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It was another dreary weekend in St. John’s. Except for Sunday that is - Sunday was bright and sunny. Friday and Saturday not so much. We’ve had terrible luck on the weekends for the last few weeks.

On Friday Tonya and Brian were married at the Basilica. It’s an extremely beautiful church, but it’s huge and there’s nothing special about the lighting - it’s basically like shooting into a cave. Although the weather was bad, after the service it broke long enough for us to get some nice shots during a quick detour to St. Phillips.

The weather was even worse on Saturday, but we still got some really nice stuff there as well. The ceremony was at Gower Street United, a beautiful church. The reception was at R. Gushue Hall on the MUN Campus - that’s a fabulous building as well (my first time in there), and we got some great stuff.

We’ve got a weekday wedding tomorrow - in the evening. We should also have more complete sessions online later in the week.

We’ve just put the pictures online from last Saturday’s wedding, just over a week ago. Tonya and Derek were married in Tors Cove - the church was creaking as the wind blew during the service but, as can be seen in the pictures, the sky cleared just as they were married and we got some nice stuff. These guys were very relaxed and adventurous. Even after the beloved family rottweiler provided a little addition to her wedding dress (before the ceremony mind you), Tonya still took it in stride and didn’t let anything affect the day and their enjoyment of it.

That brought to mind the old saying…

Something borrowed, something blue, and how about a little smear of dog crap? What a trooper!

Link: Luby / Sorrenti July 2006

Tomorrow I’ll post a few picks here from this weekend’s weddings.

From the session mentioned earlier today. Brad and Krista were married in St. John’s at George Street United Church. This was the first time I was in this church and it’s beautiful inside. They were then on to the Winterholme Heritage Inn and the Nouvelle Orleans of Atlantic Ocean Dinner Cruises in the harbour.

Link: Adams / Powers July 2006

So Jennifer and I have just finished the another wedding - the one from just over a week ago with the reception on the ocean dinner cruise boat. We’ll be uploading a photo web site for that later today.

We’ve bought (yet more) new equipment that has sorta streamlined the way we cover a wedding - it allows us to spend more time shooting and less time fiddling. We’re also seeing that many clients now want to concentrate more on candid pictures, which requires a totally different technique of coverage than for traditional posed photos. When combined, these things tend to produce more content from a shoot, and as a result, it’s taking longer to select the favorite shots. A good complaint I guess.

Anyway, as I said, we’ll have that new site on later today and there should be more later this week.

As promised, a few shots from this weekends’ weddings.

When you photograph people, things go much better when those that you’re covering want to get their picture taken. You can still get good stuff if the subject is not “into it”, but it’s a lot more work.

When you shoot a wedding, the bride most often sets this mood. If she’s stressed or overjoyed or reserved, that emotion shows. Like a rock thrown into calm water, that emotion can ripple throughout the day and be seen in the photographs. That’s especially true if you’re shooting candid style photography.

Which brings me to the weddings from this weekend. Both went great, and both for the same reason - the brides. Note only did each enjoy getting their picture taken, but they were adventurous and beautiful.

It was extremely damp with high winds and rain on Saturday. We shot in the Tors Cove / Witless Bay area, right down by the ocean. A very dramatic place for photographs to be sure, but not a particularly good situation for cameras and digital equipment.

When a shoot plays out like this, we make a decision on how far we’ll go to get the shot. Basically, it gets down to the idea that a camera can be replaced but the real moment can’t be reproduced. Combine that with the fact that there’s backup equipment on location and ready to go, and it means we always go for the shot.

As I sort through these pictures I’ll try to post more later today.

PS. The guys were good too. :)

A session web site is now online for the wedding we covered on Friday - Dawn and Jason.

Link: Manning / Parsons July 2006

Saturday’s wedding with Krista and Brad should be online in the next few days.

We’re off to shoot a small informal wedding tomorrow. We’ll have a lot of time to work with the couple and I’m really looking forward to that.

The weekend went good. We were out of town on Friday - another road trip to the Placentia area. We have or will be covering quite a few weddings in that area during the year. Here’s one of Jennifer’s shots… the whole bridal party, along with Dawn and Jason, are cracking up at something.

Saturday also went well - we were back in St. John’s for that one. Again, the couple in particular were a joy to work with - very fun and relaxed.

The whole event was organized well and went off without a hitch. That’s quite a statement, when you consider that during the service there was an unexpected explosion followed by a down pour of rain.

Much of the bridal party on the groom’s side were members of an armed service in one form or another. We met what would have to be one of the most enjoyable and unconventional federal police officers that ever there has been.

We’re gonna try to have these pictures done by week’s end. Links to the complete sessions will be posted here.

* Split between Jennifer and myself. Whew!

Two more Photo Sites are online from the weddings we covered last weekend.

Link: Taylor / Guiney July 2006
Link: Lawrence / Morris July 2006

Also, the session with Jenna Berman from June has been completed.

The rest of that shoot is available at the sessions page.

Link: Jenna Shoot 3

I really like the lighting in some of those shots. Anyway, I’m up waaay too late. More later.

A few photos from yesterday. The first one is the same structure that’s pictured in the banner above, but from a different angle. The second one is also on the front page of the wedding site, as well as what we used for the logo.

So tomorrow I’m down to finishing the last shoot from the weekend and a TFP from three weeks ago. We’ll see some new sessions on here before the week is out.