LightChasers Photography » weddings

Nico & Sarah

Luis — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:44:44 +0000

I covered a wedding reception recently – you read that right: a wedding reception. I totally missed the wedding itself.

Mind you, I wasn’t hired to cover the wedding. Heck, I wasn’t even there to cover their first reception. Instead, they flew all the way from California to the Philippines to have a second reception – that is what I covered.

The tiny image you see on the left (click on it to see something larger) is one of the products of that coverage. Yeah, their wedding was a few weeks earlier, but they still wanted to get some more portraits for their album, so we played around as the reception came to a close. We found a little love seat, set up a couple of lights, tore apart a few dozen roses, and made a big mess. The image you see is the result of that mess.

Of course, that isn’t the only image from the whole event. I still have quite a few images from the wedding (yes, the wedding I missed) to share with you. After the jump, you can check out a few spreads from the wedding preparations as well as the wedding itself.

Like I mentioned, I wasn’t there for the wedding, so credit for the photography goes to my (now Singapore based) colleague, Sly Samonte. The last spread, however, focuses on the Philippine reception. I think most of those images are mine, but at this point, I don’t really know and I don’t really care. All I care about is that Nico and Sarah love the album.

Alex & Via

Luis — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 06:38:40 +0000

I found myself in Tagaytay again recently – once again covering a wedding. The bride & groom, Alex & Via, had already hired another team to cover the wedding, but decided to get me to give them a different set of images. I let the other team take the lead – there were, after all, six of them (photographers & videographers alike) working while I was shooting solo. I let them direct the action while I stood back and watched things unfold. In other words, I was almost purely a photojournalist.

I say “almost purely a photojournalist” because I still staged a set of formal portraits as well as some images of the rings (including the image you see to the left). I also took a few group shots at the end of the day because the couple asked me to. Otherwise though, I tried to stay as unobtrusive as possible.

I realize I try to do this with my usual wedding coverage, but this time, it was even easier than usual because as I’ve already mentioned, there were six other people tasked with covering the events of the day. I didn’t need to go from table to table taking group shots – that’s not what I was there for. I was there to give a different perspective – so that’s what I did.

Now, the set of images below is a small sample of what I’ve given Alex & Via. It is also composed of only black & white images. Why? Well, while I was processing the images, I found myself converting a lot of them to black & white – it’s that simple. Somehow, I ended up with so many of them – enough to fill up an album – that I decided to make this post completely in black & white. I’m sure I’ll be giving them both color and black & white images for the final album, but I think this set looks pretty good despite the lack of color.

So, what do you think?

To Alex & Via, I hope you enjoyed this little album. I’ll be dropping by again soon with another album – this time something you can actually hold in your hands.

Jose & Tinette

Luis — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:27:42 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I travelled to Tagaytay with fellow photographer Sly Samonte to cover the wedding of our friends Jose & Tinette. This wedding wasn’t like most other weddings here – it was a much simpler affair.

It still isn’t the beach wedding I’ve been dreaming of covering, but it was still quite a beautiful occasion, and it was a joy to cover.

Enough of all the talk though – let’s get to the images.

Top left is little Mika – I still can’t quite decide if she looks like her dad or her mom, but I think you can decide for yourself as you see the rest of the images. Below that is her mom, the bride. Yes, she did her own make-up – I know that’s not very common here, but like I said, it’s not like most weddings here.

To the right is the groom waiting outside the room while his bride gets into her gown. The bride and groom saw each other before the wedding? I’ll say it again, it’s not like most weddings.

You want proof that the Jose and Tinette were in the same place? This is it – that’s the couple walking down the same hallway you saw earlier. Normally, you’d see just the bride, her face covered in a veil. That wasn’t the case here – you’ve got the bride with no veil on her head, the groom at her arm, and the beginnings of a laugh on her face.

Fortunately, we still got a little bit of alone time with Tinette for her portraits. As usual, my favorite shot from the set wasn’t a planned one. In the image here, she suddenly struck a pose – and we ended up with a fantastic shot for the album.

Going again with the not-your-typical-wedding theme, the bride and the groom walked the aisle together. Here, it looks like they’re asking each other if they’re ready for this.

The answer to the previous question, obviously, was yes. That means I can share a couple of solemn and joyful moments with you.

Of course, the first kiss is a must-have. Also here are some other portraits of the newlyweds. Sly took the one on the upper right – I just provided the light.

These shots pale in comparison to the next image though – what is probably one of the cutest first kiss images I’ve ever gotten.

Come on… you have to admit it’s cute.

Ok, this next one isn’t quite as cute, but I really like it. I wish I could say I took it, but Sly took this one too. I was too busy packing gear so we could move on to the reception.

If I remember correctly, in every wedding I’ve covered, there has been a cute little kid that simply loved having his or her picture taken. In this wedding, this little girl in the green dress played that role.

If I also remember correctly, I’ve never had the bride and groom take over the exit at their reception. Jose and Tinette did just that – they stood by the door and made sure almost everybody had a picture with the couple before they left. I say almost everybody because a few people had already left by the time Jose and Tinette blocked the exit.

Of course, while nobody was leaving, the couple took time to give each other some attention.

What are these last two images? The one on the left is the last photo of one of those glasses – I accidentally smashed it moments after I took this image (yes, I smashed something again). The groom then immediately informed me that out of over 200 guests, I was the only one who ended up breaking a glass. Thank goodness I didn’t smash any glass on my lenses. Anyway, breaking a glass at a wedding is supposed to be good luck, right?

What’s the story behind the image on the right? Well, that’s just a shot of the boys at the wedding horsing around. While the bride was getting dressed (remember the hallway shot from the first set of images above?), we had nothing better to do. The dude with shaved head is Jose, the groom. The ones in white are his brothers. The guy in the suit is Pao – I’m not quite what exactly he did, but he definitely helped keep everything running smoothly that day. The gun in blue is Christian (a.k.a. X) – he shot the video. The other guys in black (but not in suits) are the two photographers – Sly is on the top right holding the flash that lit us up and I’m holding the camera. Yes, I had to share that image.

Dex & Iya

Luis — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:18:31 +0000

I mentioned in a recent post that I sometimes cover weddings. Since I usually shoot back-up, I don’t normally handle the formal portraits, the rings, and all those other things that are sure to make it into the album.

However, I got the chance recently to play around, so to speak. I whipped out my flash, gathered the veil, rings, and all those other little things, and started snapping away. You can see the results after the jump.

You like ‘em? Looking at them now a few weeks after I first shot them, I’m not quite as happy as I was originally. Then again, that’s usually the way I look at my old images anyway.

Off-Camera Flash, On-Camera Style

Luis — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 07:12:08 +0000

Terry Uy, one of the best (in my opinion) photographers in the Philippines, sometimes asks me to shoot back-up for him. Yes, the fact that I know him (and he hires me) makes me just a little bit biased, but hey, his wedding folio should back up my claim. Heck, if you don’t like that, you can check out his other work. This post isn’t about him though, it’s about off-camera flash, on-camera style.

Yeah, off-camera flash, on-camera style – getting a flash on another camera to trigger during your own shot. That’s what that little thumbnail off the left illustrates. You click on it to see what I’m talking about, or you can just read on for a larger image.

How did I manage to get a flash on somebody else’s camera to fire during my shot? No, you won’t find the answer in any Strobist discussion. The answer is pretty simple – perfect timing, perfect settings, and a little help from above.

I snapped off a shot at exactly the same time as somebody else who happened to be in a perfect position, at least from a lighting standpoint. Did you get that? It doesn’t matter – the point is this: I had perfect timing.

I also had a fairly dark church on my side – if it hadn’t been so dark, I wouldn’t have been forced to drop my shutter speed so much, and I might not have gotten the perfect timing I mentioned.

I also had a little help from above. No, I’m not talking about having a high vantage point – I’m talking about luck. Yes, I will admit it – I got lucky. I guess that means I got a bit more than a little help – I got a lot of help.

Damn… after all that talk, the simple fact is that I got lucky. Oh well – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I shot the image you’re looking at now, and that you like it.

You do like it, don’t you?