Closer
Fine Art Black & White Portraits
Every family we photograph starts the same way — a conversation, some planning, and one honest question: what do you actually want this portrait to hold?
Most families land somewhere composed and classic. That's real work, and it's most of what we make. But some are after something rawer — not a record of how a family looked, but of how close they actually are.
That's where this work begins.
The Play That Creates
We photograph it differently than the rest of a session. Less posed, less arranged. We're not looking for your best angle, we're watching for how you stand next to each other without being told to. Where a hand lands without thinking about it. How close two people get when nobody's asked them to get close. It's slower, more unguarded, and it produces something a composed portrait can't: proof of connection, not just resemblance.
We print this work exclusively on archival fine art rag paper from Hahnemühle — different material for a different kind of image, built to hold the contrast this style of portrait depends on.
A color portrait can tell you what a moment looked like. This is the one that tells you what it felt like to be that close.
Wehmeier Portraits has created distinctive portraits for our clients in the southwest suburbs and the greater Chicago area for over 35 years. Including the communities of Orland Park, Homer Glen, Tinley Park, Lemont, LaGrange, Palos Park, and Burr Ridge.