Entries in weddings (10)

Thursday
Aug232007

I'm Back! Plus Wedding Photos Part Uno

That's right, folks. I survived the wedding extravaganza week, and I'm almost back to my everyday life, which would include this blog, of course. I've been editing photos during every moment of my free time since the wedding on Saturday, and I finally have something to show you all. I took over 1,000 photos, and of these I kept a little over 400 from the wedding day itself. I've posted all these to a different flickr account, so if you want to have a look-see at ALL of them, you can mosey on over here. Otherwise, I'll share some of the more memorable photos in this blog post. Excuse the lack of words. I'm tired.

getting ready

Here's Lauren, the bride, getting her makeup done.

becki waits her turn

And here's Becki (Uncle Dave's fiancee) the maid of honor waiting to get her hair done.

saying something to the hair stylist

I thought this was a cute one of Lauren saying something to the girl styling her hair.

looking lovely

And Becki's all done.

flowers

Lauren's friend made those flower barettes.

buttons

And now we're at the church getting dressed in the bathroom.

dress details

Here's what the bodice of the dress looked like. Lauren had it made in Sweden.

dress

And here's Becki's lovely dress.

bouquet

And here is the bride's bouquet. The colors of the wedding were red and orange (for Rouge Douge and Orange Loren).

lauren holding her flowers

Here's me being artsy fartsy.

becki standing guard

Here's a good view of Becki's dress. I think her mom's friend made it for her.

Just Married

I didn't really take photos during the ceremony, so here they are moments after being married. The ceremony wasn't the kind that would've allowed me to move around much to take photos. The professional photographer basically planted his tripod and stayed put for most of the ceremony. I figured if he wasn't moving around, I wasn't going to either because I felt self-conscious of my very small lens.

uncle charles

I didn't partake in the family photos, either. I kind of hung around, but I know it's distracting to have two photographers taking photos for posed shots so I didn't take very many photos, except of folks just standing around, like Uncle Charles here. I was kind of disappointed that the photographer didn't do very many family shots. Maybe it's cuz I'm Asian, but I was hoping for a really big family photo. I think I was in only one of the posed photos (the sisters-in-law), and Cadence wasn't in any. But after visiting the photographer's website, I'm glad because the photos I saw on there were kinda scary. We may need to be photoshopping the professional shots...

Cadence

This is one of the few photos of Cadence I took the entire day, not to mention the entire week. She was half-asleep already.

Just Married

And here are the newlyweds going off to the reception in their limo. I have no idea how Ted's dad scored a stretch limo 2 days before the wedding.

Yia Yia

This one may be my favorite photo of the day. Grandma Sophie had a blast blowing bubbles. She is a total HOOT to photograph.

Alright. I'll end it there for now. More later!

Monday
Aug062007

Best Shot(s) Monday--Practicing

I'm practicing my photog skillz for Auntie Lauren's wedding, which is coming up really fast now! Here are a few of my faves from this past week:

little tattoo

Cadence's little friend Ada at her Dr. Seuss-themed 3rd Birthday Party. Notice her little tattoo on her arm. So cute!

little nora

Adorable little Nora at the birthday party. I like how Ada and Cadence are off in the distance, and here's little Nora chasing after them.

kissy-face

Here, I'm playing around on Picasa, which is a google software for organizing and editing photos. I've muted the colors every so slightly.

kinda dreamy

This one is kinda dreamy. I don't think I'd want to do too many photos like this as that would probably make me want to vomit. But a few here and there I think would be okay. I'm really not so much into the effects. I like when other people do 'em, but I like to keep things simple. Probably cuz I'm lazy.

mirror mirror on the wall

The obligatory mirror shot. I like how the color of the walls reflected are a different color than the wall that the mirror is mounted on due to the sunlight hitting the opposit walls.

in auntie lauren's old bedroom window seat

I just like the light in this one. And I am a big fan of window seats! I always think of Jane Eyre as a little girl hiding away in one of these and reading for hours and hours during the cold winter months.

ted and dave's hombrew

This happened to be in Ted's parent's fridge. It's almost 2 years old! There will definitely be a bunch of homebrew at the wedding after-party.

auntie becki

There's something about this photo that I really like. Part of it is because I think Becki is just absolutely beautiful, in a really pure, natural and wholesome way. The awesome part is that she's really this beautiful on the inside too. I know that sounds hokey, but it's true. Uncle David is so lucky that she chose him!

cadence and her auntie becki

As you can see, Cadence is quite fond of her Aunt Becki, whom she called Aunt Duckie for the longest time. *sigh*. I kinda liked it when she called her Duckie...

Oh, all of these photos were taken w/ the 50mm f/1.8 lens on my D50. I'm thinking I'll shoot mainly w/ that lens cuz I just love the blur. So I guess it won't matter so much that my 18-55mm is broken. I have an older 35-55mm from my film camera that I can use on my D50, so I'll do that. I'll use my D40 for my 55-200mm zoom lens, mainly at the ceremony. I'm going to focus more on the reception and after-party and leave the main ceremony shooting to the pros. There is no way I'll get much more than maybe some artsy looking grainy B&W shots at the ceremony, since the church does not allow flash or planted lighting. We'll see how it goes...

Go see other folks' Best Shots Monday at Tracey's Picture This.

Saturday
Jun232007

How Do You Spell Relief? D-O-O-C-E-D.

window shopping

The more I think about it, the more relieved I am that Ted's mom hired a professional photographer for Lauren's wedding. If I had to be the primary photographer, I would've obsessed over the details so much that I would've given myself a brain aneurysm. Now, I can relax a little and maybe even have some fun.

Yeah, I was hoping to find out if I have what it takes to shoot a big event, but quite frankly, I'd rather not experiment on my sister-in-law's wedding.

Saturday
Jun232007

Dooced.

buh-bye

It's true. I've been dooced. Now, now, don't worry. I haven't lost my PAYING job cuz of this blog YET. I did, however, get politely let-go as the primary photographer for Ted's sister's wedding. Apparently, Ted's mom hired a professional photographer. While I don't think it's because she read about my anxiety regarding the gig on my blog, I can't help thinking that my writing that post somehow released to the universe the knowledge that I am in fact nervous about photographing a once-in-a-lifetime event, and the powers-that-be somehow got wind of it.

i got the boot.

Lauren and Doug still want me to take some photos, just not as the primary photographer. That's okay, I guess. But I know from experience that if there's a professtional in the house, I get all intimidated and I don't pull out my camera as often or at all. I think I feel like if there's someone there getting paid to take professional photos, it would be presumptious on my part to think I could take any photos that would be worth shooting beyond what the pro captures. The exception to this was Caleb and Kathy's wedding, where I did shoot quite a few photos, but I think that was out of blissful ignorance of my own shortcomings.

growing up fast

I have to admit I'm relieved that I don't have to worry about missing important moments such as The Kiss any more. That's the pro's job, in my opinion. I WAS gonna tell Doug to make it an extra long kiss to give me a better chance of getting the shot, but now I guess it doesn't matter. Heck, now that I think about it, I'm relieved that there WILL be someone there who knows what they're doing. That frees me up to take my artsy-fartsy photos which I'm sure the parents wouldn't appreciate. Now all the pressure's on the pro, and if all my shots come out crappy, which is a distinct possibility considering my lack of experience and equipment, then thank goodness they hired someone else.

Still, I can't help feeling a little stupid for running out and buying that D50. Oh well. I guess I do need that camera for my 50mm lens. I'm just glad I found out before I spent our savings on extra batteries, memory cards, expensive post-processing software and a new laptop to support said new software. I had planned on telling Ted it was about time we got new computer equipment, but now that I don't have this wedding to worry about, I suddenly don't feel all that anxious about it. That'll save us at least $1,200. When Ted hears that, I'm sure he'll be thrilled I got the boot from this gig.

Friday
Jun152007

Hey, Lore--How About THIS Wedding Cake?!

fit for a bridezilla

Ted's sister Lauren (his only sister of his 4 siblings, I might add) is getting married to her sweet and handsome Bostwanian Swede Douglas in August. She's asked me to be the photographer for the big event, and before you think she's crazy for asking an amateur like me (Let's face it, guys. Y'all are really sweet to me, but that's what I am. Have you ever been on Flickr?), you have to know Lore. She's a simple gal who wants a simple wedding and who prefers things more spontaneous and informal. I think I can handle that.

Don't get me wrong. To some degree, I'm shaking in my crocs. Which is why I'm trying to do as much preparation as possible before the big day. I'm taking this assignment seriously, and I think my first step is going to be to ask beg our sister-in-law Ali in Seattle for help. She's a film photographer with a great eye and so much more experience than me. I think it would be pretty stupid to have just one photographer. Even I had two at my little backyard wedding (Ali and my friend Teal Pheal).

from caleb and kathy's wedding

I've actually shot two weddings (as the backup photographer, of course) with my point-and-shoots a while back. The first one was a disaster because it was entirely indoors under artificial lighting, and my camera only went up to an ISO400. DisASTER. Thank GOD they had an AWESOME and PROFESSIONAL REAL photographer (who was probably giggling behind my back at my little coolpix). The 2nd wedding was for my friends Caleb and Kathy, who also had an awesome primary photographer. That wedding was an early wedding with lots of natural light, so I fared better at that one, and if I'd actually had an SLR, I'd have to say the photos would have been kick-ass.

lurve the blur

In addition to asking Ali for help, I've taken another step towards being a better faux-real photographer. I got myself another SLR body. Yes, I done gone out and bought me a used D50, just so I could use my 50mm f/1.8 lens without having to manually focus. I suppose I could've put that lens on my film SLR, but do you have any idea what a friggin' nervous wreck I'd be wondering how the photos were coming out? Yeah. Not my cup of tea. Besides. If you're gonna shoot a wedding, you gotta have two bodies so you don't have to keep switching out your lenses. Right? And look at that photo above, which I took w/ the D50 and the 50mm lens. No postprocessing here. That is all natural blur, folks. And dirt. All natural dirt on them footsies.

I'm also actually going to look at books about photographing weddings. In case you didn't know, wedding photography is a huge industry now. Wedding photojournalism has especially gotten popular. People don't want just canned posed photos of their weddings any more. They want flippin' ART. I hear there are a few good books on the subject that may give me ideas and hopefully the technical know-how to execute those ideas.

I plan on shooting in RAW format to be on the safe side so that I can make corrections if need be in post process. I don't do a lot of post processing, considering up until I discovered Picasa, I only used Microsoft Photoeditor for making changes and corrections to my photos. I'm pretty scared of Photoshop. I tried it for a month and just couldn't get comfortable with it. So I've been seeing a lot of Flickrites using Lightroom, which is definitely cheaper than Photoshop, and I'm thinking I might try it out and see if I like it. My friend Lori has been using it a lot, and I love the results she's getting. Of course, she has Photoshop experience, so I may not get the same results…

So yeah. I'm taking this pretty seriously, as I should, it being a once-in-a-lifetime event and all. It's also my wedding present for Lauren and Doug, so I want it to be as good as possible. This is no time to be hiding behind pseudoartistic pride or punk rawk stubbornness, if you know what I mean. I figure I have two months to practice and learn all I can.

Those of you experienced in wedding photography, if you have any pointers, now would be the time to speak up. Even if you've never posted a comment on here before, this would be the time to delurk. I will be most grateful!

these shoes will kick your ass

One last thing. What shoes should I wear?

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