Chellise & Michael

Chellise Michael Photography is an NYC- and Hudson Valley-based wedding photography studio led by Chellise and Michael, two photographers who have spent 15 years traveling the world with film cameras and a deep aversion to anything that feels staged. Their work is documentary in spirit and analog in soul, shot on 35mm film, medium-format film, and digital, and shaped by a genuine belief that the most honest images come from observation rather than orchestration.

Their philosophy is deliberate and consistently applied. No dresses hanging in windows. No poses borrowed from social media. The images that hold up over decades are the ones that were never manufactured in the first place, and Chellise and Michael have built their entire practice around that conviction. The result is a body of work that feels lived-in and specific to the couple it documents, something couples consistently describe as evoking a kind of déjà vu, a full sensory transport back to exactly how the day felt.

On the wedding day, they move fluidly between observer and participant, dressing to the code of each event and allowing intuition to determine when to step back and when to step in. Depending on the scale of the celebration and their availability, they work individually or as a team, with second shooters and assistants available when needed. A complimentary engagement session is gifted to every couple before the wedding, held at home where people are most themselves, with the aim of making the camera feel less like a guest and more like furniture.

A curated selection of images is delivered within three to four weeks of the wedding; the full final gallery follows within two to three months and is hosted for one year with access to a professional print lab.

A limited number of weddings are accepted each year.