Benny Awards Voting Ends Tonight!

January 18, 2012, 8:06 am

≫ Next: Imaging USA New Orleans Recap

≪ Previous: Some Favorite Couture Album Covers...

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Hey everybody!

Tonight at midnight, the voting officially ends for 2012 Benny Awards. Make sure to make your voice heard. I can't tell which category, but in one of them the difference between winner and loser is only TWO VOTES! Dig deep... time for one final push for some great prizes!

Here are the entries for best kiss, one of my favorite categories! Vote by clicking the links above.

Stephanie Z (below)

Christy (below)

Emily (below)

Tara (below)

Ashley H (below)

Brianna (below)

Mallory (below)

Katy (below)

Sherri (below)

Talk to you soon,
Dale

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Imaging USA New Orleans Recap

January 19, 2012, 4:03 pm

≫ Next: Emily and Jake's Fayetteville Engagement Session

≪ Previous: Benny Awards Voting Ends Tonight!

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Hey everybody!

One of my favorite parts of being a full-time wedding photographer is that I get to travel a bunch. Most recently, Meredith and I took a ROAD TRIP (yep, we said we'd rather make the drive than fly) to New Orleans, LA. Neither of us had been to NOLA before, and were really looking forward to spending time in a new place.

The main purpose for our trip was to attend Imaging USA, a big photo conference. We normally speak at IUSA, but this year we went to see our friends, attend the tradeshow, experience a new place, and we even got to help sell backdrops for our good friends at dropitMODERN! I took gobs of iPhone pics, and if you follow me on instagram then you've no doubt seen the images below. If you DON'T follow me on instagram, or haven't signed up, it's about time to make a change! (fyi, my name on instagram is: dalebenfield)

The first image was from Oak Alley, outside NOLA.  We photographed one of our very favorite 2012 couples' engagement there - those images are going to be up on the blog soon, so check back.  The 2nd image is from Bourbon Street (which was a bit MUCH for Mere and me - stick to the French Quarter! Haha!)  The MpixPro shot was exciting b/c I didn't know they were going to feature the cute red-truck-kissie-shot. :)


The first shot below was taken of a yummy beignet at the super famous Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter (as was the Cafe Au Lait shot). The people pics are my photog and Miller's friends.  They're swell!!  And you know I'm a foodie... so I also had to include a pic of Emeril's gumbo, which made my belly very, very happy.  :) So, that's where I've been the past week, and I had such a blast! We're looking forward to more trips, more fun, and more food in the upcoming months as tradeshow (and my birthday) season hits full swing. :)

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Emily and Jake's Fayetteville Engagement Session

January 20, 2012, 7:36 pm

≫ Next: Norah's Newborn Baby Portraits

≪ Previous: Imaging USA New Orleans Recap

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Hey everybody!

We're getting back into the groove of things with some great shoots coming up! I'm kicking it off with Emily and Jake's Fayetteville engagement session. They're a really fun couple, and their Kansas City wedding is going to be rockin'!







Talk to you soon,
Dale

Norah's Newborn Baby Portraits

January 21, 2012, 9:07 pm

≫ Next: Lauren's Italy Adventures: Part One!

≪ Previous: Emily and Jake's Fayetteville Engagement Session

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Hey everybody!

I have an ADORABLE little baby girl to introduce to you today! Norah is the sweet little newborn - and was actually the Joplin New Year's baby!! - for one of our 2010 wedding couples, Abby and Nate. We went to their home in Joplin recently for the newborn session, and had lots of luck getting some really precious shots!

Don't you want to eat her????

I always wonder what kiddos dream about that make them smile. :)


Such a beauty!


Talk to you soon,
Dale

Lauren's Italy Adventures: Part One!

January 22, 2012, 5:26 pm

≫ Next: NWAFW + Riffraff's 3rd Birthday Shoot

≪ Previous: Norah's Newborn Baby Portraits

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Ciao i miei amici!

In case you haven't heard, I (Lauren) have moved to Rome, Italy, for the next few months to finish out my degree! However, it hasn't stopped me from working! Dale knew it was a dream of mine to study abroad so we made it work! Each week I'll be writing a blog post of shoots and any adventures in Italy.

I'll also still be designing albums, websites and save the dates, and taking care of all the print orders we get in, so I'll be very much involved with all the ins and outs of Benfield Photography while I'm away until May.

Rome is rich in art and history and almost anywhere you go you stumble upon a famous monument of some sort. Even things such as graffiti are considered works of art and are appreciated much more in Italy than they are in the US. Living in a different country and in a much larger city is definitely taking some getting used to! Here are a few important things I've learned so far in Italy...

1. Speak the language. Yes, the locals will laugh at you but it shows respect and people are much more willing to open up to you.

2. Be the first at the bakery. I'm not a morning person but it doesn't get much better than freshly baked Italian pastries!

3. Watch out for "dog droppings" on the streets! Italians do things a bit differently here and things like that are cleaned by the city... which means they aren't cleaned often enough. My friend, Lizzie, learned that the hard way!

Check out some shots of the city!


Castello Odescalchi di Bracciano, the castle Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married in!


A ceiling shot of the Pantheon...


The beautiful Lake Bracciano...






and a few new friends...


Arrivederci!

~Lauren

NWAFW + Riffraff's 3rd Birthday Shoot

January 23, 2012, 11:56 am

≫ Next: NWAFW Riffraff Fashion Shoot, Pt. 2

≪ Previous: Lauren's Italy Adventures: Part One!

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Hey everybody!

My great buddy Kirsten Blowers contacted me recently for an idea for a really fun shoot: great fashion + silliness. I mean, that's right up my alley :) The images are being used for Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week - NWAFW - as well as on their facebook page and what-not. I loved the clothes, the props, and the shopgirls :)


Here's Hannah, and easily the cutest photo I took all day - maybe even the cutest photo I've EVER taken.


More of the super fabulous femme - isn't the back of this dress rockin?!

So sassy!

Um... I'm sexy and I know it!

Another great outfit with a sexy back. My job is so rough. ;)

Hannah and Tarah rockin' it.

One of these just don't belong. (hint: it's me. )

Happy Birthday Riffraff!! Oh how I love thee!!

Could Kirsten BE any cuter???

Answer: Nope.


More from this super fun shoot tomorrow!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

NWAFW Riffraff Fashion Shoot, Pt. 2

January 23, 2012, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: Oak Alley Engagement Portrait of Jamie and Ben!

≪ Previous: NWAFW + Riffraff's 3rd Birthday Shoot

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Hey everybody!

As promised, more from my recent fashion shoot with the great girls from Riffraff!
The images are being used for Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week - NWAFW - as well as on their facebook page and what-not.

Today I'm showing some group shots - way fun! So much so that I had to jump in a couple. Heehee! OH! AND SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR MY VIDEO: THREE HOURS IN 57 SECONDS!!















And here's the fun little video - three hours of shooting condensed to 57 seconds. The quality isn't awesome because I just recording my screen as I quickly loaded the images - but it's way fun! Enjoy!


Talk to you soon,
Dale

Oak Alley Engagement Portrait of Jamie and Ben!

January 25, 2012, 12:26 pm

≫ Next: Oak Alley Plantation Engagement Pictures!

≪ Previous: NWAFW Riffraff Fashion Shoot, Pt. 2

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Hey everybody!

I know a girl in Fayetteville who has been waiting very patiently to see this image! Jamie, your wait is over!! :)

Jamie and Ben have wanted to shoot their engagement portraits at Oak Alley forever - and it just so happens that we were traveling to New Orleans, so we obviously took that as a sign! Haha!

Today I'm going to show a rockin' panoramic - you'll have to click below to make it a bit bigger like it's meant to be seen! And won't this be BANANAS as a new facebook timeline cover photo?! Hello!



More from this shoot coming soon!

OH, AND IF WE GET 50 FACEBOOK COMMENTS ON THIS BELOW, THE BRIDE-TO-BE GETS A FREE 10X30 PANORAMIC FOR HER HOME!! Help a girl out!!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

P.S. Benfield Photography couples - if you want your engagement shoot to take place someplace other than locally, just let us know! We love to travel!

View Our Website :: View Mere's Secret Session site :: Contact Us

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Oak Alley Plantation Engagement Pictures!

January 26, 2012, 7:06 pm

≫ Next: Benny Winners! Best wedding shots of the year!

≪ Previous: Oak Alley Engagement Portrait of Jamie and Ben!

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Hey everybody!

Today we have more from Jamie and Ben's engagement session at Oak Alley Plantation. And by the way, thanks for your comments on yesterday's post! Because of you're awesomeness, Jamie and Ben get a whopping 10x30 print ($150 value!), so I'm sure she'd be thanking you too if she could!

As a result of this great shoot, we thought it would be smart to start posting our upcoming travel spots on the blog in case any of our couples wanted to do something a bit different for their session. We have a number of different spots coming up in the next few months, so I'll post them this weekend if I get the chance.

And now without further adieu... Jamie and Ben's Oak Alley Plantation engagement pictures:

(another pano - click it to make it bigger!)







Talk to you soon,
Dale

Benny Winners! Best wedding shots of the year!

January 27, 2012, 9:59 pm

≫ Next: Benny Awards Recap!

≪ Previous: Oak Alley Plantation Engagement Pictures!

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Hey everybody!

The Benny Awards just ended (we stayed LATE this year since it was at our house), and I can't wait to share the details with y'all! But tonight's post is going to be full of all the winners.

1st place engagement:


2nd place engagement:


3rd place engagement:


1st place wedding portrait:


2nd place wedding portrait:


3rd place wedding portrait:


Best Kiss and Best Shoes:


Best Groom's Cake:


Best Bouquet:


Best Getaway:


Best Dress:


Best Dramatic Moment:


Best Wedding Design:


Best Dance:


Best Comedic Moment:


Best Wedding Cake:


1st place Bridal Portrait:


2nd place Bridal Portraits:


3rd place Bridal Portraits:


More from the Benny's coming soon!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Benny Awards Recap!

January 28, 2012, 10:03 pm

≫ Next: Upcoming Travel Schedule! Book A Dream Shoot!

≪ Previous: Benny Winners! Best wedding shots of the year!

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Hey everybody!

If you don't follow me on instagram, you missed my super exciting news about the Benny Awards: we had a food truck cater the event!

Meredith and I looooove Hammontrees, and once we decided to have the party at our house, the next step was making it super memorable.

Enter the Grillenium Falcon...


It was the perfect touch to add to our party! If you're a bride looking for a fun way to feed your guests, give Chad at Hammontrees a call!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Upcoming Travel Schedule! Book A Dream Shoot!

January 28, 2012, 10:45 pm

≫ Next: Benny Awards Benny Booth!

≪ Previous: Benny Awards Recap!

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Hey everybody!


Upcoming Travel Dates:
Paris France - Feb 2-7
Las Vegas - Feb 19-22
Austin TX - March 14-19
Austin TX - March 31-April 1st
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - April 12-19
Rome, Italy - Lauren is available! Now-May 10




You don't have to be getting married in a far away place to have your engagements, bridals, or secret session there!

Just ask Lindsey...


Or Jamie...


Or Bradley and Meridith, who we photographed in Versailles, France, for the ultimate Day After Session... (remember this wonderful 2007 wedding couple?)






They all had us photographer super fabulous portraits at super fabulous locations that weren't in the same state/country/continent as their wedding!

With that said, if you're one of our couples and are interested (or if you want to schedule a session with us), you now have our upcoming travel schedule. We're already working at each of these destinations, so putting you into the mix should be pretty easy! Email me if you're interested!

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Benny Awards Benny Booth!

January 30, 2012, 12:25 pm

≫ Next: Tulip Louise Cinemagraphs Fashion Shoot

≪ Previous: Upcoming Travel Schedule! Book A Dream Shoot!

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Hey everybody!

I have whipped up the Benny Booth pics from the Benny Awards, and let me just say that I love our bride and grooms!! How fun are these?! We shot on Spangled, my new favorite backdrop (more Spangled pics coming this week!) from dropitMODERN.





This made me literally laugh out loud - Sherri, you win a prize dear!














Talk to you soon,
Dale

Tulip Louise Cinemagraphs Fashion Shoot

January 31, 2012, 8:59 am

≫ Next: Our Crush: Drop It Modern + Spangled! {NSFW}

≪ Previous: Benny Awards Benny Booth!

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Hey everybody!

I've been able to get quite caught up recently, allowing me time to work on my personal projects. Lately, as you know, I've been enamored by moving pictures, called cinemagraphs, and have been dabbling in creating my own.

Today's cinemagraphs are of my fabulously fashionable friend at Tulip Louise. We played around and were able to get some super cool moving pictures - take a look!





Talk to you soon,
Dale

Our Crush: Drop It Modern + Spangled! {NSFW}

January 31, 2012, 10:09 pm

≫ Next: Stacey's Northwest Arkansas Boudoir Photography Session

≪ Previous: Tulip Louise Cinemagraphs Fashion Shoot

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Hey everybody!

Our friends at dropitMODERN are featuring your favorite Arkansas Wedding Photographers today in their newsletter to bazillions of photographers (yay!) and I thought I'd return the favor by gushing on them as well!

Over the past year, we've become super close with the DIM team, spending time with them at the tradeshows, and are honored to call them friends! Really.Talented.Friends. Since we started using their fabulous backdrops for our Benny Booths, we've become known for having the coolest wedding/event photo booths around - thanks for making us look FRESH, dim!!

The latest backdrop, Spangled, is super fabulous. And if you know me... you know I love fabulous! We've already done a few shoots on it, and have a few more to show you (a sneak peek of one of Mere's recent boudoir shoots on Spangled is below). If you're a photographer and want to take one of these sweet puppies home, click my link to the right to head to their online store!







Talk to you soon,
Dale

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Stacey's Northwest Arkansas Boudoir Photography Session

February 2, 2012, 5:46 am

≫ Next: Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post

≪ Previous: Our Crush: Drop It Modern + Spangled! {NSFW}

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Hey everybody!

We have more secret sessions to post! Today's super classy and gorgeous boudoir session is of Stacey. Mere photographed her super tasteful boudoir in Fayetteville, and Stacey looked like she had so much fun! Thanks again to Stacey for allowing us to post these (we always ask permission) and show off some of Mere's super talent! If you're looking for a great gift for your groom or groom-to-be, contact Mere at meredithmcclary@gmail.com









Talk to you soon,
Dale

Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post

February 2, 2012, 10:45 pm

≫ Next: Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post, pt 2

≪ Previous: Stacey's Northwest Arkansas Boudoir Photography Session

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Hey everybody!

Here we go with another NSFW secret session boudoir post! Mere has been rocking it out and I feel badly that she hasn't been on the blog. She shoots so many of these boudoir sessions, and does such an amazing job making women look and feel beautiful that she deserves lots of credit! Don't you agree? Today's secret session post was shot in Fayetteville, and Amanda gave a little black book of her boudoir images to her husband on their wedding day! What a great gift, right? There were so many great ones from this post that I'm showing you half now and half later! :)








If you're a bride looking for a great gift for your groom, call Mere! Or email her at meredithmcclary@gmail.com

Talk to you soon,
Dale

Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post, pt 2

February 3, 2012, 10:57 pm

≫ Next: Lahalla's Arkansas Boudoir Secret Session

≪ Previous: Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post

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Hey everybody!

We're continuing Amanda's secret session boudoir posts today with the other half of the super fabulous shots Meredith got of the bride-to-be. Aren't they super classy? How about a big thanks to Amanda for giving Mere permission to post these to show how great a present it can be to a groom on the wedding day!







Talk to you soon,
Dale

Lahalla's Arkansas Boudoir Secret Session

February 5, 2012, 8:29 pm

≫ Next: Taylor's Fayetteville Arkansas Boudoir Session

≪ Previous: Amanda's Arkansas Secret Session Boudoir Post, pt 2

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Hey everybody!

We have a couple more great boudoir images for you. Meredith photographed this secret session of Lahalla, a model from Joplin, for her portfolio - and for dropitMODERN (the cool red and black backdrop). What I love about Mere's super talent of photographing boudoir is that she keeps it super classy - there are a lot of photographers out there who are less-than-stellar when it comes to photographing females in a tasteful way, and Meredith always rocks it out! Have a look at a couple faves!




Talk to you soon,
Dale

Taylor's Fayetteville Arkansas Boudoir Session

February 5, 2012, 11:01 pm

≫ Next: Taylor's Fayetteville Arkansas Boudoir Session, pt 2

≪ Previous: Lahalla's Arkansas Boudoir Secret Session

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Hey everybody!

We're nearing the end of the fabulous string of boudoir sessions shot by my lovely and super talented photographer wife, Meredith! :) Her secret sessions have been such a hit with our brides and other fun females in Fayetteville, so it's been keeping her quite busy, as you can see! Today's post is a super fabulous boudoir session that Meredith did using natural light, and she has a great gift of using available light that it almost looks like a studio setting (you'll see more examples tomorrow of this session).

Take a look at some favorites from this recent boudoir session.









Talk to you soon,
Dale