There are few things I cherish more then getting to create life event images for my family. Today I want to share this Church of the Incarnation wedding I captured for my uncle Rod and his lovely bride Marian.
Formal Wedding Portraits
Capturing images we will look back on for decades forces me to refocus on what is most important. It demands that I define the critical qualities of what timeless images are. It keeps me laser focused in my mission to create images that will hold up well over time.
Simply put, if I screw this up, I’ll have to endure the shame of my errors for the rest of my life as I reflect back. This is why I always do my very best to make sure my portraits are as timeless in nature as possible.
I want to not hate these images when I look back on them. So in an attempt to predict the future I always to stick with classical light patterns, direction and composition. I’ve always figured that if people still pay to see old renaissance paintings then this should be a pretty sound set of rules to live by in my attempt to future proof the images I create.
Bride and Groom First Look
As if to stress the timelessness of this wedding, both Rod and Marian have a very traditional style about them. The suit and the dress they bought had a 50’s flair that tied in seamlessly with Rod’s 1948 Packard. By choosing my angles and camera settings with care, I did my best to omit contemporary distractions around the car during their first look. I knew this would help insulate the images and help contribute a more timeless style for their album.
Church of the Incarnation Wedding Ceremony
This church of the incarnation wedding was super small and consisted of only my uncle, his bride and their kids. To put this in perspective, if you include the reverend and myself, there was only nine of us in the whole church. Super small ceremonies like this is what I’d consider an elopement style wedding. I much prefer small intimate weddings like this over the more popular mega events that are very popular these days.
I know my uncle well and was very aware he’d have a short shelf life for getting his portrait taken. He put up with me telling him what to do for a few minutes and I was able to grab these for him and his bride. I’m not sure I’d have had their attention like I did if the church was at capacity.
Rod & Marian's Wedding Reception
The following day they hosted a very small reception at their home with close friends and family. It’s always humbling for me to photograph my own family’s weddings. The experience always has a tendency to re ground me in the importance of what I’m doing for clients who aren’t my family.
Most people tend not to have a good portrait taken of themselves all done up like this very often. I’m super honored they chose me to capture this day for them! To end the album Rod and Marian requested a portrait in front of Lake Ralphine sipping on the champaign of beers. Welcome to the family Marian! You and Rod make a wonderful pair and I wish you both many years of happiness together 🙂
