets the “getting ready” animals, so I just had to live vicariously through him through the pictures of Mickey trying to eat their snacks and unwrap their presents. A huge congratulations and thank you to our lovely couple, Nikki and Max!

Date: April 26, 2014

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Museum of Life and Science // Durham, NC

First Dance Song: “Unchained Melody” – Righteous Brothers

Nikki’s Occupation: Neuroscience Graduate Student

Max’s Occupation: Health and Public Policy research fellow

How You Met: Nikki TA’ed a class Max was taking

Honeymoon Destination: Cambodia and Vietnam

Vendor Credits: Officiant – Lori Burgwyn, owner of Franklin St. Yoga Center | DJ – Damien Mass | Florist – Saunders | Cake – Daisy Cakes | Caterer – Green Planet Catering | Hair – Caitie Rumbles | Makeup – BareMinerals | Coordinator – Kelly @ Museum of Life and Science

Erin+Nick // Married in Raleigh.

This is the second time this month that we’ve have a portrait session in wedding garb! We love doing shoots like this, so we were excited when Erin contacted us. She and Nick were married in October, but wanted to have some more wedding pictures in their much loved city of Raleigh before taking the plunge and moving to their new city of Durham (which we’ve promised them they’ll love just as much!), and, more importantly, they wanted photos in their wedding outfits with their beloved dog Beaux.

You guys, just take a look at Beaux. He joined us in the second half of the session at a park near their house and I almost died from the cuteness. I think everyone else almost died from exhaustion after hearing me say, “It’s Beaux time!” over and over again as an ode to the Bojangle’s commercials and this adorable Corgi in front of me (sorry guys). He wore a bow tie and ran surprisingly fast for being so low to the ground. And while I can’t say he enjoyed having his picture taken, he did tolerate it once he quickly learned that it will get him bacon treats.

Now, I don’t want to make this session with these two lovely people entirely about Beaux (even though I kind of do because he’s so cute). But Erin and Nick are adorable too! Erin wore her lovely lace wedding dress and Nick wore his grandfather’s tux from the 1930s which is in amazingly immaculate condition. Nick is really into plants (he’s a landscape architect) and specifically urban foliage so we had a good time watching him geek out over plants growing beside some pipes and bricks in the Warehouse District. We can’t wait for these guys to explore the urban foliage and awesomeness that is Durham when they move! And you guys… we are so excited for Beaux to live in Durham too.

“Ethologue” Cast & Crew

… And now for something completely different. :)

We were recently approached by Ryan Jones, an amazing local photographer, for a photography project surrounding a movie that he directed. We were immediately interested because a.) Ryan is awesome, b.) we were really flattered that he asked us (!!) and b.) we had been hearing about his movie through the interwebs for a bit now and thought it looked super intriguing. Our task was to photograph Ryan (argyle) along with Derek Trey (red and black), the film’s composer, and Rhys Thomas (suit), the film’s star, for promotional photos as well as to capture the bond the three of them have formed while working closely together on the film. It wasn’t hard to see how close the trio is and how special the film is for them. We had a seriously great time getting to know them and waltzing around some back alleyways in Chapel Hill for their shoot. :)

“Ethologue” is ten minutes long, black and white, and silent. It look them over two weeks to shoot in the city of Chapel Hill, NC and the cooperation of many friends, family members, and a very supportive city bus. :) The film’s score, written by Trey, is going to be preformed live by the Mars String Quartet during Trey’s direction during the premiere of the film on Tuesday, April 29th at 8:00pm. The premiere takes place at Kenan Rehearsal Hall at UNC. We cannot WAIT to see the film on the big screen for the first time, and think it’s a brilliant decision to show the movie along with its live score.

A huge thank you to Ryan for reaching out to us to photograph this project. It was an honor getting to work for you as a fellow photographer, and an honor getting to know and work with Trey and Rhys who are incredibly talented in ways we can’t begin to understand (our minds are still trying to wrap around writing a film score for multiple instruments). Thank you guys SO much. We are so thrilled to be a part of this film!

Watch the trailer here.

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