Junebug Best of Wedding Photography
At every single wedding I am always striving to make images that I have never made before. At this 2011 wedding at Manhattan’s Studio 450, I believe this image perfectly illustrates that desire. This wedding image was taken towards the end of the party and reception. I was standing at the floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking Manhattan, trying to make a photograph of the skyline. This was difficult to accomplish because I kept seeing the reflection of the reception behind me in the glass. Instead of working to eliminate the reflection I decided to see if there was a way to incorporate it into the final photograph and use it to help me tell a stronger story. It was at this time that the exit door in the back of the reception room was opened. This exit door led from the darkened reception space into the hallway near the Studio 450 building elevators. The wedding reception room was dark and the hallway was flooded with light, so when the door opened a bright white rectangle appeared in my reflection. The bride and groom were standing near this doorway, hugging and kissing guests goodbye who were departing for the evening. I had my assistant ask the bride and groom if they could take a moment alone and simply snuggle up in that doorway. I chose to use my 24-70mm at 40mm so that the viewer would get a great sense of time and place in the final photograph - something that a wider angle than I usually use would help me accomplish. Since there was a great exposure difference between the bride and groom and the white background, I had to be very careful when choosing my settings to take the shot. By selecting settings that darkened the bride and groom down into a crisp silhouette, the skyline of Manhattan darkened down as well. I love this image because it is a wonderful environmental portrait of the bride and groom in their reception space, and it also shows the skyline of the city that they live in and love. I also especially love the New Yorker sign on the skyline. I entered this image into the WPPI International 16x20 Print competition in 2012. it was one of my favorite images that I took that year, and remains one of my favorite photographs of my entire career.Filename: junebug_bestof2011.jpg. 1/40; f/4.0; ISO 3200; 40.0 mm. 