Rangefinder Magazine
April 2006

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Doug & Chenin Boutwell Peter Kotsinadelis
Is Youth Wasted on the Young?

Once you have seen the photography of Doug and Chenin Boutwell, the answer will be obvious. They have youthful energy, but also very accomplished eyes for imagery. Their images are edgy and design-oriented, displaying a real working knowledge of artistic and design principles. They are definitely from the editorial school of wedding photography, and while they employ a fair number of poses, the images have a playful look about them. Their unique Southern California style has quickly found favor among a growing number of clients. These are not your typical wedding photos, but Doug and Chenin are not your typical wedding photographers.

Educated in studio art at UC Irvine, Doug used this knowledge to develop a photographic style that would easily find a home in a magazine spread. His has always believed that the best images are captured when people are having a great time, which explains the happiness seen in their images. While the Boutwells look at everyday life, they look at its paradoxes too. You can see an example of this in Doug’s image of a fully adorned bride in a laundromat.

Chenin—whose name, given to her by her avid wine collector father, comes from Chenin Blanc wines—is Doug’s wife and partner. Doug refers to her as the more level-headed of the two. “She thought I was a little crazy when I told her I wanted to be a photographer,” notes Doug. “Of course, she did the responsible, sensible thing and went to law school.”

Chenin graduated from law school in May 2005, but she chose to pursue her photography career instead. The couple has always had artistic inclinations, but it was Doug who bought Chenin her first camera. “We’d talk about the photos I was bringing home, and when we started doing weddings, I had to get her a camera. She has such a great eye and always gets some great images that I don’t see or even think of shooting.”

The young couple met in middle school, dated throughout high school and college, and got married after they graduated. They started the business the following year, and the number of weddings booked has doubled each year thereafter. Now in the beginning of their fourth year, they are already approaching their target booking of 40 weddings and may easily exceed that number. While weddings account for the majority of their business, portraits are a growing area for them. “A year ago we did only a small number of portraits for our clients, but this year that number has also grown and amounts to 10% of our revenue,” says Doug.

Since Doug and Chenin are both prime shooters at weddings, they often blend their perspectives to create a single series of distinctive images they present to their clients. These clients usually have their own ideas about what they want to see in the photographs of their wedding. Chenin mentions, “We usually get couples that are paying for the wedding themselves. Their ideas and the look they want for their wedding is much different than the look their parents may want for the wedding.”

The Boutwells use Canon EOS digital SLRs—two 20Ds and a 1Ds. But, unlike many other photographers, they seldom use zoom lenses. Instead they prefer to switch between two Canon fixed focal lengths lenses, a 35mm f/2 and a 50mm f/1.4—the equivalent of a 52mm and 75mm lens when used on the 20D.

“We do this to enforce a certain discipline, since this forces us to move about and capture the images much differently than if we used a zoom lens and simply zoomed in or out to get an image,” says Doug. While this may seem like an unusual approach, the photographs do have a certain look to them that is reminiscent of the days when photojournalists used small 35mm rangefinders or with just one or two lenses. Doug and Chenin believe that this movement makes them much more considerate of the space and background in the images—something they feel you lose when using zoom lenses.

Once the wedding is over, the post-processing begins. This year the Boutwells have become what they term “RAW converts.” In the past, many of their images were shot strictly in JPEG format. Now using RAW provides a bit more insurance when it comes to exposure latitude and allows them to have more detail in the cropped final images. Typically they take 3000 images at a wedding and then edit them down to about 500–700 images for the client to view. Selected images are placed in albums with one photo per page and presented to the clients. While many photographers have moved to albums that show multiple images per page, Doug and Chenin believe that a single image per page is a very powerful means to tell a story at a leisurely pace and does not tend to overwhelm the client with a vast number of images.

“This unique approach produces a traditional album but one that flows like a spread in a fashion magazine,” explains Doug The couple believes that this helps to differentiate them in a crowded market and offers a different look for their clients. As Doug explains, if you do your best for your clients at each event and provide them with great photos, the rest should fall into place. Obviously, looking at the Boutwells’ growth, that would seem a good formula for continued success. Visit www.boutwellstudio.com.
Peter Kotsinadelis is a writer/photographer living in Pleasanton, CA. He may be reached at peterk727@gmail.com.