Photos – The Wedding

One of my oldest friends got married last month, and I was a groomsman, which was a bit of a surreal moment. It was even more surreal than being a groomsman for my little sister’s wedding. He is one of my oldest friends, someone I spent countless afternoons playing street hockey with in middle school and high school.

I also ended up being an impromptu photographer at the service. Read the whole story and see some more photos after the break.

The bride, Gracie, on the left, the groom, George, on the right (names changed). I really like George’s expression.

While riding with the groom to the service, I asked about the photographer for the wedding and reception:

“Who’d you guys hire?”
“Uh, well. We didn’t.”
“…You don’t have a photographer?”
“We couldn’t afford one.”

Due to funds being tight, the couple couldn’t hire a professional photographer. They were relying on guests to take all of their pictures on their special day.

I made a quick call to my mom and asked her to bring my DSLR to the service. I don’t consider myself a wedding photographer in the slightest, but I could at least help George and Gracie out (names changed per the groom’s request).

George calls the shots.

Regular readers will note that I rarely take photos of people. So, this was a new challenge. I did do a few ‘posed’ shots, but I had more fun walking around and getting the candid shots you see here. These are my favorites. I may post some of the posed shots later, so I can compare everything.

I cross processed the colors in Photoshop to make them a bit more interesting. I like the end result a lot. Since I was stuck with only natural lighting, I had to do what I could.

Bill, the best man.

I need to take more photos of people. I haven’t done that nearly enough, candid or posed.

Signing the paperwork.

This was another of my favorite candid shots. I like how everyone is lined up. That’s the Reverend/Pastor/Whatever on the left. The Maid of Honor and Best Man are in the background. I also like how the groom is leaning out of the frame a bit. I had to Clone Brush out a rope in the tree above the Rev’s head. That was a lot of work, but thankfully, it was blurry and in the background

I did the cross processing technique here too, but I had to alter it a bit, as George’s skin looked really weird.

And here is the original version (with original color). See that annoying rope?

I knew I didn’t want that in the final photo, as I hated how it went right into the Rev’s head. It took a bit of Clone Brush/Stamp/Whatever work in Photoshop, but I got it outta there. The trick with Clone Stamping (yeah, that’s it, not brush),  I’ve learned via trial and error, is to use a low opacity and keep taking different samples.

Am I going to start a wedding photography business? Nope.

I don’t think it would be something I would enjoy that much, as I’m not a big fan of attending weddings. Although, being paid to attend a wedding may change my tune. Fast. But more importantly, I’m not good enough for something like that yet, and I don’t have the proper gear anyway.

I am enjoying my ‘man on the street’ approach to photography though: just walking around, taking pictures of whatever, without dragging a bunch of gear with me. All I have is my 18-55mm kit lens and my 55-250mm zoom.

A gig I wouldn’t mind though, would be something like a staff photographer for a zoo (or something similar). But again, I’m not at the skill level for that kind of job yet.

More photos tomorrow!