Phil Chester

May Teasers

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:27:04 +0000

Coming soon to the blog: A 4 day Mexico, Cinco De Mayo wedding extravaganza and a Cincinnati barn wedding. Stay tuned!!

isla mujeres // iphone // vscocam

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:23:32 +0000

So, I had the honor of shooting my first destination wedding this past weekend in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Which was awesome. (Blog post coming in a few weeks). It’s always such a wild/humble/insane feeling when a couple books your for their wedding, and even more so when they fly you to this island they’re getting married on. I’d never been to Mex before and while Isla Mujeres is based around tourism and is very American-ised, I set out to look past the snorkel tour kiosks and the scooter rental huts. Not to say that this place wasn’t magical, because it was, definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to. It was mega hot out and I didn’t feel like lugging my dslr around and I had just downloaded this VSCOcam app that everyone was raving about, so I decided to put it to the test. Gotta say I’m pretty dang impressed by it. I mean this is a cell phone, that takes pretty cool photos, that’s amazing to me. Something so small and discreet that can produce something even kind of rad. Anyways, all of the images below were taken on my iphone and processed with the VSCOcam app.

Tara

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:09:01 +0000

Staying super busy is fun. So anytime someone’s down for a little mini portrait session, I’m game. Tara and I had been tawlkin’ about shooting together for the longest time but never really made it happen until this day. We found this huge school bus lot and decided to just drive in and ask to use a bus. Of course, me being the brilliant decision maker I am apparently blocked an entire school bus convoy by parking in the worst possible spot, but luckily there were nothing but really kind souls that worked there, forgave us, and let us use one of their buses.

Kayla+Shane // Seattle, WA Wedding

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:36:13 +0000

If you read my previous post about this couple, I don’t have to explain how much magic this couple has. Their wedding could have been absolutely anywhere and still have been amazing, but they chose the gorgeous Kelley Farm in Bonney Lake, Washington. With everything stemming from Kayla and Shane’s incredible vision, nearly every single thing this Saturday was made/created by the themselves. Everything from the ceremony set up to the rad mix cd’s they made containing “The Soundtrack To Our Love Story.” I think I was the only actual “vendor”. This was the first time I’ve ever actually shed tears during a wedding. Their vows they wrote to each other just broke right through to my heart, and every single person sitting there that afternoon.

Seattle Friends // Portraits of awesome people.

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:54:13 +0000

Like I said in the last post, this trip to Seattle was pretty amazing. Aside from shooting a rad wedding, I got to meet and hang out with some incredible people. These people I had only known from twitter and facebook, I finally got to hang with in real life. It’s a good feeling. These are some of the most genuine, hilarious, down to earth people I’ve ever met. I can’t wait till I live on this side of the planet and get to hang out on the reg. Meet my new friends.

Catherine Abegg was kind enough to host me during the trip. Pretty sure I couldn’t have stayed with a cooler family. Chantal, who’s also an insane wedding photographer, met up for drinks and engagement photos. The evening ended in the weirdest/best possible way when this guy joined us.

Then I met up with these two love cakes. Nicest souls I ever did meet.

After a night of jokes, top chef pizza, coffee flavored crack ice cream, 90′s kareoke/dance party, me and this little lady went out to shoot for a bit. She’s a baller photographer and pretty dang gorg. Meet Tonhya.

We decided to be emo and stop at this graveyard for photos. 1st frame..As soon as we sit down.. “Hey theres a car coming, act like we’re mourning……K it’s gone, ready, model.”

And a few polaroids…

I miss you guys.

Kayla+Shane // Pike Place Market Portrait Session

admin — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:18:38 +0000

So when they asked me to photograph their wedding in Seattle, I knew I was going to have an incredible experience but had no idea how incredible. My day started out perfect. And that feeling didn’t go away for one second over the next 4 days. I drove in from the airport under the most wonderful sunshine, Beach House playing on the radio, on my way to meet this couple to shoot some portraits before their wedding the next day. Until this weekend, I thought I knew what love felt like, I thought I knew what it looked like. And maybe I did to a degree but this was not like anything I had witnessed before. The moment Shane and Kayla walked up to me at the Pike Market, smiles on both of their faces, I could feel this powerful connection radiating from both of them. I knew there was something more intense here than I had felt before. Inbetween the constant Portlandia references and extreme scenario jokes, I simply shot quietly, snapping away at this couple. And I know all of my Seattle friends will make fun of me for shooting at such “typical” “touristy” spots, but they were all new to me and it so didn’t matter with this couple, they could have been anywhere. A lot of times I’ll coach couples a little into where to stand or where to put their hands if it’s looking awkward or something, not with Shane and Kayla, everything was so natural. So perfect. I think this is what love looks like.

Jackie+Brett // Columbus Ohio Engagement Session

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:15:32 +0000

Jackie+Brett // One Frame

admin — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:55:17 +0000

One from tonights engagement session with the super awesome Jackie and Brett.

Megan+Brendan // Muskegon Michigan Wedding

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:03:33 +0000

I had the pleasure of 2nd shooting for the awesome Sean Flanigan in Muskegon, Michigan. By far one of the best times I’ve ever had shooting a wedding. Check out his version of the story here.

Anyways, I thought I’d share the day as I saw it. Enjoy.

Flushing, NY

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:03:09 +0000

Ok I know, my first three posts from the same weekend. I know. But I wanted to share all of this. The morning I got in NYC I had the mindset that I didn’t want to waste a second not shooting. So I got to my hotel around 9am checked in, and had about 2 hours before I had to be anywhere. Usually I would just sit in the hotel, listen to some jams to get pumped up (Jock Jams Vol. 2) then head to the venue. I wanted to go a little outside my comfort zone and try a little street photography. Something I never really do but have always said I would. I quickly realized how fast I got inside my head, feeling self-conscious, feeling like just a tourist taking random photos, which I kind of was, but the moment I told myself ”Phil, you will never see any of these people ever again. Who cares what they think of you,” I seemed to ease up a bit and standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk having people smash into you as they walked by stopped phasing me. This is something I want to start doing in every new city I travel to for weddings. It helps get the juices flowing. I love walking around listening to film scores, the audio with this post is what I was listening to at the time I took these.