Perfect gift for your man

Okay ladies, who are getting married or have tied the knot, here's the perfect gift for your man. Balance Photography offers several services from wedding photography, head shots, glam the dress photo sessions and the one I want to hightlight is their bridal boudoir photography This is just one of their many services they offer. I can also recommend their "glam the dress" photo session as well....more to come on that.

Balance Photography is the combined talent of Rissa and Nathaniel, local photographers in the DC/Maryland area. I got a chance to chat with them about some of their services.

What makes you stand out among other companies in the area?
Balance is the combined talented of myself, Rissa Miller and my husband, Nathaniel Corn. Being a husband and wife team, we truly offer two perspectives on a wedding day. We are both college-trained photojournalists with real newspaper experience. We truly understand capturing moments and being unobtrusive. Photojournalism isn't just our "style" it's the way we create and see pictures. Beyond that, we both have other great loves that we add into the mix. I love fashion photography and have fun adding edgy, stylish poses into the portraits of the day or doing a boudoir session with the bride. Nathaniel studied fine art photography in Europe, and some of his incredible, creative pictures are beyond description. He is best-known for his assemblage, where he takes multiple pictures of the same scene and melds them together into one piece. Assemblage can combine both time and space in a very special way.



As a photographer, where do you pull your inspiration from?
We both work really differently, which is part of the beauty of our company. Nathaniel & I view the world as unique individuals. We both search for the new ways of seeing things we've seen before, we both seek out the exceptional in the ordinary details of life. But we always find different answers to the same questions. It's part of what makes our wedding photography so special. Neither of us ever take the same set of pictures, even though we see the same day unfold. We are both truly inspired by the beauty of everyday life and we are both incredibly grateful to be photographers ~ and have the honor of sharing our vision with everyone who sees and enjoys our pictures.

What qualities should a bride look for when searching for a photographer?
Many brides shop for photographer first by price or by asking a set of questions they tear out of a magazine. These are both approaches that can lead you down the wrong path. Before you look at fees or ask what kind of lenses the photographer uses, first look at the pictures! What do you feel when you go through the photographer's portfolio? Can you imagine yourself in the pictures? Is the emotion of the day evident? We think these are the most essential questions to ask. Really, it's so important to hire a photographer whose work you love, whose vision you share. Most wedding magazines state in polls done of married couples the one thing that they wish they had done was to go all-out on photography and hire the person they thought was "just out of the budget." Because at the end of your wedding day, your pictures are most of what will be left to remember this once-in-a-lifetime event.

What makes the perfect setting to photograph pictures?
Almost any setting can be beautiful for a wedding. We love it when couples have colorful linens, gorgeous flowers and professional lighting. However ~ the most important ingredient to any wedding picture is the couple themselves. If they are truly in love, smiling and having fun, all the pictures will be gorgeous ~ no matter if they are photographed in a ballroom or outdoors!

What is your favorite type of occasion to photograph? We both have backgrounds & degrees in photojournalism, so our love of actually photographing emotion makes this a challenging question to answer. Really, there is not one particular event or kind of shoot we like best. What we love about weddings is the depth of true emotion that comes out ~ so much in one short day. But we love creating portraits and other kinds of event photos, too ~ they can also be full of excitement, joy and every other element of the human experience.



Tell us some fun details about your home life. We were married on October 2nd, 2004 on Nathaniel's family farm in Tennessee. We live and work in Catonsville, and have for the past five years. Catonsville is the perfect little small town nestled in right next to the city ~ we have the beltway on one side and on the other, rolling hills with horse farms. It's a peaceful in-between. Nathaniel is an avid gardener and grows flowers, herbs and veggies of all kinds. His gardens are all organic and if you stop by at the right time of year, you'll definitely leave with tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden. We have a retired racing greyhound named Lochrima. She's kind of like our mascot, we say. Her extremely relaxed personality always puts everyone at ease. When I'm not working on photo-related stuff, I love reading and usually have at least 4 books going at one time. I also teach bellydance classes one night a week at Studio Edge in Mt. Washington, which is great fun. Nathaniel & I are both vegetarians. We love working together because there is always someone here who understands our job and can offer specific insight into the work. It's a wonderful life! We also have a full time assistant named Josie. She's a blossoming young photographer and we expect to see great things from her in years to come.