Réal et Joanne

Last month I posted up a photograph that I took at the wedding of my friends Réal and Joanne.  It resulted in a traffic spike here.  The both liked the photograph, as did many of the viewers out there in Internetland.  So, I asked their permission to post up a few more of the photographs that I took that day and they agreed.  I was given the opportunity to have some one-on-one time with the couple on their big day, and I was a little bit nervous about the situation.  As I've said here a few times, I'm not always comfortable taking photographs of people.  I get a little tongue-tied, and my mind goes a little blank when it comes time to ask people to pose for me.  To prepare, I searched the internet for shot of weddings and I grabbed a couple of the shots I liked.  I then saved them to my iPod so that in the heat of the moment, if my mind went blank, I could just pull out that little device and I had some handy little ideas in the palm of my hand.  The chaulkboard you see the couple holding in the first photograph, and you'll see again in this posting, was an idea I 'borrowed' from my buddy Pierre Bourgault. I saw him use the board on one of this jobs and I really thought it was a cool idea.  Another photographer who I looked at for inspiration was my friend Elisa Elliot.  While I'm not very comfortable in front of people, I look at her photographs and her subjects just seem so full of life and jump off the page.  Finally, I must also mention my photography professor, Richard Anber.  He's currently out of the Country and his website no longer works, but you can see some examples of his work on that Instagram site I linked.  I also need to thank Réal and Joanne.  They had the confidence in me to take these photographs of them on their important day, and it was a great adventure.  I know this is rapidly turning into a 'thank-you fest', but I also need to mention My Lovely Assistant, who stood by me then entire day and was full of good words of support in the days leading up to the event as the little voices in my head began to get louder and louder.  Okay, back to the photos!  My Lovely Assistant and I managed to find this great park near where the couple were getting married, so after the ceremony we whisked them away from the crowd for a few hours.  It was a sunny afternoon and I was surprised by how empty the park was.  Having free reign, we pretty much walked through most of the park, stopping at certain locations that I had locked into my head during a visit the week before.  After an hour or so of taking photos, I returned the couple to their reception party where they celebrated and danced the night away surrounded by family and friends.  I had lots of fun that day, and much more a few weeks later when they returned from their honeymoon and I gave them the pictures I had taken.  Everyone liked them very much and I was very proud of my work.  Enough about me.  Most of you are here to look at the photographs.  The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 43mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 800 at 105mm.  The third photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/20sec, ISO 1600 at 140mm and the fourth photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/25sec, ISO 1600 at 70mm.  Here are a few more photographs that I took over the course of the day.

f/4, 1/1000sec, ISO 100 at 70mm

f/3.5, 1/1250sec, ISO 100 at 30mm

f/5.6, 1/400sec, ISO 100 at 32mm

f/3.2, 1/2000sec, ISO 100 at 42mm

Félicitations Réal et Joanne! Merci de m'avoir permis de faire partie de votre journée spéciale.  It was an experience that I hope I can build on in the years to come.