I attended a wedding earlier this July in Southern Wisconsin. It was my first wedding as a "real" adult- all my previous weddings had taken place when I was much younger and all were for relatives or family friends. It was strange being at a wedding without my family, where I only new a handful of friends and no one else. My boyfriend was a groomsmen and the bride asked if I wouldn't mind taking a few photos of the groomsmen getting ready. While I had only worked as a videographer once before, I told her I would be happy to take some pictures for her.
Photographing a new or unfamiliar space reminds me of something I heard in a documentary on the cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs' work on "Easy Rider." As a Czech immigrant to the United States shooting a film that chronicles a road trip across America, he brought an entirely fresh perspective to landscapes that might be mundane to Americans. He shot the US through the lens of a wonder and was able to capture the various landscapes of the United States in a way that was new and exciting. While the wedding was nowhere near "Easy Rider," the opportunity to take photos in a new environment and for a type of event I hadn't experienced as an adult was a fun prospect.
The groomsmen and I arrived at the wedding venue a few hours early. The ceremony was at a farm, with several buildings and a refurbished barn on the property. While the guys hung out before getting dressed, I wandered around the grounds, eager to take some photos of my own. I walked through the wooded areas around the farm and around the buildings, getting shots of plants and scenic exteriors- images that could potentially find a place in a wedding album. It was afternoon and the sun was high overhead, illuminating everything and washing out any shadows that might have created contrast in a photo. For me, the time of day was less than ideal, especially as someone who favors a strong shadows and a moodier look.
I've found that I enjoy shooting interiors and exteriors only during specific times of day when the sun and shadows coexist. Interiors are a fascinating intersection of natural light and human-made structures and materials: light passing through glass or windows, light being bounced, reflected, or cut by the elements of space itself... It just shows, though, that I need to practice shooting at all times of day and find the interesting image, even at high noon. Especially for filmmaking, schedules are dictated by money, so why not start now by finding the beauty in all hours of the day?
When the groomsmen had dressed and were adding the finishing touches to their suits, I went to the area where they were getting ready. They were on the second floor of a small cabin. The only light came from a row of track lights on the ceiling and two windows on opposite ends of the building. The light was limited and posed a challenge: balance for tungsten or daylight? I ultimately opted for a tungsten white balance, hoping to correct the minimal blue light from the windows in my editing process. The track lighting was hot and bright, but not widespread, creating areas of deep shadow. In the photos I took, the guys are lit with strong lights that capture their edges more so than their full faces. It's a more cinematic look, although not exactly the traditional wedding portrait... There was also a triple mirror in the cabin and I enjoyed snapping pictures of the guys and their reflections getting ready. The contrast of light and shadow fit perfectly with my photographic interests, albeit not what wedding images typically look like.
This was taken in the barn where the reception took place. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun was high and not shining directly through the two big windows in the barn, creating this soft, sort of cool lighting that caught all the glassware on the tables.
The night before the wedding, there was a rehearsal dinner at a bowling alley. This was a great place to play with colored lights and their effects on skin tone. The darkness of the space pushed the ISO capabilities of my camera, but I still was able to get some images without too much noise. The super saturated and colorful lights don't fit every story/situation, but this is a look I want to explore more in the future (pending on the right project)...
Another from the bowling alley: love the bokeh and the teal edge on him (wish there was a tiny bit more fill light in his face though...)