Award-winning wedding photographer Casey Fatchett ’97 came to Hillsdale to study physics, left with degrees in theatre and English, and ended up pursuing wedding photography as a career.
When Fatchett graduated, he went to New York to pursue acting. But then his friends from school started getting married.
“I would take my camera and shoot a couple rolls of film,” Fatchett said.
For each wedding, he would pick a few of his favorite shots, blow them up, and give them as wedding presents to the couple.
“A few people wrote me back and said they were better than the person they hired and that I should look into wedding photography,” Fatchett said.
In 2000, he decided to research the wedding photography business.
“When I photographed my first full wedding, I really fell in love with it,” he said.
Fatchett’s work is on display in the Daughtry Gallery in the Sage Center for the Arts as part of Hillsdale’s current Visiting Artist Series, “Perspectives on Photography.” Since he began, Fatchett has shot about 300 weddings, between 25 and 30 annually. Though he and his wife, Caroline Fatchett, live in New York City, Fatchett has traveled across the country shooting weddings as far as California and Florida.
In addition to his double major, Fatchett graduated with certification from the Dow Journalism Program. At different points in his stint as a Collegian staffer, Fatchett edited the News, Opinions, Features, and Backpage sections.
“He was really out-going and funny when he was here,” Professor of Art Doug Coon said.
Since graduating, Fatchett has maintained a relationship with Hillsdale, particularly with Professor of Theater George Angell. He also plans to return to Hillsdale in June to shoot a wedding for Angell’s daughter, Rhiannon Angell ‘06.
“He’s like one of the family; he’s that close,” Angell said. “He’s always been that way.”
The Hillsdale Theater Department hired Fatchett to choreograph its 2000 production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
“Casey also played Macbeth,” Angell said. “He got to work his own fight choreography.”
Fatchett’s fellow actors, Angell said, were enamored with the longtime, bad-luck superstitions surrounding the play.
“Casey just hated it. He thought it was complete nonsense,” Angell said. “He wanted to disband the myth forever so, for his first entrance, he was going to repeat ‘Macbeth’ as many times as he could. He would then go out on stage and prove that it was a stupid legend nobody should pay attention to.”
But the moment Fatchett stepped out on stage, his father collapsed in the front row.
“That was the only time we have ever had to stop a show to bring in emergency technicians,” Angell said. “His father was O.K., though. It certainly was quite the moment.”
Superstition aside, both Angell and Coon credit Fatchett’s acting training for much of his ability to read people and judge how they respond to a moment.
“His photos show great sensitivity to relationships and bringing out the personalities involved,” Angell said.
“His work is very theatrical and dramatic,” Coon said.
Further, Fatchett’s training with choreography and experience on stage has complimented his ability to compose as a photographer.
“He’s used to looking for interesting compositions between people and working with architecture, “ Angell said. “He also does nicely with outdoor shoots, finding wonderful textures and colors to back up the colors and textures of the wedding party.”
Fatchett said that the best wedding photographers know where to be and when to be there.
“Observation has always been one of my strong suits. But it’s also something as a wedding photographer you have to develop,” he said.
“He gets the little details,” Coon said.
When Fatchett started his career, wedding photographers had two distinctive styles, shooting either posed, formal shots or journalistic images. Fatchett tries to blend the tradition of the former and the storytelling of the later to reflect the personalities of the bride and groom.
“No two couples are exactly alike,” he said.
For each wedding he shoots, Fatchett attempts to think of at least one photo he has never shot before and experiment.
“There are a lot of people who are happy to do the same pictures at each wedding. That’s a disservice to my clients and myself,” he said. “If you’re doing things exactly the same, you’re not going to stand out from the crowd.”
Fatchett’s work has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Knot, Glamour, Bridal Guide, and more. For three years in a row, Fatchett has earned a spot on The Knot’s “Best of Weddings” list based off of the feedback of his clients. The Wedding Industry Expert Awards ranked him “Best Photographer” in New York City and one of the “Top Ten Wedding Photographers” in the country, in 2013.
Fatchett says he thrives off of the pressure of shooting someone’s special day.
“It’s such an important day for the couple, and they’re trusting me,” he said. “It’s not like when you’re doing headshots or even a landscape and you can try again.”
