Capturing-The-Moment!
… and the list of my best suggestions for your wedding day!
Capturing the moment!
The true essence of our entire approach to shooting a wedding!
The main question I’ve been asking myself all these years is how I can be fast and precise to bring back all the moments that came my way from a wedding.
While it is impossible to take all the moments on the wedding day since we can not be in all places at all times, what sounded doable to me was to TAKE all the moments that would come my way.
I always believed there must be a way to be precise and quick, know angles and light, and build good intuition and anticipation to see where you have to be and how to maximize the number of authentic moments taken nicely.
I speak with many photographers, and many see the shot but have no time or understanding of how to get it fast, nice and precise. This skill takes work. It takes a lot of time to master and perfect it. Years to be exact.
I still remember the time when “military technology” of taking multiple shots with one continuous shutter click came on the market, and a lot of folks in California thought that this “machine gun” style of shooting would solve the trick of “capturing the moment .”
Definitely it was an advance in comparison with the film era. Many more moments could have been taken now, but you still need to understand how to make them look great and, believe it or not – how not to miss one!
I remember being shocked that this “machine gun shooting style” leaves as much room for errors as the traditional shooting style.
The Capturing the Moment approach creates a fantastic memory of your Wedding Day and lets you re-live it repeatedly.
When the image is real – you know and feel it!
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When the image is real – you know and feel it! 〰️
I am not the only one fascinated by Capturing the Moment and definitely not the only one perfecting it.
What I know about my style is that time is highly precious to me on your wedding day; every moment is extraordinary. I approach every moment with almost a religious feeling of its uniqueness that I can hardly explain fully, and I truly celebrate my ability to have this moment captured in its genuine authenticity.
Over the years, I realized that my capturing-the-moment technique is unprecedented – guaranteed!
Since you are shopping for your wedding photography, here is a list of my best suggestions.
It will not only help you understand what you are shopping for but also give you valuable clues about what you can do to help the photographer create a great set of pictures for you!!!
Be yourself.
Imagine the following: Someone points a camera with a very long lens straight into you.
What will be your reaction?
You may get uncomfortable, shy or worried, or playful.
Well, the worst thing that may happen is that you freeze up.
If that happens, we’ll deal with it (see tricks below), but other than that, I am no different.
You point a cam at me - I often become playful.
Is it good or bad? Different photographers may tell you other things.
Pure photojournalists or true Capturing the Moment photographers will probably tell you that these reactions are bad and don’t do it. From their point of view, none of those reactions are good!
They’ll tell you, “we need you to be yourself and don’t react to my camera, etc.”
They say, “we are trying to capture you as you are in the moment of the wedding day and not in your reaction to the photographer,” etc.
Instructions like that put additional pressure and strain on your wedding day.
On top of everything, you are supposed to remember rules and instructions to do this and not do that…
I tried this approach but sort of quit it as not practical.
I say – just be yourself.
If you catch me shooting you and react – we’ll play with this reaction, have some shooting fun, whatever that means for you, and then we will share a good laugh!
Did I capture a moment with you?
Sure I did, and I am sure you’ll love the picture.
So, I say, just be yourself.
I’ll do my part of the game.
I’ll figure out how to be in the right place at the right time and with some good lighting and proper angle, bringing some artistic elements into my shots if needed, but I will get more candid shots with you plus, I already know it that at one point you will literally find that other moments of the wedding day are much more exciting than looking at me so this problem will dissolve itself automatically ;-).
So, I say, don’t worry about all these rules.
Be yourself, enjoy the day, don’t try, and don’t pretend.
If one of my photographers or I need your attention, we will ask you!
Also, if you want some pictures, posed or funny, formal or casual, alone or with someone, don’t be shy to let us know.
It will be our pleasure.
Family portrait session tips.
Immediately after the wedding ceremony, we will have a big shot of everybody, and then we will ask immediate family and whoever else you decide to stay for the family portrait session near the church.
Sometimes people ask me if they are immediate family, so the answer I give them is straightforward – if you think you are an immediate family, you probably are - stay!
Family sessions have a considerable affinity to becoming messy. People tend to wander around, chat, not pay attention, and go to their car to bring a couple of bottles of water or something else that helps them to go thru this hot day. Often, this results in 30 family members waiting for “my sister’s cousin who will be right back, he just needs to bring me my purse that I forgot in the car,” etc.
Don’t forget that all this wasted time is taken from the most creative part of the day – your Together Session – and this is the last thing we want to have on your wedding day.
The family portrait session is sort of a must, something we have to shoot for you, but it is more of a formality that we want to get done as soon as possible. That’s why we always ask you to do 2 things for us:
To have someone from the family, maybe even one on the bride’s side and one on the groom’s side if necessary, to help us get through this session as quickly as possible.
To provide these people with the list of shots that must be taken, they can call the following picture. These people have to know all the family members and have some intimate knowledge of how to organize them.
I don’t mind yelling on behalf of this family representatives if needed ;-)
The list of shots deserves separate instructions!
Tips on how to create the shot sheet:
It is best to start with the biggest group and slowly break it down into smaller and smaller groups.
“Subtraction” is the best strategy: easy to plan and execute.
So your plan will look like this:
Bride’s side:
Large group photo
(parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, step-parents, godparents, etc.).
Parents, step-parents, grandparents, siblings
Parents, grandparents, siblings
Parents, siblings
Parents
Siblings
Single photo with mom, single photo with dad
Whichever else, one by one with the bride.
Groom’s side.
The same will be repeated as above + specifics…
ADDENDUM
Add all the mixed families shots.
I prefer to extend the family portraits session by, at most, 30 min. We can always take more family shots during the reception or table shots if you plan to go around and speak with every table’s guests. Or even do it without you.
As long as there is no time sacrifice from the Together Session – I am all for it.
We usually take some formal, some casual, and some fun portraits of each group, so remember it’s not just one click for every set of people + people usually get creative and want to take more fun pics, so expect this session to extend at least 30 min or a bit over naturally.
How to position yourself for portraits and look your best: smizing, squinching, jawfronting, etc.
We are trying to make you picture-perfect in every photo.
Here is our list of industry-proven tricks that will help us achieve it.
Trick #1.
During all the portrait shots, you look your best with “Long neck. Shoulders down”
You elongate yourself by removing the natural hatchback posture that most of us relax into by default. Imagine a cord attached to the very top of your head pulls you up. Elongate yourself – you will look fantastic in pics!
Trick #2.
Don’t look down – that’s trick #2
Trick #3.
To look cool, you may want to “Squinch your eyes” ;-) “a magic combo of squinting and pinching that quickly turns
your “deer in the headlight look into a more sultry gaze.”
Squinting is narrowing the distance between the pupil center and the lower eyelid.
To do it correctly, think about what you do when you half close your eyes in front of an intense light – you do it with both upper and lower lids, right?
Now try to do it with your lower lid, like naturally when you have a conversation. This is Squinching! It brings just your lower lid up.
Trick #4.
“Smize” – that is, “smile with your eyes.”
Trick #5.
Accentuate your jawline, and don’t show your double chin. When you are just standing without thinking, your jawline will be in the middle of what it needs to be for you to look great. If you move your head back, the double chin will be accentuated. Don’t do it.
Do right the opposite. Bring your head forward. Bring your forehead out and down.
With these 5 tips, you will look absolutely crazily fantastic!
Ceremony! Any restrictions?
Please, make sure to tell us about any restrictions on shooting in the church, temple, or synagogue. Some churches restrict movements during shootings beyond the obvious. Some go as far as limiting movements. We have to know it. These rules were often introduced when the cameras were super big and bulky and have never changed since. We will talk to the priest or the celebrant and often will talk them down and get more freedom of movement for our crew.
We’ve done it countless times.
Sometimes if the rules are stringent and need to be changed, we can install extra cameras.
This is something we really don’t want to discover 5 min before the ceremony begins.
It is critically important to us.
Reception
Make sure you will tell the DJ or MC, whoever is in control of the reception schedule, that it is critically important for you that he will adequately communicate to photographers and videographers about anything that is about to begin.
While we will do our part as well and ask him/her to do it, I found that more often than not, if a vendor is “troubled,” they work better fearing you than helping us ;-)
We are there not to miss anything, but some of our equipment and lighting take a few minutes to bring and start and ensure they work correctly. It is not an instant thing.
Also, there is always more than 1 person shooting, and we need to correctly position ourselves to have good coverage of whatever will happen.
There are more tips if you are hiring both photo and video teams here …
Always remember the main rule:
We are there for you.
We are playing on your side all day long.
We are creating a timeless memory for you, and the best results will be achieved if we do it together.
We want you to look your best and capture all the beautiful and authentic moments that you, your children, and maybe even your grandchildren will cherish and treasure for years to come!