Hello! My name is Paul Retherford and I am a freelance photographer and wedding photographer. I create photographs that I feel need to be documented. I have been making photographs for over 20 years and have 13+ years of wedding photography experience. I am exclusively a Canon 35mm photographer. I shoot 100% digitally and make the images available to all of my customers.

I was born and raised in Alpena, Michigan on Lake Huron. My father has been a Charterboat Captain and High School teacher my entire life so I was raised on the water and taught to value my education. When you look at my images you can see that they tell a little bit about who I am and my experiences in life.

I attended college in Green Bay, Wisconsin (St. Norbert College). In the course of my four years in college I played football, traveled to Panama for a Natural Science Field Study, studied in Washington, D.C., traveled to Kenya with The International Environment and Development Semester, and I traveled across the USA on a 3,300 mile trip. It was in college that I captured my first wedding, and the referrals began to flow. After receiving my B.S. degree in Natural Science from St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin (Green Bay), I moved out to Arcata, California (northern) for 2 years to volunteer for AmeriCorps. My AmeriCorps experience involved working with The California Department of Fish and Game on both remote streams and logging streams. My volunteer service put me in the middle of the Redwood forest debate and the endangered Coho Salmon struggle. I was involved in Salmon and Trout surveys and censuses. Do you remember Julia "Butterfly" who sat in the redwood tree? I drove by her everyday to work.:-) This position allowed for some incredible images of the Redwood forests and remote streams and vegetation. I enrolled in two semesters of photography courses at the College of the Redwoods. While in California I obtained my Masters of Inland Waterways 100 Ton Captains License.

Upon finishing AmeriCorps, I returned to Michigan where I substitute taught, took photo and art classes from Kirtland and Alpena Community College, and ran a charterboat for part of a year. The following year I moved to the Florida Keys to work on a fishing boat. I worked out of Islamorada on the Miss Tradewinds at Whale Harbor. On my spare time I spent many hours photographing in the Everglades and doing part time wedding photography. I moved back to Michigan again and then lived in Chicago for 2 1/2 years capturing lots of images of the city, working in a picture framing shop, and capturing weddings.

I am now married to my beautiful wife, Megan, and we find time to travel and photograph. We live in Michigan and love to travel the Midwest and the World. I welcome destination weddings all over the United States and the World. Megan has her doctorate in clinical psychology. We have two dogs right now, Sampson a blue weimeraner and Asta La Vizsla, a Vizsla.

I have seen the whole gamut of photography from Polaroid film, disc film, medium format, large format, 35mm, etc. I have worked thousands of hours in labs developing my prints in both color and black and white. Presently, I work 100% in the digital darkroom. I prefer this method for my health and for the convenience. Although I do love the smell of the chemicals, I don't believe they were too healthy.

My photography encompasses my lifestyle. Every photograph that you see will explain a bit about myself. I am an active outdoorsman, a US Coast Guard 100-Ton Master Captain, and PADI Divemaster. My photography grows from my interest in the outdoors and my love for elegant memories.

I continue to upgrade my photographic education by attending workshops and seminars, reading numerous books and magazines, taking classes, and photographing daily. I love to speak with fellow photographers and I am willing to give advice to anyone who seeks it.

I would love to work with you on the most important day of your life. Know that you are in perfect hands with a guy who has worked with thousands of wedding clients. Call today and ask for an information packet.

Thank you for taking the time to view my site and hopefully we can meet somewhere along the road.