©2010 Adam Mathias Photography

Well, this was pretty much the kickoff to the busy wedding season for me, and I was lucky enough to share it with Craig and Casey. The wedding was held on Craig’s family farm, providing hazelnut orchards, wheat fields, tractors, barns and more. Here, obviously, we used the barn as a  backdrop. There is a catch with this photo though. This shot was taken before the ceremony- and the bride and groom to be at the time, requested not to see each other at all prior to the ceremony. So, the corner in which their hands were in front of was the divider. Setting up a photo like this proved to be a bit of a trick, but these two were amazing to work with and up for anything. Obviously, the shot went off without a hitch, and the bride was quickly and quietly whisked away. I can’t take all of the credit on the idea though, hats off to Casey for that one.

Anyway, to keep it short, it was a beautiful day, beautiful wedding and an honor to work with these two. Craig and Casey, I hope you enjoy your brief preview, congratulations and best wishes to both of you.

©2010 Adam Mathias Photography

©2010 Adam Mathias Photography

©Adam Mathias Photography

First off, we have produced one of our many annual “special section” publications at the newspaper recently. I say one of many, but in many ways, this is THE annual special section. It’s an amazingly fun project, just a lot of work. The project entails driving to the further reaches of Polk County, covering the undiscovered (and sometimes discovered) tourist destinations here locally. Previously the magazine was un-themed. This, for previous years, made for a lot of stories to be repeated ad nauseam. This year, we themed it with “agri-tourism,” allowing for several of Polk County’s most common tourist destinations to be covered, like wineries, but allow for some new photo shoots and stories as well. Fortunately for me, it allowed one of my more favorite Polk County places to be photographed once again- Wings of Wonder Butterfly Gardens. Yes, I have shot here before, and you can see my work for that on my website. But without fail, these little creatures provide.

One of hundreds of butterflies inside the sanctuary in Buena Vista.

Another- this one let me get so close, the full image shows clear texture of its wings.

I guess in my excitement for this publication, “Explore Polk County”, I probably took things too far and offered my design services as well. While the publication has received amazing feedback, the work that went into this probably consumed me a bit much. Regardless, the end product is beautiful and very much worth the read. You can check it out here.

In getting this ready, I met with a couple that I have worked with before, that run a brick oven bakery just west of Dallas, in Falls City. The bread is AMAZING, and very much worth the drive if anywhere in the area. Anyway, with the opening of their new restaurant, they were looking for local artists to help with the walls. So without further ado, another local showing of mine, the Falls City Bread Board:

My showing at the Falls City Bread Board

Anyway, there you have it. It’s been so busy, but it’s been amazing, and I can hardly wait for more.

Adam