It’s real easy to get the wedding bell blues as a wedding photographer. They are hard work. They are physically and mentally exhausting (I feel like I ran a 5K and did the SAT’s after shooting a wedding). It’s easy to get burned out on weddings. However, if you balance things just right (don’t book too many weddings that they become a chore, but don’t book too few that you feel rusty or out-of-practice shooting them), they can be a blast!
One thing that really helps a wedding assignment is the subject matter. Simply put, the people you are shooting can make a wedding fun or make it a disaster. Wedding couples may be shopping you, but you should also shop them. What do I mean? Well, they meet with you and other photogs, trying to get a feel for your personality – and it’s often just as important as pricing and package value.
Just as they are shopping me, I am studying them, making sure they are compatible with my style of shooting and my personality. Why bother booking someone who will just be unhappy with your style, and who will just make you miserable for eight hours straight?
Anyway, I’m starting to ramble… I really just planned to post a few pics from this recent wedding. I was really happy with things, partly because I was so happy at the wedding. The couple and their guests were so nice and fun to shoot. It made shooting them real easy, because we all just seemed to work well together.
I skimmed through the images and a few caught my eye as interesting. I didn’t go through them to pick perfect album shots or classic wedding images. The bride and groom can do that when they return from their honeymoon. No, I just decided to post a few random, fun, engaging images from the day. They are in no particular order:
The above image was interesting to me. I know the dancing dip shot is caught all the time. I’ve captured quite a few good dips over the years. I just thought something was fun about this one.
I always love the hugging and kissing shots. I don’t know what it is, but there’s this pure emotion that explodes onto the film when it’s captured just right. There’s a very short window of time to capture a hugging or kissing shot JUST right, so you have to be fast! If you are a micro-second too early or too late, you miss the pinnacle of the emotion.
Again, a kissing shot. I told you they get me. The bride and groom kiss at every wedding, so it’s not a unique moment in that respect. However, the fact that the bride might’ve been 5’2″ and the groom was at least in the mid 6′ range… well, it made the image a little more interesting. He squeezed her tight and lifted her up off the ground as they kissed for the first time as husband and wife.
The above shot was totally spur of the moment. This gentleman was taking a break from all the excitement. He was resting his head in his hand and gently smiling as he watched the bride and groom enjoy the reception. I always try to glance around the room for special little moments like this. He looked up towards me right as I got him in focus, and I snapped.
The cake cutting shot… They are having fun! I think this image grabbed me, because I was fondly remembering those tasty cupcakes next to the groom (they were great). The cake cutting shots are always filled with energy. They can be the most exciting shots to take at a wedding. They can also be the hardest. When the bride and groom stand behind the average white wedding cake (this one happened to be green, instead), you basically have a large white object just waiting to throw off your flash and metering. If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up with a blown out cake and a bride and groom that are under-exposed. Not this time, though… they are just right!
As you can see, Aggies were everywhere. This Texas A&M alumnus borrowed a few more rings from the other Aggie groomsmen to show his school spirit. Sometimes these moments will pop up out of the blue, and you have to be ready for them. On the technical side of things, I decided to play around with a little Photoshop post processing here. I dulled the colors and adjusted the contrast to make the image seem more vintage. I didn’t want to go all out and start shifting the color, adding dust and scratches, and other techniques to make it seem retro. I just wanted to add a touch of timelessness to the image with some minor tweaking. I think too much post production nonsense can make an image feel fake and cheesy.
Well, there you have it. A few images that caught my eye while skimming through a recent wedding. I wonder which images will wind up being the bride and groom’s favorites?
Jason,
I saw your name listed as the photographer on the Perot Museum's website, and I KNEW I recognized your name. You photographed our wedding– I am the bride in the pictures in this post! It's been 5 years since then, and I just wanted to say how happy reading this post made me. The pictures you picked out above just happen to be some of my favorite pictures that I still look at every day in frames around the house– especially the picture of Brian kissing me in the back of our church after our wedding and our first kiss at the altar (by the way, I'm 5' even and he's 6'5"– at least our sons will be tall!). My absolute favorite is one that you took from the back of the church that shows the entire altar and back of the organ. You must have taken it while crouching down on the floor. It's my favorite because you, maybe unknowingly, highlighted the crucifix behind the altar perfectly in between my husband and I standing at the altar, constantly reminding me that God is a part of our marriage. It is a beautiful photo.
I don't know if I ever got a chance to thank you on my wedding day, but thank you so much for being very easy going and laid back, especially with our church's very strict photography rules. You captured the most perfect moments of the ceremony while still respecting its sanctity.
And yes, the cupcakes were awesome. We still talk about how tasty they were! Hope you are doing well, and thank you for the trip down memory lane!