Roman and Karina Wedding Album

Once in every while a couple is so driven by desire to have good memories that they make their wedding day all about making those memories. I present to you a partnership, a synergy, and an artwork created when you wholeheartedly trust me to produce more than just photos.

The images you will see here are the pages of the album that Roman and Karina got from me. The title page and a lot of other stories will feature textured walls of Peter B. Lewis Building of Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.

Now let's dive into the details of the day. At her mom's home in Parma, Karina's room had a beautiful purple wall that came in perfect for her prep images.

With just a little direction we get a beautiful 3/4 shot. Notice that this image compliments the close-up shot on previous page.

I love to tell stories on the wedding day, stories should be left up to the observer to be read. Photography, unlike reading text, leaves the entire context of what happens up to the viewer to decide. We pain vivid pictures with our mind of what the person is feeling, thinking, and what goes on outside the frame.

This image completes the previous two shot sequence with a close-up. Isn't she gorgeous?

She knows she's about to meet her dad for the first time on the day of her wedding. He's about to see what her dress looks like, this is certainly a joyous moment with much anticipation,

Finally mom and dad come out and he guides her away from the place where they had an entire life prior to her being given away.

I look to bring everyone as close to each other as possible. These 5 girls in the bottom shot are all sisters, she's lucky to have all of her family together for the wedding day.

A little instruction from your photographer and we build something genuine and exciting. Seeing family this happy makes my day.

Now we visit the groom for his morning photos. I like to keep it simple and brief for the guys as they generally prefer to have a little less photography than their ladies require.

Loving man, happy to become a family man. Great look

Ah, the girl is waiting for her prince charming to take her away.

Ukrainian weddings like this one almost consistently have a reveal moment in the morning because of the photography being all finished up before the ceremony. So Karina approaches Roman Here.

And now the troublemakers, no really. I generally don't take photos of bridal party members with their coupled-up partners because not everyone is a couple, but in this case at least one is a couple and one is family so it's a go signal for me.

We found a cozy little place along the way to Case Western Reserve University and created this impromptu group shot.

Classic moment between bride and groom, notice we are just walking the streets and create things as we go. None of this was pre-determined.

She still has fresh feelings from the fun moment they just experienced, so you see excitement still present in this photo as Roman helps Karina carry the dress.

Soft embrace before a kiss.

The voyeuristic feel of this shot of Karina makes it feel as if she's a butterfly, free and happy to be flying.

Possibly my favorite shot here. It is about here that I saw that I was out-doing myself.

She walks away

...and prompts him to follow her.

When I sandwich everyone this close together we are bound to have some silliness happen. It's clear who steals the show for a moment here and makes this shot come to live.

As formal as it gets with me. this is just so we have that clean and classic bridal party shot.

The girls get their group shot here, I like to tell them to start gossiping on purpose and someone surely takes it seriously to make everyone laugh.

A must have for me at weddings- bride with each girl, especially if half of bridal party is family.

Now here is the troublemakers part. I mean, look at them rascals! JK good bois

As we walk away I have them all look back towards the groom.

Aaaaand the single shots with the groom. Just so everyone of them has a portrait with their friend.

We didn't get to do these shots of all of the family combined earlier, so we catch up later in the day.

and two individual shots of Roman and Karina with their respective parents, these are actually out of chronology but rarely I like to place things in logical order.

So city of Parma has a BMV on Chevrolet and Snow. If anyone is local they'll know what I'm talking about. Just behind the BMV is the junkyard, and separating the two is a little segment of these tall grasses. Guess what?

We go right in and create a whole shoot in this little run down area. Roman holds Karina's hands as they come close together.

He carries his princess away. I get asked about this location every once in a while, but it's just a little segment between a BMV and junkyard.

Such a beautiful moment requires a close-up shot. It's all about isolating the couple from everything else.

What else can we do in a parking lot of BMV? We can have the bride and groom get on top of the roof of this Hummer Limo and we shoot them against the skies.

No need for a perfect location, need perfect affection.

After the reception (which we kept out of the book along with ceremony) we head on to Whiskey Island Wendys Park in Downtown Cleveland. Industrial zone along with huge "mountains" of gravel make for a great visual effect.

I have them get together and share this beautiful moment

Here I asked Karina to walk around Roman a few times and see how he feels after that.

it all comes together here with a view of Lift Bridge No. 1 over Cuyahoga River

The sun is at your feet. He kisses her hand gently as they come even closer together.

She eclipses his sun. Beautiful silhouette of bride and groom overlooking lake Erie

But we didn't quite finish there. This location is right by Viaduct in downtown Cleveland. I had him spin her fast while being backlit

And the finale shot by Detroit-Superior bridge lit up blue at night.