As the founder and creative force behind The Day, Ira Lippke brings 20-plus years of experience creating compelling images to every wedding he documents. “One of the best compliments I’ve ever received,” he says, “was from a planner who said I was the only photographer she knew who had so much experience but whose heart and soul was still so strongly in their work.”

Raised in a converted school bus by hippie parents in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest, Ira developed an eye for beauty by spending time in the mountains, forests and orchards of his childhood. Having developed a passion for photography at an early age, Ira went on to study literature and philosophy at university in order to understand the soul of a great photo beyond f-stop and shutter speed. He began shooting weddings in Los Angeles in the 1990s for musicians, designers and artists who desired a fresh perspective to documenting their lives. A subsequent move to New York in 2007 led to the establishment of The Day and a further refining of his award-winning fine art photojournalism.

With a zen disposition that imparts a sense of calm to everyone involved, Ira is able to sensitively hold space for moments of connection in which his subjects feel like they can be truly themselves, yet he can also confidently organize large groups of people amidst the swirl of a tight timeline. No stranger to wedding-day nerves, sudden thunderstorms and even persistent paparazzi, Ira adapts to each circumstance with grace and humor.

Ira lives in an 1830s farmhouse on the East End of Long Island with his wife, the cultural critic Andrea Codrington Lippke, and their two children, Rye & Soren. When he’s not photographing events around the world, Ira enjoys surfing, mixing cocktails and challenging his five-year-old son to light-saber duels.

“If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.”

Eve Arnold