As a friend of mine says, "Get a big cup of coffee and a snack.  This is going to be a long one."  The subject of today's blog is also the reason you did not see a blog last week. My face was glued to the computer screen, developing photographs from a wedding at Prairie Star at Santa Ana Pueblo near Albuquerque on 26 August.  I served as a second shooter for Steve Immel, and am happy he asked me along on this rodeo.  As I always do on a shoot, I learned a lot.  We have different styles of portraiture and I think our two styles meshed quite nicely. Steve has some fabulous images from the wedding.  My husband, Fred, and Steve's wife, Peggy, served as key grips and gear sherpas, and were absolutely invaluable.  A huge round of applause all around!

To me, weddings are a combination of photo journalism/documentary filmmaking, sports, and environmental portraiture/fine art photography.  The long and short of it is that a wedding is a story.  Complete with a cast of characters and plot, it happens on a specific date and time, in a certain location, and unfolds before the photographer's eye and camera.  The photographer's job is to capture the story in photographs.  Steve and I kept this in mind as we were shooting, trying to catch important shots as they occurred and from different enough positions to produce a combination of original and pleasing results.

Given the three categories of photography I mentioned, I selected some from each.  Shooting the preparation for the wedding actually was a longer process than the ceremony itself so there are many photographs in the category.  Here are a couple from the women's side (Steve photographed the men).  The makeup and hair artist, Genica Lee, was amazing.  A magazine or newspaper article could definitely be written about this woman, who works for television and film, as well as for photographic subjects and special occasions, like weddings.

Kara getting hair done

It is important that a photographer catches bridesmaids making costume adjustments behind the scenes...

Kara with bridesmaids

...as well as documenting the wedding including the signing of the wedding license.

Kara and Eero pondering the license

Parts of a wedding are almost like sports events, in that the photographer needs to be moving quickly enough to catch a particular part of the wedding sequence, whether it is the bridesmaids and groomsmen, or the flower girls, as shown below...

flower girls

 ...or the bride, Kara, and groom, Eero who are definitely on the move, making their way to the reception.

  Kara and Eero running 1

Kara and Eero running 2

Then there is the dancing.  

dancing

Since environmental portraiture and fine art photography are two of my favorite types of photography, I try to make sure that there are many images of that ilk at every wedding I shoot.  In their own right, these images tell stories about the subjects.  The photographs below all show the bride and groom. Others will be forthcoming in future blogs.  The first in the sequence features the bride, Kara, before going downstairs for the ceremony.

Kara with veil

Both Kara and Eero wanted black and white photographs in addition to color, so Steve and I wanted to make sure there were plenty of them.

Kara and Eero on knoll b&w

Kara on knoll

Eero on knoll-2

But the sky, as is frequently the case during monsoon season, held lots of drama, and color photographs highlighted that in a different way.

Kara and Eero on knoll closer

Kara and Eero on knoll

Thanks to Elida, Ingrid, TTT, Wayne, Steve, Conchita, and Dianne for commenting on my previous blog, and waiting until now to be thanked for their kind words. Thanks also to Kara and Eero for allowing me to use their wedding photographs in my blog.  It was a real privilege to photograph them, their families, and friends.  

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image@