Photography by Mitch Ranger

Score Card

Main Contact: Mitch Ranger
Main contactee: Thao
Grade: A+
Cost: A+
Words: The absolute best. Top knotch, highly talented, brings big city style anywhere.
Would you use them again? Yes I will and I already have for Trash the Dress photos!
Donny's Grade: A+

Wedding Vendor Review - Synopsis

Mitch is the absolute best. He brings a very unique, big city style into his work which can range from photojournalistic to stylish and magazine-spread-like. He is cocky because he knows his work is good. The images speak for themselves. You won't be disappointed. Just make sure you tell him exactly what you want!

Description

Photography was one of the most important items on my wedding to-do list. As soon as we were engaged in 2007, I started my research. ...and if you know me, I can do some extensive research...

From recommendations, googling, and resources like theknot.com, lansingbride.com, etc, I ended up with a list of OVER 200 photographers. Some local, some from outside of the state.

It was due to a recommendation from my friend Jennifer, that I came across Mitch's beautiful portfolio. I had siphoned through my photographer list to include my top ten. Then, I presented the top ten to the male half of DonThao. He scored the photographers based on my scale and Mitch came out on top. Things we considered: cost, flexibility, style, packages.

First, I should describe our style. We love big cities. We love EVERYTHING about them: the buildings, the life, the urban, etc. This includes the alley ways with dumpsters, the brick and run down buildings that still exist. We wanted to capture a big city feel in our pictures since we couldn't get married in a big city. We really love modern and updated design. I specifically love the clash of tradition and modern; streaming hard lines and organic upsets, the beautiful and serene versus the boistrous and dirty.

THAT is exactly what we got from Mitch.

His non-wedding portfolio is actually what really drew me into his work. He does much more commerical work. Weddings are a side thing.

We booked him during our first meeting. The packages are very reasonably priced too. Super bonus. Throughout the planning, I did not have to keep much contact with him. Approximately a month before the wedding, we met again to review the schedule. I gave him a list of the things that we wanted to capture and the VERY SPECIAL things, such as his parents ballroom dancing.

He is pretty resistant to lists, which I cannot blame him as it does limit his time to be creative. But you have to be very stern about things that are "must take" otherwise you won't get it. Also, when we booked him, there was no time limit so he honored our agreement. We had to pay overtime for his assistant over 10 hours.

On the day of the wedding, he arrived on time (even though the guys weren't!). During most of the day, you didn't even notice him working - he was 100% unobtrusive, which I loved. He never got in the way of our unique ceremony. He was open to suggestions from Lexi, my very creative sister, during the group shots which amounted to some very memorable pictures.

When I got the photos, I was SO HAPPY. The album was of superb quality and all the details I was afraid of missing were captured. I was so happy that I actually asked him to do a Trash the Dress session with me and he gladly agreed. He even let me add in our siblings so we could have more family photos. I really enjoyed working with Mitch and hope to find a reason to book him again!

Here I am with Mitch at the end of the night! (He was off the clock at this point)

<< Read about other vendors