Interview with photographers Feather and Stone
The absolutely gorgeous couple, Seth and Tenielle of Feather and Stone were a delight to interview. If you haven’t had the privilege of meeting this duo, then you must(!) as they are super friendly, fun, and ridiculously talented creative wedding photographers.
Seth and Tenielle have been shooting weddings for many years now, and have recently celebrated their ten-year wedding anniversary. They really have a dream job of travelling and shooting memorable moments around the world. This year alone sees the couple travel to Africa, UK, Italy and the USA for both work and play. Seth’s family are all in the States, so they travel back as often as they can.
And, although based in Brisbane, the couple regularly travels to Sydney and Melbourne for weddings too.
In the local industry, Seth and Tenielle are leading a resurgence of film photography too. Pretty much all of their work is shot on film. They have a whole family of beautiful cameras including a Pentax, Mamiya, Diana, Holga and Instax. Each has a special purpose and role within the family.
If you haven’t seen their delightful website, pop over to enjoy the larger photographs and be sure to play the soundtrack while experiencing the moments from each event.
How have you got to where you are today?
Tenielle and I started out with an interest in fashion photography, after shooting ‘new faces’ for a local modelling agency an opportunity arose to shoot a friend wedding as a gift.
We had no intention to try our hand at weddings however we had so much fun it forced us to reconsider. We weren’t sure if there was a market for creative wedding photography, boy were we wrong.
In a few words, describe yourself…
{S} I love people and thrive off of their energy. I have a silly sense of humour and I’m sure I think I’m funnier than I actually am. Tenielle reminds me of this daily.
{T} I just love animals so much. If Seth would let me our home would be a petting zoo. Second to spending time with Seth and my family, I think there’s nothing better than a good belly aching laugh with your closest friends.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
Right now we’re in the middle of some of our busier wedding months however we’re also working on some personal fine art projects that we hope to showcase over the next 6 months or so.
We’re also preparing for a work and play overseas trip that will take us to Africa, UK, Italy and the USA from mid June through to August this year.
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
We don’t have a ritual as such but we strongly believe that we’re influenced by the world around us, so our process is really about “unplugging” from our industry to ensure we’re staying true to ourselves and how we see things.
When we’re shooting we leave a lot of what we do to chance. Since we predominantly work with people we feel its best to let the natural events/chemistry/reactions play out.
We sometimes incorporate a fashion edge to how we compose our portrait images, but we mostly take care of lighting and composition.
What or who inspires you?
Our inspiration changes so often, but we find we’re most inspired by things, people and artists outside of our industry, it could be a movie, fashion editorial, book, lyrics from one of our favourite songs etc.
We’re currently inspired by the work of some of the greats such as Richard Avedon, Richard Bailey and Rodney Smith. There’s a simplicity about their work, it’s understated but strong. It just works for us. We like simple.
What are you most proud of?
Staying true to our personal spiritual goals and ten years of marriage. We’ve recently celebrated our ten-year wedding anniversary. Some would say we were kids when we married, and if it were up to popular opinion we would have been doomed for failure.
But ten years later we feel it shows, popular opinion isn’t always right.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
{S} I was very confused as a child as to what I would do from work. I was a tragic daydreamer and jumped from job to job. You name it, I did it. It wasn’t until I was older until I figured out my “calling”.
{T} I’d have to say I was also a daydreamer, curled up with books, finding quiet spots to draw & dancing around the lawn. I adored animals, my family took care of lots of injured littlies when I was growing up so I always thought I’d work with animals.
But I wasn’t necessarily the most focused kid, so what I wanted to do always changed. It also wasn’t until I’d grown up that I knew what I wanted to be, it just so happened Seth and I discovered that together.
