2012-06-02 - Holly & Tom

It’s strange that I blogged for a Wedding I shot on the 20^th of June before I blogged for the Wedding I shot on the 2^nd :S

But! There are reasons behind it… lol

I don’t like submitting too much information/pictures about each Wedding until I finalise everything with each couple. Only once I submit the entire batch of images to the couples, do I then feel more free with displaying images from their Wedding. I do upload under roughly 5-10 images sometimes, just as a taster for the couples themselves also…

But it’s been difficult trying to find time to meet with Holly & Tom to deliver the pictures to them as right after their Wedding, it was honeymoon time, and then it was just crazy busy for the both of us once the pictures were completed.

However, I am pleased to say the pictures are finished and submitted to Holly & Tom, and that I received a text message from Holly on Saturday just letting me know that she is really happy with what she has seen… J

Holly & Tom’s Wedding was technically the first Wedding I ran by myself. I had previously shot at Weddings for the full day, but I was never the one really in control. Last year I worked for another Photographer, David Sherjan (www.davidsherjan.com), and had shot full day Weddings with him, and when I decided to work for myself, I had only really been commissioned for smaller jobs, like partial coverage for just the reception or ceremony.

When I shot at Michelle & Jeff’s Wedding, I was not the only Photographer, as they had Dan Catley as their main Photographer, however as Michelle is friends with my cousin, she allowed me to attend for some Portfolio work with the option to buy later.

When shooting as a second Photographer, as I did for David Sherjan, I couldn’t really go everywhere I wanted too. I had to keep in mind that I needed to stay out of his line of sight so I don’t get caught in the background of the couples Wedding pictures, and at times, I was told to cover specific things.
Shooting alongside Dan Catley I was free to do whatever I wanted, therefore it was very much like I was the main Photographer, except I did not direct and manage the group photos and portraits.
Holly & Tom’s Wedding however, it was all very much on my shoulders. Admittedly I felt a level of pressure I had not really felt before, as it was the biggest job I had ever taken on, and I was all by myself with no assistant, no secondary shooter, no nothing…

When I shoot, I move a lot… I don’t stop… purely because I try to seek out every angle possible, and I tend to push for various lenses to try and get different perspectives on things. So I even said it to one of the guests, I wear a black shirt for a reason! Just incase I start breaking sweats lol…

As before, I was pretty anxious about the shoot. I had slight worries that taking on a full Wedding Day by myself might be too much for one person, however as soon as I started shooting, it wasn’t much different to the smaller jobs I had done… I pre-envisioned what I would be going for, and only took out the essentials with me. For example, for the preparation shots, it was in Holly’s house, and there was no need for telephoto, tripod etc… just a Macro for the detail shots, and a mid-range Zoom, and a 50mm lens.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70mm, 1/60sec, ISO400

D800 + 105mm f/2.8 Micro @ f/6.3, 1/60sec, ISO800

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/160sec, ISO400

Likewise for the Ceremony, didn’t need the 50mm, I just needed the Ultra Wide for dramatic Venue shot, and Telephoto as my movements were restricted.

D7000 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO2000

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/100sec, ISO2500

Holly & Tom requested some very specific shots. Some of the shots were impossible to attain unfortunately. They wanted close up of their hands, and have them looking at each other and so forth. However, the Vicar had instructed me to stay behind the last Pews at the back during the Ceremony, so that did put a serious obstacle in front of me as that would mean all my shots would be of the back of their heads.

Admittedly, I did break the rules… In the end I just ended up walking down the sides of the Church, and tried to capture the most side on angle possible, and thank god I made that decision in time to catch Holly turning back to look at her guests with a big smile on her face…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/80sec, ISO2500

After the Ceremony, for some reasons the guests did not smother the couple in Confetti, I think they were too shy to really get in there… so  I called out to one of the guests who had some Confetti left in their hands, and told her to chuck it all over Tom lol… But Tom is 6ft+ and the guest couldn’t reach, so he kindly crouched down to get some confetti on his head lol…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/3200sec, ISO1600

What I love about Wedding Photography is looking out for the little things which make their Weddings specific to that couple. With Holly & Tom I didn’t have to look hard for one thing that definitely made their Wedding unique to them… and that was the massive Fire Truck that pulled up outside the Church to pick up some of their guests lol…

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, 1/4000sec, ISO1600

It’s probably obvious, but I’ll explain anyway lol… Tom is actually a full-time Fireman, so some of his friends from work popped down in the fire truck. I’m assuming not all the guys could get the time off work, otherwise there would be no-one patrolling on his Wedding day lol… But it’s good to see that still made a mark on the day in some way or another…

I drove down to the reception Venue, and tried to get there before anyone else to snatch the Venue shots, and be prepared for the Bride and Grooms Arrival…

D800 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO800, 1/250sec

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.8, ISO800, 1/250sec

After which I propped up a Tripod, setup for the Group shots, and thankfully there was enough cloud to diffuse the light nicely.

For entire Group shots, I don’t like to organise them too formally as it would consume too much time away from the actual celebration, so I just quickly round them up, and wherever possible, try to keep an eye out for that one person who likes to hide behind someone else (there’s always one! Separating the Bride and Groom from their party, bringing them to the front away from the group, for me shows even more than they’re the focal point of the image.

D800 + 24-70mm f/2.8 @ f/4.5, 1/1250sec, ISO200

During the speeches, from a technical stand point, it was pretty difficult to shoot as there was strange lighting. Don’t get me wrong, the lighting was pleasing to the eye, not to the camera. At certain points of the wall, there were small, but immensely powerful lights and it was messing up the exposures as the camera did not know where to meter. Because of the High Dynamic Range, it sometimes caused silhouette’s, so I had to check the back of the camera constantly to make sure the exposure is set right for each shot. For instance, with this shot, if you look behind the best man’s head, the wall has completely blown out, and the camera at times would try to compensate for that bright light and under expose a bit, which would in turn, make the best man a lot darker.

D800 + 70-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8, ISO2000, 1/125sec

At a Wedding I normally fire in Aperture Priority due to the constant changing lights from indoors, outdoors, sunny, cloudy etc… however for this, I just had to flick on Manual as the camera’s automatic settings had no clue in this environment.

After the speeches, it was time for the dancing, and now here’s what a Confetti shot is supposed to look like! Lol… Mid-way through the song the venue organised a Confetti rainfall… It properly covered everything and enabled me to capture this incredible moment, I’m not even sure if Holly & Tom knew it was going to happen for them.

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/80, ISO6400

After the first dance, the guests came on the dance floor and for some reason, love took over the dance floor as all the guests started coupling up and smooching lol…

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/320, ISO6400

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/100, ISO6400

D800 + 50mm f/1.4 @ f/1.6, 1/100, ISO6400

But all in all, it was a great day. Holly & Tom had a beautiful ceremony, both of them were clearly so into each other as they were rarely lips apart… I forgot to mention then even kissed before they were supposed to during the ceremony lol…

I am sincerely wishing them all the best for the future... and I'm sure I'll see them soon... ;)

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