About Georgia Wedding Photographers Hassel & Bene' Weems

We have been married since 1990, have one daughter, and one dog. We have lived in the Atlanta area since 2001; before that we lived in Macon.

I have always been interested in photography but didn't have the sickness until 1997. Back then I was a freelance graphic designer. My largest client asked me to take some photos for some ad campaign mock-ups. I bought a good camera and it wasn't long before photography edged out graphic design and became the most important part of my business. Now photography is all I do. I love my job.

One day Bene' decided to go to a wedding with me and as an afterthought took my backup camera into the room where the bride was getting ready. It was obvious that she had the talent to be a photographer. It came naturally to her and she has been working with me ever since. Currently, she is building her portrait portfolio and you will be seeing more from her in the future... along with a name change for our business. Stay tuned.

Why we do what we do.
"Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river. " ~ Will Durant The Story of Civilization

Recording life on the banks of this river is what we do. Your wedding, family portrait, birthday party, church event, sales conference, or shoe store grand opening is historical. It needs to be recorded if for no other reason than all events help form the place where future events occur. This is easy to see in politics or war, but no less real in a wedding or the birth of a child.

One example of this is Alexis and Donnie's wedding in June of 2005. Bene' and I were taking some portraits of the bride and groom on an upstairs landing. Bene' looked over the rail and saw Simon, the groom's brother, talking to a female guest. About a year later we got a call from the girl in the picture, Staci. Bene' had photographed the first of many conversations. Simon and Staci fell in love and decided to get married. We shot their wedding in March of 2007. It's a small story to the world at large but it's a huge thing to this family. From one wedding came another and we are proud to say we were present to record this particular part of history.

Who knows? One day a child we photographed on his front porch might go on to be the President of the United States and his childhood photo will be needed for a historical retrospective. It could happen. But even if it doesn't I am pretty sure that one day that little boy will be a dad like me. His little girl will drag a photo album off the shelf and get her daddy to look at the pictures with her. Sitting in a blue chair in a living room somewhere, history will be re-lived in a very important exchange between young and old.

I can't see the future, but I can imagine that one day a young man will look at a picture of his mother and father's first conversation and think about how a girl he just met affected him in a way no other girl has. Maybe he'll ask his dad what it was like for him.