Whysall Photography

At first planning, I wasn’t going to use a wedding photographer. However, with my elderly mother traveling to Virginia, we wanted a professional to capture our event. Steve was on our venue’s preferred list and after reviewing his website, I made an appointment. After our meeting & impressed with his pictures, I hired him without coordinating with my fiancé or reviewing any other photographers. We’re so glad we did.
Steve has a terrific and calming personality for photographing large (or small) events where either emotions run high or conditions are not ideal. He is a problem solver, has a passion for every shot and possesses a fabulous photographic eye.
Our wedding took place at WeatherLea Farm and Vineyard. The ceremony and cocktail hour was scheduled for outdoors and the reception was inside the barn. However, mother nature decided to rain the morning of and weather reports differed as to when it would stop. Because of weather uncertainty, Steve arrived much earlier than scheduled, in order to set up his equipment in the barn if needed, and more importantly, to see how I, the bride, was handling a potential schedule change. With the soggy ground, and dark clouds above, he looked at me with assurance and said «we’re going to make this work.»
Steve knew we wanted to include our motorcycles in our photos and given the weather, he looked at the venue and using his skilled artistic, photographic eye, determined one of the red storage barns would be a terrific place to shoot photos with the bikes. He coordinated with the farm owner to have some of the farm equipment removed. Steve was correct, it was a great area and the photos were fabulous!
While I could go on and on about how he recorded superb memories of our wedding, I will use this example to show his caring and professionalism.
He finished with the solo pictures of my husband and it was now time to take pictures of me. After the first several shots were taken, we started to walk around to the front of the storage barn for pictures on my motorcycle. I took a few steps, my boot tip caught a water hose hidden in the grass and, down I went. I landed on all fours, with more emphasis on one knee. It all seemed to go in slow motion and to this day, I could see the horror on Steve’s face. Remember it was raining heavily all morning, so the front of my dress, where most of my weight went down on my knee, had this HUGE mud patch. Without missing a beat, while also being mindful of time, Steve contained his composure and immediately went into problem solving mode. He sent his assistant into town to get seltzer water and we continued into the barn to take pictures. He reminded me, «we’re going to make this work» and make it work, he did. I was angled and positioned with my flowers in such a way that none of the mud showed in any of the pictures. After taking numerous pictures, we headed into the cottage to try to clean up my dress. Steve was front and center with the clean-​up. He did not step aside leaving it to me or my step-​daughters. He became the «head clean up boss» scrubbing feverishly at the stain, all the while still being in constant contact with his assistant who was still trying to find seltzer water, as well, I’m sure, of thinking of the next picture. He’d wipe and wipe and we’d go outside to check, then back to wipe and wipe. Once the dress dried, there was no evidence of a fall and not one of the guests nor my husband could see any evidence of it. He was true professional, not to mention a savior.
I can only say wonderful things about Steve and his photography. He is a consummate professional who puts heart and soul into every photo and is an extraordinary photographer and we would HIGHLY RECOMMEND him anytime, anywhere.