WPJA Award Winning Shot

Every year, the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) and Brides Magazine hold a contest in which they select what they consider to be the best 10 photos in 10 categories from thousands of entries. The results for 2010 were just announced and Michael Grace-Martin Photography took one of the honors! Our winning photo was a candid shot of the bride in her wedding dress with her dog trying to jump on her. The judges comment about the photo: “Sheer joy and abandon.”

These are our favorite wedding moment to capture: candid and full of emotion…:-).

The reception was at Cornell University’s Willard Straight Hall, which turned out to be a great place for a reception! Willard Straight has tall ceilings, a balcony, and an outdoor deck from which you can see Cayuga Lake in the distance.

Thanks Chris & Yolanta for letting me photograph your awesome wedding…:-).

Before I do that, however, I wanted to mention that I’m really looking forward to the 2010 wedding season. Why? Well, I sold off a bunch of my camera equipment in order to purchase two new pieces of equipment for 2010:

1. The new $5000 Canon 1D Mark IV digital SLR camera, which promises to be the best low-light professional digital camera Canon has *ever* made
2. A Canon 35mm f/1.4L lens…one of the best quality, low light lenses Canon has ever made

You may be noticing a theme here: Michael is really interested in camera equipment that takes great photos in low lighting. Yes!

I’ve gotten *much* better at using flash photography than when I started photographing weddings 4 years ago. I’ve also gotten quite good at using remote flashes in dark reception halls. This is all well and good and as it should be for a professional wedding photographer. The thing is, I still prefer making photos in existing light when possible.

“Existing light” is the lighting the wedding participants are actually experiencing at the ceremony and reception. When I go and trigger a flash–either one attached to the camera or a remote flash not attached to the camera–I am altering the lighting and changing the ambience or “atmosphere”, or whatever you want to call it. Also, those bright lights going off in people’s faces is quite likely altering their behavior.

Here, I think, we encounter a philosophical question: Is the goal of wedding photography to capture things as “authentically” as possible? Or is the goal to make things as easily seen as possible? I should note that the goal of making the event and the people involved look as good as possible isn’t exclusive to either of these. This latter goal may, in fact, require a mixed bag of lighting techniques, including simply using existing light.

To be totally honest, I’m usually trying for either authenticity or beauty, and am quite happy when I accomplish both simultaneously. With the exception of a short portrait session I sometimes do with the wedding couple on their wedding day, I very seldom go that extra step toward beauty (or “eye candy”) over authenticity and stage a bunch of shots where I’m dictating poses, actions, and lighting. This is not the way of wedding photojournalism and I am, in fact, primarily photojournalistic in my approach.

A camera like the Canon 1D Mark IV combined with a lens like the Canon 35mm f/1.4L gives the photographer the ability to capture images regardless of lighting conditions or movement in the image. This is Canon’s fastest focusing camera (the 1D series has always been a top-choice of sports photographers) with the highest light sensitivity of any camera made. Sure, I will still have a flash attached to it; but *using* that flash will become much more of an option than with any previous camera.

The light at the church or reception hall–or the lack thereof–will cease to be the overriding determinant of the lighting techniques I must use to capture photos. This camera plus the large aperture of the 35mm f/1.4L lens will keep lighting options open and let my sense of authenticity and/or artistry lead the way instead…:-).

Now for those 2009 Wedding Photos…

Okay, so I ended up with a *bunch* of choices from the first wedding I looked at from early in the year! I’ll have to follow-up this post with a few more in order to cover more of my 2009 weddings…:p. By the way, thanks Rachel and Stephen…:-).

I photographed Kerry & Mark’s wedding last Fall in Slaterville Springs, NY (just outside of Ithaca) at Celebrations. They’re a wonderful couple and I’m glad I had the chance to photograph their wedding! Here are a bunch of my favorite photos that I and my second photographer took…

I met Catherine and Christopher through their wedding planner, Shannon Whitney from Wedding Planning Plus. (Wedding Planning Plus is based in the Capital District in Upstate New York.) Catherine and Chris were planning to get married at the Full Moon Resort in the Catskills in late November (2008), and also wanted to do a engagement portrait session during the preceding Winter.

We decided to do the engagement session near Cazenovia in some park areas around there. Although it was quite cold and Chris had a bad cold(!), it was sunny and our session went quite well. They ended up using one of the photos in the middle of a signing mat for the wedding reception.

The wedding was the weekend after Thanksgiving and I came down a day early because I had a 3-hour drive and didn’t want to try to do it as a “day trip” (6 hours of driving plus 7.5 hours of wedding photography would have been a long 13.5 hour day!)…especially since there was a chance of snow and snowy roads. I got there early enough to attend the rehearsal in the barn; then later that evening, I took some outdoor photos of the grounds at night. Shannon was there for the rehearsal and I had the opportunity to speak to her at length about weddings and wedding planning; she was quite helpful in planning some of the photos for the next day.

The next day, I started at the house where Catherine was getting ready. This was the very best light of the whole day as the sun peeked through the clouds intermittently. It was still quite cold outside, but it got colder and grayer as the day wore on.

Knowing that it would be cold and kind of dark after the ceremony, I photographed formals with the women and then the men before the ceremony. Chris didn’t want to see Catherine in her dress before the ceremony, so we reserved all the group formals containing both of them until after the ceremony.

The ceremony in the barn was rustically lovely and warm. After the ceremony, we did some group formals outside by the creek; then quickly dashed over to the reception tent as Catherine couldn’t take any more of the cold in her lovely, but not very warm wedding dress!

The wedding reception was a lot of fun with lots of dancing. Afterward, everyone moved over to the resort’s Performance Space for some spirited karaoke.

I want to thank Catherine, Chris, and their families for putting on such a great wedding and letting me photograph it! I also want to thank their wedding planner Shannon Whitney for the delightful conversations and the help she provided me; I highly recommend her to any couple in the Capital District planning to have a wedding!

Emotions were high, especially for Alissa, the bride. She was very happy to see me, and I think she took comfort in the fact that I showed up early. The bride and groom’s families had been helping to get everything ready for the big event. Not only did it turn out to be a *lot* of work for everyone involved, things were running a little behind schedule; this combination (lots of work and running late) was adding to the usual stress that precedes any wedding.

I took a lot of getting ready photos because the getting ready portion of the day went on for quite some time! This added to Alissa’s nervousness, and just before we left house to go down to the golf course, Alissa called her mother back for one last session of comforting support before she left to join the other parents at the head of the wedding procession.

Though the ceremony starting late can be a problem, in this case it meant that the ceremony would take place just before sunset. This lent some dramatic and magical lighting to the rest of the day! Nathan (the groom) and Alissa’s dog was an important member of their nascent family, so he was an important participant throughout the day, including the ceremony.

It was a lovely and touching ceremony. And the clear Fall sky (complete with a relatively full moon) made the reception in the large white tent in the couple’s backyard a truly enchanting and extraordinary affair!

Here’s the content of the email message I received from Nathan after he first viewed his wedding photos at the online gallery I put up:

“…all I have to say is amazing.  Thank you very much. You have captured aspects that we hoped would make a wonderful memory.  There are so many images in these photos that are the embodiment of what we envisioned.  You are the best! Anyone that is looking for a photographer to document a special event we will make sure that you are the first on their list. And we hope that you can document an event in our future. Thank you!”

I’ll include a few of my favorite photos below, but you can see more at the slide show I put at my website (look for and click “Alissa & Nathan’s Wedding”).

In any case, there was a perception in the movie–among the other characters in the movie–that a “wedding singer” is a pretty cheesy, “loser” occupation. I’m pretty sure that “a wedding photographer” wouldn’t fare much better in those same perceivers’ minds.

In the new millennium, the image of a wedding photographer underwent a bit of a resurrection. I suppose there are still plenty of “cheesy” wedding photographers out there though. And now with so many people owning digital SLR cameras, there are a lot of amateur photographers who want to and claim to be wedding photographers, as though all you need is a relatively expensive camera and the ability to point it and push a button to take a good wedding photo. This is feeding a vicious cycle where the prevalence of these latter photography practitioners charging low prices makes it more difficult for professional photographers to make a serious career out of wedding photography. And when professional practitioners can’t make good money in an area of their discipline, the most talented of them will flee to other areas where they *can* still make good money.

Now, it wasn’t my purpose with this post to vilify amateur photographers or the wedding couples who hire them. Sincerely it wasn’t and isn’t. I’m just stating the way things are, at least what *I’ve* seen myself and heard from others. I have no problem accepting “what is”, at least when it comes to wedding photography!

I bring all this up to make the point that I am first and foremost a professional photographer. I have photographed quite a few weddings (around 40 at last count) and still *do* photograph weddings. The emotions and spectacle of weddings makes them fascinating to photograph…especially from a social scientist’s viewpoint! (I have a Masters degree in Psychology.) Also, with all the fancy clothes and settings, they’re great for photographers with a fine art bent like myself.

But weddings aren’t the only “game” in town. I love doing candid and semi-posed portraiture, especially with children. And I like staging and doing fine art portraiture with people who want to be my models. Other events, like fashion shows and Bar Mitzvahs, are great too…for many of the same reasons I like to photograph weddings.

So, even though I photograph–and enjoy photographing–weddings, I am primarily committed to and interested in professional candid and fine art photography…whether it’s in the setting of a wedding or some other setting. I’m a photography purist who likes to find images (regardless of setting) that hold some lasting significance, beauty, and/or meaning that impacts people in a deep and sublime way. I believe in photography as a way of discovering beauty and truth; that’s why I pursue it…not just as a hobby, but as a meaningful and deeply gratifying occupation.

Sometimes people call me “The Wedding Photographer” when they refer to me at a wedding I’m photographing. That’s my role and I think it’s a convenient label while I’m at the wedding.  I even like the label because it distinguishes me from the 50 other wedding guests with cameras!…;-) But outside of any particular wedding I’m photographing, what I *really* am is a professional photographer, committed to the artistry and authentic moments photography can pluck out of ever-advancing time, who happens to photographs weddings.

And who, I think, happens to be pretty good at it…:-).

I started off with Meghan at her parents’ house in Galway, which is a small town I happen to be very familiar with (my wife’s family has a lake cottage there). There was a chance of rain and it was a little chilly outside! Fortunately, the sun peeked through the clouds briefly a number of times throughout the day for some nice sunny-looking photos (and keeping it from getting *way* cold)…:-).

The ceremony was outdoors at the golf club and it was windy and cool outside. But, again, the sun kept peeking through the clouds to keep it from getting too cold. And, to my great delight, the sun came out for a strong showing right at the end of the ceremony; so I had Meghan and John walk right into the sunset from the ceremony area. I love taking dramatic sunset photos…:-).

The cocktail hour was an indoor/outdoor affair, with a patio and balcony overlooking the golf course (with wonderful scenic views) and a huge “water table” that you have to see to believe. John, Meghan and the wedding party actually ended up taking off their shoes, rolling up their pants & dresses, and getting into the water around midnight after the reception for some really fun and adventurous shots!

The golf club has a very nice indoor reception room, plenty large for lots of dancing and room for the photographer to get around easily…!

It was a really fun and friendly crowd, and I want to thank John, Meghan and their family and friends for such a wonderful wedding to photograph…:-).

Below is a sampling of my photos from the day…