Hampton Roads Wedding Photography- James Bibow

Hampton Roads/ Virgina Beach Wedding Photography

My Home:

I currently live in the little bay side community of Phoebes, in Hampton, VA. I bought a little waterfront place that I'm in love with, and not at nearly enough. I moved here this past winter from living abroad in Japan for 4 years, and never thought I would come to Virgina. I did, and in the end, I'm glad for it. I've made some great friends since moving to the area and it's getting more awesome everyday!
Photography and me

Photography has always been very important to me. The first time I realized that I loved photography faces was in DC, years ago. A friend asked me to take a photo of her and her then new boyfriend with this antique camera I had just bought at a pawn shop. I agreed and went out and bought some black and white film, and shot a roll of 12 images of them just talking to each other. Weeks later when I took the film to be developed, I discovered that in those 12 random images, I had captured 2 people falling in love. It was magical moment for me, and I was hooked.

Gisela Portrait Session- Yorktown Beach, Virgina

September 6, 2011 Posted in Portraits

Gisela contacted me a few weeks back about wanting to get some portraits done, and we met over some beers to talk about what she wanted and to see if I could get a feel for her personality. Ive recently found that this is pretty important and when I get the chance to know my subjects a little first, the photos are significantly more…intimate maybe? Of course, its just fine meeting someone for the first time before the shoot and just going for it, but I think i just lean on my own experience and while those results are sure to be fine, it just might not be that personal. Its the same, wedding photography or portrait photography….. So after meeting her, I learned that she was very nervous about getting photos done (not that she should be, shes stunning) but also, she wanted to show her FUN side. THIS much I can do…I can do fun!

Gisela’s from Brazil, but looks Eastern European, which is a very interesting look. As a realtor (and a very good one at that), she told me that being a foreigner in this market presents all kinds of challenges, which in the end, she thrives on. I found it absolutely fascinating being that I just purchased my own home. I wonder how it would’ve been having a tall Brazilian as my Realtor. Anyways, shes pretty amazing at what she does …and if you’re in the market for a Realtor you should contact her here.

We decided to shoot around Yorktown beach area, which oddly enough, I had never been to. Like always, I drove up there to scout the area out to find the good areas that would work for what I had in mind. I found it interesting that Yorktown is so “old America” like , and Gigi is a tall European looking Brazilian. I DO love contrast… and this really appealed to me. We shot for about 90 min, and got a lot of great stuff in that time…If I’m being honest though, it wasnt exactly hard. She was a natural, and was relaxed and oh so cool… typical Brazilian…sheesh…haha! She even found some of the locations that we used…good eye Gisela, good eye!

Anyways, below are a few images of the day, may take me a bit to get through all of them… there are just so many good ones!

I hope everyone had a great memorial day! I wont say that Im sad to see summer go, its been a teotious season weather wise..and the coming of colder days means the coming of SNOW somewhere! Oh ski season, how I miss you!:)