engagement | rik andes photography

Thank you, Kansas!

About 5 years ago, I convinced our daughter’s preschool mentor, a high school senior in a preschool education class, to let me make her senior portraits. It was the first time I attempted to create a portrait of someone who wasn’t directly related to me. That began my journey in this business, a journey that has allowed me to meet amazing people, go amazing places with them, and do amazing things. For those that don’t know, in the middle of July, I moved to California to join my wife and kids for the next stage of our lives: I’m returning to school to get my education doctorate degree (Ed.D.) in learning technologies from Pepperdine University. It’s an incredible program that I feel very blessed to be able to participate in, and I’m excited about the kinds of opportunities that are to come because of this.

To save my sanity, I will not be accepting any new clients until further notice. Working and going to school full-time, which are already secondary to my most important full-time jobs–husband and father–don’t leave me much time for a side business. So, until things get a little calmer around here, I will not be accepting any new clients. I have a few portrait sessions and a wedding left to photograph that I am looking forward to, and those that are waiting for their images will still receive them, but new client inquiries will be happily referred to others.

To all those that have trusted my vision and style to capture and create portraits for you to treasure, I thank you, sincerely. You have allowed me to nurture my creative side and have, quite literally, allowed my family to have food on our table and a roof over our heads. I owe you for that trust and will always be grateful for that. I hope someday to be able to repay it in some way, small or otherwise.

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve assembled one image from every session or wedding (as primary or secondary shooter) or home I have ever photographed as a professional (except one, because every single image was oriented vertically, and that just didn’t fit in the grid–sorry, Curtis). If you don’t see an image from your session, I am so sorry and blame my horrendous early organizational skills. They really were quite incredibly poor.

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jess + mike

It seems like forever ago, but I guess it was only back in November when Jess and Mike came down to Manhattan from where they’re living in Lincoln so we could make their engagement portraits.

I’ll be honest–I was nervous as the date drew closer. Here in Kansas, outdoor photo sessions in early November don’t typically have the benefit of a pleasant climate. However, as Saturday afternoon arrived, so did an incredibly nice warm front. In short, it was a gorgeous day to hang out with two gorgeous people in love.

Jess and Mike had no particular ties to Manhattan–Jess is from Wamego–so they trusted me to choose a location for our shoot. That kind of trust is one of the best things to give a photographer. =]

We went to a building in Southern Manhattan that I had been eying for a while. The grass was green, and yet the leaves were yellow and falling around the lawn. But, I imagine you didn’t come here for a description of the landscaping, right? Ok…here are the images.

Jess (it’s her birthday tomorrow, the 26th–leave her some happy birthday love!):

Mike:

There’s a huge tree in front of this building that had dropped a ton of leaves on the ground. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to get a particular shot. But, to get the shot, I’d need to be up off the ground. High.

It’s a good thing I climbed a lot of trees as a kid. 😉

Here’s the shot.

Oh, and this one too.

They were having a good time down there, so I decided to get down there with them.

Well…not with them. Just on the ground. At the same time.

You know what I mean.

Like this:

Okay…I’ll just be quiet now.

And my personal favorite of the afternoon:

Jess and Mike, I had a blast shooting with you, and I just can’t wait until June for your wedding here in Wamego!

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mindy + nathan: engaged!

To those that know Mindy and Nathan, this will not come as much of a surprise, given that they just tied the knot about a week ago in a beautiful hill-top ceremony at her parents’ farm. However, not too long before the wedding, we got together for a little engagement session, knowing that there was little time between the session and the actual wedding (there was only family at the wedding–a total of 18 people).

And, incidentally, for anyone else in a similar situation, where there is not that much time for an engagement session before the wedding, when you might be tempted to just skip it and focus on the nearing nuptials, I’d recommend going ahead with the session anyways. It gives you a chance to get to know your photographer in a much more relaxed environment, to see how he or she works, and develop an amount of trust and confidence that will come back to serve you on your actual wedding day. You’ll be more relaxed with your photographer, and that will only make you look better in your wedding portraits. Trust me on this one. 😉

So, we met on campus at Kansas State University in Manhattan and made good use of the great variety of locations available in such a small area. I’m going to try not to talk too much now because there are a bunch of images to share, so get ready for a long post!

Mindy and Nathan met in grade school. Sounds like the beginning of a great love story, doesn’t it? Really, it is.

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It was so cool to see how much fun they have together. They’re unafraid of letting it show around other people, too.

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Oh yeah…the dumpster thing? Their idea.

The real Nathan.

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The black and white Nathan.

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As we were moving from one location to another in the old stadium there on campus, a sweet, elderly couple that was walking the track passed us and commented on how nice the weather was. They then suggested we shoot right there on the track.

Ok!

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After the stadium, we moved over to the new parking garage and had some fun there. Don’t worry…we looked both ways before laying down in the street.

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The real fun started when we went to the top of the parking garage. It’s not finished yet, so there were a few locations that probably won’t be available in a few months when they do finish it.

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And my very absolute favorite of the night, the very last image we made:

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Mindy and Nathan, you guys rock! I’m so excited to have been able to create these images of your love before your wedding, and can’t wait to show you the images from your wedding! It’s coming soon…stay tuned!

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chase + tara: engaged!

A couple weeks ago, I had the extreme pleasure of getting together with two very cool young people getting ready to tie the knot next month! I have known Chase’s family since about the time we moved here over 2 years ago, and on that Saturday, I was also lucky enough to meet the lovely lady that captured Chase’s heart, Tara.

We met on the Kansas State campus and hit a spot I’ve shot at a couple of times and then set off to find some new and very cool spots. And boy, did we ever find some!

I have the feeling this could be a bit longer than what I normally post…I’m just too excited about these. =]

Chase

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and Tara

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Just can’t get enough of these stairs…or that sunlight!

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I wish I could take credit for this next moment, but it was all them. Every tenderness you see is all theirs. I stepped away to change a lens, told them to just hang out for a moment, and this was what I got: a perfect moment.

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From here, we ventured off onto the campus more. We hit up one spot that I just love. Every time I saw it, I would think to myself how I would love to shoot someone there, and Chase and Tara worked it for me!

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My absolute favoritest ones of the day:

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Chase and Tara, I wish you every happiness in the world for your nuptials next month. Thanks for an incredible time!

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olivia + mac

Oh boy…I am excited to be posting today. As I’ve been going down my checklist of sessions to process and post, I was really looking forward to this one. This is Olivia and Mac’s engagement session, which we shot back in mid-May at the K-State Botanical Gardens. Olivia is the brave soul that hired me to shoot her wedding before I had ever shot anything wedding-related. Since then, I’ve been assisting Alan Honey at a number of weddings, and this weekend I’ll be working for another good friend of mine, Nicole Coleman of Nicoleman Photography, second shooting for her. I still have a bunch of Alan’s weddings left to assist at this summer as well, but Olivia’s will be my first solo wedding.

As (hopefully!) every wedding photographer would tell you, their first solo wedding is probably their most terrifying, their most sleep robbing, their most nerve wracking. I’m sure mine will be the same, but after this engagement session, I am super excited to be there for them!

This, incidentally, is the best reason to get an engagement session done if you’re planning a wedding: if you and your photographer have a good relationship, that will make the day of the wedding go all that much more smoothly. It’s tough to develop that relationship, that trust, if the first time you’re in front of your photographer’s lens is the big day. An engagement session allows you to get to know each other, to discuss your style, what you’d like to see, and to allow your photographer the chance to earn your trust ahead of time.

Back to the session: I knew I was in for a great day when I got there and discovered just about the most beautiful day ever.

This is where Olivia really wanted to get married, but when she called to find out if it was available, she was told that they don’t schedule any events here during football home games. So, we planned to do her engagement pictures here, even though they said it was the same day as graduation and that the grounds would probably be full of people. We decided to risk it and go ahead with the shoot.

We hardly saw another soul the whole time we were there.

Soon after Olivia and Mac showed up, we had a great time exploring the grounds and getting comfortable with each other. And let me tell you, they wasted no time getting comfortable.