Craig Stocks Arts Blog

Here’s another wedding photo you don’t see every day. The point of view is from behind the alter, looking out over the bride and groom into the sanctuary. No, I didn’t go up there to take the photo, I’d never do something like that. Before the ceremony, I positioned a remote camera on top of a 12 foot light stand. The camera was rigged with a Pocket Wizard remote that would fire the camera whenever my son/assistant pressed the button on a matching Pocket Wizard transceiver from up in the balcony. The result is a view of the ceremony that no on else has.

I wanted to make sure the remote camera wouldn’t interfere with anything, so I had checked with the couple, the minister, the wedding planner and the church videographer before hand. I’ve heard some real horror stories from ministers about the behavior of some wedding photographers, so I wanted to assure them that I wasn’t going to tread into sacred territory. During the ceremony, I stayed at the back of the church or in the balcony. I also avoided using a flash at any time during the ceremony.

Modern digital cameras have really affected the wedding photography market. Many brides are questioning why they should pay a professional when their friend or relative has a good digital camera and can take good photos. To an extent, they’re right, anyone can take a sharp, well exposed photo. But, a good wedding photographer provides more than that. They should be giving you something you can’t get from everyone else.

Next time, I’ll post a more traditional picture of the bride and groom, but with a couple of twists to improve the photo.

Here’s another image from Saturday’s wedding. It was obviously done later in the day near the end of the reception. Again, it’s not your typical wedding photo. It might seem a little gimmicky to some people, but I think the bride and groom liked it.

I think part of the appeal of this image is the way the bride and groom are looking at each other. You can certainly see the “love” in the picture. I also like that it features the bride’s four brothers and sisters spelling out the word.

The setup for the picture is pretty straightforward. The camera is on a tripod and I held the shutter open for five seconds. That allowed the flashlights to trace out the letters. At the end of the exposure, my wife triggered the off-camera flash she was holding, and that flash of light illuminated the people and froze them in time.

This was the first time I’d done this shot, so I learned a few things along the way. It was easier than I expected to show the folks how to make their letters, but I forgot to let them know that they would be visible in the final image. I also whish I had placed a second flash out of the frame to camera-left and slightly behind them to outline their shadow sides.

Keep checking back for more samples from the wedding. If you want to see some extreme examples of painting with flashlights, check out the Sprint commercial on YouTube featuring a group of artists who’ve taken the idea to a whole new level.