If you had told me a year ago that I would be shooting a wedding this coming weekend, I would have laughed. If you told me that today I still might laugh, but laughing or not, that is what this coming weekend holds.
When my Aunt approached me about being the photographer for their engagement and wedding photos, I knew next to nothing about wedding photography. Sure, I had taken portraits but never something so major. Over the past four months, I've searched the internet high and low for all the information I can find relating to wedding photography. Although I won't know everything until I actually shoot the wedding, I thought I would show you how I have prepared for this coming weekend in case you ever need to plan something like this.
The first thing that I did to prepare for the wedding was look at photos other people were taking. Pinterest was my top site for searching wedding photography. Thousands of photos were at my finger tips with just a few clicks of a button. One great thing about Pinterest is that each of the photos have been linked to the website that contains that photograph. Some of the best articles I found via Pinterest are 75 New Must-Have Photos With Your Groom, 200 Emotional Wedding Moments, and 20 Creative and Unique Wedding Photos; not to mention Junebug Weddings' Best of the Best.
After looking at countless photographs and pinning my favorites to a board, I took my favorites and made a Must Have Shots board. These were the photos that I knew I wanted to build off of. I also had my aunt find photographs that she liked and wanted in her wedding album.
Scouting the location was the next important step. Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be the location and about a month ago my mom, grandfather and I traveled up there to check it out. As we drove though the park we timed how long it was taking us and looked all around for good photography locations. I already had in mind some of the shots I wanted to take so it was all about figuring out the best place for each.
After seeing the location it was time to merge my list of pictures and my aunts together so that I knew all the photos that needed to be take. I also added all the traditional photos (Bride and Father of the Bride, Groom and Groomsmen, etc.) plus any ideas I wanted to try. I made a huge list of all the shots and also added the amount of time I expected each to take. Since this wedding will be at Cades Cove and the whole park is one giant loop, the driving time also needed to be taken into consideration.
I slimmed down the shot list even more and then made a checklist of each set up. Microsoft Word had a template that I used and within a few hours I had all the shots lined up. I divided all the pictures into three lists: before the wedding, during the wedding, and after the wedding. Below is a sample of one of my lists. Note that I have also included a few blank lines in case I need to add any shots after they have been printed.
Today I'll be checking all my gear and making sure that everything is charged and that everything is ready to go. Here is the list of gear that I will be bringing.
Extra Batteries and Memory Cards
4 foot Ladder
Duct Tape
4 foot Ladder
Duct Tape
Next Thursday I'll be posting about all that I learned from shooting this wedding, so make sure you come back soon:)
1 comment:
Tired just looking at it. Will get some great shots.
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