Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

August 26, 2011

I mentioned some good books that I’ve read recently — one of them is The Happiness Project. The chapter on author Gretchen Rubin’s relationship with her husband Jamie really, REALLY hit home with me. She talks about little things that were easy to change from her perspective that made a big different in how the two of them could be happier together.

“Love is a funny thing. I’d donate a kidney to Jamie without a moment’s hesitation, but I was intensely annoyed if he asked me to make a special stop at the drugstore to pick up shaving cream.”

That sums up exactly how I feel about Seba. I don’t know why I get so annoyed by the little things, but I DO.

On the other hand, the man has a way of making me laugh like nobody’s business. I read another little excerpt of the book out loud to him,

“It takes at least five positive marital actions to offset one critical or destructive action.”

Before I finished the sentence, he dropped to one knee, grabbed my hand and rattled off, “Baby, you’re beautiful, smart, funny, intelligent and so much fun,” kissed my hand with a flourish, then stood up and said, “You’re stupid…OH NO, WE BROKE EVEN.”

I laughed so hard I scared the dogs. I have a tendency to do that.

Gretchen also writes a subsection of that chapter called Give Proofs of Love and says,

“‘There is no love; there are only proofs of love.’ Whatever love I might feel in my heart, others will see only my actions.”

It’s funny, because I know I’m big on applying this principle to aspects of my life outside my marriage. At my best friend’s wedding, I debated over giving a toast or not because I was not the maid of honor. But then when I really thought about it, I realized that we don’t have enough opportunities in life to stand up and tell people how much they mean to us, so I went for it. And I like to think that my toast meant a lot to her I think as a friend, I do a pretty good job of showing proofs of my love. However, in the marriage department, maybe not so much. Sure, there’s the rare occasion I’ll write a blog post about Seba, but considering how much I love him (and how often I see him) I certainly don’t do that enough.

Here is one of my proofs of love. I’d like to talk about what an amazing photographer. A lot of people don’t know this, but I wanted to change our business name to Kyle + Seba. He wouldn’t let me. I want to credit him in blog posts for all the amazing shots that are his. He won’t let me. At so many weddings, people assume he’s my assistant. But he is an incredible photographer and the one who taught me how to take pictures. I absolutely love when other people recognize him and his hard work, since he won’t let me. It made my day when Decoy Betty wrote that she wants “Kyle Hepp and Seba” to photographer her wedding — both because she wants us to photograph her someday wedding AND because she mentioned Seba. And once, my wedding photographer friend Brett said “I want a Seba and a Bobby,” (because our other photographer friend Emily Porter’s husband Bobby also works in a similarly unrecognized fashion for her business like Seba). I smiled so big when he mentioned him, just because I feel like Seba doesn’t get enough credit for what he does. But like I said, he won’t let me give it to him.

Actually, he’d probably try to delete this blog post if he knew I was writing it.

But he can’t stop me, MWAHAHA. I’m going to publish this before he ever sees it!

Let my talk about what makes my Seba amazing, speaking in terms of photography, since obviously there are a million things I could mention as to why I love him. But why I love him as my second shooter is the subject at hand.

He captures amazing moments.

Like this one from Maria and Luis’ wedding.

He has a way of singling out the little details that make a wedding day special.

He always manages to find awesome angles and shapes and lines.

He is amazing at capturing emotions.

His compositions are always spot on.

He rocks the tilt shift like a baller.

I always find his choice of focus interesting. Another photographer might have focused on her face, but Seba singled out her hands as she prayed. I love that.

He always finds a different angle from me. I think that must be the hardest thing about second shooting. I put people in positions/backgrounds/lighting that looks good for my photo. If he was just taking the same shot as me over my shoulder, he wouldn’t be doing a very good job as a second shooter. Instead, he looks for different photos that are totally unique from what I get, even if that’s more challenging for him since he doesn’t get the prime shooting angle.

People feel relaxed around him. I think anyone could be themselves with Seba because he’s so comfortable in his own skin. That’s one of the first things that I noticed when I met him — he’s not trying to impress anyone, he doesn’t worry about what other people think — he’s just himself. And I think being around someone like that gives you permission to be yourself.

If you enjoyed this post, please click +1 or Like! It’s really helpful for me and my business, so thanks!

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42 Comments

Seba is the bomb. Can I call him Kebastian Harco?

Comment by Kai Heeringa — August 26, 2011 @ 7:55 pm

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Seba shrugged and said, “Why not?”

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:52 pm

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Took me a few seconds to get that!

Comment by Rita — August 28, 2011 @ 4:39 pm

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Love. This. Post.

Comment by mercedes — August 26, 2011 @ 8:15 pm

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Awww, I’m so glad Mercedes!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:52 pm

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Seba is a GREAT photographer. I think you should just start pointing out his photos – if he doesn’t like it, he can be in charge of more blog posts. Win-win for you, right?

Comment by Emily in Chile — August 26, 2011 @ 9:10 pm

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I do that sometimes, but he goes back in and erases the text. However, I knew he wouldn’t delete a whole blog post because he knows I’d be too pissed if he did!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:53 pm

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love your work !!!

Comment by Ayesha — August 26, 2011 @ 10:47 pm

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Seba is so talented Ayesha!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:53 pm

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Beautiful photos, Kyle and Seba! These images are truly moving. Have you read the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman? Similarly to your post, it talks about the different ways people express love and the different ways people need to be loved. The five main ways of expressing are 1) acts of service (“I cooked my loved one dinner”, “I brought her coffee unexpectedly” etc.), 2) words of affirmation/love (“I love you”, encouragement etc.), 3) gifts, 4) quality time, 5) physical presence. According to Chapman, the key is knowing how to express love in the way the person needs it.

I love how you are paying tribute to Seba in this post. Beautiful, loving, and affectionate.

Comment by Roxanne — August 27, 2011 @ 1:23 am

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I have heard about that book before but never read it. Time to add yet another book to my now eternally long list of must reads!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:54 pm

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Shoot! I just sold my copy of that book in our garage sale. I should have saved it for you.

Comment by Rita — August 28, 2011 @ 4:41 pm

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Love this post. Also, now I want to read the book. Also, I need to do the same for my Seba— only he would HATE a blog post about it.

Comment by clare — August 27, 2011 @ 4:25 am

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My Seba pretends to hate it, but he secretly loves it

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:54 pm

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Awesome post Kyle. Awesome photos Seba! Meetup in FL? Hmmmm

Comment by Eric Yerke — August 27, 2011 @ 7:03 am

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Wait. When are you going to FL?!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

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Wow! These are amazing photos.

Comment by Stephanie - The Travel Chica — August 27, 2011 @ 7:33 am

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Thanks Stephanie, I have a very talented husband!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

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Me encantó este post! Seba es un tremendo fotógrafo y una persona muy auténtica, relajado y buena onda. Un abrazo para los dos

Comment by Maca — August 27, 2011 @ 8:24 am

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Ahhh, gracias por el comentario Maca, me encanta cuando la gente ve en el lo que yo veo.

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:56 pm

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love this post, and what you shared about relationships at the beginning. seba’s shots are AWESOME! the one of the children dancing in golden light? wow!

Comment by carrie murphy — August 27, 2011 @ 8:31 am

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Seba is such an amazing photographer! And those are actually not children…well, they are big kids, haha

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:56 pm

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Oh wow love all the images and the post… you’re lucky to get to take photos with someone like him all the time!

Comment by Jeanette Verster — August 27, 2011 @ 12:43 pm

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I am beyond lucky to have him by my side!

Comment by Kyle — August 27, 2011 @ 12:56 pm

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LOVE this post! I know that I tend to take Rob (Liebling) for granted.. Then I´ll realize how grateful I am to have him in my life. You are both lucky to have each other, and how lovely that you recognized him in this very touching post.

Comment by Oneika the Traveller — August 27, 2011 @ 2:53 pm

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Yep, Seba rocks it! Great post.

Comment by Jared Tseng — August 27, 2011 @ 6:06 pm

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So sweet…I love all the photos you posted of Seba. Keep rocking it, Seba! Love your work!

Comment by Lyn Ismael-Bennett — August 27, 2011 @ 9:13 pm

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Yes, Seba does take photographs!

When you went to do some shoots in Europe without Seba, I thought to myself, she better not pull that nonsense at MY wedding. I need both KYLE and SEBA

Comment by Deidre — August 28, 2011 @ 1:54 am

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Ahem. I meant Seba does take GREAT photographs – That’s what I get for commenting when sleepy.

Comment by Deidre — August 28, 2011 @ 2:02 pm

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Indeed Seba rocks. You also rock for recognizing that Seba rocks.

Comment by Douglas Pettway — August 28, 2011 @ 6:15 am

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great pics Kyle + Seba!!!! I think we should see seba’s pics more often!!! some of those are part of my favorite photo sessions! i had no doubt that he was a great photographer and partner, but it is nice to give him some credit once in a while

Comment by Catalina — August 28, 2011 @ 10:10 am

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This post is so awesomefully (I don’t care that that isn’t a real word!) full of love. So freaking cute.

Comment by Johanna Hietanen — August 28, 2011 @ 1:13 pm

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Usually pics taken by Seba are my backgrounds!! Tilt shifting for life! Got mine after seeing his pics!

Comment by Maximiliano Barros — August 28, 2011 @ 1:48 pm

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Great work Seba! Aspiring seconds should learn from Seba!

Comment by Anton Chia — August 28, 2011 @ 4:20 pm

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These photos are awesome. I especially love the one with the father (I assume?) and son flagging down a taxi, the yellow shoe in the aisle, and the other red shoe shot. Awesome work.

Comment by Rita — August 28, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

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Seba seems wonderful. I’m really looking forward to getting to meet you both. And I actually feel the same about Josh. I taught him how to take photos, but I feel like I’ve been learning from him ever since. Brilliant post, Kyle! The photo of the two gentlemen hailing the cabs has always been a favorite of mine!

Comment by Nessa K — August 28, 2011 @ 6:08 pm

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It did… <3

Comment by Molly — August 28, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

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Go Seba! You rock dude! And… you capture amazing moments.

Comment by Darin Collison — August 29, 2011 @ 4:05 am

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omg – can John and I please get married again so you guys can redo our wedding album? This post made me choke up a bit…so beautiful and sweet

Comment by Andrea — August 29, 2011 @ 1:18 pm

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you’re a machine. your posts are always rad.

Comment by coler — August 29, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

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Seba rocks!

Comment by shue — September 1, 2011 @ 9:47 pm

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Oh, he’s a keeper, darling. You know that.

Together you’re a formiddable duo.

Comment by Ceri — September 8, 2011 @ 6:31 am

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