Elopements & Intimate Weddings

Freiburg has an old town you can walk in an afternoon, and the hills of the Black Forest just outside it. You can have the Münster and a high meadow in the same day.

I spent All Saints' Day there in 2017, while I was studying in Heidelberg. You can follow that day stop by stop on this map of my photos.

A little about me

I grew up outside Chicago, and I've lived in Oaxaca, Mexico, since 2007. My wife and our three kids were all born there. After this many years as the foreigner, I still notice the small things, like the layers on an old poster wall.

In English, y en español

Maybe half the family speaks Spanish and the other half English. Or you're from Mexico or Latin America and chose Freiburg for yourselves. Either way, I can talk with everyone in their own language. I've been photographing weddings in both for almost twenty years.

"Although we were born in Mexico, we live in the US. Douglas had the best of both worlds. He is fluent in both English and Spanish, which allowed us to express as was natural to us."

Alejandra

How I work

I look for good light, put you in it, and then mostly let you be. If you need some direction, I'll give it. No false posing.

For video, I'm influenced more by independent film than by other wedding videos. Your highlight film will have a real beginning and end, and I'll leave out anything that doesn't need to be there.

One person, three cameras

For an elopement in Freiburg, it's just me. The old town streets are narrow, the meadows are quiet, and a crew with tripods gets in the way. I cover both photo and video myself.

I also bring two film cameras, a medium format and a 35mm. A roll of medium format has only 12 frames, so I can't shoot a lot and sort it out later. I have to wait for the moment. I hold that camera at my waist and look down into it, so it's never in front of my face, and people forget about it pretty quickly.

A few practical things

Town and forest. Many couples do the legal part at home and have the ceremony here. That means you can have it almost anywhere: a quiet street in the old town in the morning, then up into the hills for the late light.

Getting there. Freiburg is in the southwest corner of Germany, near France and Switzerland. It pairs well with Strasbourg orHeidelberg.

Investment

I keep packages simple and easy. For Freiburg, this is it: one price, with all travel fees included, and no hidden or extra travel fees.