Choosing your wedding photographer is one of many important decisions you must make when planning a wedding. They will be not only capturing images that you will cherish for a lifetime but also you will be with this photographer the entire wedding day. So this person needs to be a killer photographer AND someone that you genuinely like to be around.
I am thrilled to introduce you to Boulder-based photographer
Merrick Chase.
Describe the service you provide:
I provide wedding photography services to what I'd call discerning and adventurous clients, primarily in the Colorado Mountain market. I'd say about half of my clients come from out of state, from all over the country, as a lot of the weddings I shoot are destination weddings. My couples tend to care a lot about their photography and I get to work with some really cool people. I shoot all over the state, primarily in the Telluride, Vail, and Beaver Creek areas, but on the Front Range as well.
When and why did you start your business?
I've been shooting my entire life, or at least since I was about seven, and I came over to wedding photography about five years ago from a background in portrait and event photography. I was living in Telluride at the time and shooting for a lot of the festivals and action sports competitions in addition to shooting family and commercial work. I've always loved photographing people and I'm a very high energy person, so shooting high profile events where I'm under a lot of pressure came very naturally to me. At some point it just seemed like a natural progression to move from one high pressure shooting environment to the next- from events to weddings. Really, it was the right clients who came to me at the beginning. I got hired by a fantastic guy to shoot his proposal to his sweetheart on the spot where he'd told her he loved her several years ago. I was hiding out up the street with a big zoom lens and the fellah and I were texting each other to get the timing right. I was incredibly moved to bear witness to this couple's love. I actually teared up while it was happening! The couple liked the photos so much that his family flew me down to Austin, Texas to shoot their 200-plus person wedding. That was my first one and I couldn't have had a better couple. I loved the huge emotion of the day, how joyous everyone was and how freely everyone expressed their joy. I was hooked.
How did you learn your craft?
I developed a photography habit early on in my life and I learned how to shoot first in school- middle school that is. When I was thirteen and had been an 'avid photographer' for several years already, my grandmother saw that I was serious about it; as serious as a thirteen year old kid can be about anything. So, she bought me my first Nikon. I took a darkroom class at school and then I started shooting my friends at every opportunity. Setting up little photo shoots here and there, shooting at parties. Later at concerts and for newspapers. I was pretty much hooked.
From then on I always had a camera, or two, or three with me at all times. It was kind of like a curse and I actually put it down a couple of different times in my life. It stops being fun when you feel compelled to shoot everything you see. The flip side is that the camera has been a great friend to me. I learned how to shoot from shooting everything I saw for many years. I was fortunate enough to get out of the States traveling for almost ten years and in that time I photographed an awful lot. Got into video for some years, too. I was always fascinated by the people I met and the connection that simply creating a photograph with someone could spark. It's an intimate thing, a photograph, and as I've shot over the years I've developed my own style and methods that are still evolving today. In fact, that's what keeps photography interesting to me, is that I never stop learning.
Describe you photographer style and approach to weddings.
My style has always been a very personal one. It's very important to me to connect emotionally with my subjects, when I can, especially when my subjects are a bride and groom about to be married. To be a part of such a monumental day in a couple's lives is a very special thing. I feel honored to be let so intimately into so many couple's lives where only a short time before we were strangers. My approach to wedding photography is to capture the energy and emotion of the day as each moment unfolds, for the most part. Something's going on everywhere, and I want to capture a slice of all of it. Naturally, I aim to make everyone look their best in the images, so I pay a lot of attention to the direction the light is coming from and also to my framing and the angle I'm shooting from. The best looking person shot in the wrong light or from the wrong angle is going to look poorly nine times out of ten.
Great candid shots are fantastic when you can get them, and I do get a lot of them, but during some parts of the day I like to slow things down a bit and create very deliberate, glamour or fashion style portraits with the bride and groom. Images that really showcase the couple's love for one another while making them looking absolutely stunning together at the same time. For as great as I can capture a beautiful couple that looks their best,' I can make them look a whole lot better with just a little bit of direction. I take a lot of my inspiration from the fashion world; I'm a junkie for the latest edition of W, Vogue, or Vanity Fair- as much for the ads as anything else. I tear through the latest edition of every Victoria's Secret Swimsuit Catalog to study the poses and the lighting and I try to take a little something away with me from each issue. The lines are just so perfect in those images, the lines of the body and how the light plays upon them. I try to replicate those smooth lines and beautiful lighting in my portrait sessions with a bride and groom.
I'll position a couple so that they're standing into the light just so, and I'm also working with an assistant who will usually be reflecting light back onto them with either a reflector or a video light. I'll offer some simple suggestions about how to stand, what to do with their limbs, where to look, to raise their chin a bit here or there. Get the shadows on the face right. I keep things moving along and keep the energy up, of course; it's far from boring or stiff, and I'm also sure to bring emotion in before I click the shutter. Very few people can actually tell the difference between my candids and my composed images. Any couples (usually it's the groom) who express concerns about 'not wanting to do posed shots' beforehand always relinquish any concerns once I show them how the first shots we take look on the camera back. Utterly natural, and they're always excited at the results.
What or who inspires you?
Light inspires me, and what is possible to create with it in a photograph- especially in an image with people in it. I shoot on location a lot with studio lights; I generally bring them to cover the dance floor during the reception, and I also use a variety of daylight modifiers, reflectors and scrims. There's just so much you can do whether it's natural or manufactured light; there's no end to it, really. I never cease to be intrigued by the way that light and shadow fall on a human face for instance, and what the subtlest of changes- in a subject's positioning, or in a camera angle or setting, or an adjustment of your light- can bring about... I really geek out about light.
I'm inspired almost every day by other photographers. It's so easy to stay current with anything you're interested in these days, or anyone. Jerry Ghionis is a big inspiration, incredible wedding and fashion photographer. I was fortunate enough to do a five day intensive workshop with him and him [amazing] wife Melissa in LA a couple years back. Really opened my eyes even after shooting my whole life. Cristian Othe and Otto Shulze are two other incredible wedding photographers I admire. Some of my favorite fashion and commercial photographers are well-knowns like Mario Testino, Bruce Weber, Mark Seliger, and Terry Richardson. Less known ones are David Benoliel and Miller Mobley. Again, I take a lot of my inspiration for my wedding photography from fashion. They've got it down in that world and there's an awful lot to learn just from turning through the pages of the latest magazine, or opening up any of a thousand Tumblr blogs.
Any awards or features/publications?
I've won a couple of small awards for my portrait and landscape photography years back but nothing for weddings yet. One day I hope to have the time to actually submit my images around for consideration. In the meantime, it's all I can do to shoot and edit!
Favorite Wedding Location.
My favorite wedding location in Colorado is Telluride, hands-down. There's an energy about the place, about that valley, that's unlike anything anywhere else. It's an out of the way place to get to and anyone who gets married there, you know they put a lot of thought- and effort- into getting there, and to getting everyone else there. It's not just down the road. It's a special kind of couple that Telluride draws, and they're always a lot of fun to work with. It's also a very magical place with tons of great venues.
Favorite Wedding Trend.
My favorite wedding trend right now is the one that sees couples asking their guests to be more present with them and less present with their phones, namely referring to the Instagramming and Facebooking of photos and videos of the wedding throughout the day. I think it's great to see people 'check their technology at the door,' so to speak, and to simply enjoy the day with family and friends. It can also be an added gift to the guests to be free of their phones and that connectivity for several hours. When's the last time any of us were truly disconnected?
What is your advice for a couple planning a Colorado Wedding?
My advice for a couple planning their wedding in Colorado is to really take your time and choose the right location. There are so many great towns in Colorado and they're all very different. Do your research and try to find out which place will suit you best. If you're here and traveling, talk to locals as much as you can. If you're looking from afar, read reviews online. There are so many out there and so many incredible places to consider. I will say that the best places are often the hardest to get to!
Where did you grow up and how did you end up in Colorado?
I spent half my childhood in southern California and the other half in south Florida. While traveling after college I wound up visiting a friend in Breckenridge, where I lived on and off for a few years. When I returned to the States after traveling for nearly a decade, I knew that I wanted to return to Colorado. I love the outdoors- skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and the mountains in general. I love the immediate access to wilderness in most parts of the state. I raised my son in ski towns for seven years (Crested Butte and Telluride) and then found that my family as a whole wanted access to more things, so in 2011 we came to the big city, Boulder. It's hardly very big. I find it a great mix of urban and mountain environments, and I get up to the mountains to shoot all the time, usually Telluride, Crested Butte, and the Vail/Beaver Creek areas.
Below is a glimpse into his portfolio.
Check out more on his website.
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