Behind the Frame Monday: The Full Wedding Day Story

My two favorite books that should be required reading for everyone who picks up a camera are Sontag’s On Photography and Barthes’ Camera Lucida.  I’ve talked about both before in my btf posts, and today I’m focusing on a quote from Barthes.  He says one of his first connections to photography is through a photograph of Napoleon’s brother.  He becomes mesmerized by the photograph, specifically the eyes, as he realizes those are the same eyes that looked upon the emperor.  A portrait of the brother can help us hundreds of years later glean more about Napoleon himself and give us a fuller visual story of his life.  On wedding days when I’m telling the wedding day story through my lens I like to turn it on the couple’s friends and family during important moments like getting ready, the ceremony, toasts, etc. because their eyes are the ones looking upon the bride and groom and their eyes tell an important element of the story.  This is a favorite photo of mine where the bride’s sister brought the veil to the bride for her portraits.  Her expression is so full of glee and her smile beams through the photo as she looks at her sister in her wedding dress and races over to deliver the final touch.  Little moments of captured expression, whether it be tears or smiles, help create a more emotional and comprehensive wedding day story.

Behind The Frame: The Decisive Moment

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I love a good action shot.  Horah’s and first dances are some of my favorite moments to shoot because they’re so full of emotion that you often get some of the most memorable and frame-worthy moments of the day.  There’s so much I love about this photo it’s hard for me to find where to begin!  The bride happens to be a good friend so I take extra joy in the scream on her face and the joy in her husbands, but there are also some technical elements that I love about this photo.  During the horah I was shooting both film and digital and this was shot on my Contax 645 with Ilford 3200, which creates the beautiful grain, but there was still a good amount of daylight so it’s not as crispy as 3200 gets later in the night when I bring out my video light.  I shot a few dozen digitals and probably 6 or 7 film, but this image was clearly the winner.  This is an example when it can be helpful to take a few extra photos, but then be decisive in the editing process.  During the horah everything is moving so quickly if you try and only take one shot you may end up missing it so take a few and then in editing you can find the perfect moment.  During the horah I will often stand on top of a chair towards the edge of the dance floor so I’m not shooting up on the couple and my perspective is more equal to them.  I love being able to see just the tops of people’s heads bobbing around, giving some perspective and context, and I really love the one hand supporting the grooms leg, which is just a sweet detail to me.

Behind The Frame: Creating the Moments Inbetween

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Many of my favorite moments from a wedding day are candids, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a huge part in creating the look of the image.  I always encourage my brides to think about where they’re getting ready and make sure it’s a beautiful space with lots of natural light so they can get great getting ready photos.  When I arrive to the getting ready place I will scout it out and pick a little corner that I can keep clean and that has good light and this will be where most of the getting dressed action will take place.  This bride was getting ready in a beautiful old b&b in the Hudson Valley and every room was simply stunning, but messy! It’s hard to keep it clean when you’re hanging out with all of your friends.  I took some photos of all of them in their getting ready room, but when it came time to put on the dress I found this beautiful bathroom with gorgeous light and brought just the bride, her mom and two bridesmaids into the room with her to put on the dress and the finishing touches.  The bride then surprised her mom with a beautiful ring as a gift, which was one of my favorite photos of the day.  It was a completely candid and unexpected moment, and the lighting and background are great because we took the extra moment to place them in the good light and a clean lovely spot.  I like to say that its my job to find the light and set the scene then I just let my clients make magic happen within that space, which definitely happened in this sweet moment!