When I was younger, I definitely wanted to be a rock star. Or at least a roadie. So when local musician/composer Kathy Haggerty called me a couple of weeks ago to take a new photograph for her Web site and possible album, I figured that would be the closest I could get to stockyards of cocaine and groupies named "Feather". For the record, Kathy doesn't do the white powder, but I'm sure she has groupies. Her music has been described as "Enya on acid," but I would rather listen to Kathy any day over Enya. Here's one shot that didn't make the cut, but if Kathy ever wants to switch to country music, I think she's got the look. You can hear Kathy's music at www.kathyhaggerty.com




Ronny and Andy flew out to Santa Fe from Boston to finish up some last-minute plans to their November wedding, and decided to have an engagement session while they were out here. I've never seen a couple have this much fun together. We ran all around downtown Santa Fe, and even out to Tesuque where they climbed the walls overlooking the highway (below).



Despite the fact Ronny keeps threatening to steal my cat Mary Jo so that her cat Diego can have some company, I'm really looking forward to their wedding at the Loretto Chapel. I would bet anyone they won't be able to make it through the ceremony without getting hysterical. I can't wait for November 4th.




Brooklyn was definitely in the house last Saturday. Leigh and Jake, two of the most beautiful people on the planet, brought all their friends from New York City and threw one awesome party at La Posada. They ended up getting married twice - once by Jake's brother (who wasn't quite official enough for New Mexico's laws) and also by Santa Fe's own Judge Anaya. This was the first time I've seen that before, and I'm sure Jake didn't mind getting two first kisses from his new bride.

Once the reception started, everyone found their
dancing groove (even the keyboard player). This
was one of those nights that could have gone on until six in the morning, and I would have been happy. You can see the slideshow from the day (and night) here: www.benchrisman.com/LeighJake

Kystal and Joshua's wedding took me to Albuquerque for the second weekend in a row. I got to shoot Krystal and Joshua's engagement session a few weeks ago, so I knew they were a fun couple. The day of their engagement session, we had one of our now-familiar monsoon afternoons. Not many couples would be up for spending an afternoon running around in the rain for me, but they were. Here's one of their shots (above).

So, much like their engagement session, it rained on us for the wedding day (which I hear all the time is good luck). The ceremony got moved from outside overlooking the mountains into the hallway of the new Sandia Resort. The scene was a lot more private than you might think, considering the entire University of New Mexico marching band and cheerleading squad was running around everywhere with their tubas and pom poms. "I hate cheerleaders," I heard Krystal say as we walked to the ceremony.



Even though the ceremony got moved inside, it went really well. Krystal and Joshua were even serenaded by Krystal's brother and his friend playing guitars to a Boxcar Racer song. After the ceremony, we spent some time out in the rain to get some portraits. Here is one as the sun went down.


The party, while a little more tame than Erin and Daniel's (see below), was a lot of fun. Everyone in Krystal’s family is awesome on the dance floor, and her sister seemed to know every word to every song played that night. I was pretty impressed by the entire group. Here's Krystal getting sandwiched by Joshua's friends Saturday Night Live-style. Cool night. Cool couple. Here's a link to their slideshow.

This weekend I'm here in Santa Fe for an engagement session and a wedding. I'm also going to help my good friend (and photographer) Michael Cody move his television and bed into a new apartment. If anyone wants to watch two men try to drop a mattress out of a two-story window, feel free to stop by. It should be amusing, if nothing else.

Last weekend was the incredibly fun (and wild) wedding of Erin and Daniel at the Tamaya Resort in Albuquerque. I went to high school with Erin in Las Cruces, so it was great to see her again. She also invited some of our old friends to the wedding, whom I hadn't seen in over 10 years. The weather, which has been very rainy lately, turned out great with a beautiful sunset. Following the ceremony (and the funniest toast by the best man I've ever heard), things got really fun. This had to be the most intoxicated wedding I have ever been too, and when I finally left at 2 a.m., several of the guests and the bride and groom were still going strong in the hotel room jumping all over the beds. I love happy drunk people.

To see the rest of the wedding, go to www.benchrisman.com. Erin and Daniel's gallery is under the 'featured weddings' category on my site.

Also, their slideshow is here: http://benchrisman.com/erindaniel/