I remember the first wedding I was asked to shoot about ten years ago. The photos turned out to be a total disaster. I had no experience, I’d just bought a new camera (pre-digital, back in the days of using film), the venue was a dark restaurant, the ceremony was at night, and so I relied heavily on the tiny flash on my camera for all the shots.
You can imagine how the photos turned out. Let’s just say that anyone could have taken them, and they probably would’ve done a better job at it too. That’s where I learnt my first lesson on wedding photography (and I think it applies to photography in general): each photograph needs to look extraordinary, be breathtaking, touching, thought-provoking. It has to capture a special moment in time and/or elicit some form of an emotional reaction. Not that any of my photos do that, but I hope to get to that stage one day.
But easy has never been my thing and weddings are tough to shoot, they require certain organizational & people skills, and a whole lot of patience. It's said that if you can shoot a wedding, you can shoot anything. I knew from that first wedding that I wanted more, and from then until now, it’s all been a wonderful learning experience. I’ve learnt so much over the last decade, the last year, even the last few weeks.
Donna & Donna’s wedding was gorgeous. The details were meticulously planned, there was lots of laughter, there were tears - everything you’d expect from a really good wedding and more. I was mainly shooting Donna (in the wedding dress) as she got ready, while Bruce shot Donna (in the wedding suit). We then shot the main wedding together.
The Donnas both have the most contagious laughter, they’re such dear friends and the loveliest people to be around, and that's what I was aiming to capture in these photos.
