(More) Hipster Photography on Cherokee Street

Courtesy Hawes Photography

​Too often, records of life's most meaningful events wind up looking downright silly. For Aaron and Heather Hawes, cringe-worthy, boring photos of their wedding led them to start their own photography business. (You know wedding photos are bad when a couple doesn't have them plastered all over Facebook, and Heather Hawes says they've posted the barest minimum.)

"We knew the industry needed something different and we could do it," Heather Hawes says. Her husband has always been a photographer, and she says her background in journalism helped hone her eye.

So, six years ago in Kansas City, the couple started Hawes Photography, shooting weddings, engagement portraits, senior photos, family pictures and boudoir shots. And they've recently moved across the state to join the cool-kid party that is Cherokee Street.

"We knew we could move in and fuel the art renaissance that's going on there," she says. The move was prompted by a lot of business coming from this side of the state, Hawes says, and the desire to get to know a new city.

Hawes says their biggest aim is for peoples' personalities to come through. They meet with couples to plan the photos they'll take, and to get a sense of their dynamic. Their online portfolio has everything from a couple tackling a huge stack of pancakes to Polaroids from a wedding to an overcome, weeping bride.

Hawes Photography is opening up at 2307 Cherokee Street, the site of the old Boots Contemporary Art space, just down the street from another neighborhood alterna-photography studio, Cherokee Photobooth. Stick your head in and say hello to the Hawes tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. as they host an open house.

(Big art night on Cherokee tonight. Your correspondent will likely be there between stopping at Fort Gondo Compound for the opening reception for Fort Slop, a group show by the artists at Pig Slop Studios, and The Beggar's Carnivale at 2720.)