It always surprises me when people get surprised about their own emotions at city hall ceremonies. Yes, it is generally a small and incredibly quick ceremony, but when you are standing in front of the person you love and repeating those words of commitment and honor the feelings are just the same as any large and lavish wedding. That’s what happened to the lovely family of Amie and Adam during their civil ceremony in NYC. We waited a few moments for the jackhammers to stop above our heads in the little reserved room and then in a blink of any eye they were sealing their union with a kiss. There were unexpected tears steaming down faces of their loved ones and a whirlwind of emotions filled the room as the judge fled off to the next ceremony. It was quick, but it was powerful.

We dried our eyes, the Bride hailed us some cabs, and off we went to Washington Square Park for a photo session. Amie and Adam picked this particular area because they both went to NYU. Although, they didn’t meet there. They met while studying in Spain. Which is where they flew off to the next morning for a two week honeymoon.

When I first started taking pictures people would comment how they loved my candid pictures and that’s what I found so thrilling about photography, the ability to capture whatever is going on and make a compelling and interesting image out of it. But lately I’ve noticed that I am telling the subjects what to do more in an engagement or portrait session, mainly because most people aren’t professional models and stiffen up in front of the camera, and I’m liking the results.  Mostly I just tell people to turn your head one way, put your arm here, or stand in a certain spot for optimal lighting. I’ve noticed that as I look through the lens to take the shot there is always something that could be tweaked to make it a more interesting portrait and my eye sees it instantly.

I still love the thrill of those wonderful candid shots where you stand back and just observe, but there is something to be said of a slightly orchestrated portrait. Here we have a portrait session with the lovely Temis. She takes my direction beautifully and it was mostly just turn your head this way or put your shoulders back. I focused mostly on angles in this session and even in a straight-on shot a little turn of the head makes it slightly more interesting.

So, next time someone pulls out a camera try either turning your head or body for a slight angle instead of the usual straight-on mug shot and see what the results are.

This is a great example of what slight direction can produce. I pulled this bride away for five minutes from her cocktail party because I saw this amazing settee by the window and I just had to have a picture of her on it. She sat down and looked directly into my camera. Instantly I knew it would be better if she just turned her head to the left. The result is an interesting portrait with some beautiful angles and to this day Bernie is still stunned that that is actually her in this picture.

I knew this wedding was going to be really special and all about family when I met Patricia for our initial consultation because she brought her parents along. I don’t think I’ve ever met a couple with parents in tow. Right away I really felt that family was  important to her and I wanted to document her wedding not only for her and her fiance David but for her lovely parents as well.

So six months later their wedding at the Hyatt in beautiful Monterey was for sure a family event that I loved shooting. At one point I had to remind myself that I was the photographer and not a family member because everyone made me feel so welcomed and comfortable. I think that is a good quality to look for in a wedding photographer. Compatibility. You should ask yourself, “Can I see this person fitting in with my family and friends at my wedding for 8 hours?”  This person will be around you closely for a long period of time so you should really like that person and their personality in addition to their work.

Even though this was an intimate wedding the dancing part of the evening has to be ranked as one of my top danceable weddings, meaning this group knew how to get down and gave me plenty of fun and sometimes hilarious photo opps. I thoroughly enjoy a good dancing crowd that immediately gets on the dance floor before dinner is done. I can always can tell if the dancing portion was good from when I put my camera down at the end of the evening and my right hand is still cramped in the claw position from firing off so many shots. My hand was still aching the next day. All in a good days work.