Wedding: Graham and Lauren

Graham and Lauren are one of those couples that the second you meet them, you feel you’ve known them for ages. Wonderfully warm, genuine, and downright gorgeous to boot, they were a joy to work with. For them, it began with a crush on each other in High School, going to college, and eventually living together in France. The couple was wonderful enough to accept my offer to shoot an engagement video that you can see here. Through both the video and the wedding they were so accepting and trusting; it made my entire experience a wonderful, exciting shoot.

Lighting And Set:

As you would expect, most of the outdoor shots were shot in natural lighting; it was a beautiful day. Again, I feel that while strobes can be a great asset, they really detract from the environment and interrupt the ceremony for those attending. Therefore during ceremonies I rely quite a bit on natural light and my f/1.8 and f/1.4 lenses. In the church for the family portraits I used a 4 light set up with a strong backlight to provide a dynamic set up, spicing up otherwise typical shots. Finally for the reception, I set up two lights on each side of the dance floor, one with a beauty dish, and 2 more at the back of the hall directed towards the dance floor.

Photo Notes:

This wedding was shot nearly 80% on the 35mm f/1.4 L lens. I absolutely loved it. Mixing this lens with the 85mm f/1.8 and my tilt-shifts made it so easy to play with focus throughout my entire focal length set up.

Gear Used:

Canon 5D MKII

Canon 24mm TS-E f/3.5 L lens

Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens

Canon 35mm f/1.4 L lens

Canon 45mm f/2.8 TS-E lens

Canon 24mm f/3.5 TS-E lens

Edit:

Swapped out photographs for larger resolution. I think I may keep this format for future posts.

Wedding: Jenn & Tyler’s Wedding

Jenn and Tyler’s wedding was my first in Greek Orthodox shooting. The event was absolutely beautiful. From the location near downtown Chicago to the ornate details of the church inside, it was a spectacle to be amazed by. After pushing through the most torrential downpour I have ever driven through (as an aside, it was one of the rare times that I felt genuinely happy with the folks on the road as everyone put on their hazards, then proceeded to drive slowly and carefully) I arrived at the Church and everyone seemed cool, calm, and relaxed for the gorgeous ceremony. I had to give it to the couple, even when three quarters of the way through the ceremony it was announced that their outdoor reception was not going to happen despite having tents available due to flooding in the area, they remained calm and happy. It was a beautiful thing to see!

Lighting:

The lighting in the church was rather standard for places of worship, there was plenty of light to see but just on the low side that you had to make the choice of strobes or high ISO. During private, intimate events such as weddings I almost always choose high ISO settings so I don’t interrupt the service with obnoxious flash bulbs goin’ off. With the f/2.8 and below this was not much of a challenge. Now, as I mentioned, the reception was no longer located outdoors under canopy outside but rather located in the attached school’s basement. Unfortunately this left me with only two strobes for a large, enclosed, dark area. I took the light mods off of one entirely and bumped up the power to full on the beauty dish modded strobe. All in all they were a bit stylistic but turned out rather well and fun.

Photo Notes:

As this was my first Greek Orthodox wedding, the priest(s) took me through a quick run through of the ceremony and gave me places to be for specific shots. That’s not something I’m typically used to though it worked out for the most part. Knowing it was going to be in a massive place such as this with a ceremony I was not accustomed to, I did make sure that I had the 70-200mm on me at all times. This was a life saver. There were a few shots were I probably would have set up differently for had it been on my own but I was happy with the results given the circumstances.

Gear Used:

Canon 5D MKII

Canon 17-40mm f/4.0 L Lens

Canon 24mm TS-E f/3.5 L lens

Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L Lens

Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens