At the obvious level, American Photoselected Chadwick and Camille Bensler of Vancouver, BC as one of the Top 10 Wedding Photographers of 2011 because of the beauty of their images. One must go deeper, however, to understand why they have earned this honor after less than 10 years of working together. From a strictly commercial perspective, they don’t shoot every wedding opportunity that comes their way. They are more interested in finding the right fit with the right couple. Without a natural and personal connection with each client, the Benslers know they couldn’t produce their best work. Building strong trust with the couple is everything to Chadwick and Camille. They don’t want their clients just to have photos that record their special day’s activities, but images that remind them of how they felt when the photo was captured. This philosophy has allowed them to maintain a solid hold in the high-end wedding photography market for several years, having built a very strong and genuine referral network.
This point of view extends to how they present the images to their clients. The Benslers think it is a disservice simply to give a client a disc of photos. They prefer to create an artistic presentation and show the couple the photos in-person. It’s important to the Benslers to see emotional reactions of the couple when the images are viewed for the first timeand then to bring the images to life further by presenting each couple with a spectacular album, designed by Camille & Chadwick personally. These types of full-circle relationships define success for Chadwick and Camille- who often end up photographing the families of their wedding couples well into the future.
Little did Camille know, before she ever met Chadwick, that when she named her new wedding photography business Jonetsu that it would serve to attract a husband and a partner and represent their success and life together. For Jonetsu is Japanese for “passion” or “love fever.”
As is often the case, Camille’s career as a wedding photographer was neither planned or a specific goal. During high school, she had already acquired a passion for photography and, by the age of 18, some of her images were on display at the local mall. A family happened to see her photos there and asked her to photograph a daughter’s wedding. Camille admits that her enjoyment of adventure and stepping into the unknown compelled her to accept the challenge of her first wedding. It only required that first experience as a wedding photographer for her to discover that it could be an artistic medium in which she could express herself. She continued to shoot weddings and portraits part-time during her college years and as she traveled and worked in communications and event planning.
Meeting Chadwick was also total serendipity, as they both just happened to be at a film/TV lighting rental company on the same day, at the same time. Chadwick was not only attracted to Camille on a personal level, but also professionally, which led to him becoming her assistant. It was more than the results of her wedding photography; it was how she related to her clients that opened his eyes to the possibilities. One of those possibilities became reality when they were married during 2003.
Today, they continue to operate JONETSU STUDIOS from its Mount Pleasant location in Vancouver, photographing weddings throughout British Columbia and numerous international destinations. Their work appears regularly in magazines such as Wedlux Real Weddings, The New York Times, Vancouver Province & Sun, Canadian House and Home, Perfect Weddings and Weddingbells.
Chadwick and Camille Bensler’s Web site is jonetsuphotography.com.
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