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Outdoor Fayetteville Engagement Portraits of Christine and Chris

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Hey everybody!

When it comes to blood and guts, I'm pretty tough. I'm one of those {annoying} men who won't go to the hospital if I'm sick or hurt, and if Christine and Chris didn't know that before our engagement they did after. You see, for some reason I took my shoes off when I helped put the boat into the lake, and later when I helped put Dixie (their sweet dog) into the boat I stepped off the dock and jabbed my foot on something (still don't know what), and it started gushing.  I mean GUSHING. But again, I'm not one to draw attention to myself so off we went to location number two, and then three. You know what? It was totally worth it! The weather and sky were beautiful, and we found amazing light. Anyway, enough of my blabbing, let's look at pretty pictures!























Talk to you soon,
Dale


"Ceester Bunny" Portraits

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Hey everybody!

This kid. I can't get enough of her. Mere always has great ideas of what we should do for our next Cece-session, and Cece always goes right along with it. Our latest venture involved bunny ears and carrots. Pretty stinkin' cute. Agree?










Talk to you soon,
Dale

Why I'll Never Lose A Wedding... A Cautionary Tale

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Hey everybody!


Y'all might remember this Riverside, CA wedding from a few weeks back...




What you don't know is that behind the scenes there was some discipline and dedication paying off. You see, after EVERY wedding I shoot, I don't go to bed until all the images are downloaded and backed up, even if that means staying up all night. When we're doing a destination wedding, as in this case, I don't rest until everything is backed up ONLINE as well, just in case (Heaven forbid...) the plane goes down or bags/gear gets stolen, etc.

In this case, I'm so glad I'm freakish about this rule because when we landed in Fayetteville that Monday we noticed that my backpack got through security with a Redbull in it (wtf, security?!) and it blew up on the flight, drenching my macbook pro to the point where it needed a new, well, everything. It came back as a new computer... all data on it... gone.

What could have been a devastating and terrible situation for me, but more importantly for our Bride who flew us out to California on top of spending thousands on a wedding photography package... has a really happy ending! She received her wedding images back the THURSDAY after her Saturday wedding (even though I just got my macbook back last week) and loved her wedding images (and how quickly she received them).

This is a true story. I tell it as a cautionary tale to warn photographers who don't have their systems in place to get their act together (I've heard stories that do NOT have happy endings!), and for those parents who shoot gazillions of images of their kiddos, please please please back your images up online! Your hard drives will fail, but you always hear "the internet is forever." You don't have to use my favorite online image backup company, Zenfolio, but I think they're the best. Use "dalesazenny" to get a discount. Again, even if you don't use them, use someone!

Especially if you travel with Redbull.

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Ellie + Cece Easter Portraits

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Hey everybody!

Happy Easter! I love Easter, and try to play it up as big as Christmas around our house because of it's meaning (even though it's pretty tough to do). I love that we have a creator who conquered death and as a result delivers hope that lives within us (thanks to FBC Joplin Pastor Jamie for the great message today!). While we place our hope in the eternal God, I also place my hopes in my two sweet girls, Ellie and Cece. I want them to see me as a good spiritual leader (though I often end up sucking at this), as a fair and loving dad, and as someone who adores them deeply. The latter is by far the easiest for me. I constantly feel so blessed to have two amazing daughters, both incredible and unique. Both are God's divine creation.  I pray that you, my loyal readers, have similar feelings of being blessed this Easter!





Ellie got this adorable hat from Riffraff! She showed everyone she knew this weekend.






Peace and love!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Kayla and Colby's Wedding... Teaser.

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Hey everybody!

I'm so excited to share this really gorgeous couple's wedding with y'all! Kayla and Colby are not models... repeat are NOT models... but they look like it! I love easy days like this! More from this crazy-fun wedding coming up this week! Yay!





Talk to you soon,
Dale

Rustic Wedding Details of Kayla and Colby

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Hey everybody!

Kayla and Colby's wedding was a rustic charmer! Colby brewed up an amazing coffee stout (I know because he made sure I took two bottles home with me!) called an "I do brew" and Kayla had lots of feminine and classy touches to make the day both rustic and elegant!





Is this flower girl not the most precious thing?!







This was such a neat idea... for her wedding gift to him, she got him cigars labeled with their future life events... love that!



Tomorrow I'm sharing their story with y'all!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Rustic Elegant Louisiana Wedding of Kayla and Colby

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Hey everybody!

It's time to share some sweet moments from Kayla and Colby's Louisiana wedding with y'all!  I love when sweet couples have sweet weddings, and Kayla and Colby are DEFINITELY sweethearts!



LOVE those shoes!


Here we go with a really touching first meeting. I love Colby's face as he first hears his bride's voice.


Then we went off to do some portraits (those are coming tomorrow!).
How cute is this little babe?!?! I think she wanted me to try on her boots. I would've, if they were only my size.


After I shot that last image, I looked out and Colby was having a special moment with his dad. I framed it up and shot one of my very favorites from the day.


We had a few extra minutes before the ceremony started. So... what did we do? Selfie of course!


This girl was ALL smiles!  That NEVER happens!


Kayla was showing a different kind of joy.  What a special moment!














After the ceremony the couple went in to their first dance.  Very sweet!














Colby stole away from the party for a sec to light his wedding cigar (remember that from yesterday?)


Meanwhile, these antics were going on! I love a good dancing crowd!


Don't ask.


I took this one for Cece. She (and I) loves Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba. The folks who ran the photo booth had no idea who that was, but said I could use him for a quick pic.


Okay... back to the party!


And then... time to slow it down.  How sweet is this couple... seriously.




What a fun night!




Talk to you soon,
Dale

Southern Wedding Portraits of Kayla + Colby

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Hey everybody!

We've reached the end of this really special wedding. Today's post features a few of my favorite photos we shot on the wedding day, following their first meeting, and then following their ceremony. We spotted a yellow flower field a few miles away from the wedding venue so after their first look we all hopped in our car and headed that way, knowing that we could shoot around the wedding location following the ceremony. Here are some of my favorites:












Talk to you soon,
Dale

Lauren and Trent's Day After/Styled Session

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Hey everybody!

On Trent and Lauren's wedding day, I made them promise to follow through on their hopes of having a day after session. Their wedding portraits were amazing, and I knew they'd be tempted to get caught up in life and put the day after on the back burner... but they didn't! They followed through, and even drove down to Fayetteville from St. Louis for the session. Trent and Lauren went above and beyond for the session, getting flowers, rentals, and brought Trent's old cameras (remember... he's a photographer too!) for the session.
We began our shoot at Whiteline Designs in Fayetteville (the chandelier in the 2nd image below is to do for, no?!)





Then, since it was POURING rain outside, we decided to shoot at another indoor location. We chose our favorite... Riffraff (that is, the upstairs area off-limits to the public... it's nice to have friends in the right places!). The light in this shot is kind of perfect. I find myself STARING at it.












Trent and Lauren, go ahead and move down here already. Geez... we could be best friends and shoot each other every day and live happily ever after.

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Jenna's Fayetteville Bridal Portraits

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Hey everybody!
Jenna gets married today! I've been waiting to share these bridal portraits... easily one of my favorite sessions of all time! Isn't she a dream? The lighting was beautiful, our location was great, and Jenna is a fabulous model! Enjoy!









Talk to you soon,
Dale

Taron's Fayetteville Senior Pictures

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Hey everybody!

We've had this session scheduled since last fall! Taron wanted to wait until Spring for her senior portraits, and we picked just about the best time ever in Fayetteville... everything seems to be in bloom! And she's quite the little model! Have a look!







Talk to you soon,
Dale

Happy Birthday, Momma!

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Hey everybody!

Today's my mom's birthday! The past 15 months have brought my mom and I so much closer... probably closer than we've ever been. She drives from Joplin every single week to our house in Fayetteville to spend time with Cece (and often does our dishes...haha!). She's my recipe taster, one of my biggest supporters, and one of Mere's best friends. More than all of that though, she's a really great grandma to Cece. Watching them together is perfection in my heart; I love watching their relationship grow deeper during her weekly visits, and I know Cece will cherish that relationship as she continues to grow up.

Happy birthday mom... we all love you!




Talk to you soon,
Dale

Alex and Chase's Spring Engagement Portraits in Fayetteville

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Hey everybody!

I love using what Fayetteville gives me for pictures! Right now, the town is in full bloom and I'm a happy camper! Alex and Chase recently met up with us to shoot their engagement portraits, and we were able to find some PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY spots! Check out a few favorites!
This first shot is my favorite from the session, and also the first picture I took! Isn't the color ridiculous?!?!











Talk to you soon,
Dale

Lindsey and Jeff's Fayetteville Engagement Portraits

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Hey everybody!

When we had met up with Lindsey and Jeff to photograph their engagements, Lindsey and Mere totally recognized each other.  It turns out that Lindsey was one of Mere's sweet hospital nurses this past year. What's really funny is Mere remembers saying some CRAZY stuff (via her medication) to Lindsey... but I'm sure she's totally used to that! Haha!  I will say, it made us all a lot more comfortable with the engagement shoot.  We had a blast shooting this sweet couple! And look... We found amazing light, ya'll!!












Talk to you soon,
Dale

Katie and Ethan's Custom Designed Arkansas Save the Dates!

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Hey everybody!

Look at this ADORABLE Save The Date we did for our friend Katie! We created a custom designed gold foil stamp in the shape of Arkansas. We absolutely LOVE this design!

We love to create unique Save The Dates for our clients. Since we do all of the graphic design ourselves, we can do pretty much anything our clients desire!




Talk to you soon,
Dale


Meet Kurt (and Family)!

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Hey everybody!

Kurt actually isn't new to the Benfield Blog, but I want to make sure all our faithful followers know who he is! He's the groom in this famous wedding shot, but more than that he has become one of my closest friends! He and his wife and little boy recently moved back from St. Louis to Fayetteville, and I've enlisted him as the executive chef of Baller Foodtruck (he's going to make my recipes even better, and has some great ideas for future balls!). His culinary degree and restaurant experience, plus his great personality and friendship, landed him the position and I'm honored to head down this path with him! We recently welcomed him to the team, and back to NWA, with a family session. Here's a little teaser... (more from this session coming soon!)



Talk to you soon,
Dale

Spring Family Portraits of Christy, Kurt, and Curran

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Hey everybody!

What a precious family this is! Christy, if you remember, LOVES color (and so do we), so her outfits with Fayetteville's spring is just about as good as it gets! (ironically, this first shot I changed to black and white - hahaha!) Have a look!













Talk to you soon,
Dale

Taylor's Little Rock Bridal Portraits

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Hey everybody!

Taylor and Brett were married yesterday in Little Rock (can't wait to show you scenes from that!), which means I get to show you her bridal portraits now! It rained on her scheduled day, but she had a great backup plan - the Lafayette Building in Little Rock! Love these!








Talk to you soon,
Dale

Check Out Our Picture in The Knot Magazine This Summer!

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Hey everybody!

Look whose wedding portrait was used for an ad in The Knot this summer! It's our very own Kurt. You may have seen this photo on Buzzfeed a few weeks ago. It's made its way all over the internet and it is one of our very favorites!






Talk to you soon,
Dale

Haha... Funny Teaser...

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Hey everybody!

Meredith and I shot the most fun engagement session the other day! One of our couples has some amazing land with all sorts of wildlife. Meredith was shooting the couple, then turned around and saw this right in front of her. Haha!


Can't wait to show you the actual couple portraits from this session! :)

Talk to you soon,
Dale

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