Original subtitles

Next up, we're going to talk about transitions.

This is one of the most important parts

of the entire wedding day in our mind.

All of the moments, all of the sections

of the day in between the scripted timeline

parts, right?

So moving from prep to the ceremony, for

example, moving from the ceremony into portraits, for

example, all those in between periods.

Or even in between different portraits, set up

portraits.

Right, those transitions.

Now, we don't have an actual section from

the wedding for you to look and to

watch the actual transitions all together.

So you're gonna need to look for that

at the beginning and the end of each

section.

And notice that what we're trying to do

is stay in documentary storytelling mode to not

put the cameras down.

And that's one of the most common things

that a lot of us photographers do in

those moments is the cameras go down, right?

Because now we're thinking about getting ready for

what's next, right?

So we're picking up our gear, we're trying

to catch up, we're trying to get in

place and position for the next predictable thing.

Meanwhile, we're missing all these unpredictable moments.

And we still catch ourselves doing this all

the time, putting our cameras down in these

transition moments.

And these are the moments where people aren't

thinking about how they have to act or

how they have to look, right?

They're thinking about getting from point A to

point B.

So it's the moments we see the real

human and we see the real interactions and

the real glances and the real dramas, right?

This is when the bride's dress gets stepped

on by someone and it gets a footprint

on it, or when her dress gets caught

in the door, or when the groom all

of a sudden realizes that he forgot his

boxer shorts in the other suite, right?

We always make sure we're there to document

every moment, right?

I'm even thinking of that one time you

went into the convenience store with one of

the grooms in Mexico and you got some

really neat shots.

Because these are what makes their wedding different

from everybody else's wedding, right?

Every wedding has the same scripted events.

It's all the unscripted moments that happen in

between.

So as much as possible, we are trying

to document this with one camera, one lens.

So one camera, usually a 35 lens.

And if we have an assistant, the best

thing that an assistant can do for us

is carry our gear from point A to

point B so that we can do a

good job documenting these transitions.

But if you are by yourself, you need

to sort of anticipate that, right?

So nearing the end of groom prep, for

example, I know where, okay, we're about to

leave and we're about to make our way

to the ceremony.

I need to be ready to move, right?

So I'm planning ahead.

Okay, I'm gonna go take down my flash

in the bathroom.

I'm gonna get my bag all packed up.

I'm gonna have my shoes on.

I'm gonna tuck that light stand under my

arm and I'm gonna get the right lens

on my camera so I can be one

camera, one lens, camera up and document through

that whole transition.

And I would say in particular, weddings where

you're struggling to find interesting stories and moments.

Weddings where you're bored.

Right, the more bored you are, the more

boring it is for you, the more you

wanna step on the gas through those transitions

because that's when it's gonna get interesting.

That's when the unexpected stuff is gonna start

to happen and you wanna have that camera

up for that.

Yeah, Lani and I often say that we

get excited when things go wrong at weddings

and those things that go wrong are often

during those transition moments because that's when there's

a real story to document.

And don't get caught up or trapped in

helping solve the problems yourself.

Like your job is to document.

You're the photographer and that's your job.

So you don't wanna be stuck helping the

bride fix her dress.

That's the bridesmaid's job, right?

Often you have to fight that tendency to

wanna be a helping hand.

To step in.

Right, and obviously that's a natural urge and

we wanna do that, but we have to

remember our main job, what they've paid us

to do is to document that stuff as

it's happening, right?

So keep your camera up for all those

transitions and I guarantee you're gonna get some

gold.

All right, so we're gonna take you through

some of the transitional parts of Shannon and

Ian's wedding.

Starting with morning breakfast, which involved about a

15 minute walk, 20 minute walk, each way

to the local breakfast joint.

With their dog Olive.

And just really a matter of scurrying ahead,

trying to get in position, trying to make

shots and document as we go on the

fly.

Trying to get contacts as much as possible,

tell a story of where they are.

And their friends are here waiting for them.

And they hang out for the next hour

or two out in breakfast and coffee.

At the last minute, I was like, what

was that?

He didn't, which is fine, but he said

he wasn't going to be there.

And then he'll come back and I'm like,

oh, I'm not excited, so he's like, oh,

okay, fine.

He's just like, oh, I'm here.

So like, he just, he's just like, he's

just like, I'm here.

You're even worse.

That you can't even, he's like, no.

So you're getting a little taste of the

bride's sense of humor here.

That's actually my shot.

This is not as it seems, this is

all in the editing, folks.

But I did spend more time searching around,

trying to find something interesting.

It came in close to, anyways, trying to

figure out what this guy is doing.

We did our best, the best we could

there, and then we made our way back.

Now they're walking with their friends.

We found the shadows quite interesting, so we

both were trying to work those into our

compositions.

Oh, dog's taking a dump.

That's like one of the local dogs from

the ranch.

So there's the four of us, two videographers,

me and Erica, scurrying along, trying to document

this as best we can.

Pretty harsh light.

But one of the advantages of this whole

morning, kind of couple hours, was just really

an opportunity to kind of make our presence

known for all their friends, acclimatize them.

By the time we got to the wedding,

everyone was just tuning us out, which is

what we want.

Seeing the potential for a layered composition here.

So now we're riding back at the mangle

ranch.

Cool shadows.

Pretty challenging to kind of keep up and

make interesting compositions on the fly here.

So arriving back at the venue.

Erica and I having a little tiff on

something.

We only baby her a little bit.

Okay, so then they wanted to rehearse their

first dance.

So they did it out here on the

patio.

There wasn't very much of anything else going

on, so Erica and I both just tried

to shoot this.

They're out here in the sun, so just

natural light.

There's Olive, their dog, who was super jealous

if they were left inside, so they wanted

to be a part of the dance.

I'm mostly trying to simplify my compositions down

to them and the sky and the palm

trees.

Because the actual patio and porch is just

a bright white distracting highlight, so that's why

I'm getting down low here.

Trying to get them on the sky.

I think I made a few compositions with

Erica to kind of bring in that story

and just another compositional element.

Start looking around for a way to pull

back and do something different.

So I went inside to see if I

could shoot through the window.

So here we flash forward until Ian's dress

down.

So this is kind of transitional periods before

the ceremony.

And there you see these three heading off.

She wanted to practice her speech for the

ceremony.

So they wanted to find a private place

to go and do that, so I decided

to tag along and take some photos.

Eyes that are going to shine for the

rest of your life.

You guys are going to have so much

fun.

Beautiful.

That's beautiful.

The story I'm going for is the three

of them, right?

Kenny here practicing together, having some moments.

Right on the planet.

I'll hide it.

I'll hide it behind your ear.

No, it's hidden.

It's hidden.

It's good enough.

My first gray hair actually happened in my

ear two weeks ago.

I have to say that I teared up.

No, I don't.

And I wouldn't.

Shit gets real.

I'm telling you, this is the chance.

You can do it.

This is it.

It would make a scene.

I don't want a scene.

Hey, how you doing?

I'm good.

You want it?

Nah, it's fine.

I'm here now.

I got you two.

I think I got, maybe I just got

one from you.

So, lots of kind of little moments, little

stories starting to happen kind of all over

the place here now.

Grip and grin.

I never love it when they do that,

but what are you going to do?

Make a quick shot and move on.

For the most part, they're all just ignoring

me, though.

I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to do my thing.

Floating around, guests are arriving, family members.

Erica's upstairs with Shannon, still getting ready.

It's just me out here, all these little

moments and things happening.

Just trying to read the play and be

in the best place I can because really

there's infinite options here.

So I'm kind of looking around.

Where are the hugs?

Where are the moments?

Where are the stories?

Where are the interesting people?

Because they can't be everywhere.

Kind of thinking about which lenses I'm going

to have on my camera for the ceremony

because that's coming next.

Just making sure I've got batteries charged, memory

cards ready to go, light lenses on my

cameras, and as much as possible, just continue

to be able to shoot through all these

little transitional moments.

Okay, flash forward, this is transitions after the

ceremony.

It's right after the ceremony now.

And Shannon and Ian aren't really sure what

to do yet, but as all their guests,

friends and family come to greet them, there's

just lots of emotion and hugs.

And Erica and I never want to jump

in and pull them away from this.

Sometimes if there's a wedding planner, their inclination

is to do that too, but we just

want to let these moments ride, and the

last thing we want to do is pull

them away.

So we just try to keep our cameras

up and just keep shooting all these moments,

and try not to get in each other's

shots.

Yes.

Congratulations to you.

Oh, my gosh.

I don't know.

I got a couple of groups.

Where's the woman of the hour?

The woman of the hour?

Great.

Great job.

Yeah.

I think we're playing free-form jazz right

now, man.

Variations on things.

Yeah.

No.