All language subtitles for 2.02 - Extreme and Unexpected

You've got to look for and record the

extremes and the unexpected.

And extremes and unexpected as it pertains to

light, composition, and moment.

So let's talk about those three separately.

So first up, light.

And we're going to go really deep into

light in the next couple weeks, but we're

just going to touch on it very briefly

right now.

So we look for and expose for extremes

in light.

That's where our eyes are drawn to, right?

The brightest spot.

And often what makes a photo really sing

is not necessarily where the light is, but

where the light isn't, right?

The absence of that light is just as

important as the presence of light.

And we often forget about that as photographers.

And then everything in between, those mid-tones,

those are kind of boring, right?

So we want to expose for those extremes

in light, those extreme highlights and those extreme

low lights.

And that way we can turn a scene

from what it looked like into what it

felt like.

It's like we see in mid-tones, but

we feel in extremes.

Yeah.

So thankfully, our cameras can lie, right?

We can under and overexpose to extremes.

And it's not necessarily what it looked like.

And that's okay, right?

Because we want to enhance their memories, right?

And if we can't get excited about the

natural light, that's when we'll bust out the

speed lights, which is something that we would

never do if we were afraid to fail,

because we fail often with this.

But a speed light, one simple speed light,

can turn a very ordinary looking scene into

something really, really extraordinary.

And there's a time and a place for

all of this.

And we're going to get into this in

a lot more detail later on in the

course.

But our best advice with regards to light

is just to look for and expose for

those extremes in light, right?

We're trained to see the world as subjects

and scenes.

We've got to start seeing the world as

light and shadow, okay?

So that's extremes and unexpected when it comes

to light.

Next up, composition.

So when it comes to composition, our best

advice is to learn all the rules.

Learn all the rules, learn why they exist,

and then throw them out the window, right?

If your goal is extreme and unexpected, there's

no reason to adhere to conformity, right?

Those rules do exist for a reason.

And again, there's a time and a place.

But rules are also meant to be broken.

So don't let them prevent you from doing

something new and exciting and different.

Just compose visually, instinctively, right?

Not in accordance to rules.

Like the rule of thirds, for example.

Why not try the rule of twelfths or

the rule of twentieths, right?

Push it to the extremes.

And especially with composition, sometimes you don't know

where that extreme edge is until you step

over it, right?

You step over the edge, okay, that's where

the edge is.

And then you can pull it back a

little bit, right?

So push it to the extremes.

Use your edges.

Use your corners.

Turn the rules upside down.

Give them something unexpected, right?

And once you free your mind about compositions

having to be correct, you can just do

whatever you want.

Never, this is one of my, quote from

my dad, he always says this, and it

applies to photography so well as well, is

never let the truth get in the way

of a good story, right?

As photographers, we don't always have to tell

the full literal truth of a scene.

For example, this photo here, anything outside the

frame doesn't exist.

But right below the bottom edge is the

horizon line, and right above the upper edge

is a kitesurr, right?

But by cropping the photo or framing the

photo in a way that you can't see

those parts, it leaves some mystery.

And it actually engages the viewer to a

deeper level, right?

Because they have to fill in the missing

gaps of the photo.

But here's the most important thing about the

composition.

The most important thing is that it tells

the story that you're trying to tell, or

multiple stories.

And reflections, when used with purpose, can layer

multiple stories into one frame.

So here's the best advice Lani and I

ever received about making more extremes and unexpected

compositions.

And it's really, really simple, but really helpful.

And that's to get low, to get high,

to get far, and to get close, right?

Such a simple concept.

But these are the places you'll never go

with your camera if you're afraid to fail.

But this is an incredible opportunity for us

as well, because everybody's used to seeing the

world from whatever their height is.

Lani's 6'4", I'm 5'6".

I'm used to seeing the world at 5

'6", from about 5 to 10 feet away.

So if I am taking photos from that

perspective all the time, it's very rarely going

to be extreme and unexpected.

When you have a camera in your hand,

you can give your viewers a take on

the world that they're not used to seeing

with their own eyes, right?

It's an incredible opportunity.

So get into these places, high, low, close,

far.

If I could tell your height as a

photographer, it means you're probably being a bit

lazy.

You know, squat those legs, climb a tree,

get way back.

We often say, you know, get out of

that safe zone or get out of that

dead zone.

And that's the eye level, 5 to 10

feet from the story.

I mean, there's a time and a place

for that as well.

Sometimes it does pay to just go safe

and to fill the frame with what's in

front of you at your eye level.

But experiment with these different angles of your

camera, and you're going to get more on

extreme and unexpected compositions.

Be brave.

So, like, I'll often walk into a scene

and if I'm really struggling with where to

put my camera, I'll just repeat that mantra,

high, low, close, far, high, low, close, far.

And then occasionally, if I'm really, really struggling,

I'll think to myself, okay, well, where's the

worst possible place I could go right now?

And I'll put my camera there.

Or I'll send Lani there.

One of the two.

Actually, you know what?

I would never send Lani there because I'm

way too competitive and I'd never give her

my shots.

But sometimes the worst possible place you could

think of going is exactly where you need

to go.

So these bokeh balls in this photo that

we're showing right now are actually backlit thorns.

So that luck that we're constantly talking about

can be a dividend of discomfort and a

dividend of blood and bravery.

Sometimes you just, you gotta get up in

that shit no matter how scary it is.

Okay, let's talk about getting close.

I think the best way to describe the

power of getting close is to talk about

wildlife photography.

And this is, again, from our friend Sergio.

He used this example and it really resonated

with us.

So we're going to use it here.

So here's your typical wildlife photo.

We've got a beautiful, majestic lion.

It's taken probably with a, I don't know,

600 millimeter lens.

You can understand why.

It's a lion in the wild.

You don't want to get too close.

This photo is by one of our alumni,

by the way, Parit Shah from Kenya.

And you can see the beauty of this

lion and you can see the majesty of

it, right?

And it makes you stop and look.

But I want you to notice the difference

between your reaction to this photo and the

next photo I'm going to put up.

Okay, so if you're anything like me, this

photo will have given you a physical reaction.

Okay, this is the same animal, not the

exact same animal, same type of animal, but

taken with a wide GoPro lens up close.

This photo gives me a physical reaction.

This photo, I can feel the breath of

the lions on my face.

I can smell their breath.

I can feel their presence.

In both photos, the lions fill the frame,

but ones with a telephoto lens and ones

with a wide lens.

And the wide lens makes me feel like

I'm there.

It gives me the physical reaction.

So that's the importance of getting close.

You got to get in there where the

action is with a wider lens.

And this is why it's so important for

us to build a relationship with our clients

early on and become that bad smell.

So that when a private moment or a

moment of any sort happens, they're already accustomed

to your presence and you've been there all

day.

So you can get in there and photograph

from in the action as opposed to being

outside photographing at the action.

Right, and once you've earned that trust of

your couple, it's like people can smell fear.

If your couple is uncomfortable with you there,

people will be able to sense that and

they'll be uncomfortable with it as well.

But if your couple are completely comfortable with

you being up there in the action, people

will be able to sense that and they'll

be comfortable with you there as well.

So remember, you're being paid to photograph emotions,

right?

And emotions feel different when you're outside shooting

in versus inside shooting in.

So be inside shooting in.

Shooting with 70 to 200 millimeters, 20 feet

away.

You're going to be able to see the

emotion, but you're just not going to be

able to feel the emotion.

Yeah, and we're going to get into later

on when we get into behind the scenes

at weddings, and we're going to actually break

down our strategy for each section of the

day, including ceremonies.

But because we're showing some examples here from

ceremonies where we're close, it's worth addressing this

issue now because for photographers, for a lot

of us, that's the one part of the

day where it can feel scary to be

getting close.

And obviously, there's always a time and a

place where we need to, like, for example,

in a church, there's often rules.

We have to learn those rules, know where

we can and can't go.

We're lucky that we get to photograph a

lot of outdoor ceremonies where there are no

rules.

And when we have that trust and we're

paid to photograph emotion, we like to get

close when we can.

But something that I use to remind myself,

because, of course, we're going to have that

voice questioning, like, should I be here getting

this close angle?

And I remind myself that the couple is

paying me to do this, just like they're

paying the commissioner to be there.

They're paying me to be up there as

well.

And yes, Aunt Thelma back in row 12

might be thinking, who does that photographer think

he is, right?

Like, he doesn't belong there.

And I don't want to ever be blocking

anyone's view, of course.

Like, we'll be close, but we'll be low.

But I remind myself I'm not photographing this

ceremony for Aunt Thelma.

I'm photographing it for my couple.

And even more important than that, I'm photographing

this ceremony for their future kids.

Their future kids are viewing their ceremony through

my lens.

Where would they want their kids present during

their wedding?

Right if they're beside them or 20 rows

back.

And so that's something I use to just

sort of remind myself and give myself the

bravery to be where I belong.

Have we gotten too close?

Yes.

We'll save those horror stories for later.

But we'll tell you about them.

There's a difference between a close photographer and

a busy photographer, right?

So one of us, usually me because I'm

less hairy and not as tall.

I just don't take up as much of

a footprint as Lenny.

We'll be fairly close during the ceremony.

But I won't be busy.

Like, I won't be moving around a lot.

So I feel like being close is less

distracting than being busy.

And if you notice, like if I'm just

standing on the edge of the frame here,

like this, if I stay here, it's a

lot less distracting than this.

Or worse, if I'm like, run in, run

out.

So I'd rather just stay here.

Own it.

Own it where I am and own it

like this as opposed to like this.

Because people can really read your body language

as well.

So we'll get into more of that when

we get into the ceremony at the real

wedding.

Okay, so get in there close.

Because if you want your audience to really

feel it, if you want the people viewing

the photos to feel like they were there,

you have to be there.

You can't be on the outside shooting in.

You have to be on the inside shooting

in.

Okay, so be there with your 35 or

your 24 or your 16 or God forbid

your fisheye.

You know, the drunker they get, the wider

your lenses can get basically.

So we don't use the fisheye much anymore.

But if people get really drunk, we'll bring

out the fisheye occasionally.

And that way we can capture those moments,

right, in all their glory amongst the context

of the surroundings, right?

And that can fill in the periphery of

the frame.

And then your audience will really feel like

they were there.

Because you were there.

And shoot from 20 feet away.

And that's exactly what it will feel like

in your photos.

Then the opposite, of course, to getting close

is to pull back, right?

And reveal the scale and the enormity of

the bigger scene.

And sometimes that's exactly what we want to

do.

And this, for us, this is something else

that's sort of carried over from our roots

in mountain landscape photography, adventure photography.

We've always loved portraying the human connection to

nature, okay?

By photographing the interaction of people within the

spectacle of this planet.

And so that's carried over into one of

the ways that we like to photograph our

weddings and our couples.

Now, we realize, we know full well that

these types of images have become cliche, right?

Especially amongst our circles.

You know, tiny silhouettes in big landscapes.

But for us, these photos weren't born from

our passion as photographers.

They were born from our passion as human

beings.

As citizens of this awesome planet.

But we see this being done so often

now, right?

And often not very well.

Beautiful compositions.

Beautiful light.

No moment.

Right?

Zero emotion.

And so it doesn't often resonate with us.

It's no longer extreme and unexpected.

Okay?

But our clients eat this shit up.

Okay?

It's become cliche for a reason.

Human beings have an emotional response to these

photos.

Okay?

It hits them in the gut for reasons

that matter.

Because if you think about it, what's one

of the first decisions that most of our

clients make when they're planning their wedding?

Before the photographer, before the guest list, sometimes

even before who they're actually going to marry.

Where have they always dreamt about having their

wedding, right?

Location matters.

Erica and I chose to get married high

up on a mountain for reasons that were

important to us.

And a lot of our clients choose the

setting and the backdrop for their weddings based

on important memories or connections that they feel.

Often to the landscape itself.

And too many of us have lost touch

with the fact that we are natural organisms

with a deep connection to nature.

Because everything about society divorces us from that.

And so part of what we're trying to

do with images like this is to capture

the interaction of human relationships with the very

planet that sustains them.

And like always, we're trying to capture how

it felt.

Right?

How did it feel to be surrounded by

those turquoise waters in the Caribbean?

How did it feel to be in grandma's

backyard?

Right?

How did it feel to be in that

vineyard, in that church?

So it's okay to pull back once in

a while and give your human audience a

sense of scale and a little reminder about

the significance of our connection to the natural

world.

Okay?

In ways that only photography can communicate.

And we also love photographing at night because

there's something about it that places the mind

on the surface of a planet.

Okay?

And if you think about the context of

love and marriage and together forever, there's something

existential about the cosmos.

Okay?

That resonates with our clients and complete strangers

as well.

And while we're on this topic, I just

want to stress, you know, but for the

same reasons that we shouldn't start doing something

just because everybody else is doing it, we

shouldn't stop doing something just because everybody else

is doing it.

Okay?

When you find something that resonates with you

and your clients, keep showing people why it

inspires you, but keep striving to do it

better.

Okay.

So that's extremes in light, extremes in composition,

and last up is extremes in emotion.

Right?

And this is extremely important.

Right?

The moment.

Right?

And we often have control over the composition

and control over the light, but we never

have control over the moment unless we're doing

portraits.

But that's not what we're talking about here.

This is the hardest of those three to

achieve.

But it's also where all the magic is,

is that it's that undefinable nugget that turns

a photo from, from a good photo to

an amazing photo.

It's often the missing ingredient.

And it's like, where's the, where's the emotion?

And moment trumps everything, right?

If you've got a shitty composition, but your

moment is just amazing.

It's going to trump.

Oh, I'm not supposed to use that word.

Yeah.

Let's avoid that word.

The trigger word.

Wait, what's a moment?

What's another word for it?

Eclipses.

Eclipses, composites, and same with lighting.

Right?

So this, this photo I'm showing you right

now, the composition drives me nuts because the

boy's hands are cut off.

And I've got this thing with cut off

appendages, drives me nuts.

But it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter that the boy's hands are

cut off because it's so much more about

the moment.

It says, this photo says something about what

it means to be human.

And if we're trying to touch humans with

our imagery, then our photos have to say

something about what it means to be human.

Right?

We want to make you think.

And we want to make you feel.

Telling simple, unexpected emotional stories.

And these moments of connection are so brief.

They're like literally milliseconds.

But these are the images that feed our

soul.

These are the images that make us the

photographers that we are.

And so it's our job, not just during

the chaos of a wedding day.

Like, I feel like when the wedding is

chaotic, it's a moment-rich environment.

It's easy to find these moments.

You're surrounded by them, right?

It's more our job during the boredom of

a wedding day, when there's not much going

on, finding and noticing these subtle moments.

Getting below that pageantry and noticing these glances

and these touches and these nervous hand movements

or these nervous things people do or massages

or little glances that you wouldn't necessarily be

attuned to if you weren't a photographer.

It's your job to find these and to

keep searching for them.

Yeah, and I've noticed when we talked about

how focusing on that connection, I've noticed once

I turn that dial and I shift my

attention from me and my photography and what

I'm doing with my camera to what's the

vibe in this room right now?

What's the story?

It's almost like a 3D image.

It's almost like one of those magic eye

posters that once you've shifted your focus, it

pops out at you and you see something.

You kind of tune into the energy of

the room and it's like, ah, there's this

really cool little relationship between these two people

that until you quiet down that noise, you

can't tap into it, right?

And once you see that, then that drives

where you go with your camera.

Yeah, and you just start noticing things about

people.

You just have to be a very good

observer of people and we often think emotion

is only here, right?

But emotion is in body language.

It's in hands.

It's in feet.

It's in mouth movements.

It's an aura.

It's not an aura.

Well, maybe it is, but I don't see

the aura.

It's a frequency.

It's just, you got me off my, that's

okay.

You know what we're talking about.

Okay, this is the thing.

If you're bored, you're boring.

That's what I tell my kids.

They come up to me all the time

and say, mom, I'm bored.

And I always say the same thing.

If you're bored, you're boring.

And I've realized it's the same at weddings.

If I'm at a wedding and I'm bored,

it's because I'm boring and it's my job

to go and find something interesting.

And I'm surrounded by interest.

I just have to become in tune with

it.

Same with my kids or our kids, sorry.

Yeah, your kids are pretty cool.

I like them a lot.

But when the kids are bored and they

say they're bored, I'm like, listen, it's not

the world's job to create interest for you.

And it's not the wedding's job to create

interest for us as wedding photographers.

It's our job to go and find the

interest.

It's there.

It's there.

You just have to, you just have to

observe it, right?

And even during post-portraits, you know, by,

as Lani mentioned earlier, by playing the role

of director as opposed to poser, we can

create scenarios that evoke the emotion that we're

looking for, as opposed to just asking our

couples to be a certain emotion, right?

We can create these more authentic scenarios where

we get the authentic emotion that we're looking

for.

And then when you have it all magically

interacting inside your camera, you got the light

that you want, you've got the composition that

you want and the moment is starting to

peak.

That's when you just keep shooting the shit

out of it.

Like you don't stop shooting until that moment

completely fizzles out.

And then you keep that camera up because

often there'll be a rebound.

Buying as many tickets as possible.

All that to say the struggle is real.

Oh yeah.

But so is magic.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Ouch.