photography

Downtown Minneapolis Snowy Wedding In The Historic Lumber Exchange Building / March 17, 2019 by Bradley Hanson

Illyas walks out on the roof of the Lumber Exchange Building as the snowstorm begins on March 9, 2019.

I’ve been photographing weddings for 20 years now. I’ve personally been to 600 of them. Yeah, I know. It’s gone by quickly since April 1999. Anyway, 13 years of that was in Seattle, the last 7 here in Minneapolis. As someone who grew up in Minneapolis, the feeling is often that there is snow on the ground 6 months of the year. It can start as early as October and it can happen as late is May. We don’t get the kind of heavy snow we used to get all winter when I was a kid, but we are getting wild extremes. This year, we had a bone dry December, then February was 40 inches of snow rather than the average of 7.

Snow gets old when you grow up with it, but it still has a magical quality to me, particularly the first snow of the year. There is a quiet and peacefulness that happens both from the visual minimalism and the sound deadening of the snow itself. It literally absorbs sound and the combination enhances the beauty.

When Anna and Illyas hired me to photograph portraits for them, it was a relatively humid day. They had just gotten a sweet little dog named Louie who didn’t want to be away from them during our time together.

Fast forward to a week ago. The wedding day, March 9th, came quickly and meteorologists forecasted a late winter storm of 8-10” in the Twin Cities. I was excited because I could finally take photographs of a bride and groom in the snow. Well, the serious part of the storm ended up hitting the part of the state south of Minneapolis and while we ended up with more like 5 inches of snow, it was beautiful: large, heavy and dense snow that fell slowly and accumulated quickly.

In a brief moment after the wedding ceremony, Anna, Illyas and I went to the roof of the historic Lumber Exchange Building to take a few photographs it was the opportunity I’ve been waiting for. I rarely use flash, but with snow it highlights every flake on its way to the ground.

I’ll be adding images to this blog post in a few weeks.

Outerfocus Photography Podcast With Martin Parr Of Magnum / August 8, 2018 by Bradley Hanson

With great pleasure, our current episode of the Outerfocus podcast features Magnum's legendary British documentary photographer Martin Parr.

Ian Weldon and I dive straight in and find out what Martin has been working on, and hear about the former Magnum President's new venture, The Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol. We discover how the foundation was born, what it is, and its vision for the future. Martin tells us how he first got introduced to photography by his grandfather at the age of 13 and about his career so far, including how he became a member of Magnum, and didn’t, and then did again, and his slight run in with Henri Cartier-Bresson......

History of photography this week focuses on Walker Evans. Born in 1903, Evans was an American photojournalist known for his work documenting the effects of the Great Depression, and bodies of work such as American Photographs. We look at his early life, his work and the impact his photography has had on others.

You can listen via the link below or by finding Outerfocus on iTunes podcasts app on your phone or tablet.

https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com/podcast/2018/8/7/outerfocus-23-walker-evans-martin-parr

You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To see more Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN portraits, wedding photography and weddings all over the world, visit my main portfolio on bradleyhanson.com or email me at info@bradleyhanson.com or call me at 206-393-8292 and we can discuss your wedding plans in detail. My speciality is shooting family portraits in an unposed, natural style and wedding photojournalism. I photograph weddings as they happen rather than direct the action, which is often referred to as documentary style wedding photography. I’ve photographed weddings in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Seattle and many countries around the world.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

Outerfocus Photography Podcast Episode 15! / May 2, 2018 by Bradley Hanson

A little over 6 months ago, UK photographer Ian Weldon asked me if I would co-host his new photography podcast with him. He and I "met" online many years ago through a disagreement. I respected the way he handled himself in sharing his opinion without emotional complications, and we stayed in touch. I respect his approach.

I had no idea how the podcast would go other than the basic concept: Each week, we invite a current photographer who's portfolio we love to chat with us about their work AND discuss a photographer in history about their role in pushing the boundaries and/or moving photography forward.

This has had a number of positive benefits, including refreshing myself with the originators of photography from the early 1800s onwards. We started with Daguerrotypes and recently covered Mathew Brady (best known as THE Civil War photographer), as well as Eadweard Muybridge (who dabbled in animation and taught us how horses run through cameras he built himself).

We talk about everything: the things we love about photography, the photographers and photography books that we found inspirational, and the good and bad about the current state of the industry. Ian and I both shoot weddings, but we have been conscious about getting a diverse group of photographers from other kinds of photography so we can get a wide range of work and opinions.

There is a lot of laughter during conversations that are often highly philosophical, and that's made the weekly ritual even more enjoyable. I don't pretend to have all the answers. While I've had 18 years of experience shooting professionally, I will always consider myself a student of the medium and am always seeking to improve and deepen my understanding of both the craft and the world.

We started a weekly tradition where I ask each guest what photography book was the first one they ever bought, or what was the most inspirational book to them. Ian has been building a "library" of these books on the Outerfocus website, divided between Amazon UK and Amazon US sites. If you buy one of these books through the link, you pay the same price, but we get a tiny reward to help us continue the podcast. It's a great list so far and a useful resource for discovering the work of photographers you might not be familiar with. In a world where more and more things are moving online, physical media, particularly photography books, can be even more rewarding as they don't require power or a password and they aren't subject to obsolescence from being in unreadable formats...

I feel grateful to be a part of this podcast, and while it can be complicated chatting with photographers in 3 separate time zones, it continues to be significantly more engaging and rewarding than I could have imagined.

To listen to the current episode (or any of the 15 thus far), follow this link or subscribe for free via iTunes. If you enjoy the podcast, don't be afraid to leave an honest review and let us know what you liked and what you didn't, including what you'd like to hear or photographers you'd love to listen to.

Thanks for listening!

You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

Inspiration / April 5, 2018 by Bradley Hanson

Artists and photographers often talk about being inspired by other artists, usually in terms of an artist's body or work or a specific book. I had a moment like that in 1988 when I bought a Ralph Gibson book called "Tropism" at the Walker Art Center bookshop. I had taken various art and photography classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and had been exposed to the usual Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Klein, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, etc that are discussed in photography classes. I opened the book "Tropism" and suddenly I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as the wave of excitement washed over me. The tightly composed, minimalist, high contrast B&W images reverberated with me in a way that nothing else had.

I was already shooting with a 50mm lens. I didn't feel like I was doing anything compelling with it, but I stuck it out, trying to improve. After seeing the Gibson book, I suddenly saw the 50mm as a very exciting option, in stark contrast to it's reputation as a "normal" (and therefore, unexciting) lens. Seeing Ralph's work opened my eyes to the possibilities with this lens, and while I lived in a very different world that Gibson's NYC photographs, I started getting closer to my subjects and composing to crop out extraneous and non-essential visual components. Being exposed to what was possible transformed this seemingly bland lens into an exciting tool of limitless possibilities.

In the mid 1980s, film cameras (we just called them "cameras" at the time) were either sold as bodies or with the 50mm lens as kits. When I bought my first camera at age 15, the Minolta X-700, I bought the 50mm f1.7 with it using the money from my first paycheck ever.

My first photographs, of course, were breathtakingly bad. I stuck with it, eventually shooting for my high school newspaper, yearbook and every chance I could get with my normal life. I carried a camera everywhere with me, a practice I still continue to this day despite shooting most photographs with my iPhone 7 Plus.

Because I wasn't yet moved by my own photographs, I naively assumed that the real problem was the 50mm lens. I loved cinematography and noticed that most images, particularly in Kubrick's movies, were taken with wide angle lenses and to a lesser degree, telephoto lenses. I didn't think I'd ever get where I wanted to be with a 50mm lens. This would later prove to be false, but that was my thinking at the time. It's a common misconception: new equipment and new lenses almost never inspire new work or new ways of seeing. One exception was the Hasselblad XPAN, a panoramic film camera that yields 65mm x 24mm negatives on 35mm film, but that's a story for another time.

Enter the 28mm lens. My first successful image with this focal length was also the first image I ever sold.

Anyway, back to our story.

I was repeatedly seeing Garry Winogrand's work in various books (keep in mind, there was no internet to Google search) and knew he worked primarily with a 28mm. His work, at the time, looked messy and sloppy to me, devoid of compositional purpose. Some of this was my own way of processing that it was simply too much information for me. I was attracted to the minimal, clean, simple compositions I had seen in "Tropism."

Many years later, on another visit to an art exhibit and another trip to the Walker Art Center bookshop, I stumbled across a book called "1964" by Garry Winogrand. First of all, it had a beautiful, clean, vibrant, cold-tone color cover with a family seemingly picnicking in space (White Sands, New Mexico) that grabbed me immediately. I had no idea who they were or why they were in the middle of nowhere, but I couldn't stop looking at it. I didn't even notice the name "Winogrand" because I was so captivated by the photograph. It contains nearly 200 photographs, but I excitedly thumbed through it and bought their only copy, based mostly on the cover. I still have that book to this day.

This is not only one of the best books of photography I have to this day, but the cover image alone has deeply imprinted in my brain and affected the way I see the world. I think of the image often and some of it's compositional elements have snuck their way into my own work.

As always, I look forward to the next book or image to do that. Just like music, there is a feeling that comes from a photograph where all notes hit in the right place and you suddenly feel like the world is a wonderful place.

In the Outerfocus podcast I do weekly with UK photographer Ian Weldon, I ask each guest what photography book they bought first or what book changed the way they look at photography. What book was the most important to the way you see the world?

To listen to the podcast, follow this link or look up Outerfocus on iTunes. We also have links to the books Ian, myself and the guest photographers have recommended during the podcast.

The image below wasn't my first published image, but I was surprised that it was a contest winning image in the 2004 PDN "Top Knots" wedding contest. Also taken with a 28mm lens on film, lit only with sparklers.

You can follow me on Facebook, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

OUTERFOCUS: UK Photographer Ian Weldon and I are doing a weekly Photography podcast / January 27, 2018 by Bradley Hanson

UK photographer Ian Weldon and I have been working on a podcast called Outerfocus that focuses on photographic history and current photography rather than merely equipment. Each week, we discuss a historic photographer with a current photographer. We talk about the good, the bad, the ridiculous and everything in between. We are still working out the format, but considering we are on different continents, it’s been working very well and gets better every week. Episode 1 is up and new shows will be posted every Wednesday. Like the Outerfocus page to see the links to listen or find us on iTunes. The Facebook page will have links and photographs we reference in the discussions each week. Thanks for listening and if you like it, feel free to leave feedback or a review on iTunes.

You can find the podcast HERE or by searching for "Outerfocus" on iTunes

You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

Assumptions, Photography And The Micro Four Thirds System Article In The Debut Issue Of Olympus Passion Magazine / May 31, 2017 by Bradley Hanson

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You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

Images Published In Current Issue Of Minnesota Bride Magazine / February 7, 2017 by Bradley Hanson

Minnesota Bride Magazine asked me to share advice on how brides can look more comfortable in front of the camera. Since my focus the entire day is shooting spontaneously, being as invisible as possible and keeping people at ease, I was happy to give my perspective on what has worked for me. I find that letting couples merely spend time with each other and working around that yields a much truer portrayal of their connection, and they appreciate that reality much more than if I were to run them through the same series of poses that can be seen at every other wedding.

You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

Weddings Are About Real Moments, Not Poses. Photography Is About Communicating Emotion, Not About Cameras, Lenses, Sharpness, Film And Megapixels / October 15, 2016 by Bradley Hanson

Father of the bride dances with his daughter at The Bachelor Farmer restaurant in Minneapolis

A tool is a thing that has value because of what it does. An object is a thing that has value because of what it is.

Way back in the original days of photography, the subject needed to be stationary because emulsion speeds were very slow and the shutter needed to be open for a long time. It was understood that the subject would have to sit for a long time, and this usually meant also a limit to arm gestures and poses because they couldn't be sustained for the duration of the exposure. In fact, there was even a neck pillow used to keep people upright and still while they posed for Dagguerotypes. As an unintended result, there was a certain gravitas to these photographs, as though everyone needed to look intensely into the camera like Gustavo from Breaking Bad.

Times have changed, and many young photographers can't even imagine a time before digital and before ISO12800 and f1.0, f1.2 and f1.4 lenses became so ubiquitous. These tools now allow us the opportunity to shoot in nearly any conditions, exposing us all to beautiful things in exotic places and making, in some cases, the extraordinary ordinary through travel photography on Instagram feeds.

There is compelling evidence that the first known contract in history was a wedding contract. Looking at early wedding photography, one is left with the impression that they were more about tradition and obligation than about love, joy, connection and our current expectations from relationships. Most weddings were at places of worship, where photography *during* the event was forbidden (even if it would have been possible, technically), so the key moments of the ceremony were posed recreations at the end of the ceremony. After these stiff, fake events were photographed, the photographer then photographed the couple and family photographs on the same stage. As an obvious result, the extent of the variety was that the people differed from wedding to wedding, but the expectation from what the photographer would deliver was largely the same. The die had been cast and creative input from the photographer was, by definition, limited.

Bride and her mother getting ready upstairs at their home in Redmond, WA

Although I knew I wanted to be a photographer when I was 15, I never imagined that I'd be photographing weddings. When I was a kid, I didn't look at weddings with much curiosity and I had only been to a couple of them before I started photographing them. This would turn out to be an unexpected asset because I didn't have to un-learn bad habits. I've covered my photographic history in other blog posts, so I'll cut to the chase here. When I started photographing weddings, things were just starting to change from traditional and canned to incorporating spontaneous moments. In Seattle in 1999, there were a handful of us shooting weddings and we were all friends who regularly passed work to each other if we were already booked on any given date. Back in the 90s, the only well known photographer for weddings who was shooting entirely candidly, (a style often referred to as "wedding photojournalism,") was Denis Reggie. The term quickly became co-opted by wedding photographers to mean "I shoot *some* candid photographs" or in some cases "I use a roll of B&W at each wedding in addition to color."

My transition from shooting landscapes, live music, model portfolios and news stories for the two Seattle weekly papers to weddings was relatively simple: I wanted to tell a story of what really happened rather than create my own invented narrative. Whether I was shooting the mayor at the podium during a press conference, a city council meeting or a story about the life of a lottery winner, the goal was the same: pull the reader in to the text with an image that contained the key elements of the story.

Grandfather dances with the flower girl and ring bearer at the Lowertown Event Center in downtown St. Paul, MN

From the very first wedding I photographed in early 1999 to the wedding I'm shooting today, all I look for are moments. Rather than tediously running each couple through a template of posed photographs where every wedding is the same except for the people in it, I look for the personal, beautiful and sometimes quirky moments that make each wedding unique. You should feel what it was like to be there, or at least wish you had been there! I also believe that every bride and groom would rather live their wedding day, present in each moment, rather than the fantasy of a photographer dictating the action through a series of pre-determined photographs he/she does at every other wedding. While this approach theoretically places more responsibility on the me because I am actively looking for photographs from the moment I get there to the moment I leave, it's what makes photographing at weddings fun and exciting, and I am always pushing myself to see the world and the event I'm shooting in new ways. It also guarantees that your wedding with be about YOU and not me, because I'm reacting to what I see at your wedding rather than telling you what to do and putting you in the exact same poses and scenes as the wedding last weekend. When it comes to photographs of the couple, my approach differs depending on the comfort level of the couple, how demonstrative they are and how they naturally interact together. I will lead you to good light and beautiful scenery, putting you in situations that are conducive to good composition. I will NOT ask you to dip your spouse or have you and the wedding party all hold hands and jump up. I will NOT ask you to make your hands in the shape of a heart. I will NOT ask you to stand far away from each other and look bored like an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. I do everything in my power for you to feel comfortable and natural in front of the camera, because I want you to look great in the photographs as much as you do.

One of the things that comes with experience is the unshakable confidence that I can identify and preserve these moments at every wedding and in any lighting condition.

Bride and groom at dinner at The Ruins in Seattle, WA

It seems that everyone is in a hurry these days, not only in their lives, but in their approach to photography. I consider myself lucky that I started with comparatively simple tools that required a deliberate, measured approach, and rewarded patience. Everything used to be all manual: manual focus, manual exposure, manual advance and sometimes even one had to use an external, handheld light meter. This are now thought of as "obstacles" when they were, to me, teachers. The way that I learned to photograph has stayed with me through today: I find my composition and then I wait for the right moment. I will sometimes take a 2nd shot if I see something less than ideal happen during the first, but I never just hold down the shutter and think I'll pick out some gems while I'm editing in Lightroom in front of the computer. My goal is to get the moment right in camera, and that requires the ability to pre visualize the frame, and the ability to recognize moments and pleasing lighting and composition as it's happening. I had the good fortune of seeing this wonderful lecture on photography by National Geographic photographer Sam Abell called "The Life Of A Photograph," which was probably the best talk I've ever heard about photography. You can click a link to it in the previous sentence. It's almost 2 hours long, but it's worth it, and more substantive and life-changing than most workshops. Best of all, it's free. He discusses his way of composing, his history learning photographic lessons from his father, and with multiple examples, what makes a lasting photograph from his experience personally and shooting for National Geographic.

If you look at most photography blog sites and Facebook groups, the bulk of the discussion is almost always around equipment. "Should I buy this or that?" "Will this new camera finally be fast enough for me?" and "I couldn't possibly use that- not advanced enough for me." To read modern photography discussions, especially in an era where we have access of tools that the photographic masters of the 50s, 60s and 70s couldn't even *imagine,* photography is impossible without the camera that's just about to come out. I grew up on fully manual focus and manual exposure, so any autofocus to me is a treat when it's helpful. It's as though sports photographs from 50 years ago somehow arrived in print via magic. Despite the exponential advances in equipment to the point that ANY camera would be a dream for someone even a few years ago, it's still nothing but complaints out there: the focus isn't fast enough, the drive or buffer isn't fast enough. It doesn't do this or that. It's not weather-sealed! These are all nonsense, and are the particular focus of hobbyists more interested in photographing their own equipment rather than making images. Weddings are about moments, not poses. Photography is about communicating emotion, not about cameras, lenses, film and megapixels. "This isn't sharp enough" has never been a complaint as much as I wish I had moved a foot to the left or shot a split second sooner, etc. No one makes a bad camera or a bad lens. If you aren't getting the results you seek, that's on you!

"My new camera is so advanced, I don't even need it." - Steven Wright

There is no right or wrong way to photograph a wedding, but with the movement toward everything being "perfect," I'm more committed than ever to patiently and carefully making images as they happen rather than scripting the day.

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You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, VSCO, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn through the links on the upper right.

To listen to the bi-weekly photography podcast I do with UK photographer Ian Weldon, visit https://www.outerfocuspodcast.com or search for Outerfocus on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

My Interview With Andrew Hellmich Of Photo Biz XPosed / October 5, 2016 by Bradley Hanson

Bride and ringbearer at Washington DC wedding

I was just interviewed by Andrew Hellmich of the Australian photography blog Photo Biz XPosed. Andrew is an insightful photographer and isn't afraid to dig deeper than the usual questions, which in today's photography culture far too often begin and end with "what camera should I use?" and "what is your post-production workflow?" I'd much rather talk about art, ideas, and how the industry has changed. It's 77 minutes long, so get a comfortable chair if you are interested: http://photobizx.com/TPX11-Bradley-Hanson-Photography-Podcast-Interview

Andrew has interviewed a lot of interesting photographers, including my friends Ian Weldon and Joao de Medeiros. You can listen to any and all of them here at the Photo Biz XPosed website.

14 Page Spread In Issue 1 Of Fuji X Passion Photography Magazine / June 5, 2016 by Bradley Hanson

An article I wrote was featured in Fuji X Passion Magazine, along with 8 photographs in a 14 page spread. With magazines transitioning to online only subscriptions, it makes the printed page feel even more special. The look, feel and even the smell of quality printing is a joy. I was asked about my transition nearly 4 years ago from Nikon to Fujifilm, and this article summarizes that experience, along with advice about navigating the switch to mirrorless cameras.

Here is a link to purchase the magazine directly: https://shop.fujixpassion.com/product/fuji-x-passion-magazine-issue-1/