This fall I had the pleasure of photographing Mike & Nelia’s wedding up at the beautiful Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst. Mike & Nelia are from Montreal, and so we were able to meet up a few times just prior to their wedding to plan the photography schedule for the day, as they arrived in the area to prepare for their wedding day. I love photographing at Taboo Resort…it’s absolutely gorgeous there! Nicole, the on-site wedding planner and her staff are also the truly some of the best in the industry to work with! They are very professional, and the service is top notch!
The girls got ready in one of Taboo’s premier suites…these suites are unbelievably gorgeous…and it was so great for Nelia to have everyone together getting ready and the excitement of it all. The ceremony was at a church in town, and then we headed back to Taboo for the portraits and reception in the fabulous Boathouse overlooking Lake Muskoka.We had a cold but gorgeous fall day, so we were able to still do our portraits outside! My assistant and I moved quickly to ensure that noone was getting too cold…you can never really count on the fall weather in Muskoka…but the colours were gorgeous, and we caught a beautiful sunset over the lake.
I just love documenting weddings! I truly feel honoured to be chosen as a couple’s wedding photographer, and I love getting to know them prior to the wedding, and finding out a bit more about them, their day, the special people that will be celebrating with them as well. Mike & Nelia’s wedding was a nice intimate wedding with about 50 or so guests. The great thing about documenting a smaller wedding is that you can really see moments unfolding, and capture them because you can pretty much see everything that’s happening in the room. It’s definitely nice to be able to blend in and capture those wonderful moments throughout the day.
Also, as a documentary photographer, I pretty much photograph with natural light throughout the day…perhaps a bit of on-camera flash (bounced of course) during the reception. I love to shoot receptions with my 50mm f1.4 Canon EF lens..this lense is light, sharp and fast! Much of my personal fine art street photography is shot with a 50mm lens, and I love the quality of the photographs that you produce when you compose with this lens…It’s a short lens, so you have to move around the room to get the shots, but I also have my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 lens..which is also great in larger wedding receptions to be able to discreetly capture moments that are happening at a distance…this is a great lens to work with as well! Anyway, enough about the lenses that I prefer to document receptions with…it all comes down to being able to anticipate the moment…so the lens choice is only part of the equation of great documentary shots…it’s the eye of the photographer, and the ability to recognize in a fraction of a second the significance of a moment…
Here’s a quote from one of my all-time favourite photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson:
“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering and image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.”
Thank you Mike & Nelia for putting your trust in me to honestly capture the moments of your wedding day! I really had a fabulous time, and I hope you enjoy this sneak peek of some of the images from your day!
Cheers,
Jen
