By Steve Burns

Good wedding photographers are a flexible bunch.  One day they are doing something one way and the next, due to a different set of circumstances, they are approaching things differently.  All the while they must have a certain consistency about what they do.

My taste, or style, in wedding photography is photo journalistic. However my earlier training in wedding photography was directed posed fashion(y) work. Constantly I find my self drawing on some of the skills I learned in my early years in wedding photography.  Some might refer to those skills and approach to wedding photography as classic.

The first time I met Lori was at her house just hours before her wedding.  She was stunning, and I realized that she had a certain awareness and confidence about herself.  When a photographer has the opportunity to work with such a bride, it is an open invitation to latch on to and work with their personality all day.  It can be a blissful experience.  Louis her groom was no different with his self confidence,  and  I thoroughly enjoyed working with the both of them all day.

Bellow are a few of my favorite images from their day.

As I was working on Louis and Lori’s images,  I found myself constantly being pulled back into frame of mind that called for a look from the early 1970′s.  A time where the film we had available to us had a slightly grainy, more contrast(y), but less saturated look to it.  Kodacolor 400 was such a film.  It is a feeling that I tried to maintain as I worked through the photographs of their wedding coverage.

The opposite of this look would be today’s overly used, heavily cooked,  contrast(y), and heavily saturated, totally rad look that in my mind calls attention to the post production of the images, as compared to the content of the images.   In essence I wanted to maintain a classic feel to the work for some very beautiful people.

Their wedding mass was held at The Church of The Assumption, Roselle Park, NJ with their reception being held at The Atrium in West Orange, NJ.  A special thank you goes out to the wonderful staff and management at the Atrium for being very helpful and accommodating that evening!

Paul Gauguin, one of the most prolific 19 century painters, at some point in his life in his longing for savage and unexpected beauty, made a conscious choice to escape the sufocating world of European civilization for South Seas. He settled on Marquesas Island in French Polynesia where he created some of his best works. His vividly colored, highly abstract paintings lead Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro to remark, “He’s in another world.”

Some hundred years later I share Gauguin’s fascination entirely. This past April when I arrived in Manzanillo, Mexico to document a super intimate destination wedding of Hope and Cody, my creative muses were flying high!

It is the lush colors of exotic locales, the technicolor light, the gentle fragrant whisper of mango blossoms, the tropical balmy air, the calming and never ending crashing of the waves that makes the couple, their families and friends feel and look marvellous. The sweet artistic challenge of the photographer is just …. to absorb it all, share the fun and the inspiration will follow, resulting in dramatic, juicy images. The visual appeal of Cody and Hope’s wedding was enhanced by Gaby www.simplyperfectmexico.com