Jack and Molly got married in Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Jack and Molly are good friends of mine and when they asked me to shoot their wedding, I didn’t hesitate. If I do shoot a wedding, it’s going to be for friends. I have turned down several wedding gigs over the last few years, because I don’t consider myself a wedding photographer. I do consider myself a “people photographer”, there is definitely some overlap. I love weddings, but I am not completely in love with photographing them.

Although, I consider my style to documentary style, I tend to lean a little toward editorial. So there is still a little creative license in the editing process. This is where I think that my style isn’t really applicable to wedding photography. Just like all genres of photography, fashion plays a big part on what people are looking for in their wedding photographer.

There are hundreds of “How-to videos” on the internet. This is currently wedding season so there are a ton of them surfacing on YouTube. I watched a few of them and there was a lot of commonsense information and some good points. The videos I watched were almost helpful. I decided to shoot the wedding the same way I always shoot.

Shoot everything.

I photographed everything I found important to capture. Before the wedding started, I scouted the location. I tried to find the best angles for every shot. While at the same time, I did not want to disturb the guests. This can be challenging for someone of my size. I had to hope that no one could hear my shutter firing either, but we were outdoors. The best part of the outdoor wedding, we were under a tree’s canopy. This was perfect! There is nothing more challenging than shooting in a tent. I suppose being a hot summer day came to be my advantage.

I was also not being met with obstructions by other photographers in the guest pool. Not one single person got in my way as I was shooting the bride and groom coming down the walk way. Dave our wedding officiant was a great help with timing so I could get a clear shot of the bride and groom after they were pronounced. I also managed to get several great shots of the married couple in the front of their family with the ol’ Hasselblad.

I find weddings are extremely stressful. The pressure to get the key shots can be a little tough. Editing the wedding is also be really challenging too. However, when you are shooting for friends stress seems to be amplified. You don’t want to let those you care about down. I seem to be a photographer that can get through a shoot when there is some stress to push me. If I am working that hard, it’s going to for family and friends.