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The ring bearer and happy flower girl and her beaming grandma.

Capturing moments is what it’s all about

These three images, taken at weddings some time ago, are great examples of what we look for at every wedding. We would call them our “iconic” images.

[Above] I was standing in the back, shooting the recessional as I normally do when, all of a sudden, the bride jumps up and clicks her heels. I had no idea she was going to do this; I was glad I had the camera ready, looking through the viewfinder. It just demonstrates that we can never be satisfied with getting a couple of typical shots of the bride and groom walking down the aisle; you never know…

[Above] We’ve shot several Jewish weddings over the last 12 years, but no groom ever leapt as high as this one. He was determined to break the glass and break it good! I’m glad I kept shooting.

[Below] This is one of my favorite images, taken at one of our first weddings. This has not been created in Photoshop, it’s an image of what occurred during the recessional. No one told us they were planning a butterfly release, so we were quite surprised when, all of sudden, butterflies were everywhere! Then one landed on the hand of the ring bearer as he was walking out. He looked down and kept walking. I was fortunate to get the shot.

One might call us lucky and I wouldn’t disagree. But, in wedding photography, as Branch Rickey once said, “luck is the residue of design.”

The Top Three Things Couples Should Consider When Hiring a Wedding Photographer

Excellent article by celebrity photographer, Robert Evans.
http://tinyurl.com/b5x22e5

Why are you having a wedding?

Wedding vendors, magazines and Pinterest notwithstanding, your wedding is not about the flowers, the cake, the fabulous or even (gulp) that beautiful album full of beautiful images you’ll receive a few months from now. It’s about family — the family gathered on that day — and the family you are becoming on that day.

I read a great blog post this week by a photographer who was contemplating a request from a magazine editor to give her more images of the details — the flowers, the centerpieces, the cake, the decorations. Those of us who are published in magazines and blogs now and then know, and understand, the reason for this. A magazine’s bread and butter is advertising and the vendors who provide the details at the wedding are potential — or current — advertisers. One result of this is that you don’t necessarily see the best or the essence of a photographer’s work by looking at the pictures in a magazine.

The other reason these images appear is because brides and moms focus on these on the run-up to the wedding. These resources provide a plethora of ideas. That’s fine, of course. This is a day they’ve been waiting their whole life for. And it’s fun to scour the blogs, the magazines and Pinterest for ideas on how to make this wedding THE wedding they have always dreamed of having. The details are important, and fun.

But focusing on these things can also veil the fact that the significance of the wedding is not centered in these doodads. If the cake cracks, the flowers fade or the dress gets dirty, you can still have a wedding. The significance of the wedding day is the marriage and the establishment of something unique: a new family.

Don’t get me wrong. As wedding photographers, Christie and I treat this day as if it’s the most important day in history. We work very hard to capture every aspect of the day, including the details that someone, or many, worked hard to produce and perfect.

But what is the main reason you hire a photographer? To get pictures of flowers and shoes?

On more than one occasion, we have received a phone call after the wedding asking if we have any additional images of grandpa or grandma. Why? Because they passed away, sometimes within a few weeks after the wedding, and ours are the last photographs taken. How precious are those images, taken on a day when the entire family was celebrating one of the greatest events in the family’s personal history?

But we don’t have to be so grim. Even when nothing that dramatic occurs, there is drama in every wedding (hopefully, the good kind of drama). It is a celebration, after all, and celebrations are, by their nature, emotional. For example, Christie and I — as professional “observers” — step into the room as the bride is getting her makeup on or her hair done. Typically, the mood is subdued, almost somber; the bride and her mom and maid of honor are anticipating what the day will be like and only the click of our shutter pierces the quiet. Others come into the room, and there is laughter, then lots of laughter. Then there’s that moment when dad enters the room and sees his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time. The range of emotions is hard to describe, but it’s a beautiful thing.

That dad-bride thing is special. The bride has been working with mom for months on the wedding and dad’s life has gone on, more or less, as usual — except for paying the sizable Visa bill each month. Then, on the wedding day, something happens. The daughter sees the dad and it hits her: this is it; I’m leaving mother and father and clinging to another. Everything has changed. There are often lots of tears shared by dad and daughter alike during the wedding.

The point is that none of this is generated by the fanciest cake or most beautiful flowers. Years from now, my guess is that the pictures you’ll look at most are those of two people in love and the family and friends who shared it with you. This point  is well stated in the blog article by photographer Anne Almasy: “If you’re planning your wedding right now, please just close the magazine. Log out of Pinterest. And look at the person you want to grow old with. Remind yourself of why you’re doing this. And really CELEBRATE when that day comes. Don’t stress about your shoes or your cake or your flowers. Don’t stress about anything. When it’s all over, you will be married, and surrounded by the people who know you and love you most in the whole wide world. I promise: that is the Perfect Wedding.” Amen.

One thing you must ask a photographer before you book

If there is one question you must ask, it is this: “how many weddings have you photographed by yourself?” If the answer is a low number, then ask how many weddings has he or she photographed as an intern or second-shooter?

Why his this question so important? Wedding photography is the most difficult of all photographic assignments. Why? There are at least three reasons:

1. Weddings are long. Most wedding photographers are booked for six to eight hours. So that means the photographer will get tired and may lose some stamina toward the end of the wedding. Lost stamina may result in lost photographs. That’s one benefit of having two photographers; the other can take a break, when appropriate, so you always have a fresh set of eyes on the wedding. Also, the longer the wedding goes, the more that go wrong. Cameras and flash equipment sometimes seem to have a mind of their own. The photographer has to be able to know, immediately, what steps to take should his equipment fail to respond as he expects. That only comes through experience, but a couple’s once-in-a-lifetime wedding is not the time for the photographer to find out he has no idea what to do when he gets an error message on the LCD of his camera. Shooting multiple weddings as an intern or second photographer, followed, ideally, by a debriefing session with the pro, is critical to the photographer’s ability to deal with whatever adversity comes his way.

2. Weddings are hectic. The photographer barely has time to think, let alone tinker with his equipment, look at posing guides or try to figure out his lighting setup. It should be second nature. Many of the photography workshops do not mention this aspect of wedding photography. They may show a photographer spending 20-30 minutes with the couple in one spot, getting just the right lighting and pose. The new photographer may be surprised to find that weddings rarely follow that template; they are not having the wedding to accommodate the photographer.  To the experienced photographer, 20 minutes is a lifetime, 30 minute an eternity. Even if she gets the 20-30 minutes, she knows she needs to work fast to get as many variations of poses and lighting as possible. The ability to work fast and efficiently to maximize the little time available only comes through experience.

3. Light changes. Outdoor weddings are common  in California. There are some great advantages to that, but some challenges, too. The advantage is that the photographer has a tremendous light source: the sun! But that also presents some real issues when the sun is really bright and the wedding is taking place at high noon. Sometimes, half the wedding party is in the bright sun, half in shade. There are times when the bride is in the shade and the groom is in the  sun or vice versa. Not only that, but the earth is moving around the sun so as the day wears on, the angle, quantity and quality of the light changes rapidly.

Weddings present some challenges to the photographer. So she had better be ready for every eventuality because the conditions will not always be ideal and there is, in the typical wedding, nothing that she can do about it.

Thanks for reading.

David

So, what kind of wedding photographer are you looking for?

There are many kinds of photographers out there these days. What kind are you looking for? In the effort to help couples make informed choices, and at the risk of offending other photographers — which is not my aim —  let’s take a look at the different styles.

• The Pinterest Photographer. She is the “hippest” photographer, keeping up with all the latest trends and making sure she has a blackboard, frames and all the other neat props you see on Pinterest. She’s also got every “vintage” Photoshop action on the planet (a Photoshop action is an little program that applies a new look to a photograph that doesn’t have much going for it without the “look”). Examples below. The only problem with this is… where do I start? By the time your pictures are edited and in an album, the stuff that seemed so hip and cool and fashionable will be… well… old hat. And 30 years from now you may wonder why you wanted your pictures to look like they were taken in the 1930s because now they don’t look just 80 years old, they look over a 100 years old.

The original image is kind of boring, agreed. But does adding Photoshop effects really improve it? And should we do it on every image from a couple’s wedding? I don’t think so.

• The Wannabe Rockstar Photographer. This is the professional seminar attender who craves the popularity that the “stars” in our business have achieved. He hangs on every morsel of photographic advice that these big-time, successful photographers hand out. Most of them, though not all, are indeed successful and produce beautiful work. So, he dresses like them (most often in a t-shirt and old jeans). He parrots their pet peeves and adopts their opinions and is pretty adamant about it, too. “Don’t ever even think about shooting anything but manual mode!!!!” He loves that! That is, until his next wedding when he forgets to change his exposure settings when going from a dark dressing room to mid-day sun and finds all of the sunny images overexposed beyond salvation. Or, until the next rockstar says he shoots in “professional” mode (har de har har)… that’s “Program”mode, the “P” on your dial. One of the celebrity shooters among us shoots in program mode; yes he does. I’ve got it on video on my iPhone. There’s a problem for the poor wannabe, though. He is trying so hard to emulate so many of the rockstars that he’s like the chameleon who got along just fine until he found himself on scottish plaid; he died, trying to relate to everything at once. This photographer, instead of working for the bride and groom, is trying to be somebody in this business. If you haven’t guessed by now, I think that’s a really bad idea.
• The “that’s-my-style-and-I’m-stickin’-to-it” Photographer. You can identify this one easily enough — all the images have the same color cast, be it green, orange or purple. But, hey, that’s her “style.” Actually, it’s the Photoshop action issue again, only instead of a gazillion actions, she only uses one — on every image! Now, these photographers actually book some weddings so I assume that there are brides and grooms that like that sort of thing. That’s fine. It’s all good. If, 20 years from now, when your kids ask why your pictures are all purple you can say, “Don’t be silly, Sammie; don’t you know that the photographer had style??” Hey, whatever. There are variations on the style thing. For example, there is the “let’s blow out all the highlights on every image” style and the “let’s only show half the people in the most of the shots style” and the aforementioned “vintage” style (Enough already!! Sorry, I’m so sick of seeing this “style,” I failed to be objective for a minute).
• The “I’m too cool to shoot your mason jars” Photographer. I’ll let you in on a little secret: in the photo forums, seminars, and videos, some of the so-called rockstar photographers and wannabes make fun of your mason jars, blackboards and “Mr.” and “Mrs” signs. They really do. Now, as I said above, I think a lot of these ideas are so well-worn that they don’t have a chance of making your wedding unique; nor would I bring those props and suggest you use them. But it’s your wedding! If you decide you like a certain look, who cares if it’s been done? After all, so have wedding cakes, toasts and bouquet tosses. Photographer are not at your wedding to judge your choices; they are there to document it in the most interesting way possible. And I’ll let you in on a little secret: those “rockstar” photographers — even the ones who make fun of mason jars — make sure to shoot the mason jars. I’ve seen them. They do it, whether they admit it or not.
• The “I’m great, just look at all the ‘likes’ I get on Facebook when I post that I’m eating a hotdog” Photographer. There are some marketing geniuses out there who also happen to be photographers. Apparently, some couples think that’s enough; after all, anyone who can post that she cooked minute rice in less than a minute and gets 300 likes has to be good, right? I’m not saying she’s not. She’s great! But I wouldn’t book someone because they are popular on Facebook unless I’m also wowed by their work. Maybe it’s just me.
• The “Your Style is My Style” Photographer (YSIMS). This photographer is experienced enough to adapt to the style of the couple. He is “eclectic” in his approach to a wedding. He may have a preferred style, but he’s not stubborn. He’ll get plenty of images that reflect the style of the bride, along with many that reflect his own preferred style. His style is what is represented on his website and the couple booked him based on those images. But it happens almost every time: the photographer gets to the wedding and the style of the wedding does not fit his preferred style. Sometimes, in the interview, the brides talks about how she loves the “natural, photojournalistic” approach, but as the wedding day nears, she e-mails her photographer a slug of photograph “ideas” that are anything but. The stickin‘ to his style photographer will balk at this and stubbornly refuse to abandon his style. He forgets whose wedding it is. The YSIMS photographer will be sure to get all the brides choices, and then shoot his own style (having two photographers is a plus in these situations).

The common theme here is that a photographer is either shooting for the bride and groom or for him/herself. Which kind of photographer do you want?

“It’s hard to capture the decisive moment in Photoshop”

I love this quote from Rosh Sillars on Twitter. The context was about the attitude some have that they’ll “get the shot now then fix it later in Photoshop.” Another photographer said if you say that, smack yourself. I agree with that, most of the time. Realistically — at least at weddings — you may find yourself in a situation where the lighting is horrible, and you see something taking place that you must capture, so you shoot without time to make any adjustments. You know you can improve the lighting and other aspects of the image without altering the “moment.” I don’t smack myself in those cases.

I see a wider application of the quote, though. Many photographers today are “action” photographers — and I don’t mean they are capturing the “action.” The “action” is a set of Photoshop actions that impart various effects onto the original image. Now, I’m not a “photojournalistic snob”; I use actions now and then and enjoy enhancing a few of the images we capture at weddings. It’s fun, creative and I feel our brides and grooms appreciate it, too. They know the original is always intact and available.

It’s the overuse of these actions that I’m responding to. In some cases, it appears the photographer applies the same action to each and every photograph. They do this in the name of “style,” even though some of the images have brides with purple hair and yellowish gowns. Again, “to each his own.” If this style floats their boat and that of their clients, more power to them. But, as much as I love Totally Rad Actions, I don’t want my style to be determined by them. My style is determined by the nature of the wedding, the personality of the clientele and the aim of capturing those “decisive moments” that occur at every wedding.

I want my clients to look at their book years from now and relive the day as it was, not view images that came from Fantasia. We are documenting a precious day in the life of real people, first, not creating art. At least, that’s my view of it.

She didn’t warn me she was going to do this

Tears are as common as laughter at weddings

What are brides really looking for today?

In the last couple of months we have been booking weddings at a brisk pace. In fact, we have booked the last 15 of 16 couples we have met with. In almost every case, the brides are telling us that they were looking for a photographer who “captures the natural moments” and they talk about how they don’t care for the overly-posed, artificially-lit style. In fact, the only couple we didn’t book wanted photographs that were like “perfume ads” in the fashion magazines. We can do that, but don’t prefer to do it and she probably figured that out.

The couples we have talked with also seem to be getting weary of the over-Photoshopped, “Style Me Pretty” look. I’m not knocking SMP; we had a wedding on that blog last year. But the trend, at least among the class of brides we are talking to, is to get back to a photojournalistic or documentary style for the bulk of the images in the wedding. Call it, “style me real…” The overly-staged, posed faded photo vintage look is fading away…

This is a refreshing development. Personally, looking at photo after photo that looks like the color photos in my old wedding album, is not very inspiring. Photographers tend to latch on to the latest fad and this fad has produced washed-out, yellowish images that I don’t think will stand the test of time. I’m afraid that when couples go for that look today that they won’t be that thrilled with it 20-30 years from now.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not an extremist. We’ll do a few of these high-fashion, Vogue ad type shots — some of them are quite interesting. But I’ve seen whole albums of images that all have a purple cast on them because that’s the photographer’s “style” (and she’s sticking to it!). I’ve also seen albums in which every picture is a posed picture; every image is lit in a special way and staged for maximum impact. These require a lot of skill — and usually, a lot time — to accomplish. In the normal wedding, the timeline is too tight to even attempt this kind of work. Often, the images that are being shown were taken in a separate bridal session or at a wedding in which there was large block of time between the ceremony and reception. So, even if this is the kind of photography a couple wants, it’s unlikely that they would get the same result.

But our recent experience tells us that couples are coming back to the “photojournalistic” look. They are looking for the kind of work featured on the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) website — natural moments captured in the course of the day, like the photo below. Some like a few Photoshop effects, but still favor natural light and a “don’t-look-at-the-camera-approach” (as featured, for example, in the Artist Guild of the WPJA, or AG|WPJA. We happen to belong to both associations). After all, what most couples will want to remember, as they look through their images years from now, are not just a bunch of staged, posed, artificially-lighted photos of themselves. They’ll want to see the laughter, the tears, the expressions on their faces and the faces of their guests.

That all makes sense to me. It just seems… oh, I don’t know… natural.

It’s as if the groom is saying, “Bwahahahh, she’s mine now.”

In memory…

Jolee, pictured here in a session we did last year, lost her life in a tragic accident on January 4th. She was only 19. She was very dear to Christie and me, a sweet-spirited child of faith. We miss her so much.

In memory; we will always love you.

WPJA contest wins

In the last contests from the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) and the Artist Guild of the WPJA, we were honored with a top 20 and top 10 win respectively. This is a great honor since the association features top photographers from around the world and there are hundreds of entries. Here are the photographs that took the prizes. What do you think?

The fist is the WPJA winner and needs no comment except to say that the young man is the bride’s son. In the second, the judges thought it was clever to use a “painterly” style on a picture that features a room with paintings and they gave us a top ten win.

Is the father of the bride hiding?