Past Wedding Photography: Reviewing My Wedding Work

Here I’m in the middle of this year 2018 looking at my past wedding photography work. My story telling with images. Every wedding is a story. Is more than a ceremony, more than a party, is two persons that love each other coming together and bringing their individual story and turning it into one. A fresh start for some, a do it again for others but always the story is there. The family comes and shares their union while bringing their perspective on these two lives and their stories. And in the middle of it all I find myself recording for the future the story in front of my camera lens.

It is a simple thing to press the button of a camera, heck you can train a monkey to do it! But it takes a trained experience photographer to know when to press it to be able to capture the story that is in front of him. Most inexperience wedding photographers these days have a habit of pressing and pressing that button until the camera turns into a semiautomatic tool in their hands. Shooting as much as they can hopping to capture a moment, afraid they will miss something.

The word that is key is “afraid”, lack of experience makes you afraid if you strive to tell a story.

In the past when photographing a wedding with film there was a limit. You only had a certain amount of images that a roll could hold so you had to be more precise, more attentive to the right moment. There was no memory card on your camera holding a possibility of thousands of images. Precise and observant of the story in front of you, and not afraid to wait for the right moment.

Past Wedding Photography Moments:

The image below of a first look between groom and bride at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida.  Taking a direction from a class that Joe Buissink “the Ninja” I position the groom facing away from the bride coming down the stairs. The only thing he could see was the expressions of amazement from his Dad, Brother and Uncles as they witness the beautiful bride approaching. I’m very happy with the result of this sequence and always mention it to future couples as an idea for their wedding photography.

The result is the pure showing of expression as he finally sees her in her most glorious day! And her reaction to his amazement says it all as you can see below!

I truly feel that in the times we live in where there is more familiarity between the couples, there has to be at least one moment for them that is a surprise. That is why I try to put on the table as I discuss the wedding timeline with the couple the “first look”. Below is another sequence from a wedding in Islamorada.

On the above sequence the groom had actually helped the bride choose her dress! But there was still a certain amount of excitement when he saw her for the first time with the make up, hair and dress all put together on their special day.

Below is the getting ready part of the story which has become very popular with brides. It doesn’t take much as far area but it can be emotional if allowed too. Here the bride receives a hug from her sister while I act like a fly on the wall and just allow the ladies to do their thing. No posing is my goal, just tell the story has it evolves. Photography is more to me about capturing an event and not so much about creating an event. I’m not painting, I’m reporting what happened.

Once again letting the image come together while I just frame and compose the action.  Or sometimes just time staying still has the bride reflects on her day.

Formal portraits can be challenging because of both time constrain and getting groups together. This is where I usually take a more directorial approach and work on the elements of the image as far as posing. Going from the fly on the wall to the director is essential to be successful in wedding photography.

I will continue next week reviewing some of the ceremony images and also the reception fun.