Chris Withers Photography

Hello Facebook friends,

We are doing Inspired Sessions at the Illinois State Fair on August 20th.

Fair time is just around the corner, and I’m feeling inspired to create some of the most beautiful and unique portraits we’ve ever created out there.

I’m looking for people who are inspired to create art during that magical time of day when the light starts to shift and everything turns to magic.

These 30 minute sessions will take place on August 20th during golden hour, when the evening light blends with the glow of the fair lights. We’ll also be using our studio lighting to create fun, creative, dramatic portraits meant to inspire.

These sessions are perfect for individuals, couples, and small families.

At this time, I have 2 of the remaining 4 spots left for August 20th.

Investment details are available upon request.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing what kind of magic we can create together.

Hello Springfield, IL friends. How would you like to help the APL and get a nice portrait of your pet?

Join us for Pet Portraits with Purpose on Sunday, July 19th.

Bring your pet into the studio for a heartfelt portrait experience, with 50% of all profits donated to the Animal Protective League as they rebuild after the tornado.

Spots are limited. Click the lead form to request your session today. Join us in making a difference!

Book here:
https://chriswithersphotography.hbportal.co/public/ppwp-rebuild-apl

❤️

PPWP LEAD FORM

Jessica & Hunter: An Engagement Session at the

I could tell Jessica was nervous the second she and Hunter walked into the studio. Not nervous like something was wrong. Nervous like something mattered. She had this calm sitting right on top of it, the kind you put on when you want a day to go well and you're not fully convinced it's in your control. I've seen that look on a lot of faces over the years. It usually means the person standing there really wants this.

For the session itself, we headed to the Brinkerhoff Mansion, and I keep going back to that place for reasons that go beyond the light or the architecture. The house was built in 1869 for George Brinkerhoff, a Springfield businessman, and it's a beautiful piece of work: red brick, Italianate, a wraparound porch, a tower, more rooms than most families would know what to do with. But what gets me isn't the architecture. It's what the place was actually for. Back then, George's wife Isabella was known around Springfield for her hospitality, for filling those rooms with people and conversation and celebration. Later the house spent nearly a century as a college, full of students living their own version of that same story before they knew how it would turn out. Now it's a private home again, and a wedding venue, and the current owners have made it their mission to keep that spirit going, opening the doors for other people's proposals and vows and anniversaries. Walk through it and you can feel that history stacked up in the rooms. Stand still long enough and you can almost hear all those old conversations. Jessica and Hunter's afternoon became one more layer in that. I like knowing their story now lives in a house that's been holding other people's for a hundred and fifty years.

Here's the thing about this job that people don't always get: when a couple hands you their wedding, they're handing you something that happens exactly once. No do-overs. That's not a small thing to be trusted with, and I've never let myself get comfortable enough to treat it that way. It's why I show up the same way every time, from the first phone call to the nights at the computer, way later than I should still be up, going through hundreds of frames looking for the ones that actually tell the truth about the day.

Jessica and Hunter made that easy. They're good together in a way you can't fake for a camera, it's just there, and my job is mostly just to notice it. Watching them, I kept thinking about my own Jessica, my wife, and where we were standing at that same point in our life. Whole world still ahead of us. No idea what was coming, good or hard, just a feeling that whatever it was, we'd handle it together. That's not naive. That might be the most honest thing two people can say to each other.

That feeling is the reason I'm still doing this after all these years, and it's the reason I still teach photography too. Not for the gear or the technical stuff. It's for the reminder it gives me, over and over, that your time on this earth ought to go toward something that actually means something to you. Something worth losing sleep over. It's easy to let life get eaten up by things that don't matter. This work keeps pulling me back to what does: showing up fully for the people in front of you.

That's the real job. Not the lighting, not the posing, not even a beautiful old house that does half the work for you. It's the trust. A couple lets you into one of the biggest days of their life and asks you to get it right. I don't take that lightly, and I hope I never do.

Jessica and Hunter, thank you. Thanks for trusting me with your day, nerves and all. You reminded me why I love this work, and you gave me another shot at doing the thing I care about most: capturing two people who chose each other, right at the start of everything good that's coming their way.

A special thank you to Jessica (my wife), Bradyn and Lacee for their helping making this session happen.

Kayla + Brady | Engagement Session

I had the pleasure of meeting Kayla and Brady as they wandered into my studio. I could see and feel their young love, passion, and energy as they came in, excited to celebrate their affection and commitment to each other.

They also had a little bit of a wall up. Something subtle that told me they were nervous about what to expect and how it would go. And I get it. Handing your whole day, your real laugh, your unguarded moments over to a stranger with a camera is not a small thing. Most couples walk in a little braced for it.

It was so nice getting to know them and watching that wall slowly come down. A burst of laughter out of nowhere is always a good sign that things are going well. It's the moment you know they've stopped performing and started just being together. Then you see them slowly start to trust you, your judgment, and your creativity. Not just tolerate it, actually trust it. Kayla started leaning into Brady without thinking about it. Brady stopped worrying about where his hands went. Small things. But they're everything.

That's really what this work is about, if I'm honest. It's not the poses or the light or the location. It's the trust. Every session is a small rehearsal for that. You spend an hour or two tearing down walls so that by the time it matters most, on the wedding day, there's nothing left standing between the couple and the moment they're actually in.

This post doesn't have much more to say other than these memories are a reminder that I had a great day capturing Kayla and Brady. It was nice tearing down that wall, so when the wedding day comes, all that's left is us and them, capturing beautiful wedding memories filled with pure trust and creativity.

If there's a moral to it, it's this: the best photos never come from people who are posing. They come from people who've forgotten they're being photographed at all. That's the whole job. Not capturing perfect, capturing real.

Locations:

Lincoln Memorial Gardens
Horace Mann
My Studio
Abraham Lincoln Hotel Area

10 Image series taken out at Knights Action Park in Springfield, IL

There's a certain kind of quiet that settles in right before the fireworks start. The running stops. The lawn chairs stop creaking. Everybody just looks up and waits. I got to Knight's Action Park early this year so I could sit in that moment a little longer than usual.

I came out to Springfield's for the Fourth. I went along with my wife, her mom, and her nephew. I set up the camera early because I wanted to catch the fireworks the right way, and that starts long before the first shell goes up.

I shot the night on my Sony A7R III with a 20mm Sony lens, locked down on a tripod and left to do its work. I stopped the aperture down to f/11 to keep the whole scene sharp and let those bursts hold their shape. ISO 50 to keep everything clean and free of noise. Then I opened the shutter for a full 30 seconds and let the sky write itself onto the sensor, every trail of light drawing its own path across the frame. That's the part people don't always understand about a shot like this. You're not freezing a moment. You're collecting one.

We started the evening at home. A little barbecue in the backyard and a few small fireworks of our own. Nothing wild. Just enough to get the excitement going and remind everybody the good part was still coming.

Around eight we packed up and headed out. Set up a game of co****le while we waited on the dark. And here's the part that stuck with me. People wandered over. Strangers. Folks we'd never met walked up and asked if they could get in a round, and we said sure, of course. In a world that keeps telling us to stay behind our screens and mind our own business, there's something about a stranger joining your co****le game that feels like the way things used to be. It felt old school. It felt like community. I didn't expect it to move me the way it did, but it did.

I'll be honest with you. There was a long stretch of my life where I wouldn't have come out here at all. I was a homebody. Give me the couch, some Netflix, and takeout, and I was content to let the night pass me by. And I know some of you reading this are sitting right where I used to sit. There's no shame in it. But life has a way of throwing you curveballs, and those curveballs have a way of reminding you how short and precious all of this really is.

You don't get these nights back. That nephew is only this age once. Your people are only around for so long. Somewhere along the way I decided I didn't want to look back and realize I spent all my good years indoors. So now I push myself, even when the couch is calling my name, to get up and go be part of the memories.

When I got home, the work wasn't done. I took ten separate frames from the night and blended them together by hand in Photoshop, the same way I've always done it. No shortcuts. I layered each burst in one at a time until the whole show lived in a single image. I know there are faster ways to fake this now, and I know where the world is headed with all of that. But something real gets lost when a machine does the translating for you. The quality drops. The soul drops with it. When I build an image the slow way, with my own eyes and my own hands, what you're looking at is honest. It actually happened, exactly the way I stacked it.

I hope your Fourth was a safe one. I hope you were surrounded by the people who love you. And I hope you noticed them, because love isn't always loud. Most of the time it just looks like somebody showing up. Showing up for the barbecue. Showing up for the drive. Showing up to sit in a lawn chair next to you and watch the sky catch fire.

So if I can leave you with one thing, it's this. Take the time while you've got it. Enjoy the people who matter. And when you go out looking for a little adventure, bring them along for the ride.

This photo is more than just a photo to me. It is a memory and a reminder that I spent time doing something that matters with people who treat me like I matter. I am grateful for those that are there for me in this life. Thank you.

I'm flattered. Truly. ❤️ 📷

Hello Springfield, IL - We are here for your support!

Pet Portraits with Purpose is back for a very special reason. 🐾

Sunday, July 12. Create meaningful portraits of the pet you love while helping rebuild hope for animals in need. Makes a perfect gift as well. 💝

Limited spots are open, and 50% of all profit is donated to support APL as they recover from the storms. 🌪

If this speaks to your heart, complete the lead form in the comments today to reserve your session. Limited spots available. ❤

PPWP LEAD FORM