Digital Wedding Forum - Wedding photography's home on the web.

Location - Indiana (but moving to Mass)
Business Name - Anne Ruthmann Photography
Years in Business - 3
Number of Posts - 385
Website - anneruthmann.com
Blog - anneruthmann.blogspot.com
PM - Contact Anne

DWF - Let's start off with a little bio, tell us a little bit about yourself.

ANNE - I have an incredibly difficult time finding women's shoes for my size 11 feet. People often say to me, "you look like someone I know," to which I usually ask, "is that a good thing?" I believe that there is no right or wrong, only different perceptions and opinions. When I was 5 years old, I wanted to be a lawyer by day and a jazz lounge singer by night- you never know, it could still happen. I use my library card a lot- mostly for audio books to keep me educated or entertained on long drives to weddings in Chicago or Detroit. I currently live in Terre Haute, IN, which is the biggest city within 50 miles, yet we still don't have a Target. I've also lived in the sunniest place on Earth, Yuma, AZ; but I prefer colder weather over 122 degree summers. I'm hoping to organize a white water rafting trip for friends and photographers in West Virginia this year- it's my favorite group sport. I'm probably moving to Boston in July. This will be the second time I've moved my business in three years. I'll probably spend a week in Italy as soon as our stuff gets to Boston. Travel feeds my soul. I'm a hugger, not a hand-shaker. I love listening to other people's stories. Music transformed my life and made me realize that life is to short to live without being passionate about what you do and enjoying every minute of it.

DWF - How did you become a wedding photographer?

ANNE - I think my journey through life was always preparing me through art classes and study of optical illusions and light, though it was all just fun to me until a friend of a friend asked me to be her wedding photographer. I'd had no formal photographic training, but I did have lots of self-study and technical understanding through my own experimentation in trying to create personal photographic art with my uncle's hand-me-down 1979 Olympus OM10. Shooting that first wedding made me realize that I had finally found something which allowed me to use all of my talents, ranging from the pure art of seeing and creating to the complications of business marketing and management. I offered to assist other photographers but no one would let me... so I paved my own path and have been busy ever since!

DWF- Who or what inspires you as an artist?

ANNE - Life. Two older people holding hands. A kid chasing a kite. A man alone waiting for a bus. A tin can rattling down the street. The light of the moon bouncing off of a still lake. Deep, soulful music. Compelling cinematography. Lines, light, gestures, expressions, motion..... life.

DWF- If we needed a photographer today why would we book you? What makes you unique?

ANNE - I have a sometimes eerie intuition about people and moments that have not yet happened, but I have never said that to a client. Instead, I simply say: if my images evoke personal feelings and emotions that you connect with, than I am the right photographer for you.

DWF- If you had to pick a favorite "Tool of the Trade" what would it be? and why?

ANNE - Aside from my eye? I love Lightroom... because it allows me to hardly ever open Photoshop!

DWF - Care to share your favorite photograph? and tell us a bit about it?

ANNE -

This was taken in the Detroit Public Library- one of the first weddings they've had in decades. I was looking for cool places to shoot and I found this map room and instantly had the idea of using the globes as heads. What made this perfect for me was the single row of florescent lights in the ceiling creating the perfect highlights on the globes and the backlighting from the fully lit room behind them.



I'm always very aware of my backgrounds, and when the bride walked in front of this painting as we were walking out of the room, I saw my vision and was compelled to turn her into the butterfly itself. She was the perfect height for the antennae to stick out of her head and for the wings to wrap around her, and it made her otherwise very masculine features appear very feminine and soft. I love that this turns traditional portrait rules on its head in a very beautiful and slightly humorous way. The lighting was a simple on-camera flash bounced off of a wall to my right in order to give the image greater depth and dimension.



I love shooting close and wide, giving the viewer the feeling of intimacy and being right there in the moment. Lately I've been playing around with some "retro" processing, so this has that feeling of being a different time or place. What makes this image strong for me is the movement in her hair, which echos the lines of their fingers overlapping each other, and perfectly frames her expression- bringing you to the center of their interaction.



This is just pure musician's humor. ;-)


Walking down the aisle alone is probably a child's first experience with stage fright and really being put on the spot in front of a bunch of people. My favorite thing about children, is actually how adults react to them... letting their judgements and inhibitions go, revealing their pure love and joy.



I love the light, the detail, the candid moment, and the reminder that life is too short not too have our candy and eat it too. ;-)



Even when we're in the middle of a dance floor at a busy reception, we can stop and take time to imagine ourself in a completely different world. This was an entirely candid moment captured on the fly with light bounced into the reception tent ceiling over my right shoulder.



I love the action, expression, and humor in this image as the bride rips off her shirt like a super-hero ready for action!

I had never seen how a bubble reflected light until seeing this image in post production. This took a lot of patience to capture, but I'm so glad I finally caught one!! It satisfies my curiosity for optical illusions.



The concept behind this shoot was heavily debated on DWF, but I'm very happy with how the images turned out. This is a perfect execution of my favorite lighting, black & white processing, subject to background relationship, emotion, and moment.

DWF - How about some final words to live by?

ANNE - What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?

(when we remove fear, we allow ourself to be incredible)