Rolf Loken, Charlotte NC Wedding Photographer

Dog Ruins Proposal

2011-11-03T12:45:00.000-04:00

Morgan and Ben engagement...Gone Country!

2010-05-09T18:39:00.006-04:00

Gone Country

This engagement shoot was especially memorable as I was taking pictures of my cousin, Morgan, and her fiance, Ben. Morgan is working on her PhD in Chemistry at UVA - she is the intellectual, talkative type. Ben is more of the strong, quiet type...make that the very, very strong, quiet type. He is into reading and lifting things...even Morgan!

They are a perfect couple for each other and you can tell that opposites do attract!

This was up in Nelson County, Virginia which is about 45 minutes drive south of Charlottesville. It is a beautiful, rural location with a lot of farms and the Blue Ridge Mountains as the backdrop. I am always on the hunt for some wide open overgrown fields to do photo shoots in and this area has a bunch and lots of old barns too!

We made a quick stop under this incredible old oak tree.

I think Morgan's cowboy boots say it all!

Morgan and Ben are planning their 2011 wedding at the house in the field behind them in the image below.

So which is your favorite photo from the session? Leave some blog love below in the comments!

And lastly, here is the video slideshow! Enjoy

Brown siblings in Fort Mill

2010-04-30T15:30:00.001-04:00

I met the Brown siblings a while back. They wanted to get a group shot all 3 to give as a gift to their Mom for her 80th birthday! We got a bunch of fun images for them, and I also created a little slideshow of the outing.

JJ & Amy's Beaufort SC wedding slideshow!

2010-04-18T11:21:00.003-04:00

I created another slideshow for my friends JJ and Amy's wedding last weekend and I think it turned out great!

Congratulations Amy & Jeff

2010-04-13T14:29:00.007-04:00

Just a few quick photos of the newly married couple, Jeff and Amy. I pulled them away from the dance foor for 2 minutes at the reception. I did a few quick shots with flash filling them back in, and then a quick silhouette. The silhouette won out!

They had the wedding in the 300 year old St. Helena's Episcopal Church right in Beaufort SC, and the reception right in her parents backyard overlooking the water. And there was an AWESOME sunset. And if you have not seen it yet, I did an engagement session for them earlier with my wonderful wife helping out!

More to come this weekend, when I get some time to do some editing!

Skiing at Mt Hood

2010-04-07T17:37:00.002-04:00

We were out visiting family in Oregon/Washington last week and we had a great time. We were able to visit with our old friends from California who now live in Beaverton. Sam got to meet their kids and I met the second little one. The we went to the Oregon coast. Cannon Beach, Ecola, Astoria, etc for a few days. Then up to Columbia River Gorge area. We did a few hikes Catherine Creek, Horsetheif Butte, toured Full Sail brewery, Maryhill Winery, and made it up to Mt Hood. They got about a foot of fresh snow up there so my brother John and I made it up to ski/board up there. Here is John jumping off one of the snow drifts!

Amy & JJ engagement photos

2010-03-16T20:31:00.006-04:00

I met up with my great friends Amy and JJ who are getting married next month down in Beautfort, SC. I have been friends with JJ from way back in college days at VT. Go Hokies! And Amy is really so fun to be around, and you can tell their personalities are a perfect match.

We walked around the cool area of south end, in Charlotte to get some good photos for them. And the great part was my wife, Sam, was able to come along to help out so I could do a bit more with some manual off camera lighting all Strobist style! Usually, its not as easy to lug around a camera, lenses, and lighting gear, but my wife was a trooper and even had some ideas for shots!

After some awesome photos, of the engaged couple, the four of us went out for some incredible sushi over at Yama. This is my new favorite sushi place in Charlotte, beating out Sapporo Bistro, Ru Sans, Sushi 101, Nikko, etc.. Make sure to try out the Paul's and Volcano rolls!

And here is the slideshow video, even with a few mini video clips this time towards the end. Just shows you how fun these guys are!

Krissy and Seth engagement session video slideshow!

2010-03-02T16:44:00.004-05:00

Here is a mini 30 second slide show from the engagement session with Krissy & Seth the other weekend. I really like this and I think I will start to include this step in more of my weddings and photo sessions. What do you all think?

And here is a longer one with some mini video clips in there too

Krissy & Seth engagement session

2010-03-02T15:13:00.010-05:00

Krissy and Seth are not getting married until August, but we wanted to get some good photos they could use for their "Save the Dates". We were snowed/rained out the past few weekends but we finally hit a warm weekend and we had some wonderful sunlight.

And the cool thing is they brought along their awesome pup named Lola who loved the water and romping around in the tall grass.

And the water!

Go Hedda Go! Ski fast in the Olympics today!

2010-02-23T09:24:00.003-05:00

So one of my cousins Hedda Berntsen, is competing in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics today. The whole family is super excited to see her ski in the Olympics again. Make sure you all keep a look out for her on TV today and cheer for her!

Here is a photo from last year, when we saw her out at the X-Games.

Help for Haiti

2010-01-25T12:38:00.003-05:00

It is just horrible with the tragedy down in Haiti, and we noticed that my super talented photographer friend Mary has a great idea up on her Cloud9 Photography blog, so I am going to copy it as well. We have already donated, but you can help us donate more!

For every package booked between now and the end of February $100 will be donated to the American Red Cross's efforts in Haiti. The folks down there really need all the help we can give them, so I hope to send more money their way!

Help Portrait Charlotte

2009-12-14T15:37:00.007-05:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to help out with a powerful event last weekend. The event was called Help Portrait. It was worldwide group of photographers, who were able to give portraits to those who are less fortunate during the holiday season.

One day to make them feel good about themselves and give them a great image. Learn more at help-portrait.com

A 14 year old son of one of the other photographers helping out, produced a very professional video to cover our little group in action. We got to meet and give images to a very deserving group of senior citizens living at Strawn Apartments, which is a subsidized housing project for seniors in uptown Charlotte, NC.

Talk about a crazy proposal story

2009-11-04T09:52:00.002-05:00

Wow... Just Wow.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Charlotte wedding photographer seminar

2009-11-03T12:03:00.002-05:00

So I have been a really lazy blogger this year. In fact, I am still a bit behind with editing photos, but I should be caught up in the next few weeks. I still have to edit the photos for: 2 weddings, 1 engagement session, and one family portrait session.

Tonight there is a big photography seminar going on in Charlotte. David Ziser will be in town for his wedding photography tour called Digital Wake Up Call 2009 - A New Dawn

Here is a video about it

I look forward to meeting up with some of my other photographer friends there tonight!

Validation

2009-03-14T12:09:00.001-04:00

Awesome short film!

Seasons Greetings

2008-12-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May you all have a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends, and may all your travels be safe.

Tired out "Reindog".

Mammoth Men version 3!

2008-11-16T21:18:00.003-05:00

So I have been really behind with keeping up with the blog lately. I guess I am about 4 weddings, 2 engagement sessions, 2 portrait sessions and a bunch of photojournalist work that I still have not posted to the blog. I have edited and posted most to my proofing site but no blog yet.

So here is something fun to start checking out over the next few days.
The Mammoth Men blog

These guys are just hilarious. Basically its a bunch of really incredible photographers and they load on a tour bus and well here is the trailer...

Mammoth Men 3 Trailer from FRED EGAN on Vimeo.

Jessica & Jason Engagement Session!

2008-10-29T14:47:00.003-04:00

We cruised around Wingate University, just east of Monroe, NC for this engagement session. Jason and Jessica are super cute together and so fun to photograph. They wanted to try all different poses around the campus. The best thing was they changed into their Carolina Panther gear and drove around in Jason's awesome Jeep. I don't think that his jeep ever stays "clean" for more than a few hours. I can't wait to photograph their wedding next summer!

Engagement photo session in Rock Hill!

2008-10-05T12:32:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I met with Traci, Keith and Cameron! We did a combo engagement session (Traci & Keith) and also a few family photos of all three. We started out at Cherry Park in Rock Hill then went a few blocks down to the Winthrop campus for a few more shots. The awesome part of this session, is that Cameron helped out a bunch in holding a reflector and he even got a great snap shot of yours truly!

Cameron is all smiles!

Cameron helped out with the reflector for some side lighting.

I really love this shot. First one right when we arrived to the Winthrop campus. Used the 24mm f/1.4 on 40d so you get the effective focal length close to 35mm.

I love this reflection in one of the windows there on campus.

I gave one of the cameras to Cameron to capture me in action!

Such great photos of these guys. I can't wait to shoot their wedding in November!

Rick Sammon, Canon Explorers of Light

2008-09-23T13:13:00.004-04:00

I am heading to see Rick Sammon speak tonight starting at 7pm at the Actors Theater in Charlotte. It should be a great event for all you photographers out there reading my blog.

More info here about it here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=EventDetailAct&eventID=937

Some basic tips from Rick here on Youtube:

Barack Obama in Charlotte!

2008-09-21T21:30:00.007-04:00

Obama was in Charlotte today speaking to 20,000 people! Even though I am still undecided on who I will vote for, it was really cool to hear him speak and see him up that close. I got some great photos for the Charlotte Weekly and even got to shake his hand!

The rest of the photos are here: RolfLoken.Smugmug.com

Here is some of the rally on you tube.

Hokie dog bear grommit

2008-09-17T17:15:00.002-04:00

Since I am always taking photos of my dog and never posting them, I figured it was about time to change all that. So here are some I took today of our pup Hokie. She has about a million other nicknames and some she even responds to. Isn't she cute?

Firefighters Memorial in Monroe, NC

2008-09-12T00:27:00.004-04:00

I went to the Monroe, NC courthouse for the Firefighters Memorial dedication ceremony tonight. You can read more about the memorial here. I was the photojounalist covering the event for the Union Weekly newspaper. It was a very somber event being on the 7th anniversary of 9/11/2001. The monument is an old historic bell that was used to summons Monroe firefighters into duty back in the 1800s. Now it is used to give honor to the local firefighters who gave their lives and also those firefighters and servicemen who perished seven years ago. It all still seems so strange, and I will always remember that morning from 2001, as long as I live.

May God bless all those who lost their lives on that terrible day.

Bridal Expo in Charlotte NC

2008-09-10T16:11:00.002-04:00

I went to the Great Bridal Expo which was held at the Blake Hotel in uptown Charlotte. The main lobby of the Blake is really cool and stylish. It was fun to walk around and chat with some of my photographer friends there and meet some new wedding vendors. The high point for me had to be the elaborate bridal fashion show. They had such beautiful dresses on display and not to mention that the runway models were very easy on the eyes and friendly to chat with after the show! :-)

Great shadow from the spot lights!

Dig the hat!

My personal favorite shot of the evening.

Wild red bridal gown!

The rest of the photos are on my Wedding Album proof site.

Bruce and Julie Engagement Session

2008-08-31T19:09:00.001-04:00

I met up with Julie and Bruce for an engagement shoot in the rural area of Matthews and Waxhaw. We had a great time scoping out some scenic areas and ended in a great soybean field!

Wow - More photos in the blog post than usual, but there were so many awesome shots! These guys are so great in front of the camera and it also helps that they are super good looking! :-)

Planet Neil is coming to Charlotte!

2008-08-20T09:13:00.004-04:00

One of the great web resources for flash photography techniques has to be wedding photographer Neil van Niekerk's Planet Neil blog. He also offers workshops for pros in different cities and the full day one in Raleigh is already sold out. But good news. He sent me an email about a new flash photography seminar and workshop on Tuesday October 21st in Charlotte!

I just signed up and I can't wait. I hope to see some of my other Charlotte photographer friends out there too!

Here is his blog about the last one in Charlotte, NC from last spring.

http://planetneil.com/tangents/2008/03/17/workshop-view-charlotte-nc/

Uptown Charlotte photo session

2008-08-17T16:44:00.006-04:00

Stephanie and Brad are rockstars! We met up at the center of Charlotte right after the big bridal show (charlotte bridal showcase) for their session. The lighting bouncing off the glass buildings was perfect and they were awesome in front of the camera. Lots of fun walking around that main Trade and Tryon intersection and snapping some awesome shots. Also be sure to check out Stephanie's graphic design site SMCDesign.com. She does all sorts of excellent design work from invitations and albums, to branding and commercial advertisments. Stay tuned, she is even working an identity for my photography business! I can't wait!

I love the glow of her hair. This could be in a shampoo commercial!

Always look both ways when crossing.

Brad looking smooth.

Blue eyes!

Warm glow and lens flare of the setting sun bouncing off the building in uptown Charlotte, NC.

Twins portraits

2008-08-10T16:36:00.000-04:00

I met up with some friends to do portraits of their adorable 2 year old twin girls this past weekend. I really think the photos turned out great! They had matching bright red Adirondack chairs which were sized perfectly. I believe they were ordered from Pottery Barn Kids. I knew as soon as we setup the chairs and the girls sat down, that these would be some of the best photos of the morning!

They loved to play ring around the rosie with each other.

Out for a morning drive in the pink cars. I can just see them in matching pink real cars in another 14 more years.

Some more cute photos of the girls.

Mt. St. Helens Climb

2008-08-07T14:38:00.003-04:00

As crazy as it sounds, I climbed to the top of a volcano! I flew out to Portland, OR to visit with my Mom and Jack and they had planned to summit Mt. St. Helens that week. It was really an amazing climb and well worth the strenuous effort. We drove out and camped out at the base of the mountain at about 3800 feet the night before. This first photo is after stopping at the first good look of the mountain on the way up. Check out everyone's amazement at the sleeping giant!

From left to right: Jack, John, Mom/Susan, Judy, Mike, Jim.

We left camp at 6am and hiked for about 2 1/2 hours to get to get out of the trees. After we got above the tree line, there were quite a few snow fields to cross and climb up. These made for some fun glissading on the way down!

My brother John carried up a birthday flag for our "Grammie". She is one cool 92 year old. She even goes online with her PC to check email and play online card games. She is still playing golf and she is a force on the local bridge tournaments in Florida. I was playing golf with her about 10 years ago when shen got a hole in one! My Uncle Dave was so exited about the hole in one that he put 2 shots straight into the water right after that!

John and I on the 8365 foot summit of Mt. St. Helens. Thats Mt. Adams is behind us. This was about Just after noon by the time I made it up. The last bit was quite tough as the ash and gravel would just slide down as you tried to hike up. One big step up and then slide back half way. Repeat about a million times and you are to the top. Going back down we flew though. Once we tried doing some seated glissading on the way down, but I had better luck doing more of a standing glissade/slide/shuffle. We were back down by about 3:30. We really moved on the way down. 6.5 hours climbing up and about 3 hours to get down.

Mt. St Helens Panorama

2008-08-07T13:52:00.002-04:00

PhotoStitch merge of 9 images on top of Mt. St. Helens summit.

Click on photo to see large image.

6 month old portraits

2008-07-29T12:10:00.000-04:00

Little baby "C" really did great. The temps were still quite hot this evening, but she didn't complain or fuss at all. We got some great family shots of of mom and dad holding her up.

Such cute pudgy baby cheeks!

1 year old portrait session

2008-07-28T11:45:00.001-04:00

Here is another little angel photo session! My favorite shots were from the end after a wardrobe change. Perfect lighting and she was so cute!

I really liked this series of shots. I just love the animated smiles from little baby "R".

For all you photographers out there, these were taken using a simple large light reflector and with my relatively inexpensive 85mm prime lens set wide open 1.8 f-stop on the awesome Canon 5d . You just gotta love the full frame sensor. I still like my 40d, but the images that come out of the 5d have stolen my heart.

2 year old portrait session!

2008-07-27T11:32:00.000-04:00

So I have been slacking on keeping up with the blogging over the past month. I have still been busy with the photography side, just not keeping up with the blogging. So here is the catchup. This little 2 year old cutie was really great to work with. Here are a few quick photos from the session!

Scott and Sarah Wedding

2008-07-17T13:31:00.003-04:00

Wow! What a fun wedding this weekend. Scott and Sarah are such a perfect couple and obviously very happy together. I wish them a wonderful life together.

I worked with Eddie Stokes Photography on this one. Eddie is incredibly talented and Sarah even booked him and had him travel all the way from Raleigh area just to shoot this wedding! That shows how much she valued his photo skills. It started at the All Saints Catholic Church near Lake Wylie, SC and ended at the Magnolia Room in Rock Hill, SC. The great music at the reception was by Jill from All The Right Grooves and I would highly recommend them. Jill really made it a fun reception and she was very easy to work with.

So now on to the photos...

Father of bride nervously pacing.

The radiant bride Sarah through the ornate front doors at Magnolia Room.

The two cute flower girls had matching dresses that even matched with Sarah's beautiful wedding gown. More photos in the album site.

All smiles from the relieved couple just after the ceremony.

Hayden Portrait Session

2008-07-15T23:44:00.002-04:00

So I met up with the cutest little toddler Hayden and her Mom to do a portrait session. It was quite hot out so we tried to stay in the shade for better lighting and cooler temps. Hayden had the best little pink outfit with matching pink and white striped hat and she loves to chase and pop bubbles. So cute!

Look at that smile!

My fav of the day.

Antique photo effect.

Hayden Portrait take 2

2008-07-15T23:40:00.002-04:00

One more photo. So - Actually I think this is my favorite of the day. What an adorable toddler!

You can view the rest of the shot here: http://rolfloken.smugmug.com

Engagement Session Tips

2008-07-15T11:53:00.004-04:00

Since I include a complimentary engagement photo shoot in some of my wedding photography packages, I have been getting some questions from some future brides on exactly what an “engagement photo session” is. This might help to clarify:

What is an engagement session?
Basically, the e-session is a fun chance for you to relax and become comfortable in front of the camera. For me, it’s the perfect opportunity to get to know you. As far as instructing or directing you for posing, I usually just say, “have fun together and show off how madly in love you are”. Of course, there are times when I’ll have you move an arm or leg a certain way, but for the most part, looking cute is up to you.

Where to meet for our engagement session?
There are many great locations around the Charlotte, NC area. If you and your fiancé have a place that is scenic and special to you, mention it! This is where you let your personality shine through. Ideal locations are where you first met, first date, where you became engaged. It really just depends on what you would like. We can try for somewhere colorful and more funky or trendy uptown. Or we can try some of the beautiful parks all through the area. We can even meet up in the quaint small town streets of possibly Waxhaw or Matthews.

What should you wear?
Just wear something comfortable. Jeans are always a popular option as the engagement session is meant to be a more relaxed time, as your wedding will obviously be the formal event. Try to avoid solid white shirts, plaids, or thick stripes. You don't have to match exactly, just be in the same color scheme. Lots of couples bring one more casual outfit and one more dressy outfit and change part way through the session. This works great if we try out a second location too. It’s like getting two sessions in one!

How long will our engagement session take?
Until we get the photos that we desire. Usually we plan for about an hour.

What time of the day should we plan our session?
The evening is usually best for ideal natural lighting and for your work schedule. I like to target to start between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM in the summer or about 1.5 hours before sunset.

What is the most important thing to remember about the engagement session?
Relax and have fun!

5th of July BBQ

2008-07-05T18:12:00.004-04:00

Met up with some friends for a BBQ this weekend. Here were some of my favorite photos from the afternoon.

Personal Fireworks show

2008-07-04T17:44:00.002-04:00

Is there anything better than your own private, 4th of July fireworks show? We were hanging out with some friends and their neighbor purchased half of the entire fireworks store. Really an awesome show! For all you photographers, out there, I was using a little mini plastic tabletop tripod , with my 5d and 17-40 ultra wide angle lens. Most of these were all manual settings with bulb for the shutter release and trying not to shake the camera too much over the few second exposures. Next year I will remember to bring along my cable release which would have helped a bit.

S2000 Photo shoot

2008-07-03T14:41:00.001-04:00

We had an amazing sunset the other day, so I had to take the convertible over to an open field near the house for its own photo shoot! Not a bad looking model, eeh?!?

Myrtle Beach Sunrise

2008-06-17T15:02:00.005-04:00

I was down at Myrtle Beach over the weekend to recover from the weekends wedding and to meet up with family. I decided to get up early on Tuesday which would be our last day at the beach. Here are a few shots from my early morning watching the sunrise.

The sun was amazing this morning!

Under the pier.

Fishers on the pier

Mr Ed.

2008-06-15T17:31:00.001-04:00

On the way down to Myrtle Beach, I saw this field of horses and had to stop for a few quick snaps.

Amazing blue eyes on this friendly horse

Hello horses!

Sherhonda and Darris Wedding Ceremony

2008-06-14T17:38:00.002-04:00

Wow - what a fun wedding! Jonathan and I had a great time photographing Sherhonda and Darris's wedding today. They had 7 groomsmen and 7 bridesmaids, not to mention the cutest little ring bearer and flower girl!

Cool wide angle shot of the groomsmen and Darris.

Darris with Sherhonda's ring

Sherhonda's beautiful little daughter was the flower girl

The relieved couple after the ceremony

Wedding Reception photos

2008-06-14T16:23:00.002-04:00

The earlier bridal portrait turned out great!

The wind was blowing Sherhonda's veil all around!

Cute Samyria holding the bouquet.

The wedding couple spending some alone time.

YO QUIERO!

2008-06-12T16:50:00.003-04:00

YO QUIERO TACOS!

So we are dogsitting little Peanut this week. What a perfect name for a Chihuahua. He really is a cool little dog and I keep thinking he is saying "Yo quiero Taco Bell". Great marketing and branding, if they can remind us of their tacos everytime we see a little dog!

Mel and Steve engagement sesssion

2008-06-01T11:39:00.001-04:00

I met up with Steve and Mel to do their engagement photo session. We went to the beautiful Andrew Jackson State Park just south of Charlotte. The plan was to rent a row boat and paddle around the lake there for some cute shots. It turns out that you have to rent the boats earlier in the day so they just gave the boat a try without the oars anyway!

you can see the rest of the set here http://rolfloken.smugmug.com/gallery/5076530_M8wN8#305661939_V57FY

E session post 2!

2008-06-01T11:00:00.002-04:00

Since they were such good looking models - I HAD to do a second post!

US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte

2008-05-13T18:36:00.002-04:00

I took my parents out to the whitewater center so they could see the awesome kayakers and rafters out there. We walked around some and of course I had my camera with me to catch a few of the kayakers surfing and playing in some of the holes. Anyway - I took a few and one of the guys, Chris Wing put them out on his Kayaking Webblog. Check it out!
http://www.h2odreams.com/2008/05/center-magic.html

Hello World

2008-01-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

This is the start of my photo blog that will follow both my professional and personal life. Hopefully this will give you all some insight into who I am.