First wedding of 2014

[nextelbuddy]

I'm mainly a family portrait, newborn and maternity photographer for now. I have done 6 weddings total as primary and 2 weddings as secondary since 2009. Sad I know. The only way for me to get better is to do more weddings and gain more experience. having such few weddings and especially so spaced out, I dont get many opportunities to hone my craft and skill. Part of this is my fault, I still have a full time job through Dec 2014, (I did have my notice put in to quit Mid June 2014 but we needed to get a bigger house with a new baby here so I decided to keep my desk job until Dec 2014 mainly so the banks are happy with dual income on the books)

This wedding was particularly rough for me. It was an out of town wedding (I live in Atlanta and this was in New Orleans), It was supposed to be beautiful weather and then a storm came through and stayed all weekend. Ceremony was at 7:30pm . I was basically at ISO 1000 - 4000 the entire time.

This bride was unique, she cared about photography but she didn't really care much for bridal portraits or bride and groom portraits. We sat down together and worked on her timeline months and weeks before her date and despite numerous attempts to wiggle some time for B&G portraits, she didn't want it. She kept saying she was fine with a "raw" wedding. So suffice to say you wont see any B&G portraits here unfortunately.

The ceremony was to be under this beautiful tree which is the selling point of this venue but it rained harder than I have ever seen so the ceremony was moved indoors to a tent. After the ceremony the rain of course stopped and I used what little time I had between areas to grab the bridal group and recreate an image I wanted to give them. This is why you will see 2 ceremony style images. I couldn't have the bride come all the way down to New Orleans and be stuck with Tent Ceremony pictures for her album.


I'd love critique, my style I try to strive for is to just capture moments that I can tell a story with either with an individual image or with a grouping of images. I hope that I was able to do that with this set. I will say that I had a lot of fun at this wedding, it was very fast paced, no time for any thing or redos and I would love to book more weddings as this type of story telling is really a pleasure to me.




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[nextelbuddy]

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[nextelbuddy]

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[nextelbuddy]

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[McQ]

Shawn, I think you gave the bride exactly what she wanted. She must love these photos. I think your style is vibrant and lively. I would hire you, no question. You did some really creative things with this wedding. Congratulations on a very successful shoot.

My only bit of advice would be to carefully clean up the high ISO noise in the shots that need it. Even just a little NR would be warranted in some of them.

 

[MaxxTraxx]

They look good! Is the horizon in #16 perfectly level? I'm not sure it is level.

 

[LyndeeLoo]

Shawn, I think you captured some very unique and creative shots, and I think you did well despite the circumstances. To be perfectly honest, however, the images in 2A, 3B, 13B, 15C do not appeal to me as there are elements (the elbow in 2A and hair (?) in 3B, for example) that are distracting. I also think that some of the indoor shots are a bit dark, but then I recognize the challenges you were dealing with. Other than that, a very nice set!

 

[mshi]

I've been doing weddings for a while. From my own experience I can tell you most brides don't even know what they want. They only want what everyone else is told to want. You're lucky because the bride knows what she doesn't want. As long as she's happy with your delivery, it's a job well done.

 

[Elmar]

#18/1 does it for me. Great shot of the men at the table.

You captured some very nice moments. Also some good use of backlight. Thanks for letting us see these photos.

 

[TomP]

I think it is a great set of pics, the B&W of the groom looks like the last supper. I shoot my first wedding next month, it is a forced situation, and I have no choice but to do it. I am worried.

 

[Elmar]

No choice? Family?

Show them your crappiest shots of the last years and pretend to be proud of them. See if they still want you. Good luck, anyways! (Not that I would doubt that you will do fine!)

I think it is a great set of pics, the B&W of the groom looks like the last supper. I shoot my first wedding next month, it is a forced situation, and I have no choice but to do it. I am worried.

 

[prairie_pal]

Enough variety within your style to keep it all fresh and the viewer engaged. I think this is a far better viewing experience than posed and stuffy B&G sequences. The brides choice might not appeal to everyone, but I think your creative blending of story and warm personalities makes one feel like we were invited to be part of the event. Your technical talent for taming w/b and low light challenges obviously helped fulfill the task.

 

[TomP]

No choice? Family?

Show them your crappiest shots of the last years and pretend to be proud of them. See if they still want you. Good luck, anyways! (Not that I would doubt that you will do fine!)

LOL, well I don't think that will help. The brides father was laid off a few months ago, after 18 years working for the company, so the budget has been slashed. 55 and looking for a job, a tough combination. This will be the brides gift.

 

[Elmar]

LOL, well I don't think that will help. The brides father was laid off a few months ago, after 18 years working for the company, so the budget has been slashed. 55 and looking for a job, a tough combination. This will be the brides gift.

Then good luck to you and him as well.

 

[Drauka]

24 and 35, I like a lot, I would love #36 except for the people in the far left of the image.

 

[kvnnets]

Those were a great wedding set. I'm sure the bride will forever cherish them.

 

[soxOZ]

Well I'm impressed. I really like your style, and especially how you processed all of these... Well done..!!!

 

[jbrowning37]

great stuff man!

 

[stevenjames]

Nice work!
When I shot weddings (medium format film) I shot all day/nite with 400 iso and used flash on every shot, if not the main then as fill. No need for high iso.
Again nice work,

Steve