I have to say that i went to a full out New York style extravagant wedding this past weekend. My friend Chris Hidey finally tied the knot in Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens. Chris and Sharon met on a missions trip in China. Ever since then they've been keeping a long distance relationship from New York to Maryland for 5 years. I've known chris since high school and later in college we roomed together all 3 years (cause chris graduated early).
The picture taken above was one of the best accidents I've gotten. The photo was vastly underexposed. When trying to fix it and what practically was like getting something from nothing. The background took on a green tint and some weird but cool effect took place (noticeable on Chris' face). The contrasting colors between the background and table are just perfect, as with the sharpness of the table to the grainy look of the background.
Before the actual ceremony I arrived extra early cause I was supposedly one of the ushers. The best part was being able to see the pre-wedding events which i thought were very cool. The couple took photos before the wedding (breaking the tradition) but a smart move time wise. After photos they did a super quick run through right before the ceremony and this is where i snapped the picture to the right. Sharon gave a quick dance with one of the flower girls. the lighting was horribly low but enough for my f1.8 to catch it.
As i was feeling a little awkward being there seeing the practice rehearsal and such and I wasn't even really part of the ceremony (like i was seeing something I wasn't allowed to see), I excused myself to the reception and ceremony area to await the guests to come in. Once they openned the doors I soon realized my usher role wasn't necessary. Everything was pretty organized as is and guests pretty much rushed to random seats. I was still there just in case someone asked what side to sit on but frankly it was pretty self-explanatory and the other ushers just quit and sat down. I felt bad just quitting and sitting down so I tried to pull off a I'll just stand here and look pretty and no one will care. Toward the end of the horde mass of people I just quit and sat down.
I sat on the aisle next to judy and mike half way from the front and end. I had a decent view and a nice candle flower decoration was in front of me in a tall vase. I kept my 35mm on the whole time as to switching back and forth would be a pain. The 35mm was pretty decent from where I was. I might of been just a tad too far back but I still got really decent photos. I've come to learn that the best photos are taken from positions or angles you wouldn't normally see with your eyes. That being said I held the camera on my knee a even holding it lower than that and started taking some pics. I caught the picture to the left by using the vase candle piece as a potential foreground image. I knew it would be overexposed like crazy but it came out way better than i thought it would. Looking at the picture I just want to put a label or something on the bottom right. It screams it. One thing that I learned at shooting at the weddings I've been to now is that when you take a picture of the bride and groom standing at the alter from the crowd, you'll more than likely get the picture of the pastor in that shot as well and more likely than not it'll ruin the photo. I hate seeing the minister in my photos of weddings, it just takes away the focus. I think that's why this shot is so perfect. It's just the couple and nothing else to distract the eyes. Maybe when I get married I'll either get a really short preacher or make him duck for a couple of shots.
I shot a good amount of video and the manual focus on the d90 is beginning to get on my nerves. The hardest part is trying to figure out if something is in focus on the tiny lcd screen on the back. Being at a considerable distance from the main event, most of my videos were blurry. :( Also I always forget to exposure lock my videos. I dont' use the video function that much so I still have quite a bit to get used to.
After the ceremony we were sent through a maze to get to a atrium where they served appetizers and there were 3 rooms that you could venture off to to see some plants in that environment. Desert, Tropical, and something. You probably can tell which room we didn't go to. They even had sushi there! (J woulda loved it) Cristian was a kind gentlemen and noticed my stella was running low so he offered to get me a drink. Seizing the opportunity I made him get me the girliest and most embarrassing drink you can order, sex on the beach. Which actually was pretty good.
Once the reception room was done we made our way back through the maze to a beautiful reception setup. The center pieces were amazing. And a live band was there. A very elegant evening and I must say it was an awesome event.
