Relationship Between Personal Photography and Wedding Photography

Every few posts on my blog I’ll step away from wedding photography and post some fine-art photography that I’ve taken. I learned to excel in photography through my personal work and this has been a huge benefit for me in my wedding photography experiences. Yes, the two worlds can co-exist. After all, capturing a wedding implements many aspects of photography: portraiture, landscapes, photojournalism, and even macro. The knowledge and understanding I gain of photography through personal work and weddings is reciprocal.

Here is a photo I took last month of Soco Falls in Cherokee, North Carolina. For the camera geeks: this is 4 separate exposures stitched together in Photoshop. The camera was on a tripod and for each exposure I moved the camera to cover a “section” of the scene. I was fairly close to the waterfall and I wanted this shot to look really wide to pull the viewer in.

 

Soco Falls in Cherokee, North Carolina

Soco Falls in Cherokee, North Carolina

Camera/lens info : Nikon D700 with Nikkor 24mm f/2.8

Photo from Biltmore Estate Wedding in Asheville, NC

Setting the scene with a wide shot is an important part of wedding photography. Each shot tells the story of the wedding and if I didn’t have that wide shot to establish the surroundings then all those great close-up moments would lack context. That isn’t to say a close-up photo needs to be side by side with a wide shot to make sense, but for the wedding couple’s book or photo slideshow, it’s essential.

Here is a wide shot I took at a Biltmore Estate wedding last year. The Biltmore Estate is a popular tourist destination here in Asheville, NC and is a fairy-tale setting for weddings. It’s also a photographer’s paradise!

Biltmore Estate Wedding - Asheville photographer

Camera/lens info: Nikon D300 with Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens (I’ve parted with both… to upgrade)

Asheville wedding photographer

Welcome to this Blog!

Welcome to my blog! I am a photographer based in Asheville, NC. I specialize in wedding photography (go here for my weddings) and commercial, event, and portrait photography.

This will be my personal blog with primarily photography-based posts that are supplemental to my wedding photography. Perhaps I’ll divulge my thought process, technical info for the camera geeks, or stories about a wedding photo I took. Happy browsing!