By Steve Burns

A ways back I covered a wedding of one of the leads from “The Phantom of The Opera.”  The newly married couple had a small intimate wedding.  Their wedding reception was held at the Westbury Manor on Long Island, NY.  At the reception places were set for 40 guests, with the music being provided  by a 16 piece swing band!  The happy wedding couple and that band elevated the wedding day experience of their guests from what would have been nice, to one that was sublime!

Music at weddings, as in life can leave one with many feelings.  It is not a visual thing, however it is something that  triggers things in the hearer’s mind that evokes emotion or feeling.  Well chosen music played at a wedding does exactly the same thing. It helps to support the days emotions.

Music can be loud, sharp, soft, sexy, sweet, sultry, romantic, brassy, sensuous…  You name it, and it can say it.

How music is delivered can also add to its impact.  As a wedding  photographer, I’ve witnessed weddings were music was delivered via an iPod,  from a DJ, to music performed real time by a band.  All of the mentioned ways of delivery can be done very well,  and all of them can have a significant impact on a wedding day.

One of the things that separates really good photography from OK photography, is that the former leaves you with the thought “this is what it felt like to be there,” vs. “this is what it looked like to be there.”

A responsibility of a good wedding photographer is to communicate to the viewer not just what the day looked like, but what the wedding day felt like.   You want to be taken back to the feelings of your wedding day when you look at your images.

When photographing a wedding, I’m sure to include something that speaks of the music presented that day, as it plays such a large part in the day.  I have to admit that I’ve never photographed an iPod at a wedding reception.  However  I take great, great delight in photographing a band!

Here are some favorites which when I revisit them, I feel as if they take me back to that day.

Working  the crowd at a wedding reception at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.

Sounding brassy at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.

A very hot wedding band vocalist at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.

Letting it loose at a wedding reception at the Ridgewood Country Club.

A sassy bass at the Chart House Restaurant.                                                            Enda playing for his wife at their reception, the Molly Pictcher Inn.

My hat is off to those that have come before, those that currently do, and to those that will provide the music which makes our lives so much richer.  Our world would not be the same with out you!

Steve Burns

“Wedding Photojournalist – what does that really mean?” asked one of my clients during a recent consultation “I see that on many wedding photographers’ websites but not on yours, why?”. I answered “because I am not a PURE photojournalist. My style has a few different elements in it, I wouldn’t be very accurate if I said I am strictly a wedding photojournalist”. “Well…” said the bride “I don’t really care what it’s called, I love your photos but when browsing other photographers I noticed that I am drawn very much to all the websites that said the photographer IS a wedding photojournalist, so…what does it mean?”. It means that you are not altering anything at all during a wedding shoot. It means that you are trying to be as invisible as you possibly can while shooting so that no one really pays attention to you (because you want your subjects to be camera unaware). It means that creating your photographs involves anticipating the moment, knowing your equipment and its limitations inside out, relying on your instincts to be at the right spot at the right time. It means keeping your eyes and ears open and your reflexes fast. It means capturing things as they happen, freezing real moments in time, without re-enactment, repetition and second chances. If you fail for any reason – the moment is gone. There will be a hundred more, true – but the one you lost is probably not coming back. It’s hard work when you take into consideration everything that you have to pay attention to at any given second (let’s see how many I can come up with, somewhat in order of importance: am I shooting in good light (if not what light modifiers should/can I be using right now to make it better), do I have the right lens for the shot, are my settings correct (ISO/aperture/shutter speed), should I turn around and change my position, maybe the scene will look better from a different angle, am I in the correct focusing mode, is there enough space left on the card to fire off a fast sequence and another one right after that, am I in somebody’s way, the batteries are still good right? haven’t changed them in a while…

…so…yes, the satisfaction is huge when you get it right! It’s a feeling uncomparable to anything else. When you know you got THE shot you are the king of the hill, the master of the universe, the winner of the race, the monkey with the biggest banana in the cage!

“Could you show me a few that you think are your best photojournalistic shots ever?” asked the bride again. “Here’s a few I really like…” I replied.

NYC photo shoot – Linda & Gary 06-14 from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.
[ if the video is choppy, let the clip buffer completely first, or turn off HD ]

Here is a glimpse of how much fun it is to work with a couple during their engagement photo session.  Linda and Gary’s wedding is coming up later this year, and I met up with them this weekend in Manhattan and we roamed the Meat-packing District and Times Square for some vibrant portraits.

A slightly surreal image from a recent engagement photo session - the couple, Shannon and Peter, played with the idea of not just walking across the reflecting pool at Skylands Manor (Ringwood, NJ), but levitating across ..

.. and this gave me the idea for a theme for this post – jumping shots.  Bridal parties and couples who jump.  Some may think it cliched, but I love it when a bridal party has energy and is excited and willing to play around.  Anything to break it up from that ‘usual suspects’ kind of line-up.  Exuberance and excitement goes a long way to making the photography on a wedding day interesting.

The next image is from a recent wedding in Manhattan, where I shot with the hugely talented photographer, Monika Broz.  The bridal party was unstoppable!

… and another wedding which I had the pleasure to photograph, with an enthusiastic bridal party.

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And who wouldn’t have boundless energy on a beach, especially when on a destination wedding in the Bahamas?

During their engagement session, Stephanie, the bride-to-be, jumped with such enthusiasm that a shoe went flying!

I just know a wedding will be fun to photograph when you have a bride like Kristen,  just leaping into her groom’s arms.

I have always loved movies! And ever since I have been a professional photographer, I look at them differently. I notice angles, composition and lighting. So it comes as no surprise that I always wanted to learn video and even possibly make a movie someday.

We all know that you just cannot take a giant leap forward. But by taking some smaller steps, you will learn the craft and make the final result better. So I decided to try my hand at some stop motion or time lapse photography instead of just jumping in with a video camera.

Now I needed to prepare. I had to fiqure out the intervalometer (or Intvl Timer Shooting) on my D200. After a short test or two, I was set to really test it out on a final subject. I had to now figure out what to shoot, how much to shoot and then how to make the video. Figuring out what to shoot was pretty easy for me as I had some ideas. The sky is an easy subject by just putting the camera on a tripod and getting it set. How much was not too hard to figure out using some basic math. But I did not know how many frames per second to make it which would help me determine how much to shoot and how long the final project would be. This was something I now know by making 2 movies. Finally, what was I to do with the captured photographs and how to make it into a movie. Luckily, through the internet and friends, I learned of a very simple, easy and cheap solution…Quicktime Pro. If you are interested in making movies like this, I highly recommend purchasing this. A quick google search will give you all the information you need to use this program for this type of photography.

So I gave it a shot. My first effort turned out ‘ok’. Only problem was that I should have had a full battery or battery grip on my camera as the battery died. Rookie mistake!

Tree and Sky – May 2009 from Scott Bush on Vimeo.

I wanted the next effort to have a final product that was much longer. Luckily, the sky and wind again worked in my favor. Charged batteries and then some final post-processing (B&W and a vignette) added to the final video.

Sky Drifting from Scott Bush on Vimeo.

Now to move forward with this technique using story boards, multiple scenes in one movie and maybe even selective focus. All this while working toward a final goal of working with video!

We have touched the subject of engagement sessions a few times on this blog. As wedding photographers we often encourage our couples to work with us before their wedding and get together for a few hours of fun photography. We happen to live in a very random and rich in dramatically different lications area. When it comes to one of the basic question of “where to shoot?” – we are always happy to consult and advise. Urban, beach, woods, rural, day or night, big city or countryside – you can find it all in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Yes, you can surely just go to a nearby park and shoot a few traditional poses with a long lens and beatifully blurred background…but hasn’t this been done millions of times over decades? Whenever you get to work with an unusual couple like Jenn and Tim, a door of opportunities opens. It was them who came up with all the locations for their engagement session, including the supermarket (yes, we got chased out of one by security guards but it dodn’t stop us from finishing the shoot at another one just down the road!). All of the below, very different imho images were captured during a few hours I spent with Jennifer and Tim a few weeks ago:

By Steve Burns

The phone rings and the words you hear are, “Help me, please.”

The Group of 10 was founded in part as a support group of friends, for friends.  All of the members are friends whom happen to be independent photographers, and all of whom are very active in the wedding photography industry.

We’ve been a support to each other so as to bounce creative ideas off of each other, act as a sounding board for each other,  and get honest feed back from each other.  We support each other in our marketing and creative endeavors.

Most importantly though, we are there for each other in times of need.

There have been times, and I’m sure there will be others, when we have loaned each other significant equipment in emergencies. We have taken on the role of “highly qualified responsible” second photographers for the other’s wedding coverage’s.  And most significantly we are willing, if available, to step in for one another as the principal photographer doing the other’s wedding coverage should an emergency arise.

As a bride, you invest heavily in your wedding day, and you should be aware that we are there to support not only each other,  but to support you as well.

So in times of need, who are you going to call?  ( Hint: Call your friends, they are your best back up. )

Bellow are some images I’ve created for others, and I thank you all for the oppertunity to work with you!

For George Weir…

For Neil van Niekerk…

For David Mielcarek…

For Berit Bizjak…

Steve Burns

If you’ve heard me speak at a seminar or meeting you may have heard me use the expression “own the image”.  I use it when I stress to photographers that in order to excell at their craft they must learn and practice until they truly do “own the image”.

I first heard it used in the context of piping, better known over here as bag-piping. Several years ago on a dark and stormy night (sorry couldn’t resist that) as I was quietly sitting in the background half listening to my youngest son’s solo tutor preparing him for his first competition. Mark, the tutor explained that it was not simply enough to have  learned to play a piece of music exceedingly well but that the piper must “own the music”.  Meaning that he, or she, must be in absolute control of himself and his pipes, reeds, drones, bag and all the other elements that make up a set of bagpipes. Not only that but also he, or she, must be oblivious to anything else, the weather, the judges or a parent in the audience.

I dropped the book I had been reading, listened, wrote down what the tutor had said and thought long and hard about his words. I believe it is the same for photographers. I believe that in order to produce excellent images on a consistent basis the photographer must “Own the image”. He, or she, must know not only all the ins and outs of the equipment but must also be completely focused, pun intended, on the subject matter. The professional wedding photographer must also have an acute awareness of the space, events and others around himself/herself  and work quickly and quietly without becoming a distraction.  One arrives at this point only after many, and by many I mean thousands, hours of practice.

Last month I practiced some more myself

Ulster Scottish, the pipe band my son plays with, recorded some of their music. I was given permission to photograph the event. I have to say that I was absolutely flabbergasted and struck by their level of competency and by their dedication. These folks do “Own their Music”.

Pipes

Practice

Practice makes perfect

Ulster-Scottish Pipe Band

"This isn't their first rodeo!"

As I watched I whispered to the pipe-major, Dave Hall, “This isn’t their first rodeo, is it?” Dave quietly chuckled and shared with me just how long and hard they practice. I could see and hear how they “Own their music”, some of which you may enjoy in this short show.

I recently posted a slideshow on my blog, of my favorite images from 2008 weddings.  I limited it to 3 images from each wedding, to give a representative overview of my best work as a wedding photographer in new Jersey.  As a follow-up post, I showed some of my favorite wedding cakes from 2008. 

So to round all that off, I’d like to show some of the most interesting wedding details I saw in 2008.  Hopefully this might even give future brides a few ideas for their own weddings.  You can easily see from these images that the couples put a lot of thought and care into the details of their wedding receptions.  Enjoy!

[ Neil van Niekerk ]

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY EVERYONE !!! It’s today that all the happy couples do special, crazy things for love, isn’t it ? In the spirit of this amorous holiday we want to bring something exclusive to our clients !