This is my recap of the wedding pictures.

There were many many pictures taken that day, but I was able to skim through them and pick out some of my favorites so I could do a recap here.

It’s gonna be a long post because I have lots of pictures to share.
And also a few words about how to make every wedding this great.

Perfectly planned

I really had a great time doing this wedding.
Being in Hawaii certainly didn’t hurt.
They were also a great looking couple, had a great family, picked a wonderful place for the wedding and reception.
They had everything planned out very well and that makes my job so much easier and makes for better pictures.

So if a future bride is reading this.

Please note that it just doesn’t naturally happen with no effort.

What to do?
This bride seemed to almost plan the day around wonderful picture opportunities.
From the fans and the parisols the brides mades used to flying her stylist over from her island.

She seemed to pick the location based on her own estimation and advice from the hotels as to which one had the best photography spots.
And she picked well.

So therefore… pick a great place to get married or time to travel to a spot on that day.

She even organized the banquet/reception to end in time to have her be able to do photography at sunset.
Most people seem unwilling to do that sometimes planning a reception during sunset.
Perhaps it helped since she had a captive audience since 70 people flew from another island.

I can’t and won’t just pull you away from whatever you’re doing to get sunset pictures.
But I will be willing to do them if that desire comes from you.

I’ll do my best to take amazing pictures. But if you aren’t willing to go the extra mile with a smile… well… you understand.

She got tons of pictures during the reception that she will be using for several projects that would have not been possible unless she had 2 people helping organize those shots. I could have done them but not effeciently in the time that it needed to, because we had the help of others to cut down drastically on the time and have me simply doing the shots, what I do best.
Besides she planned a banquet/formal reception which allow for better pictures than a “lined” reception.
The program allowed for great pictures as well as the nice decorations.

Finally they were troopers.
I pride myself in making the shoots fun and creative.
But they were more than willing to make the pictures happen.

Those who are more interested in and excited about pictures will more often get the better pictures.
We photographers feed off of that energy.

They didn’t just wait for instructions (slowing the process down) but they put emotion into their pictures.
And they acted quickly to help utilize effectively the short time we had.
I’m not saying they were the best actors or characters I’ve photographed. In fact I did most of the ideas, but it just happened that I was on a roll. but I think their attitude played a big part and the way we interacted.

Never once did I hear… “But I’m not photogenic”, or “I don’t look good in pictures”
It’s our job to make good pictures and I’d like to think I do a good job and everyone is always pleased, so if you just trust us and just relax and have fun.
Remember we thrive with the emotion of the moment.

Having tons of time to shoot isn’t the key, it’s a team effort to act effectively with the time given.

(Above) Two poses they made happen entirely on their own. The prep dancing they didn’t even know about.

The photographer and those being photographed should both be creative together working to make things happen.
The emotion and feeling of the picture needs to flow from them.
I tend to put them in the poses that match the mood coming from them and from the light of the day.

Even though I scouted out the location in advance to see what could work, we still were open to any possibility that night.
We had to roll with the time and situation given to us.

Just exactly how the light would be hitting at the moment we passed by the location we were walking around.

And it all went down perfectly. And part of that perfection comes from moving fast and taking advantage of every picture we had time for. But not limiting ourselves to expectations of pictures and then not having time to make them happen.
Having wants and desires is great but we need to be able to roll with the flow and settle for the best pictures possible.
If she had wanted a picture that took 20 minutes to travel to or create then we would have missed out on soo much.

There was trust that I would do my job but it wasn’t a blind relience that it only depended on me and that the subject didn’t have to do anything nor did they even have to care.

Hawaii sure didn’t hurt, nor did their good looks of the bride and groom, nor Dustin assisting me that evening with lighting and bags.
And creating and inviting to more opportunities is very helpful.

But the moral of the story is…
It’s partnership of creativity, we all work together to make great pictures.

More pictures after the jump
or more pictures on smugmug

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