The Freeman wedding took place on July 11 of this year, but our adventure together, as with most engaged couples, began long before then. The shooting schedule was a rather chaotic one. It began in the fall of 2008 with the engagement session, well the first one.
The bride, Michelle, really wanted pictures made in the fall with the leaves changing their vibrant colors. When we were planning the shoot we were trying to time a vary specific window. We wanted to avoid inclement weather, obviously, but we also wanted to catch the leaves while they were changing and also didn’t want to do it too close to the Christmas season. The temperature in Montgomery, where we are all located, was still warm as October came to a close and we were beginning to wonder when the leaves would change. Stephen, the groom, traveled home to Fort Payne one weekend to scout locations and check the “leaf situation” and a week later we packed up our gear and headed north for the shoot.
We photographed in a variety of locations including a state park (the above Star Burst Kiss image) in Mentone and in downtown Fort Payne (the image outside the movie theater). We shot for about an hour in the park and then along some abandon roads before deciding to hike down a steep mountain to shoot near in the middle of a river.
The river shoot was an interesting one to say the least. We looked around for a place to shoot before we all unanimously agreed (and quickly wished we hadn’t) that photographing the couple on a large rock in the middle of the river would be a nice location. I began setting up my gear for the long range shot while the couple made their way around the bank to look for a place to cross. I think they must have traveled over a quarter of a mile before finding a way across because for about 15 minutes we were out of shouting range.
I set up a small Manfrotto stand near the bank of the river and secured my trusty SB-800 speedlight to the top. I added a 1/4 CTO gel to add some warmth to the pale winter atmosphere and zoomed the head out to 105mm. The power output settings were not recorded. I began firing some test shots with my Nikon D700 and 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens. I was shooting from about 60 feet away and wanted to make sure that I was getting good, warm fill, without throwing hard shadows. After a few minutes of tweaking the light and camera settings I noticed that the couple was still missing in action.
About 10 more minutes passed before they came back into yelling distance. The duo had made their way to the opposite bank and were heading back toward me and the boulder. When they arrived at the rock I discovered them covered in debris and sweating extensively. Stephen had been whacked in the face by a tree branch and both of them were out of breath and mildly agitated. I felt bad for them, but was thankful that they had volunteered for the shot without me having to force it on them.
After taking a few minutes to cool down and collect themselves we continued with the shoot. Light was beginning to fall and very little of it was making its way down into the canyon so I tried to move quickly. I had to yell directions to them because the wind and water were winning the battle over the 60 or so foot gap.
The images came out well considering all of the obstacles, but you can still see the sweat along Stephen’s brow in some of the photographs. The couple wound up displaying the above image on a table at their wedding reception, making the whole escapade worthwhile.
When we finished shooting in the river, the couple refused to walk all the way back around the way they had come and elected to cross at the shallowest part they could find for a more direct route. What is particularly astonishing about this decision is that it was spearheaded by Michelle. Had the water been only a few inches to a foot deep then I might not have been caught off guard by this choice, but when Michelle entered the water and it hit her above mid thigh, I was utterly impressed.
We hiked our way out of the canyon just as the sun dipped for good. We arrived back at Stephen’s house by nightfall and rested a bit. The couple changed clothes and then we headed back out for our final location – downtown. The couple really wanted to be photographed in front of the theater, so I put an SB-28 on a Manfrotto stand and backlit them in the street (image above). The sign outside the theater read “Congratulations” to another couple who had recently been married. I simply removed their names in Photoshop, leaving only the “Congratulations”.
We did some other shots downtown and then headed back to Montgomery. In all the shoot (not counting driving time) took about six hours, maybe more. The next morning I was more than sore from the previous day’s adventure, but it was worth it in the end. It was the first time I had ever done that much physical work for an engagement shoot.
We picked up again in February with another mini engagement session at a park here in Montgomery. The couple wanted a more traditional “posed” shot for the newspaper, so we met for an hour or two and put together a few more images.
We met again in the spring to shoot the bridals and groomals. Yes, groomals – I’ll discuss that in a moment. Michelle wanted both studio images and location shots and fell in love with an old plantation home in Prattville, Alabama, called Buena Vista Plantation. We opened the day in Prattville.
Buena Vista hosts several weddings every year. Michelle secured the facility for about two hours to do the photo shot. Although the couple was not getting married at the 1830′s home, she still loved the atmosphere that the house conveyed and wanted do here locations shoot there.
We started in the upstairs bedrooms then worked our way into the foyer and eventually a side room and out onto the lawn. The above image was taken at the front threshold of the home. The antique furniture, the double doors and the surrounding glass windows created a very elegant feel for this image. We took countless shots throughout the home and tried to incorporate as many elements of the house as possible. From the wood floors to the the upstairs windows, we tried to effectively utilize the space and make it as prominent as possible in the results.
The most interesting shot that we made at Buena Vista Plantation was actually a composite of two shots. We knew that the groom was going to be doing his own set of images – which we called groomals – and that they would also start at the plantation. I presented an idea of shooting each of them separately at the same location and then merging the images into as single photograph later. They loved the idea and we went to work.
The concept was to have the groom playing the piano and the bride leaning against the piano listening the the music. We shot the bride first and followed with a shot of Stephen the next day. The light was different and I had no way to mark the location of the tripod or lights, so I looked at the picture of the bride I had taken the day before on my iPhone while I framed and lit the setting for Stephen. The trick worked and the final image came out better than I expected. The bride liked the concept so much that she chose to enlarge the photograph and display it prominently at the reception. We know that we had pulled it off when guests began to ask why Stephen saw Michelle before the wedding day. The final image is shown below.
Michelle and I (and our two assistants Tony and Theresa) took a break for a few hours and then regrouped in the studio for a couple of hours to knock out more images. We tried a series setups and at the end of the day, Michelle had nearly 50 unique bridal portraits to choose from. The days can be long, but the results are always worth it. I always encourage the brides to do as many or as few shots as they like and never limit the session to just an hour. I don’t work well in that time frame and don’t want to force a bride into a pinch either. If both the photographer and client are relaxed and on an open schedule, things tend to flow smoothly and a whole lot more can be accomplished. It’s more work, especially for the photographer, but if the client’s satisfaction is your top priority, the hard work will more than pay off in the end.
Michelle was a beautiful bride and her light spirit and innocent temperament lent itself well to a host of dramatic and effective images. But Michelle was not the only person with her moment in the sun. Stephen too wanted some of the limelight. His outlandish and goofy nature played will in several images, while his casual and sincere side helped produce some very impressive results.
Stephen’s day also started at Buena Vista and carried on to some train tracks, an Icee machine at a local gas station (the couple had a 7-11 theme [July 11] and the reception was complete with slurpee machine), to a vacant fireworks stand and into downtown Montgomery. Many of the images were hilarious and “totally Stevo”, but several of the images surprised even Michelle and family. Spending so much time with them both individually and together made it clear why these two were getting married. They’re perfect together.
The ceremony took place in Albertville, Alabama at a small church. The setting was simple and beautiful and was the perfect venue for the couple. As one would expect a sanctuary full of friends and family gathered to witness the couple’s special day.
The afternoon was both emotional and comical. The bridal party played their share of jokes on the group and the celebration was a memorable one. I have worked with a variety of couples through the years and it is always a breath of fresh air when I get the opportunity to work with a couple that is easy going, light-hearted, fun and genuine. It makes the sessions easier for everyone and really does result in better and, dare I say, more magical images.
It was a blast working with the Freemans. May their lives be filled daily with the same joy and passion they shared during our time together. God bless you both.
- R
