St Louis Bridal Session
Being an active studio, it’s often very easy for me to put concepts and theories to the test. Grab the camera and go.
Just recently, I had one of my wedding clients come back in for their post wedding bridal session. In various parts of the country this is called something different and handled somewhat differently. Anything from a trash the dress session to a day after shoot to a bridal portrait. Call it whatever you like, the end result should be a unique portrait for your client that you probably couldn’t execute on the day of the event. Doesn’t matter the reason, its just about doing something unique.
For me and my client, this was a year in the making! We ran into so many scheduling and weather issues, we were all starting to wonder if this shoot would ever happen. At the end of the day, they were waiting for these pictures before making their final decisions on their wedding album.
As you can see, this is not something we could have done on the day of the wedding. Location, about an hour and a half from our studio and about 2 hours from downtown St Louis where the wedding was held. In addition, it was gorgeous farm land with access to wide open fields and a horse. Bad Ass in my opinion, so I was excited to say the least.
Some of the challenges leading up to the shoot. Weather. We have had heat wave temps nearly every time we wanted to shoot this. You don’t want to be in a field with a bride and groom in a tux and a horse with a heat index at 100+. Then the last time, it rained making everything full on mud.
Well, this day it was different. We had gorgeous 80 degree weather and a gorgeous sky. Time was our enemy this day. We arrived after a full day of shoots at around 6pm. Sunset 730. Perfect. An hour and a half to grab a few shots in a field? No problem. CRAP!!!! PROBLEMS!!! We still had to scout. The area we had access to was huge… but we had to move the horse on the trailer. So, I jumped in the car with the groom and he took me around the property. I was scanning, looking at light, looking at tree lines, etc. We needed something big. Found it! Now, back to grab the horse and bride. By the time we got back to the location and got them and the horse all the way out in the middle of the field, nearly 40min had been lost!! Panic is an understatement. I was watching my light disappear rapidly. Maybe it was the panic, but I am telling you, the sun was setting faster than I had ever seen before.
We get out to the location with the horse… and the grass had not been cut in over two weeks, so the horse and the bride and groom were being swallowed and lost in the grass. To make it worse, the bride and groom now hand sand spurs all over them. I mean, it was up to the groom’s knees. This was not going to be photoshopped out. So, here we sat picking like little monkeys at each other to get this off and ready to go. I could hear the time passing and beating me over the head… TICK… TOCK… TICK… TOCK…
Oh and lets make it a little more of a challenge. I had my Phase One IQ260 wth me. Now, for those of you who have been keeping up with us, you know, I just introduced this camera to our workflow, BUT, the camera has not been tested in low light. I have heard all sorts of rumors about the cameras low light performance. This is screaming at me in the back of my mind.
Now, with the tall grass, we cant get the horse to stop eating. She was burying her head into the ground causing all sorts of potential issues.
Ok, pull it together. DO YOUR THING! Follow your own dam workflow here. Tight, middle, wide. Think IMPACT SHOT.
Moral of the story? We all run into challenges. We all panic. We all wish we had more time. But, you cant let those challenges consume you and paralyze your ability to execute. That’s the difference.
The camera. Performed beautifully.
The goal. Create something romantic and unique for my client.
The shot. You be the judge.
Lesson learned. Allow more time. When dealing with unexplored locations and animals, nothing ever goes the way you would expect it to.
All-in-all, I am very happy with what we got. Now, the real critic, my bride and groom. I hope they love it as much as I do.
Thank you to EvolveEdits.com for making me look better than I am sometimes. 🙂
Get out there and shoot!
Sal
