Weddings are a time to honor tradition, commitment and family.
But as any wedding photojournalist knows, they’re
also a great time for people to come together and cut loose.
To capture all those spontaneous moments that will be talked
about for years to come, a wedding photographer needs a
quick eye and a good camera—oh, and a sense of humor
doesn’t hurt either. A few award-winning WPJA members
share their stories about some of the wildest, party-centric
weddings they’ve ever covered.
EXPECT
THE UNEXPECTED
Even the most well prepared wedding photojournalist might
not know when a reception will be a party-hard affair.
“I
never know until I arrive if the wedding I’m at is
going to rock the house or be prim and proper,” says
Karen Gordon, a WPJA member from New York. “I've been
doing this long enough to know that sometimes the couples
who I think for sure will let loose have a rather dull reception,
and the couples who I would never have expected to really
know how to get down end up having a blast.”
Heather
Mabry, a WPJA member in Texas, has a similar view. “I've
photographed weddings in which I arrive, I get a sense of
the atmosphere and the guests, and think to myself ‘this
is going to be a slow one’ — and then they end
up surprising me. Grandma is getting down on the dance floor
and the bride and groom are doing tequila shots. You never
really can tell for sure.”
So
how to prepare for the unknown? Mabry, as a rule, makes
sure she’s ready for anything. “Often, I'm in
another room at a reception and I hear clapping or screaming
or laughing and I know right away that I have to get into
that other room as soon as possible,” she says. “I
always have my camera on me, even when I'm on the way to
the bathroom—you never know what could happen on the
way!”
George
Wolf, a WPJA photographer from Nevada, finds that watching
the mood of the wedding itself gives the wedding photojournalist
a good idea of where the reception is headed. If a wedding
is a more casual affair, held outside or in a different
venue from a church, “that casual atmosphere will
carry over to the reception. The other clue that people
might get rowdy,” he wisecracks, “is when half
the crowd is holding a Corona during the actual ceremony.”
Some great photographs may come at those moments when wedding
guests’ antics and tradition collide, as in a photo
by Karen Gordon that placed in a WPJA contest. The picture
shows a man sitting in the middle of the floor covered with
money, balancing an unidentified beverage on his forehead.
“This
photo was taken at the climax of a Greek wedding celebration,”
Gordon remembers. “In that tradition, the guests throw
money at the bride and groom and anyone else who gets in
the middle of the circle. This moment was a serendipitous
intersection of a guest letting loose and the money flying
through the air.”
GET
INTO THE ACTION
A wedding photojournalist’s focus on the bigger story,
rather than one individual photo or set of posed photos,
means that he or she has the confidence and the skill to
get right into the thick of things without disturbing a
great moment or, worse, missing it altogether.
“Shooting
a reception is a lot like being at a volatile spot-news
situation, like a riot or protest march,” says Wolf.
“I roam around with the wide angle lens and wait for
something to happen, then I pounce on the developing action.”
He
continues, “as a group, I think [wedding photojournalists]
are better at getting in the middle of the action and finding
and capturing the emotion there. It's a lot like getting
the jubilation after a sports team wins the big championship
game. You just run into the mayhem and look for good faces.”
In one case, the mayhem he captured, a bridal party dancing
on top of a limo in a photo that placed in a recent WPJA
contest, was definitely of the one-in-a-million variety.
“This
particular photo would never have happened during a normal
situation,” Wolf remembers. “But in this case,
the limo driver was their friend and it was a privately
owned car. So, he let them get on top. When the car got
close to the restaurant everyone could hear the rowdy noise
and it was just a matter of grabbing the long lens and snapping
off a few quick shots while the car went past.”
Not
everyone at the reception got into the spirit, however.
“The funny thing is that when the limo stopped, the
security at the facility came out and griped out the driver
and the bridal party for twenty minutes over the liability
issues. Of course, no one really cared and they ignored
the complaints as much as possible.”
Heather
Mabry also prepares for action whenever and wherever it
arises. “I think when you're at a wedding where people
are having a great time and cutting loose, it’s really
important that you be ready to capture those unscripted
moments,” she says. “They always end up being
some of my favorite images.”
Her photo of a bridesmaid performing some wild dance moves,
which placed in a WPJA contest, demonstrates this to great
effect.
“I
was in the room with this lively group of bridesmaids as
they were getting ready,” Mabry says. “This
particular bridesmaid was a ball of crazy energy. She started
to demonstrate her dance moves for the reception and I knew
I had to get a shot, so I put my Canon Mark II shutter on
high speed and shot away. This was my favorite shot of the
group because of the way her hair is in motion and because
of the look on the other bridesmaids’ faces.”
The
wedding photojournalist can’t hang on the sidelines
if she wants to get that great shot. As Mabry says, she’s
got to be in the midst of it and share the mood and excitement.
“There
have been times I have been scared of getting hurt when
crazy drunken groomsmen are jumping around and throwing
people...but I know that I can get a great shot that way
and it’s worth the risk. That is why I have insurance!”
she jokes.
Karen
Gordon agrees. “Wedding photojournalism is all about
capturing the moment, and there's nothing more exciting
than being in the midst of a moment that is full of life,
that's uninhibited and raw in its celebration,” she
says. “Few things inspire me more.”
—by
Heather Bowlan for the Wedding Photojournalist Association
