Wedding

Engagement Session with Mary & Jason at University of Tampa

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Matching the pose with the curve of the tree - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left

I met Mary & Jason early this Sunday morning four our engagement shoot hoping to beat the heat.  That worked for about 10 minutes before the heat starting beating us.  To keep things simple we met on the University of Tampa campus and then all rode in my Lexus to the Tampa Convention Center nearby before returning to UT, where all the photos in this post were taken.  I have photographed on the UT campus many times before, and each time I try to find a shot I never made before.  The above tree shot was the new find this time and gives, I think, the best PAN'S LABYRINTH type atmosphere possible in a city setting.

Did the tree WANT to be a seat? Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th strobist: SB-600 off camera to the left

I specialize in candid style photography, which means always being ready to take a photo, even in-between moments.  This was a spontaneous kiss that I luckily happened to be ready for (another recently photographed kiss).  As a photographer you may even want to pretend to be checking something else on your camera to see what the couple does in a more relaxed moment.  

Show the ring! Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th strobist: SB-600 off camera to left

New gear (Yongnuo radio triggers, review soon) that just arrived from Hong Kong yesterday, allowed me to make shots like the hand holding shot above and the curvy tree top image that I would not have been able to before.  Since radio triggers have a much greater effective distance for triggering an external flash, I could get far away and use my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8 lens to get in close for a distance and take advantage of that lens' great bokeh and sharpness.  

It was a fun engagement shoot that allowed me to explore new creative avenues, which is always a win for both myself from an artistic standpoint and for the client with regards to the images I can create for them.  I look forward to photographing their wedding in September of this year.

Pass-A-Grille Sunset Wedding with Leslie & Logan

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barefoot wedding on Pass-A-Grille Beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 1/320th SB-600 off camera to left

Such an odd name Pass-A-Grille Beach isn't it?  Every time I hear it I envision a close-up of an old style hibachi being passed around.  This is the place that Leslie and Logan will be telling people they got married at.  I wonder how they will explain the name to people?

The wedding ceremony was quite quick, only 5 minutes!

The weather was earlier looking like it would rain out the beach wedding, but instead just provided some dramatic clouds for a background.  Still, I kept my gear all sealed in my camera bags with a towel on top of them, just in case.  After I first saw Logan (kept thinking of the great sci-fi movie LOGAN'S RUN) I thought he looked exactly like Jason Sudeikis of SNL.

 Large group shots are always a challenge, but almost no hidden faces this time, success!

It was a large wedding party for a beach wedding.  I was told that most of the guests came from out of state, as Leslie and Logan themselves were from Indiana.  I was impressed that the couple had such great friends that they would hop on a flight to come to their wedding.  Indeed, I had a good time talking to some of them in between shots.  The beach formals kept me quite busy as there were many permutations that needed to be photographed.  My head did cast a shadow on the sand in the foreground, and worse my light stand cast a shadow on the second guy from the left.  It took a bit of cloning in Photoshop to make those disappear, but definitely worth the effort.  I left the two sea gulls flying by in though!

 The bride (right) having a good laugh with her friends

The above candid shot is exactly the type of photograph I am always looking to make on any kind of photography job I might have, be it a wedding, a portrait session or an event gig.  While getting in position for a formal portrait they were having a good laugh all by themselves, so I kept alert and was able to capture, to me, a shot that will have much more impact 10 years down the road than the formal shot I took just a few seconds after, although I still feel the formal is a must have shot.  

My favorite shot to attempt, the hold her up shot!

Once we got everyone photographed, it was, as always, just me and the bride and groom.  Fortunately, Leslie and Logan were tough and still had plenty of energy after doing a series of formals with friends and family.  As you can see above, they did great with my request for a "lift the bride" shot.  If I recall we did it on the first try as well!

Having backdrops like this are why couples come to Florida for their weddings

The above was another one take shot.  Leslie and Mark walked toward me and my SB-600 mounted on a light stand to frame right, and as they walked on a predetermined spot, I fired off one frame, a lucky one again.  They were really easy to work with and a very fun couple to photograph.  I hope they come to Florida for their tenth anniversary so I can photograph them again on Pass-A-Grille Beach! 

Candid Sunset Beach Florida Wedding - Teri & Aaron

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Bride & Groom backlit by an amazing Florida sunset on their wedding day

Photographing a beach sunset wedding is literally a race against the clock.  For Teri & Aaron's wedding on Sunset Beach, Treasure Island in St. Petersburg, we were extremely lucky to have about as perfect a cloudless sunset as you could have.  The weather prior to that day had been cold, windy and not entirely that sunny.  We had a warm evening, no wind and a perfectly sunny sky.

You may kiss the bride! After the wedding ceremony there was time for some fun candid portraits with the wedding party

The wedding ceremony itself was brief, but emotional.  This allowed time to for a few candid portraits in addition to standard wedding formals.  The mother and mother-in-law of the bride were open to my suggestion of a double kiss.  I framed this shot so that the pole blocked the sun allowing me to get an acceptable exposure of the ladies while still having a water background.  

A closing wedding custom of pouring actual beach sand into one glass

Challenges abound when holding a wedding on a public beach.  I cannot tell you how many onlookers wondered/ambled into the shots.  Then there are the random blue trash cans all over the place.  In the above sand ceremony shot, I had to make one of those blue trash cans "disappear" as it was very distracting in the background.  

Getting the bride and groom intimate with the Florida sunset

The clock in the case of a sunset beach wedding, is of course the setting sun.  It provides the great colors, but also a very finite amount of time to work with.  It is key to have your camera and strobe settings dialed in with only a few tweaks needed as the sun dips further in the sky.  That way you can focus on composition.  

I prefer this "golden fusion" shot to the typical all black silhouette style shot

I had a lot of fun photographing Aaron and Teri as I had them jump in the air, run down the beach and sit semi-perilously on some jetties.  Everything came together to allow as nearly ideal sunset wedding photography conditions as one could ask for.  Thanks Teri & Aaron!