Statler and Waldorf….

Statler and Waldorf Dancing

Shot for Peter Thomsen Photography Check out Peter’s amazing work here: www.peterthomsen.com

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I also like a clean, simple layout. No more than three images per page, nothing crazy. I really want the images to speak for themselves.

Below is a good example. As always is is a compromise between what the client wanted and what I was aiming for artistically.

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The Groomsman Dancing a Jig at the Reception

When I shoot receptions my typical approach is to set up a couple of strobes around the dance floor and one on my camera. Nikon’s strobes are smart enough that I can trigger them wirelessly from the on camera flash. I kill all the ambient light and let the on camera strobe light the subject and position myself so the subject is between me and the remote strobes I’ve set up around the room. The remote strobes supply a bit of fill in the back ground and add a rad rim light as well as if they hit the aperture blades on my lens just right, a star burst look in the background.

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Here are some of the images… in absolutely no order what so ever…

See, a pig

I love the classy elderly lady cracking up at the dog and rabbit walking down the isle.

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I normally try to change things up with the locations I shoot at, but Trish really wanted to shoot at “that one place.” So we set it up. This is what happened.

Thanks Trish

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Wait, what?

I had to look it up.

“A ketubah (Hebrew,  ”document”; pl. ketubot) is a special type of Jewish prenuptial agreement.”

FULL ARTICLE

Ok, sounds super romantic.

But really, if you think about it in the right light it’s a husband promise to always provide for his bride, even after he’s gone.

After witnessing Brit and Jake’s Ketubah Ceremony I have to say it was one of the most tender events I’ve witnessed as a photographer.

It began with the Rabbi placing the tallit on Jake and explaining to us all the meaning and importance of the tallit and it’s place in the ceremony…..

… then the tallit, together with Brittany and Jake’s friends and family form a home, or a shelter…

I should say something here about this Rabbi. He approached me and my second and said he had some rules. To which we cringed. Usually when a Rabbi/Preacher has rules for the photographer it essentially means we can’t photograph anything of any significance.

Needless to say we were floored when he told us our duty that day was to capture the best images we possibly could because, “These two, this day will ZIP by and they will need these photos to remember. You tell me where to stand and how to stay out of your way. You do what you have to do to make great pictures.”

Part of that process is trying to understand why I’m drawn to photograph those things that find their way in front of my camera. Sometimes it makes sense. Street performers for instance. That’s easy. They are interesting.

This process is what drives photographers to embark on photographic projects that last decades, even lifetimes. When will I be finished photographing street performers? I don’t see an end in sight.

But weddings? Why weddings?

Confession. I don’t look at wedding photography. I don’t study other wedding photographer’s work. Weddings are ubiquitous and it is hard enough to be original in capturing them, I don’t want to pollute my visual vocabulary with other peoples work. But I do sneak peaks once in a while and what I read a lot on the blogs is how so and so photographer is “just so in love with love” and that is why they photograph weddings. I have know idea what it means to be in love with love nor can I conceive of how that would at all be a motivation for giving up a perfectly good Saturday to work your butt off photographing a wedding.

I went to school for a very long time just to end up making a living as a plumber. My folks think I waisted all that time (and money) just so I could have a blue collar job. Maybe so. I studied, among other things, Anthropology. It’s a study in people; how they live, why they live that way, etc. It’s about people’s stories. I also studied Communications (you know, public speaking all dressed up). Again, story telling. Both also came with a large dose of Philosophy and Meditation on the how and why of life.

The things I’ve taken with me from my university years are those key things above. Maybe I was drawn to those disciplines for the same reason I’m drawn to photography. The inclination to meditate on life, human nature…. Who we are. Why we do what we do. I also write. A lot. When I write it’s only after a long meditation on some aspect of life and writing it down is the final step in the process of grappling with it. (If this blog post isn’t long winded enough for you, you can find some of that HERE)

Ok, what’s my point.

Oh yeah, weddings. Why do I photograph weddings?

Think of it in terms of those decades long projects. Wedding photography, for me, is another project. Another part of the process. Excuse me but I’m going to get a bit pretentious… I photograph weddings as a form of meditation on the American experience.

I think that is why I’m not looking to photograph a wedding every Saturday. I can’t conceive of something like that. I don’t think I could get my head around all those weddings and glean anything remotely meaningful from the millions of frames. But a few weddings a year. Say, ten weddings. Ten weddings a year. Big ones, small ones. Traditional, modern, vintage, weddings in churches and weddings in backyards. Ten weddings a year. Yeah, that I can get my head around.

So Allie and I headed out to one of my favorite locations, Wilder Ranch. This place has just about everything you could want for a location shoot. In talking with Allie I learned that she is a singer/song writer and I wanted to incorporate that into the shoot. When she arrived she showed me this dress of hers that she got at a thrift store. I was getting an Emmylou Harris/Neko Case vibe so we ran with that.
You can also find them on my Facebook page HERE

Temple Beth El Bar Mitzvah

Light, Light, Light. That is one of the fundamental, non-negotiables in photography. As a photographer I chase it around streets, in fields, and around temples and churches. When Susan asked me to photograph Kai’s Bar Mitzvah I knew that it was a privilege. From what little I knew about Bar Mitzvahs I had gathered that 99% of the time the photographer isn’t allowed to photograph the actual ceremony. But I would be allowed to photograph the actual ceremony so long as I stayed in the back, didn’t make any noise and didn’t move.

Needless to say I was sweating it a little. I like to move around, I like to watch and find moments and catch them. Not only this but I knew there was no way I would be using any strobes.

Then I saw the light in the temple. Wow. Just look at the image of the family and the Rabbi with the Torah above. Just look. That light is amazing. All I had to do was be there.

Temple Beth El Bar Mitzvah

This second image is one of my all time favorites. During the ceremony Kai carries the Torah around the congregation and the worshipers reach out and touch it. Behind him is his family. This little moment happened in a fraction of a second. His grandfather reached up and gently touched the cheek of the little boy on his father’s shoulder.

Moments and Light. That, for me is what it is all about.

Temple Beth El Bar Mitzvha