Second main wedding shoot (15 images) - CC appreciated

bigtwinky · Aug 30, 2010

Had my second ever wedding shoot as a main photographer. It was for some friends, but whether they are friends or not, I take each shoot very seriously. I have my first non-friend main wedding shoot this weekend.

I know the people well. We had chatted about what they wanted, and they are simple people who enjoy simple things, but like to have some fun. They like my photo-journalistic style. I like to try and tell a story of the day instead of just documenting it straight up. I do some light posing, or more directing, but I try to let people be as casual and natural as possible.

The wedding was running late from the start. It was an hour or so drive south of Montreal in a very country locale. Was great when I visited it, but the weekend of the wedding had some other activities near the area which caused alot of traffic. Took me over 2 hours to drive up, thankfully I left early and was not too late. But the makeup artist was an hour late, the priest was late, guests were late. So I was also playing psychologist to the bride who was freaking out... in the end, it all worked out.

Handed them a little over 300 images. They loved the shots, so I figured I'd post them up for photographer comments. Be straight up, let me know...

The Prep
1

2

3

4

The Ceremony
5

6

7

8

9

10

Post ceremony
11

12

13

14

15

Derrel · Aug 30, 2010

Huh...kind of an edgy, tightly-framed feeling to the vast majority of these...I do not "see" that way for the most part. Some of these photos have a very unusual feeling for wedding photos, a sort of dispassionate, third-party observer, an almost voyeuristic, detached sort of look to them, as in photos 3,5,6,7,9,10. I dunno...I don't think I have seen a wedding with this type of "look"; it's like there are lots of what in landscape photography would be called "small-scale landscapes", where the photographer narrows his camera's field of view and rejects the broad, overview and instead settles on a very,very small segment of the landscape before him. I'm not saying the way you shot these 16 photos is bad, or good; I am merely making an observation about what I see as a common type of compositional decision on your part.

Fate · Aug 30, 2010

See, I like the sort of detached approach... although I do not think it is that detached. I would go for a documentary really. I think it offers something fresh from the conventional wedding photography.

tirediron · Aug 30, 2010

I have to agree with Derrel here; some of these are so tight they almost feel claustrophobic. Definitely a style - on the other hand, great pose in #13; I've not seen that done quite that way before. I may have to 'borrow' that idea!

GotaLuvThosPens · Aug 30, 2010

I can't say I agree with the first comment much at all. I like the up-close shots and I think they are well balanced with some of your pulled back shots. Nice work capturing the emotions! It's very photo-journalistic and I think the shots are well done.

Tressa

Foxman · Aug 30, 2010

The tightness of the shots are similar to how I prefer to shoot. I loved the last shot, their love emanates from this shot.

bigtwinky · Aug 30, 2010

Derrel said:
Huh...kind of an edgy, tightly-framed feeling to the vast majority of these...I do not "see" that way for the most part. Some of these photos have a very unusual feeling for wedding photos, a sort of dispassionate, third-party observer, an almost voyeuristic, detached sort of look to them, as in photos 3,5,6,7,9,10. I dunno...I don't think I have seen a wedding with this type of "look"; it's like there are lots of what in landscape photography would be called "small-scale landscapes", where the photographer narrows his camera's field of view and rejects the broad, overview and instead settles on a very,very small segment of the landscape before him. I'm not saying the way you shot these 16 photos is bad, or good; I am merely making an observation about what I see as a common type of compositional decision on your part.

I appreciate the honest and comments Derrel, thanks for taking the time. You are right, alot of the shots are tight. I do have some in the final set I gave to the client that are more pulled out, group shots, and some that show a bit more of the environment, similar to #8.

But these are the shots that stuck out in my mind of my fave from the set.

I can see how not everyone would be into the closer crops, but as its something I enjoy doing, I feel that it gives more of a sense of "being right there". But I do need to keep things balanced with some wider, more setup style shots.

@fate,tirediron,gota and fox
Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Tire, feel free to steal that pose. It started off as the standard lift them up thing, but I went with the kiss at the same time.

Note that the bridesmaids and man of honour were getting a bit shacky in holding the groom up, so make sure you get your shots off quick. I have some tighter crops of them all laughing at trying to hold him up.

Its all about having fun