benpancoast.com » Portraits

Family Portraits on the Beach | Stevensville Mi

Ben — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 06:28:14 +0000

You’ve just got to love family portraits on the beach, especially when the kids are this adorable and the family is laid back and up for just about anything! The focus here was definitely on the kids but we managed to squeeze in a couple of quick family shots and I love how everything turned out! I typically try to do family portraits on either early in the morning or late in the evening but these were right in the middle

of the day so we tried to keep the subjects with their backs to the sun, luckily there was enough light bouncing off the sand to create a bit of fill light and we just let the background blow out a bit… of course shooting with the 135 f2.0 lens makes flare and back lighting a whole lot easier to deal with!! =)

Family Portraits in Saint Joseph Mi | Lifestyle Portraiture

Ben — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:25:28 +0000

Our friends the Zuberts were in town on vacation from Minneapolis last week to see family so we took the opportunity to go do some fun family pictures in downtown Saint Joseph Mi. It was fun to get away from the typical family beach portrait session for a

change and go for something a little more Urban in Southwest Michigan! Of course it doesn’t matter WHERE you do the pictures you’ve got to expect to spend some time working with the kids trying to catch that ONE moment where neither child is whining,

running, screaming, distracted, or just plain missing….wait didn’t you bring 3 kids to this shoot??!! I think these are the only 2 pictures that fit all of those criteria! Ha ha, OK so I’m joking about that but they were definitely two of my favorite pictures from the session and it just so happens that they were both taken with my new toy the canon 45mm TS!! (photographer speak for fun lens) Anyway I figured I’d throw a couple up since I’ve been so bad at blogging lately and this is an easy thing to blog. What can I say blogging takes time and between my day job and the kids there’s just not enough of that to go around! ha ha

If you like the pictures, leave a comment and let the Zuberts know!! =)

a Vineyard Wedding in Southwest Michigan

Ben — Thu, 20 May 2010 00:19:25 +0000

My sister in-law tied the knot this weekend at a beautiful park in Southwest Michigan. The wedding ceremony was short and sweet and it was hard to miss just how excited the happy couple was to finally be married! While the entire day was lots of fun my favorite

part as usual was the photo walk. As soon as the ceremony and reception were drawing to a close the happy couple waved good-bye to the guests and off we went to capture some beautiful pictures in the fading sunlight. One of the things I love about

shooting weddings in Southwest Michigan are the limitless possibilities for beautiful pictures that you can find almost anywhere you go. This vineyard for instance wasn’t a planned stop and in fact it isn’t really much of a vineyard it was just a field of grapes next to

the road where we decided to hop out and take a few pictures, 15 minutes later we were heading on to the beach. By the time we actually made it to the lake the sun had set but there was still plenty of light coming from the horizon so we ran down to the

water and made the most of the light that was left! All in all it was a beautiful wedding day and we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending (except for the part where I dropped one of my cameras into the lake… opps!!) But hey that’s why you bring back

up gear to the wedding right!! =) Don’t worry the pictures were fine and the camera dried out and works like new now!! Anyway I just want to finish by saying CONGRATULATIONS to Elizabeth and of course… welcome to the family Bryan!!

Check out more: vineyard wedding photos at Willow Harbor Vineyard here!

Trash the Dress | Round Barn Winery and Vineyard

Ben — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:48:39 +0000

Here are a few pictures from a Trash the dress session at the Round Barn Winery in Southwest Michigan this past fall…. (yes I know I am WAY behind on the blog) The shoot was put together by a friend and fellow photographer Monika Caban (Monika Caban

Photography) who organized a DWF gathering here in Southwest Michigan. It was a lot of fun working with everyone and seeing all the different ways people could approach the same picture and scene! I think aside from the gorgeous pictures the one thing that

surprised us all the most was just how patient Linzi and Brice were, they were simply amazing and put up with wind, rain, and cold to allow us to capture all sorts of pictures! While trashing the dress doing vineyard wedding photos may sound harsh its actually a lot of fun and really

there’s no reason why you’d actually need to trash the dress. We’ve done quite a few sessions similar to this where the dress actually came out just fine, the whole idea behind the session is to be able to go take pictures you simply didn’t have the time to take on your

wedding day. Some couples book a bridal session/trash the dress shoot to celebrate an anniversary while others book them just weeks after the wedding just to have fun and have an opportunity to take pictures they never would have dared to take on the

wedding day! We can get crazy with the picture ideas or play it relatively safe and keep you clean and dry it’s up to you! The only thing we guarantee is that you’ll have fun and love your pictures! Many thanks to Linzi, Brice, and Monika for setting up such a fun opportunity for us all!

Wedding Photos at Notre Dame | Reception at the Heritage Center

Ben — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:05:28 +0000

I posted some of the pictures from Ken & Katys Notre Dame wedding a few weeks ago and I wanted to share the album design that we came up with. This is just a rough draft and we’re in the process of making changes to the book with the bride and groom

Ken & Katys Album from Ben Pancoast Photography on Vimeo.

but I love how it’s turned out so far! What an amazing wedding and the locations were all phenomenal, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is breath taking as is Tiscornia Beach and of course you can’t go wrong with the Boulevard Inn or the Heritage Center in Saint Joseph Michigan either!! Thanks to Dan Terpstra (Terpstra Photography) for teaming up with me on this amazing wedding and album design!

ps: sorry for the low-res video when I figure out how to get something sharper on here I’ll update it!

Lifestyle Portraiture | Family Photos in the Dunes

Ben — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:37:40 +0000

I love shooting lifestyle portrait sessions with families in Southwest Michigan because they’re fun, you can do them just about anywhere, and you can almost always find something new to do with the family photos! This family photo shoot took place in the

dunes in Stevensville Michigan on what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and managed to use the setting sun to capture some really unique family photos. This was the first time I’ve done any family pictures in the dunes but after seeing how many

possibilities there are here I’m hoping I have the opportunity to work here again soon! For those of you wondering what the difference between a Lifestyle Portrait session and regular Family Portrait session is it’s actually pretty simple… The lifestyle portrait

session is centered around an activity or general location whereas the Family Portrait Session is focused more on structured poses. Each session has it’s place, for instance if you’re having a family reunion or want a formal portrait of some sort there’s no reason to

book a Lifestyle Session… on the other hand if you’re looking for something a bit more laid back with your kids then a Lifestyle Portrait session might be just the thing for you. If you have questions we’d be happy to speak with you about what it is you’re

looking for and make a recommendation about which session would be right for you!

Check out another example of a Lifestyle Portrait session on the Beach here!

Art Institute of Chicago | Fall Engagement Photos Downtown

Ben — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:54:59 +0000

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year for engagement photos in Chicago, especially downtown in and around the Art Institute and Millennium Park! It never ceases to amaze me just how much fall color you can find in a city the size of Chicago but I guess

that’s a testament to Mayor Daley and his seemingly unlimited flower and garden budget for the downtown area!! If you’ve ever lived downtown you know what I mean, the city must completely re-plant every garden bed along the entire length of the

Magnificent Mile at least 5 times a year… of course I suppose if I have to pay 10% sales tax in the city I might as well be able to enjoy seeing it put to good use every time I walk down the street and as a wedding and engagement photographer I’m certainly

not complaining! But, regardless of how many new gardens are planted or old gardens are replanted there are few places in Chicago that can compare to the gardens around the Art Institute of Chicago in the Fall. The fall color surrounding the museum as

well as Millennium Park is nothing short of breathtaking, and at times when you’re shooting engagement pictures here I can almost forget that I’m in the city at all, it feels more like some nature walk in the country… of course this only lasts as long as you don’t look

up and notice the incredible skyline surrounding you! =) Needless to say we had a lot of fun shooting engagement pictures that day and I love how so many of these pictures are in the heart of the city and yet feel like they couldn’t possibly have been taken in downtown Chicago.

Check out even more beautiful Chicago Engagement Pictures here!

Trash the Dress portraits on the beach in Southwest Michigan

Ben — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:34:03 +0000

This past week I was invited by Monika Caban, another local photographer, to take part in a series of trash the dress photo shoots on the beach here in Southwest Michigan. The shoots featured beautiful locations in Southwest Michigan along with several couples looking for amazing pictures. The great thing about trash the dress portraits is that anyone can do them, you can be recently married or married for many years, all it takes is a desire to capture some incredible images of the two of you together.

While “Trashing the Dress” may sound a bit harsh to some couples you needn’t fear, you can be as adventurous or unadventurous as you’d like and in fact many couples choose not to trash their wedding dress but go for more artistic images instead. Some couples choose to do the shoot to commemorate an anniversary while others do it to make up for a missed opportunity on their wedding day. Regardless of the reason every couple loves having the opportunity to capture beautiful images of themselves

together! This particular trash the dress portrait session took place in downtown Saint Joseph on the beach in Jean Klock Park and featured a couple of amazing photographers from Detroit, Prem & Cherridy of Arising Images! Prem and Cherridy were actually married several years ago and while they did have someone shoot their wedding they did not have an opportunity to go on a

photo walk to capture the beautiful artistic images they really wanted to get on their wedding day so a shoot like this is the perfect opportunity for them to get some incredible images of themselves in Southwest Michgain. We met up for the trash the dress shoot

in downtown Saint Joseph where we found all sorts of neat locations in the alleys throughout the city. After we had exhausted the possibilities in Saint Joe we headed to the beach to do portraits in Jean Klock Park where we shot until sunset. We took some

amazing pictures and had a blast, it was a fantastic group of photographers and I can’t wait to shoot with them again in the future! Check out more Trash the Dress photos in Southwest Michigan here!

Baby Pictures | Welcome baby Lincoln!

Ben — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:25:54 +0000

Welcome to the world baby Lincoln!! I took these photos weeks ago when my wife and I went to visit our good friends up in Minnesota. They’d just had a baby and on a whim we jumped in the car and drove the nine hours up to see them. It was totally

worth it of course! We only stayed a day and a half and as we were leaving we decided to take a few quick pictures. We did these by the window in their nursery in less than 5 minutes of shooting, of course when you count diaper changes, feeding, rocking,

singing, and all manner of efforts to soothe him the actual shoot itself probably lasted more like 45 minutes! As you can tell baby Lincoln just wasn’t feelin the photo shoot at the moment but I actually find the crying baby photos to be somehow endearing.

Maybe it’s because I’m a parent and just had a baby a couple of months ago myself but I see the pictures and it makes me think of how much I love my son and how every time he cries like this it just makes you want to pick him up and love him!! Anyway hopefully Mark and Erin see the pictures and aren’t immediately reminded of the sleepless nights they’re enduring right now and even if they are hopefully they’ll look back on these pictures years from now and smile at what is then a distant memory!

Lighthouse Engagement Photos at Sunset

Ben — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:48:08 +0000

Here are a few of my favorite lighthouse engagement photos from the engagement shoot I did in Saint Joseph Michigan. You may recall I posted a couple of pictures from Lee and Katrina’s first engagement shoot a couple of weeks ago, our quest for the

perfect sunset shots by the lighthouse had been cut short by crazy wind and waves and while those shots were very cool we decided to give it another try a couple of weeks later. These are the photos from this mini engagement session! We met by the

Saint Joseph lighthouse just as the sun began to set and had time for a few pictures on the dunes over looking the pier before we walked down to the beach and out onto the pier. Believe it or not this is actually the first time I’ve EVER taken engagement

pictures on the pier… I’ve taken lots of engagement photos near the pier and overlooking the lighthouse but this time we decided to walk out on the pier to get pictures right by the lighthouse itself! As you can tell the weather on the beach was perfect for sunset

engagement photos this time around and we were able to get all sorts of amazing pictures! One of my favorite photos is the shot of the two of them on the pier with the moon reflecting on the water… how cool is that! Many thanks to both Lee and Katrina for being adventurous enough to try anything, I hope you guys love the pictures as much as I do!

Click here to view even more engagement photos on the beach!