Original subtitles

So I'm gonna talk to you a little

bit about my approach and philosophy behind when

I show up and photograph bride prep before

I actually take you behind the scenes.

And one of the most important things to

know is that I don't have a formulized

approach.

So it's really actually quite difficult to tell

you what I do and why I do

it because it's different every single time.

But there is a few sort of key

things to know.

So first of all, is that I show

up there early.

I show up as early as the makeup

artist shows up.

If the makeup artist is showing up at

8.30 in the morning, I'm showing up

at 8.30 in the morning.

And the reason I do this is because

I know it takes me a long time

to warm up and I also wanna increase

my chances and give myself the best possible

chance of being creative.

I don't wanna leave my creativity up to

chance.

If I show up and I've only got

an hour of prep time, I'm leaving my

creativity up to chance.

If I've only got an hour of prep

time, I'm gonna have a list of shots

that I know I need to get for

the client and there's gonna be no time

for me to be creative.

So it's really important for me and my

approach that I show up there early.

Now, I'm gonna take you through the questionnaire

that we go through with our clients in

a few weeks just to make sure that

we're on the same page with everything.

But I'll know before the wedding if detail

shots are really important to the bride.

I don't take detail shots by default.

That means I don't go in and take

pictures of the rings and the dress and

the shoes and the vows.

I inevitably get pictures of those things because

they're involved in the action that's happening but

I don't go and intentionally just get detail

shots.

However, if the bride or the groom has

mentioned that that's an important detail for them,

I will make sure I show up at

least half an hour beforehand to get those

shots.

And the reason is, is the last thing

I want, is the last thing I want

is to be shooting the dress hanging in

the window or the shoes on the windowsill

and hear laughter in the room next door.

I don't wanna be missing any moments or

any of the important action or interactions that

are happening while I'm taking detail shots.

Okay, so I get there first thing in

the morning.

Let's just say I arrive there at around

8.30 and if the bride happens to

answer the door, it's big hugs, right?

Now, the wedding that we're gonna show you,

of course, happened during COVID.

So you're not gonna see the same interaction

that we'd normally have at a wedding, but

big hugs always right off the bat.

And that way the family that's there and

the bridesmaids that are there, they see me

interacting with the bride in this way.

They see that I feel like I belong.

They know the bride feels that I belong

there.

And then automatically they become comfortable with my

presence as well.

Hey, if the bride's already sitting and getting

their makeup done, I make sure I go

up to her right away.

And I'm gonna get Lanny to come in

here and just pretend to be the bride

for a second.

So if Lanny's the bride, we'll call him

Anna and he's sitting and get his makeup

down.

You know, I've put my stash, my gear

somewhere and I come down and how was

your night last night, Anna?

Did you have a good night?

Oh yeah, it was awesome.

Okay, there's a few key things to know

what I've done here.

The question I ask, it really doesn't matter,

but I've gotten down low.

I've gotten in her space.

I'm really close to her and I've touched

her.

I've touched her on the leg, right?

So I've broken that touch barrier because the

first time we touch someone or hug them

or kiss them, it's always awkward, right?

The next times are much more easier to

get into that space than the first time.

Now, I'm a female and most of the

time when I'm documenting the getting ready, I'm

also documenting a female.

So, you know, me putting a hand on

her leg feels completely normal and natural and

appropriate for me.

It might not feel appropriate to you.

And if it doesn't, if you are scared

to do that, people will pick up on

that, okay?

So do what's comfortable with you.

If you're a guy, yeah, I probably wouldn't

recommend putting your hand on the female's leg,

but you can still get down to her

level.

You can still give hugs and just get

in their space right away.

Okay, you can leave now.

So it's really important that everybody in the

room sees how comfortable I am being in

that space and that I belong there, okay?

And we're gonna talk a little bit further

on in the course about how we establish

that relationship with our clients so that when

we do show up on the morning of

the wedding, we're basically like friends with cameras

as opposed to photographers with cameras, right?

We belong there, they know we belong there.

Everybody else sees that trust and they're comfortable

with us being there as well.

So that's the first thing, get in her

space.

Get in her little personal bubble because that's

where you belong.

And it's gonna be much more comfortable getting

in that space later on when there's an

intimate moment happening that you're trying to photograph

if you've already been in that space.

So I will intentionally get in that bubble,

even once I get my camera set up,

I will intentionally get in that bubble and

shoot close right off the bat just to

sort of break down that barrier.

So once I've gotten into her personal space

bubble and I've established that I belong there,

I'm gonna get my gear set up.

So I find a dark corner of the

room where I'm out of the way.

I make sure my camera bag is open

with all the lenses accessible.

I set up a flash stand with a

flash on it so I can easily use

that quickly as well.

And I generally take four lenses with me

to bride prep.

I take a 16 to 35.

I take a 35 prime.

I take a 50 and I take an

85.

Now, depending on the space, I usually only

use two or three of those lenses.

And it really, really depends on the space.

Most of the time I'd say I use

a 50 and a 35 if it's a

really tight space, I might use a 35

and a 16 to 35.

And then usually about once during bride prep,

I'll put that 85 lens on.

And that's just for some closeups of the

makeup getting done, but I generally don't use

it for anything else during bride prep.

It holds no use for documentary work at

all.

Okay, so once my gear is set up,

then I'm gonna strategize my time there.

And when I strategize my time, most people

think strategy is making a plan for what

you're gonna do.

But my strategy is more of a plan

for what I'm not gonna do.

Because when I initially walk into a space,

there's infinite possibilities.

There's infinite angles to shoot from.

There's different things I could be shooting through.

I could go out onto the porch.

I could go upstairs.

I could shoot through a chandelier.

It's almost like too many choices.

So I wanna eliminate most of these choices

and know what choices are best bang for

my buck.

So I'll go out onto the porch and

I'll look at the reflection potential and then

I'll open and close the door and see

what it looks like from different angles.

And nine times out of 10, I realize

it's not worth going out onto the porch.

And so I can forget about that as

a possibility.

I'll jump onto the table and I'll see

what it looks like shooting through the chandelier.

Nine times out of 10, eliminate it as

a possibility.

I'll look at the artwork and see what

the reflection is.

And again, sometimes I'm like, oh, there's great

potential there if something lines up there.

And other times I'm like, probably not worth

spending any time on.

I also figure out where my zones are.

And I really like to divide my room

into zones.

And I usually have what I call my

primary zones and my secondary zones.

So my primary zones are where the action

is taking place.

So where the makeup's being done, where the

hair is being done, maybe the couch where

people tend to be sitting a lot.

Right, so those are my primary zones.

But I'm also looking at my secondary zones.

So my secondary zones are what's happening behind

the primary zone and in front of the

primary zone.

So if makeup's getting done right here, what

can I layer in the secondary zone in

front?

Is there any additional stories that I can

layer into that?

Is there anything happening in the background that

I should keep my eye open for to

layer into?

And this is actually one of the reasons

we do not tell the makeup artist where

to set up.

And that's often a question we get at

the workshop is do you tell the makeup

artist where to set up or the hair

artist where to set up?

And we don't.

Because if we do, it pigeonholes us into

making this wedding look the way we think

it should look.

It pigeonholes us into putting that makeup artist

in what we think is the perfect spot.

And then our creativity is sort of funneled

into this sort of preconception of where we

think the makeup should be done.

And I'd much rather people make those decisions

for me.

So if the makeup artist decides where she

wants to set up, then I have to

make that work.

I have to figure out a way to

make it work with the makeup artist set

up there.

And some of my most creative ideas or

creative ways of layering things have come out

of having to problem solve that.

I remember the first time I ever shot

through glass and reflected what was on the

outside of the glass and layered it in

with what was inside the glass was because

a makeup artist set up between the bed

and the window.

And literally the only place I could get

a picture of the bride's face getting her

makeup done was from outside on the porch.

And so I had to figure out how

to shoot that.

And I had to problem solve my way

through it.

So we never tell them where to go.

So the rest of my time there is

really just spent reacting.

Reacting and problem solving and keeping my camera

up.

The wedding you're about to see, I was

there for five hours.

I started at 9.15 in the morning

and I went all the way to the

ceremony, which was at 2.30. The earliest

I've started with a bride prep is 3

.30 in the morning, which was a Hong

Kong wedding where she had to be ready

for a tea ceremony.

But I always start first thing in the

morning.

I keep that camera up and I keep

searching and I keep looking and I keep

reacting.

Trying to stay in the moment.

Trying to be attuned with those little glances

and those little touches and that laughter and

all the stuff that's happening around me.

At some point, obviously, the bride's gonna get

her dress on.

Again, I just act like I belong there.

I never ask permission to come in and

get pictures of her getting the dress on.

I feel like it almost makes it more

awkward if I ask permission or if I

turn around and say I'm not gonna be

looking.

But we'll talk about this a little bit

further on in the course, again, about how

we educate our clients in terms of getting

that access so that we don't have to

ask for it on the actual wedding day.

But basically, I've communicated to the bride that

if there's something that she doesn't want documented,

she should go into the room and close

the door because it's very hard for me

to turn my documentary brain on and turn

my documentary brain off.

It's kind of like I'm in a bit

of a meditation all morning, a meditation of

searching and finding and trying to be in

the moment to the wedding day.

And as soon as I pull myself out

of that, it's really hard to get back

in.

So I just act like I belong there

and I shoot the entire dress being put

on even if there's nudity because her bridesmaids

are seeing it, her mom's seeing it, and

I'm just one of them.

I did have one bride once, it was

interesting.

I had this one bride once who was

in this beautiful window light.

There was this window, beautiful soft light coming

in from the window and she was sitting

there naked with her dress piled on a

heap beside her and she was putting on

her shoes, her Converse shoes, and it was

like the most epic picture.

And she told me, she's like, Erika, I'm

naked, would you stop photographing me?

And I responded to this in the same

way I would respond if it were like

my best friend.

I just said, Tanya, this is the most

amazing shot.

You look so awesome.

You've got this window light coming in and

this, what was her husband's name?

Colin.

Colin is gonna love this shot of you,

trust me.

You want me to take this shot.

So I just, I treat my clients as

if they're friends and I talk to them

as if they're friends.

And of course, yeah, they love the shot.

Colin currently has it as the screensaver on

his computer.

So just own it.

But you have to be comfortable with it

yourself as well.

I'm very comfortable with it.

And if I weren't, I feel like people

would be able to sense that.

People can smell fear, just like dogs can

smell fear.

So you have to be comfortable getting in

those spots.

And as long as you're comfortable and you

own it, people will be comfortable with it

as well.

So let's head to the real wedding now

and you can watch me in action.

That's right, we need to park, baby.

Hi.

What's going on?

Hello there, how was your day?

It was really fun.

You guys are coming.

Did you guys stay up late or?

Not that late, actually.

Well, we tried to do a few rounds

of charades and stuff.

Oh, charades?

Oh my gosh, we missed charades.

Have you ever played with the Christians against

humanity cards?

Oh my gosh.

So like the white cards from Christians against

humanity.

No, I haven't, but that sounds amazing.

It's definitely a great way to do it.

Colin, no, you're gonna eat the food, come

on.

Yeah, what was it?

11.30. Oh, that's not too bad.

Yeah, no.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Just really scouting out the space here, seeing

what the potential is, looking at the light.

I know she's gonna have a shower, and

this shower is really interesting, and I wanna

look at all the different perspectives that I

can shoot it from.

I know in the shower, she's gonna, I'm

gonna wanna flash in there to backflash the

spray.

This is the perfect shower for a nano

clamp.

I don't very often do shower shots.

How tall are you?

You're about the same height, Laura.

See, I can use myself as a, I'm

5'4 too.

Feels better.

Did that go on?

I don't know.

Just taking some test shots.

Okay, so now she's in the shower, and

I'm adjusting my flash as she goes.

It's a little bit too bright, and every

time I make an adjustment, it doesn't seem

to make much of a difference, and it

wasn't until later, actually, that I realized that

my flash was on TTL.

It's a small little switch on the side

that's easy to miss on the pro photo,

which is why when I was adjusting my

flash, it wouldn't make any difference, but the

photos were within range enough that we could

bring them back.

Erica, do you know where the other one

is?

And he's missing a nano clamp.

Trying to give him mine.

I'm going to check my bag, by the

way.

Yeah, check your bag.

Thank you.

So really just getting people accustomed to my

presence here.

Photographing the moments, figuring out good camera angles.

Oh, so cute, yeah.

It doesn't really work if I want to

have it.

No, Abby, back in 1971, you handed me

that tomato, and there was something on it.

Like, you don't want that.

Yeah.

Yeah, now you can just laugh at me,

because I'm all old and stuff.

I'm not going to laugh at you, because

you're old.

Yes, son.

Hi, honey.

The silhouette on this window is so beautiful.

Hi, Sydney.

Hi, honey.

How's it going?

Hi, Sydney.

Hi, honey.

Oh, how are you today?

Good.

Reading over her vows here.

Trying to get a few different angles.

And I was going to yell at her,

but it was 630 in the morning.

She's clearly, like, bothered that you weren't, like,

shy around her.

Oh.

I'll get used to me.

You will get used to me.

That was so funny.

It's really funny.

Yeah, you know what?

I think so, yeah.

Cass, what do you think?

Her makeup.

What do you mean?

Oh, yeah, it looks great.

Okay, bye.

I thought you were, like, deciding on the

eyeshadow or something.

No.

Okay.

Tried to hide all my stuff in the

corner here, but I always like to have

a flash set up, just in case I

need to use it quickly.

You guys traveled here a lot for weddings?

Yes.

Yeah.

I know Shannon's about to head into the

makeup chair, and I had sort of scattered

outside on the porch and saw that there's

some cool potential for reflection through the glass.

So I'm going to test out my flash

settings in here while I'm inside, so I

can make the adjustments if I need to,

especially with the angle of the flash, as

opposed to testing it outside, where I'd have

to come in and out of the door.

Having it come in a little harder there.

So really trying to get Shannon on that

darker background here.

Adjusting my position so I've got her on

that dark part of the reflection, because if

she were up against this bright highlight, she

wouldn't pop.

I'm trying to get rid of the highlight,

but I can't get rid of it in

the frame.

Sometimes the makeup artist covers it up, and

that's best.

I think it'll take 15 to 20 minutes.

How long?

15, 20?

Like, fill your hair?

Yes.

Like 30 minutes.

30 more minutes?

30 minutes?

Yes.

Thinking I can try and layer mom into

that reflection as well.

So it's just natural light on Shannon there.

Shannon, what time are your flowers coming?

It's a hard space to shoot in, because

there's a lot of clutter and highlights in

the background that are very hard to eliminate

from the frames.

Okay, stay there.

Stay there, stay there.

I have one, but thank you.

Okay, there we go.

Okay, there we go.

I'm noticing sister in this mirror doing her

makeup and noticing the layering potential, obviously, but

this highlight here, it's still a big problem.

And I haven't quite figured out how to

get these stories without including it.

So you'll see me explore a bunch of

different angles here.

So I notice I can include Shannon in

the reflection here as well.

It allows me to layer the two stories

together.

And I can get mom in there as

well.

So I'm shooting a lot of frames here,

just trying to line up those sort of

three layers together in a way that makes

sense.

And I've included myself in this frame here,

but I actually kind of like it.

I feel like it just sort of tells

part of the story.

Gives another layer.

Trying to get her hair done and her

makeup done at the same time.

And I always stick on a big lens

when the bride is getting her eye makeup

done or her lips, like I'll either put

on at 50 or an 85.

And I'll try and get these sort of

up close, almost detail shots of her getting

her makeup done.

So this picture on the shelf, I noticed

it earlier and I completely forgot about it,

but it's a picture, I believe it's Shannon

and her sister with her dad.

And her dad, I believe is deceased.

So he's not at the wedding, obviously.

So I wanted to try and include this

picture of her in her childhood with him

in some of the frames.

So you'll see me try a bunch of

different things here.

Trying to find an angle that works for

reflecting her or maybe even just layering.

Does she have time to go get her

dress?

Yeah.

Okay.

The natural light on Shannon is really good

in this direction.

I almost don't even, I don't need a

flash on her to reflect her.

It was me just trying a simple layering.

It doesn't work very well.

I think with the primer, they go a

little bit down.

Oh, my bad.

Sorry.

No, that's okay.

That's fine.

I'm glad we did it.

I've put it in the makeup artist kit.

I've noticed that if I put it here,

I can reflect Shannon right in this dark

spot here, just with the natural light.

And I need a high enough F-stop

that I can also see the detail in

the picture.

So I have to go quite a high

F-stop in order to achieve that.

Then trying to line it up with a

moment where the makeup brush is coming in.

Just simplifying the frame down there to reflection.

Perfect.

You need some time to pull down.

Changing out batteries.

You can see that I'm just constantly moving

around, trying to make good compositions, trying to

see the moments and fiddling with my compositions

to eliminate the highlights and focus on the

story and focus on the layers, which is

really hard in this room.

And I'm constantly keeping an eye on that

dog as well because they love their dog,

Olive.

And so I'm trying to get him layered

into as many pictures as possible.

Or her, I suppose.

Because she's a big part of their lives

and a big part of their story.

And I mean, most of the photos I'm

getting here are not deliverables, right?

This is just me searching around, trying different

things and hoping that something sort of catches

my eye It doesn't catch my eye though

unless I'm making photos of it.

She's reading her vows again.

And I just love that Olive came in

to sit next to her because it gives

the scene more context, right?

Trying all the different angles.

The first angle was better, but you never

know until you try.

I was thinking that angle could have been

really good if Olive had looked up.

I think it would have been really interesting,

but he never did.

She never did.

This was accidental.

I had tried to focus on the mom

and the dog and accidentally focused on the

dress in the back, but I actually really

like how that worked out because my F

-stop's high enough that you can see the

detail in the foreground there.

And it's really working because mom here is

not only providing the layer in the picture,

but she's blocking that highlight in the background

as well.

Now she's getting on her dress and I

know she has to put it up over

her head.

So I am gonna try and shoot this

probably from a higher perspective.

But the lighting was really hard in the

middle of the room here.

I'm not really happy with any of these

shots.

I'm not wearing glasses.

Just too many glaring highlights in the background

here to really capture this moment in all

its glory.

If I'd been able to shoot that, come

to think of it, if I'd been able

to shoot that from the other side, like

perhaps where I'm standing right now from a

more elevated perspective, it probably would have worked

out better.

There's a tangled necklace and they've got a

knot in the cord, which is the perfect

opportunity to get a detail shot of the

necklace.

So that camera never goes down.

So here she is back in that really

nice dappled light again and it isn't an

even light, but like I said, when she

shifts her weight just the right way, it's

a perfect opportunity to take advantage of that

highlight and shadow.

And if I get those hands in the

highlight or if I get her face in

the highlight or if I get the necklace

in the highlight, it makes the somewhat boring

scene much more interesting.

And I'm also watching her hands.

She's got these really nice, graceful hands.

So I'm getting low here as well because

of course she's looking downwards.

So I'm hoping that maybe if I get

really low, I can get a shot with

her hands and her foot in the foreground.

I'm too late for it.

I should have got lower sooner, but whatever,

I tried.

A little bit of a detail shot here

in this nice dappled light.

I wanna get the bouquet and she's got

this picture of her dad or a locket

of her dad on the bouquet.

So I know that's really important for her

and that was really hard to get in

on the fly.

So I really wanted to make sure I

set up a shot to get that for

her, just quickly.

Just getting these last moments between her and

her sister out here on the porch.

Some detailed shots of the feet.

All right, so that's bride prep.

That's Shannon's bride prep.

As bride preps go, this one, it had

lots of great moments.

It was a tricky room to shoot in.

There was lots of great natural light.

I didn't have to use flash and all

that sort of stuff, but it was tricky

in terms of making clean compositions.

I had to work really hard.

I kept on having to work the scene

and wait for moments to line up.

So each prep comes with its own set

of challenges.

Sometimes it's bad light.

Sometimes it's too much light.

Sometimes it's clutter.

Sometimes it's lack of moments.

This one, I'd say the biggest challenges were

probably the highlights in the background and not

being able to get rid of them and

making clean compositions.