Since I’m on a Bridal Portrait kick, here are a few of my favorites from Ashley’s Bridal Session I photographed at the Old Sheldon Church Ruins not long ago. (Check out their wedding on December 18th at http://chrisandcami.com/blog/2010/12/18/ashley-jason-at-the-french-huguenot-church/.) Can you guess which one she picked to display at her wedding?
OK, here’s the portrait Sarah selected and the scene I was working with. I moved the poinsettias at the base of the stairs and placed Sarah where she could comfortably rest her elbow on the bottom of the banister. She was lit by three Nikon SB-800 flashes. One was directly behind her, pointed at her back to give her that glow, also known as a rim light. One was placed above and to camera- left on the stairs to give depth and dimension to the staircase, and also act as a bit of a hair light on Sarah. The last one is on camera right shooting through a 43” Westcott umbrella for a nice soft main light, in a loop lighting pattern. The image was shot with a Nikon D3 with the 70-200 f2.8 lens. I wanted to compress the background, so I actually opened the front door and stood out on the porch (shooting through the door) so that I could use the telephoto end of the lens. All flashes were controlled by an SB-900 on the camera in Commander Mode, and triggered with RadioPoppers. I had an AWESOME time photographing Sara…what a beautiful bride!
Bridal Shoots are usually done months before the wedding. And since most brides want to keep the details of their wedding gown a secret from the groom, I can’t really go posting their pictures to the web after the shoot! So I thought I’d go back in time and showcase a couple recent Bridal Shoots. Sarah’s portraits were scheduled for a park in downtown Charleston on December 14th. But it was FREEZING cold, windy, and ugly outside. Her wedding to Trent (seen here) was coming up on January 1st. So we didn’t have any wiggle room to reschedule! But Linda at the Governor Thomas Bennett House was so kind and generous in letting us use their beautiful and historic building to shoot in. Can you guess which image Sarah selected for her portrait to display at the reception?
The symbolism of “God opening a new door in our lives” is a big one to Terri & Danny. He proposed to Terri in the doorway of their church, asking her to step out in faith and join him in marriage, as they walk through new doorways in life, together. We had so much fun together on our quest for the perfect doorway. J I’m so excited about being a part of their special day…
Sarah & Trent’s wedding last weekend was a deeply spiritual event. You could just FEEL the presence of God in that place! They were married underneath a giant oak tree overlooking the Stono River at Wide Awake Park, the original site of Wide Awake Plantation. Cami & I got to know Sarah and her family during our time at Ashley River Baptist, where they all attend. She’s going to USC and studying journalism. (We were thrilled to loan her a film camera for one of her photography classes.) Trent graduated from Clemson. (I’m not sure exactly how THAT works.) J They went on a mission trip to India together. And he proposed around Valentine’s Day.
Some of the unique things I loved about their wedding include: the beautiful array of colors for the bridesmaids dresses; the peacock feathers in boutonnières, the flower girl’s basket, the reception tables, and the wedding cake; the candle jars for the unity candle, the moss pillow for the ring bearer, the prayer requests at each food station for the different people groups around the world, the contra dancing lessons at the reception, the throwing of spices instead of bird seed at their departure. Visit www.chrisandcami.com/blog to see a fun Music Video of their day. Then head over to www.chrisandcami.zenfolio.com to see the rest of their Online Gallery.
Congratulations Sarah & Trent! You guys inspire ALL of us to be better versions of ourselves.
