Wedding Storyteller, Volume 2

Well, I read and much enjoyed volume one by this author so I am eagerly looking forward to reading his second volume. From the table of contents looks like a lot involves preparation skills in order to tell the wedding story. First time I’ve seen a chapter called an optional read 🙂 May be optional but looks absolutely critical for wedding photography: involves how to clean your sensor, having a equipment checklist, and, among other things, syncing all of the cameras you’ll be using. For example, you don’t want different white balances or picture styles among the photographs. I never would have thought of that! He also discusses the when and how of hiring an assistant. I bet that would be more helpful than we can even imagine on a wedding shoot. The author says it is not an option (unlike the first chapter :-), but is crucial to success. He discusses one instance in which not having an assistant could mean no photos for the unhappy couple! He posits the example where a photographer sprained her ankle and was completely incapacitated for the rest of that day. Valenzuela is right-what in the world do you do then? You need an assistant.

The author uses several case studies in teaching us how to prepare the bride and groom. I love that he refers to certain people in the wedding as Emotionally Valuable Persons (EVP)! For example, the groom‘s father. He places his assistant in front of the subject of the photo to give direction while he stands to the side taking the actual photograph. Valenzuela tells us we get more candid shots when the photographer is out of the direct view of the subject and I bet he’s right. Along the way he mentions a tip that I use in my family shots, too. That when you’re photographing candid shots look for reactions. I find I get the best pics that way. He discusses this again in the section on group photos-have people react to each other or get candid shots of it when you’re photographing the group.

He spends much of an entire chapter on what kind of backgrounds to use, when and why. For example, do you use a monochromatic background or a pattern background? I love that he discusses that because I can’t say that I’ve ever seen this talked about in a wedding photography book before. In his section on how to photograph the wedding party he gives a list of clichéd poses that we should avoid – some of those poses I have seen among my family‘s wedding photos :-), including pics I took. He next describes the four types of wedding party group photos, which I found entertaining and helpful. He does suggest that you always take the traditional photos first because, whether they know it or not, the bride and groom will want those. Then you can choose among the other three categories. His many photographic illustrations of the group photos I found very instructive.

In a section on photographing the bride and groom he talks about “individualized effective stimuli“. Well, a mouthful! But what he means is that the photographer needs to set the mood. For example, if you want lots of positive energy, then you need to put that energy out there. He says this section is important and I agree. Not just for weddings, either. I much enjoyed his section on unaware portraits because, in a wedding I was photographer at, the best group shots I got were when people forgot I was shooting.

And then we come to the final part of the wedding: the reception. The photographer says that one of the most important things to do is to please the wedding coordinator 🙂 That’s because the wedding coordinator often recommends which photographer to use!

In conclusion, the second volume was well worth writing and certainly worth my reading. The author covered a lot about preparation and strategies in this volume and together the two volumes are probably all you need to shoot a wedding in the best way possible.