I love this sequence I got of Mindi’s veil on attack.  :)

This is one of those situations where things happen so quickly that you have to react before you can really think about it.  I’ve posted before on the subject in When Champagne Attack and also about my bird formation shot, aka my “trained geese” title some of my friends bestowed on it.

In the veil shot, if you didn’t realize the breeze you heard coming across the pond was headed straight for the shot, you might have missed the first half of the sequence, and I think in certain instances (like this) the sequence makes the shot(s) all the more wonderful.  So much of it is running through different scenarios in your head, stuff that may or may not happen, but that at least gets you in the frame of mind to be “ready” so to speak so that you don’t have to really think about it when it happens.  It’s kind of like a rehearsal in your mind, not planned but definitely anticipated.

It’s what I live for.  It’s the unplanned that makes a wedding uniquely yours, gives you a story to tell.    See ya!

Meet Efiom.  Efiom Married Nina twice!  Once in the village of Dikenafai and once in Calabar.  This portrait was made after their Igba Nkwu ceremony at Nina’s parents’ place in Dikenafai.  Most of what I’ve photographed in Nigeria has been of the Igbo tribe, which Nina is a part of.  Efiom is Efik.  His attire was a little, um, different than traditional Igbo wedding day attire.  It was explained to me that some their attire is influenced by early European colonialism.  The first outfit he wore really kind of reminded me of something you’d see at a Mardi Gras celebration.  Know what I mean?

In order to do these after-ceremony portraits without the many hired and spec shooters ruining everything, we had to sneak out the back of the house and take some back pathways to this location.  Seriously, it’s nuts with the photographers.  They are all over the place.  Getting used to them makes dealing with the occasional “Uncle Bob” a piece of cake.  Here is a shot of JUST A FEW of the photographers and videographers there who, according to one of them, was going to “show me up” in the photo department.  This doesn’t make for a great environment to do really great work.  It’s tough, but possible.

These photographers and videographers very much behave in a vulture/pack system.  They are always right on top of the action, shoulder to shoulder, and that makes it very difficult to vary position and get different shots without getting them right smack in the middle of the shot.  I can’t begrudge them their work.  They are welcome at these ceremonies, and they are just trying to survive like everyone else there.  I just have to be more vigilant, aggressive and on-point when it comes to shooting these.  I’m always amazed at how much I do come away with without having all these photographers front and center in these photos.

This was my first experience with Efik folk and their customs.  Part of what comes with this group is the very interesting Ekpe masquerade as seen in my photo below.  Seriously, it was right at 100ºF the entire time I was there, and I cannot imagine how hot it is in one of these suits!

Handsome dude, gorgeous bride.  They are going to have some seriously good looking kids.  I hope they can one day come to Atlanta so I can see them again, or one day I can go back and meet up with them.

This image is from the first of two wedding ceremonies Nina and Efiom had in Nigeria.  This was her Igba Nkwu held in her family’s home village of Dikenafai.  We had a few minutes between ceremonial happenings, so we did a quick portrait session inside.  I can’t tell you how happy I am with this image, the color, sense of movement, happiness, grace, everything.  That perfect shadow just puts it over the top for me.  The color is just insane, and it’s straight out of the camera.  Unreal.  Ye Nikon D3 and your insane low light skills, I couldn’t have done it without you!

I feel so honored that people will go through all the trouble and expense of hauling me to such remote places to help document these very important family rituals.  And I’m so happy there are people out there who see above the mindset of “it’s just pictures” and go through the trouble of making photography a priority.  These images will outlive everyone involved in creating them, and I’ll have been forgotten the soonest, but my stamp will be on these images forever.  And best of all, in two trips to document weddings in Nigeria, I’ve made many great friends I’ll never forget.

Exactly one week after Allison’s wedding, I was shooting her bridal.  Why do this?  The schedule was packed, and this location was visually softer than the wedding location.  It affords a more relaxed approach.  Doing a bridal after the wedding has the big-time advantage of not having to worry anymore about the dress and the big reveal, so you can have a lot more fun with the shoot.

The above image is my absolute favorite from the session.  Here are a couple more as well.  Allison and Marshall’s wedding preview will be up this week sometime.  Keep an eye out for it!

I placed 1st in the ceremony category in ISPWP’s wedding contest with the above image of Purvee during one of her ceremonies.  The judges’ comments were, “Great color and great light, a tough ceremony to shoot good job” and “Great moment and nice colors.”

And tough it was!  The series I got was definitely an example of making the best of a difficult situation.  I’d never seen so many people in one house, and it was extremely difficult to move around.  At this point, I’d found myself “behind the action,” so to speak, the typical view you’d expect, and there was just no time to plow through and get around.  We don’t set things up or do any do-overs.  When I saw this starting to happen, I dropped to the ground and fired away, resulting in one of the most unique shots of the entire three days of celebrations.  Sometimes when you depart from the expected viewpoint, you find the real story.

I also placed third in the category “Motion and Movement” with the image below.  I also got an amazing series from this fun mishap!

I just got back from Waterloo, Ontario, where I was shooting the wedding of Jen and Attila at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery.  What a GORGEOUS space to have a wedding.  I’ll have the image preview up soon, but this amazing vertical won’t make it into the preview show, so here ya go.  We did a walk through the day before, and there were TONS of places outside slated for photos, but it would turn out to be a wedding day dampened by heavy downpours all day.  It didn’t matter.  I worked this space like nobody’s business, and the result is something I can be happy with.

This display (and the other “blue” display you’ll see in the preview) was a bunch of hand-spun glass pieces attached to the wall.  The lighting on the wall is ambient, and I lit Jen with a strobe.  These two displays really made my day.

Stay tuned for a preview show from the wedding.  It was amazing!

So we just got back from a wedding on Jekyll Island at the amazing Jekyll Island Club Hotel for Hannah & Brad’s wedding. What an amazing place! I was doing some portraits around the waterfront on the ground, but I was wondering how I could change this up a bit. Well, why not climb up one of these amazing Live Oak trees? That works! I’ll have their preview up soon. Stay tuned! Here is a shot of me working up in the tree. Quite a different perspective!

Heather and Thomas were married at the beautiful Sawgrass Beach Club in Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville, Florida. Everything went great! For photographers, the shot above was taken approaching 11:00PM and was lit strictly by moonlight. There just happened to be a full moon or nearly full moon, so that helped. It was a 15 second exposure, and Heather and Thomas were amazing at holding still for that long! It was totally worth it, though! Click here for the slide show of their wedding.

Every now and then I see folks touting that they are strictly a natural or available light only photographer. Typically, this will mean someone is not comfortable with lighting, especially on location. So what happens when this natural light photographer gets into a situation where available light is just plain boring? The image can be stroked in Photoshop and salvaged somewhat, but there are times when available light just won’t do.

The image above is an example of making the best of bad weather. It had rained the entire wedding day, so we planned to come out the morning after to what we assumed would be nice weather again. We were wrong. While it wasn’t raining, it was so overcast and gray that it made lighting the shot necessary. The shot below is literally what we had to deal with. There is not much you can do with that light alone without supplemental lighting.

The experience and skill level of your photographer can make a blah day interesting. Options are good! Here is another example shot the same time:

]]> http://climie.com/_shout/2007/06/i-specialize-in-natural-light-photography/feed/ 5 http://climie.com/_shout/2007/01/so-what-if-it-rains/ http://climie.com/_shout/2007/01/so-what-if-it-rains/#comments Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:28:52 +0000 Climie http://climie.com/_shout/?p=28

Rain on the wedding day is one of the biggest concerns for couples. It doesn’t happen very often for us, but when it does, we come fully prepared. We can’t control the weather, but we can help get the best possible outcome. Jen and Mark had a beautiful ceremony location and reception venue. The reception venue is known for it’s gorgeous landscaping and beautiful gardens. The problem was that it rained. No, it poured from after the ceremony until dark, eliminating any possibility of outside shots.

What the photographers can do in this situation can make all the difference. Most of the venue was taken up by guests of the couple, limiting what we could do inside. I decided to shoot them on the staircase, but it wasn’t particularly ornate. Great lighting can make the ordinary extraordinary and really transform any situation into something amazing.

Be sure to take a look at Jen & Mark’s preview slideshow to see how the day went.