2013 Behind the Scenes

Just for fun, here are a handful behind-the-scenes photos from a couple of weddings this year. I thought about going back through and grabbing all my "sync shots" (I'll explain) but, seriously, no one cares and that would be a lot of work. Big thank you to all the great photographers I've worked with over the course of the year, and a special tip of the hat here to those who took a moment to grab one of me in action. Here's what I look like at weddings: Possibly my favorite ever. Sorry for the compression and weird-looking-ness of this photo - it's been to Facebook and back again. Still, who could deny a wedding photographer herp derp? More derping. I'm good at this. I'm honestly not sure what I'm trying to demonstrate. No part of a cake-cutting involves that hand motion. Here's a sync shot. I have one from every wedding I've shot since I got Lightroom. The jist is my second and I take a photo at the same time, which I can then later use in my processing software to change all of their photos to align with mine, time-wise. Very handy. Whoever I'm syncing with here obviously didn't wait to 3. Also, check out my rad blue hair. I must have just dyed it before this wedding. Maybe not the best example, but it's one I had lying around, easily accessible. So many black dresses, so little time.

A wedding photographer’s wish-list and my ideal wedding conditions

Every wedding photographer has a wish-list, whether they've got it written down or just in the back of their heads. For instance, my buddy Maggie wants nothing more than to photograph a circus wedding - with a striped tent and performers and all that good stuff. That sounds awesome to me, but it wouldn't make the list. But before I give people having their wedding at hotels or golf courses or vineyards a big sad, I thought I'd instead muse on my favorite wedding things.

My ideal wedding conditions

I get asked this question a lot, so maybe it should instead be an Infrequently Asked Question. Potential clients ask me about my ideal wedding conditions. They think I'm going to say something like good weather, outdoors, sunset ceremony, beautiful venue. Those things are nice. Certainly if I were given complete free reign to make a wedding (ha!) I'd make it sunny, golden hour all day, no bugs, gorgeous outdoor venue with funky artsy indoor spaces and - heck - let's just put the whole thing in Paris. In reality, the only thing that really matters are the people. A gorgeous venue in perfect light is great, but if everybody's all mopey, it's crap to photograph. I love weddings with lots of rambunctious kids or drunk friends or really tight families that are constantly hugging and laughing. I love weddings with activities - lawn games, pre-wedding festivities, art projects. I love weddings with a crazy dance floor. I love weddings filled with happy people. Everything else is just window dressing. So, that said, you can see that my wish-list basically doesn't matter. Happy people in an Applebee's trump mopey people on a beach in Hawaii any day. But...

My wedding wish list

Places and circumstances I would be freakin' ecstatic about photographing. Star Trek wedding. This is hands-down #1 on my list. I'm talking all-out set design, costumes, boldly-going-where-no-one-has-gone-before vows, taser instead of bouquet... I want to photograph a Star Trek wedding. Seriously. Come to me. Wedding at a zoo or aquarium. I've seen a handful of weddings at various zoos and aquariums. I want in on the fun. I also imagine the sort of couple that gets married at a zoo or aquarium is the sort of couple that would enjoy or at least tolerate spending the day with me. I could do so much awesome stuff with the scenery at these places. Let me at the fishes. Skydiving, white water rafting or other extreme-sport wedding. Okay, so I've never been skydiving, so I don't know if I could even take a single photograph while doing it. But I'm sure down for the challenge. I've done a hot air balloon engagement session, so I'm ready to ramp it up for the actual vows. Hawaii. I think Hawaii is on this list because I can't imagine flying myself there. I'm not much of a beach person, so getting a trip together over places like Greece or Thailand is just not in the cards... at the moment. My travel ends up being all rugged and somewhat painful and grueling. But Hawaii seems like this magical land of always-great weather and absolutely jaw-dropping scenery and generally a wonderful place. Whenever I imagine photographing something, I always imagine I have a bride and groom to place in the scene. Hawaii wouldn't be the same without a wedding.

Venues I want to shoot at

So those are the big four. But while I was putting the list together, I came up with a bunch of venues I'd like to shoot at, and this seems like as good a time to mention them as any. Probably this year I'll get my ish together and do a post on my favorite venues I've already been to (hello Patapsco Female Institute), but for now, here's my want-tos.

• American Visionary Arts Museum I generally enjoy shooting in museums (as you might have noticed from my courthouse and engagement posts). I'm really excited about photographing weddings in the Newseum this year and next.