Lest you think I’m spending all my time shooting and processing landscape photographs, I thought I’d scatter some of my recent wedding work in here too!
I’d never shot a wedding at the Elk River Touring Center in Slatyfork, West Virginia before, but I made the most of it! This place is wonderful and has it all: great grassy field for a terrific background to the wedding? Check. Fantastic food? Check. A stream to cool your heels (well, freeze your feet off) after a long bike ride through the woods? Check. Wonderful rustic barn and completely rusted wheelbarrow perfect for a quick portrait? Oh most definitely check.
This wall of the barn and the rusty wheelbarrow are the first things I noticed as I pulled up in my car the day before the wedding and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Since the bride and groom were being traditional in that she didn’t want the groom to see the dress before the wedding, I knew I’d have to do this shot after the ceremony, but before the couple got too involved with the reception. I also knew that the sun was going to be behind the wall when I’d have the opportunity to shoot this image, so I also planned the lighting in advance. (It helps to know where to expect the sun at a given time of day!)
This was a simple shot to set up: I knew I wanted the bride looking at the groom. In my imagination, I pictured her more face-on to the camera, but with her head turned. When I suggested she look at her new husband, she turned her body and I knew I liked the reality I was seeing more than what I had pictured in my mind.
The light is coming from not from the sun but from a single flash unit mounted on a light stand off-camera to the right and triggered by a wireless remote.
Interesting tidbit about the making of this image. When I first saw this wall, the wheelbarrow was leaning against it exactly as you see it in the picture. It was so rusted, I thought it was really a prop set up by the location to enhance the look of the site. Turns out they really use this wheelbarrow and it was missing when it came time to do the shot! A quick search discovered it not too far away and I was able to put it back, but I have to admit, I got worried for a second! The thing’s so rusty, I couldn’t imagine anyone actually using it without breaking it!
Turns out it was sturdier than it looked. I even did a picture with the groom pushing the bride around in the thing later! (We put a towel under her to protect the dress).
Oh, and the picture has been processed using a modified black-and-white conversion technique I’ve been working on. I like it. Toned black-and-white with hints of color under it.