Who are you?

I'm Brad Bonner.  I started shooting weddings in 2002 as an assistant at Robert Phillips Photography in Ames, Iowa. In 2005 I began shooting weddings independently. 

Where are you located out of?

I live in Denison, Iowa, but I shoot weddings worldwide. No, seriously. I love to travel -- it's kind of an addiction.  I am a location photographer, which means I don't have a studio. Well I do, but its portable.  I'll give you a hint, I own one background, it's black. I don't use it much at all. Backgrounds are too fussy for me.  The world is my background. Whoa, pretty deep there.


There are so many photographers. Why should I book you?

I offer something unique - copyright released photographs of your wedding. 
What does this mean?  I shoot your wedding, edit your photos, and deliver them to you in a digital format.  This allows you to do anything you would like with your images.  You have my full permission to make as many copies or prints as you like, to use them for Christmas cards, thank yous, or whatever else  you may desire.  I let the quality of my work speak for itself. You get to decide if my style fits your style.

Are they copyrighted?

Technically yes. Every time you, me, anyone clicks a shutter that image is protected by US copyright laws.  BUT, good news, I'm the one who owns the copyright and I want to give you most all of my rights in those images.  I grant to you a nonexclusive right to use the images anyway you like. The only request I make is that I am allowed to use your images for advertising and marketing purposes.  "Nonexclusive" means that I am not giving up all rights to the images, because I am reserving a limited right to still use your photos.  That nonexclusive right allows you to make prints, email them out, sell them on eBay, whatever – it's your choice what you do with your images.  Download the Wedding Agreement and scroll to the bottom of the second page to see what I am talking about.  Too many lawyers in the world I tell you.

Do we really get all of our images?

Yes. Your wedding day is the happiest day of your life. I am honored to be there to capture the emotion, laughter, passion and joy of the day. But those aren't my memories, they're yours. That is why I believe that you should have the right to do whatever you see fit with your memories afterwards. At the end of our time together I will get straight to work in my digital darkroom where I will hand correct each image for color, composition and artistic interpretation. I will then create for you a DVD or CDs with all of your final images.  I will also upload them to Adorama in New York.  

Why Adorama, well, when you decide to have prints made I want them to look their best. I take pride in my images and would hate to have you unhappy because the prints don't look good. Print making is an art that notevery big box store or local drug store is good at. A lot of places will just feed the files into their machine and hope for the best. The horror.

So these images are low resolution files?

No. That would be silly.  These are full resolution images ready to be printed, played with, screen-savered, emailed, christmas carded and traded like senior pictures.  

What about albums, can I make my own? Can you just make me one?

You know, I've just never been a big fan of packages. I capture memories, one frame at a time. That's just what I do. I have a flat hourly rate while I am photographing your wedding and travel expenses to get me there and home.

Cut to the chase, how much is this going to cost me?

I truly hope you choose a photographer based on their work and personality, but I know that finances are just as important. I capture wedding memories according to how much time you would like me to be there and how far I have to travel. No hidden fees. No expensive reprints. No fuss. My fee is $200.00 per hour plus travel costs. My minimum rate is $1,000. If you would like a professionally-designed and printed album, add another $750.

Where can I find examples of your work?

 My entire portfolio is digital, so what you see on here is what I have delivered to clients.  Want to see more?

How about Here (sample)

 or Here (full wedding)

     or Here (sample)

         or Here (full wedding), 

or even Here (sample).

If you would like to see an example of a real, live client page that I sent out after the wedding, click here. You can see the ordering instructions, and that you do in fact get to make your own prints, download or do whatever you want with your pictures.

And in case you wanted to see some non-wedding work I have done, Project 365 was fun. Project 365 went from January 23, 2007 through January 22, 2008. I took an image a day and posted it to a blog.  There are a few wedding examples on there too.  Click here or here or here.