Although It is not make it my primary business focus, I find wedding photography an enjoyable challenge and I get to shoot a few weddings each year. For me it is an opportunity to meld many skills into one fun event. It is an opportunity to be a documentary photographer, and that is the style I bring to the weddings I photograph. I get to meet and interact with new people forging relationships in a short amount of time in order to tell their story with photographs.  I get to be a location portrait photographer finding great settings and light on the fly creating environmental portraits. I get to draw on my knowledge of both natural and supplemental light. And, as I had to do last weekend, I must remain flexible and roll with the punches in a high stress situation.

Katie and Chris were married last Saturday in what was supposed to be an outdoor wedding here in Ridgway at a location with some of the most dramatic Colorado mountain views around. For me, the real challenge started when a week of perfect weather ended on their wedding day with rain, snow, and no mountain views.

I had scouted out the location for the wedding and had a good sense for how the ceremony was going to happen. I was in the dressing room photographing Katie getting ready when the report came in that it had started to rain… hard. That’s wen everyone went to plan B, or at least started making plan B. The outdoor wedding had quickly changed to an indoor wedding.

While everyone rushed around finding a new location for the ceremony I tried to keep up with the action as creatively as I could. It was fun watching all the family and friends roll with the punches keeping a great attitude.

Everyone moved in side the bar ad the reception seemed to begin before the ceremony ever happened.After an ours delay waiting, and hoping for a break in the rain, it was decided the ceremony must go on. Everyone was ushered into the dining tent where some of the tables had been pushed back making room for the bride and groom.

Shooting in a white tent on a dark flat light evening is not my favorite set of circumstances. The white tent however did provide me an opportunity to soften the effect of my on camera flash. By turning the flash head up I was able to bounce light off the tent ceiling using it as a giant reflector.

After the ceremony there was about a three minute break in the rain and clouds. I quickly rounded up Katie ad Chris and dragged them out side for a few shots. I typically do not do a lot of directing or choreographing of photos during a wedding, but when I see a good opportunity I will act on it. The images we made in the natural light withthe dark storm clouds behind I think are quite unique to all the others from the evening.

The highlight for me creatively wise however was well after dark when the party finally got underway, the rain subsided, and the brave and committed moved out into the cold air for some dancing. Shooting in a large totally dark space with a flash can be really boring. Finding a way to create separation for your subject from the background can be challenging. And that is what I had to do for my favorite photo from the evening; a shot of Katie and Chris during their first dance.

This photo was made by placing a remotely triggered flash on a stand directly behind Katie and Chris. I positioned myself so that the flash was hidden by then and would there fore not flare in my lens. It also creates the beautiful rim light separating them from the dark background of he night. I had a second flash that I hand held off camera to my left providing fill light so Katie and Chris would not be totally silhouetted.

Make sure you click over to the wedding gallery my web site and see more of the wedding photos I have done. I’ll have more from Katie and Chris’s wedding up there soon. If you or someone you know is in need of wedding photography, give me a call.