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Hi everyone,
Around this time last year, I was asked by some friends to take some engagement photos for them in London ahead of their wedding later in the year in Chicago (I got some great feedback from this forum, over here.
Well, a while after being invited to the wedding, I was asked by the couple if I'd consider taking their wedding photos too. After an enormous amount of thought (and expectation-management), I agreed... I had about 4 months lead time to get in all the practice and research I could, and dropped everything else photographic in order to get as prepared as possible.
Below are some of the results - there's a larger gallery at http://www.tomgillespie.co.uk/Paul-Linda/n-r4QnNV/ which it'd be great if you had time to check out.
Firstly... my god was it hard work. Huge respect to those of you who do this professionally week in week out! I shudder now when I think of the threads I read in the Business forum of people doing 4 weddings back to back over the Easter weekend! My girlfriend (who helped as second shooter) and I walked about 8 miles around Chicago (the loop, for anyone who's familiar with the city) on the Saturday, before getting up at 7am on the Sunday of the wedding to survey the venue and then going strong until midnight. I have honestly never been so mentally and physically drained after a day as I was after that wedding - including when I ran a marathon.
For an amateur like myself, each 'setting' during the day would have typically been a fairly large photographic project in itself. From being inside the hotel with harsh tungsten lighting but large windows, we found outside in clear blue sky 30+ degree heat on the streets of Chicago, then moments later in a trolley bus, then 5 minutes after that in a dark warehouse building with super high, dark ceilings. Keeping my head together to switch modes/ISOs/settings whilst trying not to miss a beat was incredibly intense. I could barely walk the day after, I was so tired from running, crouching etc. I was even forming blisters on my 'grip hand'.
All of this said, I'm really pleased with the results. It was bloody hard work, but it was worth it. Picking a tiny number to place here has been exceptionally hard, but there's more at the link above if anyone cares to take a look. I'd absolutely love to get feedback if people have the time to look through. thank you!
(an important thing to point out for people who are familiar with British, but not American weddings... the first time the bride and groom see each other is not necessarily at the altar. At this wedding (which I think is quite typical) the guys all got ready from 8am till about 1pm... then we had the 'first-look' - see the photos round the door. The bride and groom see each other early in the day, then go to take their couples' photos, in this case round Chicago, before the ceremony. Then they enter the ceremony together after the families, bridesmaids etc.)
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Around this time last year, I was asked by some friends to take some engagement photos for them in London ahead of their wedding later in the year in Chicago (I got some great feedback from this forum, over here.
Well, a while after being invited to the wedding, I was asked by the couple if I'd consider taking their wedding photos too. After an enormous amount of thought (and expectation-management), I agreed... I had about 4 months lead time to get in all the practice and research I could, and dropped everything else photographic in order to get as prepared as possible.
Below are some of the results - there's a larger gallery at http://www.tomgillespie.co.uk/Paul-Linda/n-r4QnNV/ which it'd be great if you had time to check out.
Firstly... my god was it hard work. Huge respect to those of you who do this professionally week in week out! I shudder now when I think of the threads I read in the Business forum of people doing 4 weddings back to back over the Easter weekend! My girlfriend (who helped as second shooter) and I walked about 8 miles around Chicago (the loop, for anyone who's familiar with the city) on the Saturday, before getting up at 7am on the Sunday of the wedding to survey the venue and then going strong until midnight. I have honestly never been so mentally and physically drained after a day as I was after that wedding - including when I ran a marathon.
For an amateur like myself, each 'setting' during the day would have typically been a fairly large photographic project in itself. From being inside the hotel with harsh tungsten lighting but large windows, we found outside in clear blue sky 30+ degree heat on the streets of Chicago, then moments later in a trolley bus, then 5 minutes after that in a dark warehouse building with super high, dark ceilings. Keeping my head together to switch modes/ISOs/settings whilst trying not to miss a beat was incredibly intense. I could barely walk the day after, I was so tired from running, crouching etc. I was even forming blisters on my 'grip hand'.
All of this said, I'm really pleased with the results. It was bloody hard work, but it was worth it. Picking a tiny number to place here has been exceptionally hard, but there's more at the link above if anyone cares to take a look. I'd absolutely love to get feedback if people have the time to look through. thank you!
(an important thing to point out for people who are familiar with British, but not American weddings... the first time the bride and groom see each other is not necessarily at the altar. At this wedding (which I think is quite typical) the guys all got ready from 8am till about 1pm... then we had the 'first-look' - see the photos round the door. The bride and groom see each other early in the day, then go to take their couples' photos, in this case round Chicago, before the ceremony. Then they enter the ceremony together after the families, bridesmaids etc.)
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8