All language subtitles for 7. Groomsmen

All right, boys being boys, what happens when

you photograph a bunch of guys or when

they're all getting together?

Groomsmen, what do you do?

Well, that's just it.

When you think about girls just wanna have

fun and boys being boys, there's a certain

sensibility that just you feel.

And again, I'm not saying that there is

such a cliche that we have to photograph

men in a manly kind of a way.

It depends on who you're photographing.

But yes, ultimately, cliches are cliches because they're

mostly true.

So when you're talking about guys getting together,

they're often gonna stir each other.

They're gonna have a bit of fun.

They're gonna have a certain camaraderie.

There is gonna be a certain kind of

masculine sensibility that goes with that.

So I like photographing these kinds of shots

that basically when the boys are getting ready.

So traditionally, I like the groom.

If I'm going to photograph a wedding, for

example, I like the groom to be ready

on any shoes, pants and shirt only.

And then we can do things like the

tie, the vest, cravat, jacket, cufflinks, watch, all

on camera.

If I'm running out of time, or there's

a big bridal party, or I have less

time than I'm normally allotted to, I will

usually ask the guys to get completely ready.

Now, yes, I'm gonna be showing you mostly

groomsmen photographs, as in a bunch of guys

at a bridal party of guys specifically but

this could be likened to a family portrait

with a father and sons.

It could be with three brothers.

It could be cousins, doesn't really matter.

Remember, just because I'm showing you many photographs

that happen to be at a wedding, it

does not eliminate the fact that this might

be relevant to you in your genre of

photography that may not specifically be weddings.

So this, for example, we've got some lights

that are existing in the environment.

And I just had turns of having people

get ready in the groom sort of being

illuminated with these beautiful little strip lights that

are on the walls.

And then I'm very specifically photographing for the

album here as well.

As I keep on going, I've got the

groom here in the foreground with the guys

in the background.

I've got the biggest guy last because I

wanna get the proportions right a little bit

more.

And then in this particular case, I've got

a very tight crop on the boys.

I wouldn't normally crop right at feet there

but just by the pure nature, I did

get wider ones as they were walking closer.

My favorite one with their expression was where

their feet were cropped off.

I'm like, you know what, no big deal.

And that's it.

Sometimes you'll get guys that, especially at a

wedding that might be themed, which is really,

really cool.

This was a vintage theme as you can

see.

And you can see how I've given each

of the guys something a little bit different

to do.

You know, he's crossing his arms, gives us

a different sensibility.

You know, he's got his hands sort of

down.

This guy's trying to be a tough guy.

He's adjusting the hat.

He's adjusting the braces there.

So you see how I'm bringing out personalities

just by a simple different gesture.

And that is a really easy way of

creating a bit of personality in your photographs

rather than just say, all right guys, hands

in the pockets, come close together, look in

the camera, smile.

Yes, I do that shot.

But with this, what they're wearing is screaming

to me, Jerry, do something a little bit

different.

You know, this was inspired by that very

famous movie poster, The Untouchables.

And you may picture the guys on the

street, you know, Sean Connery and all those

guys there.

And what's the other guy's name there?

Kevin Costner and so on, Andy Garcia, whatever.

But you think of all those guys, you

think of a sensibility.

So when I look at the guys wearing

something, it gives me like a movie montage

of almost just everything that it reminds me

of, and then it gives me an idea,

and then I commit to that idea and

I execute.

This next shot, and as I told you

before, I often get guys to basically get

dressed up to a point where they're, you

know, shoes, pants, and shirt on, and then

we do everything else on camera.

In this case, I got the guys to

just put their ties very loosely around their

collars.

And then I saw this really interesting little

alcove in the bedroom.

I thought, wouldn't it be cool to illuminate

the groom on the reflection of the best

man's shirt?

So have a look at this.

So what I love about this is you've

got the two guys, not gonna say they're

irrelevant, because we did get a shot looking

at the camera smiling of all of them

cleanly.

But in this case, I love the fact

that we've got the best man that's got

the second best light, and then of course

you've got the groom with the best light,

and then the guys on either side that

are framing them as well.

I thought that was really cool.

And then sometimes you'll get an environmental portrait

that'll look really cool too.

So don't forget that based upon the nature

of where you are, where the house is,

are you photographing from a hotel room?

Is there a balcony?

Would you photograph in a hotel room and

then maybe ask the guys to go down

and walk along the beach and then photograph

down?

Like the environment will often tell you what

to do, but guys being guys, when I

just mentioned the word guys being guys, you

may have probably thought of just guys having

a smoke or a cigar.

That's what guys do, you know?

And there, of course, as you probably have

seen or if you've done it before, backlighting

smoke is going to be a really good

way of illuminating smoke, because you can see

it, it's contrasting against the background.

And then we've got a nice little triangular

composition and we're not trying to make this

look too perfect.

We're making it look a little bit raw,

a little bit dirtier, to sort of match

that masculine sensibility.

And I've shown you many foreground, background kind

of shots, but this is a different one

that I've shown you.

He's way, way in the foreground and then

we've got that nice little triangular composition and

it just looks good.

I would suggest that it's all about perspectives.

Don't forget that when you're photographing anyone, that

a pose can look different based upon the

height in which you're photographing it, the angle

in which you're photographing it, the lens choice,

the compression, but no different in terms of

staggering your subject matter sort of over a

certain kind of a shot and also using

a shallow depth of field to do all

that as well.

This one here, you may remember the comparative

shot of the girls in this particular environment.

So you've got your traditional shot and then

of course you've got this one.

Now, the lighting isn't perfect on them, but

it's more masculine, so it actually suitable.

But then I got the guys in a

bit of a hallway and you can sort

of see how this is almost like a

movie poster or an album cover, so it's

a little bit different.

And then we go down and there's a

billiard table in the house, so I'm like,

well, yeah, let's get the guys playing pool

because that's what you do.

But guys like to stir each other.

And I know most cultures are like that,

but guys especially, it's always like, who's trying

to outwit the other and who cracks the

joke, who's gonna laugh louder and all that

kind of thing.

But, you know, and that's very much part

of the Australian and the Greek culture as

well.

So for me, being Greek and Australian and

American, it's just, yeah, who can outwit the

other, who can do that and it's just

part of what we do.

And it certainly, it crosses boundaries and borders

and things like that.

That's just the human nature, we just love

to have fun.

But celebrate those relationships.

You know, this half posed itself and then

all I did was tweak it a little

bit by getting the parents together with the

son, getting the boys together there as well

and then being able to just have some

fun with all of them.

And then I thought, let me just bring

the groom in the foreground and then we've

got split lighting with a bit of a

kicker and then all the family in the

background.

But it doesn't matter who you're photographing that

when you're actually photographing multiple people, there is

a certain hierarchy to it.

It could be that you want the groom

in the middle because he's the prominent one,

he's the king, so therefore he should be

elevated.

There'll be times where you just get them

walking.

This kind of a shot, I affectionately called

the Reservoir Dogs shot.

You've seen the movie by Quentin Tarantino, Reservoir

Dogs.

You get that classic sort of shot in

that poster where the boys are walking with

their tires and often people refer to this

as something that they wish to have on

their wedding day.

And that certainly is a homage to that

and it's certainly been, you know, I guess

emulated throughout many, many movies way before even

Tarantino did it, but he certainly popularized it.

Why can't we do the same thing with

what we do?

This one was done foreground background again, but

was staggering them out and this was shot

with a reflector and I think at 2

.8, but then they just stagger out like

that.

But you can use the environment.

Like I've said many, many times that the

environment and the lighting will always tell you

what to do.

Obviously there's a bridge, they can lean on

it certain ways.

He can lean on one side, he's on

the other.

The groom's a bit more stronger, so we

basically want him with both hands and so

on.

So remember too, it's funny, I remember I

was in Italy.

This is probably the biggest wedding I've ever

photographed.

It was a five day wedding in Rome

and so many friends and guests and family

flew to Rome for this wedding and it

was over five days because every event, lunch

and dinner, just was more elaborate than the

next.

It was quite amazing, an amazing spectacle and

we got to know the family really well

and all of a sudden the bride says,

hey, the groom wants a shot with all

his friends.

I walk in the room, there's red walls,

there's this big couch that, sofa that only

fits only a handful of people.

What do I do?

So I posed them all in and around

the sofa and by the way, I had

one on-camera flash and I've got nothing

else to use here.

What do I do?

Well, all the walls being red, I think

from memory, Melissa had a reflector and she

put it behind me and I pointed my

on-camera flash up like this and off

back like this and basically Melissa was holding

the reflector like a halo right behind me

and this flash now is no longer my

light source.

The reflector behind me is the light source.

Bang, now the light source is big and

soft and clean and it illuminates everybody.

Now, this was back in the days when

you would hear that flash sound, like you

would bomb the flash and it would go,

ee-woo-woo, like it would and it

almost, you had smoke coming out of the

speed light because so much power was being

drawn because I had to shoot this at

say, F16 or something like that and I

think I literally took a handful of shots

and the batteries were dead.

This was the shot that we took.

Now, there was a shot looking in the

camera smiling but I wanted guys to just

have fun and just talk crap and just

be boys so I gave them very quick,

loose direction and I sort of said, look,

please don't look at the camera.

I know that one guy did on the

top left but I don't mind that because

it's sort of, and this guy as well,

but everyone interacting, there's like a whole bunch

of stories in here so I sort of,

I can't, I forget the exact direction that

I gave but I remember basically giving the

direction, say, hey, if you're closer to some

people than others then get in your little

group within this big group.

If you've got a brother or whatever, a

cousin, be next to them and then I

put the main players, like the groom, the

best man, the brother, all in and around

the groom and then I said, who's got

good knees?

And straight away, you're gonna get some tough

guys like, yeah, I've got good knees.

In other words, I'm happy to sit down

and then all of a sudden, this whole

dynamic is created rather than just looking in

the camera smiling.

Please just get beyond that shot looking in

the camera smiling.

Do it, 100%, knock it over.

If these shots don't work, you've got it

in the can but then now you can

play.

In as much as we've shown you so

many photographs of guys, we haven't shown you

one like this yet.

It's simply just a long little railing of

concrete sort of railing as a foreground and

now this time we get the guys in

the foreground and the groom in the background.

What about the patriarch?

You've got the grandfather there and then you've

got the groom and the father.

So the groom and the groom's father have

got the hands on either side of the

grandfather and then you've got the groomsmen on

either side.

So if you look at the hand gestures,

I love this portrait because number one, it's

such a legacy for this family.

The grandfather has since passed away since there

was this photograph.

So how important is this photograph?

But I love the fact that everything was

revolving around this very handsome man, as you

can see, great character face, but he's a

patriarch and he's still alive and had such

a blessing to be actually at his grandson's

wedding.

So I took the portrait of them all

looking in the camera smiling, but then I

went in cropping closer and I love the

fact that we get this repetition of hands

that forms this beautiful arc, again, framing the

patriarch of this family and I think it's

just absolutely beautiful.

Then at one point in this wedding, the

grandfather was just sitting quite comfortably and conservatively,

just, I didn't pose him whatsoever and then

the actual father was adjusting the tie of

the groom.

I'm like, he's an incredible portrait that just

is waiting to happen.

So there we have the grandfather here, then

we have the father and then fixing up

the son's tie and it's a true legacy

portrait.

I even love the fact that we've got

some old Westwood or Wedgewood, I forget what

they call it, but the ceramics and the

china in there, which gives it that little

hint of tradition and then of course you've

got, that shot can work on its own

and then you can actually see it together

as a complete picture.

So family portraits, again, it doesn't have to

be predictable.

It could be something that in the environment

that is screaming out, photograph me, like photograph

these generations and then sometimes it could just

be that you just wanna look freaking cool.

I took this shot vertically and symmetrically and

all that kind of stuff, but something didn't

work, it looked a bit too perfect.

So I just angled it a little bit,

added to the energy.

I had breathing space between the groom's arms

and his legs slightly and overlapping and then

breathing space and then all of a sudden

we get a dynamic portrait of the groom

and the groomsman.

But look at how many photographs we've shared

of groups and guys and girls and it's

just, it seems to be never ending.

The ideas are never ending.

It's exactly like a phone number as we

discussed.

You change one thing, one digit, change one

more digit and all of a sudden you've

got millions of combinations.

So don't get stuck dialing the same phone

number, just try something different.

And if it works, there's another feather in

your cap and life is good.

Also, don't forget, whether you're photographing guys or

girls or a family, that you should be

photographing everyone individually.

If I have time, especially at a wedding,

what I'll try to do is I'll photograph

the groomsmen individually.

If I have time, this is one of

those sort of occasions where I'm like, all

right, if I do everything and I've got

lots of variety and I feel like I've

got some time, I need some more stuff

to do.

Or let's say, for example, the groom goes

to the bathroom.

Let's say one of the groomsmen's running late.

I can fill in my time by adding

more value and a bit more finesse and

variety by photographing them individually.

This just happens to be from a wedding

album where I featured a different generation.

So this is basically the groom's father's groomsman

in juxtapose with the groomsman of the present

day.

But I love creating little different hierarchies like

this.

You've got the groom with two brothers, but

that's just a classic timeless piece and a

timeless portrait of these boys together, which I

think is really important.

So don't forget, there's gonna be times where

it's appropriate to smile.

There's gonna be times where people are just

crying.

There's gonna be times where people just wanna

look cool.

There's times where there's a certain dynamic and

you just know that these guys will really

appreciate just a really cool classic portrait, but

a simple change of shoulder position and a

bit of negative space, all of a sudden

changes the whole dynamic of the photograph.

Again, I told you that the light and

the location will often tell you what to

do.

In this case, well, the sun's coming in

this direction.

I want this lighting falling on their faces

and giving us this beautiful loop lighting slash

short lighting slash Rembrandt lighting.

Call it what you will.

It's dramatic lighting that actually works well for

a guy.

And then we point them all towards the

sun.

How did they all look towards the sun

and not squint?

Well, of course they did squint.

I said to them, I want you to

look in that direction.

And they did, and all doing this.

And I said, close your eyes.

Okay, I want you to look where you're

looking on the count of three.

One, two, three, click.

And then they can squint all they want,

but I've got the shot that I want.

All I need is a fraction of a

second.

Now, I've told you many times, don't waste

this.

If I bring the groom in the foreground,

all of a sudden I get another shot

to my arsenal very, very quickly.

Then I get him to turn around and

stir the boys.

And again, I've got a different shot here.

I love this guy.

He looks like a bit of a porn

star.

That's all fun.

And just guys walking, creating long shadows and

a bit of flare adds a point of

difference.

Why not lie on the ground, get two

guys in the foreground squatting down and then

shooting upwards, letting boys be boys.

Again, shooting people individually.

I love these shots on the left-hand

side because what I deliberately did was I

had them almost in a circle or interacting.

And all I did was photograph beyond two

shoulders, like maybe framing the person that I'm

focusing on.

So you can see very clearly that every

single groomsman, I gave them each a chance

to shine and I used each other to

basically frame them.

And then you've got the groom in the

foreground there as well.

And then sometimes you're just gonna get guys

at a very casual environment.

And again, this shot on the left-hand

side could be a bunch of boys at

a beach, for example.

It doesn't have to be a wedding.

Certainly they were doing a beach wedding, so

that's how they were dressed like that and

everything like that.

But very quickly, you can just change your

angle and perspective and you get a shot

like this where that was pretty much the

shot from the beginning.

Just change your position, change your angle, bang,

you got a different shot.

Here's a different version of it.

This was actually photographed at 1.4. So

can you imagine, how do you get interactive

shots of guys laughing and carrying on and

get the groom in focus at 1.4?

Well, that was part of the charm of

it.

I actually said to the groom, I go,

whatever you do, just you can't move.

Guys, do everything you can to make the

groom laugh and crack up and break his

composure.

And that was it.

So the groom knew that I said, if

you just move slightly, you're gonna be out

of focus.

So he's like clamped in that shot.

The guys are stirring him.

And that was part of the charm of

the shot.

They made him laugh.

I got the shot.

And again, this is basically boys being boys.

Remember that vintage wedding that I showed you?

I love this context.

Now, they looked like, you know, in the

old days where you'd say, put up your

dukes and go for a fight.

Well, I told them that and they started

playing around.

Then that middle left shot, you see how

the guy's got a fist pulled up to

his face and he's holding the braces there.

I said, you guys look like the Three

Stooges.

You know how the Stooges would like hold

a suspender and punch the other, keep the

fist there.

They would spring back and then bang into

the face again.

So they started playing around.

And this one here, I just got the

groom to flick the cards into the camera

and so on.

So what I'm getting at, guys, is that

our notion of what is cool and handsome

for a guy and what is pretty and

beautiful for a girl really, I think, has

been popularized by movies that we've watched, music

videos that we've seen, billboards, and I'm not

saying that we're totally dictated by commercialism, but,

and I'd like to think that we're not,

but we sort of are, like, because we,

what we do is we are, every image

that you've seen on TV, movies, a billboard,

a bus with a photograph on it, even

just everyday life, it's popularized by things that

we see in the world around us.

So we have a notion of what is

handsome, what is beautiful, what is pretty, what

is cool, whatever it might be, and we

start to sort of get a sense of

what people want, but we can't help but

be influenced by what's around us.

Trends are trends, and there are trends that

will come and go, and there are trends

that will just stay forever.

For example, will the tie ever be replaced

with anything else?

Well, there's a bow tie, there's a normal

sort of single tie.

Will we ever see anything else that is

gonna replace those in the history of, in

the future of mankind?

No, like, there's nothing that's gonna say, well,

from now on, when you go to work,

you can wear this.

It just, it's one of those things that

have just been popularized, it's in our common,

almost what we call visual vernacular.

We just accept it, and so what I'm

getting at is these sensibilities, although I'm talking

about masculine and feminine, yes, those rules can

be broken.

You are gonna get a masculine sensibility for

a female, and vice versa, you just have

to photograph people who they are, what they

look like, what the feeling that you wanna

represent to those people, so remember that, and

as well, too, I want you to remember,

too, that even if you're of a mature

age, in this case, a mature age groom,

does not mean you wanna look mature age.

What I'm getting at is, I don't know

about you, but as a guy, I just

wanna look cool, I wanna look handsome.

I'm unashamedly, I just wanna look cool and

handsome.

Do I always look like it?

Probably not, but I can try.

In this case, he actually looks like Robert

De Niro a little bit, but I just

had the guys that are standing there close

together and getting them to interact.

It only took me a handful of shots

to get these shots, but there was a

sensibility of when guys get together, you know,

we just love to have fun and stir

a little bit, and it's usually not as

deep and meaningful.

It's sometimes we're just playing around and horsing

around and all that kind of stuff.

You know, it could just be playing with

the tie and stirring each other.

So remember that you're photographing a bunch of

guys together, whether it's groomsmen, a bunch of

brothers, whether it's a dad, a son, a

grandson, there is a certain sensibility, and it

doesn't mean we have to stick to it.

So embrace what we love about that kind

of sensibility and certainly use inspiration of what's

around us, but more importantly, use the personalities

of the individuals, use the dynamics between relationships,

and these kind of shots and the ideas

that will come into your head will reveal

themselves.

All you have to do is massage them,

technically, let's say, but more important than that

is understand those so we can get the

best out of who we're photographing.

Hope you enjoyed that.

We're gonna, next up, we're gonna take a

deeper look at how to photograph families in

a lot more detail.

Can't wait to share with you.