Shot on Film, La Crosse WI

Medium format. 35mm. The real thing, not a filter.

“Film-inspired” is everywhere. Actual film is not.

I shoot weddings and portraits on real film, medium format and 35mm, alongside digital. Not a preset, not an edit that mimics grain. The negative goes through a camera, gets developed, and comes back with a depth and a softness that no amount of digital editing can fully recreate.

If you’ve ever looked at your parents’ or grandparents’ wedding photos and felt something a phone photo doesn’t give you, that’s film. That’s what I’m bringing to your day.

Why I Shoot Film

Film forces me to slow down. There’s no firing off five hundred frames and sorting it out later. Every shot on a roll costs something, so I’m more intentional about light, timing, and composition than I would be if I could just spray and pray digitally.

That slowness shows up in the final images. Film has a way of holding onto emotion instead of just recording a moment. The color, the grain, the way skin actually looks, human, not sharpened into something plastic, it’s a different feeling entirely from a digital file straight out of a sensor.

What I Actually Shoot On

I work in two formats, depending on the moment:

Medium format, for portraits, details, and the quieter parts of your day. Shot on my Contax 645, medium format gives me a larger negative, which means more depth, more tonal range, and a softness in the out-of-focus areas that 35mm and digital both struggle to match.

35mm, for the moments that move fast. Ceremony, reception, the in-between candids where I need to react quickly. Shot on my Nikon F100, still film, still that same texture and color, just built for speed.

Alongside my film cameras, I shoot hybrid with digital backup for low-light moments like receptions, so nothing gets missed. But your portraits and the quiet, held moments? Those are on film.

My Film Stocks

I shoot almost exclusively on Kodak Portra and Fujifilm, both prized for one thing above all else: how they render skin. Portra in particular is built for portraiture, warm, true-to-life skin tones with a softness that flatters everyone in front of the camera. Fujifilm brings a slightly cooler, more nuanced palette that I love for outdoor light and greenery.

Between the two, I can match the film stock to the light and the mood of your session, but the throughline is always the same: skin that looks like skin, not like it’s been run through a digital filter.

Is Film Right for Your Day?

If you want photos that feel timeless rather than trendy, if you love the way old photographs hold onto a feeling that’s hard to name, film is for you. It’s not about nostalgia for its own sake. It’s about a medium that was built, from the ground up, to capture people the way they actually look and feel.

Every wedding and portrait session I shoot in the La Crosse and Coulee Region area includes the option for full or partial film coverage, hybrid with digital, or entirely on film if that’s what you want for your day.

Curious what film could look like for your wedding or session? Let’s talk about it.