PHOTOGRAPHER | Outtakes Studio

Outtakes Studio is a hybrid photographer located in Baltimore, MD, specialising in film photography. Ariana personally edits all her photographs, and her wedding photography enables her to merge her artistic practice with her interest in relationships and human interactions. While Outtakes Studio primarily photographs weddings on the US East Coast, bookings are also available for weddings outside of the region.

Tell us about your business!

The big idea behind starting Outtakes Studio was that I wanted to create galleries of images for folks from the outtakes of their lives. Over time, I came to pair that idea with the genre of documentary photography and realized that I can make photos of life as it’s lived, even at a wedding where so much has been crafted for a photogenic moment. Despite the choreographed beauty, I discovered that a real wedding day is actually mostly outtakes, and those moments are infinitely interesting and beautiful.

Outtakes Studio is wedding photography for couples who are in love with each other, love their friends and family, love to celebrate, and want some pictures that show that with care. My work is 50% relationships and 50% making cool visual documents. I always shoot hybrid, so every gallery includes a balance of film, digital (super 8 optional), with my client’s preferences in mind. I’m good at keeping things light and thinking on my feet, at making parents feel special, goofing with your friends, and helping my couples find time to relax. I know when to step up to capture a fleeting moment and when to step back and let life unfold.

What would you like couples to know about you?

I want couples to know that I’m cool - and also a big nerd. I want them to understand how much I love the optics and mechanics of cameras and film. Photography is hard, even if modern cameras are easy. And I know that because I teach it to 100 teenagers every year. I really really really know what to do with a certain amount of light, time, and a camera with or without batteries at any given moment.

And the passion goes way back. I was always the friend with the camera at the party. In high school I started shooting a lot of concerts and events, sneaking my camera into venues and then getting booked to shoot corporate parties after college. In my 20s I decided I wanted to be a teacher (change the world, etc.) and found myself loving what it meant to work with and for other people all day. I started teaching high school photography, and then decided I wanted to take more photos again. Photographing weddings gives me the opportunity to work with people, photograph in a documentary fashion, and create glorious images that push the boundaries of the medium. I’m obsessed with learning about photography, and I adore getting to know my clients through their celebrations. 

Since starting Outtakes, I’ve loved shooting weddings so much that I consider it an equal part of my art practice to my teaching and my personal photography. Photographing weddings is not the side gig any more, it’s one of my favorite things to do.

Where are you based?

Baltimore, MD.

Do you travel for weddings?

Yes! The US east coast is my bread and butter, especially Baltimore, DC, Philly, NYC, and southern Connecticut, but I am available for travel beyond the region.

How would you describe your style?

My visual style is candid and alive, saturated, emotional and expressive, vibrant, formally composed, attentive, experimental, analog.

What is your most memorable career moment?

Shooting a ceremony underground in the Luray Caverns was the most memorable moment so far. When I first booked that wedding I was so excited to have such a wild visual opportunity to get to photograph. But in the months leading up to it, I realized how deeply afraid I was of going down there and had to confront some serious claustrophobia and dread. Fortunately the couple was so cool and the planning team was extremely supportive, and I got down there and made some of the images I’m most proud of in my whole portfolio. As mentioned, I freakin’ love photography, and finding the right gear, film stocks, and techniques to get the job done in the moist subterranean dark was thrilling. Forever grateful to that couple for bringing me down there!

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by the idea that when I photography something on film, what I’m really doing is opening and closing a shutter so that light can enter, which has come from a light source, touched my couple or whatever is in front of the lens, and then imprinted onto a surface in my hands. That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but the physical, tactile record of light through an analog process is my jam. It’s like touching. That’s exciting. Doesn’t matter what exactly I’m photographing, but I love getting to combine that light and chemical reaction with some action or demonstration of a relationship. Getting to touch whatever my subjects are doing in any given real moment inspires me. My favorite things to photograph are things as they are really happening.

How would you describe your working style?

I tell my couples I’m mostly just going to follow them around all day. They know I’ll almost always be in the room, though I’m always eager to give people their space when I notice they need it. I make my best pictures when no one is expecting anything of me. I like to get to know the people that are most important to my couples, because those individuals and relationships are what is most exciting to me. I like to laugh and have fun with my couples and their guests, and I like to cry during vows, and dance during the reception and every once in a while take a shot with the bride at the bar.

What is a favourite product or service that you offer and why?

Oh that definitely keeps changing! Lately when I have a little more freedom and breathing room on a wedding day I love to add in a few rolls of Ilford HP5+ black and white shot on a Holga camera. It’s not usually as sharp or vibrant as my other film shots, and doesn't necessarily match the rest of my color digital or film, but there’s something really freeing about it that always delivers. It’s just a quick plastic trigger with barely any control of focus that I’ll slap off on a whim, usually in between moments. Plus I just freakin’ love throwing on a flash and snapping away on a dancefloor. I feel like I often get a roll of 12 awesome square scans back from my lab that feel so rich and chaotic and alive. Plus I shoot it on a super lightweight camera that never begrudge adding to my pile of on-body gear.

Where would you love to travel to for work?

I would love to travel to Mexico and/or Europe for a wedding, or closer to home, a coastal New England bash or peaceful Big Sur/Northern California celebration.

Who is your dream client?

My dream clients are kind people. People who also value relationships above everything. People whose friends really love them. But also, people who want to have fun at their weddings and people with dance floors.

What is your advice to couples getting married?

Think about who you want to spend the day with, and how much time you want to spend with one another versus with your favorite people on the day of your wedding. If you value seeing family and friends who have traveled from far and wide, then think about how you can best divide up the hours of your day before and after the ceremony to allow for that. If you want to mostly make memories with your new spouse on your wedding day, consider spending more time before the ceremony together (getting ready, even!) or adding in a window of downtime after your ceremony just to be alone together (without the photographer too!)

Outtakes Studio

Website: www.outtakes.us

Instagram: @outtakes_studio