Telling the story.

Wedding photography is new to me. In fact I just shot my first wedding just over a week ago for a fine young couple, Ashley and Bryan.

I had been warned numerous times that weddings can be very stressful and difficult for a beginner. So I prepared by reading a lot of books and on-line sites about wedding photography. Not to mention that I've doing a fair bit of other photog work.

When the wedding day came I was ready early and went to the venue and scouted out locations in case it decided to rain. The rain didn't come but at least I had back-up plans.

Once the ceremony started I just did my thing. I was having a blast. It was similar in some ways to other work I've done. The biggest thing to consider was there were not going to be retakes so I had the get the images right and try not to miss anything.

At a wedding personalities pop up. This little ring barer was a real ham. He was always trying to smile at the camera. I had to sneak up on him to get any candid shots.

After the ceremony we did the formal portraits (which I'm not going to show here) and then moved on to shoot the newly-weds at a private beach.

I wanted to get a variety of shots but not stay too long as this had been a long day and this couple was tired and hungry and they still had the reception to get through.

Once I figured we had some good shots and I was certain we were all at our limits of hunger and thirst, I packed up and drove them back to the reception. Time to party.

Here's that little guy again having fun with his grandpa. At a reception you can find a lot of great photo opportunities if you keep your eyes open and move around. There are so many stories unfolding all at the same time. New relationships, families with new ones on the way, parents seeing their children grow up. So much to take in!

As the night went on, shooting photos became more and more difficult. Yes, I could have cranked the power on my flash but then the images would have had that look like someone took the photo with a point-and-shoot camera. To capture the mood and ambient lighting in near darkness, you have to really work for those good shots! But the results are so worth it!

Thank you Ashley and Bryan for having such faith in me on such a special day!

www.kurtknock.com